Sword drawn from the constellations, poison as its edge.

Chapter 129 Bai Meisheng

as long as you are happy!
Jiang Mingzhe watched his little brother fluttering around Abi like a duckling, silently offered his sincere blessings, and then rowed away with the two old ladies and two old mothers.

After rowing for about an hour, the small boat slowly approached the shore.

Jiang Mingzhe stood up and looked around. The clusters of flowering trees by the water were as bright as rosy clouds, their reflections shimmering in the water, their postures graceful.

Granny Rui smiled and said, "Young Master Jiang, our manor is planted with datura flowers inside and out. You've come at just the right time; you're in for a treat."

Jiang Mingzhe smiled and followed the two women ashore. The two old women seemed to have quite a bit of influence. The maids and servants they met along the way all bowed and greeted them. Seeing that Jiang Mingzhe was tall and handsome, they all stared at him intently.

This provoked the old women to laugh and curse: "You little slut, do you think you can look at Young Master Jiang like that? If you tell the young lady, we'll gouge out your eyes."

After passing through clusters of flowers and crossing a stone bridge, we arrived at a small building.

Under the eaves of the small building is a plaque with three large, dark green seal characters: Yunjinlou (Cloud Brocade Building).

Camellias were everywhere in front of and behind the building. Several pretty maids were busy catching insects and pruning leaves. When they saw Granny Rui and Granny Ping, they quickly greeted them.

Granny Rui asked, "Is Miss upstairs?"

An older maid replied, "Reporting to Madam, Madam has recently acquired a beautiful camellia folia and is currently admiring it in the upper room."

Granny Rui then said to Jiang Mingzhe, "Young master, please wait a moment while I..."

Before the words were finished, a woman's voice came from inside the building: "Has Granny Rui returned? I told you to go and catch that little slut, and what kind of young master did you bring back? Don't you know the rules of the manor?"

The voice was clear and pleasant, yet dignified, and the speaker spoke quite quickly, clearly indicating an impatient person.

Granny Rui immediately said, "Miss, he is not an outsider, but the old master's beloved disciple and your junior brother."

"My junior brother?" The other person sounded very surprised and immediately said, "Oh, that's rare. Bring him in so I can take a look."

Before Granny Rui could speak, Granny Ping pulled Young Master Jiang into the small building.

The building was lavishly furnished, with a large peacock painting in the center and a wooden couplet on either side that read: "The lacquer leaves are dense with clouds, and the camellias are as beautiful as snow."

There was also a wooden plaque with green characters that read: "Listening to the spring rain all night in the small building."

In front of the wooden tray was a waist-high carved mahogany flower stand, on which sat a large pot of camellias, their snow-white petals layered upon each other, creating a truly magnificent sight.

A woman stood beside the flowers, wearing a narrow-sleeved shirt and long skirt, with a slender waist and round hips. She turned to look at Jiang Mingzhe, smiled slightly, and then turned away.

This woman was extremely beautiful, with thick eyebrows, large eyes, a high nose, and upturned lips. She appeared very opinionated and lively, and bore a striking resemblance to the jade statue in the Jianhu Stone Cave.

The jade statue depicted an eighteen or nineteen-year-old girl, but this woman was over thirty, with a high, full bust and captivating charm.

Jiang Mingzhe quickly clasped his hands in greeting: "Jiang Mingzhe, disciple of the Starry Sky Immortal, pays respects to Senior Sister!"

The woman smiled, her eyes fixed on Jiang Mingzhe with amusement, and said, "You little rascal, you've been staring at me like that ever since you came in. Don't you think that's rude?"

Jiang Mingzhe secretly groaned, thinking to himself that there was no such thing as being too direct; he had just subconsciously compared the two because they looked too much alike, and had stared at them for a second or two longer.

But he couldn’t say that, so he could only say, “Since you asked, Senior Sister, I dare not lie to you. I have seen many beauties since I started traveling the world, but this is the first time that someone has inspired me to write poetry the moment I saw her. I was so engrossed in the poem that I forgot myself. Please forgive me, Senior Sister.”

A hint of delight flickered in the woman's eyes as she said cheerfully, "You said you could compose a poem upon seeing me? Interesting! My father often says his disciples are all quite cunning, but I never expected there to be one with such refined taste. Hehe, tell me what poem you composed, and if I don't like it, I'll punish you!" Jiang Mingzhe frantically racked his brains for words to praise a woman's beauty, and slowly said, "Hmm, when Senior Sister turned around and smiled just now, a line suddenly came to mind: 'A smile that turns around is captivating, making all the beauties of the six palaces pale in comparison!'"

The woman frowned upon hearing this, shook her head, and said, "These are lines from a poem Bai Juyi wrote about Yang Guifei. That woman didn't have a good ending..."

As he spoke, a thought suddenly struck him: "Yang Guifei's fate was certainly not good, but the line 'all the beauties in the six palaces paled in comparison' is exactly what I have always longed for."
Emperor Baoding of Dali has no sons, and that unfaithful man will surely inherit the throne. If he were to actually have a conscience and take me with him, who among the common beauties in the harem could rival me? Wouldn't that perfectly match the poem? Then, even if I die like Consort Yang, at least I won't have lived in vain!
As she thought about it, a thrilling glint appeared in her eyes, and she couldn't help but say, "Well, though it's not auspicious, it's still quite accurate. You do have some talent, lad."

Jiang Mingzhe added, "There's another line that's even more fitting: After Senior Sister turned around, another sentence popped into my head: 'A single glance from her makes all other beauties in the world seem like dust!'"

Bai Juyi's poem only says that the beauties of the six palaces are pale in comparison, but Wang Guowei's line is even more exaggerated, saying that all the beauties in the world are like dust.

The woman laughed heartily, her face radiant and glowing. She shook her head and said, "I don't know whose this line is. Surely it wasn't written by you, Junior Brother? Haha, the line is indeed wonderful, but you're praising me a bit too much."

"Did you pass? No, I don't think so!"

Jiang Mingzhe said in surprise, "I'm not trying to flatter you, Senior Sister. To be frank, I've traveled all over the country and consider myself well-informed, but in all my life, I've only ever seen two truly exceptional people!"

His face showed an expression of admiration and longing, and he said sincerely: "First is my master, who is a god among men and a sage among martial arts masters. His martial arts skills are unparalleled. Second is my senior sister, who is truly beautiful and radiant, a fairy princess, whose beauty is unmatched in the world! If even one word of these two sentences is false, may God prevent me from learning Master's Huagong Dafa."

If he had made any other oath, no matter how vicious, the woman would have just listened to it. But as a disciple of the Star Constellation Sect, his statement that he couldn't learn the Dissolving Power Technique showed that he was sincere.

Moreover, this woman already considered herself to be exceptionally beautiful, so she immediately believed it without question, and said with a beaming smile, "Alright, alright, senior sister believes you. I didn't expect you, junior brother, to have such good eyes! Come, sit down and talk. Someone, bring me my treasured tea so my junior brother can have a taste."

This woman was usually stern and cruel, rarely smiling, but now, with just a few words, she smiled more beautifully than a flower. Her maids all knew that a formidable person had arrived, and they all served Jiang Mingzhe wholeheartedly. Some pulled out chairs for him to sit down, while others rushed off to pour tea and water.

The woman sat in the middle and had Jiang Mingzhe sit beside her. She asked with a smile, "Disciples of the Star Constellation Sect rarely travel in the martial world. How did you end up here with your senior sister?"

When Jiang Mingzhe first met the two old women, Rui and Ping, he casually mentioned that Ding Chunqiu had learned that the Dali Duan family had offended his daughter and asked him to find a way to take revenge. Now that he was in the spotlight, he dared not say such a thing, especially since Ding Chunqiu could arrive at any moment.

He had already prepared his explanation on the way, and immediately said, "Reporting to Senior Sister, my master once captured a poisonous monkey in the Wuliang Mountain area. It was skilled at catching centipedes and scorpions and was extremely fond of it. Later, the monkey accidentally escaped, so he ordered me to find it. If I found it, my master would teach me several unique skills as a reward. But I thought to myself, if even my master couldn't find it, where could I find it with my meager skills? So I decided to go to Wuliang Mountain to catch another one. But when I got to Wuliang Mountain, I couldn't catch one for a long time. I happened to run into two old women who came to capture Senior Sister's enemies, so I joined them."

Granny Rui and Granny Ping exchanged a glance, thinking: His master told him to deal with the Duan family, but he didn't do anything to help, so he didn't dare to mention it. Sigh, aren't we the same? We just look out for each other.

Then the woman said, "That little brat dares to be my enemy? My enemy is her old mother. But that little brat dared to come and kill me, which is really rude of her. Didn't you catch her?"

Granny Rui hurriedly said, "It's good that you know, Miss. It's quite unfortunate. Recently, in Wuliang Mountain, there's a king of ten thousand poisons, the Manggu Zhuha, who has gone mad and eaten all the poisonous monkeys. That's why Young Master Jiang can't be found. We hate that the king of ten thousand poisons, after eating all the monkeys, is now going to eat people. We had already captured that little vixen, but on our way back we encountered the king of ten thousand poisons. Not only did he eat the little girl, but he also ate many of us. Only the two of us, Young Master Jiang, Meng Yuanchen, Liu Biao, and Kuai Jianhua managed to escape."

The woman didn't seem surprised, but exclaimed in astonishment, "The Manggu Toad has reappeared? Sigh, it's truly a case of karma. It seems that the reason the Manggu Toad became the King of All Poisons is somewhat related to my mother..."

She shook her head, seemingly unwilling to say more about the matter, and said only, "Alright, alright, go back and tell those three that since they did their best, I won't blame them even if they didn't do it well. Let them come back and read a book for a day."

The two old women were overjoyed. They had been convinced that the woman would be punished, but they never expected that she would let the matter go so easily when she saw her junior brother. This was an unprecedented act of leniency and kindness.

Ignoring the two old women's flattery, the woman turned to Jiang Mingzhe and said, "It's because of my matter that your mission was delayed. But don't worry, when my father comes, I'll plead for you on his behalf."

Jiang Mingzhe said happily, "Thank you so much, Senior Sister. You're so kind."

The woman laughed and said, "Don't call me Senior Sister, I'm not a member of your Starry Constellation Sect. Well, my late husband's surname was Wang, so you should call me Madam Wang, but that would be too formal. You are my father's disciple, so you are also part of my family. I'll tell you my maiden name, it's fine. I took my mother's surname, Li, and my maiden name is Qingluo. You can call me Sister Qingluo from now on. I won't call you Junior Brother anymore, I'll just call you Little Brother."

Jiang Mingzhe seized the opportunity and immediately changed his tune, sweetly calling out, "Yes, Sister Qingluo!"

"Yes, little brother!" Li Qingluo responded, then turned and ordered, "Prepare a banquet. Today I want to entertain my brother. Have Yuyan come and meet him."

(End of this chapter)