Chapter 41 Who will be killed?
The old man left behind quite a few prescriptions from his experiments. Except for those with disgusting and harmful raw materials, she tried all the others. Finally, she was able to go from being a beginner in alchemy to being an expert in it.
Only then did he start to refine the medicine in reality. Since he had the memory of refining this kind of medicine thousands of times in his mind, he could mix the dosage and proportions with ease. After the prepared materials were used up, he had prepared about seven or eight bottles of medicine.
He called the housekeeper, sorted out the used instruments and medicines in the yard and put them back into the warehouse, and Ruan Xing instructed: "If Hong Xi comes in the daytime, tell him that from now on, we don't need boys and girls anymore, and tell him not to do this kind of thing anymore. Instead, we should catch monkeys. I heard that there is a Qianling Mountain a hundred miles south of Jiangning City. Monkeys are rampant on the mountain and sometimes harass the villagers at the foot of the mountain. They not only steal the villagers' property but also hurt children. Let Hong Xi take people to Qianling Mountain to catch all the monkeys, collect the heart blood and ordinary blood, and bring back the monkey skins. The rest can be given to the local villagers for free."
"But... Qianling Mountain is hundreds of miles away from Jiangning City. It's not the territory of our Red Head Gang, right?" the butler said cautiously.
"What's the point of occupying land in such a remote place? Just go and catch monkeys and be done with it. Just think that I am kind-hearted and can't bear to see the people suffer."
That's right, after simulation, she concluded that the thing that can replace the boy's heart blood is the monkey's heart blood. Some of the blood from other animals can also be used, but the efficacy is only 10% to 20%, which is really not cost-effective. Well, it's okay, catching a monkey is better than catching a child, so it should pass the review.
Now that the monkeys have been caught, it shouldn't be too much to take a few monkey skins to make talismans, right?
Ruan Xing yawned. It was almost dawn again, so she had to go back and catch up on her sleep to adjust her biological clock.
However, when she woke up, Hong Xi gave her another "surprise".
She looked at the seven or eight handsome young men in front of her with an expressionless face, and her whole body was filled with a sense of low pressure after waking up.
The teenagers, who were about twelve or thirteen years old on average, bowed to her in a weak voice, "I greet the leader."
"Where did you find all this? Huh? Speak up, where did you find this?" Ruan Xing questioned Hong Xi with gritted teeth, glaring at the housekeeper.
The housekeeper panicked and said, "Old slave... before I could even say anything, Deputy Gang Leader Hong had already brought the person back..."
Hong Xi bowed and said, "Don't worry, Gang Leader. These are the clean people I picked out from our gang's assets. I have only taught them for a year and have never served anyone else."
Ruan Xing held her forehead with her hand. She didn't dislike these young men who came from the Chu Hall, but she preferred the sweet and soft young ladies. She waved her hand and said, "You don't have to send anyone to me in the future. I have arranged a job for you. You can discuss it with the housekeeper later. Now return my maid to me."
"……Yes."
Originally, Ruan Xing felt that it was a bit unfair for Hong Xi to be asked to catch monkeys, but now... it’s not unfair at all!
Ruan Xing, who returned to the arms of her young lady, spent another two days in comfort. She also learned the news about Qianling Mountain by chance from the fragments of information in the simulator. Seven or eight years later, there was a gang formed by the villagers who could not survive being oppressed by the monkeys. She was not trying to eliminate dissidents for her future self, but she thought that since she had to catch the monkeys anyway, why hurt those who were law-abiding? Saving those villagers might even earn her some merit.
Hong Xi had not returned from catching the monkey yet, and Hu San came to report the new progress to her.
"Miss, the body has been kept for three days. Tomorrow is your father's funeral. Your mother asked someone to ask if you want to go back to attend it."
Funeral... She didn't want to attend the funeral of that scumbag father, but in several simulations, Ruan's mother remarried with her sister less than a year after the scumbag father died. Ruan's mother was weak in character, but her feelings for the scumbag father were real. She was also a more traditional woman in her bones. How could she remarry without paying homage to her husband for a year? Something must have happened. She whispered, "Go, but go secretly."
She just wanted to see them. If there was no external factor, she would not show up to meet them. The new city lord in half a month did not seem to be an easy person to get along with, and there were still dangers around her.
"There is also a letter from the City Lord's Mansion. I will be leaving Jiangning City the day after tomorrow. Do you want to see me off in person?"
Whenever a city lord changes, the people in the city will spontaneously say goodbye, unless the city lord is really unpopular.
Logically speaking, as the leader of the top underground force in Jiangning City, Ruan Xing should go, but in the simulation, she never went there once because she wanted to concentrate on refining medicine. This time, she must go because she still has something to ask the old city lord.
Ruan Xing nodded and wrote a reply on the Huanhua paper.
The next morning, Ruan Xing put on a curtain and asked Hu San to drive her broken carriage to Huaihua Alley.
The front door and outside of the bluestone courtyard were decorated with long strips of linen. The scattered incense ashes and paper money were gently picked up by the wind and floated out onto the street.
There were low, mournful cries and some rather sharp shouts and curses coming from inside.
Maybe the yard was too small to accommodate everyone, so quite a few people were standing in the alley, talking in groups of three or four. The road in the alley was narrow, and they blocked the way. Ruan Xing's carriage could not enter, and the sounds in the yard could not be heard clearly. She asked Hu San to park the carriage a little further away and get off and walk.
Why are there so many people? Ruan Xing frowned. In addition to the neighbors, there were also many country folks she didn't know gathered there.
Ruan's mother was the only daughter of her maternal grandfather, who was born in his old age. Her maternal grandmother died early, and her maternal grandfather had no brothers or sisters. Where did these relatives come from? Could they all be the children of her scumbag father?
But the scumbag dad married into the wife's family... Nowadays, marrying into the wife's family is not only looked down upon, but also requires severing ties with the original parents. He married into Ruan's mother's house alone and brought nothing with him. All his food, clothing, and housing were provided by Ruan's mother. It was because Ruan's mother was soft-hearted and afraid that he would lose face as a man that she did not announce it to anyone and also let her two daughters take his surname.
Ruan Xing had no memory of having any dealings with these people. They had lost contact for so many years, so why did they suddenly come in a group for the funeral?
She suddenly grabbed Hu San and said, "There are so many people here, it will be too troublesome to squeeze in. Let's go to the alley behind and climb over the wall to the roof."
The two men went around the back of the house, used their true Qi to gain leverage from the wall, and leaped up, half-bending their bodies onto the tiles on the roof. The eaves blocked their view, and everyone's attention was on the center of the yard, so no one could see their figures.
The mourning hall and coffin were placed in the middle of the yard, with wreaths and elegiac couplets on both sides. Ruan's mother lay beside the coffin, crying breathlessly. Ruan Tao, with slightly red eyes, was beside Ruan's mother, comforting her.
What was more eye-catching was a slightly plump woman sitting on the ground and howling.
"Third brother! You are so pitiful! You have suffered so much for marrying such a woman!
Not only did she kill her own parents, she's also going to kill you!
You made your parents and brothers angry for such a woman, and she didn't even leave you a descendant! What are you going to do with your descendants in the future?"
The woman kept repeating these words, occasionally mixing in some obscene insults, but Ruan's mother didn't say a word in return. When the woman was tired of howling, she went over to help her up timidly, "Sister-in-law, get up and drink some water..."
The woman didn't appreciate her kindness at all, and savagely pushed Ruan's mother to the ground. Ruan Tao hurried to help her. The woman glared at her, "Who asked you to act so hypocritically! You are unlucky for your father, mother and husband. My third brother is the only student in our village. The head of the village said he is promising at a young age! He hasn't passed the exam to become a scholar in the ten years since I married you! It's all your fault!"
"Not only did you ruin his future, but now you've even killed him! Do you think we don't know? You, a star born out of nowhere, gave birth to a little star, and you killed my third brother!"
The woman's sharp voice was harsh and unpleasant. Ruan Xing couldn't help but cover her ears. Hu San whispered to Ruan Xing, "These people are obviously here to cause trouble. They are so numerous and powerful that they might bully Miss's mother and sister. Miss, what should we do?"
Ruan Xing pursed his lips and said in a cold voice: "Go and report to the police. You don't need to reveal your identity. Just give them a few taels of silver and call a guard over."
The Patrol Security Division didn't intervene, and with Ruan's mother's personality, she didn't dare to look for gang members. If she continued like this, she might really be controlled by these peasants. Now she understood why Ruan's mother remarried so quickly. Without a man in the family, two weak women would only be bullied by people with ulterior motives.
Fortunately, she only broke the scumbag father's leg, otherwise she didn't know how they would live for the past half month. At that time, she only wanted to prevent Qi Ye from thinking that she was cruel and ruthless and guarding against her, and she was also worried that Ruan's mother Ruan Tao would be sad, so she spared the scumbag father's life, but she didn't think of this layer.
Hu San took the order and left, while Ruan Xing stayed on the roof to continue watching the developments below.
Mother Ruan covered the painful part of her body after being pushed down, patted Ruan Tao's hand, and said to the woman: "My husband took the initiative to marry into my father's family before he died. This time he injured his leg and died suddenly, which was also an accident. Without my husband, I will be more sad than any of you! How can you say that it was my fault? Sister-in-law, what do you want to do by saying this?"
The woman looked at Ruan's mother with disgust and jealousy, and sneered: "What do you think I want? Because of you, there was no one to smash the pot at my third brother's funeral. The eldest sister-in-law is like a mother. If I don't worry about my third brother, who will? Erbao, come here!"
She waved, and a black boy with a runny nose ran over. The woman smiled and said, "This is my second son, Ruan Erbao. The third brother passed away suddenly, and we must have a son. We have discussed with the elders and decided to adopt Erbao to the third brother. Today, he will be the heir to the third brother's fortune. In the future, he will continue the family line and have offspring."
Ruan Tao was furious. Without waiting for her mother to reply, she stood up and pointed at the woman's nose, "So you guys are interested in my mother's house? I was wondering why you suddenly showed up now without any contact before, but you made a wrong calculation! The house was left to my mother by my grandfather! My father is just a son-in-law, he has no private property at all, you can't even inherit a pot or a pan!"
The woman's face changed and she cursed, "What do you know, little girl? Sooner or later, you will be married and become someone with a different surname. Why do you still interfere in our Ruan family's affairs? If she marries my third brother, she will be my third brother's, and naturally all her belongings and houses will belong to him too!"
"Bah! Then go to the government office and make a scene. My father is a son-in-law. Do you know what a son-in-law is? He is half a house slave! The land deed from the Household Tax Bureau only has my mother's name on it. Do you think they will give you the house?"
Ruan Tao pinched her waist and spat at her, not afraid at all. Before her grandfather left, he was afraid that his daughter would be controlled by others after his death. The marriage contract clearly stated in black and white that the son-in-law was to marry into the family. She had seen the marriage contract with her own eyes.
It was just that Ruan's mother was blinded by love and treated Ruan's father like a normal couple. In addition, her weak character made these poor relatives of the scumbag father have ideas. Ruan Tao hated them for not fighting for it, but now her mother was alone, she could only rush forward like a little lion to protect her weak mother.
"You little bitch, you're talking nonsense! Can't I teach you a lesson?!" The woman cursed in a dirty way and stopped sitting on the ground. She stood up swiftly and slapped Ruan Tao with her hand. Ruan Tao, a ten-year-old girl, was no match for the big and strong woman who was used to doing farm work. She closed her eyes in fear.
Ruan Xing would never watch Ruan Tao get beaten, so she broke off half a tile with her bare hands and threw it away.
"Ouch!"
The person falling to the ground was not Ruan Tao, but the woman who wanted to hit someone because she couldn't win the argument.
Ruan's mother crawled over tremblingly and hugged Ruan Tao, saying in fear: "Tao'er, are you okay? It's all my fault. I'm incompetent..."
Her tears began to flow again.
Ruan Tao shook her head silently.
The woman covered her head, blood dripping from between her fingers onto her face, making her already ferocious features even more hideous. She looked around like a madman, "Who? Which bastard threw a stone at me? Come out here and I'll tear your face apart!"
No one said a word. None of them saw from which direction the stone came. Ruan Xing did not stand up either.
The woman was very angry and wanted to vent her anger on Ruan Tao, "Ruan Dafu! You coward, are you just watching others bully me? Why don't you hold down that bitch so I can beat her to death!"
A dark and thin man who looked a bit like Ruan's father came over and said in a muffled voice: "Sister-in-law, as long as you hand over the land deed, we will not pursue the matter of you killing my third brother."
Mother Ruan didn't say anything but just kept crying. Ruan Tao held Mother Ruan's hand and looked at the so-called relatives in front of her with a sad look in her eyes. "Okay... You want to force us mother and daughter to death. You are so unscrupulous. Aren't you afraid of retribution?"
There was burning hatred in her eyes, which made Ruan Xing feel distressed. She couldn't help but want to go down and kill them all, and then practice martial arts and cultivate immortality with her sister to avenge her enemies.
Fortunately, the guards that Hu San found arrived.
"Arrest all those who are gathering to cause trouble!" Lingwei took a few temporary workers without a regular job and arrested those people with a random excuse.
The woman was stunned and quickly cried out, "Sir, we didn't gather to cause trouble! It was this woman who killed my third brother and left him no descendants. She also stopped us from giving our child to him!"
Lingwei frowned and understood what was going on. He said impatiently, "What kind of incense does a son-in-law need? The adopted child should be the brother of the bride. What are you doing here? A half-slave trying to seize the master's property? It's a serious crime. Arrest him!"
Several people were put in shackles while crying and screaming. Even the elders who didn't say much were not spared. They were dragged away in shackles, trembling with every step.
The remaining sparse people were the neighbors from Huaihua Alley who came to pay their respects, as well as some distant relatives and friends who were not related at all.
The previous chapter was slightly modified and patched. When I wrote it yesterday, I forgot that the prescription included heart blood.
(End of this chapter)
