Everyone except Sui Yunzhu was waiting outside the house.
An Jiu and Zhu Pianxian crouched by the stove, boiling water.
The silver needles in her body had long been removed, and her mental strength was now even stronger than before. She could even detect insects crawling in the grass outside, though the rate of depletion was several times faster than before.
"Aren’t you returning to the capital?" An Jiu asked her.
Zhu Pianxian replied, "The shopkeepers in the capital handle everything. There’s usually nothing for me to do, and there’s no new stock."
Plum Blossom Village wasn’t far from Bianjing, so when there was no need to produce new goods, they could communicate via carrier pigeons.
An Jiu couldn’t help but sigh, "It’s rare for you to part with your money!"
"I’ve always treated wealth like dirt!" Zhu Pianxian dusted off her hands and shot her a glance. "You don’t understand me. For someone like me, who makes money as easily as flowing water, I’ve never cared much for it."
Thus, Zhu Pianxian was only ever good at making money, not managing assets. If she earned ten taels, she would invest all ten as capital for another venture, unlike ordinary people who would keep a few taels as savings.
An Jiu looked at her plump face and suddenly thought of Yu Pianfei. "Has your brother come looking for you?"
"Him?" Zhu Pianxian grew uncharacteristically solemn for a moment before waving her hand dismissively. "What’s there to say about him? There’s been plenty of interesting news in Bianjing lately! The most amusing one is that the second son of the Hua Clan is getting married."
"The second son of the Hua Clan? Hua Rongjian?" An Jiu was surprised. Just a few days ago, they had been drinking together, and there had been no mention of him marrying!
"Mm." Zhu Pianxian’s burning gossip flames were already raging, impossible to extinguish even by a tidal wave. "I heard Prime Minister Hua requested the Emperor to arrange the marriage. The Emperor chose a woman from an ordinary family and decreed the match. Her name is An Shun."
Zhu Pianxian nudged her with an elbow. "Such a propitious name, don’t you think?"
"An Shun…" An Jiu murmured. "Is it her?"
"Who?" Zhu Pianxian was instantly intrigued. "You know An Shun?"
"No. I don’t." An Jiu shook off the chaotic thoughts, thinking that she and Hua Rongjian could be considered friends. As a friend, she ought to congratulate him on his marriage.
But as her thoughts wandered, she couldn’t help but dwell on the name An Shun. A fiery red figure abruptly surfaced in her mind.
Mei Ru Yan?
It couldn’t be such a coincidence, could it? Besides, Mei Ru Yan was infatuated with Mister Mo. From the looks of it, she intended to remain a widow for life. She wouldn’t marry someone else.
...
Inside the house, Mo Sigui’s progress in extracting the Gu was going relatively smoothly. However, using his true energy to locate the Gu through pulse diagnosis had exhausted all his strength, so he had to use golden needles to immobilize the Gu first.
He rested his head on the table for an hour before continuing the extraction.
Last time, Mo Sigui’s use of true energy had startled the Gu. Though he had used medicine to force it toward the surface this time, the Gu was cunning and chose to settle in the neck.
The neck contained many vital meridians. A single misstep could cause Mei Yanran to bleed to death.
Mo Sigui speculated that the Gu had intended to enter the brain but, unable to withstand the medicine’s effects, had fainted in the neck.
"Playing games with me!" Mo Sigui held a blade over the fire for a moment before gritting his teeth. "Just wait—I’ll slice you into a thousand pieces!"
Outside, it was already deep into the night.
Zhu Pianxian received a carrier pigeon message and sat on the stone steps, legs crossed, humming a tune as she unfolded it.
Just then, Sheng Changying happened to pass by carrying water. Zhu Pianxian sprang up in surprise, accidentally dropping the freshly opened letter. It fluttered in the wind and landed at An Jiu’s feet.Zhu Pianxian didn’t come over to pick it up, standing gracefully instead. With a shy gaze, she called out to Sheng Changying, “Sheng Lang.”
Sheng Changying’s face flushed red to the tips of his ears. “Lady Zhu.”
An Jiu clicked her tongue twice. These two had already reached the stage of “sleeping together,” so why were they still so bashful?
An Jiu bent down to pick up the letter, suddenly recalling the matter of “sleeping” and began carefully observing their behavior to use it as reference the next time she saw Chu Dingjiang.
Over there, Zhu Pianxian had already lightly lifted her skirt and ascended the steps.
Her movements were just right—lifting neither too much nor too little, just enough to faintly glimpse her delicate feet without appearing the least bit frivolous. That subtle hint of revelation was truly alluring.
An Jiu looked down and saw her own small feet, fully visible beneath her close-fitting outfit.
“Tired? You’re sweating.” Zhu Pianxian took out a scented handkerchief and gently wiped his face, from his forehead down to his neck. It seemed earnest yet carried a hint of teasing.
An Jiu was speechless. Sweating in the middle of summer was perfectly normal—was it really that unusual? She patted herself down and pulled out a black face-covering cloth, imagining pressing it against Chu Dingjiang’s face…
“Not tired.” Sheng Changying finally got into the mood. Though still somewhat shy, his gaze at Zhu Pianxian was naturally tender.
An Jiu inhaled sharply, eyes widening. That… was it? That simple?
“Such a big bucket of water.” Zhu Pianxian lowered her eyes, as if inadvertently noticing the red marks on his hands. She reached out and lightly touched them, her voice filled with concern. “They’re all red.”
An Jiu noticed that her hand was half-hidden in her sleeve, revealing only her jade-like fingertips, which brushed against his skin with slow, deliberate strokes.
Sheng Changying immediately grew flustered. Zhu Pianxian continued stroking, stroking, stroking… until her fingers reached his palm.
“Lady Zhu…” Sheng Changying’s voice was hoarse and urgent. Seeming to muster great resolve, he suddenly clenched his hand, capturing her fingers in his grasp.
An Jiu watched, forgetting even to breathe.
But the moment Sheng Changying touched her soft hand, he recoiled as if burned, his face flushing crimson. “Lady Zhu, I… I…”
An Jiu had known Sheng Changying for a while now. Every time she saw him, he had dark circles under his eyes, looking half-dead. Never had she seen him so lively!
Zhu Pianxian, in turn, reached out and grasped his hand, pretending not to notice his embarrassment. “Sheng Lang, does it hurt? Let me blow on it for you.”
With that, she raised his hand to her lips and gently blew on it, her lips barely grazing his skin.
“Pianxian…” Sheng Changying tightly clasped her hand.
Oh my! Now it was “Pianxian”! An Jiu clutched the face-covering cloth and the letter, thoroughly engrossed.
An Jiu’s mental strength was high, making her easy to overlook, but perhaps her gaze was too intense—Sheng Changying finally noticed her and hastily withdrew his hand.
“Carry on, I have things to do!” An Jiu quickly left, inwardly praising her own tact.
She ran to the rockery and realized the letter in her hand had been crumpled. She smoothed it out on a flat stone.
By chance, she caught sight of the letter’s contents—it detailed the identity of “An Shun.”
So it was Mei Ru Yan!
She had followed them all the way from Yangzhou to Bianjing. Last time, An Jiu had ignored her, but who would’ve thought she could enter the Crane Control Army and even be betrothed to Hua Rongjian!An Jiu had also gone through the Crane Control Army once. With Chu Dingjiang's protection, her progress had been extremely slow. If Mei Ru Yan had truly left Wei Yuzhi, there was no way she could have entered the emperor's sight so quickly on her own merits.
Wei Yuzhi served the Liao Kingdom, which meant there was a Liao spy among the high-ranking officials of the Crane Control Army—someone who had secretly promoted Mei Ru Yan.
Such deliberate actions clearly indicated Mei Ru Yan harbored ill intentions.
No! She had to inform Hua Rongjian.
An Jiu took a few steps forward but suddenly stopped when she thought of Mei Yanran. (To be continued...)
PS: Not sure what's going on today. The backend froze—it took half an hour to upload the first time, and now it's happening again.
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