Chapter 43 Saving the cannon fodder brother in wuxia drama
Li Huairou found the herbal medicine she wanted and went home happily.
By coincidence, she met Fang Tianluo and Xiao Lingling along the way. In addition to Fang Tianluo and Xiao Lingling, several strangers also showed up.
Fortunately, Li Huairou was wearing men’s clothing and had changed her appearance with medicine, so she was not afraid of encountering them.
Li Huairou passed them and heard a young girl with a clear voice say sweetly, “Luo-gege, I’m tired, let’s take a rest.”
“If you’re tired, princess, go back to the carriage. You don’t need to ride with us.” Fang Tianluo’s voice was a little helpless.
Li Huairou suddenly became curious when she heard this. “Princess”? How come “princess” came out of nowhere? Wasn’t this a martial arts drama? Why was the royal family involved?
But Li Huairou didn’t dare to be too obvious, and after a short pause, she continued to move forward.
However, this slight pause attracted the attention of the group.
One man left the team and quietly followed Li Huairou. After two full days, he confirmed that she was just an ordinary healer, and she’d only come here to collect medical herbs. Only then did he feel relieved, and he turned around to catch up with the group.
“It’s just an ordinary healer who came out to gather medical herbs,” Guard Jia reported back.
A person who was obviously the leader of the team nodded. “Strengthen your vigilance and don’t relax.”
“Yes.”
By the campfire, Xiao Lingling was a little dissatisfied. “If you don’t trust me, just go by yourself. Don’t always follow us.”
Fang Tianluo glanced at her, “Lingling, I promised Uncle Qi to escort the princess back to Yancheng. Besides, they’re also thinking about the princess’s safety.” He also didn’t want to get involved with the court—it was just that this task had been entrusted to him by others. After all, Hong Qi had died because of him, and so he was responsible for escorting the princess back home instead of Hong Qi.
Princess Baozhu was the beloved daughter of Prince Yan. This time, she’d gone to her grandfather’s house to celebrate her grandfather’s birthday. Who would guess that, on the way back, some thieves would collude with the barbarian tribes and try to kidnap Princess Baozhu and threaten Prince Yan.
[Bao (宝) means jewel, treasure, precious. Zhu (珠) means pearl]
[Yan (燕) means swallow]
Prince Yan was stationed at the frontier all year round, and he had only one daughter, Princess Baozhu. She meant a lot to Prince Yan. The reason why the barbarians wanted to kidnap the princess was to threaten Prince Yan.
The guards by Princess Baozhu’s side had been killed or injured during the escape, but there were also many loyal and righthous people in the jianghu who’d spontaneously joined the team to protect Princess Baozhu.
Hong Qi was one of them. He was originally a wanderer, and he’d heard that the barbarians had tried to kidnap Princess Baozhu to threaten the Northwestern God of War. He volunteered to protect Princess Baozhu.
On the escape route, he ran into Fang Tianluo and his party by mistake. As a result, in a panic, Hong Qi blocked Fang Tianluo from a knife and died from his injuries, leaving Qi Jue on his body.
[Qi jue (七绝 ) is a genre of traditional Han poetry. The whole poem has four lines of poetry, each with seven characters, and has strict tonal pattern and rhythm]
In order to allow Hong Qi to die in peace, Fang Tianluo vowed to escort Princess Baozhu to Yancheng safely when Hong Qi was on his last breath.
Hong Qi exhaled his last breath.
Hence, the beginning scene played out.
Xiao Lingling became even more angry. In fact, there were Baiyue Sect people among those who were chasing Princess Baozhu. Had it not been for the fact that Princess Baozhu and her party had encountered Fang Tianluo by mistake, they would have been arrested long ago.
Xiao Lingling was from one of the barbarian tribes, and she didn’t care about the situation of the Han people. For the Baiyue Sect, curing her elder brother was the top priority.
It was just that she was still expecting Fang Tianluo to find the Fang family’s secret skill, Moonsnatcher. Then she could help extend her elder brother’s life, so she could bear this anger for now.
Just wait until her elder brother’s internal energy was built up. Then they’d settle the accounts with this bitch!
“Luo-gege!” Princess Baozhu’s voice came, and Xiao Lingling lowered her eyes to cover the coldness and anger in her gaze.
Princess Baozhu was fourteen years old this year. Prince Yan and Princess Consort Yan had had a deep relationship, and the princess consort had passed away early, leaving only one daughter. Prince Yan was naturally very affectionate and couldn’t bear to control her, so her personality was a bit arrogant.
She’d always prided herself on her beauty, and as the only daughter of Prince Yan, wherever she went, people gathered around her like stars gathered around the bright moon. But this Xiao Lingling looked better than her, and Fang Tianluo was also obviously closer to Xiao Lingling, and so Princess Baozhu didn’t like Xiao Lingling at all.
Princess Baozhu sat beside Fang Tianluo, pulled his arm, and said,
“Luo-gege, tell me your stories of wandering the jianghu!”
Fang Tianluo had no choice but to speak patiently, paying attention to propriety in his words. In short, he was tired.
After that, Li Huairou inquired a little and discovered the princess’s identity. This person had never appeared in the plot.
It seemed that Xiao Lingling had encountered a rival. Although, in terms of scheming, this princess was definitely not as good as Xiao Lingling. But she was a princess, after all; moreover, Prince Yan’s position in the court was very important. If something really happened to Princess Baozhu, Prince Yan’s anger was not something anyone could bear.
Li Huairou was in a good mood as she hurried back.
Li Huairou counted the time. Right now, Li Huaike should be at the free clinic under the mountain. Forget it, she’d just go and help!
But to Li Huairou’s surprise, there was a young girl at Li Huaike’s side, helping him boil the medicine.
Li Huairou’s eyes lit up, and she quietly tugged at an old woman. “Auntie, who is that girl? Why is she following Doctor Li?”
“You also came to seek medical treatment? You must not know that that girl had been rescued by the genius Doctor Li by the roadside. After waking up, she had no memory, and she only recognized him. He couldn’t do anything, so he had to take the girl with him.” The old lady was also a person who liked gossip. “We all guessed that that girl might have fallen in love with the genius Doctor Li. I don’t have a daughter, but if I had a daughter, looking at his character and good heart, I’d also like for her to marry him.”
What a familiar scene. Was this the so-called pledge of marriage after saving one’s life?
Li Huairou stroked her chin. She took the antidote for the medicine altering her face and walked to the busy Li Huaike. “Ge, I’m back!”
Li Huaike looked at her with surprise. “Huairou, you’re back!”
The girl felt nervous after seeing Li Huairou, and her hand, which was holding a cattail leaf fan, also trembled slightly.
Li Huairou glanced at the girl. “Ge, what happened?”
“You came back at the right time. She hurt her head. These days, I’ve been giving her acupuncture every day and going through medical techniques, but I couldn’t recover her memory. She’s a girl, and it’s not good for her to follow me for no reason. You came back just in time—what can you do?” Li Huaike said, taking Li Huairou’s hand.
Li Huairou smiled. Looking at the girl’s appearance, she guessed that the girl might not have amnesia at all, but just wanted to find an excuse to stay with her brother. After all, her brother was a good-looking person with a refined personality, and it was normal for girls to fancy him.
“It’s okay, ge, you do your work. I’ll have a chat with her.” Li Huairou smiled at her brother. Then she walked to the girl’s side and grinned. “Let’s go over there and talk.”
The girl looked back three times, but she finally followed Li Huairou to the side of the road.
“Open your mouth!” Li Huairou suddenly said.
The girl was caught off guard and obediently opened her mouth. Li Huairou hurriedly stuffed a pill in.
The girl was frightened and tried to spit the pill out.
“It’s useless; my pill will melt in the mouth. You must have heard from my brother—I am best at making poison. The pill you just swallowed is the latest poison I developed, called “qiansiyin”. At a certain point in time, the poison will rot the intestines, and you will die. However, you can rest assured that as long as you don’t have bad intentions, I will give you an antidote on the first day of every month, and each dose will keep you safe for one month.” Li Huairou crossed her arms over her chest, grinning.
When the woman heard this, she didn’t panic. “Believe it or not, I have no malicious intentions toward Doctor Li. The reason I lied to him is because I have something to hide. I…”
“Stop! I don’t want to hear your unspeakable secrets! I said, as long as you are not malicious to my brother, I will guarantee that you will be safe. If you plan to leave my brother one day, I will detoxify you.” Li Huairou hurriedly stopped her. I’m really not interested in other people’s unspeakable secrets. “Alright, let’s go back!”
Li Huairou took the lead and left. The girl stood there for a long time before returning.
“What did you say to Miss Liu?” Li Huaike asked curiously.
“How did you know her last name was Liu?” Li Huairou asked back.
“I found her by a willow tree, and she had no memory—she didn’t even know what her surname was, so I just called her Miss Liu.” Li Huaike was easily led astray by Li Huairou. As he explained in a hurry, he forgot what he’d wanted to ask just now.
[The liu (柳) in The Willow Tree (一棵柳树) Yi Ge Liu Shu]
“The surname ‘Liu’ is good. A weak willow trembling in the wind suits her well. Brother, you have a good eye!” Li Huairou said mischievously.
“What nonsense are you talking about?” Li Huaike flushed.
Li Huairou was more convinced that Li Huaike, that old tree, had blossomed—otherwise, why was the reaction so great!
“Alright, alright, I won’t say anything!” Seeing that there were more and more people in line, Li Huairou hurriedly rolled up her sleeves to help.
Although her medical skills were not good, she could still recognize herbs and boil medicine.
Over the course of a few days, Li Huairou observed carefully. The Liu girl seemed to be honest; she did everything cleanly and didn’t talk much. When she was free, she would just do needlework.
In general, Li Huairou’s intuition was still good. If she didn’t hurt Li Huaike, Li Huairou really wouldn’t mind having such a sister-in-law.
With the arrival of winter, the people who came to seek medical treatment were also increasing, day after day.
Li Huaike thought it was time to go back. However, Li Huaike didn’t know how to place that Liu girl.
“What else can we do? Let’s take her home. She has no memory now, so is it possible to leave her alone?” Li Huairou said.
Miss Liu suddenly looked happy.
Li Huaike also thought about it.
The three returned to Happy Valley and were warmly welcomed by Uncle and Auntie Zhang. Especially after seeing Miss Liu, Uncle and Auntie Zhang were happier.
If it hadn’t been for Li Huaike’s desperate explanation, Aunt Zhang would have prepared the bridal chamber.
Miss Liu simply stayed in Happy Valley.
Winter was coming, and the mountains were covered by heavy snow. Uncle and Auntie Zhang had already stored food for the winter. The five of them stayed in the house, chatting around the stove, talking and laughing.
Until, the night of New Year’s Eve, there was somebody slamming at the front gate.
Who could it be in such weather? Uncle Zhang and Li Huaike went out to open the door in the wind and snow, only to see Xiao Lingling half-hugging a person standing at the door. Seeing Li Huaike, Xiao Lingling was about to speak, but she fainted from exhaustion.
