Chapter 11

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

Hello folks, here’s a special extra chapter for you because today is the national holiday of Inconfidência Mineira better known as Tiradentes Day (21/04) in Brazil.

You can read more about this historical day at the end of the chapter or by clicking here.

What’s the matter

The few people inside the hall trembled at the secret guard’s urgency. The man sitting up above frowned and with a dignified tone he said: “Come in.”

“Lord, Master Peng was seriously injured. I fear that…” A man dressed in black entered the hall with messy hair and dirtied face. Behind him, other four men carried a fifth in a stretcher. The one laying on it, covered in blood, was Peng Ying.

Shen Ying’s face changed at this sight, walking some steps he stood beside Peng Ying. Seeing that his comrade’s face was darkened, bloody and his pupils were constricted, he turned to yell at Wu Dong: “Come fast and take a look at him!”

The stretcher was quickly placed on the ground, Wu Dong’s mood turned bad as she silently lifted the bloodstained coat from Peng Ying’s body. With a single glance, she couldn’t hold it and gasped: “This…”

Yu Qingluo stood not far away, glancing at the injured man. However, this glimpse was enough for her to grasp the gravity of the injury that the man named Peng Ying had suffered. He had been stabbed by a dagger, and, at this moment the dagger was still stuck into his body, the wound was dangerously close to a vital place, so no one dared to just pull the dagger out.

However, the most noteworthy was that he was poisoned.

Yu Qingluo raised her eyes to Wu Dong, a sarcastic smile forming on her lips. Isn’t she a disciple of that Elder doctor Qiongshan? She is curious about what kind of medical skills she got from him, it’s good that at this moment she can observe up close.

(TL note: The only thing I dislike a lot is how convenient are these critical patients. Always placed on the plot the moment she needs to prove her skills )

(ED note: Hi you called the convenient-critical-patient hotline, how can I help you, ma’am? )

(TL: Someone too critical to be saved by others, but not critical enough to be saved by me w/o modern technology, please. Oh, and don’t forget the fries!)

With this in mind, she tried to approach them a bit more.

But as soon as she moved, she felt a gaze fall on her body from a certain place.

Oh, how could she forget that behind the curtain there was still that Lord of theirs?

Seeing that this hall’s atmosphere was like it was coated in ice, she knew that that Lord’s heart must be weighing on his underling at this moment. That man named Peng Ying probably was an important subordinate to him.

Yu Qingluo’s smile deepened a bit.

(TL: Time to con some people out of favours!)

“How is it?” Shen Ying looked at Wu Dong nervously and full of expectations. Seeing Peng Ying’s weakened state, the muscles all over his body tightened even more.

Wu Dong’s right hand closed slowly, after a while her head lowered and she shook it heavily saying: “He was poisoned too deeply, there’s no way to cure it.”

“What nonsense are you saying?!” Shen Ying grabbed Wu Dong’s arm and shouted angrily: “You didn’t even move the knife on his chest and didn’t even find an antidote. How do you know there’s no way to save him??”

Wu Dong felt pain in her arms and got displeased by his attitude. Throwing his hands off her, she said: “Who the hell is the doctor here? If I said there’s no way to save him then that’s it. What’s the use of shouting at me? If you pull out the knife, you’ll only worsen his pain. It’s better to let him die in peace. Besides, the poison on his body has already spread into his viscera. Even if I prepare an antidote right now, it’ll be far too late.”

“Even if you think it would be too late, you should still give it a try. You don’t know for sure that there’s no way unless you try. Just what kind of doctor are you?”

“I know nothing, is what you say? Shen Ying, don’t you even try me. I’m the disciple of the Elder doctor Qiongshan, and I came here to serve your Lord, and him only. You ask me to treat him, but if I can’t then you throw accusations at me. Who are you to do so?”

“You…” Shen Ying went pale, he stared speechless at the woman in front of him.

Indeed, it was true that Wu Dong only promised her services to his Lord, and not treating Peng Ying was completely acceptable. However, all of them have been together for some time, and they have always heeded her requests. Even going as far as to gather herbs at a cliff in a forest, as long as she asked for it, they had done it all without question.

But at present, Peng Ying who was the friendliest towards her is seriously injured but even so, she’ll refuse to do her best to save him. She even… drew a line between her and the other people of the Mo residence. Oh, even the Lord had not regarded him in such a light! Only Wu Dong in this house deigns herself to assume such a high-sounding posture.

Seeing him speechless, Wu Dong proudly lifted her chin. Thinking that all her anger accumulated today was vented, she felt more balanced inside.

“Shen Ying, if you still consider Peng Ying as your brother, I advise you to early start preparing a funeral for him. He won’t live beyond the next Shichen[1].”

“Pfft…” Yu Qingluo mocking laughter escaped her mouth. She swears that, usually, she wouldn’t dare laugh at this type of situations. But she couldn’t help herself after watching such a scene unfold.

Wu Dong’s eyes stared straight at her: “What are you laughing about?”

“Ah, my bad. I’m just thinking that this so-called disciple of the elder doctor Qiongshan can just amount to this.”

“What did you say?!”

Yu Qingluo pointed at Peng Ying, who was said to die soon, placed over the stretcher: “Can’t you understand me? Then I’ll explain it a bit better. That person… well, he could originally be saved. But falling into your, this charlatan’s, hands his life is doomed to come to an end.”

As soon as she voiced her words, not only Wu Dong whose eyes went wide and her face pale, reacted, but everyone else in the hall had expressions with varying degrees of surprise.

Especially the silent man behind the curtain, that this time started to scrutinize her more seriously.

Wu Dong laughed in outrage. Sneering at her she contested: “In the words of people like you who’ll bullshit around, am I the charlatan? So, are you telling me that the genius doctor here is supposed to be you?”

“About this, I would not dare to call myself a genius doctor, but I still have enough ability to bring him back from the brick of death”

“You can save him?” Shen Ying dashed forward, stopping with his face almost touching Yu Qingluo’s.

The latter took some steps backwards, pulling an arm’s distance between them. “Stay away from me, what are you doing so close? What if you scare me off?”

Scare you off? Shen Ying felt like smiling from the incredulity of such scenario, but Peng Ying’s situation was still dangerous, so he tried to be a bit more straightforward.

“Right now, you just said you can treat him.”

Yu Qingluo glared at him: “Even if you allow me to, would I do it? I’m not one of your Mo residence’s people so why should I move my precious fingers?”

Precious? Could this woman be even more shameless?

The man behind the curtain felt inexplicably relieved when he heard her words. He then inquired: “Your condition.”

Yu Qingluo glanced in his direction satisfied. Yup, smart man.

She turned slightly, stretching her finger and saying: “Answer me a question.”

Wu Dong looked her up and down, feeling that this situation was out of her expectations she hurried to step forward and speak: “Lord, don’t listen to her slander. This woman clearly has ulterior motives for entering the Mo residence. How can she have the ability to save Peng Ying? Don’t be fooled by her, Lord…”

“Wu Dong, do you really want Peng Ying to survive?” Shen Ying glared at her, feeling extremely disappointed. Even if he couldn’t really be saved, she should at least have given her best and tried until the end.

Wu Dong turned to glare at him: “I’m thinking with the best intentions of the whole Mo Residence in mind. If a suspicious unknown person is allowed to play tricks in the residence, then what will you do when that time comes?”

“Of course, we are the ones responsible for the safety inside this residence. You only need to worry about your own duties.”

“I am a member of this residence. And I have the right to be responsible for its safety as well.”

Yu Qingluo rubbed her ears, feeling that the exchange between the two was too annoying.

But it seemed that the noisy duo back and forth didn’t affect the man behind the curtain in the slightest. As he directly looked at Yu Qingluo and asked: “What’s the problem?”

Translated by C, The Apostle of Coffee

Edited by NoveLeo, Life is a Drama

Translator’s Notes

[1] – Shichen – is a system to measure time used in ancient China, the Shíkè (時刻) system which is based on the position of the sun. I’ll leave the link to the wiki page on that. But it’s normally used as an equivalent of 2 to 4 hours period.

Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_timekeeping

Editor’s Notes

Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, colloquially known as Tiradentes (it literally means Teeth Remover), was a dentist, tropeiro[1], miner, merchant, military man and political activist active in the Captaincies of Brazil of Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. He went down in history as the leading member of the Brazilian independence revolutionary movement called Inconfidência Mineira, whose aim was full independence from Portuguese colonial powers and the creation of a Brazilian Republic.

When the separatists’ plot was uncovered by Imperial authorities (there were many traitors among the members of the revolutionary movement), Tiradentes was found to be the leader of Inconfidência Mineira. But many historians dispute this fact nowadays, with many pointing out the very likely possibility of Tiradentes being just a scapegoat, used to protect many of the richer merchants and noble members of the movement.

Tiradentes was executed in Rio de Janeiro on April 21st, 1792. He was hanged, his body was quartered, and his blood was scattered across his sentence and death certificate. Days later, his head was placed atop of a pole in the town of Vila Rica (current Ouro Preto and the main stage of Inconfidência Mineira) and his other body parts and guts were distributed between many of the places and towns where he was supposedly active.

Since the creation of the Brazilian Republic (1889), Tiradentes is seen as a martyr and a national hero, many times, being portrayed in paintings and sculptures with an appearance uncannily similar to Jesus Christ.

[1] – Designation given to troop and commissions drovers of horse, cattle and mule moving between commercial regions and consumer centres in Brazil from the 17th century.

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