Fish Meat – Chapter 174
by Little PandaThe Fourth Year of Zhao Wu
Double Silk Net (9)
Father was the most famous painter in You Mountain, but Ah Yong had no interest in painting, instead being fascinated by medicine. Father said that to practice medicine, one needs extensive clinical experience, and staying confined to one small place would likely inhibit growth, so he encouraged her to travel and gain experience.
At that time, there hadn’t been any large-scale famines, and the entire Da Yu was in a peaceful and prosperous era. One only needed to follow the official roads to frequently encounter the provincial inspector’s troops from various commanderies, with no fear of being attacked by mountain bandits.
After parting ways with her life-saving benefactor, Ah Yong wrote a letter home reporting her safety. Unexpectedly, the reply she received brought news of her father’s death.
Ah Yong hurriedly rushed home, passing through numerous white mourning banners and stepping over paper money, frantically making her way to the inner chamber, where there were two coffins – one for Father and one for Ah Mu.
Ah Yong grabbed the sobbing servants nearby and demanded to know why her parents had died! The servants said that two months ago, some people had come looking for Master Liang, saying they had heard he was the most famous portrait painter in the region, and needed his urgent help, promising generous compensation. Master Liang had nothing else to do, and since it was the dry season with no fish to catch, he agreed and went with them.
He was gone for two months, and when he returned, he was already a corpse.
Upon seeing Master Liang’s corpse, the Mistress was overcome with grief and hanged herself.
No one could have imagined the Liang family would meet such a tragic fate. Without any preparation, the young Ah Yong lost both parents, and she didn’t even know who the murderer was!
Following the clues provided by the servants to find where her father had gone, she discovered the mansion was already empty. Like a madwoman, Ah Yong searched everywhere, wanting to know what had happened and find information about the killer!
If she couldn’t avenge her parents, she would have lived the name of Liang in vain!
To find the killer, Ah Yong wandered the world searching, diligently studying medicine. Gradually, she became drawn to various deadly poisons.
Ah Yong, who was too weak to tie up a chicken, understood that in terms of martial arts and physical strength, she was absolutely weak. However, the power to take life in this world wasn’t limited to physical abilities.
When she began researching deadly poisons for revenge, the former Ah Yong ceased to exist, replaced by an avenger carrying deep blood hatred named “Zhong Ji”.
Only by testing poisons on oneself could one understand their potency and how they circulated within the body. Before trying each poison, she would prepare antidotes or detoxification methods before consumption. She had never faced any life-threatening situations until she accidentally consumed an unknown poison.
After taking this poison, Zhong Ji’s appearance began to change. Within just a few days, she became one Chinese inch [cùn – traditional Chinese unit of measurement, approximately 3.33 cm] shorter, and her face grew increasingly youthful. When Yan Ye, a strategist of the Xie family, found her, she already looked like a ten-year-old child.
“Are you Liang Tong’s daughter?” Yan Ye asked her.
At that time, Zhong Ji was absorbed in studying two medicine jars, completely disregarding when the stranger arrived or what he was saying, until he said: “I heard you’ve been searching for the murderer who killed your parents.”
Zhong Ji turned around to see a pale-faced scholar.
“Yan Ye is Xie Fuchen’s capable assistant. For many matters, Xie Fuchen doesn’t appear personally, letting him handle everything. I’ve only seen Xie Fuchen once from afar, but that didn’t prevent me from joining the Xie family’s grand scheme.”
Xiaohua said: “I remember when Xie Fuchen led the so-called qingliu faction, trying everything to send spies near the lady to attempt assassination, but never succeeded. You were quite patient, waiting until after Xie Fuchen’s death to make your move.”
“No,” Zhong Ji said, “I actually had chances to kill Wei Tingxu earlier. I could have added a bit of lethal poison to the cold compress treating her leg injury, and she would have died long ago.”
“Then why did you wait so long to act?”
Zhong Ji laughed deliriously, blood staining her white teeth: “Naturally, it’s because… you… who could have imagined that my long-sought benefactor and my hated enemy would be in a master-servant relationship. Seeing your loyalty to Wei Tingxu, I understood that once Wei Tingxu died, you surely wouldn’t survive either. But how could I not kill her because of this! She destroyed my family, I must take her life!”
“So that’s why you’ve been deceiving me all along. You knew how to neutralize the Ghost Dove Poison long ago, but instead of truly curing me, you used medicine to control me, preventing me from serving my lady.”
“That’s right… I indeed planned to control you with medicine, thinking this time the Bone-Scattering Pill could completely subdue you. Even if you learned of Wei Tingxu’s death, I could still save your life. After you calmed down for a while and I cleared the Ghost Dove Poison, perhaps you might come to your senses and value your own life…” Zhong Ji spoke increasingly slowly and with great effort.
“You needn’t have done any of these useless things,” Xiaohua said, “From the moment I entered the Wei household to serve my lady, my life became hers. In life I am her person, and even in the netherworld, I would be her accompanying spirit. If anything were to happen to my lady, how could I continue living?” Xiaohua declared loudly, “My lady pursues grand ambitions! It’s not something common folk like you could understand.”
“Grand ambitions?” Zhong Ji looked at the pool of blood before her and giggled, “How can nobles be born noble? What do her grand ambitions have to do with our Liang family? Why did my father have to die for her ambitions? Tell me!”
Xiaohua remained silent.
“My life, the lives of everyone in the Liang family were changed because of Wei Tingxu. How can I not settle this debt with her? From the moment she killed innocent people to achieve her goals, she should have known that someday someone would come to take her life! Even if I die here today, I have no regrets… I only regret… my own inadequate abilities, unable to… for the Liang family…” Zhong Ji spoke brokenly and weakly, though her coughing shook like an earthquake. As she coughed up more blood, Xiaohua came forward to help her up:
“Stop talking. Where is the medicine? I’ll get it for you.”
Zhong Ji’s eyes were fixed and glazed, looking like a disfigured corpse. She opened her mouth but had no strength to speak, her trembling fingertip pointing upward, gesturing toward her waist.
Xiaohua felt inside her waistband and pulled out a bottle of medicine.
“Is this your medicine?” Xiaohua opened the bottle to feed her, but Zhong Ji shook her head, desperately wanting to say something, tears flowing from her urgency.
Xiaohua leaned close to her ear and heard the voice that couldn’t be any weaker:
“This medicine… is… the Ghost Dove… antidote. You say you live for Wei Tingxu, but if I hadn’t kept you hanging by a thread, you would have died long ago… Now, I give you the antidote… your life now is given by me.”
Xiaohua: “Don’t speak anymore, save your strength.”
Zhong Ji grabbed Xiaohua’s hand and stretched her neck: “I want you… to live for yourself.”
Xiaohua wanted to argue, but just as she drew breath, Zhong Ji’s grip on her hand suddenly lost strength and fell straight down. Xiaohua froze, seeing the unblinking eyes of the person in her arms still staring at her.
“Zhong Ji?” Xiaohua called out to her, but there was no response.
She would never joke with her or question her again; all the cleverness and mystery had retreated into those fixed eyes, vanishing without a trace.
Xiaohua quietly looked at her for a long time, her palm brushing over her face, closing her eyes.
Xiaohua wanted to embrace Zhong Ji, but found the act of embracing so awkward – she didn’t know how.
Early on the ninth day of the second month, the snow had stopped, and sunlight spilled over the silver city of Runing, attracting crowds of Runing citizens who had been hiding all winter to come out and see the sunshine.
When Wei Tingxu woke up, she experienced unprecedented dizziness, her head splitting as if someone had beaten her with several heavy clubs. Fortunately, the wound in her chest hurt more, diverting her attention. The urge to cough caught in her throat several times, but she dared not cough freely, fearing that one cough would pull at her wound and trigger intense pain.
The strange smell in the room caught her attention.
Wei Tingxu was extremely sensitive to her surroundings, especially in her bedchamber. Even the slightest unusual scent would put her nerves on edge.
“Xiaohua.”
Sitting by the bed, Xiaohua replied: “My lady, I’m here.”
“Who has been in my room?”
“Please don’t worry, my lady. I’ve handled it.”
“Who?”
“…it was Zhong Ji.”
Wei Tingxu turned her head to look at her.
“Zhong Ji is dead.”
Wei Tingxu was silent for a moment before saying: “Was Zhong Ji a Xie family spy?”
Xiaohua nodded: “Yes, she confessed everything.”
“Xie Fuchen is dead, yet his influence remains.” Wei Tingxu looked at the red bed curtains still hanging on the golden hooks around the bed, “And to think I couldn’t kill her in time, how laughable.”
Xiaohua lowered her head, not responding.
“Say what you want to say.”
Wei Tingxu knew Xiaohua so well, knowing that all her silences concealed emotions.
“Zhong Ji was the daughter of Master Liang, the painter from You Mountain. She sought out my lady to avenge her family.” Xiaohua only wanted to say a few things about Zhong Ji.
Wei Tingxu closed her eyes again: “Master Liang?”
“Yes, don’t you remember, my lady? He was one of the painters who drew Zhen Wenjun’s portrait back then.”
Wei Tingxu said: “I’ve killed so many, how can I remember them all? What about Wenjun?”
“It’s said that Zhen Wenjun went to Zhuo Jun Mansion to gather some belongings and left with Xiao Xiao. A carriage picked them up when they left. The shadow guards reported they went to a residence in Lin’an Ward, which seems to be Xie Ah Xin’s private residence.”
“Hmm…” Wei Tingxu let out a long nasal sigh. After a while, when Xiaohua thought she had fallen asleep again, she spoke:
“She will return soon.”
“My lady means she will return to the Imperial Library Commissioner’s Mansion?”
“More or less. Xiaohua, tear down that wall between Zhuo Jun Mansion and the Imperial Library Commissioner’s manor soon.”
“Yes.” Xiaohua didn’t know what Wei Tingxu was thinking, but she knew her lady’s words must have their reasoning. There was no need for questions, only execution.
As Xiaohua was about to leave, she heard Wei Tingxu say: “Your appearance has regained some of its original form. Did Zhong Ji give you the antidote for the Ghost Dove Poison before she died?”
“Yes.”
“That’s good then. Xiaohua, you must protect yourself well. You’re all I have now.”
Hearing Wei Tingxu speak thus, Xiaohua was deeply moved and immediately prostrated herself, saying: “This servant is willing to give her life and brain for my lady! Never to regret!”
Wei Tingxu laughed: “Why speak such heavy words? I don’t want your life and brain spilled on the ground, I want you to live well. I want you to live alongside me, to witness me personally pulling out the rotten roots of Da Yu, to witness the day these mountains and rivers change their allegiance.”
Xiaohua knew the familiar Wei Tingxu had returned.
Zhen Wenjun’s sword had shattered many things, but what made Xiaohua most grateful was that it had also eliminated even that slight hint of hesitation in Wei Tingxu.
Ah Xin’s private residence was called “House of Accumulated Learning”, a name that suggested scholarship, but upon arrival, they discovered it housed all kinds of weapons, with over sixty different types alone.
Usually, Zhen Wenjun would have examined each one, but today she had no energy at all. After settling Xiao Xiao, when speaking with Ah Xin again, Zhen Wenjun felt her soul floating above her head, almost fainting. Ah Xin told her to rest assured and sleep, saying she would instruct the servants about other matters.
Zhen Wenjun removed her blood-stained dirty clothes, threw them on the stool, and fell straight to sleep. In her dreams, she was killing on the battlefield, swinging her heavy sword, blood flowing like a river.
The enemy was ahead, and in the chaos of the battlefield, it was impossible to see others’ faces clearly; one could only judge who was an ally by their clothing. The war drums beat upon her heart, making Zhen Wenjun’s blood surge with excitement. She killed her way into the crowd, wanting to take the enemy commander’s head, finally caught the opponent, and thrust her sword through their heart.
The feeling on the sword was somewhat strange.
Who doesn’t wear life-protecting hard armor on the battlefield? Beneath the armor are bodies hardened by years of training, yet this sword thrust went in easily, as if piercing soft, vulnerable flesh.
Zhen Wenjun raised her head in shock, discovering that the person she had pierced was none other than Wei Tingxu!
In great alarm, Zhen Wenjun pulled back the sword, causing more blood to flow. Wei Tingxu fell weakly to the ground, looking at her with hatred.
“Zizhuo! Zizhuo!” Zhen Wenjun was terrified, immediately rushing over to embrace her, “Hold on, I’ll take you for treatment!”
But Wei Tingxu said: “No need.”
Zhen Wenjun was greatly confused: “What?”
Wei Tingxu transformed into a giant python, its huge and elongated body coiling tightly around her, constricting more and more. Zhen Wenjun was in agony, tossing and turning, struggling but unable to break free.
Zhen Wenjun called out desperately, knowing she was trapped in a dream, just wanting to wake up quickly.
The dangerous dream suddenly became peaceful – Ah Mu had saved her.
She must have missed Ah Mu so much that she dreamed Ah Mu was right before her eyes.
She held Ah Mu’s hand with its missing fingers, crying: “I’m sorry… Ah Mu, it’s your child’s uselessness, unable to protect you. Making you endure these hardships, it’s all my fault.”
Ah Mu’s eyes filled with tears as she stroked her head: “How could it be your fault? My child, if possible, Ah Mu would want to bear all your suffering. It’s Ah Mu who has brought misfortune upon you. Heaven placing you in the Ruan family has truly caused you such hardship.”
Zhen Wenjun wanted to comfort Ah Mu, when suddenly she sat up with a start.
This wasn’t a dream.
“Ah Mu?”
This was Ah Mu, this was her mother!
“It’s me, Alai.”
Zhen Wenjun couldn’t believe her long-missed Ah Mu was actually before her eyes!
Ah Mu’s hair had turned completely white, looking utterly haggard, but she was real, not a dream, not a dream!
Zhen Wenjun hugged Ah Mu tightly, her heart almost leaping out.
Almost ten years had passed since she’d separated from Ah Mu at age twelve, never seeing her again, even believing at times that Ah Mu was no longer in this world. Now reunited in this mortal realm, words failed them, only tears of longing and joy soaking their collars could express their feelings.
LET’S GOOOOOOO!!!