Fish Meat – Chapter 92
by Little PandaThe Ninth Year of Shenchu
Fatal Attraction
Zhen Wenjun handed the snake token to Lingbi, asking her to pass it to Wei Tingxu.
Lingbi refused to accept it: “This is your merit, you should hand it over to the lady yourself.”
Zhen Wenjun, feeling exhausted, went to take a bath and dragged her weary body back to her room.
She soaked in the underground waterway for an unknown duration, even she didn’t know how long. The surging rainwater continuously pushed her towards an unknown direction; the waterway was pitch-black and she could see nothing, with only flying mosquitoes for company.
The only place to rest was a narrow stone platform, and as the water level rose higher and higher, Zhen Wenjun couldn’t even sleep. If she fell asleep, she might slide off the platform and fall into the water, getting choked and dizzy. She was always looking for a way out, but the long time without food made her weaker and weaker. As the water level rose, the time left for her grew less and less.
She has an opportunity, as long as the water level continues to rise, and as long as she can find the waterway entrance, she can use the water level to swim to the surface. She knows the positions of several waterways in Runing, but she only knows the positions of the Runing surface waterways. The complexity of the underground roads made her click her tongue, and the situation where she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face increased the difficulty of finding an exit.
There’s not much time left for her; she must leave before the waterway is completely filled, otherwise, when her stamina is exhausted with nowhere to go, drowning is the only possibility awaiting her.
Her eyes cannot see, so she can only rely on the memory in her body.
Zhen Wenjun firmly tied the snake token at her waist and dove into the water countless times to explore the roads in all directions, memorizing all the explored routes in her mind, gradually forming an invisible map. She hadn’t been in Runing for long, but fortunately, she was always outside handling matters for Li Yanyi, and she had Lin Yue’s personally drawn map for assistance, which helped her remember most of Runing city’s streets and alleys. Although the underground waterways and street surface roads are not necessarily the same, because they lead water down, there will be connecting roads. As long as she clearly feels where she is now, she can find the nearest entrance more quickly.
This is a very difficult task; even swimming in still water for these days would be exhausting, let alone in such surging rapids.
Several times she wanted to give up, as she really couldn’t swim any further, but she thought of the suffering Wei Tingxu endured during those days of imprisonment, which was much more than what she was experiencing now. Wei Tingxu, still young, could endure it, so what reason did she have to give up?
As long as she took the snake token back to the Ministry of Justice Office, it could be protected. This was the greatest guarantee to restrain Li Ju’s imperial power, and she certainly understood the importance of the snake token. If she brought the snake token back from the waterway, she would have completed an impossible task. How would Wei Tingxu reward her then?
She thought of many possibilities in her heart, and it was precisely these fantasies that allowed her to gather enough strength and hope to finally climb back to the surface. Exhausted to the point of not even having the strength to move her fingers, she luckily returned alive. Once she returned, she saw the scene of Wei Tingxu and Zhangsun Wu alone in the corridor.
Who picked the wandering flower in Wei Tingxu’s hand for her? With her sitting in the wheelchair, it would be somewhat difficult to pick the flower. Xiaohua, not knowing why, was kneeling at one side. Who else could help her pick the flower? Naturally, it was Zhangsun Wu.
What’s strange about this? Zhangsun Wu and she are childhood sweethearts and future husband and wife. It’s just picking a flower; later, there are more intimate things to do, perhaps even already done. It’s just a wandering flower, merely a token between Wei Tingxu and the real Zhen Wenjun, having no relation to a disguised spy.
Zhen Wenjun thought it through; from the beginning, she clearly understood the relationship between the two people, as if her heart was a bright mirror.
She understood both the reasoning and the positions, but she just hated that she couldn’t control her emotions. She was very annoyed with herself for getting angry over unnecessary things.
She was too hungry to sleep, and her eyes were burning so much that she couldn’t open them. She was already ill, her whole body feverish, and she had vomited everything from inside her body. The belief that had always supported her completely vanished after returning to the Wei Mansion, and the illness swallowed her whole in one gulp.
She lay in bed for a long time, and in her daze, she thought clearly: why was she being so hard on herself? If she didn’t get something to eat soon, she would die of illness or hunger. She could cook and get medicine herself, but unfortunately, by the time she realized this, she no longer had the strength to get up.
Every exhale was hot, and what flowed from her nasal cavity and mouth felt like burning wind rather than air. She felt like she was in the depths of a scorching desert, sunburned for three days and nights, becoming a dried corpse. Yet, even as a dried corpse, she was still continuously struggling, searching for food and a water source.
She saw her Ah Mu.
Her Ah Mu was sitting on the rock in front, holding a big cup of water in her hand. Zhen Wenjun almost rolled and crawled over to her Ah Mu to beg for water to drink.
Hugging the cup, she gulped down mouthful after mouthful, drenching herself in the process. Strangely, the water was a bit hard to drink, both bitter and astringent, but being thirsty for so long, she couldn’t resist and drank a lot.
Her Ah Mu told her to drink slower and not to choke, taking out a handkerchief to wipe the water from the corner of her mouth.
“Ah Mu…” Zhen Wenjun said, aggrieved as she hugged her, tears streaming down, “I miss you.”
Her Ah Mu gently stroked her hair, smoothing each thread of her worries from her body, smoothing them away.
She finally fell peacefully asleep.
She woke up again, tired from her dreams. Zhen Wenjun, in her dream, was holding a freshly roasted pig’s trotter, gnawing wildly. That pig, clearly roasted crispy on the outside and tender inside, still somehow felt pain from her bites, running everywhere. Zhen Wenjun held the pig tightly, frantically biting while also forcefully tearing at its fragrant, crispy skin and meat. Each bite was determined, thinking after this pig there wouldn’t be another one, biting until her cheeks ached, and she woke up tired.
Upon waking and seeing the room in the Wei Mansion, she remembered that the pig’s trotter and everything were just illusions; there was no pig! Poor her, she really hadn’t eaten anything.
Zhen Wenjun touched her forehead; it was still somewhat hot, but she was constantly sweating, and the wind chill had already dissipated quite a bit.
In the empty room, there was still a lingering smell of medicine. Zhen Wenjun, dazed, covered her aching mouth and went to find the source of the medicinal smell. On the bedside table was a bowl with some medicinal dregs left inside.
Did someone come to feed her medicine last night? Zhen Wenjun suddenly remembered something and quickly searched on her pillow, sure enough finding some stains left by the medicinal juice.
Zhen Wenjun suddenly realized! No wonder the water Ah Mu brought in her dream was so hard to drink; it was actually a big bowl of medicine! It turned out part of the dream was actually real.
Thinking this through truly made her afraid because at this moment her teeth hurt, truly hurt, as if she had fiercely bitten into something painful.
Who came to feed her medicine last night, whom did she hug, and whom did she mistake for a pig and bite?
It must be Lingbi. Zhen Wenjun continuously comforted herself, it must be unlucky Lingbi!
“Lady!” Lingbi broke the door and entered just at that moment, shattering Zhen Wenjun’s fantasy, “Eh? Where’s the lady?”
Zhen Wenjun covered her face.
She didn’t expect the world to have so many possibilities, and the one that belonged to her was the most frightening kind.
“Why would you come to my room to find my sister?” Zhen Wenjun still wanted to struggle a bit.
“She has been here since last night, you know, even fed you medicine. You weren’t awake but still managed to drink mouthful after mouthful, ending up drinking all over the entire bed.”
Zhen Wenjun: “…”
“Later, the lady worried that if you stayed alone at night and got severely ill, no one would know, so she stayed to take care of you. Originally, I wanted to stay, but the lady insisted on coming herself and drove me away.” Lingbi placed a bowl of porridge on the bedside. “Did the lady leave so early? I guess the eldest princess had something come up again, and Xiaohua took her away. What’s wrong with you, why are you covering your face?”
“My head aches and my teeth ache too.”
“Can you still drink porridge?”
“I can drink, I can drink! Give me the drink!”
She had never felt that a bowl of vegetable porridge could be so fragrant. As it was almost finished, Zhen Wenjun finally freed her mouth to ask Lingbi to get her a few pieces of steamed cake to eat with it.
Lingbi saw her eating without any manners and couldn’t help frowning: “Why eat steamed cake? Doctor Xu said, you’ve not eaten for many days and now must stick to porridge-like liquid food, and you can’t eat too much or too full, otherwise, you’ll feel uncomfortable.”
“I’ve been hungry for so many days… and you’re still not letting me eat!” Zhen Wenjun freed her mouth to scold, “I know my own stomach! This little bit of stuff isn’t enough to fill the gap between my teeth! Quick! I want steamed cake!”
Having recovered from her illness after drinking the medicine, she was now seeking food everywhere. Truly, youth is vigorous; just one bowl of medicine and she had such an appetite. Lingbi went to the kitchen to get three leftover cakes from lunch for her, and Zhen Wenjun quickly ate them all, but she still wanted more. Lingbi got two more pieces, and Zhen Wenjun quickly ate those too.
“You… is there a leak somewhere? How can you eat this much?” Lingbi wished to pick her up and turn her around to check.
“Not full, still want to eat.” Zhen Wenjun licked her lips, unsatisfied.
“Aren’t you afraid of bursting?!”
“Sister Lingbi… I haven’t eaten anything for several days.” Zhen Wenjun’s pitiful little look made Lingbi give in.
“Alright, alright, I’ll go look again to see if there’s more food.”
“I’ll go with you!”
“You’re getting up now? Can you?”
“I can, if there’s food, I can get up anytime, even running is no problem.”
When Wei Tingxu returned from Huaichen Mansion, Xiaohua wanted to help her down from the carriage.
But as soon as she touched her arm, she suddenly shrank back, as if it hurt her.
“Lady?” Xiaohua didn’t dare to move.
“No problem.” Wei Tingxu twisted her wrist, raised her arm to avoid the painful area, and let Xiaohua carry her off the carriage.
Last night, Wei Tingxu seemed not to have slept well, with two dark circles under her eyes and red eye sockets. Early today, Huaichen Mansion sent people to invite Wei Tingxu to the mansion to discuss a matter.
Upon arriving at Huaichen Mansion, Li Yanyi said that the Ministry of Justice Office had already completed the execution snake-skin document for the nine generations of the Hong clan and handed it to Li Ju for review, which included Feng Kun’s name. The snake-skin document is the most important document of the Ministry of Justice Office, generally used only in cases of great crimes by Yi clans. Showing it to Li Ju was not to let him decide but merely to notify him. As the Emperor, Li Ju cannot change the Ministry of Justice Office’s final judgment, but he can use his privilege to forcefully suppress the judgment document, dragging the case for a year or two, hoping new evidence might appear to save the person.
“Only this time, Li Ju simply did not suppress it, but happily approved it with a ‘permit’ using a vermilion brush. This word will not interfere with the Ministry of Justice Office’s judgment, but it expressed Li Ju’s attitude; he wants to abandon the son.”
“Feng Xiyi?” Wei Tingxu was most concerned about the Empress’s whereabouts. Feng Kun’s fate was long decided, but Feng Xiyi’s whereabouts made her somewhat concerned.
“Feng Xiyi indeed has great fortune.” Li Yanyi mentioned this person with considerable displeasure, having no good feelings or pity towards the Feng family. “Before the entire family was executed, she’s pregnant with an imperial son again. Li Ju, considering her merit in carrying the imperial son, submitted a decree to the Ministry of Justice Office, entirely in the Emperor’s tone, ordering them to remove Feng Xiyi’s name from the execution list. When the eunuch went to deliver the decree, Guan Xun happened to be interrogating a prisoner, the cell door tightly closed with screams inside, completely covering the eunuch’s voice. The eunuch waited a long time but saw no one come out, so he had to leave the decree behind. Whether Guan Xun saw it or not is unknown, but anyway, the Ministry of Justice Office delayed in removing Feng Xiyi’s name, so Li Ju had inner officials fetch the list once and personally saved Feng Xiyi’s life.”
Wei Tingxu asked, “Is Feng Xiyi truly pregnant?”
“It should not be false. The Imperial Medical Institute has my spy, and he personally checked Feng Xiyi’s pulse, which indeed is a pregnancy pulse. But Feng Xiyi saved her life yet cannot save her position as Empress. Li Ju cannot possibly keep such a guilty woman as Empress. To avoid leaving room for talk, he will surely depose Feng Xiyi and then establish a new Empress. Over the years, Li Ju has only favored Feng Xiyi, so until now, he has no offspring. Although Feng Xiyi is very likely to be deposed, Li Ju certainly must keep her child.”
Wei Tingxu said, “Once the Empress is deposed, the placement of a new Empress will surely stir up another bloody storm.”
“He stirs his own matters, we still have more important things to do.” Li Yanyi had already changed into practice clothes early, appearing as if just returned from morning exercise, “Zizhuo, today I went hunting early, shot only ten arrows, and brought back two deer and six wild rabbits. I could have shot a few more birds, but unfortunately, my hand was somewhat rusty, lacking strength. More practice for a day or so is needed. This palace has already prepared everything and can depart anytime.”
“Your Highness, don’t rush, everything will proceed according to plan.”
“Zizhuo, tell Lord Wei that today I temporarily have no time to visit Wei Mansion, but I will certainly visit another day.”
When Wei Tingxu and the group returned to Wei Mansion, they happened to see Zhen Wenjun gnawing on a chicken leg.
Originally, Zhen Wenjun was eating very happily, but upon making eye contact with Wei Tingxu, she immediately became reserved and continued eating with heavy thoughts.
“The lady has returned.” Lingbi noticed the clue from Zhen Wenjun’s change of expression and turned to see Wei Tingxu and others.
“Awake?” Wei Tingxu pushed the cart in front of her, reached out to touch her forehead, “You still have a bit of a fever. After you eat, go back and rest.”
When Wei Tingxu raised her hand, her wide sleeve slid down, revealing a clear bite mark on her forearm. The bite mark had turned a terrible blue-purple color, looking as if she had been attacked by a wild animal.
Upon discovering the bite mark, Zhen Wenjun immediately shifted her gaze away—she really couldn’t bear to look. So last night, the one who was treated like a roast pig and gnawed on was actually Wei Tingxu herself. Bitten so crazily like this, and she didn’t make a sound? If she had made a noise to wake the biting culprit, she wouldn’t have been hurt this badly.
Wei Tingxu knew she saw the injury and didn’t conceal it: “This morning, I didn’t know what dream you had; you held my arm and bit it. Probably you were extremely hungry. Luckily, I’m not much afraid of pain, otherwise, I would have woken you.”
Zhen Wenjun’s heart fluttered with a surge of sweetness, quickly covered again by a stronger soreness.
“How much did she eat?” Wei Tingxu asked Lingbi beside her.
Lingbi replied, “Six steamed cakes, two bowls of porridge, four chicken legs, and one plate of pickles, and she’s still not full. I had someone go make a roast lamb leg, that should be enough.”
“She actually ate so much?” Wei Tingxu frowned, obviously surprised by Zhen Wenjun’s appetite, “Sister, don’t eat too much at once, otherwise you’ll feel uncomfortable.”
“I already warned her, but she didn’t listen and insisted on eating, there was no way.”
At this time, the lamb leg still sizzling with oil was brought in. Zhen Wenjun smelled the aroma, finding it all fragrant, and estimated this big lamb leg would be enough. However, Lingbi blocked the leg and pointed at Zhen Wenjun, saying, “Earlier, we agreed that you could only eat three slices of this roast lamb leg, no more. Do you want to stuff yourself to death?”
Zhen Wenjun replied, “Yes, I said three slices, just three slices.”
“Fine, I’ll slice it for you.” Lingbi took a knife to slice the meat, but Zhen Wenjun grabbed it first:
“Three slices, just three slices, but I didn’t say whose sliced three slices.” Her hand raised, knife fell, and with three cuts, the thick lamb leg was almost shaved bald by her. Lingbi angrily slammed the table and stood up, while Zhen Wenjun triumphantly laughed loudly.
“You dead monkey actually tricked me!”
“You’re dumb and still blame others for being too smart.”
“You…”
Lingbi raised her hand to grab her ear, but Zhen Wenjun turned and dodged just in time. Lingbi, attracted by her movement, rushed forward and didn’t control her strength, causing her belly to hit the table, making her cry out “aiyo.”
“Is Sister Lingbi getting old? Either splitting or hitting the table.”
Lingbi became greatly angry and was determined to take apart this little rascal to vent her anger.
The two made noise in the room for a while, with Lingbi sweating profusely and Zhen Wenjun having digested a lot of food, freeing up space in her stomach for more lamb. She turned her head and saw Wei Tingxu actually using a knife to cut large pieces of leg meat into small chunks, smiling as she watched her and Lingbi play around.
“Cutting them into small pieces makes them easier to eat.” Wei Tingxu beckoned to Zhen Wenjun, “Sister Wenjun, come.”
Zhen Wenjun had to sit over.
“Take your time and tell us how you escaped danger.”
“It’s nothing much.” She was very lively facing Lingbi, but her tone was completely different facing Wei Tingxu, feebly saying, “The waterway was full, so I swam up.” Using chopsticks, she quickly stuffed the small pieces of lamb into her mouth, swallowing them down almost without chewing.
Wei Tingxu noticed her emotional abnormality and didn’t press further: “Sister, eat slower.”
“Mm?” Zhen Wenjun suddenly remembered, “I heard Lord Wei has already returned from prison? Is he still okay?”
“Fortunately, you kept the snake token safe, so Father could escape danger from prison.”
“Is that so? I heard Sister Lingbi say that Xie Fuchen bribed Jiang Wang and attempted to steal the court official’s snake token. The matter was exposed, which led to Xie Fuchen being unable to continue, allowing the court official’s office to catch its breath. Whether or not I retrieved this snake token doesn’t mean much.”
As these words were spoken, the expressions of the other three present slightly changed. Zhen Wenjun lowered her head and ate meat, as if she hadn’t noticed anything.
“Sister, are you blaming me for having you go stop Jiang Wang, which caused you to suffer these hardships?” Wei Tingxu softly asked.
“How could I blame you? My fate is such.” Zhen Wenjun suddenly stood up and said, “I’m full, have a bit of a headache, I’m going back first.”
The carefully cut lamb pieces by Wei Tingxu were still more than half left on the plate, while the person eating had already left.
Xiaohua, who had been at the side, had eyes darkly spewing fire, and Lingbi stood awkwardly. Wei Tingxu took the meat from the plate, piece by piece, into a small bowl, and asked Lingbi to return it to the kitchen, so it wouldn’t be wasted.
Originally, everything was going well with eating, but once Wei Tingxu returned, it made her head ache, and it truly ached.
After returning to the room, Zhen Wenjun lay there massaging herself, pressing most of her head, and almost poking all the acupoints, but still found no relief. She then realized the pain wasn’t in her head, but somewhere else.
Terrible.
Zhen Wenjun lay on the bed, eyes unblinking, staring at the ceiling. She felt she was done for.
“I’m coming in,” Lingbi called from outside. Hearing no refusal from Zhen Wenjun, she pushed the door open.
“Are you asleep?” Lingbi asked.
Zhen Wenjun: “Too full to sleep.”
“Are you sure it’s because you’re too full to sleep? What happened to you, why are you in such a mood?” Lingbi sat on the blanket by the bed, hands supporting her face, blinking her slender phoenix eyes at Zhen Wenjun, “Is it because you fell into trouble this time, nearly losing your life?”
Zhen Wenjun’s pink lips were prominent, and she moved them slightly, saying, “How could I be someone greedy for life and afraid of death?”
“Is there actually something more concerning to you than life and death?” Lingbi playfully poked her face, “I don’t know what you’re so upset about; do you know how the lady lived during the days you disappeared? She braved the rain for three consecutive days outside looking for you, even catching a cold so severe her head was hot enough to boil an egg, yet she didn’t come back. Xiaohua kept advising her to cherish her body, which made the lady angry, and she punished Xiaohua. Last night, before you came back, Lord Wei had just returned home from prison, and the Zhangsun family also came to visit. They are all people she’s been familiar with since childhood, so the lady had to accompany them for a while. Who could have thought you’d come back at this time and see the lady with Young Master Zhangsun…” Lingbi paused at this point, her dark eyes carefully watching Zhen Wenjun, trying to see what expression she made at the mention of Zhangsun Wu.
Zhen Wenjun curled her lips.
“A marriage alliance among the gentry is nothing more than normal. Through the marriage of children, two families can become closer, and with stronger power, they can stand more stably in the world. This is something you can’t not understand. The lady already treats us well; we must not and cannot have other feelings towards her, otherwise, it can only be a burden for her. Wenjun, do you understand?”
How could Zhen Wenjun not know? She always knew, and even the things Lingbi never thought of were in Zhen Wenjun’s heart. But she couldn’t control her emotions. If emotions like what makes one angry, happy, or sad for someone could be controlled, they wouldn’t be important enough to trouble people.
Perhaps initially, Xie Taihang and Lord Yunmeng choosing the clever and talented Alai as a spy to infiltrate Wei Tingxu’s side and assassinate him was not too big of a mistake. Alai had this ability, but they overlooked one thing.
The mysterious, powerful, and beautiful Wei Tingxu had a deadly attraction to the young Alai. Her feelings towards her are slowly changing, from initial fear to longing, and now to something hard to let go of.
Finished.
She felt everything was going to end.
She perhaps really couldn’t save her mother.
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