Chapter 102: Can I Trust You
Chu Mo scratched his head: “Actually I’m not planning anything. I only want to quietly cultivate, and spend my days happily. It’s a pity, the more simple the idea, the harder it is to accomplish. In order to achieve this goal, I can only try hard to clear away all the obstacles in my path.”
“This includes the crowned prince and the rest?” Miao Yiniang faintly asked.
“Including them.” Chu Mo replied.
“I understand. I will support you!” Miao Yiniang looked to Chu Mo: “No matter what you decide, I will always support you!”
Chu Mo laughed: “I know.”
Soon after, the four started eating new year’s dinner. Chu Mo and Xu Fufu looked at each other when the fireworks started continuously going off outside. They both said in unison: “Fourteen!”
The two teenagers that could easily stir Yellow Flame City were already fourteen, and yet they were only fourteen.
Miao Yiniang and Liu Mei’er raised a glass, and proposed a toast to the two fourteen year olds, congratulating them for turning a year older.
Soon after, several people ran outside to set off fireworks. The two girls in their twenties smiled extremely happily like young maidens
This is how the year passed.
It was already after midnight when Chu Mo returned home. Pretty much no one was on the road. Two red lanterns hung at the gate of the Fan household, lighting up a large amount of area.
Chu Mo felt warm inside when he saw the two red lanterns. He finally returned home.
The gate guards said to Chu Mo upon seeing his return: “Young master, another carriage came right after you left. They said they were taking you to the palace. Were there any problems?’
All the guards in the Fan household, including the gate guards, were retired veterans from the military. Their alertness far exceeded that of ordinary people.
Chu Mo smiled and shook his head: “No problems uncle Qin. Have you had anything to drink tonight?”
The middle-aged man in his forties scratched his head: “I drank a little. It’s the stuff the young maidens that young master brought in gave to me. I must say, the place doesn’t feel the same with this many young girls! It seems we’ve become a grand house all of the sudden! Hah, they all have maidservants!”
Chu Mo felt touched inside. He smiled: “Does uncle Qin fancy one?”
“How could I, don’t say such things. If I had a daughter, those maidservants would all be younger than her. I only think the General’s house is a little bit more lively than before!” Old Qin gave a simple-minded smile.
No one knew. This man who walked a little lame used to be a fearless killer on the battlefield. He was a brave fearless elite.
Chu Mo patted old Qin’s shoulder: “Uncle Qin, our house will be better and better.”
“Yes, with the young master, it will certainly be good!” Old Qin happily smiled. Soon after, he suddenly thought of something, and said: “Oh! Young master, a girl came searching for you about two hours ago. I said young master isn’t home, and the young girl left.”
“Young girl?” Chu Mo was a little startled.
“Yes, she’s very pretty. She also spoke very politely, like she wasn’t a commoner, and extremely lady-like. But I felt a little strange, why is this daughter of a noble house away from home on a big night like tonight?” Old Qin somewhat curiously mumbled.
“What did she look like?” Chu Mo asked.
“Ah, she is very tall. She has a somewhat rounded oval face and pulled back hair. She was wearing blue colored clothes, and a black cloak. She seemed……like a warrior.” Old Qin said.
The maiden from that night in the Prince Mansion floated into Chu Mo’s mind. His brows slightly wrinkled, and he thought: ‘Don’t tell me her illness has already flared up?’
Chu Mo said while thinking: “Bring her straight to see me when she returns.”
“Okay.” Old Qin had an expression of ‘I understand’.
Chu Mo gave a haughty look, then walked inside.
Chu Mo’s brows slightly raised when he reached the door to his room. He pushed open the door and went inside without making a sound. Sure enough, the young maiden that tried to assassinate him in the Prince Mansion was sitting there.
Her cape was already stripped off and hanging on the chair, and she was wearing her blue colored gown. She appeared a little shy upon seeing Chu Mo enter. She immediately stood up, then slowly kneeled down, softly saying: “Noble son Chu, I have come asking for help.”
“Stand up and speak.” Chu Mo simply said. He walked towards the stove and started heating up a half-pot of water. He walked back and sat before the girl without speaking, simply watching her.
“I……” The girl hesitated, wanting to say something.
Chu Mo waved his hand, and seriously looked at her: “You already decided to leave that person?”
The young girl nodded, and pitifully looked at Chu Mo: “I already left that night. She saved my whole family back then. If it wasn’t for her, my family and I would already be dead. So, she is still a benefactor in my eyes, but she also killed off my family over the years. Now I don’t know whether to appreciate or hate her.”
“Your poison isn’t difficult to cure.” Chu Mo said.
The young girl looked at Chu Mo, and gently bit her lower lip. Blinking her pair of smart eyes, she softly said: “Apart from myself……I have nothing to offer noble son.”
“It’s not that I need your payment. My hesitation……is if I can trust you.” Chu Mo simply said.
“If I say now that noble son can trust me, then it’s not very convincing.” The young girl softly spoke, stood up, and started to untie her clothes: “It is best if noble son wants me, then I can be his……naturally I won’t harm noble son.”
Chu Mo stared at her: “Sit down!”
The maiden was scared back a step, and she sat down feeling a little wronged: “Noble son doesn’t like me. How can he believe me? Could it be…….you need to put poison in me like my former master?”
Chu Mo sneered: “Who do you think I am? You don’t understand my meaning!”
“Please say noble son.” The maiden looked at Chu Mo.
“I promised to cure your poison. This comes without any conditions. Don’t tell me you would perform sexual favors if an eighty year old man helped cure your poison?” Chu Mo angrily looked at her: “Girls need to understand self-respect!”
The maiden was scolded, yet she didn’t get angry. On the contrary, her eyes revealed a trace of happiness. She said: “Noble son is so handsome and skilled. Being noble son’s woman would be my great fortune. If it were someone else, I would die before letting them touch me!”
“Good, but I don’t have that kind of idea towards you.” Chu Mo stood up as he spoke, walked over to the half-pot of water on the stove, and lifted it up, intending to make tea.
The maiden stood up at this time and said: “Let me help.” She took the pot of water from Chu Mo, found some tea leaves, and skillfully soaked it in the water.
Chu Mo sat there silent for a moment. Then he said: “Right now…..I am short on manpower for something. What I am thinking, is whether or not I can trust you to join. As far as the poison, I will help you no matter what.”
The maiden’s eyes brightly lit up when she heard this. Soon after, she slowly knelt before Chu Mo, and seriously spoke: “Young master agrees to help me cure my poison without any conditions. His agreement to take me in is also my good fortune. I swear on my dead family, I will not forsake young master with this life. If I betray you, then may my family in the afterlife be forever restless!”
[TL: She speaks in the third person here. Her name is Yan Zhi in case you forgot.]