Chapter 197

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Protagonist:

Shaowei

Liu Qi

Zhao Qie'an did not answer for a good while.

The Head of Household died and came back to life, then turned into a faded semblance; the complexity of it all completely exceeded Mo Li's understanding, making it hard to determine whether the Head of Household needed to eat.

But seeing Zhao Qie'an stay silent, Mo Li did not press further with questions either, turning and heading to the Stove House on his own, having already decided to prepare an extra portion; if the Head of Household did not eat, he would eat two portions himself.

However, after Mo Li had taken a few steps, Zhao Qie'an's voice sounded quietly from behind: "Simmer rice porridge, simmer it until mushy."

Mo Li turned his head, and heard Zhao Qie'an instruct in a hoarse voice: "Boil chicken eggs, boil plenty."

Mo Li gave an "oh," nodded, and ran off.

Every exchange was exceptionally calm and ordinary; Mo Li simmered a pot of rice porridge on the small stove, all twenty-odd chicken eggs in the Stove House were thrown into the pot, bustling and bubbling.

Every chicken egg was boiled perfectly intact, round and plump, with no possibility of being smashed and spilling all over the ground.

Xiao Yu looked up at the person guarding outside the door alongside her, unable to resist asking in a low voice: "Zhao Shu, is the Head of Household an immortal?"

Zhao Qie'an gave an "mm": "You figured it out."

Xiao Yu's eyes shone bright; she had guessed it long ago — the Young Master was already this miraculous, it would be strange if the Head of Household were not an immortal!

But then she felt a bit nervous, voice even smaller: "An immortal gets injured, surely they wouldn't die, right?"

The house slave gave another "mm": "Since she's back, she won't."

Even immortals fear little devils; the most ferocious, most unruly little devil in the world was determined to lock down her life, so she could not die.

The rain had stopped; the house slave watched the door quietly, watching the water droplets that fell from the eaves from time to time.

Inside the room, the sweat on the Spider Woman's face was like the rain droplets under the eaves, every so often gathering into a round bead, promptly wiped away by the Wu Nu assisting at her side with a cotton cloth.

Shaowei knelt by the Bed guarding Jiang Fu, her eyes busy beyond measure — one moment fixed on the Spider Woman's needling movements, the next checking Jiang Fu's condition, the next identifying how many acupoints remained; her whole face and eyes filled with a rarely seen gravity and tension.

Removing these long needles that had sealed the acupoints for so long was no easy task; even though Shaowei knew the key points of each acupoint well, withdrawing needles required extremely rich practical technique experience — the slightest slip, causing a long needle to pierce through or snap and wander into the meridians, would instantly bring worry of disability or even death; this was also why the Doctors accompanying the Lingxing Gong dared not act rashly.

Some long needles had already adhered to flesh and blood; the Spider Woman used every skill, exercising utmost caution, tens of thousands of times more tense than when needling the Emperor — the difficulty of this matter was one thing, more importantly she keenly perceived that this mysterious Female Monarch was of utmost importance to the Great Wu God.

As the long needles left the body, the danger gradually lessened, but it was accompanied by Qi leaking out; that mysterious Female Monarch several times could not hold on, and the Great Wu God actually used a Dagger to slash his own arm to draw blood, feeding it to the unconscious Female Monarch to drink, to maintain her vital signs.

Everyone present was shocked, and dared not be the slightest bit careless.

This tense atmosphere lasted a full nearly Two Hours; all thirty-eight long needles were completely removed; although several snapped, they were also promptly separated and removed; dedicated people exerted their utmost effort, managing to pass through this crisis with fright but no harm.

The Spider Woman let out this breath, but her complexion was still not optimistic; this Female Monarch was weak to the extreme, and even more troublesome was: "... Though the needles have left the body, the illness the Female Monarch suffers from is the same as that demonic cultivator's, I fear it will be very hard to eradicate..."

This illness not only affects appearance, but also severely damages the internal foundation; that demonic cultivator merely suppressed it with medicine, and his lifespan was still affected, and once the medicine stops, the body will inevitably rapidly wither and perish.

"Little devil, don't be afraid..." Jiang Fu closed her eyes, voice light as a goose feather drifting in the wind: "I have a way to deal with it... the cause and effect here is a long story, I'll tell you slowly later."

The fear in Shaowei's heart dissipated by more than half; she hurriedly called back her wits: "Don't sleep yet, eat some hot porridge, Mo Li cooked it!"

Mo Li had asked from outside the door seven or eight times "When will the Head of Household eat porridge," and each time the house slave answered "Simmer it first"; when it was simmered nearly dry, Mo Li added water again, repeating this several times, the porridge had been simmered into a paste, which was actually more suitable for Jiang Fu to eat.

Xiao Yu snatched the serving tray holding the porridge bowl from Mo Li's hands, knelt by the Bed, and eagerly said: "Head of Household, Xiao Yu will serve you porridge!"

The Spider Woman and the others were all taken by Yong Er to the front to eat and rest; Jiang Fu on the Bed now half-leaned sitting before Shaowei, snow-white hair falling on snow-white Robe, snow-white eyelids barely open revealing pale eyes; at this moment looking at the little girl approaching, she asked softly: "Where did this little fish come from? Such bright eyes..."

Xiao Yu hurriedly answered: "Xiao Yu was picked up by the Young Master!"

Jiang Fu smiled faintly at this child: "She's good at picking up people, you're also good at being picked up."

Xiao Yu's face reddened slightly; actually it was she who hugged the Young Master's leg, and was forcibly picked up.

Then she heard the immortal Head of Household say with a smile: "What a pity about the missing eyebrows, your noble aura was stolen..."

Xiao Yu immediately tattled: "It's all Zhan Zhan's fault!"

Saying this, she turned her head to glare at the little bird squatting to the side dozing off.

Zhan Zhan started awake with a jolt, shouting loudly: "It's all Jiang Fu's fault! It's all Jiang Fu's fault!"

Jiang Fu gave a light "hiss": "You wicked bird, still up to so much mischief..."

First time meeting the Head of Household and she was sporting two bare, bald eyebrows; Xiao Yu's demeanor was momentarily discouraged, yet she heard the Head of Household softly comfort: "It doesn't matter; when they grow back anew, that will be the day clouds clear and mist disperses, when noble aura returns..."

"Come on, first obey the Young Master's order, feed this Head of Household porridge." Jiang Fu smiled, closed her eyes, and opened her mouth.

Xiao Yu stirred with a spoon in one hand, fanned frantically with the other: "Head of Household don't rush, it's still hot!"

Shaowei feared Jiang Fu couldn't wait for the porridge to cool and would faint again, and also felt this clear porridge wouldn't have much effect; she decided on the spot and ordered Mo Li: "Mo Li, give me the Dagger on the table."

Mo Li obediently brought the Dagger; Jiang Fu gathered some strength, laboriously raised a hand, pressed on Shaowei's arm, and said: "Though I know your temperament is impatient, you needn't be this impatient... you're so lively and vigorous, half a bowl of hot blood poured in, I fear it would only scald even more."

Shaowei insisted: "You need to replenish!"

Jiang Fu sighed lightly, to this little devil who had just taken the initiative to bleed, truly excessively generous: "I fear it's too replenishing; for Master, it would be a case of deficiency unable to accept supplementation..."

Shaowei, however, grew suspicious because of that sigh: "Didn't you say before that my blood is the most warming and replenishing, a thing suitable for old and young alike?"

"Fake, little devil..." Jiang Fu took advantage of her weakness to confess: "Blood is just blood, there's no miraculous use."

Shaowei's eyes widened: "You've been deceiving me from the start?"

"No choice..." Jiang Fu said: "You were so wary; if I didn't produce some intention to exchange with you, how would you have followed me?"

At that time the little devil had nothing on her, nothing to exchange, only scar after scar from bloodletting on her arms.

Shaowei's expression changed in shock: "So you just tricked me into letting blood for this long?"

"Just fingertip blood, bloodletting to vent poison, aids recovery..."

Shaowei gritted her teeth, wanting to get angry, yet felt this person made a lot of sense; but if she didn't get angry, she had been deceived for so long, and moreover: "I truly believed your ghost words, really thought refining pills with my blood was very effective, earlier when gaining the Emperor's trust to refine pills for him, I even secretly put quite a bit of blood in... what does that count as!"

Jiang Fu sighed: "Can only count as your Qi and blood being abundant..."

Shaowei was furious; Jiang Fu wailed: "Suddenly removing the needles, it actually hurts so much I'd rather be dead."

Shaowei held back her temper, but she also pushed Jiang Fu away, no longer personally supporting her, only stuffing many soft pillows behind her.

She had originally wanted to stay angry for a whole time unit, but seeing the house slave bring in boiled eggs, Shaowei still took the large bowl and rolled the eggs for Jiang Fu.

It was almost the Zi hour, and Jiang Fu's birthday was about to pass; Shaowei decided to carry out the arrangement of being angry for a time unit after the Zi hour passed.

Jiang Fu liked rolling eggs on her birthday, but if speaking of having a truly real birthday, this was the first time.

Shaowei rolled the hot eggs with a cold face, from head to back, then to arms, rolling with extreme seriousness.

The rolled eggs were left to roll off the bamboo couch; cracking upon falling had an auspicious meaning. Mo Li squatted under the couch, picked up the rolled eggs, peeled them seriously, and ate heartily.

The house slave stood quietly, watching Jiang Fu on the couch being fed by Xiao Yu and having eggs rolled by Shaowei.

It started raining outside again, but the house slave's heart was dry and warm; lacking words, she didn't know what to say, her emotions clogged in her chest, and she actually had an impulse to write poetry, but gave up because she couldn't at all.

After the Zi hour passed, Shaowei checked Jiang Fu's breath in her deep sleep; the person was alive, and had fully lived through thirty years.

Setting aside her worry, Shaowei prepared to be angry; she sat on another couch opposite, but before being angry for a full time unit, she couldn't hold on and fell asleep with her head down.

The house slave, who had slept a long sleep at night, kept watch.

All night silent, the house slave guarded until dawn was about to break, went out of the house, and danced with a long knife under the tree outside the window.

Ordinary gray robe, ordinary appearance, but her body technique and knife technique were both top-tier; body technique was unrestrained and uninhibited, knife technique was steady and enduring.

Dancing to the end, killing intent was no longer seen between moves; instead, there was the endless generation of all things. After drought, suddenly meeting great rain; under the morning wind, for a moment fallen leaves scattered everywhere. The sharp long knife probed over the fallen leaves, not injuring a single leaf; when the suspended knife remained motionless, a fallen leaf gently landed on the knife spine.

The wind blew, the leaf drifted away, the knife fell; the house slave looked into the room inside the window, only to see Jiang Fu already leaning against the couch. Seeing him look over, she smiled slightly at him.

The house slave put down the knife and walked into the house, only to hear Jiang Fu say in a voice much more stable in breath: "Long time no see; your knife technique, already at the utmost realm, has actually seen further progress—truly rare."

The house slave sat cross-legged casually in the house and said: "Raising a child, I gained some insights."

As if just meeting again after a normal separation for some time, no need to speak of each other's pain and hardship, nor any giving or debt; just each doing their own thing, each following their own will—the two had always gotten along like this.

Jiang Fu smiled and looked at the person wrapped in a quilt sleeping soundly on the couch beside: "This disciple of mine has always been hard to raise."

"Mm. I originally wanted to follow your instructions and bring her to escape Zhuzhichiyang's sight, but she refused; I felt she had some reason, so I followed her all the way here."

After the house slave finished speaking, he did not forget to declare: "I am not disobeying your words; after all, you also said, if she wants to do something, let her do it."

Jiang Fu nodded, still looking at the bulging quilt, and said: "You did very well, and raised her well too. I didn't expect you to be so good at raising children."

"Like an army besieging a city; once it's in hand, one has to bite the bullet and muster courage, forced to raise her." The house slave said in a muffled voice: "But it's not raising her well; she also nearly lost her life several times."

Jiang Fu asked him to recount the experiences along the way. The house slave had words on his lips several times, but ultimately beautified some of Shaowei's sorry experiences. Shaowei had once solemnly told him that if he found Jiang Fu, he must absolutely not tell Jiang Fu about her misfortunes; if he had to say, just talk about the impressive results.

The house slave dared not disobey; after all, last night he had spoken in front of this child about the dream-talk version without dreams, openly claiming he wanted to deceive her—

Although after rolling the eggs, he explained it as "dream-talk, all reversed," but the child didn't buy it, and just took the opportunity to be angry at him along with it.

The house slave took it deeply to heart, feeling that raising a child, even if truly in a dream, could not harbor侥幸 mentality or neglect duty.

Therefore, now after finishing speaking of Shaowei's experiences, he did not forget to conclude: "In short, she clears mountains and builds bridges over water, never retreats in fear, fights and kills all the way, very brave."

On the opposite couch, Shaowei, who had secretly woken up, listened and was fairly satisfied.

Not long after, she heard Jiang Fu say this residence was quite good, and the lacquerware in the house was truly beautiful.

Shaowei was even more satisfied and planned to continue sleeping.

But before long, Jiang Fu asked from the objects popular in Chang'an these days: "……Is there any new wine, something never before had?"

Shaowei suddenly opened her eyes, about to sit up and say not allowed, only to hear the house slave, accustomed to raising children, say: "No big new tricks; wait until you recover from illness, I'll bring some back for us to drink."

Again there was pattering rain falling; Shaowei closed her eyes again, continuing to wrap herself in the quilt and bury her head in sleep.

For the next three days, rain continued intermittently without stopping; the atmosphere in the city was filled with joy, and the imperial court was repeatedly in an uproar: first, the Heavenly Mechanism was the Great Witch God, using an evil Daoist to sacrifice to heaven and gain sweet rain; then Liang Prince wanted to plot rebellion; the Sixth Prince achieved great feats consecutively but also suffered heavy injuries, etc...

These past few days, Shaowei only had someone secretly go see Liu Qi and sent words to comfort Qingwu; regarding other matters she paid no attention or inquiry, nor did she receive guests from all sides, only focusing on guarding Jiang Fu, briefly transforming into a house fox that never stepped out the door.

When the fourth day came, the sky finally cleared. Shaowei cut a very straight green bamboo, smoothed both ends, and sent it to Jiang Fu's house. But this item was for future use; Jiang Fu still could not walk recklessly for now. Fortunately, the wheelchair Mo Li personally rushed to make was already finished.

Jiang Fu sat into the wide wheelchair; Zhao Qie'an pushed; Mo Li held an umbrella to shade her from the sun; Shaowei led the way in front with large strides, bringing Jiang Fu to circle around the house, inspecting the nest, and finally brought her to before the Ox Shed.

The green ox came out of the shed; its bald-headed cow head lightly leaned against Jiang Fu. Its movements were light, but its body was large, and since having iron hooves, it became even more arrogant and combative. Shaowei firmly gripped its two curved horns, preventing it from injuring the now faded and fragile Jiang Fu.

Jiang Fu gently stroked the green ox's head and sighed: "Being alive is still quite good, don't you think?"

These words were originally spoken to the ox, but Mo Li spontaneously nodded; the house slave grunted an affirmative; Shaowei even said: "Of course."

Seeing the green ox's emotions were fairly stable, Shaowei released it and allowed it to move freely.

Zhao Qie'an pushed Jiang Fu along, walking and looking. Jiang Fu looked at the clouds in the sky and smiled: "Today the sky is clear with clouds; perhaps an immortal's carriage will arrive. Little ghost, you should prepare good tea and good water."

?? October already, Happy National Day! (But I absolutely won't take a holiday!)

? I took a long sick leave at the beginning of September, so I didn't dare ask for monthly votes (but still ranked third overall! Third place! This is a miracle everyone loves, right!), now October has arrived, I'm going to crazily ask for monthly votes! I've become a monthly-vote brain! Begging everyone for pity!