TBIP: Chapter 10

The scolding voice wasn’t loud. If Lou Xingyao didn’t have extraordinary hearing at the moment, he might not have heard it clearly.

But in the ears of Qiu Xi and Qiu Ran, it was like thunder in a clear sky. It made the two of them a bit confused.

They looked in the direction where the voice came from. Their faces instantly turned pale when seeing the identity of the person. “Shen… Nanny Shen?”

Nanny Shen took two steps at a time and walked to the two maids. She asked again, “I want to ask who told you to gossip in the mansion? Or in the courtyard where the guests live!”

Nanny Shen’s tone was no longer as angry as before, and even her voice was suppressed to the point where it was almost inaudible, but the faces of the two maids didn’t improve at all. Instead, it became uglier.

Plop.

Finally, under the pressure of Nanny Shen’s gaze, Qiu Ran couldn’t hold on any longer. She knelt down suddenly and whispered, “No… No one.”

Qiu Xi was much braver than Qiu Ran. She immediately showed a trace of dissatisfaction on her face and retorted, “What type of guest is he? He is just the young lady’s…”

Before she could finish her words, she was silenced by Nany Shen’s silence spell. “You refuse to change after repeated admonitions?”

“No… Nanny Shen, we know we were wrong. Please have mercy!” Seeing this, Qiu Ran’s forehead was covered with beads of sweat. She begged for mercy, kowtowing and pulling at Qiu Xi’s dress, indicating that Qiu Xi should kneel down and admit her mistake together.

However, before Qiu Xi could react, Nanny Shen pinched another spell with her hands.

The next moment, Qiu Xi felt a sharp pain in her mouth. She subconsciously opened her mouth and saw a red tongue falling to the ground.

Qiu Xi wanted to scream, but Nanny Shen’s silencing spell hadn’t been lifted. In the end, she could only spit out a mouthful of blood with all her strength.

The severed tongue hit Qiu Ran, who was still begging for mercy, and immediately made her dumbfounded. Even the panicked expression on her face became blank. She just stared at the tongue on the ground without knowing how to react.

Nanny Shen didn’t care about the reactions of the two little maids. She only tilted her head slightly behind her. “Why aren’t you taking them away?”

The moment these words came out, the two maids who came with Nanny Shen stepped forward. They picked up Qiu Xi and Qiu Ran one by one and quickly left Luozhu Garden.

In a moment, only Nanny Shen was left in the courtyard of Luozhu Garden. She used her fingers to wipe away the tongue belonging to Qiu Xi on the ground, along with the blood. Then she went forward to knock on the door.

Knock knock knock.

“Young Master Lou, I am here to see you on the orders of the eldest young lady. I wonder if it is convenient for you?”

Obviously, Nanny Shen already knew that Lou Xingyao had woken up.

“Please come in.” After opening the door, Lou Xingyao glanced around outside the door inconspicuously. The next moment, his eyes were attracted to a few scattered drops of blood in the corner.

He couldn’t go forward to confirm it directly, but his intuition told Lou Xingyao that the bloodstains should belong to the maid called Qiu Xi.

“I’m sorry. I was careless for a moment and made you laugh.” Nanny Shen also saw the few drops of blood that she missed.

She raised her hand again and made hand gestures to wipe off the few drops of blood. Then Nanny Shen looked around the courtyard again. After making sure that nothing was missed this time, she said again, “I have already reprimanded the two maids. I hope this will calm your anger.”

“Reprimanded? How did you… reprimand them?” Lou Xingyao’s throat felt a bit dry.

“According to the rules of the mansion, those who talk too much will be punished with 30 strokes of the cane. As for those who refuse to change after repeated admonitions, we will remove the parts that can’t be changed,” Nanny Shen replied lightly. “I cut off her tongue.”

Nanny Shen looked calm and indifferent. It was as if she had cut off a strand of hair, not a tongue.

At this moment, Lou Xingyao finally realized what laws the Tianming Continent believed in.

This was just a small mansion like the He Mansion, but Nanny Shen had the power to decide the life or death of the little maids who weren’t as important as her. What about outside the He Mansion?

Lou Xingyao’s silence at this moment fell into Nanny Shen’s eyes and had another meaning. “Maybe Young Master Lou has another decision? If necessary, I can hand over the two maids for you to handle them.”

“No need.” Lou Xingyao shook his head. He might feel that Nanny Shen’s punishment was too harsh, but the fate of the little maids wasn’t caused by him. He didn’t like to meddle in other people’s business.

Besides, what would happen if he asked the two little maids to come over? He couldn’t even protect himself now. How could he protect anyone else?

Lou Xingyao thought it through and put the matter aside. He turned to look at Nanny Shen. “I wonder why you came here?”

“I am the manager of the eldest young lady’s courtyard. My surname is Shen. Everyone in the mansion calls me Nanny Shen. I am here on orders of the eldest young lady to present this item to Young Master Lou. I hope you will forgive me for disturbing you.”

Nanny Shen took out a palm-sized brocade box and placed it on the table in front of Lou Xingyao.

“What is this?” Lou Xingyao took a look at the brocade box. Then he opened it at Nanny Shen’s signal.

The moment he opened the lid, Lou Xingyao was almost blinded by the light reflected from it. He tilted her head slightly. After adapting a bit, he saw that the shining thing was actually a row of gold bricks neatly placed together.

Since cultivators and mortals lived together, there were two main types of currency in Tianming Continent.

One was gold, silver and copper like those used in ancient China. 1,000 copper plates could be exchanged for one tael of silver. Ten taels of silver could be exchanged for one tael of gold. This was the main currency circulating in Tianming Continent.

The other was spirit beads, which were usually circulated among cultivators with higher cultivation.

In principle, spirit beads and gold weren’t interchangeable. However, transactions could be made when there were interests. In some special cases, 1,000 taels of gold could be exchanged for one spirit bead.

As for why it was around 1,000 taels, it was naturally because gold and silver were easy to get but spirit beads were hard to find. Thus, the exchange ratio naturally shifted.

In any case, as the main currency in circulation on the mainland, the purchasing power of gold and silver was still very good.

In Pingyang County, an ordinary family with an income of one or two taels of gold a year could be considered a wealthy family.

Now the box of gold bricks in front of Lou Xingyao had a full one hundred taels.

In other words, even if he didn’t set foot on the path of Daoism for the rest of his life, Lou Xingyao could completely rely on this one hundred taels of gold to be an idle and leisurely rich man.

In addition, there were two small jade bottles in the box. He just got the fasting pill from Housekeeper Lou a while ago, so Lou Xingyao recognized instantly that this jade bottle was used to hold pills.

He just didn’t know what it was exactly.

Just when Lou Xingyao was puzzled, Nanny Shen noticed the change in his gaze and spoke at the right time.

“The young lady learned about Young Master Lou’s situation from the Madam’s mouth. She originally wanted to find an alchemist to consult about your situation, but time was tight and she couldn’t find a suitable candidate for a while. She can only send two top-grade meridians reconnection pills, holding to solve the young master’s worries.”

It turned out to be the meridians reconnection pill!

Lou Xingyao was shocked.

The meridians renewal pills, as the name suggested, had the effect of reconnecting the meridians. Even if the meridians were broken, the disease could be cured with a pile. It was the right medicine for Lou Xingyao’s weak meridians.

It had such a domineering medicinal effect that this meridians reconnection pill was naturally not an ordinary thing.

If it was calculated by grade, this meridians reconnection pill belonged to a fourth-grade pill.

In the entire Tianming Continent, the most accomplished alchemist was only fourth-grade, and there was only one. Outsiders couldn’t easily see him, let alone ask for pills from now.

Just now, Qiu Xi and Qiu Ran said that the eldest son of the Zhou family had made a scene in the Zhou family a few days ago. The reason was that he wanted the Zhou family to find a best-grade meridians reconnection pill for him to heal his injuries. This was enough to prove the preciousness of the meridians reconnection pill.

This top-grade meridians reconnection pill wasn’t as good as the best-grade, but it was still very precious. Miss He actually sent him two like this?

Lou Xingyao subconsciously wanted to refuse it. Before he could say anything, he was blocked by Nanny Shen.

“Young Master Lou, you should accept it. It is unfair to you that the young lady asked you to marry in place of her. Now we can only compensate you with external things like gold, silver, and pills. If you don’t accept it, the young lady’s Dao heart will be dusty, and she won’t be able to make any progress from now on.”

“How can it be so?” Lou Xingyao subconsciously refuted. If the matter of marrying in place of He Wanqing really made He Wanqing’s Daoism dusty, why would Mrs. He bother to plan it?

“In fact, Madam and Miss He have no choice but to do this…” Unexpectedly, Nanny Shen sighed and explained the hidden story.

Don’t look at the fact that Mrs. He was the madam of the He family now, and the fact that she had a status above everyone else in the mansion and the final say.

Ten years ago, before He Wanqing tested her dual spiritual roots qualification, Madam He was in a different situation.

At that time, Mrs. He had married the master of the He family under the arrangement of the family but she wasn’t favored by the master due to her four spiritual roots.

She had the title of the main wife, but she had no real power.

Usually, she not only had to deal with the women in the backyard of the master of the He family, but she also had to look at the old lady’s face even if she just wanted to add one dish.

It wasn’t until He Wanqing was tested to have dual spiritual roots that the situation improved.

The old lady started to gradually give up power, and even the master of the He family, who hadn’t set foot in the main courtyard for several years, started to frequently repair his relationship with Mrs. He in the hope that Mrs. He could give birth to a talented offspring again.

After five years of effort by the master of the He family and Mrs. He, Mrs. He finally became pregnant again. Just when the He family thought they would welcome a talented offspring again, Mrs. He accidentally encountered the poisonous hands of a concubine.

She failed to save the child, and her body was completely injured. Even if she carefully recuperated, it would be difficult for her to get pregnant again.

Since then, Mrs. He’s position in the head of the head of the He family took a sharp turn for the worse. If He Wanqing hadn’t already made an engagement with Zhou Hanshan, she might not even be able to keep her position as the main wife.

It could be said that Mrs. He’s current position in the He family was entirely due to He Wanqing’s talent of dual spiritual roots and the engagement with the Zhou family.

Women in Tianming Continent had always been honored as the mother of the son and the wife of the husband. Now Zhou Hanshan’s road was completely ruined. If she married him, He Wanqing would no longer be able to shelter Mrs. He.

Therefore, when the news of the destruction of Zhou Hanshan’s immortal path came out two years ago, the most affected one in the He Mansion was Mrs. He, not He Wanqing.

If He Wanqing hadn’t successfully built her foundation at the critical moment, and Mrs. He said that she had found a way to resolve the engagement, Mrs. He would’ve probably been demoted to a concubine by now.

At this point, Nanny Shen sighed again.

“There were so many eyes in the mansion watching when the madam was pregnant, yet someone dared to secretly attack her. If she is demoted to a concubine, how can she save her life? In this situation, how could the young lady dare to leave home?”

She was afraid that she would receive the news of Mrs. He’s death right after marrying Zhou Hanshan. So even if it meant her Dao heart would be ruined, He Wanqing could only let Lou Xingyao fulfill the marriage contract for her.

Now that the matter was settled, the money and two meridians reconnection pills weren’t so much a treasure for Lou Xingyao but a little psychological comfort that He Wanqing gave herself.

“Originally, the young lady should’ve come in person to express her apology and show her sincerity. However, the young lady has been confined to her courtyard since yesterday. She really can’t go out, so she sent her maids here. I hope you won’t blame her.”

At this point, Nanny Shen’s tone became more sincere and guilty. She pushed the brocade box in Lou Xingyao’s direction.

“As for these things, please don’t refuse them.”

Nanny Shen even mentioned the Dao heart becoming dusty. How could Lou Xingyao continue to refuse?

Moreover, no matter how much truth or falsehood there was in Nanny Shen’s words, it could be seen from the items in the brocade box that Miss He had put a lot of thought into it.

There was no need to say much about the meridians reconnection pills, which were just right for his current symptoms.

For example, the one hundred taels of gold was a lot for mortals, but it was a small number for cultivators.

Even if the people of the He family and Zhou family knew that he had this money, they wouldn’t make a fuss for a mere one hundred taels. It could be said that she had good intentions.

Finally, Lou Xingyao reached out and took the brocade box on the table.

Nanny Shen sighed with relief when she saw this. She didn’t let down her young lady’s entrustment. “In two hours, the Zhou family will come to pick up the bride. Later, the madam will arrange for someone to come and help the young master to wash and dress. I won’t disturb you too much. If you have no other instructions, I will take my leave first.”

“Please thank Miss He for me.” Lou Xingyao pointed to the brocade box on the table.

“I will remember it.” Nanny Shen nodded. She turned around and was about to leave. Then she seemed to think of something and stopped. “Don’t take the nonsense of the two little maids to heart.”

“Huh?” Lou Xingyao looked at Nanny Shen in a puzzled manner.

“Young Master Zhou’s temper has indeed changed since he was injured, but he is definitely not a person who kills indiscriminately. He will definitely not make things difficult for you,” Nanny Shen explained in a low voice. If not, He Wanqing wouldn’t have agreed to someone else marrying in place of her.

Lou Xingyao hadn’t expected that Nanny Shen was talking about this. However, he also knew that Nanny Shen didn’t need to lie to him about this matter and felt relieved. “Thank you for your advice, Nanny.”

It was just as Nanny Shen said. The moment she left, Lou Xingyao heard the announcement from outside the courtyard.

“Young Master Lou, I am here to help you wash and dress on the orders of the Madam.”