Traditionelle Chinesische Medizin

Kapitel 12

Yang Nianqing was somewhat surprised to see that he knew, but then she immediately realized, "So you've already met them."

"I just got back."

She was dumbfounded: "Then how did you..."

“Because only they dare to break in,” he said, his steps unwavering. “Besides, everyone knows about the massacre at Nangong Villa. If He Bi wants to get involved, he will definitely drag Li You into it as well.”

Speechless.

One word: Strong! (f0)

Why are all the people here so smart? Or did I just happen to run into all the smart ones? Four firsts… Yang Nianqing felt a little inferior: “Then how did you know I made a bet with Li You?”

Without a second thought, he said, "He Bi wouldn't bet, and Nangong Xue wouldn't be so bored."

Thinking of He Bi's indifferent demeanor, it was impossible to associate her with a bet. Nangong Xue was always so elegant and amiable, and would never evoke the word "bet."

Yang Nianqing found it amusing and deliberately said, "What if it wasn't just the few of us? Maybe I made a bet with someone else."

"Dead men don't bet."

She was extremely surprised: "You knew too?"

"The best way to find out the cause of death is to let me see the dead body," Qiu Bailu said, her face looking rather grim. "They come to me mostly to see dead bodies."

Yang Nianqing couldn't help but laugh: "You can ask them to tell you how those people died; they don't necessarily have to bring the dead bodies."

He Bi said that even an hour wouldn't be enough to explain it clearly.

She nodded sympathetically, and given He Bi's taciturn nature, she did indeed have this tendency: "But there's still Li You, isn't there? He's quite eloquent."

“Don’t you know how lazy he is?” he seemed very annoyed. “It was he who gave He Bi the idea to directly ask me to look after dead bodies. From then on, whenever there was a case, He Bi would bring a dead body with him.”

The Strange Betting Game

Updated on Shuxiang Chinese Website: 2008-02-26 10:50:35 Word Count: 4268

So it was him again! Only he could have angered this aloof Mr. Chrysanthemum like this. Yang Nianqing finally burst into laughter: "Yes... I'm sorry, you're right, cough cough... indeed only Li You would make a bet."

Qiu Bailu seemed even more annoyed: "He has already bet on my formation eight times."

"Eight times?" She was a little excited. It turned out she wasn't the only one who had been fooled. "Who else was fooled?"

“Women,” he suddenly stopped, glanced at her a few times, then continued walking, “when he’s being pestered by Xiao Ling’er and the others, he comes here to make bets.”

So even playboys are afraid of being entangled with beautiful women. Yang Nianqing suppressed a laugh: "Isn't he afraid those women won't be able to get out and will starve to death here?"

Qiu Bailu actually gave a cold "humph," stopped in her tracks, and said angrily, "Most of those women just trampled over them, ruining so many of my flowers."

Seeing him become emotional, Yang Nianqing suddenly felt much closer to him. Thinking of her inner doubts, she finally asked curiously, "Can't you just keep stepping and walking to get there? How could you starve to death?"

“If you step over there, there will be more sleeping pills there, and she won’t be able to walk anymore,” he said in a calm tone as he continued walking. “She will starve to death without even realizing it, which is already more than enough for them.”

Yang Nianqing shuddered: "Aren't you going to save her?"

He said coldly, "Since you've trampled my flowers, why should I save them?"

"So, all those women are..."

Yang Nianqing unconsciously slowed her pace, her eyes secretly glancing around. A scene immediately flashed before her eyes—under the vibrant flowers, several unconscious women, and several skeletons...

Qiu Bailu glanced at her: "That's Li You's business. He wanted to make a bet to get rid of them, but those women trampled on my flowers and courted death. He couldn't bear to let them die, so he had to search for them one by one. Once he searched all forty-nine places and was exhausted."

When Li You's misfortune was mentioned, he seemed to feel much better, and his tone even carried a hint of schadenfreude.

Yang Nianqing laughed so hard her stomach almost burst.

.

After a moment, Qiu Bailu had put away her good mood, her face showing a mocking and disdainful expression, and she walked slowly: "Plants and trees are like people, they are all living things. If a person does not even cherish the life of plants and trees, why bother to save his life?"

Yang Nianqing nodded in agreement, and thinking of her past behavior of tearing leaves, she couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

“If you didn’t trample the flowers, I will save you. But if you did the same as them, you’ll have to wait for Li You to come to you. Chrysanthemums are noble flowers, not something that vulgar people can trample on at will.”

Yang Nianqing wiped her sweat, thankful that she had suddenly had a "good thought" today, otherwise she would have been in trouble...

"Besides that strange woman, you are the second one."

"Strange?" Yang Nianqing became interested. "She didn't step on it either?"

"Stepped on it."

...

"So she also fell into the trap and got bewitched?"

"good."

"Was she ultimately rescued by Li You?"

"yes."

"That……"

“She is still very special,” Qiu Bailu said calmly, “because she is the only one who made four bets with Li You, stepped on my flowers four times, and fell into my trap four times.”

Yang Nianqing was shocked that someone who had suffered a loss once still hadn't learned their lesson. In this day and age, there really are such persistent, determined, and stubborn people who will go all the way down a single path, and they're even women! She admired them!

Who is she? (Question 13)

"Jianghu Rumors" (d8)

Who is Jianghu Yao?

"woman."

"Nonsense!" Yang Nianqing coughed. "What woman?"

“The woman Li You brought for the bet is naturally a beautiful woman,” he turned his head and glanced at her a few times, then said indifferently, “You’re not pretty enough.”

She was taken aback, then realized what was happening.

Damn, you're just fantasizing that I'm the same... Speaking of appearance, Yang Nianqing was quite confident in herself in modern times, but she never expected that she would be considered "not pretty enough" in ancient times. This was a real blow to her!

She tried hard to suppress the urge to explode and remained silent.

—We can't afford to offend him now. If we anger him and he leaves us here, we're doomed…

.

Unexpectedly, the bamboo forest was quite large. As the autumn wind swept through, the bamboo waves rippled and the bamboo leaves fell one after another. The deeper one went, the more it felt like swimming in the ocean waves.

Although the forest path was winding, it was still wide. Yang Nianqing followed it for about a minute, and then a clearing appeared in front of her. Hundreds of chrysanthemums were blooming in the clearing, some as big as a fist, some as small as a fingernail, in all colors and shapes. Each one looked to be an extremely rare variety.

Chrysanthemums surrounded a quaint and exquisite little wooden house. Two clumps of bamboo grew beside the house, their shade almost completely obscuring half of it, making the whole house look even smaller. Seeing this, Yang Nianqing couldn't help but recall the two lines of poetry Li You had recited that morning: "Chrysanthemums bloom amidst green bamboo, a half-closed door."

The door was open, and an open carriage was parked outside.

Qiu Bailu frowned again and let out a long sigh, clearly displeased that He Bi and the others had trespassed into her home. Yang Nianqing chuckled inwardly and followed him toward the wooden building.

.

Sure enough, there was a coffin by the door.

He Bi and the other two were sitting in chairs talking when they saw them come in. Nangong Xue stood up with a smile, but He Bi remained seated without moving, while Li You continued to drink his tea.

Yang Nianqing just stared at Li You, a smug look on her face.

Nangong Xue glanced at the two of them, cupped her hands in a smile, and said, "Brother Qiu..."

Before he could finish speaking, Qiu Bailu impatiently waved her hand, interrupting him: "What do you want me to do now?"

“Look at him.”

As soon as the cold words fell, He Bi stood up, walked over and lifted the coffin lid. Instantly, the white cloth flew to the ground, revealing the hideous face inside the coffin.

Qiu Bailu was clearly used to it and wasn't angry. She just glanced casually at Zhang Mingchu's corpse in the coffin.

Who knew—

A hint of surprise suddenly flashed in his sharp eyes, and an expression of astonishment appeared on his usually calm face. In a moment, he swiftly bent down, extended two fingers to test the clear image of the corpse, and then picked up the man's hand.

His eyebrows slowly furrowed.

"Strange...how could this be..." she murmured.

In a short while, Li You and Nangong Xue were also standing beside the coffin. Seeing him like this, the three of them were very surprised. Mr. Chrysanthemum always had a high opinion of himself and could accurately determine the cause of death with just one glance at the corpse. He had never lost his composure like this before.

Although puzzled, no one interrupted his observation.

.

Half a day.

After wiping her hands with the tan silk scarf, Qiu Bailu finally straightened up, regaining her composure, and uttered four words calmly: "Not poisoned."

Not poisoning?! Everyone was stunned for a moment.

The renowned Mr. Chrysanthemum would never be wrong.

He Bi glanced at Li You, his eyes flashing, and slowly said, "As far as I know, there is no martial art in the world that can turn a person into this."

Qiu Bailu chuckled, a hint of arrogance and mockery in her voice, and said, "I didn't expect you to be so ignorant. Could it be that you've forgotten a palm technique?"

Everyone was stunned.

Nangong Xue frowned: "You mean the Myriad Poison Blood Palm?"

He Bi's expression also changed slightly.

Li You shook his head: "The Myriad Poison Blood Palm technique has been lost for many years..."

Qiu Bailu stopped explaining and slowly walked away, seemingly very impatient: "If you don't believe me, why bother looking for me?"

silence.