Tang Dynasty Puppet Doctor

Chapter 4 Blowing Sleeping Incense

Seeing two young ladies, one in white and one in green, walking into the mourning hall side by side, the girl in white had a calm expression, while the maid in green was full of excitement. Old Lady Wang's face turned purple.

"Where did these two farm slaves come from? Are you kidding us?"

Ah Shu's smiling eyes suddenly widened. She took a quick look at herself and said angrily, "How can we be like peasants? Besides, even if we were peasants, so what? We didn't steal or rob, and we didn't ask you for food. My daughter came here out of kindness to treat your young lady who was about to die in vain. It would be fine if you didn't appreciate it, but why are you scolding us?"

"Ah Huan, it's incurable, let's go home quickly!"

After saying that, Ah Shu pulled Murong Huan's hand and turned to leave. Liu screamed, ran over with tears in her eyes and almost knelt down in front of them.

"Don't go yet! My daughter is sick, and I want to treat her. It has nothing to do with them. I apologize to the young lady on their behalf! Please save my daughter?"

After saying this, Liu'er kowtowed several times.

Ah Shu was shocked and quickly lifted up Liu's hand, but she saw that the lady's face was haggard and her eyes were red and swollen from crying. She felt pity in her heart and sighed inwardly at the pity of seeing the young die before the old.

"Ahuan, what should we do now?" She turned around and asked Murong Huan.

Murong Huan said, "We need a room, a stove, and a candle. Carry the patient into the room, and everyone else will wait outside."

After hearing this, Ah Shu raised her voice and repeated it again.

"Did you hear me? Give my girl a room, a stove, and a candle. Then carry your young lady in the coffin into the room. Others, please don't come in and disturb her. My girl needs treatment!"

"What do you mean by outsiders? How can you be so rude, little maid?" An older maid frowned and scolded Ah Shu angrily.

"So do you still want to treat the young lady in the coffin? If not, forget it! We're leaving!"

The maid's eyes widened, her face flushed with anger. Before she could say anything, Liu glared at her coldly and said, "What are you doing? You don't want my Ah Ying to come back to life, do you? You're guilty as a thief, and you're afraid she'll point out which of you pushed her into the water, right?"

When these words were spoken, everyone's heart trembled.

"Liu, don't go crazy in front of outsiders!"

Old Madam Wang shouted angrily.

"Then please ask the Ah family to take all these servants back. No one really wants to keep vigil for my Ah Ying anyway, so why bother pretending to be so?"

"you--"

Old Lady Wang was so angry she was speechless. She could only turn her anger towards her son: "Look at the kind of wife you married!"

After saying this, he left angrily with the help of his crutch and a group of servants.

Wang Sanlang's face turned red and white. He looked at Liu with some annoyance and hurriedly chased after Old Lady Wang.

"Mother, please don't be angry! Mei Niang was also grief-stricken because of the loss of her daughter, and she lost her composure..."

……

After Old Lady Wang and her group left, the mourning hall finally became quiet. Mrs. Liu ordered two strong maids to come and carry her daughter out of the coffin and into her daughter's boudoir.

He immediately lit a candle and a tripod.

After Murong Huan entered the room, he immediately placed a puppet in his hand in front of the window frame. The candlelight cast the silhouette of the puppet on the window paper, which looked very much like the figure of a woman with fluttering clothes.

The maids who were watching from afar were so frightened that they screamed and ran away.

Only Liu was standing in front of her daughter's boudoir, looking into her daughter's room from time to time. However, because the maid said that her daughter was not allowed to be disturbed by outsiders during her treatment, she was afraid of disturbing her daughter's soul and did not dare to get close.

She didn't know how long it had been, but a strange fragrance came to her. The fragrance was so faint, like plum blossoms blooming in the snow, or like falling petals. It made her remember all the good times with her daughter, from the time her daughter was born, to when she started babbling, when she called her mother for the first time, and then when she followed her to learn to write, play the piano, and paint.

In order to give her daughter a bright future, she brought her up to be polite, virtuous, and talented, fearing that she would be disliked by her in-laws after she married into her husband's family. However, she did not teach her the ability to protect herself.

Gradually, Liu fell asleep and saw her daughter sitting on the swing and swinging high. The sunlight cast a golden halo on her small figure, butterflies danced around her, and her crisp laughter could be heard in her ears.

"Ah Huan, Madam Wang has fallen asleep! Can we start now?"

"Yeah! Okay!"

"That's right! That Madam Wang is truly pitiful. It seems her in-laws don't like her, and even her husband is a coward. Now that her daughter is gone, she seems to have lost her soul..."

"Can this young lady really survive?" Ah Shu asked.

Murong Huan hesitated for a moment and replied, "Of course! She wasn't dead in the first place!"

……

"How is it? Are you treating him? The person is dead, can it be cured?" The old lady asked the two maids who ran back tremblingly.

"It seems to be healing, but it's too scary. It's like some kind of witchcraft to summon spirits. I even saw the ghost of Fifth Lady, right there on the window paper."

"What nonsense!" Old Lady Wang interrupted angrily, then turned gloomy. "I didn't expect this girl Ying to be so stubborn. I thought that with her calm temperament, if she married into the Zhou family, as long as she could please Minister Zhou, she could also avoid some disasters for our Wang family. But I didn't expect... Well, if she can really wake up, this matter will be over. I will choose another illegitimate girl to marry her off!"

"Old Madam, is this okay? After all, Minister Zhou specifically asked for our Fifth Lady." Zheng, the eldest wife, reminded.

"He has never met Wu Niang. He has only heard of her reputation for both talent and beauty. Could it be that he will force this girl Ying to die again after she wakes up?"

After Mrs. Wang said this, Zheng didn't dare to say anything.

"Go check again to see if the person has recovered."

"Yes!" the maid replied, then timidly ran out, filled with fear and helplessness. "Ajia, what if Wu Niang doesn't wake up? What should we do? We can't really choose another girl from our Wang family to marry into the Zhou family, right? The Zhou family would beat her to death..."

Old Lady Wang also felt helpless. After thinking about it, her eyes suddenly lit up.

"If she doesn't wake up, then send this young woman pretending to be a doctor and the maidservant beside her to Minister Zhou and tell him that these two people killed Wu Niang!"

……

An hour later, Liu finally woke up from her dream. Because she had a beautiful dream, there was still a smile on the corner of her lips when she woke up. It was not until she looked up and saw the silhouette on the window paper that she suddenly came back to reality.

She got up hurriedly, and at this moment, Ah Shu pushed open the door and walked out of the house.

"Madam, your daughter's life has been saved, but there are some things my daughter wants to talk to you about."

"Okay, okay!"

Liu was overjoyed and ran quickly to her daughter's bed with Ah Shu, but she saw that her daughter was still sleeping, her skin as pale as paper.

Liu was panicking. She looked at Murong Huan and asked, "Why hasn't she woken up yet?"

"She's pregnant!" Murong Huan replied briefly.

"What did you say?"

Liu felt like she was struck by lightning.

"So, even Madam doesn't know? Your daughter is already two months pregnant."

"No, my Ah Ying has always been well-behaved. She hasn't even married yet, so how could this happen?" Liu couldn't believe it. "How did you know?"

Ah Shu continued, "It was your daughter who said it herself. She told my daughter everything in a dream. She had a lover and wanted to elope with him. Unfortunately, the man was a coward. After hearing that the Zhou family proposed to your family and specifically asked for your daughter, the man became afraid and hid away. He never contacted your daughter again!"

"No, it's impossible, it's impossible..."

Liu still refused to believe it, and rushed to her daughter's bedside, stroking her daughter's cheek, thinking of her daughter's abnormal behavior in the past two months: she was unwilling to get close to others, spoke very little all day, and would only answer "yes" or "okay" when asked anything.

"So, because the Zhou family forced her into marriage and she was abandoned by a heartless man, she was so disheartened that she committed suicide? So she had already decided to die?"

She was too embarrassed to face her family, and faced with their indifference and even the ridicule of her sisters...

Thinking of her daughter, who had always been gentle and charming, and who always smiled when she saw her, Liu burst into tears, feeling even more heartbroken. "It's all my fault. I was so focused on pleasing the Ah family and bearing children for my husband that I neglected Ah Ying's care and feelings."

"It's my fault, Ying. As long as you can wake up, no matter what difficulties you face, I will be there with you!"

……

Seeing Liu crying so hard, Ah Shu also felt a deep sense of sadness in her heart.

"So people often regret only after they've lost something? Ah Huan, this lady seems to have figured it out. So, should we..."

"Let's go!"

"Ah, are we leaving now? But it's already dark outside..."

Ah Shu was still thinking about having a meal here before leaving, but seeing that Murong Huan was so determined to leave, she had no choice but to endure her hunger, and the two of them walked out the door.

As soon as she stepped out of the door, she saw two burly old women coming towards her aggressively, ready to lift Ah Shu up.

"What are you doing? What are you doing? My girl just cured your young lady's illness. Now you want to repay your kindness with hatred?"

"What do you mean cured? If he was truly cured, why hasn't he woken up yet? In my opinion, you're not here to heal, but to kill. Now that he's dead, you're trying to escape. How could that be possible? Stop making excuses. I'll take you to see the authorities!"

Zheng walked forward and raised her hand to slap Ah Shu, but Murong Huan grabbed her wrist fiercely.

It was like having my hand gripped by an iron fist, unable to move at all.

Zheng turned her head in horror and saw an extremely sharp and cold light suddenly appear in Murong Huan's eyes. This coldness seemed to be tangible, as if sharp ice penetrated the body, making people feel cold all over.

"I heal illnesses, and what I heal is the human heart. If a person has no heart, I can also take your life!"

"What did you say?"

Upon seeing this, Ah Shu immediately stood in front of Murong Huan and soothed him in a very gentle tone, "Ah Huan, I'm fine, calm down!"

He turned around and apologized to Zheng, whose legs were shaking with fear: "Sorry, my girl is a little excited, she will be fine in a while!"

Seeing this girl groveling, Zheng immediately stopped shaking and summoned up the courage to shout with a forced smile:

"Ha... Listen, she said she wanted to kill me, so she's here to kill someone or what?"

Mrs. Wang was furious when she saw this and shouted, "Come here, arrest them both!"

"and many more--"

Before Madam Wang could finish her words, she was greeted by a crisp cry.

Zheng and the servants all raised their heads in surprise, and saw a familiar figure standing in front of the boudoir door.

"She is my benefactor, you must not hurt her!"

(End of this chapter)