Cuddling with the Cold Female Protagonist – Chapter 95
by Little PandaVolume 4: The Perils of the Jianghu
You must take responsibility for me
Feng Qing1 woke up bright and early today, planning to head into the forest to gather some medicinal herbs and also to check on the large pot she had put in the kiln2 to fire two days ago.
The ceramic pot in the cave was old and battered; she had found it in the mountain forest when she first arrived, and it was a real pain to use.
She had been in this place for nearly two years. With nothing much to do in her spare time, she had built her own kiln and had become quite skilled at making pots and bowls from yellow clay3. Taking advantage of the good weather, she had made a large pot herself, intending to replace the old, broken one with it.
After gathering the herbs, she also picked a lot of fruit. The pot she had fired in her makeshift kiln had taken shape and felt quite sturdy when she tested it. Happily, she carried the pot and the basket of herbs and fruit on her back towards her cave.
However, just as she neared the entrance, she heard a series of low moans and soft, melodious sounds. At first, she thought some wild animals in heat had broken into her dwelling to mate. But listening closely, something seemed off—it sounded like human voices.
She carefully removed the bamboo fence and walked in. To her surprise, by the bonfire on the right side of the cave, two pretty young girls were asleep, rubbing against each other. The situation looked quite intense.
Next to the two girls were several medicine bottles. Feng Qing recognized them at a glance as items from Changsheng Valley. Perhaps these two girls were patients from Changsheng Valley.
A healer has a benevolent heart. Feng Qing didn’t blame them for trespassing and using her things.
To avoid disturbing them, Feng Qing deliberately set down her belongings quietly. She took the collected herbs outside to dry, washed the fresh fruit she had picked, and then returned to check on the two girls. They still hadn’t finished. Sighing at the boundless energy of youth, she took out her newly made large pot, intending to test how sturdy it really was.
She filled the large pot with water, set it over a wood fire, and brought the water to a rolling boil twice. By then, the girls over there had finally quieted down.
After waiting a little longer, the young girl lying underneath slowly woke up.
Unexpectedly, the moment she woke up, she was extremely aggressive.
Feng Qing explained with a smile, and only then did the girl lower her guard, bowing her head in apology with some embarrassment.
This gesture immediately won Feng Qing’s favor. Not bad, these two girls were good-looking and polite; they seemed like good kids.
Feng Qing waved her hand, gesturing for her to clean up the girl in her arms. However, she saw the girl’s pupils constrict slightly, and she held the girl in her arms in shock, speechless.
“That… That wasn’t a dream?”
“How could it be a dream?” Feng Qing said with a smile. “I heard your voices from quite a distance away.”
So, does that mean…
Ji Qingchi carefully lifted the clothes of Su Yi in her arms. In her panic earlier, she had forgotten to look closely. Now, looking carefully, she discovered that Su Yi’s body was covered in red marks.
Like red plum blossoms blooming in the snow, they were so dazzling.
Ji Qingchi hugged the person in her arms even tighter, her heart filled with both sweetness and regret. She had finally done something joyful with Su Yi, but how come she didn’t have much memory of the process? “I… cough… I thought it was a dream…”
“It’s not surprising you feel that way,” Feng Qing chuckled. “There are many strange things in this valley. Perhaps you and the little girl in your arms were affected by something. You were also injured and had a low fever, so it’s not unusual to mistake it for a dream.”
Ji Qingchi was slightly taken aback. “Strange things?”
“Yes, didn’t you encounter any when you came?”
“If you mean those wild beasts affected by Gu,” Ji Qingchi recalled the out-of-control beasts they had encountered upon entering. “Then yes, we did.”
“Not only that.” Feng Qing fetched some hot water. “You two wipe off your sweat first, and then I’ll tell you.”
Ji Qingchi nodded. Carefully avoiding Feng Qing, she cleaned Su Yi and then bathed herself with hot water.
Once they were clean, Feng Qing said to her, “Extend your hand. I’ll take your pulses.”
Since there were medicinal herbs in this cave, it meant its owner knew medicine. Ji Qingchi extended her hand without hesitation, wondering who this old woman was. If she was from Changsheng Valley, why had she ended up here?
“Alright, nothing major, just excessive blood loss. Let the wound heal, get some nourishment, and you’ll be fine… Tsk tsk, young people indeed, such good constitutions.”
While Ji Qingchi’s mind was wandering, Feng Qing had already finished diagnosing her. She then took Su Yi’s wrist to check her pulse, patting her shoulder as she did so. “But young people need to exercise restraint. This little girl in your arms doesn’t have as good a constitution as you.”
Ji Qingchi felt a bit embarrassed by the comment, but Feng Qing didn’t tease her further. As she felt Su Yi’s pulse, her brow gradually furrowed. “This little girl has been poisoned?”
“Yes,” Ji Qingchi quickly replied. “We came here seeking medical treatment precisely because of her poison.”
She then briefly explained their quest for medical help.
“The toxins in her body are complex, and it looks like there’s more than one kind. These poisons also interact, some promoting and some counteracting each other. It’s a good thing she’s taken so much medicine to suppress the toxins, otherwise it would have been serious.”
“Then, Senior, can you detoxify her?”
Feng Qing frowned. “I’ll try my best. There are two poisons I’m confident I can neutralize, but another one… I’ve never seen it before. I’m afraid I can’t.”
“A total of three poisons?” Ji Qingchi was stunned. “But, she was only poisoned with two types.”
“One of them is a mild toxin, recently contracted.” Feng Qing looked at her with a frown. “You just said you came to the valley recently seeking medical treatment. Then it must have been administered to her by someone after you arrived.”
People in the valley specialized in medicine; few, like her, studied toxicology. Moreover, this was a slow-acting poison, usually unnoticeable until it was too late, by which point it would be incurable. This poison was so insidious; Feng Qing immediately guessed who had administered it.
“Did you two offend that good martial nephew of mine?”
Ji Qingchi suppressed the urge to tear limb from limb the person who had poisoned Su Yi. “Who is Senior referring to?”
“Haven’t you met the Valley Master? She’s my junior martial sister. Her son is my martial nephew.”
Hearing this, Ji Qingchi had a sudden enlightenment4 and said, seething with anger, “So it was him! Wait… Senior, are you the Hundred Herbs Elder?”
“Yes,” Feng Qing smiled. “Why so shocked? Did my junior martial sister tell you I was already dead?”
“Yes…”
“It’s not surprising they’d say that.” Feng Qing sighed. “Back then, when she and her son framed my disciple, I secretly went to the water prison5 to save her. I anticipated they would retaliate afterwards, so I made a plan beforehand to feign death with medicine and escape. A young girl in the valley who was usually on good terms with my disciple often took care of me after my disciple left. When she heard I planned to feign death, she volunteered to move me here after my ‘death.’ I escaped successfully, but thinking back, that little girl probably didn’t fare well—when you went to the valley, did you see a young girl named Feng Chen?”
Ji Qingchi’s expression stiffened slightly.
Feng Qing immediately guessed. “She’s gone, isn’t she?”
Ji Qingchi nodded. “We… encountered a skeleton…”
“Ai,” Feng Qing sighed heavily, her heart aching. “What a sin.”
She checked Su Yi’s pulse again and mused, “This little girl, besides being poisoned, has also been afflicted with a Gu.”
Ji Qingchi instantly tensed up. “I beg Senior to remove it for her!”
“Relax, it’s already been removed.” Seeing Ji Qingchi’s puzzled expression, Feng Qing smiled. “With all the commotion you two made just now, wasn’t it removed?”
So that’s why Su Yi had suddenly become so proactive; it was because of the Gu.
Ji Qingchi felt a little off. Seeing Su Yi showing no signs of waking up, she grew worried again. “But… why isn’t she awake yet?”
“You wore her out for so long. This little girl’s stamina isn’t as good as yours, so of course she’s not awake yet.”
Ji Qingchi’s face instantly turned red. “I… cough cough… I thought it was a dream…”
“But it’s good that you have such good stamina; that way, nothing happened to you when dispelling the Gu.” Feng Qing sighed. “That Gu is called the Mandarin Duck Gu6. It was originally a forbidden item in the valley. But after my junior martial sister went to the Huachen Kingdom, she became obsessed, as if possessed, and brought it back into the light of day.”
“Did she fall in love with someone? Someone she couldn’t have, so she wanted to keep them by force?”
“Correct. She fell in love with a priest from the Huachen Kingdom. The priests of the Huachen Kingdom, regardless of gender, are all exceptionally beautiful. Back then, the old emperor of the Huachen Kingdom was gravely ill and offered a hefty sum for someone from the valley to treat him. Master sent my junior martial sister to the Huachen Kingdom to attend to him. It was then that she met that priest and fell in love at first sight.”
“But the priests of the Huachen Kingdom were all outstanding individuals, dragons among men and phoenixes among women, with incredibly high standards. Not to mention some had no interest in love their entire lives; even if they were to marry, they would choose only the absolute best.”
“Her junior martial sister was not tall, and her looks, in the eyes of a priest accustomed to beauties, were even less remarkable. Therefore, the man did not fancy her and rejected her several times.”
“However, perhaps due to her short stature, my junior martial sister had been sensitive since childhood, and also proud and arrogant. After being rejected by that man multiple times, and with some unfavorable rumors about her spreading in the valley, her mentality gradually became unbalanced. She actually stole a forbidden Gu from the valley and used it on the emperor, forcing the Huachen Kingdom to give the priest to her, allowing her to bring him to the Huachen Kingdom.”
“To fall from a high and revered position to become someone’s plaything overnight—how could the priest endure it? He made a fuss about committing suicide all the way.”
“So, my junior martial sister used drugs on him to make him obedient, secretly kept him in this mountain forest, used the Mandarin Duck Gu on him, and spent their days and nights in pleasure with him.”
“That Gu was incredibly domineering. The priest had already been drugged and lacked stamina. My junior martial sister, however, showed no restraint, and before long, the priest died. The Emperor and Grand Priest of the Huachen Kingdom felt they had suffered a great shame and humiliation, and sent people to the valley to condemn my junior martial sister. Only then did Master learn of the grave mistake she had committed. Enraged, Master sent me and two senior martial brothers to find her. When we did, we found her cradling a rotting corpse, staring blankly in this forest. My junior martial sister had gone mad, staying with a corpse for so long. We were terrified at the time and, after much persuasion, finally convinced her to bury him. But she insisted on a water burial7. That priest had been afflicted with many Gu, so from then on, the waters near this cave contained the Mandarin Duck Gu. Ordinary disciples don’t dare to come here.”
Feng Qing sighed. “After she was brought back, her mind wasn’t clear either. It was as if she had amnesia8, and she even wanted to die with that priest. Master has a soft heart and couldn’t bear to see his disciple suffer. He used Gu and poison to repel the people from the Huachen Kingdom. He originally intended to punish my junior martial sister, but then he discovered she was already pregnant. There was no other way, so he had to confine her to her room and forbid her from coming out. After a few months, Master’s anger subsided. When he let my junior martial sister out, more than half of her hair had turned white. The child in her belly, due to her emotional instability, was born prematurely at seven months. After having the child, my junior martial sister suddenly became much more composed. Not only did she diligently study medicine, but she also treated people with even more tolerance than before. Master felt she had learned from her mistakes and was capable of reform. Coupled with the fact that none of us other martial sisters had any intention of taking over the position of Valley Master, he gave it to her.”
Ji Qingchi shook her head. “Your esteemed Master was inviting a wolf into the house9.”
“Indeed. Later, as my martial nephew gradually grew up, several of my martial brothers and sisters in the valley met with accidents one after another. We then knew Master had misjudged her. Those martial brothers and sisters who cherished their lives all left Changsheng Valley. I couldn’t bear to leave this home of mine, so I stayed here, always on guard, not giving him a chance to poison me. Unexpectedly, he found an opportunity to harm my disciple. My disciple inherited my traits; she usually focuses solely on studying medicine and doesn’t understand much about these plots and machinations. I reckon that even after I sent her away, she still hadn’t figured out what exactly had happened.”
Ji Qingchi nodded. When Feng Ruoqing mentioned why she was being hunted, she indeed looked like she bore deep suffering and hatred, and was completely clueless about the reason for it.
“Listening to Senior, the one causing harm is the Valley Master’s son? But he can’t be that old, can he? How could he be so well-versed in the ways of harming others?”
“You can’t judge a person by their appearance.” Feng Qing sighed. “My martial nephew inherited his father’s good looks, but unfortunately, he’s even more paranoid than my junior martial sister. He usually puts on a decent act, but once something happens, he reveals his true colors. Otherwise, how could the little girl in your arms have been poisoned so silently?”
“Mmm…” Just as they were talking about Su Yi, she slowly woke up.
Opening her eyes to see an extra person in front of her, she was greatly surprised. Ji Qingchi quickly introduced them.
“Senior Hundred Herbs Elder?” Su Yi was even more astonished. “You are Doctor Feng’s master?”
Feng Qing was surprised. “What, you know my disciple?”
Only then did Ji Qingchi realize that after all that talk, she had forgotten to mention their acquaintance with Feng Ruoqing. She nodded. “Yes, we are friends with her. She was the one who led the way for us to Changsheng Valley this time.”
“Then where is my disciple? Has she returned too?” Feng Qing paced anxiously. “No, there are people in this valley who still want her life. Isn’t she walking into a death trap by coming back?”
Su Yi said, “Senior, rest assured, she is in disguise.”
So, omitting their identities, they briefly explained the sequence of events.
“That’s good then.” Feng Qing breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing Su Yi’s burst of rapid speech, she asked with a smile, “Little girl, have you regained your strength?”
It would have been better if she hadn’t asked. The moment she did, Su Yi felt an intense pain in her lower back, her limbs were sore and weak, and her throat was especially dry. She raised a hand to her throat. “Oh right, why do I feel like I have no strength all over? Has my poison worsened?!”
Feng Qing smiled. “Not at all. But it’s a good thing you’re a woman. Otherwise, eating a hundred bull penises10 wouldn’t have helped. However, you do need nourishment. I caught two soft-shelled turtles11 a few days ago, and there’s some yam12 in the basket. Stewing them together is excellent for nourishing yin and tonifying the kidneys13.”
Huh? What was going on? Why was Feng Ruoqing’s master so improper? The moment they met, she was talking about boosting male sexual potency and nourishing yin and tonifying kidneys?
Su Yi was completely dumbfounded. She looked up and saw Ji Qingchi, usually as steady as an old dog14, now blushing like a newlywed young wife.
Noticing Su Yi looking at her, Ji Qingchi shyly buried her head in Su Yi’s neck.
Su Yi blinked her eyes, met Feng Qing’s warm smile, and felt something was very off. She pulled the ostrich-like15 person out of her embrace. “What’s going on?”
“Um…” Ji Qingchi stammered, unable to speak. Only under Su Yi’s piercing gaze did she suddenly hug her, wearing an expression like a little white flower16 that had been forcefully taken. She whimpered, “You… you have to take responsibility for me.”
LP: Passing the blame
Footnotes
- 风清 | Fēng Qīng
- 窑 | yáo | A furnace or oven for baking, burning, or drying pottery, bricks, etc.
- 黄泥 | huángní | Yellow clay or loess, often used for making pottery or adobe.
- 醍醐灌顶 | tíhú guàndǐng | An idiom literally meaning “to have醍醐 (tíhú – refined butter, considered a delicacy and pure substance in Buddhism) poured over one’s head.” It describes a moment of sudden, profound enlightenment or realization, as if one’s mind has been instantly cleared and illuminated.
- 水牢 | shuǐláo | A type of prison cell, often depicted in Wuxia/Xianxia, that is partially or fully submerged in water, making it a harsh form of confinement.
- 鸳鸯蛊 | yuānyang gǔ | Mandarin Duck Gu. Mandarin ducks (鸳鸯 – yuānyang) are symbols of love and fidelity in Chinese culture, often depicted in pairs. A Gu named after them would likely be related to love, obsession, or binding two people together, often in a forceful or unnatural way.
- 水葬 | shuǐzàng | Water burial, a funeral practice where the body is disposed of in a body of water.
- 失魂症 | shīhúnzhèng | Literally “loss of soul syndrome.” It can refer to a state of being dazed, disoriented, or suffering from amnesia or a dissociative disorder.
- 引狼入室 | yǐnlángrùshì | An idiom literally meaning “to lead a wolf into the house.” It means to invite disaster or bring a dangerous person into one’s own circle or home.
- 牛鞭 | niúbiān | Bull’s penis, considered an aphrodisiac in traditional Chinese medicine, believed to enhance male virility.
- 甲鱼 | jiǎyú | Soft-shelled turtle, often used in Chinese cuisine and traditional medicine for its nourishing properties.
- 山药 | shānyao | Chinese yam (Dioscorea polystachya), valued in TCM for strengthening the spleen and kidneys, and for its nourishing properties.
- 滋阴补肾 | zīyīn bǔshèn | A concept in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). 滋阴 (zīyīn) means to nourish yin (the body’s cooling, moistening, and passive aspects). 补肾 (bǔshèn) means to tonify or strengthen the kidneys, which in TCM are considered the root of vitality, governing growth, reproduction, and willpower. This combination is often used to address deficiencies related to yin and kidney essence, which can manifest as fatigue, weakness, and issues with sexual health or aging.
- 稳如老狗 | wěn rú lǎo gǒu | An internet slang phrase literally meaning “as steady/stable as an old dog.” It describes someone who is very calm, composed, and unflappable, especially under pressure.
- 鸵鸟 | tuóniǎo | Ostrich. The “ostrich-like” behavior refers to the myth of ostriches burying their heads in the sand to avoid danger, used here to describe someone trying to hide or avoid a situation out of embarrassment.
- 小白花 | xiǎo báihuā | Literally “little white flower.” A trope in fiction referring to a female character who appears pure, innocent, delicate, and often easily victimized or bullied.
She acts like she didn’t relished her famished 😭