Chapter 71

As a city behind the dangerous pass, Bairi City has many merchants who think the official road into the pass is not wide enough and will directly take the Jiujie Ford.

It often rains in summer, and now it's drizzling in the sky. But the rain can't dampen the enthusiasm of the boats in the Jiujie Ford area at all.

The boatmen are enthusiastically soliciting passengers, and the pedestrians who want to board the boats are trying to bargain to save one or two coppers.

A tall and slender figure in a straw raincoat jumped off the donkey cart neatly. After throwing the fare to the coachman, he headed straight for the boats docked by the shore without looking back.

From another donkey cart behind, someone immediately followed. Some boatmen also glanced in this direction and quietly moved their boats.

There were quite a few people at the ferry in the early morning. Qin Yanzhou scanned the area with his eyes, identified a group of boats going west according to the direction of the bows, and then randomly picked a less - crowded one to board.

"Go to Jinlin Ford. Set off immediately." Qin Yanzhou didn't ask about the price and directly threw a money bag over.

The boatman took the heavy money bag and immediately beamed with joy. He didn't take other passengers anymore and courteously invited Qin Yanzhou to board the boat.

The boat set sail.

As this boat headed west, several other boats also left the shore at the same time.

*

In Tianshui County, Sizhou.

"Have you heard? The Unborn Venerable Mother couldn't bear to see our farmers suffering, so she sent down a divine oracle and bestowed a divine object on the divine envoy."

"Yes, I've heard. That thing is similar to the straight - shaft plow, but it's much easier to use than the straight - shaft plow. I heard that it only takes the strength of one ox to pull the plow, and the other ox saved can be used to plow other fields."

"The sect has issued a notice, calling on believers to go to the temple to pay homage and give thanks on the first day of the lunar month."

"We must give thanks. My hen just laid a clutch of eggs. I'll take the eggs there on the first day."

"Eggs won't do. The sect previously issued a notice that items are not circulated in the upper realm. It only accepts silver money. You should sell the eggs for money and then donate the money to show your respect. By the way, I've saved a lot of money for my son's betrothal gift. Anyway, he won't get married until the year after next. I'll use his betrothal gift to pay homage to the Unborn Venerable Mother first."

"Didn't the sect say that donations to show one's sincerity should be done according to one's ability? Are you really going to use your son's betrothal gift?"

"I'm his father. Why can't I use it? I'll save it back later."

...

Daili stood by the street, listening to the two passers - by whispering and lost in thought.

She didn't expect that the Qinglian Sect would promote the curved - shaft plow by means of "divine oracle from heaven". It has to be said that the Qinglian Sect, which has believers all over the country, indeed has many smart people.

The curved - shaft plow can't bring in silver money, but through such promotion, it can bring prestige and further attract the common people at the bottom.

And according to what they said, the believers are called to go to the temple to pay homage on the first day of the lunar month. Then, besides the believers, the so - called "divine envoy" in their mouths will probably also be present in the temple at that time.

"Madam?" the Xiuniang beside her said.

Daili came back to her senses and directly asked her, "I just heard that there will be a ceremony on the first day. Will you participate at that time?"

The Xiuniang nodded, "I'll go to preside over it. Are you interested, Madam?"

A flash of lightning went through Daili's mind. Immediately afterwards, a bold plan emerged like a floating log half - buried in the water, with an invisible hand pulling out the buried part.

Suddenly, the floating log shot upwards and finally emerged from the water with a "plop".

"I've never seen it before. I'm really interested," Daili heard her heart pounding wildly. "Can I go to the temple with you on the first day of the lunar month?"

Xiuniang nodded. "We'll set off the day before the first day. There will be no one in the mansion at that time. I was going to take you with us anyway."

Daili smiled and said she was looking forward to it.

Then the group turned into a rouge shop. There were many things sold in the shop, such as facial creams, lipsticks, flower ornaments, eyebrow pastes, as well as lead powder and rice powder that came in different prices.

Just the facial creams alone included peach blossom rouge, safflower rouge, apricot blossom rouge, hibiscus rouge and so on.

There were so many things that they had to be placed on several shelves.

Daili quickly glanced at the eyebrow paste on the edge of the shelf, then picked up the small basket provided by the shop and started a shopping spree.

She wanted this facial cream and that lipstick. Just like a crazy shopper, she took one of each kind.

It was the first time for Xiuniang to see someone buy things like this. But thinking about the valuable shoes and clothes Daili wore before, she guessed that Daili might have been unrestrained when she was with the Marquis of Wuan.

Before they left, the master only told her to watch over Daili and didn't say anything else. Now that the lady just bought a lot of things, it didn't seem unacceptable.

So Xiuniang kept silent.

Daili had been paying attention to Xiuniang out of the corner of her eye. Seeing that she didn't say anything, Daili reached out to a certain shelf and took the items from left to right.

When she put the small jar on the far side into the small basket, Daili's heart was pounding like a drum. For a moment, she even had an illusion of hearing a thumping sound hitting her eardrums.

All the other things were just for show. Only this box of eyebrow paste was the most important.

After leaving the rouge shop, Daili went to other places. It was almost sunset when she and Xiuniang and the others headed back to the mansion.

They returned fully loaded.

When Daili came back, she saw a carriage driving out of the mansion. It was a horse - drawn carriage. The man driving it wore a cap and was strong and powerful. He also carried a knife.

This kind of attire didn't seem to belong to the servants of an ordinary wealthy family. Instead, it looked like that of an official.

"Madam?" Xiuniang called out in a low voice.

Daili lowered the curtain and said bluntly, "That carriage just now looks like it belongs to the government office. You should get on good terms with those people. Otherwise, if you fall from power one day, Qin Changgeng will definitely take revenge on me. After all, there was the dragon - bone waterwheel before, and then my disappearance. Now that the curved - beam plow has appeared, he might suspect that I'm involved."

These words were just for the occasion, but when she mentioned Qin Shaozong, Daili's thoughts wandered a little.

If she could escape successfully this time, she would go back to Yanzhou, but she wouldn't go directly back to the Qin Mansion. She and Qin Shaozong were from different eras, and they were bound to have many conflicting ideas.

Just their views on marriage and love were as different as ice and fire, and they were destined not to get along. Moreover, there were so many old scores that couldn't be settled, so it was better not to bother.

Hearing this, Xiuniang smiled and said, "Madam, you can rest assured. Sizhou is very safe."

Daili pretended not to care much on the surface, but her mind was working non - stop.

Sizhou is very safe?

Why is it so safe? Could it be that the governor of Sizhou is on their side?

Daili had no answer.

She had dinner outside. After returning to the mansion, Daili dismissed the maids on the pretext of being tired and wanting to go to bed.

Outside the window, the sky had already darkened. Inside the room, there was only a tiny bean-sized lamp. The light was not bright, but it didn't prevent Daili from rummaging through her spoils of the day right after closing the door.

The facial creams in this era were quite small, about half the size of an egg. The boxes were exquisitely made, and one could easily hold three or four of them in one hand.

Daili rummaged through them and found that box of black paste. She carefully dug out a piece from it and kneaded it into a granular shape, which was the same size as the black pills she had eaten before.

There was once a trend of black lips among women. So, in fact, the black paste was lip balm. Naturally, there was oil in the lip balm to ensure that the lips wouldn't dry when applied.

Now, holding the small black pill she had kneaded by hand, Daili chose a suitable distance from the fire and started to roast this small black pill.

While roasting, she would occasionally blow on it artificially.

After about a quarter of an hour, Daili stopped.

After a series of "wind and sun exposure", the hardness of the previously slightly soft small black pill had significantly increased. And its surface had also solidified, no longer leaving black marks on one's hand when touched like before.

Daili did the same thing again and kneaded two more black pills, making a total of three. It wasn't that she didn't want to knead more, but there was only so much of the black paste left, and she had other uses for the rest.

Looking at her dirty fingers, Daili dipped the tips of her fingers into the teacup to clean them. After they were thoroughly cleaned, the water in the cup became pitch - black and turbid.

Picking up the cup, Daili walked to the potted plant placed in the corner of the room and poured the black - colored water on the side against the wall.

The mud was gray - yellow, and it wasn't obvious after pouring the black water on it.

She took the cup back and looked at it under the bean - sized lamp. Seeing that the inside of the cup was stained black, Daili then picked up the teapot to add water and thoroughly washed it clean.

There was no one else in the room except Daili.

She did this series of actions very slowly. In sharp contrast, her heart had been pounding since the moment she kneaded the small black pill.

She had to succeed in one go!

If she failed, not to mention getting a second chance, her situation later would definitely be worse than it was now.

Lying on the couch, Daili calculated the days. There were still seven days until the first day of the lunar month. She only had seven days left to carry out this scheme of "switching the prince with a commoner".

...

The next day.

When she woke up from sleep, the sun was shining brightly outside the window. The flowers and leaves in the courtyard were dotted with water droplets, and there were also wet marks on the stone bricks on the ground. It had rained a light shower before dawn.

Maybe because Daili had gone on a big shopping spree outside the mansion yesterday, Xiuniang, the embroidery woman, had caught a glimpse of the daily life of the "favorite concubine of the marquis". After breakfast, she took the initiative to ask.

"Madam, do you still want to go out and stroll in the market today?" Xiuniang asked.

Daili thought for a moment and said, "Since you're called Xiuniang, are you particularly good at needlework?"

Xiuniang modestly replied, "I can't say I'm really good. I can just barely make it look decent."

"Can you teach me? I want to learn." Daili seemed to have suddenly become interested.

Xiuniang naturally agreed. However, when the maidservant fetched the needles and thread, she casually asked, "I've heard that many families arrange for their daughters to learn needlework. Why didn't you learn it before, madam?"

This was true.

Whether they were the daughters of wealthy families or those of common people, girls had to learn needlework from a young age. They embroidered wedding dresses as well as other clothes. For poorer families, they had to use the embroidered items to exchange for money.

Daili: "I used to be lazy. I thought that if a matter could be solved with silver, why should I do it myself? My family always let me have my way."

If someone else had said these words, Xiuniang would surely have thought that this person was spoiled and ignorant.

But the face in front of her was so striking, as gorgeous as spring flowers and as bright as the moon. Coupled with her nonchalant tone, things somehow seemed perfectly natural.

Xiuniang murmured, "...Indeed."

While teaching Daili, she asked again, "Madam looks like someone nurtured in a water town. Is your ancestral home in Yangzhou?"

"Of course not. My ancestral home is in Cangwu, Jiaozhou." Daili repeated the same story and then said, "Do I need to thread it through here? I don't think it's right. Let me have a look at it."

For the next four days in a row, Daili asked Xiuniang to teach her needlework. On the surface, she seemed calm, but in fact, she became more and more anxious day by day.

Four days had passed. There were only three days left, and time was running out. Unfortunately, she still hadn't found an opportunity.

This courtyard was inhabited by her, Xiuniang, and two other maids. Nominally, the three of them served her, but in fact, they were there to keep an eye on her.

However, perhaps because she had behaved very obediently these days, one of the maids would occasionally leave. No one knew what she was busy with, but in any case, she wouldn't stay by her side all the time.

Daili had been waiting for an opportunity but couldn't get one. Seeing that time was running out, she was extremely worried. Just when she was hesitating whether to change her method -

A turning point appeared.

The turning point came on the fifth day.

That morning, after Daili got up, she found that one of the two maids was missing again. At that time, she didn't care and thought that the maid had just gone to do some errands as usual and would come back soon.

But later, Daili never saw her.

After breakfast, she continued to learn needlework from Xiuniang. Around the beginning of noon, a person rushed in and whispered to Xiuniang, "Xiuniang, the carriage of the Third Young Master has arrived."

The governor of Sizhou had recently passed away due to an illness. He had left in a hurry and hadn't had time to arrange many things, leaving his three sons to fight for power. The "Third Young Master" mentioned by the person was Xie Yuanxiu, the third son of the governor of Sizhou.

The room was very quiet. Since Daili and Xiuniang were sitting close to each other, Daili also heard this not - so - quiet whisper.

Xiuniang paused and put down the needle and thread in her hand. "Madam, there is an honored guest coming today. I'll go out for a moment and come back soon. If you have anything to do, you can call Caoxiang to serve you."

Daili felt as if a ray of light had broken through the chaotic sky, which made her heart surge with excitement. She tried to speak in a calm tone. "All right. You go and attend to your business first. Don't worry about me. I seem to have grasped some tricks these days. I'll try by myself first."

Xiuniang smiled and agreed. Then she called Caoxiang over and gave her a few instructions, mainly telling her to serve well.

After Xiuniang left, only Daili and Caoxiang were left in the room.

Daili deliberately waited for a while before turning to look at Caoxiang. "I'm a bit bothered by the summer heat. Go to the kitchen and cook a pot of mung bean and lily soup for me."

After saying this, Daili turned back and continued to hold the needle and thread.

Caoxiang hesitated for a moment but finally agreed.

Daili pricked up her ears to listen to the footsteps. When she couldn't hear them anymore, she immediately put down the needle and thread and went to the window to look out.

Caoxiang had gone out, and the courtyard was empty at this moment.

Daili quickly took out the small brocade bag from the box, stuffed it into her pocket, and was about to go out. But as soon as her front foot stepped over the threshold, she stopped.

Oh, almost forgot something.

Daili quickly went back, took out a cloth rabbit from under the pillow. After taking this little thing with her, she went out again.

This courtyard was in a "pin" - shaped structure. Daili lived in the largest room at the innermost part. On the left side were the rooms of Xiuniang, and on the right side, Caoxiang and another maid lived together.

Daili came to the left and quickly pushed the door.

As expected, the door was not locked.

After Daili went in, she closed the door behind her and immediately began to look for Xiuniang's small porcelain bottle.

On the boat back then, Xiuniang took out the small porcelain bottle from her pocket and carried it with her at that time. But Daili didn't think that after she had "submitted" to the Green Lotus Sect and told Diting about the curved - beam plow, Xiuniang would still carry the medicine with her all the time.

After all, although the porcelain bottle was small, it was quite heavy.

Xiuniang's room was not very big and was divided into an outer and an inner part. As Daili walked straight into the inner part, her eyes quickly scanned the surroundings.

The decoration of the outer room was very ordinary. There were calligraphy and paintings hanging on the wall, a incense burner and a vase in the corner. There was a low chair beside the long table, and there were cups, teapots and cups on the table. In addition, there were several storage boxes.

It was nothing special, quite similar to Daili's place.

Pushing aside the beaded curtain, Daili entered the inner room. There was a couch and several stacked cabinets in the inner room.

Putting herself in Xiuniang's shoes, Daili first lifted the pillow. Unfortunately, there was nothing under the pillow. After putting the brocade pillow back in place disappointedly, she turned her target to the bedside cabinet.

"Creak——"

The cabinet door opened, and Daili's pupils suddenly tightened.

She found it!

But not exactly. Because the cabinet was densely filled with medicine bottles.

They were arranged very neatly. Each bottle outside was different. Different colors, different patterns. It could be said that except for the shape of the bottle and the stopper on the top, everything else was different.

It was easy to know that each type represented a different kind of medicine.

Daili was a bit stunned.

So many?

She carefully recalled the pattern on the small porcelain bottle at that time. It seemed that there was a lotus flower on it. Wait, was it a lotus or a mountain magnolia?

It seemed to be a lotus.

Daili fixed her eyes on a small bottle with a lotus pattern, quickly took it out, pulled out the wooden stopper, and poured out the contents.

The black pills rolled out with a gurgling sound. Daili picked up one and brought it close to her nose to smell it carefully.

Yes, this was the smell!

Daili quickly took out three pills, then stuffed three self - made black pills into it and shook it specially to mix them well. She neatly put the porcelain bottle back in place, even adjusting the angle to be exactly the same as before.

Daili closed the cabinet door and stood up.

The task was accomplished. It was time to retreat.

However, just as her happy mood was just beginning to sprout like a little spring bud, Daili suddenly heard footsteps.

She was in the inner room. For her to hear the footsteps, it meant that the person was already very close.

As if to confirm Daili's guess, she heard the sound of the door opening with a "creak".

At that moment, a thunderbolt exploded in Daili's mind.

Someone had come in.