Thousand Dusts Ferry Me - Chapter 84

Later, Fu Xue said, “How about I give you some of my blood to make do? Don’t say just one drop—I’d be willing to give you a whole bowl.”

Shi Muyu showed some resistance. “But I think you’re rather dim-witted.”

“Hey, you little girl,” Fu Xue glared and put her hands on her hips, “How can you still think I’m stupid? I think you’re not very smart either!”

Shi Muyu looked embarrassed. “It’s precisely because I’m also dim-witted that I want to find someone smarter. Otherwise, if two idiots had a child, wouldn’t that child be doubly idiotic?”

“Uh,” Fu Xue was stunned. “That makes sense.”

Cheng Suiyan raised his hand. “May I presume to ask—would I be suitable? When I was studying, I was also praised by my teachers.”

Shi Muyu shook her head decisively. “I don’t want a man.”

“Why not?”

“Because I want a daughter. Only a child from two women can guarantee it will definitely be a daughter. If it’s one man and one woman, the child produced has a fifty-fifty chance of being a son or daughter.”

“There’s such a theory?” Everyone found it novel, and Fu Xue pressed further, “Then what if it’s two men? Would the child produced definitely be a son?”

Shi Muyu shook her head again. “Not necessarily. If you combine blood drops from two men, roughly out of every three children, there would be two sons and one daughter.”

“Eh? How magical is that? Why?”

Shi Muyu was stumped by the question. “I don’t know why either. This is all based on predecessors’ experience.”

Ci Li proposed a hypothesis. “What if you added two drops of your own blood to this seed? Wouldn’t that produce a child identical to you?”

“Absolutely not!” Shi Muyu frowned anxiously, speaking so quickly her words rushed together. “That would absolutely not work!”

“Why?”

“As the saying goes, ‘People of the same surname should not reproduce together.’ My surname is Shi. If I found someone else with the surname Shi, the child produced would easily fall ill or even die young. I can’t even find someone from my own clan, let alone myself.”

Everyone fell silent.

After a while, Yun Qing said, “So your purpose in coming to Mengliang City was to find a woman who satisfies you and ask for a child?”

“Yes.”

“What if you can’t find one?”

“If I can’t find one in Mengliang City, I’ll go to more distant places.”

Yun Qing felt a headache coming on.

Fu Xue asked, “Senior Sister, what should we do?”

Yun Qing rubbed her temples helplessly. “Help her find one.”

****

Yun Qing had never imagined that one day she would become a matchmaker.

Calling herself a matchmaker wasn’t quite accurate either, since Shi Muyu wasn’t seeking marriage. She was only asking for a drop of the other person’s blood, and would clearly tell them: you were about to have a child.

This request seemed simple, but in ordinary people’s eyes, it was somewhat problematic.

The first woman they found was a widowed cook at a tavern. When this cook heard someone wanted to give her a child, she received them joyfully and even treated them to pastries.

But when she heard the child wouldn’t belong to her, the cook’s eyes widened, and she snatched away the pastry Fu Xue was about to put in her mouth, saying, “No way! The child must be mine!”

Yun Qing said, “We would compensate you handsomely.”

“I don’t want money, I only want the child. Since you can grow children, why not grow one more? Now that my husband is dead, I don’t want to remarry. If I could have a child, I’d die content.”

Shi Muyu said with difficulty, “But I only have one Hundred Seed.”

Everyone had to give up.

The second woman was the only daughter of a fabric shop owner. When the shop owner heard their story, he nodded. “It’s fine, but I have one requirement. Let one of these three marry into my family—any of them will do.”

As he spoke, he pointed at Jiang Baiyu, Cheng Suiyan, and Ci Li.

Yun Qing stroked her chin thoughtfully, earning a glare from Cheng Suiyan. “What do you mean by that? You dare sell me off? If you’re going to sell someone, sell Ci Li!”

Ci Li: “???”

The third woman was a wealthy family’s daughter. When this daughter’s parents heard that their pampered, innocent daughter would inexplicably gain a child, they politely asked the group to leave.

The fourth woman was a fierce butcher’s daughter with five older brothers. These five brothers couldn’t believe someone dared come to their door to molest their sister, and chased the group down a street with butcher knives.

…

The group finally stood embarrassedly under a large mulberry tree by the street, with Fu Xue still holding Shi Muyu’s hand, afraid the little blind girl would get lost.

Shi Muyu held an oil paper package, and Fu Xue occasionally reached out to pinch a piece of fried pork skin from the package, eating carelessly. The air was filled with crispy crunching sounds and the mixed aroma of oil and sugar.

Fu Xue asked Shi Muyu, “Do you still look down on me?”

Shi Muyu answered, “Still a little bit.”

Fu Xue: “……”

Yun Qing sighed, “This is much harder than catching demons.” It would be good if the Jade River Sky-Shaking Mirror were still here—Baiyu could put her inside it, and she could probably donate some blood.

But before Baiyu came down the mountain, he had given the Jade River Sky-Shaking Mirror to Hanlu Zi.

After all, Hanlu Zi had been out of management for too long, and the Huayang Sect had just undergone major changes—leaving an immortal artifact could help stabilize people’s hearts.

Yun Qing leaned against the mulberry tree, reaching toward Fu Xue. Fu Xue released Shi Muyu’s hand, took the oil paper package, and offered it toward her senior sister.

Yun Qing picked up a piece of fried pork skin to chew while idly watching the passersby.

Seeing them eating so sweetly, Cheng Suiyan also came forward to pinch a piece, saying while eating, “This is my first time eating on the street.”

Fu Xue said, “Then you were really pitiful before.”

“Right? My family has too many stuffy rules.” Cheng Suiyan held the fried pork skin and noticed Yun Qing’s gaze following a man on the street, so he curiously walked to her side to look as well.

This man wore a dark fur coat, a black sable hat, deer leather boots, and rode a magnificent white horse, followed by a group of servants.

He had long, slender limbs and handsome features, with a pair of peach blossom eyes that sparkled like spring water, his gaze flirtatious.

Noticing Yun Qing staring at him, the man sat on his white horse, lowered his eyes to glance at her lightly, curved his lips slightly, and pulled the reins gently, making the white horse slow its pace.

Seeing this, Jiang Baiyu pressed his lips together and made an extremely soft humming sound through his nose.

The man puffed out his chest proudly like a peacock and passed in front of them.

Yun Qing watched his retreating figure, murmuring to herself, “Strange.”

Jiang Baiyu asked, “What’s wrong?”

Yun Qing glanced at him. “Didn’t you notice?”

Jiang Baiyu was too embarrassed to tell her that his attention had been entirely on her just now, and he really hadn’t noticed anything unusual about that man.

“Here,” Yun Qing said, pointing to the location of the blood vessels on the side of her neck, “there was a red thread faintly visible on his skin.”

Jiang Baiyu said, “That looks like signs of being infected with gu worms.”

“Exactly,” Yun Qing said to herself, “What kind of gu would leave marks in this position?”

Many gu worms moved along people’s meridians and blood vessels, leaving some traces of movement. Experienced gu masters could deduce what kind of gu the person had been infected with from these traces.

Yun Qing only understood the general principles of gu poison and wasn’t familiar with specifics.

Jiang Baiyu carefully recalled the texts about gu poison he had read before, when Ci Li suddenly said, “He’s infected with a Shared Fate Gu.”

Everyone looked at him in surprise.

Fu Xue said, “Little cat, are you sure?”

Ci Li slightly lifted his chin and said casually, “I once traveled in the southern border regions and have some understanding of gu poison. Shared Fate Gu isn’t a rare gu worm.”

“What happens when infected with Shared Fate Gu?”

“Just as the name suggests—two people become connected by shared fate, living and dying together.”

Fu Xue couldn’t help but hiss. “That’s quite vicious. What kind of person did he offend to have this kind of gu used on him?”

The big white horse clip-clopped along, gradually walking away, and Yun Qing continued to curiously watch his retreating figure.

The man on horseback suddenly turned back to look at her, and seeing that she was also watching him, he raised an eyebrow at her.

Fu Xue said inexplicably, “Why is he making faces?”

Jiang Baiyu said quietly, “He thinks Yun Qing has taken a fancy to him.”

“Huh?” Yun Qing was stunned.

Fu Xue found it incomprehensible. “No way—are all you men this confident?”

Cheng Suiyan protested innocently, “What do you mean ‘you men’? Who’s the same as him?”

Yun Qing stopped a passerby on the roadside and asked, “Excuse me, big brother, who was that person who just passed by?” She pointed at the figure on horseback.

The passerby was a kind-faced middle-aged man with a shiny full beard. Seeing that figure and the impressive retinue of servants, the bearded man’s expression changed:

“Oh my, him? Miss, listen to my advice—don’t provoke him. His name is Helan Qing, a notorious bully in our Mengliang City. His family is a local prominent clan, and his grandfather currently holds a high position in the capital. Even the big and small officials in Mengliang City have to show him respect.”

“A high official in the capital,” Cheng Suiyan pondered briefly. “Is his grandfather the Minister of Personnel, Helan Sheng?”

“Yes, yes, exactly—Helan Sheng.” The bearded man saw the beautiful young lady looking thoughtful, and fearing she might be deceived, he lowered his voice slightly:

“Miss, don’t be fooled by his handsome appearance. This man has countless concubines at home and keeps several mistresses outside, not to mention his habit of molesting decent women. When he’s drunk, he doesn’t recognize even his own family and even beats his wife. Anyway, stop looking at him—it’s bad luck.”

Yun Qing was just curious and had only asked casually. After hearing the man’s explanation, she nodded and thanked him.

Just as the bearded man was about to leave, Shi Muyu stopped him and asked, “Excuse me, where are there many women?”

The bearded man laughed. “The place with the most women in Mengliang City would be Jade Street, but delicate young ladies like you shouldn’t go to such places.”

After the bearded man left, Shi Muyu said, “I want to go to Jade Street.”

Cheng Suiyan understood that this little girl wanted to go to a place crowded with women to “select candidates,” but although the gentleman had spoken tactfully, as a man, he naturally understood.

He reluctantly stopped Shi Muyu. “Forget it, let’s take our time searching.”

Shi Muyu didn’t understand. “Since Jade Street has many women, why can’t we go?”

Cheng Suiyan tactfully explained, and after hearing it, Shi Muyu was silent for a moment before saying, “But I still want to go see.”

Yun Qing nodded. “Then let’s go.”

While walking toward Jade Street, Fu Xue asked Cheng Suiyan, “You know so much—have you been to brothels before?”

Cheng Suiyan protested urgently, “How is that possible?! I’m a proper young man from a decent family!”

Fu Xue nodded, then glanced at Jiang Baiyu with a look very much like a teacher checking homework.

Jiang Baiyu looked innocently at Yun Qing. “How could I possibly go to such places? I’m…” very pure.

Fu Xue finally looked at Ci Li.

Ci Li said inexplicably, “Are you sick? I’m a cat—would I visit brothels?”