Cang Lan Dao - Chapter 17.2

Chapter 17.2
You gave me poison, and I gave you candy

Luo Wanqing could tell that he was showing off and asked directly. Qin Jue put away the peach blossoms and said lightly, “Crush your bones inch by inch and then grow them back. Then, mold them into the most suitable shape. That is bone shaping.”

“Bones can still grow back together after being crushed?” Luo Wanqing frowned, “This is impossible.”

“Of course, it’s not possible in an ordinary way, so this method of bone molding has always been a secret technique. Very few people know how to do it, and it just so happens that I know about it.” Qin Jue spoke seriously.

After Luo Wanqing pondered for a while, she asked, “How long does it take to mold the bones?”

“At least a month.”

“It only has two months before the exams start.” Luo Wanqing reminded, and Qin Jue nodded, then said, “Then I’d have to say another thing.”

“What?”

“The Inspection Department’s examination has already begun.”

“Huh?” Luo Wanqing didn’t understand.

Qin Jue inserted the peach blossom back into the porcelain vase and softly said, “Every year, the people who participate in the Inspection Department’s examination are all felons. Successfully reaching Dongdu isn’t even an easy task. Therefore, the first round of the Inspection Department’s examination is simple. That is, arrive at Dongdu on time. Every year, on the first day of March, you will be eliminated if you do not arrive on time. Those who want to run on the road or can’t reach Dongdu are not the people the Inspection Department wants.”

“And what if they run away?” Luo Wanqing didn’t understand the rule. “This is a death row prisoner. Just let them go?”

“Then capture them back.” Qin Jue turned around and smiled. “Capture them and send them to the Imperial Doctor’s Office. There’s a shortage of people to test the medicine there. They can run away if they want. It’s their ability. If they can’t, then they’ll pay the price.” Qin Jue turned back to Luo Wanqing, “Have you thought about which method to use? Bone molding?”

“No need.” Luo Wanqing twisted her head and refused, “It’s too long. Let’s talk about it after we entered the Inspection Department.”

“Eh?” That was somewhat unexpected by Qin Jue, “I thought you had a high gambling nature?”

“I’m a big gambler, but I don’t casually gamble.” Luo Wanqing said, taking her own set of clothes that Qin Jue had bought and walking behind the screen.

Behind the screen was the hot water tub she had asked the waiter to put just now. She hung the clothes on the screen and was about to undress when she remembered Qin Jue sitting outside.

After hesitating for a moment, she thought of Liu Xiniang’s identity. If the real Liu Xiniang was here, a child of the jianghu, she shouldn’t be so squirmy. She pursed her lips, then began to undress while calmly saying, “I can’t trust you.”

Hearing this, Qin Jue subconsciously turned around and wanted to retort, but his eyes were stuck on the undressing figure behind the screen. He froze for a moment, then without any movement, he turned around, turning his back to Luo Wanqing, and continued, “You said that I’m distrustful, but I see that you’re also a wary person, ah.”

“I don’t doubt everything.” Luo Wanqing stepped into the water and calmly said, “What I believe, I don’t doubt.”

“Then what you don’t believe is a bit too much.” Qin Jue turned his back to her and sighed, “Xiniang, ah, people who are naive will live happier lives.”

Luo Wanqing didn’t say anything as she sat in the tub. She hadn’t taken a bath like this in a long time. How long had it been? She pondered, thinking about the time when she was in jail. It felt as if it was a lifetime ago.

“In the past, I always thought that the world was full of good people,” She couldn’t help but speak. Thinking of Jiang Shaoyan, she laughed softly, “As long as he said it, I believed it. I didn’t doubt anyone. I always thought that officials and people were all good.”

“And then?” Qin Jue listened while tapping on the desk and looking at the bright moon outside the window. “Why don’t you think that way anymore?”

“My father died.”

“How did he die?”

“Killed by others,” Luo Wanqing used Liu Xiniang’s past, mixed truths and falsehoods, “I expected a lot from others, but they were all disappointing. I had no choice but to rely on myself.”

“And then entered the Salt Gang?” Qin Jue asked, and Luo Wanqing nodded, responding, “Uh-huh.”

“Then did you report to the authorities?” Qin Jue thought, “Your family should be just an ordinary family. Even if no one in Yangzhou is in charge, there should be someone in the Jiangnan province, and if there’s no one in the Jiangnan province, there should be someone in Dongdu. If you had insisted on reporting the officials at that time, perhaps there would have been someone to help you?”

Luo Wanqing listened without speaking. She recalled the night she had rushed at Xie Heng without a second thought. The young man stood behind the screen, bursting that sentence, “The current Inspection Department can’t give you justice.”

Qin Jue began to assume again, “I heard that the Inspection Department ……”

“How are you certain that someone will help me?” Luo Wanqing interrupted him, splashing water on her body and coldly pursuing, “And how do you know I didn’t file a complaint?”

Qin Jue froze. He hesitated before saying, “A few days ago, I met a girl begging me for help.”

Luo Wanqing was keenly aware that something wasn’t right and strangely said, “You’re in a death cell. How can you meet a girl?”

In prison, women and men were separated. Luo Wanqing couldn’t understand how Qin Jue met a female prisoner.

Qin Jue’s voice wavered, then explained, “It’s a criminal interrogation. It’s divided by case, not by gender. That girl begged me for a favor, and I turned her down. It’s not that I don’t want to help her. I only wanted to send her to a safe place, and when we meet again later alive, I’ll give her a result.”

“What if she dies?” Luo Wanqing slanted an intriguing glance at the person outside the screen and laughed at his naivety, “In our kind of life, we’re barely able to keep our heads above water, and you still dare to think of giving people a result?”

“If I die, it’s because I did my best. I have no regrets.” Qin Jue smiled, his tone gentle, “As long as she doesn’t die.”

Luo Wanqing didn’t say anything. After she thought about it, she didn’t intend to spoil Qin Jue’s happiness and only said, “It’s also a blessing for her to have you thinking about her so much.”

“I’m not saying this to make small talk with you,” Qin Jue sat on the small table outside, taking melon seeds, “I’m telling you that having more trust in people might lead to good luck. Like that girl, if she trusts me more and waits a bit, she might get what she wants. If she doesn’t trust me and kills herself halfway or does something stupid, then she won’t be able to get anything.”

“I have no such luck. What I want, I must take it myself.” Luo Wanqing was unmoved, her tone light. She briefly cleaned herself and came out of the water. After drying the water droplets on her body, she put on the clothes that Qin Jue had bought and walked out of the screen.

Qin Jue had his back to her, looking down to think about something. When he felt a slight movement of fragrant waft behind him, the girl’s voice drifted towards him along with the aroma. He was about to turn around and say something, but the woman behind him suddenly stretched out her soft arms and embraced him.

Her pale arms, carrying a different softness and delicate skin, embraced him. Qin Jue froze, and at that moment, a white palm ‘snapped’ gave him a pill into his mouth, lifted his jaw, and forced him to swallow.

“This is the Seven Insects and Seven Flowers Pill, containing fourteen herbs and made in order. The antidote also needs to be made in order. One wrong step is bound to die.” Luo Wanqing covered his mouth with one hand and pressed his head with the other, holding him in her arms, bending down, and attaching herself to his ear. She said icily, “Repair my tendons and veins tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll be on our way. If you dare to have any dissenting thoughts, I’ll let you die without a body.”

Qin Jue didn’t say anything. He glanced at their images in the bronze mirror standing next to him. A moment later, he suddenly struck out. With a backhanded slap, he poured a sweet, honeyed pill into her mouth, which slid down her esophagus.

This action was so fast that when Luo Wanqing reacted, her face changed drastically, squeezing Qin Jue’s neck and slamming him down on the tabletop as she closed in and barked, “What did you feed me?!”

Qin Jue, doing the ‘surrender’ posture on the table, innocently said: “The pill is from flour, sugar, honey, and sesame. It became candy after nine hundred and ninety-one procedures. But it will taste bad if there was carelessness.”

Luo Wanqing froze.

Qin Jue smiled. “Miss Liu gave me poison. I gave you candy. It’s considered a courtesy.”

Author’s Notes: [mini theater].
Luo Wanqing: “Can’t help it. Fists are hard. If he pretends again, then watch me press him on the table and slap him to death.”
Readers: “What? You’re going to press him on the table and slap him?”
Luo Wanqing: “……”
Reader: “I can pay for this.”
Luo Wanqing: “If you pay for it, I think it’s possible ……”
JJWXC Editor: “No way! Not this one!”