Volume 8 Songs of Courtyard Flowers – Chapter 351 This love remained painful memories

After resting for fifteen minutes, the blue light in Lu Jiangbei’s eyes finally faded away and looked more normal and cordial. However, Gao Jue’s boots were still covered with thin frost, which meant he still couldn’t walk upright.

He Danggui thought it was weird and got some methods that could help relieve his symptom. However, she remembered when Liao Zhiyuan acted rudely to her, she wanted help from Gao Jue who was her master and brother-in-law, but he didn’t intend to save her at all. He just let Liao Zhiyuan grab her and insult her frivolously. She almost got killed. Although Gao Jue was injured on feet and couldn’t save her, his cold attitude did hurt her feelings. A vengeful person like her would never cure him unless he apologized to her.

Looking at He Danggui, Gao Jue raised his eyebrow and asked, “You asked Duan Xiaolou to wait for you? What do you mean by that? Elaborate it so that I can tell him clearly.”

He Danggui kept silent for a while before telling Gao Jue what to say, “I want him to take good care of himself. I have a slight knowledge of medicine so I want to check on his injury. I’ll come back for him after I get my medical kit, so… please ask him to take care of himself.”

Gao Jue replied in a cold voice, “That’s all?”

He Danggui tried to make herself look calm. Her hands under the sleeves got sweaty, and it made the wound on her right hand hurt much. She nodded and said, “I have already had an engagement with someone and we’ll get married soon, so that’s it.” Meng Xuan was waiting for her at home. She decided to love him. Only him. Thus, that was all.

Meng Xuan was the one for her and he was waiting for her to come home. She should remember this all her life. Otherwise, she was afraid that sometimes, she might lose control and do something bad that would hurt Meng Xuan or cause some misunderstandings for Duan Xiaolou. Therefore, to nip in the bud, she needed to tell others she had an engagement. And at the same time, she could remind herself that she could only say “I like you” to Meng Xuan and her apologies were always for Duan Xiaolou.

Gao Jue frowned and looked at He Danggui. He sneered and said, “Then, why are you coming back to him? You don’t need to. You can just stay at home and wait for the wedding day.”

Lu Jiangbei pushed Gao Jue and denied his words, “Ms. He, you should come by. We need you to take care of Duan when he wakes up, and I also want you to help me with something. Actually, after we came to Yangzhou City, I wanted to ask you for a favor, but it was not appropriate to visit you directly. I was afraid that it might disturb your peaceful life. However, after hesitating for long, I still think you’re the best person to do it.” Seeing He Danggui staring at him curiously and waiting for him to continue, he smiled and kept her guessing, “It’s still uncertain if we can overcome the current difficulty. We can talk about this in the future. It’s an official affair. I hope you won’t reject it at that time, and I’ll thank you lavishly.”

“I’m so confused now. Let’s talk about it later, then. I’m also living in the moment, so I don’t want to make a promise easily.” He Danggui also smiled, “However, I should come by. Honestly, though I had stopped the poison on the key thrown over by Master Gao before with the needle in my palm, I was indeed poisoned slightly. He He Qi Ri Qing is really vicious. Now the poison has been blocked in my right pinkie. If you don’t give me the antidote in 24 hours, I’ll lose a finger. Thus, I hope Master Lu can help me find the antidote.”

Hearing it, Lu Jiangbei came up and checked her right hand immediately. Holding her slender hand, he did find a subtle black scratch in her palm and some evil gas was around it. Her pinkie got purple. Lu Jiangbei shook his head and disapproved, “It’ll be dangerous. You shouldn’t move at all since you’re poisoned with He He Qi Ri Qing. Go hide in the dungeon, too. As for the medicine you need to cure Duan, I can ask Xue Xiao to find it. It won’t take long.”

He Danggui refused and said, “I made the medicine myself. He won’t find it easily. Moreover, after you all get in the dungeon, I will exert a tactical matrix called “Stone Camouflage” outside. With it, I guarantee none of the enemies can find the entrance of the dungeon even if they stay here for a whole day. Oh, right. I’ll need some little stones to do that. Please prepare dozens of them. The more you get, the better it’ll be.”

Lu Jiangbei was amazed. Exerting a tactical matrix? She? How could it be possible? There were hundreds of elites of liberal and martial arts among Imperial Guards, but he didn’t hear that any of them knew such a thing!

But He Danggui looked so serious and it couldn’t be a joke. Thus, Lu Jiangbei chose to trust her this time because he got no better solution now. Before they arrived at this restaurant, at least over one hundred masters had gathered in Ten-mile Slope. He guessed they were waiting for the rain. The sky had been cloudy since the morning. It seemed there must be a torrential rain in the afternoon or at dusk. By virtue of the rain, the surprise attack would work better. If it weren’t for their surveillants hiding at the fork in the road that people must pass to enter or leave the city, they might haven’t known it and were still sleeping or fighting.

Therefore, Lu Jiangbei asked again to confirm it, “You do can exert a tactical matrix? And you need little stones?”

He Danggui nodded and said, “Both big and little stones are good. The more, the better. This is the only one I’ve learned. I learned it from Taoist Sage, Bai Yangbai, in Chengxu Academy three years ago. I’m quite good at it, so you don’t need to doubt it and just stay in the dungeon quietly. Then, those enemies won’t find you even if they have brilliant hearings.”

“Taoist Sage?” Lu Jiangbei was more shocked, “You can even have a friendly relationship with Bai Yangbai and have learned a tactical matrix from him?” It was said that Bai Yangbai was very good at exerting tactical matrices and all of them were created by Bai Yangbai alone. If people used them properly, they would allow people to connect to the heaven and spirits, control the forces of nature, and succeed in everything. Bai Yangbai even taught a young woman such a profound skill? What relationship did they have?

He Danggui nodded again, “I only learned this one. Back then Taoist Sage was a teacher in Chengxu Academy. One day he was short of money and I lent him some, but he failed to return it. He has a virtuous character and didn’t want to be in debt, so he taught me a tactical matrix to pay back before he left the academy.” Under the influence of Bai Yangbai, she could tell lies very calmly without a stutter now.

Lu Jiangbei believed what she said, or maybe he was just like a drowning man who clutched at a straw. Anyway, he smiled and agreed, “Okay. I’ll go out to make some arrangements. Please wait a minute here.” Then, he swung the hem of his robe and was about to leave the room.

He Danggui stopped him immediately and presented him a piece of thin paper with both hands, on which she just finished drawing. She explained, “It’s just a draft of the tactical matrix. I need an empty space that is about fourteen meters long and seven meters wide. The closer it is to the entrance of the dungeon, the better it will be. Please clear such a place for me, and splash water on it to make it half wet. Thank you.”

Seeing the draft was drown quite well, Lu Jiangbei looked at her with more admiration and trust. He smiled and corrected her, “You don’t have to be so polite. We did have offended you before. If it were anyone else, they would’ve become our enemies, but you return good for evil. You choose to help us, so I should thank you. If we can overcome this, I’ll do whatever for you as long as you need it.”

These words were so warm that even a hardhearted woman like He Danggui would be moved. Therefore, she also replied in that way, “I said this three years ago. I’m very grateful to all of you not just because of the gold lock. Your approachable personality also encouraged and guided me a lot at that time. The grace of dripping water should be reciprocated by a gushing spring. This is my wish and it will never change. Please forgive my talking wildly. Maybe in the future you will need my help. At that time, I hope you could abandon your stereotypes and cooperate with me. That will be beneficial to both of us.”

After hearing it, Lu Jiangbei put on a tenderer look. He even took a step forward and was about to tell her some secrets at such a life-or-death moment. However, Gao Jue cleared his throat loudly at this time and he said coldly to ruin the moment, “It may be too early for you to thank each other now. Some crises may occur later, so you shouldn’t be too positive about the situation. Jiangbei, we’re really short of time. You can catch up on the past next day. Didn’t you say you would enjoy tea together?” He said with a nasal voice slowly, which was full of sneers.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Lu Jiangbei apologized before walking out. He Danggui also took several steps forward and stuffed two wax pills into his hand. She said, “One of them is the antidote of icy Zhenqi. You gave me the whole box of pills as a “backup”, but you didn’t ask me how and why I would use them. I’m very thankful for this, so I gave you an antidote as a “backup” as well. Inside another wax pill, there is a brief note that is a “secret master plan” I made. Please open it when you’re in danger. Maybe it can solve your temporary difficulty. But remember not to open it randomly, or it will be useless.”

Lu Jiangbei accepted them, thanked her and walked away. He was very confused. Who on earth was He Danggui? Feeling curious about it, Lu Jiangbei clenched the two wax pills and decided to figure it out in the future.

Later, He Danggui turned around, walked back into the room and stood beside the bed. She handed another piece of paper to Du Yao and said to him with a serious look, “Mr. Du, believe it or not, I did get hurt internally when you hit me with your palm. I had no evil intent when I asked you to heal me. I didn’t know why it ended up like this. Your internal force just ran into my body suddenly like waves. You couldn’t stop it and I failed to resist it. Now your condition is not good. Master Gao and others feel sad, and I feel very guilty. I promise I’ll account for this. Master Gao can witness it. This is the IOU I’ve written. I will pay back and never break my promise.”

Du Yao was too weak to raise his arm. Gao Jue who was standing beside immediately took away the “IOU”. After reading it, he put on a weird look with a rare faint smile.