Chapter 71: Amulet
Doctor Xue went to the outer room to write a prescription. Qian Deng saw Madam Cui looking at her son as if she wanted to say something, so he said to her, "Madam, please wait a moment. I will ask Doctor Xue in detail how to treat Mr. Cui's injury."
After they left, Madam Cui wiped her tears and asked, "Fufeng, why don't you go home and recuperate first?"
"I have something else to do here and need to help the county lady." Cui Fufeng refused weakly but without hesitation. "Besides, my injury is not serious. The Changhua Palace also has a doctor. Doctor Jiang will help me take care of my medicine and food."
"The palace physician has to take care of everyone in the palace, so how can he be as caring as a family member? And you are not allowed to bring servants into the palace to serve, this..."
"This is also a good thing. This way... the county lady will often remember me and come to see me."
Seeing her son's worthless appearance of throwing himself at the county lady before he even started to have a child, Mrs. Cui was angry and helpless. She couldn't help but poke his forehead and said angrily: "You, you are so useless..."
After withdrawing her hand, Madam Cui looked outside and lowered her voice again: "Didn't mother ask for amulets and charms for you in all the major Zen and Taoist temples? Why do you keep getting into trouble? Could it be that the Princess of Lingling really, really..."
Having said that, she sighed and shut up again, not wanting to compile Qian Deng's fate like the people in Beijing did.
Cui Fufeng comforted his mother, "Don't worry, mother. Although I've been in danger occasionally, I've always been able to escape danger in the end. It must be because of your sincere prayers for me. If you can also pray for the county lady in the future, we will surely be safe and sound."
"I see. It's good for the county lady and good for you too!" Madam Cui said helplessly, "Then remember to always carry the amulet that your mother prayed for you."
As she spoke, she took out a bunch of golden amulets from her sleeve and stuffed them into his hand.
"Didn't you ask for talismans for me last time?" Cui Fufeng looked at the pile with a helpless look on his face. "Why did you ask for so many again? Should I hang them around my waist or keep them in my arms?"
"I got some from various temples. Some are for peace, some for peace of mind, some for comfort... Well, take them all with you and use them whenever you need them." Madam Cui said, picking out a brocade bag embroidered with a peony in gold thread. "This one was from Cuizhu Temple. They say it's for beauty. Give it to the county lady later."
Cui Fufeng, frail and exhausted, found it both amusing and puzzling that his mother would even ask for a beauty charm. Seeing the glittering gold thread and pearls, he thought it might be a suitable accessory. He casually took it and said, "Perhaps the county lady wouldn't carry it with her. Why are amulets and charms nowadays either gilded or embroidered with gold, so ostentatious and dazzling?"
"That's right. Nowadays, all the brocade bags on the amulets in Chang'an temples are made by the same embroidery workshop, and they are all glittering with gold. The county lady always wears plain clothes, so this really doesn't suit her."
As if to verify her words, the sunlight shone on the brocade bag outside the amulet. The fiery light made Cui Fufeng subconsciously squint his eyes.
A thought suddenly flashed through his mind - the words Shangluo had said and the words he had left behind, they did not understand their meaning at the time, but now thinking about it, they finally found something wrong.
Mrs. Cui didn't notice his strange behavior and just stuffed all the amulets into his arms. "Take them all, use them as you need them. Too many amulets is always a blessing!"
Outside, Doctor Xue has already written a prescription.
Qian Deng took it and looked at it, then asked, "How long should Mr. Cui stay in bed to recuperate?"
"That's fine. Cui Shaoqing's wound isn't serious. As long as the fever subsides, the dressings are changed, the medication is taken care of properly, and he walks around more, it will be a good thing. Of course, you must avoid overexertion or strenuous activities. If you feel weak, you should rest more recently."
After seeing off Doctor Xue, Madam Cui asked the maids and servants to take care of the ginseng and antler supplements she had brought with her, and then she returned home reluctantly, looking back every few steps.
When Qiandeng went inside, he saw Cui Fufeng leaning on the couch, holding a talisman in his hand, looking thoughtful.
Seeing her come in, he handed the amulet to her and said with a smile: "County Lady, this is the amulet my mother asked for you. It may not be effective, but it is a token of my appreciation."
Qiandeng took it and looked at it. Although the talisman bag was an ordinary golden brocade bag, it was embroidered with a half-opened peony with delicate pink silk thread, which made it look completely different from other talismans.
When she took out the talisman from inside and saw that it was actually for beauty and firmness, she smiled and said, "Thank you, Auntie, for your thoughtfulness."
Cui Fufeng, now feeling refreshed after drinking the medicine, asked her, "Where did the county lady go just now? I see that the worry on your face seems to have faded a lot."
"Yes, we've finally figured out the case of Princess Gao and Shangluo's whereabouts." Qian Deng recounted the events of Zheng Raoan's home in detail. "Our suspicions have been confirmed, but we still lack concrete evidence. And... there are still some doubts I haven't fully understood. For example, Shangluo must have been implicated because he discovered something about the princess's death. But what exactly did he discover, and how did the people at the princess's mansion know about his discovery? I still have no idea..."
Cui Fufeng looked at her thinking hard and smiled slightly.
Without saying a word, he slowly raised his hand and gently touched the amulet she was holding.
The brocade bag turned slightly in the sunlight, and the light became brighter.
Qiandeng was blinded by the dazzling golden light and turned her head to avoid it. At the same time, she heard Cui Fufeng say, "When Shangluo disappeared, she left the words 'Princess' and 'Firelight' on the edge of her bed. I'm sure the county lady still remembers it."
The bag woven with gold thread reflected the sunlight, and the golden light flashed in front of them like flowing water.
She pinched the amulet and couldn't help but open her eyes wide: "Princess, the firelight... Shangluo said that he was blinded by the light of the fireworks and his eyes have been hurting."
"Yes, and what he said is that there are dazzling lights bursting out from the sky, the water, and even the cracks in the rocks." Cui Fufeng withdrew his hand, his voice a little hoarse. "The ones in the sky are fireworks, the ones in the water are reflections, so what's that in the cracks in the rocks?"
Qian Deng's mind raced, and he blurted out, "There's something thin and reflective tucked between the cracks in the stone, like—an amulet!"
Cui Fufeng confirmed her thoughts: "Yes, but Shangluo didn't see it clearly at the time, he just felt the glare. So why did he figure it out that night? The answer lies in the answers of the gentlemen we asked at that time."
Qiandeng pondered over each of Langjun's words, and finally said slowly: "Yan Penglai."
The last person Shangluo met was Yan Penglai.
Because he was frightened by the corpse of Princess Gao, he asked Yan Penglai for help and asked him to give him a talisman.
Cui Fufeng nodded. "That day, we investigated Yan Penglai's Zhaoyingxuan. He was in the Taibu Office, and there were talisman paper and brocade bags in the cabinet. Nowadays, the temples and Taoist temples in Chang'an all use the same gold-threaded brocade bags as the embroidery workshop, and his is no exception."
Qiandeng clutched the sachet Madam Cui had given him. "It seems that after Shangluo asked Yan Penglai for the amulet, he finally discovered the source of the golden light between the cracks in the stone. He might even have discovered a more important clue, which he carved on the edge of the bed. Judging from the situation near the osmanthus hall at the time, he discovered the problem that night, but fearing danger, he dared not go out. He waited until dawn to go out and provide the clue, but who knew that he would be caught by the person waiting outside and attacked him."
Cui Fufeng leaned weakly on the pillow, but seeing that she had come to the same conclusion as him, his eyes were filled with joy.
"So, the most likely person should be Yan Penglai, who gave Shangluo the amulet and realized that he might be able to understand the truth from it."
Cui Fufeng remembered something and stretched himself in his drowsiness, trying to clear his mind. "Speaking of which, you told me last time that even after Yan Penglai claimed to have broken with Princess Gao, he still worked for her and wrote for Jintang. I later had someone check the palace archives and discovered that he was indeed punished for defacing the Buddhist scriptures he'd copied for the empress dowager. He was forced to kneel in the temple for seven days and seven nights, and it took him over two months to recuperate before he could get up. His knees were damaged, and he could no longer perform strenuous activities like running and jumping. But on June 25th of that year, Princess Gao presented the empress dowager with a basket of ringing apricots."
Qiandeng has eaten this kind of apricots. They are as big as chicken eggs, and turn red, orange and yellow when ripe. The apricot kernel is separated from the shell, and it sounds like a bell when shaken. It is a specialty of Mianchi.
"Is it the bell-shaped apricot from Mianchi?"
Cui Fufeng was a man of great knowledge and a keen memory, and his forte was uncovering secrets amidst piles of old papers. "Yes, and the records in the Imperial Divination Office show that Yan Penglai took leave to return home in May of that year, returning to Beijing in late June to conclude his leave."
It was a small incident two years ago, and there was no evidence to prove that Princess Gao's ringing apricots came from Yan Penglai, but this detail was too coincidental.
Her eyes gradually became clearer. "Mr. Cui, I have a general understanding of the current situation. However, I still need your help."
As she spoke, her eyes fell on the wound on his left shoulder, and she felt guilty but also a little relieved: "It's a good thing you injured your left shoulder, otherwise if your right hand couldn't be used, our show wouldn't be able to go on."
Cui Fufeng lowered his eyes to glance at the wound and understood her intention.
"Okay, then leave the most important props for the County Lady's scene to me."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com