Chapter 274: If I can’t eat
“What do you think?” After flipping over to the other side of the wall, Lou Zigui immediately asked Ning Xiaoyao.
Ning Xiaoyao was still lying on Lou Zigui’s shoulder. “Can you put me down first?”
Lou Zigui released Ning Xiaoyao and gawked at her. Right now, the two of them were in the back alley of the Chen Estate. Since the wall was facing a back street, it was very desolated.
Now that the capital was in panic mode, the common people avoided going out as much as possible. So, the back alley was even more empty than usual. It was completely deserted.
Ning Xiaoyao looked away from the dark shadow around the perimeter wall and stared at the radiant sun. She wiped off the sweat forming across her forehead and muttered, “She didn’t give me poison. The pills taste like ash. It’s not poison.”
Lou Zigui was astonished.
Ning Xiaoyao smacked her lips to reflect on the taste. She confirmed, “Mmhmm. This is the taste of incense ash. It’s exactly the same as what I have tasted in the palace.”
“Why were you eating ash?” Lou Zigui was flabbergasted.
“Ah?” Ning Xiaoyao explained. “I was just thinking in case we have a famine one day. I wanna be prepared so I tried out the incense ash in advance. It won’t kill you and it’s edible.”
Lou Zigui... he can never keep up with how Miss Ning’s mind works. How bored is she to be worrying about things like this?
“Lady Xu is a good person,” Ning Xiaoyao sniffed emotionally. “Even though she tried to beat me up before.”
Lou Zigui’s mind returned to reality when Ning Xiaoyao mentioned Lady Xu. He was back on track. “Really? It’s only ash?”
“It’s ash.” Ning Xiaoyao rolled her eyes at Lou Zigui. “Supreme Commander, don’t insult my profession.”
“Profession?”
“As in, my job.”
“The emperor?”
“A physician, duh!” Ning Xiaoyao rolled her eyes at Lou Zigui again.
Lou Zigui awkwardly coughed and pulled Ning Xiaoyao along with him. “It looks like the Xu Clan is also trying to find an opportunity to detach from Xie Wenyuan.”
At first, Ning Xiaoyao only uttered an ‘oh’. But as she continued walking, something suddenly exploded in her mind. She halted her steps. “What did you say? You’re telling me this entire time Xu Jing didn’t wanna mingle with Grand Preceptor Xie?”
Lou Zigui explained, “The reason why Lady Xu didn’t give you poison is because she’s thinking into the future. She’s hoping after you eliminate Xie Wenyuan, you won’t crack down on the Xu Clan and Chen Clan.”
A layer of mist appeared over Ning Xiaoyao’s eyes and she looked as if she was about to burst into tears.
Lou Zigui felt an indescribable heartache. “What’s wrong?”
Ning Xiaoyao wailed, “If I had known this from the beginning, we wouldn’t have to scheme so hard. We planned all that last night! I even got punched in the mouth!”
They could’ve gotten what they wanted simply through talking about life and reaching out. Instead, they got a bunch of actors to act out a scene and were beaten up. They set places on fire and had a rowdy quarrel. What was the whole point?
Lou Zigui didn’t actually realize it until Ning Xiaoyao brought it up. Indeed, it was a waste of effort and time.
Ning Xiaoyao wanted to cry. They were so foolish. How will she sleep tonight? She might as well go to the kitchen and eat something good.
Lou Zigui’s heart throbbed when he noticed Ning Xiaoyao’s eyes were glistening with tears. He rushed, “What are you doing? Are you crying?”
“I’m upset,” Ning Xiaoyao whimpered.
“It’s my fault,” Lou Zigui apologized to Ning Xiaoyao.
Ning Xiaoyao immediately raised her head and gave Lou Zigui a chilly stare. “You knew early on that General Xu didn’t want to work alongside with Grand Preceptor Xie?”
Lou Zigui shook his head. He seriously didn’t know. But even if he did, he would never admit to it.
“Then how is it your fault?” Ning Xiaoyao lowered her head again and continued to mope.
Lou Zigui lightly patted Ning Xiaoyao on the head. He wanted to cheer her up but didn’t know what to say. After a long period of silence, he suggested, “Do you want to eat guoba?”
Huh? Ning Xiaoyao looked up again. “Supreme Commander, you’re gonna treat me?”
Lou Zigui nodded.
“Yeah! Yeah!” Just a moment ago, Ning Xiaoyao felt as if the world was filled with evil. But her world instantaneously became fantastic when she imagined a new batch of crispy egg yolk guoba coming out of the pan.
So what if she wasted a night and was punched in the mouth? At least they weren’t zombies! There’s no need to be upset!
“Let’s go!” Ning Xiaoyao beamed. Her eyes were curved like crescent moons as she yanked Lou Zigui with her. “I recognize the store! Let’s go now!”
Seeing how Ning Xiaoyao was in great delight, Lou Zigui grinned. He was quite proud of himself. He was talented at cheering up women. (Author: Supreme Commander, you’re not talented. Miss Ning is just easy...)
An hour later, Ning Xiaoyao stood on the unoccupied street. Facing her was a closed door. Actually, to be more precise, none of the stores were open.
Ning Xiaoyao had a blank expression on her face. She turned to Lou Zigui. “They’re closed.”
Lou Zigui went ahead and knocked on the door. As long as the boss was home, he was willing to pay any price for the guoba.
Instead, their knocking drew the attention of the next door store owner. “That family has already left the capital,” A rather chubby, amiable woman informed them. “There’s too much uncertainty in the capital. Those who could leave are already gone.”
“Then why are you still in the capital, Miss?” Lou Zigui asked out of curiosity.
“Our household manager is away. I must wait for him to return,” the store owner didn’t conceal information from Lou Zigui. “I have already sent the old and the young out. As a full grown adult, I’m not afraid.”
“Thanks for letting us know.”
During their friendly exchange, the store owner noticed a small figure standing behind Lou Zigui. Ning Xiaoyao had her head drooped down, so the store owner wasn’t able to see her face.
Wow, this boy is too frail looking. The store owner made a brief assessment of Ning Xiaoyao. Then, she curtsied at Lou Zigui and returned back home.
“Xiaoyao,” Lou Zigui turned around and grabbed her hand.
Ning Xiaoyao was very moody. She’s too foolish. The country is about to go to war. Who would be in the mood to make guoba?
“We’ll go back to the palace and get Chef Huang to make it for you.”
Ning Xiaoyao sighed, “Supreme Commander, why didn’t you suggest that from the beginning?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t consider the current state of our country.”
They had wasted a night, and now they had wasted another trip. Ning Xiaoyao’s mood couldn’t get any worse. With her head hung low, she turned to the direction of the palace. But a few steps later, they heard the sounds of horse hooves coming from behind them. Ning Xiaoyao was about to turn around when Lou Zigui pulled her to stand underneath the roof of a store.
Chen Lu was coming from the south side of the street with four other soldiers. Since there were practically no one on the streets, the five of them rode as fast as lightning and swiftly passed Ning Xiaoyao and Lou Zigui.
Ning Xiaoyao had her eyes set on Chen Lu. She pushed Lou Zigui out of the way and picked up the table next to her and tossed it straight ahead.
By now, Chen Lu was actually quite a distance from Ning Xiaoyao. After all, he was the one leading the soldiers. Nonetheless, he still received a direct hit from the wooden table. Chen Lu screamed and fell off his horse. Blood spurted from his head and he couldn’t get up from the ground.
“Humph!” Ning Xiaoyao wrapped her handkerchief around her face and dashed out from her spot. In a blink of an eye, she was standing right in front of Chen Lu. She began to beat him up.
Everything happened too fast. Lou Zigui and the four soldiers couldn’t react in time. By the time they realized what was happening, Chen Lu had already been beaten like a pig head. Several of his teeth fell out.
“General!” A soldier yelled, his voice was a combination of anger and concern. He waved his sword on the horse and was going to fight Ning Xiaoyao as if his life depended on it.
Lou Zigui rushed out to help Xiaoyao fight. But by the time he arrived at the scene, the four soldiers were already on the ground. Their faces were so swollen that their parents and wives would probably fail at recognizing them.
Lou Zigui placed his hand on his forehead and hauled Ning Xiaoyao to one side. In a low voice, he asked, “Why are you beating Chen Lu up?”
“Humph!” Ning Xiaoyao was still raging. “He’s on Grand Preceptor Xie’s side!”
Lou Zigui thought about it. True, Chen Lu deserves to be beaten up. Even death wouldn’t be too excessive.
“He’s the reason why we wasted a night!” Ning Xiaoyao continued to list out Chen Lu’s crimes. “He’s the reason why I was punched in the mouth. He’s the reason why Miss Ji had to endure so many kicks. He’s the reason why I can’t eat guoba! Aooow!!!”
The moment Ning Xiaoyao thought of her beloved guoba, she went frenzy and kicked Chen Lu two more times. You’re destroying innocent civilians’ lives with Grand Preceptor Xie! You scared off the store owner! Who can tell her when the guoba store owner will return? (Author: So, in the end, you’re doing this for guoba, aren’t you? o(╯□╰)o)
Despite looking like a pig head, Chen Lu was still conscious. After two more kicks from Ning Xiaoyao, his head was spinning like crazy. In spite of that, he sat up and was going to fight back.
Lou Zigui kicked Chen Lu from behind and directly stepped on him. “You can hit him.” She couldn’t eat her guoba, so she can beat Chen Lu up instead -as long as it made her happy.
“You dare to fight back?” Ning Xiaoyao rolled up her sleeves and continued to beat him up. When she knew it was too much, she would secretly use her ability to heal him before continuing to punch.
However, from Lou Zigui’s perspective, Chen Lu didn’t sustain any tremendous damage even though Miss Ning was raining down her fists and kicking repeatedly. Chen Lu only looked bad on the surface. She’s too soft-hearted. Lou Zigui sighed on the inside. “Do you want to switch?”
Ning Xiaoyao shook her head and wiped away her sweat and continued her attack.
“Who are you guys?” Chen Lu shrieked.
“What do you think?” Lou Zigui deliberately altered his voice.
Chen Lu thought he was going to die today. Yet, before his death, he was tortured by two assassins. Who hates him so much and wants his life? Aside from His Majesty, Chen Lu couldn’t think of a second person.
“Grand Preceptor’s men are right behind us. You guys better stop while you’re ahead. If I die, you won’t have a place to bury your corpses either!” Chen Lu threatened them.
This time, Lou Zigui didn’t wait for Ning Xiaoyao to punch. He lifted his leg and kicked Chen Lu in the mouth. “Aren’t you trying too hard to match with the Grand Preceptor? Where are his men that were supposed to protect you?” he icily mocked.
Chen Lu’s lips were swollen like two sausages. He couldn’t speak. Furthermore, his eyes were punched by Ning Xiaoyao, so he had trouble seeing too. Right now, he was faced up but the two assassins weren’t standing within his field of vision. Since he couldn’t move, Great General Chen couldn’t even see the lower hem of their outfits.