Chapter 8: A Visit in the Middle of the Night

Shen Ninghua gave a cold smile when they came to the courtyard arranged by Madam Zhao.

Nurse Zhou surreptitiously looked at Shen Ninghua’s face, but could not figure out what she was thinking, “Miss, the madam had intended to let you live in Luomei Courtyard, but your cousin from the Zhao family often comes to live there, and the madam has been so busy recently with the madam dowager’s birthday feast that she had no time to get things done before your arrival. Please excuse her.”

“You worry too much. I surely know that mother has been busy. This place is also excellent. Qing Que, see Nurse Zhou off.”

“Yes, miss.”

Bai Ruo tidied up the house quickly and made a cup of tea, “Miss, although the yard is spacious, it is not a good place to live in.”

Madam Zhao was smart enough to avoid gossip about her arrangement of residence for Shen Ninghua. The courtyard was spacious and pretty nice. But it was called Tranquility Courtyard and was only two walls away from the place where servants lived. Although there seemed to be nothing wrong with this, how could the first daughter live on the outskirt of the mansion?

Hong Ling said indignantly, “Madam must have intentionally made this arrangement for you, miss. I see that it’s not far from the place where the servants live. Is it possible that she would arrange someone to climb into the courtyard at night to ruin your reputation?”

Bi Zhu covered her mouth with her hands and sniggered, thinking that Hong Ling would be scolded again. Among the four of them, Hong ling was the youngest. She was neither as considerate as Bai Ruo nor as skillful as Qing Que, let alone being able to manage the personal articles of Sheng Ninghua as Bi Zhu did. Instead, Hong Ling was always careless with her words, but Sheng Ninghua was very indulgent with her.

As expected, Bai Ruo glared at Hong Ling and scolded her, “I will teach you the rules myself someday, and don’t you dare to blab with a big mouth.”

Hong Ling shrunk her neck and hurriedly looked at Shen Ninghua. “Miss, I’m wrong.”

“It’s not completely impossible.” Shen Ninghua lowered her eyes slightly to conceal the upsurge of emotions in her heart. How dare Madam Zhao arrange such a yard for her. In no time, she would definitely make Madam Zhao beg her to move out. “Bi Zhu, is my mother’s dowry list ready?”

“Yes, miss, it is.”

“Well, keep it carefully. We will get our things back one by one.” Shen Ninghua took out a white jade pendant from her purse, and her face was full of smile. Today, she staged a big play before the gate of Shen mansion. It would not be difficult for Chu Junyi to get the message. She thought she could receive her five thousand taels of gold tonight. “Qing Que, if there are guests in the evening, don’t worry too much. Don’t make too much noise.”

Qing Que nodded, “Yes, miss, I will do as told.”

On her first night back home, Shen Ninghua slept very well. She was even a little dizzy when waking up in the middle of the night.

“You are really a black-hearted girl. Even your maids are so vicious. If I were not good at martial arts, I’m afraid I could not enter your room.” When Shen Ninghua was woken up by these joking words, she saw Chu Junyi in a dark blue robe, with a smile on his face.

“To what do I owe this pleasure of meeting young master Chu in the middle of the night in my courtyard? I think you’ve brought the gold for me.”

“No gold but a man.” Chu Junyi was surprised. If he hadn’t investigated carefully beforehand, he couldn’t believe that the beautiful girl in front of him was the dark-skinned girl he met in the valley.

“Oh, if that is the case, I can also accept your offer.” Shen Ninghua sat up and leaned against the bed, took the jade pendant from under the pillow, and slightly swayed the necklace to which the jade pendant was affixed.

“Oh, Miss Shen is going to accept me as the payment?” Chu Junyi raised his eyebrows.

“I saved your life in exchange for five thousand taels of gold. Now that you haven’t brought the gold to me as promised, I’ll take your life.” Shen Ninghua looked at him with a smile and asked, “Do you know whom I met in the valley?”

“Tell me.”

“An old lady who was very good at using poison…”

As soon as Shen Ninghua finished her words, Chu Junyi’s eyebrows trembled, and he bounced up to stay away from the bed, but ended up falling to the ground.

“What poison have you applied to me?”

“It’s not that powerful. It just makes you easier to be manipulated.” Shen Ninghua looked at Chu Junyi up and down and then looked at the door. “Qing Que, come in.”

“Miss.”

“Young master Chu had pawned his life to me, and I agreed to take it. Change his appearance and send him out. I will surely find a way to recover the gold I was promised.”

Chu Junyi’s eyes flickered, “How are you planning to get the gold?”

Shen Ninghua smiled softly, and her eyes flickered, “I heard that there are many brothels in the capital. Young master Chu is one of the Peerless Duo Masters, so you must be worth quite a lot. I think I can take back my five thousand taels of gold very soon.”

Chu Junyi was stunned. He couldn’t believe it. The girl wanted to sell him as a male prostitute!

“Do you know who I am…”

“Of course I know. You had told me your identity earlier, but I thought no one would know that you came to my house at midnight. And so, no one would know I sold you. Who would expect that one of the Peerless Duo Masters in the capital would end up in a brothel?”

“Haha…” Looking at her smiling face, Chu Junyi laughed angrily. It’s the first time in his life that he had met such an interesting girl. “You are very bold, but aren’t you afraid of…”

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“Young master Chu had better not threaten me. I was never a courageous person. It would be bad if I killed you and had your corpse chopped in order to prevent you from saying anything to anybody else.”

Chu Junyi watched Shen Ninghua’s eyes closely: her black pupils looked like the boundless deep pool with a strong killing intent but no sign of joke. He quickly made up his mind and suddenly laughed, “Haha, I’m just joking. Why did you take it seriously?”

Shen Ninghua curled her lips, and her eyes flashed, “I was just joking, too. But young master Chu is a good actor. I haven’t done anything to you, but somehow you acted like you were poisoned.”

Chu Junyi sprang up from the ground, without the slight indication that he had been poisoned and paralyzed a moment ago. “We are all good jokers. Maybe we can become confidants. Haven’t you applied narcotics to me that paralyzed people? What’s wrong with my acting?” The reason he dared to come here alone was that he had preparations. When he heard Shen Ninghua talk about Granny Poison, he had an idea. His identity was not ordinary, and Shen Ninghua wanted to get money from him; so the poison she used would most likely be some kind of narcotics. So he fell to the ground pretending to have been poisoned. However, Shen Ninghua saw him through.

“Young master Chu acted very well.”

“Then how did you find out?” Chu Junyi was curious.

Shen Ninghua looked up at him and said, “Shouldn’t you give me five thousand taels of gold first?”

“Of course, I have brought the money. However, it depends on my mood whether I give it to you or not.” Chu Junyi sat on the chair and took out a stack of gold tickets from his pocket, fiddling the tickets as if he was playing cards.

“Do you really want to know?”

“Of course.”

Shen Ninghua smiled brilliantly, “Then why don’t you have a look at your hands?”

Chu Junyi looked down. He was shocked to find his right hand turning black rapidly from the fingertips. He quickly used his left hand to seal the acupoints in his right arm. He waited for the blackening progress to slow down and then looked at Shen Ninghua, raised his eyebrows and said, “So this is your new skill?”

“It’s just a small skill.”

“What kind of poison is this?”

“No comment, but aren’t you curious why I just saw through your acting? I can tell you now.”

Chu Junyi became more curious, “How?”

“Because I don’t have such off-grade poisons as sleeping drugs and narcotics. Once my medicine is used, it will definitely leave some marks on you. Say, if you don’t treat your right hand in time, you will have to get used to doing things only with your left hand in future.” Shen Ninghua looked at the spreading black block on his hand and said in a relaxed tone.

“Oh? So that people will know that I was poisoned?” Rather than caring about his right hand, Chu Junyi asked about something else.

“Wouldn’t that be better?” Shen Ninghua raised her eyebrows and said.

“What’s the point of letting people know that you’ve poisoned me?” Chu Junyi stopped suddenly. He looked at Shen Ninghua in surprise. He didn’t even notice when and how she applied poison to him.

Shen Ninghua laughed but didn’t speak. What she studied in the valley was not only how to make more powerful poisons, but also how to apply poison without being noticed. It’s the cruelest thing in the world to know that you are poisoned but can’t find the person who poisoned you, so that you could only wait for death.

Chu Junyi smiled, “You have told me the truth. Aren’t you afraid if I made it public?”

“You can have a try.” Shen Ninghua didn’t care at all. She looked down at the jade pendant in her hand, an obvious gesture of threatening.

Chu Junyi smiled, “Relax. We have suffered together, and I won’t betray you. Here are five thousand taels as promised. Aren’t you going to detoxify the poison in me?”

Hearing that, Shen Ninghua looked up at Qing Que, “Qing Que.”

Qing Que went up to take the gold tickets from Chu Junyi and checked them carefully, “Miss, it’s five thousand taels of gold tickets.”

Shen Ninghua nodded, threw the jade pendant to Chu Junyi, and said straightforwardly, “Goodbye, young master Chu.”

Chu Junyi stared at her, “Didn’t you forget something?” The poison in his hand had not been removed.

“Didn’t you seal the acupoints in your arm? When you are home, soak this arm in boiled vinegar for an hour. Or, if you are not bothered by the color, just do nothing, and the black color will be gone in a month. ”

Chu Junyi’s eyes flashed angrily, “You said that you don’t have off-grade poisons. What is this for? Specially for dying people? ”

Shen Ninghua chuckled, as if she was extremely happy, “You really believe what I said. You are one of the Peerless Duo Masters. Don’t you know that women are the best liars?”

Chu Junyi clenched his teeth and cast a meaningful gaze at Shen Ninghua. Suddenly, he curled his lips and laughed, “Miss Shen is very smart. So you must know many things, such as the black jade pendant on you.”

Shen Ninghua looked up and asked, “Black jade pendant, what do you mean?” She had been wearing a piece of black jade pendant next to her skin. All she knew was that the jade pendant was left to her by her mother. Now, Chu Junyi seemed to know some secrets.

Chu Junyi became more delighted, “I believe you will make your own investigation.” He emphasized the word “own”. Shen Ninghua’s puzzled expression immediately made him happy. After these words, he leaped out of Tranquility Courtyard without waiting for Shen Ninghua’s reaction.

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