Chapter 359 A new definition of Helen of Troy

He Danggui retreated her hand and pushed him and the purplish-red horse to leave the brothel. She urged, “It’ll be serious to keep the poison in his body. The earlier you remove it, the better it will be. I know Meng Xuan is strong so you are not worried about him at all, but robust people will also get weak if they are injured. However strong Meng Xuan is, he’s still an ordinary human. You should care more about him and look after him well these days. I’ll thank you for that in the future, okay?”

Meng Xuan asked in suspicion, “Why do you treat him so well now? You not only risked your life to find the antidote for him and requested me to take care of him but also wanted to thank me? Miss He, when did you become so noble?” He still remembered how she dealt with her aunt so ruthlessly and would think about it sometimes.

They could never let such a cold-blooded woman become a member of Meng’s Family. This was what he had thought about firmly while he was witnessing the situation back then. Here was the theory supporting his thought. He had long since heard from Yi Tong that Meng Xuan had always been in unrequited love with He Danggui. It was only his own wishful thinking. Such a relationship would never end well. It would only bring disasters to Meng’s Family and caused trouble to let her be Meng Xuan’s wife.

Thus, Meng Ying made that deal with Duan Xiaolou and “sold” He Danggui to him in exchange for the rapport between imperial guards and Qiyanggong Sect. It could minimize the casualties and conflict and also help them work together to deal with other forces. However, before Meng Ying could notify Meng Xuan and asked him to cut imperial guards some slack, Meng Xuan had come to them with his subordinates and made their main force suffer a great loss. Meanwhile, he had broken the balance maintained by various forces as well.

Instantly, people involved in this matter had all heard that “imperial guards got weak now”. Southwest Alliance with Longhu Sect led by Nie Chun as its head, Wuying Tower led by Chang Nuo and Qi Xuanyu, and other forces all intended to take action. They wanted to take advantage of the situation and eliminate a powerful opponent to them in the Wulin Assembly at the Lantern Festival ten days later. Once imperial guards were completely annihilated in Yangzhou City, the one that had to bear the brunt and take the emperor’s fury would be Han Fei, the Senior Governor of Yangzhou City. He would be ousted even if he didn’t need to die. Then, a new governor couldn’t be appointed in time and there would be no leader for Yangzhou Government Office. At that time, all forces would be able to fish in troubled waters and plan their next steps.

Currently, there were several hidden forces in Yangzhou City. Imperial guards, the imperial envoy, Southwest Alliance, Wuying Tower, and Qiyanggong Sect that was known as “First Xuan Sect” and had more than ten thousand followers, none of them belonged to the two biggest forces. The real dragons were still hiding in deeper waters and waiting for opportunities. They watched these people fighting fiercely and brutally. Although the two biggest forces were closely related to the government and had ties of kinship with the royal family, neither of them was controlled by the emperor.

That meant under this circumstance when what happened to a small part might affect the whole, the biggest forces and initiative were not under the emperor’s control. Obviously, it was a sign of the birth of great chaos under heaven when the supreme power fell into others’ hands. This happened to coincide with the celestial anomalies seen in Yangzhou City recently. Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang had invited several masters of astrology to analyze those anomalies, but who would dare to be honest with the emperor even if they had understood the implication? As the emperor’s health was deteriorating, he became more and more ruthless and showed the craziness of a dying man.

Some of the masters even foresaw the falling of Polaris and Donglin Star that would take its place hadn’t been in the position yet and just showed very dim light. Didn’t it mean there would be great chaos and the transfer of imperial power? Thus, those seers chose to remain silent together.

Things that had happened “once” before were happening “again” unconsciously around He Danggui. Even she couldn’t help being involved. Moreover, if she thought it over, she would find the source of these things was that based on a celestial anomaly she knew in her previous life, she framed some relatively true cases against Sun Meiniang who had made her suffer a lot in the previous life. Originally, it was just a family affair that had no effect on the overall situation, but when Meng Ying saw what she did, he had a bad impression of her and decided to give her to someone that could handle her. That resulted in a series of things happening later.

That was to say, He Danggui inadvertently became a fuse of a historical event. Some would call such a woman “Helen of Troy”. Although she had been through these things in her previous life and believed she could handle well the complicated people and matters, take action based on the pace of history, and settle everything with little effort, she never thought “a killing caused by Sun Meiniang” would happen.

Looking at He Danggui’s pale forehead and the pinky surrounded by evil gas, Meng Ying couldn’t help asking, “Please forgive my bluntness. Miss He, you’re the most cold-blooded and selfish woman I’ve ever met. People all say no benefits, no getting up early. What you’re doing now is just like you intend to give up your life in exchange for Meng Xuan’s. What’s your purpose by doing this?”

He Danggui made a sharp sneer and nodded. She replied, “I didn’t expect that the person knowing me the best would be you, Third Childe. It’s very amazing that you can see through me like this. Yes, I’m just so selfish and cold-blooded. If I had chosen it again, I would never have gone to find the antidote for Meng Xuan. To be honest, I’ve been regretting it so much on my way back to the city. However, the smartest people will get fooled, and the most cold-blooded ones will be silly sometimes and show some useless mercy. Anyway, the die is cast. Please cherish the rewards of my effort.”

Staring at Meng Ying’s beard and wrinkles that made him look old, He Danggui suddenly had such a thought: he looked more like Meng Xuan’s father than Meng Shan, a “father” that was so troublesome. What about she didn’t help him recover and kept him being an old man like this? Then, he wouldn’t be able to seduce girls with his handsome face.

Meng Ying blinked and didn’t know whether she was telling the truth or just saying so because of anger. Tidying up the emerald ribbons dangling from his bun, he shook his head and sighed before saying, “You’re such a strange woman. I don’t even know you superficially. I’m really curious if somebody in the world can read your mind. Anyway,” He kept the box behind his belt buckle and finally said something reasonable, “you’ve saved half of Meng Xuan’s life. I thank you for him. We’ll return the favor and I won’t forget it.”

“It’s enough to know me superficially.” He Danggui said with a smile, “After all, not everyone has good minds. As for your thanking me, I’ll take it. Maybe someday I will request you some things.”

Walking out of the back alley with the horse for a short distance, Meng Ying looked back and asked, “How can my face recover? I tried to wash it and pull it off with my hands, but this white beard seemed to have grown out of my face. It hurts when I pull it.” While saying so, he pulled it again to show He Danggui and tried if he could pull off the hateful beard. He Danggui thought for a while. Meng Ying had an acquaintance with Chang Nuo and his friends. Even if she didn’t give him Skin Mask Remover, he also knew Chang Nuo and Lord Ning had grasped the disguise skill. If he met them with such an old face, they might find that she also grasped that skill instead. No, she shouldn’t fool Meng Ying anymore. There were lots of chances to trick this dandy in the future. Skin Mask Remover… She seemed to haven’t put it in her room. Bai Yangbai lived in Luo’s Mansion now and he must have carried it, but did he know Meng Ying? No, she couldn’t let the two of them meet each other. Bai Yangbai was using a false identity as well and he even had “an improper thought” about her. How could she introduce Meng Ying to him?

After considering it carefully, she said to Meng Ying, “It’s very easy to remove the mask. As long as you wash your face with a kind of special remover, you can peel off the whole mask without damaging it and save it for long-term use in the future. As for the remover, I don’t have it in my house. You can go to Quan Ji Tang and ask the shopkeeper for it by telling him it’s Miss Xue who asks you to go there. Or you can go to Guan’s Mansion or Lu’s Mansion to find a young lady named Liao Qing’er. Just explain the whole thing to her and she will lend you some of it.”

Meng Ying listened to her carefully and remembered every word. Then, he mounted the horse and bid farewell to her, “Take care of yourself, too. Don’t ride the horse anymore. You can rent a sedan with soft chairs and look for your antidote by it. It’ll be bad if your fetal qi is disturbed.” He waved the horsewhip and ran with the horse fast.

He Danggui’s smile froze immediately and got speechless because of his last sentence. The cold rain fell on her head and reminded her of what happened last time in Depositary of Buddhist Texts. Chubby Zhu talked about nonsense at that time and said she was pregnant because her breasts got plumper suddenly. Both Chang Nuo and Meng Ying heard it. Then, Chang Nuo told Bai Yangbai about it. Now, she had explained it to Chang Nuo and Bai Yangbai. Only Meng Ying who was very stubborn still didn’t believe her words no matter how she explained it. It was very annoying. Did he just subconsciously want something like that to happen to her and Meng Xuan could abandon her for it?

She sighed at this messy situation. Before turning around to go in Yi Hong Brothel, she stood at the entrance of the alley in the rain for a while. She wanted to “borrow” a horse from the stable, but she saw two red lanterns hanging at the gate of the mansion diagonally across from the brothel. The warm light and cold rain produced a quiet atmosphere. He Danggui suddenly remembered that Gao Jue seemed to have said he forgot the antidote of He Qi Ri Qing at his house… Gao Jue might only have this one house… The owner was not at home now so she could sneak in and look for the antidote…

It was in the middle of this rainy night. This was the situation in the dungeon of Bing Hua Dian Inn in Ten Mile Slope outside the city.

“Mr. Duan, are you awake?” Xue Xiao helped Duan Xiaolou up from the bed and asked with care, “How are you feeling? Do you want some water?”

Duan Xiaolou came to himself and struggled to get up. Looking around, he failed to recognize the place instantly because he had never lived in a dungeon and seldom came down to this deserted place, either. However, he only cared about one thing after waking up. He asked, “Where is she? What did Liao Zhiyuan do to her?”

Xue Xiao immediately replied with the words Lu Jiangbei asked him to recite, “Miss He is amazing. She defeated Mr. Liao quickly and pricked him into a coma with needles. She wasn’t hurt at all and had left the inn to find medicine to treat you.” Xue Xiao added some new words himself, “But maybe she was just afraid of what’s happening here so she ran away. Mr. Duan, don’t worry. As far as I know, this woman is so smart and cunning. No one can hurt her and it’s always her that makes others suffer instead. You can see it by looking at how Du Yao and Mr. Liao are now.”

“What happened to Liao Zhiyuan?” Duan Xiaolou widened his eyes in confusion, “He passed out?” How could that be possible?

“Yes.” Xue Xiao nodded and answered, “That woman pricked his face with lots of needles. That looked so hurtful. We’ve removed them with a magnet and there are thirty-three needles in total, exactly the number the woman has told us. But we don’t know why Mr. Liao still doesn’t wake up now. Based on what the woman has said, he should’ve long since woken up.” Duan Xiaolou felt hot all over his body and even the ice mask on his face seemed to begin melting. He asked weakly, “Why is it so hot? Do we have many stoves in here?”

Xue Xiao made a wild guess again, “I think it is probably done by Miss He. She persuaded us to get in the dungeon and locked it up. Then, she set a fire outside and intended to burn or roast us to death. She must have blamed us for treating her rudely before.”

Duan Xiaolou didn’t comment on it and asked again, “Is Jiangbei also in the dungeon? What did he say?”

Xue Xiao shook his head and sighed. After remaining silent for a long while, he began to tell the whole thing, “It’s also caused by that woman. She left a note in a wax pill and gave it to Master Lu. He opened it and read it. Then, he went out of the dungeon alone and still hasn’t come back yet. We don’t even know if he’s still alive and are worried about him very much. He might have been hurt internally so bad and shouldn’t move fiercely. And the two legs of General Gao can’t move now. He looked even worse than he did before that woman gave the treatment. General Jiang has left early. I don’t know if he is out to look for a backup or just has been killed. Now, none of the twenty-one men in this dungeon can fight with enemies. Mr. Duan, maybe we will be completely annihilated this time at the hands of a young woman. It’s so wronged to die like this. I didn’t expect that she would be so ruthless to even sacrifice your life. She is indeed Helen of Troy.”