Denghuaxiao

Chapter 69 Rabbit Corpse

The days passed peacefully like water, and Lu Zhen didn't take it to heart at all.

 It’s the beginning of autumn in a blink of an eye.

Lu Zhen is still very busy every day. In autumn, there are many fewer people coming to buy "Xianxian", but more people are buying "Zhegui Ling".

 “Zhegui Ling” is a medicinal tea newly made by Lu Zhuo.

Not long after, the first day of August will be the autumn of the Liang Dynasty. Confucian students will inevitably be nervous before entering the imperial examination. Some people go to the medical clinic to buy some herbal tea that can improve eyesight and clear the heart to cheer up. Lu Zhuo took advantage of the situation and made a new herbal tea called "Zhegui Ling", taking the auspicious sign of "Zhegui Ling from Toad Palace".

Although the new herbal tea is not as stunning as "Chun Shuisheng" and "Xianxian", due to its name, there are still a lot of scholars coming to buy it. At this time of year, the Buddhist hall for students studying in Wan'en Temple is almost crowded. Well, when a big event comes, there are many more people who believe in good omens than those who don't.

Lu Zhen handed two packets of Gui Gui orders wrapped in red paper to Yin Zheng: "Send this to Wu Youcai's house at the Fresh Fish Shop."

Wu Youcai from the Fresh Fish Shop failed time and time again and was often dismissed. Lu Zhu guessed that he would also participate in this year's autumn test, so he specially left a few bags for him.

Yin Zheng responded, took the medicinal tea and was about to go out, but Acheng caught up and stopped her: "Miss Yin Zheng, wait a minute."

"What's wrong?"

 “I’m afraid it’s not the right time to go see Brother Ang.”

Lu Tong paused and looked at Acheng: "But what happened?"

 “Don’t you know yet?” The boy scratched his head, “Brother Wu’s mother… left the night before yesterday.”

 …

 The weather got much cooler at night.

 After the Beginning of Autumn, there are often light rains, and sometimes there is a cool breeze after nightfall, blowing on people's bodies, giving them a bit of chill, as if they had become cold overnight.

The courtyard is as quiet as water, and the light from the lanterns under the eaves is hazy, shining on the faces of the people in the courtyard.

The young girl sat in front of the stone table, pounding the silver jar in front of her. The autumn wind blew through her hair, making her face particularly soft and bright.

Yin Zheng sat on the stool, folding the silk in his hands and looking at Lu Zhen who was making medicine.

During the day, Acheng talked about the death of Wu Xiucai's mother, and Yinzheng thought that Lu Zhuo would go and see Wu Xiucai. After all, these days, Lu Zhuo asked Yinzheng to send Wu Xiucai some warming medicinal materials every few days. It seems that he is very concerned about Wu Xiucai's mother's condition.

Although she didn’t understand why Lu Chen treated a poor Confucian scholar differently, Yin Zheng could see clearly that Lu Chen was sincerely concerned about the situation of Wu Xiucai’s family. However, until now, Lu Zhen had never mentioned that he wanted to visit Wu Xiucai, and he did not even send any money - even Du Changqing gave him two bolts of silk.

 That shouldn’t be the case. Do you have other plans?

With such random thoughts in his mind, Yin Zheng's movements gradually slowed down, and he didn't notice the gauze falling to the ground.

On the other hand, Lu Zhen glanced at her and asked, "What's wrong?"

Yin Zheng came to her senses with a start, and hurriedly picked up the gauze handkerchief on the ground. She swallowed the words "Wu Xiucai" that came to her lips, thought about it, and pointed to a cluster of fireflies under the eaves: "I was just thinking, in the capital, The fireflies are so beautiful.”

Lu Tong glanced under the eaves, where a group of green fireflies were dotting brightly and dimly in the night.

This is a firefly caught in Acheng.

As a naughty child, Yang Yinzheng sewed a four-corner bag with thin yarn and decorated the four corners with fine wind chimes. He put all the caught fireflies in it and hung them on the eaves. At night, they sparkled, which was really a bit strange. "Book of Jin" says that the summer moon gathers fireflies and reflects the snow.

 It’s a pity that there are no scholars here.

Yin Zheng smiled and asked Lu Huan, "Are there fireflies in my hometown?"

 Lu Zhuo shook his head.

Pinyuan, Changwu County, she had only seen fireflies in books when she was a child.

However, there are many fireflies on Luomei Peak.

Maybe it’s because the terrain is high and cool in the mountains. When the heat is over, the rotten grass turns into fireflies, and the entire mountain top is illuminated by green light.

When she was looking for the corpses of death row inmates in the graveyard for Yun Niang to test the medicine, she would often see large groups of blurry cold lights among the grass, like ghosts and fires.

At that time, she didn't have the slightest idea of ​​poetry or romance. She just felt it was weird and wanted to close her eyes and run away.

I didn’t expect that looking at this firefly bag hanging under the eaves now, I would feel as if I was in another world.

Yin Zheng folded the last silk handkerchief and did not get up. She simply held her chin up and watched Lu Zhuo pound the medicine. Lu Zhuo's small medicine hammer landed on the silver medicine jar, making a "ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding" sound, which was extremely clear in the quiet night.

Lu Zhuo had two medicine jars. When he used the wooden jar, he had more, and when he used the silver jar, he had fewer. Today she is using a silver medicine jar. The jar is engraved with complicated patterns. When the moonlight falls on it, the silver light shines and the treasure is brilliant.

Lu Zhen gave the last blow and left the medicine hammer in the jar. Yin Zheng knew that she was done.

Lu Zong stood up holding the jar, but did not leave immediately. Instead, he wandered around the yard, and his eyes finally fell on the half-person-high bamboo basket in the corner.

  She walked over, opened the bamboo basket, and took out a white rabbit with black eyes.

 The rabbits were bought by Du Changqing a few days ago. He said that he saw a girl selling rabbits in the Guanxiang butcher shop. The girl was pretty and came from a miserable background. Du Changqing felt compassion and bought all the rabbits in the basket.

They didn't know what to do with the rabbits after they bought them back. Yin Zheng and Xiang Xiang didn't know how to make rabbit meat, so they simply kept them in the yard. Xia Rongrong and Xiang Xiang came to feed the rabbits every day.

Lu Yan lowered her eyes and stared at the rabbit in her hand. She was holding the rabbit by its two ears and its legs were kicking randomly in the air. She looked at it and then went to the kitchen with the rabbit and the medicine jar.

On weekdays, Lu Zhuo was making medicine in the yard. When making medicine in the kitchen, she did not allow Yin Zheng to follow her. Yin Zheng rubbed her knees, stacked the newly sewn silk handkerchiefs together, and went into the house to put them in the box.

It was late at night and it was very quiet outside. The cold autumn wind fell on the windows and made them rattle slightly. The whole Shengjing was shrouded in ink darkness.

 In the kitchen, Lu Zhuo grabbed the rabbit and lowered his eyes not knowing what he was thinking.

The silver medicine jar was placed next to the chopping board. The herbs inside were smashed to pieces, and a black mass covered the wall of the jar and slowly flowed down, leaving only dirty shadows in it, which was inexplicably weird.

Lu Zhen looked at the rabbit with lowered eyebrows for a while, then suddenly reached into the jar, took out a large handful of black mucus, and stuffed it into the rabbit's mouth.

A large mass of inexplicable dirt was suddenly stuffed into the rabbit's mouth, and it immediately started struggling violently. Lu Zhuo held on to the rabbit's ears tightly until the black mucus was chewed up. She let go, and the rabbit escaped from her hands and fell to the ground. Free and immediately running around the kitchen.

 She looked at the rabbit quietly.

 One moment, two moments, three moments.

The rabbit's movements of sniffing around gradually slowed down and stopped running forward. It was swaying as if it was drunk. Then, it leaned to the side and was half lying on the ground. It seemed that it was trying to get up. My legs pushed hard, but gradually they stopped moving.

 A hint of darkness slowly escaped from the corner of the rabbit's mouth, and his wide-open blood-red eyes were particularly horrifying.

died.

 This rabbit, which was jumping around just now, is dead.

 The night was bleak, and the remaining lights in the small kitchen were dim. A woman and a dead rabbit looked at each other quietly like this, melancholy and strangely charming.

At this moment, an exclamation suddenly came from behind: "Ah—"

Lu Zhen's eyes suddenly turned cold, and he turned around suddenly. At the door of the kitchen, Xia Rongrong was standing with a lamp in her hand, looking at her in panic. At this time on weekdays, Xia Rongrong has already gone to bed - Xia Rongrong cherishes her appearance and firmly believes that going to bed early can make a woman's face radiant, so she always goes to bed before Hai hour. But now it's too late.

Lu Zhen frowned: "What are you doing here?"

Xia Rongrong seemed to be frightened, her face turned pale, and she subconsciously replied: "Vanilla fell down, I'll come to the kitchen to find some water." She quickly glanced at the rabbit on the ground, and quickly looked away as if she didn't dare to take a closer look. , asked Lu Huan in a trembling voice: "This rabbit..."

“The rabbit accidentally ate poisonous herbs and died.”

"Is this so?" Xia Rongrong said, and her eyes quickly glanced at Lu Zhuo's hand. Lu Zhuo's left hand was dyed black by the herbs in the silver jar just now.

Lu Zhen looked at her: "Aren't you looking for water?"

"Oh...yes." Xia Rongrong hurriedly responded. Just then she remembered what she wanted to do, and quickly took the basin to scoop out water. When it was filled with water, Xia Rongrong carried the basin out. When she passed by Lu Zhuo, her hands were shaking. It was so awesome that I almost knocked over the basin.

Lu Chen watched her coldly as she carried the basin out, until she entered her room in the courtyard. The light behind the door was turned off, and the outside fell into darkness again.

 She was silent for a moment, then stood up, walked to the dead rabbit, and lifted the rabbit up.

 …

 “It’s so scary, you don’t know what I just saw!”

As soon as she entered the house, Xia Rongrong threw the basin aside, her legs went limp and she collapsed to the ground.

Vanilla was startled. Regardless of the scratches on her knees caused by the fall, she quickly got up and helped Xia Rongrong to the bed and sat down: "What happened?"

Xia Rongrong had a pale face and her eyes were full of fear, "I just saw Doctor Lu in the kitchen. She, she..." Xia Rongrong grabbed Vanilla's hand, "She poisoned a rabbit to death!"

Vanilla was stunned.

"It's true!" Xia Rongrong was afraid that the maid wouldn't believe it, so she spoke more urgently and told everything she had just seen, "When I went in, the poison in her hands had not been washed away, so she stood in front of the dead rabbit, staring at the body like a monster”

Vanilla was also shocked by her description, but she still maintained a trace of reason, "Maybe Dr. Lu is just testing the medicine?"

"Impossible! What kind of medicine can poison someone to death? Besides, you didn't see the way she looked at me just now..."

Xia Rongrong remembered the look that Lu Huo had given her when she turned around and looked at her just now. Different from the usual gentleness and calmness, the woman hid in the darkness of the light, her eyes were silent and indifferent, and she looked at her as if she were looking at a corpse, without any emotion.

 She suddenly shivered.

"No, we can't stay here any longer!" Xia Rongrong stood up and hurriedly packed her clothes, "Let's pack our bags and leave quickly."

"Miss," Vanilla pulled her, "Calm down, we are leaving now, what will happen to Master Ciao?"

Du Changqing?

Xia Rongrong suddenly remembered her cousin. She murmured: "Yes, my cousin doesn't know yet. I have to tell my cousin about this."

Xiangxiang said: "Now the medical clinic relies entirely on the medicinal tea made by Dr. Lu. I heard from Acheng that Dr. Lu and Mr. Cousin Li Hong are 50/50. Living in the medical clinic these days, I see that Mr. Biao has a lot of trust in Dr. Lu. , Even if the young lady says it, Mr. Biao may not believe it. Even if he does, Mr. Biao may not kick Doctor Lu out. "

Lu Tong is the cash cow of Renxin Medical Center. Who would be willing to drive the cash cow out?

When Xia Rongrong heard this, she was immediately confused: "What should I do?"

She usually doesn't have any ideas. This time she came to Shengjing just to get into the Du family, but she miscalculated Du Changqing's current wealth. In addition, Du Changqing didn't seem to have any interest in her, so he was just getting along with her. Now that something like this happened, Xia Rongrong didn't know what to do.

"Miss, why don't you ask the shopkeeper Bai of Xinglin Hall?" Vanilla beside her suddenly said.

Xia Rongrong was stunned for a moment, Bai Shouyi?

 Speaking of which, Wen You, who was beside Bai Shouyi, came to see her a few days ago.

Xinglin Hall had a quarrel with Renxin Medical Center due to the incident of Chun Shui Sheng. Xia Rongrong also heard Acheng talk about this matter. Bai Shouyi suffered a big loss, but he put the blame on Lu Zhuo.

However, after all this time, Bai Shouyi couldn't find any clues about Lu Zhu, so he asked his friend Wen You to find Xia Rongrong, hoping to "cooperate" with Xia Rongrong.

Wen You stood in front of Xia Rongrong and said: "Miss Xia, my shopkeeper said that you don't want Dr. Lu to stay in the medical clinic. It just so happens that my shopkeeper also wants to expel Dr. Lu from the capital. It's better to cooperate and each can get what he needs."

Xia Rongrong frowned: "Cooperation?"

Bai Shouyi's method of cooperation is very simple. Let Xia Rongrong do some tricks with the medicinal materials that Lu Xu makes on a daily basis.

 This was immediately rejected by Xia Rongrong.

If something goes wrong with Lu Zhuo's medicine, Renxin Medical Center will suffer the damage, and Du Changqing will also suffer. What's more, Xia Rongrong could see clearly that Lu Zhuo did not let others get involved in matters such as concocting medicinal materials and sorting out new medicines in the hospital. Her maid Yin Zheng had extremely sensitive senses and could not find a chance to do anything.

Wen You didn't give up, he put a banknote into Xia Rongrong's hand and said, "Miss Xia, there is no need to answer now. When you have figured it out, just find someone to go to my shop and talk to the shopkeeper."

Xia Rongrong accepted the money. She was a little nervous before. After a while, she gradually forgot about it. She didn't expect that Vanilla would bring it up today.

 She looked at Vanilla hesitantly: "Is this good?"

Lu Zhen is a member of Renxin Medical Center after all, so it would be unkind to tell outsiders about Renxin Medical Center.

Vanilla sighed: "Miss, although what you saw today is unexpected, it does not prove that Dr. Lu is doing poison to harm people. Young Master Biao obeys Dr. Lu's words and must be on her side. As soon as you said it, he was alarmed. It hurts Doctor Lu, and also hurts the harmony between you and Young Master Biao."

“But Shopkeeper Bai is different. Dr. Lu has caused Xinglintang to be embarrassed before. Shopkeeper Bai holds a grudge against Dr. Lu. If something is really wrong with Dr. Lu, Shopkeeper Bai will definitely not let her go. Besides—”

"Besides, didn't you take fifty taels of silver from shopkeeper Bai before? If they come to ask for it, Master Biao will definitely be angry."

Thinking of the fifty taels of silver, Xia Rongrong couldn't help but blush.

She had already spent all her money buying hairpin rings and jewelry. If Bai Shouyi came to ask for it, she really didn't know how to deal with it.

Seeing her move, Vanilla quietly lowered her head and covered her lips with a smile.

Vanilla has been Xia Rongrong's personal maid for many years. When she came to Beijing this time, the Xia family's parents specifically told her to make sure that Xia Rongrong and Du Changqing get married.

Although Du Changqing's family fortune is not as good as before, he has a shop and a house in Shengjing, which is better than many others. This marriage is feasible.

However, staying in the medical clinic these days, Xiang Xiang could clearly see that Du Changqing had no other intentions for Xia Rongrong, but he was very close to Dr. Lu.

Herbal flowers came here just to get married to Du Changqing. If she didn't do this well, not only would Xia Rongrong be disappointed, but it would also be difficult for Xia's parents to communicate. She suspected that Lu Huan and Du Changqing were secretly in love. Although there was no evidence, Lu Huan had a vague hostess attitude in the medical clinic, and both Acheng and Du Changqing only followed her.

The vanilla wants to drive Lu Yan out of the medical hall, but he can't find the way. Who knows that Xia Rongrong tumored to see a scene in the kitchen tonight.

 This is the opportunity God has given us.

Ignoring the scratches on her legs, Xianghua got up from the bed and went to get Xia Rongrong paper and pen.

"Miss, what are you still hesitating about? The only one who can help now is Shopkeeper Bai. Write to Shopkeeper Bai quickly. If there is a problem, it can be saved in time."

The lights in the room were dim, reflecting the water stains on the ground. Xia Rongrong looked at the water stains for a long time, bit her lip, and finally stood up with determination.

"knew."

 “I just write.”

 (End of this chapter)