Rodeé con mi brazo la esbelta cintura del hombre fuerte

Capítulo 29

"You crazy woman! You went mad and were kicked out by Third Master, yet you still try to bite me! I'll tear your mouth apart!"

Suddenly, a dark figure darted out from behind Danmei and pounced on Chunniang, grabbing her hair and starting a fight. Danmei looked closely and realized that it was Aunt Zhou, who had arrived at some unknown time.

"Stop it, all of you, and get back!"

Xu Jinrong roared, and Aunt Zhou, who was wrestling with Chunniang, trembled and her grip loosened. Chunniang suddenly burst into laughter, saying, "I was just wondering where to find you, and you, you slut, actually delivered yourself here! I don't want to live anymore, so I'll have you die with me to avenge my child. Then we can be good sisters in the underworld and serve Madam Zhou properly!" With that, she kicked the candlestick, which fell to the ground and immediately ignited the oil, which quickly burned to the feet of the two women.

The accident happened so suddenly that Aunt Zhou screamed and tried to escape, but Chunniang held her tightly and rolled her into the woodshed. She couldn't break free for a moment and just kept screaming for help in great fear.

The room was already piled high with kindling, and then oil was poured on it. Once the flames appeared, the fire was impossible to extinguish. In the blink of an eye, it crackled and burned into a large area. The flames leaped up to half a person's height, and the scalding heat was carried by the wind, forcing people to take a few steps back.

Steward Xu was shocked and stamped his foot, immediately shouting for someone to quickly bring water to put out the fire.

"Get out of here quickly!"

Xu Jinrong turned around abruptly and shouted at Danmei, his face looking extremely ugly in the firelight.

Danmei shuddered, knowing he was doing it for her own good and wanted to hear him leave, but her feet felt as heavy as a thousand pounds. She finally turned around and paused for a moment, when she heard a pitiful cry for help mixed with coughing coming from the smoke-filled woodshed. She couldn't tell whether it was Chunniang or Zhou Shi who was making the cry.

Danmei's heart tightened. She turned around and saw that Xu Jinrong had already taken off his outer clothes and soaked them in a bucket of water that a servant had just run over. He covered his head and face with the water, then poured the whole bucket of water over himself. He went to the woodshed, kicked the door open, and rushed into the fire.

"Xu Jinrong!"

Danmei screamed, her eyes widening suddenly. She instinctively took a few steps forward, but a wave of scalding heat rushed towards her, forcing her to stop.

"My lord! My lady!"

Those who had been stunned by the scene finally came to their senses. Xiqing and the cooks quickly grabbed Danmei and pulled her back. When Steward Xu and Jiang Rui saw that Xu Jinrong had actually rushed into the fire to save people, they dared not hesitate any longer. They followed his example, soaked themselves in the blaze, covered themselves in wet clothes, and rushed into the increasingly engulfed woodshed. After a while, they all rushed out, coughing incessantly.

Zhou was brought out, her body still smoldering and struggling on the ground. People rushed over and quickly extinguished the flames on her body. Xu Jinrong and Steward Xu were in better condition, but the corners of their clothes and sleeves were also on fire. People rushed over and put out the fire. Steward Xu's goatee was still singed when a servant quickly poured water on it from head to toe. He sneezed.

"My lord, Aunt Chun is clinging to the pillar and won't let go. The fire is too big, I can't help her..."

Jiang Rui, who came out last, anxiously asked, ignoring the wisps of smoke rising from his hair.

Xu Jinrong turned around, looking in the direction of the woodshed where the flames were already soaring into the sky, and remained silent.

"Third Master... I, Chunniang, have no regrets about following you in this life. I want to follow you again in the next life, and I'll be honest and never make you hate me again..."

Suddenly, a hoarse voice rang out from the sea of fire, as if it came from the depths of the earth, and then abruptly stopped.

Chapter Seventy

"Third Master, I was so overwhelmed by all the choices, but I finally picked this one. Do you think it looks good on me?"

She pointed to the new gold-carved flower ornament she had put in her hair, looked up at him, her eyes full of shyness and anticipation.

"nice."

He glanced at her casually, nodded and smiled slightly, then turned and left.

As Xu Jinrong gazed at the crackling fire, with beams collapsing and sparks flying everywhere, this scene, long buried in his memory, suddenly surfaced in his mind.

When was that? It was when this woman named Chunniang had been with him for a short time, and one day she was overjoyed and wanted him to see her beautiful face.

He was slightly bewildered.

A pillar snapped and fell with a crash, flames suddenly shooting towards him, bringing with them a blast of scorching heat.

"Xu Jinrong, watch out!"

He heard a sound behind him, and before he could react, he was forcefully pulled back a large step by a pair of hands. The still-burning wooden pillar crashed down where he had just been standing.

He turned around and saw that it was Danmei.

Perhaps because she was scorched by the flames, her cheeks were flushed red. Her eyes were wide open as she looked at him, her gaze reflecting two blazing flames. In those flames were fear, anxiety, sorrow, and... that faint sense of estrangement he seemed to have seen before.

He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his heart, a pain that felt like blood slowly seeping from the lash of a whip wrapped in caltrops. For a fleeting moment, he even had a thought that he might never be able to get her to give her heart to him again, no matter how hard he tried now or in the future.

"Go back, it's dangerous here..."

He looked at her and said in a hoarse voice.

Danmei took one last look at the chaotic fire, nodded slightly, turned and left, returning to her quiet courtyard. Standing on the stairs, she could still see the towering flames in the distance and hear the faint sounds of people talking.

Her face was still burning hot, and the night breeze made it feel even colder. Her eyes were sore and dry that she had difficulty blinking.

"Mother, my mother was really taken in by Concubine Zhou..."

As she sat alone in the chair, kneeling before the dim light, she heard soft footsteps behind her.

She turned around and saw it was Sister Hui, wearing a loose-fitting moon-white shirt, her hair a little disheveled, as if she had just gotten out of bed, but her eyes were full of unease. The wet nurse was standing at the door, and when she saw her looking at her, she coughed awkwardly.

Danmei turned around and hugged Hui's small, warm body into her arms, whispering in her ear, "You are a memento your mother left for your father. Just remember that. The adults will handle everything else."

***

The fire, fanned by the wind, not only burned down the entire row of side rooms of the prefectural government's rear office, but also whipped flames beyond the walls, igniting a row of nearby wooden houses. The flames soared into the sky, almost reddening half the night sky of Huaichu Prefecture, and were not extinguished until dawn, leaving only charred rubble and smoldering beams. Fortunately, the alarms were raised in time, and no one was killed. The people whose houses had been burned gathered at the back gate of the prefectural government, some weeping, some kneeling and begging for justice—a chaotic scene.

Xu Jinrong had his steward, Xu, step forward and promised to rebuild the houses on the original site immediately, with separate compensation for the damaged property of each household, before leaving.

He felt utterly exhausted, both physically and mentally. No matter what he had faced before, no matter how tired or weary he was, he had never felt this utterly drained. He didn't want to do anything; he just wanted to sleep.

For the first time, he wondered if he was really getting old and unable to fully control the people and things around him.

He went upstairs, waved for Xiqing Miaoxia, who was guarding the door, to go down and rest, and then pushed open the half-closed door. He saw her lying on her side next to his daughter, fully clothed. The two of them lay quietly side by side on the bed, with one of her hands still on his daughter's waist.

He slowly sat down in a chair in front of the bed, leaning back and gazing intently at his wife and daughter on the bed. When weariness washed over him again, he finally closed his eyes.

His eyes closed, but the image of the small, almost shrunken human figure, completely covered by a white cloth, flashed before his eyes.

That's Chunniang.

"Third Master Xu, my family is gone, my father is gone, if you don't want me, where can I go?"

At that time, he was just a nominal cavalry captain in Tongzhou Prefecture. One evening, while riding home, a woman suddenly rushed out of an alley, stopped his horse, and knelt down, pleading with him. He then recognized her; she was the woman he had encountered a month earlier, the one he had rescued from a ruffian, and the one who had later given him money to treat her father, who had been beaten so badly he was vomiting blood. He had long forgotten about her, but he never expected her to come back and speak to him like this. So he took her in.

If you don't want me, where can I go...?

Just last night, it felt as if time had rewound to that day many years ago. The same woman had come to him, doing the same thing, kneeling before him, saying the same words. But now, he was no longer the Xu Jinrong whose heart was solely focused on his career. The empty space in his heart was now completely filled by another woman, so her words could no longer move him, not even the slightest hesitation or tenderness.

"Third Master, if you don't want me, I want you and her to remember me for the rest of your lives."

He could still hear the words she said to him as he rushed into the fire to bring her out, but she clung tightly to the pillar and wouldn't let go.

The fire was scorching hot, but her words were chillingly cold.

It was only at that moment that he realized he had never truly understood this woman named Chunniang. He realized that besides her narrow-mindedness, short-sightedness, and sharp tongue, she was also incredibly fierce and resolute.

She wanted him and his wife to remember her death for the rest of their lives, and she succeeded.

***

Danmei coaxed Huijie to sleep, but she was exhausted. She curled up and took a nap, but woke up suddenly. She felt a thin blanket around her waist. She turned her head and saw Xu Jinrong leaning back in a chair in front of the couch, already asleep.

She slowly sat up, staring blankly at his face, still covered in soot, his eyebrows and the hair on his forehead even singed.

He was asleep, breathing evenly, but the vertical lines between his brows remained tightly furrowed, showing no sign of relaxing.

She felt a pang of sadness, and her eyes fell on his hands.

His hands were covered with large and small blisters from the fire, some of which had broken and were oozing blood.

She stood up, went to the cabinet, and found the Green Jade Ointment she used to use, along with an unopened bottle. He had said back then that the ointment was cooling and anti-inflammatory, and besides smoothing scars, it could also be used for burns.

She returned to his side, knelt at his feet, and applied ointment to his hands. The moment she touched the back of his hand, his fingers twitched, and he woke up.

He didn't speak, but just looked down at her quietly applying medicine to her hand.

"Do you... feel any blame towards me in your heart...?"

Seeing that she had finished applying the medicine, he moved her body slightly as if she wanted to stand up, so he reached out and grasped one of her hands, and asked in a low voice.

Danmei raised her head and met his eyes. They were bloodshot and somewhat dim, no longer possessing the sharpness of a hawk.

"You're wrong..." She let him hold her hand, slowly shook her head, and repeated softly, "You're wrong, I should be the one asking you that... If it weren't for my greed, which you once scolded me for, none of this might have happened. Aunt Zhou, Liang-ge, Chun-niang, they're all still living their lives as they always have... I should be the one asking you, in your heart, have you ever blamed me?"

Xu Jinrong looked down at her, his expression stiff. He remained silent, neither saying yes nor no, but he tightened his grip on her hand, so much so that she felt a little pain.

Danmei regretted asking him that question. Now that it had already happened, did she just want to hear his answer "yes" or "no"?

She smiled slightly and stood up: "You're tired. I'll have the wet nurse take Sister Hui away so you can get some rest."

***

Chunniang's remains were sent back to Xu Jinrong's ancestral cemetery in Qingmen and buried next to Madam Zhou.

Although Zhou was rescued that night, she was covered in kerosene from being rolled on the ground in Chunniang's arms, resulting in severe burns. While her life was not in immediate danger, she was wrapped up like a dumpling with ointment applied by the doctor, lying there groaning day and night, weak and somewhat delirious, muttering incoherently. When she was lucid, she kept saying she wanted to see Liang Ge, and cursed Chunniang for being vicious, demanding to see Xu Jinrong, saying that she had been framed.

Danmei didn't know whether Xu Jinrong had heeded Chunniang's dying words, nor did she care to ask him. Since the devastating fire that had shaken the entire Huaichu Prefecture, Xu Jinrong had been even busier. She knew he needed to deal with his suspicious subordinates and officials, quell the rampant rumors, and appease the affected populace. She, on the other hand, devoted herself almost entirely to Liangge's side, carefully tending to his food and medicine.

She felt that this was all she could do for Xu Jinrong: to make the child who shared his bloodline as comfortable as possible before his life was completely over.

“It’s you.”

That morning, Liang Ge, who had just woken up, opened his eyes. His previously unfocused gaze seemed to refocus as he looked at Danmei sitting before his bed. He hesitated for a moment before uttering those two words, his voice as weak as a kitten lacking milk. But this was the first time in many days that he had spoken to her on his own initiative.

"It's me."

Danmei reached out and used a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his forehead, and smiled at him.

“I don’t like you. I didn’t like you the first day you came to my house. Later I disliked you even more because my aunt often sat there crying by herself. I tried to comfort her but it was no use. I knew that only when my father came would she stop crying, but my father never came to see her and tell her to stop crying. My aunt said you are a vixen and that you are not a good person. I don’t want to see you. I want my aunt to be by my side.”

“I’m not a good person, you’re right. But your aunt has some things to take care of right now, so she can’t be with you. You need to get better soon so she’ll be happy when she comes back.”

Danmei looked at him and spoke slowly.

"You're talking nonsense..."

Liang Ge's body convulsed suddenly, his eyes rolled back, he clutched his head and cried out in pain, his breathing became rapid as if he was suffocating, and then he curled up into a ball and began to tremble.

Danmei knew he had fallen ill again, so she hurriedly called the maid in loudly. She took four or five pills that the old doctor had prepared some time ago, and together they helped Liang Ge up and poured water into his mouth to make him swallow them.

These pills cannot cure Liang Ge's illness; they only temporarily suppress it when it flares up, putting him to sleep. At first, he only took two pills, but now four or five are no longer effective. Once Liang Ge had slowly fallen asleep again, Xi Qing advised Dan Mei to go back and rest.

Danmei knew that after taking the pill, he wouldn't wake up for at least an hour or two, and her own head felt heavy, so she went back to her room, lay down fully clothed, and meditated for a while. Suddenly, she remembered something, abruptly opened her eyes, and the more she thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. Even if she was wrong, it was still a desperate measure, better than helplessly watching him die. Unable to sleep, she immediately got up, wrote a note, and without sealing it in an envelope, told Xiqing to take it to Jiang Rui and deliver it to the old physician immediately. She spent the entire day anxiously. By evening, Xu Jinrong had returned to the inner quarters when a servant reported that the old physician had arrived.

Xu Jinrong was still confused when Danmei called for him to come in. Seeing him looking at her with a puzzled expression, she pulled him into Liang Ge's room without saying a word.

The old physician arrived quickly. Although his legs had long since been free of splints, he had been somewhat cautious the last few times I saw him. This time, however, he walked very fast, without needing any support. Upon seeing Danmei, he even forgot about Xu Jinrong and said with delight, "Today, thanks to Madam's suggestion, I searched through the entire pharmacopoeia and inquired with the experienced pharmacists of several old pharmacies in the city. Now I roughly know the cause of your illness, young master. You were probably poisoned with a rare and insidious drug from the Jiuli region. This drug is called Yin Kui Lan, and it is extremely rare. It sends up a flower stalk in March, with large and vibrant flowers that bloom for only one day before fading, leaving buds on the stem. Only by collecting a hundred buds can you obtain..." She concocted a potion containing a potent poison. It was said to be insidious because even with years of consumption, the symptoms were initially subtle. Only upon discontinuation would one gradually develop dizziness and delirium, followed by weakness, coma, difficulty breathing, pinpoint pupils, and cyanosis, while the pulse remained normal. An ordinary person would never diagnose it as poisoning. The young man's symptoms were exactly as described, so it was highly likely he had it. Fortunately, Madam warned him early; had it been delayed any longer, he might have perished. I, an old man, who prides myself on my extensive knowledge and has consulted numerous pharmacopoeias, am utterly ashamed to be inferior to a mere woman like Madam…”

The old doctor was still talking animatedly when Xu Jinrong slammed his hand on the table and stood up abruptly.

Author's Note: Just a heads up, the next chapter will probably be the one that gets over all this trouble.

Chapter 71

"Who could be so vicious as to inflict such a strange and evil poison on a child..."