Section 88: Deliberate

The family did not want the lady to do anything foolish. There was no need to let a mere dispute of pride provoke the master of the family.

“All right, I understand,” the lady replied. She had only been speaking in anger, and had not truly meant anything by it. Still, the family of Single was a great house in the Vermilion Bird Kingdom; everyone in the land normally tried to curry favor with them. In the past, when faced with such matters, she had merely found them troublesome. But now, when confronted by a woman like that, completely indifferent to it all, she found herself strangely unable to accept it.

While the head of the Single family and his wife discussed how to deal with the matter, Blue Ice and Black Feather, after taking the man from the carriage away, were also speaking about the woman.

“We must bring that woman to the master so she can treat him,” Black Feather said. True to his name, although he cut a striking figure and had a handsome face, his features were dark and severe, frost-like from brow to brow, making him difficult to approach.

“That woman will not be easy to handle,” Blue Ice said, glancing at him. Of course he knew they had to invite the woman from that day to come. Otherwise, the master’s illness could no longer be delayed. They had taken the master to every renowned healer and sacred physician in the Vermilion Bird Kingdom, and even throughout the other three kingdoms—apart from the Black Tortoise Kingdom, they had searched all of the White Tiger and Azure Dragon kingdoms as well. Alas, none of the holy doctors or healers in those two kingdoms could do anything for the master’s condition.

It was obvious the master had no time left. At present, it seemed that only that plain-looking woman might be able to cure him.

No matter what, as long as there was even a sliver of hope, they had to try.

“Hide from the Single family’s eyes, bind her and bring her here. I refuse to believe she would truly dare to refuse treatment,” Black Feather said coldly. The reason that woman had been so defiant during the day was only because the people of the Single family had been backing her. Once the Single family was out of the picture, he refused to believe there was anyone in this world who feared not even death.

“Do you really think it would be so easy to steal a person from the Single family?” Single Yuanxi was not someone to be trifled with. If he were easy to deal with, they would never have let him take that woman away that very day.

Blue Ice looked at their master, who lay on the bed without the slightest trace of vitality. The man’s once peerless face had hollowed from long illness, his cheeks sunken in. His eyelids were tinged with a blue-black shade, and his whole face was gaunt. The rise and fall of his chest had become almost imperceptible.

If Blue Ice and Black Feather had not cultivated special powers and therefore possessed keener hearing than ordinary people, they might already have been unable to sense the master’s breathing at all.

“Then what do you suggest?” Since Blue Ice had rejected his own idea, Black Feather could think of no other.

“Force will not work. Even if we truly had the ability to bring that woman here, she might still refuse to save the master. She has to be willing of her own accord,” Blue Ice said, his eyes flickering as a plan began to form in his mind.

“You want that woman to agree on her own? I’m afraid that would be harder than making the sun rise in the west,” Black Feather said, shaking his head. He felt that woman’s temper was like a stone from a latrine pit: foul and hard. The words willing and voluntary absolutely did not belong to her.

“Do you know in what kind of situation a woman is most easily influenced, and made to act without any will of her own, at the mercy of others?” Blue Ice smiled with a roguish edge as he looked at Black Feather.

“What do you mean?” Black Feather frowned, not entirely approving of the idea. “You mean to use your looks?”

When a woman falls in love with a man, she will listen to him and obey him, without independent thought, devoting herself wholly to helping him.

“For the sake of the master, there’s no time to worry about so much,” Blue Ice said. Using such a tactic on an ordinary woman, he even felt aggrieved on his own behalf. But for the master, he could make any sacrifice. It was only a romance with an ugly woman; nothing worth making a fuss over.

“Still, that woman is already wary of us, and she did not look kindly on us either. Are you sure this will work?” Black Feather felt the odds were truly not great.

“Don’t worry. During the day, it was because our attitude was poor, and the situation was wrong. As long as I make the move, I refuse to believe I can’t win over even a woman.”

Blue Ice spoke with confidence. Women were all much the same. Even if that woman were a little clever, so long as he put in enough effort, he would surely succeed.

“Do as you like. In any case, the master does not have much time left. If you really use your charms, then make a sacrifice for it. Women are all the same. Once she becomes your woman, I’m sure that whether she likes you or not at the time, she will listen to you,” Black Feather hinted. If that woman proved too difficult, then simply bed her. Once that happened, all would be well.

“I understand,” Blue Ice said with a faint frown, though he did not deny it.

If in the end he still could not win over that woman, then perhaps this would be the only useful method left.

The sun rose in the east, staining the heavens crimson with its radiance, especially beautiful to behold.

By the time the woman had risen, washed, and sat in the hall chewing a plain white steamed bun, the servants of the Single household came streaming in one after another, each carrying a great bundle of flowers. They piled them before her and said, “Miss, these medicines were sent by people outside. They say it is an apology for what happened yesterday.”

“Wow, these flowers are beautiful!” Women loved pretty things, especially delicate and lovely flowers.

Though the flowers had clearly been sent for the woman, Miss Single Ziyao appeared even more delighted than the person involved herself.

She skipped over, smelled one bouquet, looked over another, and was so happy she could hardly contain herself. “Cai Cai, tell me, who sent you these flowers? They’re so thoughtful. And they’re all so beautiful. I’ve never even seen some of them before.”

If these had been sent to her, she would have been overjoyed.

“You didn’t hear? They’re apologizing for what happened yesterday,” the woman replied, still gnawing on her steamed bun. To her, those lovely flowers did not seem nearly as attractive as the bun in her hands.

“How many people have I offended since coming to the Vermilion Bird Kingdom? And more importantly, who did I offend yesterday?” she said, casting a look at the young lady, who was flitting happily among the bouquets like a butterfly. Truly a child, and a girl at that.

“You mean those two men from yesterday?” Ziyao looked at her in surprise. “I thought they were bad men, but now it seems they weren’t so terrible after all. They even sent flowers to apologize. Cai Cai, they’re so lovely.” If only she had joined in the quarrel yesterday, perhaps she would have had a share of the flowers today too.

“You like them?” The woman raised an eyebrow at her.

“Of course I do. What girl wouldn’t like beautiful things like this? Cai Cai, do you not like them? If not, give them to me.” Ziyao knew the woman had never cared for such things.

More importantly, ever since the flowers had appeared, the woman had not even looked at them once. Just from that, Ziyao was certain the woman loved the bun in her hands far more than these flowers.

Since the woman did not like them anyway, Ziyao thought it would be no waste for her to accept them.

The woman shook her head. “Have you never heard that the more beautiful a thing is, the more likely it is to be poisonous? Besides, those who show sudden courtesy without cause are either up to no good or stealing.” She said this disapprovingly. “With the attitude those two men had yesterday, do you really think they were refined gentlemen, easy to talk to?”

As she saw it, the two men from yesterday were probably both people of the Vermilion Bird Kingdom, and likely men of power and influence at that. Otherwise, if someone had kicked a man to death, how could there have been no whisper of it at all?

And yet, as a woman of the Vermilion Bird Kingdom and the young lady of the powerful Single family in Spring City, how could she not even know who those two men were?

“Cai Cai, do you mean these flowers are poisonous?” At that, Ziyao nearly jumped out of her skin and hurriedly backed away from the flowers.

“I wouldn’t say they are poisonous, exactly, only that they’re not very clean.” A faint fragrance had drifted from the flowers, and the woman already understood. Indeed, those men were no good. What she had not expected was that they would stoop to such despicable means.

She touched her own face. With a face like hers, past or present, beauty had never had anything to do with her.

The two men she had met yesterday were both devastatingly handsome, enough to make heaven and earth resent them. Why would men like that need to rely on such tactics to get women?

So there had to be some other purpose behind this.

“Cai Cai, don’t scare me. What exactly is dirty about these flowers?” Ziyao had just been cheerful, eager to gather all the flowers into her arms, but after hearing that, she hastily moved far away, afraid the filth on them might infect her.

“There’s a little powder scattered inside the blossoms. By tonight, when the fragrance has fully spread and is then mixed with a little water, the medicine will be released. If a woman inhales that scent, she will lose her senses. If a man appears at that moment, the two of them will inevitably become husband and wife.”

That was the polite way of putting it.

More crudely and plainly, there was aphrodisiac in the flowers. Any woman who smelled it would go from chaste and stern to wanton, and if a man embraced her, she would be ready to strip and climb into bed with him.

“What? Those men actually sent this sort of thing today!” Ziyao had really thought the men had come to their senses, and that today they had sent flowers women would love as an apology. She never expected such filthy intentions beneath it all.

At that moment, Single Yuanxi and Mrs. Single happened to arrive together and overheard everything. The couple were both embarrassed, yet at the same time deeply impressed by the woman’s skill. If the two young masters had sent the gift in this manner, then it must have been a method not easily detected.

Who would have thought that the woman, without even examining the flowers very closely, had already seen through every hidden twist of the matter? Once again, the head of the Single family and his wife were thoroughly convinced by her ability.

“Miss Cai, how should we deal with these things?” Mrs. Single asked, stepping forward, afraid that a rash decision on her part might cause trouble instead.

“Find a clean place and bury the flowers,” the woman said. If the powder in them were allowed to disperse and be inhaled by others or animals, it would not be good. Buried in the earth, however, they would do no particular harm.

“Go at once!” Mrs. Single said, the disgust in her eyes unmistakable as she looked at the flowers. To any woman, such things were detestable.

“Cai Cai, I touched those flowers just now. Will that affect me?” Ziyao looked at the woman with a miserable face. If only she had known those flowers were so unclean, she would never have touched them, even if it cost her life.

“Go to the small kitchen, get some cooking oil, then use a dry cloth dipped in the oil to carefully rub your hands inside and out. That will take care of it,” the woman replied.

“Oh, oh, I’ll go right now!” Hearing there really was an effect, Ziyao leaped up in alarm and ran to the kitchen at once. Following the woman’s instructions, she diligently and thoroughly wiped her hands until they were slick with oil.

“Miss Cai, what do you think of this matter?” Single Yuanxi asked, chilled with afterthought. Had the problem with those flowers not been discovered by the woman, and had the flowers been touched by other women in the household, the trouble would have been most unsightly.

“Sir Single, rest assured. From what we have just seen, those people were likely aiming at me. I suspect I alone was the target of the drug, so the Single family need not worry.” After finishing her steamed bun, the woman took a sip of tea.

Truly, when one is full and well fed, one grows nicely.

“According to the properties of the drug, those flowers will only take effect tonight. Since that is so, the person who drugged them must have given me one day’s grace. Unless he can achieve the effect he wants within that time, those flowers just now would be useless,” the woman said with great composure. She had already calculated that the person who meant to harm her had still given her a day to think.

“You still think they want you to help treat the man from yesterday,” Single Yuanxi said, understanding and nodding, fully agreeing with her view.

“Most likely,” the woman said. Her thoughts matched his much the same. “And I also suspect that the reason those two men gave me one day is because they intend to use their charms on me today. If I take the bait, naturally the flowers become useless. If I do not, then once they have taken my body, they will no longer fear that I won’t obey.”

She truly never minced words.

Barely dawn, and she had already spoken such frightening things one after another that Single Yuanxi and Mrs. Single were both left with their hearts pounding wildly. They could not help wondering what had become of the world, and what had become of the young people of today. Had they grown old, unable to keep up with the pace of these times?

“Then have you decided what to do?” Single Yuanxi drew in a breath. Several intricate schemes had been laid bare by her so casually that he almost felt himself growing dull-witted.

“It’s fine. Since they’ve given me a day, I’ll play along with them,” the woman said coolly, deciding to have a little game with the two men from yesterday. “My guess is that the one who comes today should be the man in green from yesterday.”

No sooner had she spoken than a servant came to report that a young master was outside asking to see her.

Single Yuanxi and Mrs. Single stared wide-eyed at the woman. If they had not known that she and the two men from yesterday had truly only met once, they would have suspected she was somehow acquainted with them already. More importantly, was she certain she was not some sort of prophet?

“Let him in,” Single Yuanxi said after coughing once, regaining his voice.

When Blue Ice was brought in by the servant, Single Yuanxi again looked at the woman in astonishment, and in that instant felt that she was not only remarkable in medicine, but absolutely extraordinary at reading hearts.

As for Single Yuanxi’s admiration, the woman truly did not think she was doing anything impressive. The two men she had met yesterday had one dressed in green and the other in black. One had smiled warmly at others, while the other was as cold as frost.

Any ordinary woman would naturally favor the man in green more. And those two were hardly fools. Since she had shown no particular reaction to either of them yesterday, of course they would push out the more affable man in green to carry out this show of seduction.

“Sir Single, Miss Cai,” Blue Ice said. Yesterday he had clearly heard Single Yuanxi call the woman Cai, so today he addressed her in that familiar way at once.

“May I ask what business brings you here, sir?” Seeing the woman leisurely drinking tea, Single Yuanxi could only rely on his seniority to converse with Blue Ice.

“My name is Blue Ice. Sir Single may call me by name,” Blue Ice hastily introduced himself. “Yesterday I was rude to Miss Cai, and for that reason I have come personally today to pay a visit. I hope Miss Cai will forgive me.” Seeing no flowers in the hall, he presumed they had already been moved into the woman’s room.

This pleased Blue Ice greatly.

Because the master had no time to spare, he had given himself and the woman only one day. If, within that day, he could not make her change her mind, then at night he would simply take her body directly and make her his.

Although the woman was not beautiful, if she could truly cure the master’s illness, then that meant she was capable. If that was so, he would not mind taking such a capable woman for himself.

“So it is,” Single Yuanxi nodded, then looked at the woman. “Miss Cai, are you willing to forgive him?”

Today was the woman’s stage, and Single Yuanxi would absolutely not make arbitrary decisions on her behalf. Everything would be left to her own judgment.

“Forgive him? Why not?” The woman smiled. “Even if Lord Blue was rude yesterday, apart from being glared at a few times, I suffered no real harm. As for strangers, why should I expend so much thought remembering them? It would be tiring.”

Her words were not the least bit insincere.

If Blue Ice and Black Feather had not brought those flowers today to make amends, and had not harbored such designs, the woman would almost have forgotten them entirely after sleeping through the night.

Hearing this, Blue Ice did not feel pleased at all; instead, he felt extremely uncomfortable. When had a woman ever dared to look down on him like this? Was this woman truly indifferent, or was she doing it on purpose?