Chapter 42 Saving the cannon fodder brother in wuxia drama
Her days of recuperating in Happy Valley were comfortable and easy. Uncle Zhang was very good at hunting; every time he went out, the results were always fruitful. Auntie Zhang’s medicinal cooking was both nutritious and delicious. It didn’t take long for Li Huairou to find that her waist had grown thick.
Li Huairou pinched the extra fat on her waist and wanted to cry without tears.
Auntie Zhang saw it, babbling and making gestures.
Li Huaike explained while drying the herbs. “Auntie Zhang told you not to worry. When your injury is cured, she’ll cook you a slimming medicinal dish!”
When Li Huairou heard this, she thought, It could still be like this. Wouldn’t it be unnecessary to go on a diet in the future?
Although she’d only transmigrated here for a few days, Li Huairou discovered that this body gained weight easily. In order to maintain her figure, the original owner could only go on a diet. Long-term dieting led her to physical problems; on her journey with Fang Tianluo, Xiao Lingling, and others, she became their burden because of her physical problems. Every time there was a crisis, Fang Tianluo would always protect her in his arms. Thus, Xiao Lingling was very dissatisfied.
Eventually, Li Huairou had gotten herself killed.
“Auntie Zhang, really? Is it really possible to lose weight through medicinal food? There’s no need to go on a diet?” Li Huairou asked Auntie Zhang.
Auntie Zhang patted her chest. Without Li Huaike’s translation, Li Huairou knew that Auntie Zhang was saying “you can count on me.”
“Auntie Zhang, you’re so kind! You don’t know how uncomfortable it is when I see those delicious foods but can’t eat them!” Li Huairou said, pulling on Auntie Zhang’s arm.
Auntie Zhang listened with a smile and nodded in agreement from time to time.
Uncle Zhang stood beside them and said a few words, and Li Huaike translated, “Uncle Zhang said that Auntie Zhang has very good cooking skills and will make a lot of delicious food. She’ll make it for you in the future!”
Li Huairou smiled happily. “Auntie Zhang, you’re very kind.”
Auntie Zhang was so happy that she made sweet and sour pork ribs for Li Huairou at noon, and Li Huairou ate two bowls of rice with them.
Li Huaike smiled.
After eating, Li Huairou sat under a tree to enjoy the breeze, the mountain wind making her drowsy. Li Huaike came over to get her pulse. Li Huairou didn’t mind, and she stretched out her right hand.
Li Huaike furrowed his brows. There is still no improvement. No, I have to go back and read more medical books.
Li Huaike came and went in a hurry.
Li Huairou didn’t care. It was better to indulge in medical books than to indulge in Xiao Lingling. In fact, she knew the reason for Li Huaike’s abnormal reaction.
It was most likely that the sword had stabbed too deeply and damaged her uterus, which meant that she would not be able to give birth in the future. That was fine, anyways; she didn’t plan to marry, nor did she plan to have children. This was her excellent reason to be single!
It was just that if Li Huaike didn’t say anything, she’d also pretend not to know!
Li Huairou dozed off and fell asleep. Auntie Zhang walked over, gently covering her with a blanket.
Time passed unhurriedly. Li Huairou’s injury had almost healed, but Li Huaike still took her pulse and gave her acupuncture and medicine every day. Auntie Zhang also racked her brain to make various medicinal meals for her.
Li Huairou felt that she had indeed lost a lot of weight. Not only that, her skin was also smoother and more delicate. She was interested in medicinal food and wanted to learn from Auntie Zhang.
Auntie Zhang was also happy to teach her, and the two got together every day, turning over medical techniques and studying medicinal cuisine.
Unsurprisingly, the first bowl of medicinal food that Li Huairou personally made first entered Li Huaike’s stomach. Then Li Huaike ran to the toilet four or five times. Finally, he gave himself a few shots—after taking the medicine, he was stable.
Not only did Li Huaike not get angry, he also comforted Li Huairou, saying that she was talented and should continue to work hard.
Li Huairou did not believe in evil and continued to work hard. On the second night of medicinal food, Li Huaike slept through three days and three nights before waking up.
Li Huaike continued to bite the bullet and encourage her.
The third time, the fourth time, the fifth time…
Li Huairou was absolutely desperate. Why? It was obviously the same recipe and the same order—why did the food I made have the opposite effect?!
Li Huaike looked at his sister’s downcast look, racked his brains, and finally came up with words to comfort his sister. “Huairou, in fact, I think you have a talent for making poison. There is a poison scripture in Master’s study. Would you like to read it?” It wasn’t bad for children to be able to produce poison and defend themselves!
Li Huairou’s eyes lit up. Studying poison? What a great idea. Although she didn’t want to get involved with the male and female protagonist anymore, it was a good idea to give them a fatal blow when necessary!
“Okay! I want to learn!”
Then, Li Huaike and Li Huairou were surprised to find that Li Huairou was truly talented at making poison. She clearly followed the recipe in the book, the order and the amount exactly the same. But the effect of the poison she made was remarkable.
Truly talented! Li Huaike looked at his sister with admiration in his eyes. If shishu were alive, he would’ve been very happy to see his sister. After all, shishu had been good at making poison in life, and before his death, he’d regretted that no one had inherited his ability to make poison.
[Shishu (师叔): martial uncle. The martial brother of your master]
Afterwards, Li Huaike sighed and took out a box full of books. “Huairou, these are the poison scriptures and notes left by shishu. I think you should be able to use it. His greatest regret was that he had no descendants. If you want, I will accept you as his apprentice on shishu’s behalf, so that we are also shixiong and shimei.”
[Shixiong (师兄): martial elder brother; shimei (师妹): martial younger sister. The master-disciple relationship is like a familial one, so disciples under the same master would refer to each other by these titles]
Li Huairou looked at the box full of books, and her mouth twitched. ”I don’t think it’s necessary.” She just wanted to learn for fun. This legacy was too heavy.
“Since ancient times, medicine and poison have been one. Once you’ve studied poison, you can cure diseases and save people. Huairou, you must study hard. Don’t disappoint shishu and me!” Li Huaike seemed unable to see the refusal in Li Huairou’s eyes, and he directly took charge.
After a brief apprenticeship ceremony, Li Huairou officially became one of the disciples of Happy Valley.
It was probably really talent. Li Huairou’s progress in poison was said to have gone by leaps and bounds; soon, she almost finished reading all the books and notes left by shishu, and she began to make all kinds of strange poisons.
“Ge, I’ll probably have to go out. I need a few herbs, but I can’t find them in the valley,” Li Huairou said while holding her rice bowl during lunch on this day.
Li Huaike nodded. “Okay, where? How long? Do you want me to accompany you?”
“No need. Don’t you need to go down the mountain to open a free clinic? How can you have time to spare? I can go by myself. I don’t know how long it will take, but I’ll come back as soon as I find them,” Li Huairou said. “Auntie Zhang, you can prepare some more delicious food for me! I’ll be back soon.”
In order to reduce the number of Li Huaike’s outings and the possibility of encountering Xiao Lingling and Fang Tianlou, and also to satisfy Li Huaike’s wish to treat illnesses and save people, Li Huairou had made him open his free clinic every month to treat the poor.
There were more and more people coming. Li Huaike was very busy but full of energy. Of course, Li Huaike did not only treat poor people—he also treated some famous officials and nobles. After all, whether it was his life or a free clinic, everything needed silver to support it.
Li Huaike didn’t worry that Li Huairou would go out alone. After all, if she really met the bad guys, the ones he should be worried about were the bad guys.
“Okay, then you should be careful and come back as soon as possible.” Li Huaike thought about it—there were so many people outside waiting to be treated, and he really had no time.
Li Huairou set off with her backpack.
Actually, it was true that she wanted to go out to find herbs, but the most important reason was that she wanted to find the martial arts secrets left by Fang Tianluo’s parents before Fang Tianluo and Xiao Lingling did.
Of course, she didn’t want to snatch a chance that belonged to Fang Tianluo. In fact, this secret martial arts book could not be practiced by outsiders at all. It was only possible for the children of the Fang family, who had practiced the internal skills of the Fang family since childhood. Even if someone else took it, it would be useless.
This was also a reason why Xiao Lingling finally retrieved the secret book and rescued Fang Tianluo.
The truth was, this was basically one of the plans that the Xiao siblings had. Xiao Lingling’s elder brother, Xiao Tianze, was unable to have children, and his life had been damaged because of his martial art practice. He hoped that obtaining the secret book would bring his martial arts to the next level and lead the Baiyue Sect to dominate the jianghu. After getting this secret book, he found that he couldn’t practice it, so he made a decisive decision, discussed it with Xiao Lingling, and staged a drama of rebellion for love and running around the world.
It wasn’t that Xiao Lingling didn’t love Fang Tianluo. But perhaps this love was not so pure!
The truth was, many years later, Xiao Lingling’s son left the island and returned to the Central Plains. He successfully took over the Baiyue Sect’s power and connections, founding the Mingyue Palace. Under his leadership, the Mingyue Palace became one of the biggest sects in the jianghu.
Li Huairou didn’t want the Xiao siblings to have the advantage, so she wanted to place a trick on the secret book. She’d make them understand that they shouldn’t touch things that didn’t belong to them!
Li Huairou had the inherent advantage of being familiar with the plot, so it didn’t take much effort for her to find the book. She smeared some meticulously-crafted gu poison on every page, knowing that when Xiao Lingling and Xiao Tianze got this secret book, they would definitely look through it the first time. As long as they moved this book, they would be poisoned.
This gu poison wasn’t potent. It would flow into the brain along the person’s bloodstream, and then every full moon, the gu worm would be restless, and the person with the gu poison would have a headache.
Another detail was that if a woman was infected with this poison, she would not be able to get pregnant.
Li Huairou put the secret book back to its original place, arranged the scene as it used to be, and smiled contentedly. She was still very kind, after all; if Xiao Lingling didn’t have any wicked thoughts, then Fang Tianluo would be poisoned. And as long as Fang Tianluo practiced the techniques from the secret book, she believed that it shouldn’t be difficult for him to get rid of the poison.
As for Fang Tianluo’s martial arts success, he would definitely help Xiao Lingling remove the poison from her body. But at that time, it would be too late. Although the gu poison would be cleared, the damage it caused to Xiao Lingling would not be reversed. In this life, she would not be able to give birth to her own child.
As for whether Xiao Lingling would adopt a child who would then return to the Central Plains a few years later to inherit the power and connections of the Baiyue sect—with Xiao Lingling’s pride, she probably wouldn’t do such a thing. She’d definitely look for famous doctors all over in trying to cure herself. At that time, she wouldn’t mind reaching out to help.
And those people in the Baiyue Sect were not fools. They had their own way of identifying the blood of the Xiao family. People who didn’t have the Xiao family’s bloodline could never take over as the master.
In this way, Xiao Tianze and Xiao Lingling’s plans could be easily destroyed, and their wishful thinking would fall through. It really was great!
Li Huairou thought triumphantly, clapped her hands, and left.
