usatvline Chapter 95 095 The Taoist Priest of Taiqing Temple
Chapter 95 095 The Taoist Priest of Taiqing Temple
Chapter 95 095 The Taoist Priest of Taiqing Temple
When Doctor Xu heard that she had mastered the "Thirteen Ghost Needles," he was already filled with admiration. Now, upon learning that she had created the technique herself, his gaze towards her completely changed, and he kept praising her to Marquis Anshi:
"My lord, the young lady has only been studying medicine for two months, yet she has already created her own acupuncture techniques. She is truly gifted! She is a medical prodigy! Given time, her future will surely be limitless!"
Marquis Anshi, who had initially been critical of Ye Pianran's decision to study medicine, now had no objections whatsoever. He couldn't suppress the upward curve of his lips, yet he still tried to maintain a stern demeanor as he reprimanded Ye Pianran:
"Although you have made initial progress in medicine, you still need to continue to learn humbly. Remember not to be arrogant, do you understand?"
Ye Pianran chuckled inwardly, then replied calmly, "Daughter understands."
At this moment, Old Madam Song on the bed coughed violently several times, expelling all the stale air from her body. She slowly opened her eyes, her lips moving slightly:
"Xingguan..."
Upon hearing the call, Marquis Anshi immediately went forward to help her up: "Mother, I'm here. How are you feeling? Are you feeling any better?"
After Ye Pianran's treatment, Old Madam Song was successfully detoxified, her fever subsided somewhat, and she was no longer as delirious as before. She spoke in a hoarse voice:
"I'm much better now, but I'm still a little thirsty."
Ye Pianran poured a cup of hot water, walked to the bedside and handed it to Madam Song, saying, "Grandmother has a persistent high fever and has been sweating a lot, so she will naturally feel thirsty. Drinking some hot water will make her feel better."
Only then did Madam Song realize that besides Marquis An Shi, Ye Pianran and Ye Yanxun were also in the room, and her expression instantly became somewhat tense: "What are you doing here?"
"Mother, Ran'er is here to treat your illness. Thanks to her, you were able to recover from the poisoning and wake up," said Marquis Anshi.
Madam Song was shocked: "Antidote? What poison? I've been poisoned?"
"Ran'er, do you know what kind of poison your grandmother was poisoned with?" Marquis Anshi turned around and asked.
Ye Pianran said calmly, "I don't know what the poison is called, but I guess it should be a kind of poison that can cause hallucinations and arouse the fear deep in people's hearts. Although it won't kill people, it can make people forever immersed in dreams and be tormented by nightmares."
Ye Pianran's guess was actually close to the truth. Ye Yanxun was surprised that she knew so much about Ye Yingrou's poison, and his eyes showed undisguised shock.
But no one in the room noticed his strange behavior. An Shihou held Madam Song's hand tightly and asked, "Mother, what did you eat or use yesterday, and where did you go? How could you have been poisoned by such a strange poison?"
“What I ate and used yesterday was the same as usual, all very light vegetarian dishes.” Madam Song frowned in great confusion. “Moreover, apart from meals and rest, I spent the whole day chanting sutras in the Buddhist hall yesterday. I didn’t go anywhere else.”
"Perhaps it wasn't Grandmother who was poisoned outside, but rather someone brought the poison to Ciyuantang?" Ye Pianran asked casually, but a cold smile curled her lips beneath her veil. "Has anyone come to Ciyuantang in the past few days? Has Grandmother touched anything that didn't come from Ciyuantang?"
In this Marquis's mansion, who else but Aunt Song, who comes from the old lady's maternal family, is the one who most likes to run to the old lady's Ciyuan Hall and curry favor with her? Since Aunt Song has set up such a trap with such confidence, she will definitely appear by the old lady's side in the next two days. Even if she is cautious by nature and does not leave any physical evidence, as long as she can make the old lady suspicious of her, Ye Pianran will gain the upper hand in this game.
Sure enough, after recalling the past two days, Madam Song's expression immediately turned extremely unpleasant.
“The other day, Aunt Song came to Ciyuantang and gave me a string of sandalwood prayer beads. She said they had been blessed by a high monk from Putuo Temple. I really like those prayer beads and have been wearing them for the past two days. Could there be something wrong with them?”
Although Aunt Song was her own niece, Old Madam Song dared not be careless at all and immediately said, "Quickly! Quickly send someone to fetch the string of prayer beads that I placed in the Buddhist hall!"
Marquis Anshi summoned a guard and sent him to the Buddhist hall to retrieve the prayer beads. The guard returned shortly, and Marquis Anshi carefully wrapped the beads in a handkerchief, handed them to Ye Pianran, and asked:
"Ran'er, take a closer look. Is there really poison on these prayer beads?"
Even An Shihou himself didn't realize that a hint of trust had unconsciously crept into his gaze as he looked at Ye Pianran.
Ye Pianran poured a bowl of water and soaked the rosary in it. After a while, she took out a silver needle and put it into the water. As soon as the silver needle touched the water soaking the rosary, the needle tip turned black at a speed visible to the naked eye!
"These prayer beads are indeed poisoned!" Marquis Anshi roared in fury. "You, Song Yun, have committed such a heinous act of poisoning your mother, and you still dare to pretend you don't know it in front of me!"
Ye Yanxun broke out in a cold sweat, his fists clenched so tightly that the knuckles twisted.
He had personally handed those prayer beads to Aunt Song a few days ago, and Aunt Song had then passed them on to the Old Madam! Why? It was a flawless plan, yet why is it now completely out of control? Rou'er's sleeping potion was so potent that even a martial arts master like Ji Linchuan couldn't resist it, so why was it ineffective against Ye Pianran? Could it be that, as Rou'er said, she really is that lucky?
Despite the intense resentment churning within him, at this moment, he had no choice but to swallow his anger and wait and see! His only hope now was that Aunt Song wouldn't be as foolish as Ye Bijun. If she denied poisoning him, and combined with the cat venom, there would definitely be a chance to turn the tide!
As he was thinking this, someone came to announce his arrival from outside:
"Reporting to the Marquis and the Madam, Concubine Song has returned with a man who claims to be a Taoist priest from the Taiqing Temple."
Marquis Anshi's face was extremely gloomy. He sneered and said, "Hmph, you've come back just in time! I want to see what other tricks this scheming woman can pull!"
After leaving the Marquis's residence, Consort Song pretended to wander around the city twice, calculating the time needed to travel back and forth between Taiqing Temple and the capital. Then, she found a "Taoist priest" that Ye Yanxun had already arranged in a secluded alley in the city and returned directly to the Marquis's residence.
On the way back, images of Gongsun Yuan being slapped by Marquis Anshi, being kicked out of Lanxin Courtyard, and even the Marquis's mansion kept flashing through her mind. She was so excited that her fingertips trembled slightly, and her eyebrows and eyes were full of undisguised smugness.
It's almost here! The day she truly becomes the mistress of the Marquis's mansion will soon arrive!
However, when she led the "Taoist priest" back to Ciyuan Hall and saw that the guards of the Marquis's mansion had surrounded Ciyuan Hall tightly, and that Granny Wen and the other maids were kneeling on the ground being questioned by the guards, she immediately had a bad feeling.
What happened? She only went out of the manor for a short while, how come everything has changed when she came back?
At this moment, Madam Song was helped out of the inner room by Marquis Anshi. Concubine Song was delighted and was about to go to greet her when Ye Pianran walked out calmly behind Madam Song.
Aunt Song was startled and looked at Ye Pianran in disbelief, her eyes wide as if she had seen a ghost.
Concubine Song's reaction was so obvious that both Old Madam Song and Marquis Anshi could see it clearly. Sitting down in the main seat, Old Madam Song gave a cold snort, her face grim as she stared at Concubine Song without saying a word.
Pulled back to her senses by the cold snort, Aunt Song forced a smile and stepped forward to ask with concern, "Mother, why did you get out of bed? Are you feeling any better?"
"Thanks to you, I'm still alive," Old Madam Song said sarcastically. "I was so ill, and instead of waiting for me at home, where did you go?"
Aunt Song quickly took credit, saying, "I heard that Mother was troubled by nightmares last night. I thought of the Taoist priest in the Taiqing Temple outside the city who was proficient in this art, so I went to the city and asked the priest to come to our mansion to take a look at you."
"Is that so?" said Madam Song. "Where is that Taoist priest?"
"She has already entered Ciyuan Hall with her niece," said Aunt Song, turning her head to secretly wink at the man in the Taoist robe behind her. Seeing this, the man in the Taoist robe flicked his whisk, strolled forward, and bowed to Old Madam Song and Marquis Anshi, saying:
"I am Wu Yanzi, the thirty-fifth generation disciple of Laozi in the Sanqing Hall of Taiqing Temple. Greetings."
Although Marquis Anshi and Madam Song now harbor suspicions about Concubine Song, since she has been invited, she is a guest, and the proper etiquette must still be observed.
Marquis Anshi replied, "Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to visit my residence. Please have a seat and a cup of tea to soothe your throat."
"No need for formalities. Since I'm here to help, let's skip the pleasantries and get straight to the point." Wu Yanzi stood up straight, truly resembling a highly accomplished Taoist master.
“I heard that the old lady was frightened in her dream last night, so on my way here I specially performed a divination for her and found that it was a very ominous sign,” Wu Yanzi said.
A terrible disaster? If Ye Pianran hadn't cured the old lady of the poison, and if she had continued like this, wouldn't it have been a terrible disaster?
"However, this great misfortune does not refer to any danger to her life, but rather to the content of the old lady's nightmare last night. Was the person the old lady dreamt of a familiar old friend? And was this old friend deceased for many years?"
Madam Song paused for a moment, then squinted and gave an ambiguous "hmm." Apart from her and Marquis Anshi, no one present knew about that old incident, yet this Taoist priest had managed to deduce it. She hadn't expected him to actually possess some skill.
"I wonder if many people in the old lady's courtyard fell asleep last night and were unable to wake up no matter what, or if they did wake up, they were groggy and listless?"
Madam Song looked at the servants kneeling beside her, and Granny Wen nodded vigorously and said, "Yes, after we went to bed last night, no matter how much you called us, we didn't wake up!"
"That's right, this is the extremely inauspicious divination I received!"