“Sister Su, my mom asked me to bring some hot water for you.” Erya said with a string of copper coins in hand. Erya knew Zhang’s situation. Her mother also gave Zhang some porridge secretly out of pity.
“My mom told me we couldn’t take this money. Sister Su, please keep it.”
Su Muge didn’t receive it. “This is for you, please take it. I need your help after a while.”
“If there’s anything you need, just say.”
Considering Zhang’s situation, Su Muge didn’t stand on ceremony so she told her what she needed. Leaving Erya to look after Su Muge, she went to the end of the village with Hutou and asked the only barefoot doctor in the village for some medicine for Zhang.
Zhang’s leg had begun to rot. The rotten meat must be cut out, or the leg would be useless.
She was poisoned but she did not dare to use her power on the palm since she had not grasped the use of it herself.
It was late after everyth
With her lips slightly raised up, Su Muge managed to smile, but there was no such emotion in her eyes. It was such a pity that her emotion was ignored by those people because they were overwhelmed by the things she possibly had brought back.“I left all the things in town. I’ll bring them to grandma when I go back.”Now that they had got the answer, the Zhao families dispersed after a few more casual words with Su Muge.Zhao Ming offered to accommodate her by letting her share a bedroom with his eldest daughter but was refused. He was told that she had to take care of Zhang. “Do you know what good stuff has your little sister brought us? Dalang is going to make a proposal, and a gift from the city will be perfect with dignity.” Wang went back to her room, and the greed on her face was too obvious to cover.Zhao Shun was sitting aside, and those words reminded him of that dirty yet delicate face of Su Muge.
It was almost noon when they arrived in town. Su Muge first went to the pharmacy to buy medicine and then bought some warm winter clothes for Zhang. With all those done, she returned to the town gate, waiting for Zhao Dalang. Soon Zhao Dalang returned with a jar of liquor and a basket.He put them away on the cart, groped up and down in his clothes for the oiled paper bag, and handed it over to Su Muge. “It’s already afternoon. You must be hungry, right? I bought you a dough cake made from distillers’ grains. It’s sweet.”Shopping for grandma was Su Muge’s top priority, so she forgot to eat something for lunch. It would still take about another one or two hours before they could get back, and she didn’t want to be hungry in this long trip. She reached out her hands and took over the bag as Zhao Dalang was looking at her, expectantly and carefully.“Thank you very much.”Zhao Dalang burst into laughter as he gave it to
“My Lord, Madam, we’re useless servants and deserve to die. We failed our duty to protect the eldest Miss.”In the central room of the Su Mansion, two maids, three bodyguards and a carriage driver were making kowtows with deep grief on their faces. They were the servants who had escorted Su Muge to the Zhao family in Nancheng prefecture.An frowned with worries. “My Lord, what should we do? If anything bad happened to that child, Muge...”Su Lun didn’t look well, either, with his face in pale. It was not Su Muge’s situation that he was concerned about, but the fact that he had lost one of his chess pieces, which was stifling.“You useless things! You couldn’t even protect the eldest Miss. What’s the point of keeping you in the mansion!” Su Lun shouted out with anger.“My Lord, please have mercy on us. We were passing a wood when it was getting dark. We wanted to go to the nearest inn as soon as possible, but the eldest
Su Muge first felt the pulse of the old lady, and found that her heart was beating very fast, and her pulse was slippery, which indicated that her sickness was caused by the phlegm. She then put her head on the old lady’s chest and listened for a while. She vaguely heard some sounds of breathing like snoring.When she had finished checking the old lady’s coating on the tongue, she was affirmative that the phlegm in her chest was the essential problem. Once the damp-phlegm was stuck in one’s vessels, a person could easily be stifled to death.She quickly took out the two silver needles with her, sterilized them with the flame on the small table, pulled aside the front part of the robe on the old lady, and pricked the needles in.The maid watched all those in astonishment. Speaking of acupuncture, people in the state of Chu also did this to the patients. However, due to various body conditions, the acupoints and meridians were very difficult to r
Madam Meng was a typical woman from a region south of the Yangtze River. She had a petite body and a delicate face. There was gentleness and warmth coming out from every behavior of hers. With the similar age as An, though, she looked younger than An, even if An had always cared about her own body beauty and health.“Long time no see, Madam Meng.” An went forward with a smile.With a mild and pleasant expression on her face, Madam Meng glanced at Su Jingwen. Standing by An’s side, Su Jingwen looked back as if she was a bit distracted. Madam Meng quickly looked away and put her eyes back on An.“Definitely. A few days ago, I heard that Old Lady Meng was coming back, and has been busy preparing for her arrival.”“We know your filial piety to the old lady better than anyone else. I still remembered that when Old Lady Meng was in her illness, you were there to look after her for three days and nights without even taking a bath.”
With words coming out from An in front of such a big crowd, it implied the fact that Su Muge did get off the carriage on her way.Old Lady Meng did not help Su Muge this time.There was coldness in her eyes when Su Muge looked down, and then it turned into hatred when she raised her eyes to face An.“Well, so it was not Madam that had arranged those sly servants to leave me alone off the carriage?” Her voice was not loud, but enough for all the people presented to hear clearly.Although shocked inside and grabbed her handkerchief with much strength intuitively, An appeared calm with her breath eased when thinking of the servants would no doubt listen to her command. “Muge, how, how could you think your father as such a person? The bodyguards were all selected by him in person, and how could they hurt you?”An was not that stupid, so she didn’t mention a word about the maids she had arranged but only the b
“Eldest Miss is going to throw Young Master into the water. What are you waiting for? Go and stop her!” An’s face was ferocious and she tore apart her camouflage.Her cold and piercing voice stimulated all the young and old maids around, and they all hurried towards Su Muge and circled her around.Su Muge adjusted the position of little Wenmo in her arms.“Miss, you go first with Young Master. I’ll stay and fight against them.” Yueru insisted on protecting Su Muge and her brother even though she was afraid herself. Her lips were trembling with fear.“You are indeed very brave, but with your arms and legs thin like this, you’d better take Young Master with you and let me stay.” Su Muge put little Wenmo in Yueru’s arms, and kept them behind her.“What are you doing? Hurry up and grab them!” An stared at Su Muge with her face twisted. She believed that with so many people stopping them, Su Muge would be defeated with the
“Miss, here we are.” Yueru jumped off the carriage first, and then helped Su Muge to get down.“Why, why haven’t you put on your veil cap today?!”When Su Muge raised her head, she saw Su Lun staring at her three steps away. Su Lun didn’t see her until now since he had been seated in his carriage before Su Muge had arrived at their gate back at home.She had worn her veil yesterday and he had felt everything was in normal. But now with that veil cap off and showing out her real face, it was too obvious for others to see her ugly dark red birthmark in the sun!“Come on! Take the veil hat out and help the eldest Miss to put it on!”The coldness and calmness in Su Muge’s eyes were not vulnerable towards the fury and dislike on Su Lun’s face. “Father, I did not take the veil hat with me.”“You, you...”The words were not finished when the butler of the Meng family, who had been waiting, came out a