I said, "Draw circles."
He lifted the hem of his robe, squatted down next to me, and laughed, "Miss, who are you trying to curse?"
I turned my head away. "I won't tell you, otherwise you'll say I'm heartless again."
Lou Xiyue said solemnly, "No, you are my master."
I said, "I curse the heavens to strike me with lightning..."
Lou Xiyue coughed lightly, rubbing her forehead.
I glanced at him. "Why are you coughing like that? I curse tomorrow with thunder and lightning, that it will burn down this whole patch of Yunlan."
Lou Xiyue said, "Xiao Xiang, you seem to be in a bad mood."
I plucked a flower and counted the petals. "No, no, I'm in a great mood."
Lou Xiyue said, "Then give me a smile."
I turned my head and grinned at him.
Lou Xiyue tilted her head. "Are you laughing?"
Then, he reached out and brushed his hand away from the corner of my eye.
I suddenly realized that I was wearing a veil, with only my eyes showing, making it difficult to tell whether my expression was crying or laughing.
So I looked at him sadly and said in a serious tone, "This is what it means to laugh through tears."
He stared at me intently, and after a long silence, Lou Xiyue said, "You look a bit like a girl I know."
I said, "You know every girl."
He raised his eyebrows and pinched my chin through the veil. "Miss, you're in a bad mood. This young master will act as a shadow puppet to amuse you."
I sighed, stood up, and brushed my clothes off. "No, I'm not interested in shadow puppets."
Lou Xiyue stroked her chin and chuckled, "So what are you interested in? Voodoo dolls?"
I said, "My heart is aching like it's being torn apart. Can you let me scratch it a little?"
He glanced at me and said casually, "I won't let you scratch me."
I gave him a resentful look. "My heart is ashen."
He stepped forward, grabbed my waist, and suddenly picked me up horizontally, carried me to the roof, took a few more steps in mid-air, and landed outside the main hall.
I hummed, "So this is how light I am. It's so easy to carry me and scale walls."
Lou Xiyue reached out and grabbed my hand, wrapping it around his neck, signaling me to hold on tighter.
He raised his long eyebrows and said, "Once, my third uncle and my father were drunk outside. This is how I carried them back home."
I groaned, "My heart is like a broken wall, my heart is like ashes."
He led me to a restaurant where Ji Jiu and Da Feng were waiting.
Seeing the strong wind, I silently lowered my head. The wind's piercing gaze shone on me, making me feel as if I were being pricked by thorns.
Ji Jiu said, "It didn't leave; it's been waiting in front of the restaurant."
I was very touched when I heard this. I looked up at Dafeng and noticed that its feathers were much thinner. I asked in surprise, "Dafeng, have you started shedding your feathers lately?"
Ji Jiu said, "It always takes the roast chicken from the restaurant and buries it in a hole. So the restaurant owner beats it every time he sees it."
I gently stroked Dafeng's wings with a pained expression. It shivered, probably because it had lost some feathers and was terribly cold.
I said to the wind, "I will never abandon you again, you are my wind and my sand."
Lou Xiyue rubbed her forehead and said, "..."
Ji Jiu lowered his head and said, "..."
We ordered some food and I asked for a jar of Muxi wine.
As I drank, I said to Lou Xiyue, "I wonder if your third uncle was poisoned by black needles or wolfsbane."
So I gave him a general explanation of the two poisons.
I said: Wolfsbane is something that has no antidote once you're infected, while black needle is something that can be cured once you're infected.
Lou Xiyue asked, "How can we tell which one it is based on the symptoms?"
I said, "If you take the medicine and get better, it means you've been poisoned by black needles; if you don't get better, it means you've been poisoned by wolfsbane."
Then I thought about it again: When Zi Mo told me her story, she said she was poisoned by wolfsbane, and then An Chen took her to the ends of the earth to find an antidote; but her master said there was no cure for wolfsbane, so Zi Mo was poisoned by black needles. As a member of the Eastern Lands, she should be very familiar with wolfsbane as a defense against poison, so how could she not know what kind of poison she was poisoned by?
I pondered for a long time, but still couldn't figure it out. I asked Lou Xiyue, "Generally speaking, if a woman lies to a man that she's been poisoned and needs his help to cure it, what are her intentions?"
Lou Xiyue paused for a moment, then answered me in a serious tone, "She was drugged with aphrodisiacs."
Text [29] Wolf Venom Killing (8)
I said "Oh," and silently ate my food and drank my wine. (89 Literature Network)
After we finished eating, I looked up at him and said, "What I meant by 'it takes a man's help to solve this' is different from what you understand as 'it takes a man's help to solve this'."
Lou Xiyue poured me a glass of wine and said with a smile, "So what's your interpretation? And what's my interpretation? Why are they different?"