Chapter 94
Chapter 94
Ding Ling stared blankly at the noisy young woman, then looked toward Ding Yanyu, at a loss.
Ding Yanyu explained, “This is Wuniang. Ten years ago, while inspecting the accounts, I discovered her parents intended to sell her. I couldn’t bear it, so I paid for her freedom. She was born with an incomplete mind. Pitying her circumstances, I placed her on an estate outside the city, where the older servants taught her simple chores so she could someday support herself.”
Ding Ling looked at the deranged Wuniang again. A small black beauty mark lay beneath the corner of her eye. Unconsciously, Ding Ling touched her own face. Coincidentally, she also had a small mole beneath her left eye.
Ding Yanyu instructed the two servants, “Take Wuniang to the opera. Watch her carefully and do not let her get lost.”
They hurriedly agreed. No matter how Wuniang called for her brother, they firmly pulled her away.
Seeing Ding Ling’s dazed expression, Ding Yanyu reached out and tapped her nose again. He smiled. “Are you jealous because someone else called me Brother?”
Ding Ling raised her eyes.
Ding Yanyu smiled. “Don’t be afraid. I will only ever be Lingling’s brother.”
Holding the warm cake, Ding Ling slowly nodded.
When Ding Yanyu returned to the clinic with her, they happened to overhear Qiao Ying speaking to the old physician.
“Doctor Lin, did you say you’ve found a way to cure the Daoist Master’s poison?”
The old physician nodded. “Indeed.”
Delighted and surprised, Qiao Ying asked, “Didn’t you say the poison was extremely difficult to cure? How did you find a solution?”
The old physician laughed. “Many years ago, my junior sect brother happened to obtain a pill made by the Shen family of Yunling Prefecture. The Shen family has practiced alchemy for generations. Their pills can revive the dead and restore flesh to bone. Neutralizing Ice Beauty should be no challenge.”
The apprentice Chunsheng was fascinated. “Master, may I see this precious pill?”
The old physician refused. He solemnly placed the medicine box in Qiao Ying’s hands. “This pill was extremely difficult to obtain. My junior only offered it after hearing that the victim was Daoist Master Yan Yanchi, who punishes villains and eliminates evil. Feed it to him, miss. He should awaken within three days.”
Ding Ling ran over in delight. “Wonderful! The Daoist Master can be saved!”
She turned to her brother with a brilliant smile. “Brother, the Daoist Master is going to wake up!”
After a moment, Ding Yanyu smiled. “Yes. How wonderful.”
Shen Qingyu sat nearby, placed another fish cake in his mouth, and smiled faintly in contentment.
Qiao Ying handed the medicine to Ding Ling. “You’re closest to the Daoist Master, so you should give it to him.”
Ding Ling did not believe the Daoist Master was close to her, but she desperately wanted them to become close. Happily, she took the medicine, pried open his mouth, pushed in the pill, then closed his jaw and let it slowly dissolve.
Perhaps the medicine truly worked. Yan Yanchi’s fingers twitched, as did the corners of his lips, as though he might wake at any moment.
Ding Ling leaned over the bedside and stared motionlessly at him. “Daoist Master, you must get better soon!”
The smile slowly vanished from Ding Yanyu’s face.
When night fell, Ding Yanyu had to return home.
Ding Ling saw him off at the clinic door. Unlike the faint sorrow that had always haunted her expression, she now looked relaxed and happy, her eyes brighter whenever she smiled.
“Brother, will you visit me again tomorrow?”
Ding Yanyu nodded. “Of course. Will Lingling miss me?”
Ding Ling nodded vigorously. “I will.”
His expression softened. “I’ll miss Lingling too. Go back inside. I’m leaving now.”
Ding Ling did not hurry back. “I’ll watch Brother leave.”
Unable to dissuade her, Ding Yanyu turned away, then looked back once more.
The young woman stood within warm candlelight, which lent color to her pale face and made her look all the more delicate and moving.
Ding Yanyu gazed a moment longer. As he withdrew his eyes, something whistled through the air.
Ding Ling screamed, “Brother, look out!”
An arrow pierced Ding Yanyu’s chest, sending blood spraying through the air.
His figure swayed, appearing all the more fragile against the night, as though the wind might scatter him at any moment.
Ding Ling tried to run toward him, but she could not stray far from the Demon-Subduing Sword. Trapped within a tiny area, she burst into terrified tears. “Brother!”
Masked figures in black suddenly appeared and caught Ding Yanyu’s falling body.
“If you want to save Ding Yanyu, bring the Demon-Subduing Sword to this location and exchange it for him!”
Another feathered arrow grazed Ding Ling’s hair and struck the clinic door. A note was fastened conspicuously to its tip.
The wind was strong that night, but the moon shone exceptionally bright.
Shen Qingyu had once again dragged Qiao Ying onto a roof to bask in the moonlight. A gust of wind made her sneeze.
Shen Qingyu chuckled as if mocking her frailty.
Annoyed, Qiao Ying pursed her lips and stared at him.
His hands paused over the grasshopper. Understanding at once, he opened his azure outer robe and spread his arms toward her.
Qiao Ying’s expression improved. She shuffled closer and burrowed into his embrace. He wrapped the broad robe around her too, his arms shielding her from the cold wind until she felt only warmth.
Qiao Ying exhaled comfortably.
Shen Qingyu rubbed the top of her head, then continued weaving the half-finished grasshopper while holding her.
After watching for a while, Qiao Ying asked, “Why are you always making those?”
“Because I’m bored.”
“Is that all you do when you’re bored? Can’t you do something else?”
“Is there anything else to do?”
Qiao Ying had no answer.
No one had ever bandaged his wounds as he grew up, so naturally no one had taught him other pastimes.
She changed the subject. “How did you learn to weave grasshoppers?”
Shen Qingyu’s nimble fingers threaded the blades of grass together, folding one side into closed wings and twisting the other into powerful hind legs. “Someone taught me.”
Qiao Ying was surprised. “Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“A man or a woman?”
“I don’t know.”
“How can you know nothing?”
“I had no eyes then. My ears were gone too, and my nose had been cut away. I could not see, hear, or smell them.”
Qiao Ying stared up at him, her expression frozen.
Shen Qingyu laughed lightly and dangled the grasshopper before her. “Yingying, I finished it.”
He placed it in her palm. His fingertips brushed her skin as he bent down and rubbed his nose against hers. “It’s for you to play with.”
In that dark past, the little house had contained nothing except the dry grass covering the floor. Whenever he grew bored, he had woven one little grasshopper after another.
To him, the little things that had accompanied him through those silent, senseless years were perhaps the most interesting gift he knew how to give.
Qiao Ying slowly closed her hand around the grasshopper and held it between their touching chests. Listening to his heartbeat, she turned and buried her face in his neck, breathing in his scent deeply.
It tickled. Shen Qingyu laughed. “Yingying is like a puppy.”
“Puppies bite. I don’t bite.”
“On our wedding night, Yingying clearly bit me very hard…”
Blushing, she hurriedly covered his mouth. “Be quiet!”
Shen Qingyu obediently fell silent. With nothing else to occupy his hand, he began rubbing her belly.
Since their marriage, this had become a new hobby. Rubbing her soft belly made it seem as though she were a little animal exposing its vulnerable underside to him, a sign of trust and intimacy.
To return the favor, she touched his abdomen. It was hard and not soft at all.
Shen Qingyu seemed even more ticklish, and his laughter grew brighter, lending the night air a soft, tingling sweetness.
“Young Master Shen! Fairy Sister!”
Ding Ling ran over and looked up at the young couple basking in moonlight on the roof, her eyes brimming with anxious tears.
“My brother has been kidnapped!”
Qiao Ying raised a brow.
It seemed the fish had taken the bait.