Volume One: Spring Lock in the Garden of Liao, Chapter 15: Chronic Poison
Ruan Bi flipped through her homemade calendar and saw that Dong Xue had been gone for seven days. She should have already passed the Si River and was heading south along the Yangtze River...
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps came from the outer room. Then, Huaihua lifted the curtain and rushed into the room with a gust of wind, shouting, "Miss, Sister-in-law Luo said that paper, brushes and ink are prepared for the young masters. Why would a young lady need so much paper and ink?" As she spoke, she looked at Ruan Bi with burning eyes, without any restraint.
Sister-in-law Luo was originally a maidservant of the First Madam. She married the son of Luo Shan, a servant of the First Madam, and was in charge of the supplies for each courtyard. She was one of the First Madam's confidantes, and her attitude usually reflected that of the First Madam. This was yet another powerful wife-in-law who was giving her attitude, following the increasingly perfunctory meals prepared by the kitchen staff.
“Girl, say something! There’s no paper left. Does that mean you can’t send the calligraphy to the second young lady?” Huaihua said loudly, her tone quite gloating.
"Huaihua, what are you yelling about? Do you need to meddle in a girl's affairs?" Granny Tang said as she lifted the curtain and came in, glaring at Huaihua. However, this glare was different from before. Before, it was full of murderous intent, but this time it had a hint of winking.
The old woman turned to look at Ruan Bi, smiling ingratiatingly. "Girl, all those nannies are like that, don't pay them any mind... How about this, I'll go out and run an errand for you and buy some paper."
Knowing Sima Zhao's intentions, Ruan Bi was amused and said, "Grandma, you're so old, how can I let you run errands? Perhaps the warehouse is just out of paper. Don't worry, we can go get more in a few days."
The smile on the hot water bottle's face suddenly vanished, and she said with a long face, "Then it's up to you, miss." She turned and walked out of the room, forgetting all the rules.
Huaihua let out a mocking laugh and walked away as well.
Through the curtain, you could see that Hot Water Bottle and Locust Flower were standing not far from the doorway. Although you couldn't hear them, you could sense that they were discussing something. There was a strange, oppressive atmosphere in the air, which made Ruan Bi feel that danger was quietly approaching.
At noon, Ruan Bi suddenly heard Huaihua and Chamei say, "From now on, I'll go to the kitchen to get the food."
Tea Girl said, "No need, I'll do it."
Huaihua said with a hint of sympathy, "It's settled then, Tea Girl, you'd better listen to me."
Tea Girl immediately fell silent.
The sound of locust blossoms' footsteps faded away.
"It's easier to deal with Yama than with his underlings." Ruan Bi closed her eyes wearily, wondering if her personality had become weaker after transmigrating into this frail body. Why was she not as decisive as before? However, after thinking about it, she didn't feel that she had done anything wrong.
The sound of footsteps came from the outer room to the inner room. Ruan Bi opened her eyes, looked at the food box that Huaihua was carrying, and approached with a strange smile on her face.
"Miss, lunch is ready." Huaihua said, taking a bowl of rice from the cafeteria. With a flick of her wrist, the rice spilled onto the floor. She exclaimed, "Oh dear, I'm so sorry, I spilled the rice. Why don't you have some vegetables instead..." Then she brought out the vegetables and spilled them on the floor, exclaiming dramatically, "Oh dear, I spilled those too! Please don't be mad at me, miss..."
She was putting on a show, enjoying herself immensely. Ruan Bi watched her expressionlessly, slowly reaching into the drawer, grasping the paper cutter, then immediately letting go. Huaihua was tall and strong, having done manual labor since childhood; her own frail body was no match for her. If she were to resort to violence, things would completely fall apart.
"Oh dear, I spilled it again..." Huaihua was still happily playing the game of spilling vegetables.
Ruan Bi withdrew her hand, slowly raised it, and then clapped.
Huaihua looked at her in surprise.
Ruan Bi stared at her with icy eyes for a moment before asking, "Are you planning to spill the food like this every day and starve me to death?"
Huaihua was a little uneasy and couldn't speak for a moment.
"If you're trying to get me to pay for your meal this way, let me tell you..." Ruan Bi raised an eyebrow, her tone icy, "...absolutely impossible. If I die, I'll drag you down to hell with me. You'd better stop this trick and get out of here."
Huaihua had never encountered such a forceful person before. Intimidated by the sharp aura emanating from her, she lost all her previous arrogance and hurriedly ran out. Ruan Bi bent down, picked out some clean pieces of the spilled food, and slowly ate. In this extraordinary situation, who cared about cleanliness or saving face? If she couldn't eat her fill and didn't have the strength, then she would have to let them do as they pleased.
A corner of the curtain was lifted, revealing a pair of triangular eyes that darted around.
Ruan Zhu caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of her eye, but pretended not to see it and focused on eating her meal.
After thinking for a while, Granny Tang lifted the curtain and came in, her face full of righteous indignation. "That little slut, how dare she treat a young lady like this... Young lady, it's all because this old woman is old and weak. I can't out-argue her, and I can't beat her in a fight..." She pulled out a handkerchief to wipe away her tears.
Ruan Bi felt a mouthful of rice stuck in her throat, and she couldn't swallow it down.
I'm so fed up. I have to act out these two pretentious little people every day. I really want to tear off all their pretenses and give them a good scolding. Ruan Bi used a lot of strength to restrain this impulse, swallowed the food stuck in her throat, and said, "Grandma, don't cry. I know you're a good person."
"Thank you for your understanding, young lady. That little bitch will get what's coming to her sooner or later."
"As the Buddhists say, good deeds bring good rewards and evil deeds bring evil consequences. It's not that retribution won't come, it's just that the time hasn't arrived yet."
Upon hearing the drumbeat, Tang Pozi stopped crying and thought to herself, "This girl is only thirteen years old, how come she's even more difficult to deal with than those adult concubines from before?"
In the evening, Tea Girl went to collect the meal again, but the food was very ordinary and had no oil at all.
Ruan Bi felt a strange unease, so she asked Cha Mei to buy some pastries and hide them away.
Huaihua no longer goes into the inner room. She usually either lies on the couch in the outer room eating melon seeds or strolls around in the garden. Most of the chores fall on Chamei. Fortunately, she used to be a maid in the outer courtyard who served dishes and water, so she has developed physical strength and never complains.
Three days later, at noon that day, the locust flower that had disappeared early in the morning suddenly reappeared and insisted on going to the canteen to get food. After bringing back the food, she diligently placed it on the table, put on a smile and said to Ruan Bi, "Miss, I was rude a few days ago. Please don't take offense. I will definitely serve you with all my heart from now on."
"That's the best way to put it," Ruan Bi said calmly, looking at the food, which was clean and free of sand or insects.
"Miss, please have your meal."
Unable to figure out her intentions, Ruan Bi could only stall. "Let it stay, I'm not hungry right now."
"It won't be good if it gets cold. You should use it soon, young lady. The doctor said your stomach shouldn't eat raw or cold food."
Her eagerness made Ruan Bi even more hesitant to eat. After thinking for a moment, she picked up a mouthful of rice, put it in her mouth, pretended to chew for a while, and said, "The rice is too dry. Can Huaihua pour me a glass of water?"
Huaihua readily agreed and turned to pour water. Ruanbi took the opportunity to spit her rice into the drawer, then poured in half a bowl of rice from her own bowl. When Huaihua returned with the water, she saw that half a bowl of rice had been gone, and a hint of joy flashed in her eyes. She said, "Miss, eat slowly, the water is here."
Ruan Bi had been watching her expression closely, and naturally didn't miss the fleeting joy in her eyes. With a warning bell ringing in her heart, she put down her chopsticks and said, "Perhaps it's because of the hot weather, I don't have much of an appetite, I can't eat anymore."
Huaihua didn't say anything more, took the food and went out.
Ruan Bi stood up, pretending to go to sleep, and closed the door. Then she put the rice from the drawer into a lacquer tray and placed it under the bed. The house was a bit old and rats often appeared.
At dusk, Huaihua rushed to get the food again, but Ruanbi still dared not eat, only nibbling on some pastries when she was really hungry. She got up early the next morning and saw that most of the food under the bed was gone, but there was no sign of the rat's corpse, which reassured her slightly. Then she thought, perhaps the medicine was taking effect slowly, and the rat had run back to its hole and died. She should wait a while; the weather was hot, and if the rat died, it would quickly start to stink.
She still dared not eat the food Huaihua brought, only putting a little bit of food under her bed each day. She ate nothing but pastries every day for several days, growing increasingly hungry and weak, yet she still hadn't seen a dead rat or smelled any rotting flesh. Ruan Bi wondered to herself, "Am I just being paranoid?"
Once you think about it that way, it becomes very difficult to keep going.
That evening, Huaihua brought over the food, which Ruan Bi ate clean. She hadn't had a hot meal in several days, and her stomach felt warm and comfortable. She took a nap on the chaise lounge. Suddenly, she heard two weak squeaking sounds. Puzzled, she jumped off the chaise lounge, lifted the sheet, and saw a mouse slowly crawling to the food and eating. After finishing, it slowly crawled away.
Ruan Bi suddenly realized that it was a slow-acting poison.
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