Chapter 350 The engagement was just a fraud

Suddenly silvery light flew over like rain!

He Danggui cast thirty-three long and fine needles, each of which was as subtle as her eyelash. This was a way to protect herself that she learned in Fantasy Dream. The needles were cast through her fingers. It was her first time using it, and Liao Zhiyuan became her first victim. Those thirty-three fine steel needles all hit on his face at eleven acupoints including Yintang, Tinggong, Yuyao, Shuaigu, Qingming, Ermen, Sukou, Jiache, Renzhong, Chengqi, and Xiaguan. Every one of them as well as their two accessory acupoints were pricked by needles. He Danggui had exerted the right amount of strength so that the needles didn’t prick them too deep but still hard to be removed by hand.

With his face covered with needles, Liao Zhiyuan gave a look of astonishment. Then, he fell backward and closed his eyes reluctantly.

Now it’s uncertain if Liao Zhiyuan was still alive. He Danggui was poisoned and passed out, but she could even fight back at that stage. As for Lu Jiangbei and Gao Jue, one of them was hurt internally, and the other relapsed. However, Lu Jiangbei cared more about another thing. He asked, “Du Yao, you said Ms. He was your wife? What’s going on? You…”

After shouting, Du Yao became much weak. He replied feebly, “It’s true. I was attracted by her beauty, so I proposed to her. She agreed, but she said she would only be my wife, and I should not marry anyone else in the future. I told her I got several concubines but haven’t had an engagement with anyone yet. If our families are almost of equal rank, I can fulfill all her conditions. Then, she said words alone were no proof, and I should write them down. Thus, I wrote down every word she said. It took me two hours to write the ‘engagement contract’ that had more than twenty pages. They were on the table before, but…”

“Engagement contract?” Lu Jiangbei looked at He Danggui in shock, and continued, “Why would a woman ask a man for an engagement contract? Even though you wrote it down, it had no legal effect.”

He Danggui smiled but said nothing. She bent several needles into the hook shape and pinned up her night suit whose buttons were all gone. She looked calm and did it unhurriedly, instead of being shy or flustered because of those men’s gaze. But Lu Jiangbei and Gao Jue looked away at the same time.

Du Yao sighed and said, “Right. I was so pleased when she said yes that I would do anything she told me to, but now I understood. She was not asking for an engagement contract to protect her rights because she was afraid of my betrayal. She’s just stalling. Ms. He, you’ve never thought about marrying me, right?”

He Danggui went to the desk and sat down. She flipped the engagement contract at random, and then, threw it into a basin at her feet. She also tossed a part of Huo Zhe Zi into it. After the fire grew big, she nodded and said, “Right. I never thought about being your wife. I just did this to stall and relieve my acupoints that had been blocked. As for this engagement contract, people that have been married or have read the new law enacted last year would know such a personal agreement has no legal effect. Thus, I should just burn it.” She reached the ink slab on the right side and mocked at Du Yao while rubbing an ink stick, “Master Du, you’re a magistrate of a county and ten years older than me, but you didn’t even read laws. You do prefer martial arts to literature and overlook study.”

Du Yao looked sideways and saw the flaming paper in the basin. Hearing He Danggui’s cruel words, he felt his heart sinking and turned over on the bed to face inside. He closed his eyes with a grieved look and two teardrops fell on the pillow.

Seeing this, Gao Jue was angry and shouted at He Danggui, “Why did you cheat him? What kind of vicious trick did you use to take away all his internal force? He Danggui, who on earth are you?” When he saw Liao Zhiyuan lying on the floor unconsciously, he continued, “And what did you do to Lynx?”

He Danggui giggled and replied, “Master Gao, are you getting woozy because of the wound on your foot? If you think it over, you’ll see I’m the most innocent and helpless person. Yesterday, I tied my horse at the door of my house, but Master Du took it away. You know how lovely the horse is and how much I cherish it. Therefore, to find my claret horse, I left the city alone before dawn and arrived at this restaurant. I found people drinking inside were big shots. I was flustered and didn’t dare to go in. And I ran into several strangers outside and knew that they were going to attack those guests. I even sensed a smell of gunpowder on one of them. After my sincere persuasion, they finally canceled their plan.”

“Oh? Strangers!” Lu Jiangbei asked, “What do they look like? What did they say?”

He Danggui acted dumb and said, “They just look like… like humans, and wore clothes that were almost the same. I couldn’t see anything special. As for the details of our conversation, I can tell you in the future when we have time to enjoy tea and melon seeds. These are not important. The point is that I still remember Master Lu and you have helped me a lot three years ago. I often think about it and want to return the favor one day. Thus, when I knew those people were about to attack you with long-range offensive weapons like firearms while you had no preparation, I persuaded and cheated them immediately. I told them there were other ordinary guests inside, and they shouldn’t hurt innocent people. I also frightened them some masters hid in the restaurant as well. Finally, I scared them away.”

At this time, the fire in the basin was out and He Danggui also finished rubbing the ink stick. She extended a piece of paper with her fair hand and dipped a brush in the ink. Then, she began to paint. She kept complaining at the same time, “After they were gone, I came back right away to tell you about it so that you could keep alert or move to Mo Cha Mountain Villa, but I never thought the imperial guards were so rude. You’re government officers in robes with jade belts, but you’re nothing different from those bandits. You even grabbed a kind woman randomly in broad daylight. I couldn’t have any chance to explain before being knocked out. Then, I was abducted. As for what happened next, could you blame me for that? Master Gao, before asking me, shouldn’t you ask Master Du what he has done?”

Gao Jue glanced at Du Yao who was as weak as a dried leaf, and accused He Danggui again, “Why didn’t you just kill him directly? How could you do this? What weird martial arts are you practicing?”

He glanced at He Danggui vigilantly while she was focusing on painting. Now Lu Jiangbei and he were a lot weaker than usual. If He Danggui got some evil intents and attacked them in the way she treated Du Yao, the result would be very bad! What’s more, what exactly did she do to Liao Zhiyuan? He saw some silvery light just now and then, Liao Zhiyuan fell, but he remembered she couldn’t use hidden weapons. Did she have some hidden devices in her sleeves which could be used to kill them abruptly? Those weapons must be virulent.

After thinking about this, Gao Jue roared, “What happened to Liao Zhiyuan? Did you kill him?”

“I’m sorry. Believe it or not, I didn’t mean it. After Master Du’s internal force was taken away, not only he but also I felt pain. I didn’t know how to give it back to him.” He Danggui replied slowly while keeping painting, “As for Master Liao, he proved a saying. A tiger always wants to hurt men while men don’t intend to do that. He has never been so vicious before, but today he became an utterly different person. If it weren’t for the sake of Qing’er, I would’ve punished him worse. Last time Qing’er told me you had taken away several jars of wine from her and beaten Mater Liao so bad. Qing’er had also described the situation at that time. You were fighting at Yi Hong Brothel. Master Liao deliberately made chaos and smashed things randomly, but you were a hired guard and you didn’t dare to break the furniture, so you couldn’t fight freely. Later, you attacked Master Liao with your broadsword only at his face. He became panicked immediately and tried to defend himself. Gradually, he lost ground. Therefore, I guessed maybe his fatal weakness was on his face?”

She glanced at Liao Zhiyuan who was lying on the ground like a dead body. She said with a smile, “I happened to bring needles today, so I had a try. Judging from his condition now, I seem to be right.”

Seeing He Danggui being complacent and confident, Lu Jiangbei suddenly got angry and asked, “What needles did you use to prick him at his fatal weakness? Now the enemies are coming. He should have been the best fighter among us. Since you said you wanted to help us, why did you weaken our power?”

“He? How could he be the best fighter?” He Danggui sneered, “He looked like being witched and got so excited. You should feel lucky since he won’t hinder you. Master Lu, don’t worry. Though he wanted to kill me with his palm, I wouldn’t do that to him. My needles are as thin as hairs on an ox and there is only some anesthetic on them. They are just pricked at the surface of his face and haven’t reached his fatal weakness yet. He’ll wake up in less than half a day. Just don’t touch his face when you move him. You can remove all the thirty-three needles with a magnet. Make sure all the needles have been removed, or he may feel his face hurts when he’s awake.”

Hearing this silently, Lu Jiangbei kept looking at her. She had a fair complexion and looked indeed charming when she smiled gently, but she was entirely a mystery to anyone. He wondered if there was another person in the world that could read her mind except for herself. If women were like books, he totally believed so far not even a man had understood one page of her.

“Fine,” Lu Jiangbei felt helpless, “Lynx was indeed indocile recently. When he got stubborn, even I couldn’t command him. He’s passed out. Just put him into the dungeon and help him calm down.” It was just that Liao Zhiyuan was the only one that hadn’t been injured and now he couldn’t fight. It might be harder for them to win this defensive battle.

He Danggui shook her head and said firmly, “Not just him. You should make an order and ask everyone to hide in the dungeon!”

Lu Jiangbei was shocked and refuted right away, “Everyone? Absolutely not! No.”

“Why?” He Danggui felt strange.

Lu Jiangbei took a slow breath and explained briefly, “We came to Yangzhou City in batches and we had more than a hundred great martial artists with us. Until now, we’ve almost lost half of them in previous battles, and we still haven’t figured out the identity of the opponents yet. I guess they may want to kill all of us. We may get a chance if we fight back, but if we give up, we’ll be sitting ducks.”

He Danggui heard this confusing speech and couldn’t wait to ask, “Why did you imperial guards come to Yangzhou City? What territory are you fighting for? Or what things?”

Lu Jiangbei smiled and answered her with what she said before while she’s acting dumb, “It’s a long story that is hard to be explained clearly right now. I can tell you about it in the future when we have time to enjoy tea and melon seeds. These are not important. The point is that Ms. He, you have nothing to do with this. You can leave now or go hide in the dungeon with them. And by the way, you can help take care of Mr. Duan. What do you think?”

He Danggui thought for a while and asked, “Is there anything valuable in the restaurant? Master Lu, is the mysterious object you are fighting for here now?”

Lu Jiangbei paused and answered honestly, “No. It’s not. I have never seen it up to now.”

He Danggui nodded and said, “Okay. Please do as I say. I promise none of you will die. Everyone including Guan Zhan in the next room, you all go into the dungeon!”

“All of us?” Gao Jue squinted at her, “What about you?”

He Danggui secretly touched the green porcelain box with the antidote of cold poison. She was in a slight daze and said, “I have something urgent to do. I can’t stay here.”

“What about Duan Xiaolou?” Gao Jue asked, “He’ll look for you after he wakes up. He may not believe what we say. He may think you’re dead and want to find you. At least you should stay and meet with him one more time.”

“Ask him to wait for me. And Du Yao, please wait for me, too. I’ll come back for you,” He Danggui promised firmly, “All of you hear my words.”