Chapter 134: Can’t We Get Something More Substantial?
Mo Ziyuan fell silent. He was a man who had moved to the outer courtyard at a very young age to live, so he didn’t know much about the inner residence matters. But his father had several concubines who all died at childbirth, one corpse two lives gone, to the point that his father still had no illegitimate children even now. Even his stepmother had one child that was gone while still in her belly, and another that died just after turning two. To say that all this was normal, absolutely no one would believe it, and he didn’t believe it either.
The thought of Lin Xin and his child being harmed to death, or Lin Xin dying at childbirth, one corpse two lives, made Mo Ziyuan’s eyes turn red. He absolutely would not allow such a thing to happen!
But what should he do? Could he really detach from the Dingguo Duke’s Mansion and establish his own household? But the Late Emperor had added a lock to his heir’s position right before passing. If he detached from the Dingguo Duke’s Mansion, wouldn’t that be too much of a betrayal to the Late Emperor?
Cui Shi patted his shoulder and said earnestly, “There are many things in this world that can’t be had both ways. Sometimes if you want too much, you might end up with nothing at all. Many times, you need to make choices.”
“Cho…ice?” Mo Ziyuan murmured thoughtfully.
“What are you all chatting about? Where are Nan Nan and Tao Tao? Time to eat!” Lin Xin poked her head out from the kitchen and shouted loudly.
“Finally time to eat, great! I’ve been smelling the aroma for ages. Quick, let me see what you’ve made!” Cui Shi stood up and strode toward the kitchen.
“Nan Nan and Tao Tao should be right at the courtyard gate. I’ll go call them.” Mo Ziyuan opened the courtyard gate and saw Lin Nan and Lin Tao squatting on the ground poking at something with little wooden sticks. Both were totally focused, and they hadn’t even heard Lin Xin’s loud voice.
“What are you doing?” Mo Ziyuan walked over curiously to take a look, and the hairs on the back of his neck immediately stood up. He scooped up one child under each arm and retreated several big steps, stopping only at the house door.
“Xin’er, Xin’er, come out here!” Mo Ziyuan called out loudly.
“What’s wrong?” Lin Xin, who was serving rice to everyone, heard something off in his voice and quickly set down the rice bowl to run over.
“Just now Nan Nan and Tao Tao were playing with a five-step viper, right there.” Mo Ziyuan held the two children and pointed to the spot where they had been squatting.
There were plenty of snakes in the mountains around Willow Forest Village, but venomous ones were rare. Almost every child in the village had caught snakes before—most were small ones taken to play with, and the big ones ended up in stomachs. Suddenly a highly toxic five-step viper appearing was definitely not normal.
Lin Xin’s face also turned serious. She slowly walked over and sure enough saw a half-dead snake on the ground, about a meter long with a thick body. Its back was covered in brown diamond-shaped patterns, its head was distinctly triangular, and the last flat elongated scale at the base of its short tail had fallen off, landing next to the little stick on the ground.
“Where did this snake come from?” Lin Xin picked up a little stick and poked it. Not sure if it had been poked immune by Lin Nan and the other, it didn’t move at all when Lin Xin poked it.
“Don’t know. Tao Tao and I saw it at our house door when we came out. I was afraid it would bite Tao Tao, so I used the little stick to move it over there,” Lin Nan pointed to the spot where he and Lin Tao had been, “I saw it wasn’t moving much, not even opening its mouth, so I played with it and Tao Tao for a bit.”
Cui Shi also came over to take a look. “Eh? Why does it look like it’s been drugged with sleeping potion?”
“Sleeping potion?” Lin Xin and Mo Ziyuan repeated in unison.
“Lift it higher, let me take a good look.”
Lin Xin did as told and raised the stick holding the snake higher, even bringing it right up to Cui Shi’s eyes.
Cui Shi sniffed it, then leaned in close to look at its little eyes, and affirmed, “No doubt, it’s been drugged with sleeping potion.”
“Can you tell what kind of sleeping potion it is?” Mo Ziyuan’s face was very cold. A five-step viper drugged with sleeping potion appearing at Lin Xin’s home door—if no one had found it, once the sleeping potion wore off, wouldn’t it crawl into the house? No matter who of the three at home it bit, it would be death. This was too vicious.
“Just ordinary sleeping potion. Any doctor could mix it up.” Cui Shi answered.
“Was it that pair of sisters just now?” Mo Ziyuan guessed as he asked. He was certain there was no snake at the door when he arrived, and after he got there, only Lin Duo and Lin Zhi the two sisters had appeared at the door. It was very reasonable to suspect the snake was placed by them.
“This isn’t a snake common around here. Lin Duo and Lin Zhi have a tough life, always with endless work and no time to catch snakes.” Lin Xin said objectively.
“It doesn’t have to be them who caught it. Maybe someone gave them the snake and told them to put it at your house door.”
Lin Xin nodded. That was indeed possible, and the likelihood was quite high.
“Want to go ask them?”
Lin Xin shook her head. “Not now, go in the evening.”
“I’ll go with you then.”
“Alright.” Lin Xin knew that even if she didn’t let Mo Ziyuan go, he would follow secretly anyway. Better to bring him along and save some worry.
“Right, how should we deal with this snake?” Lin Xin looked down and poked the snake’s head with her finger. By now the sleeping potion effect might have worn off, as it actually swayed trying to bite her.
“If you don’t want it, give it to me!” Cui Shi popped up from the side and said.
“What would we do with this thing?” Lin Xin disgustedly shoved the snake toward Cui Shi. “Here, yours!”
“Stinky girl, what do you know? This snake is treasure, it can be used in medicine.”
“Yeah, treasure!” Lin Xin pursed her lips. “It’ll be even more treasure after it bites you.”
“Hey, you stinky girl, how do you talk?” Cui Shi bared his teeth and clawed the air at Lin Xin.
“Sis, are we eating or not? Tao Tao and I are hungry.” Every time Lin Xin and Cui Shi bickered, Lin Nan would step in to stop them, and this time was no exception.
“This old man won’t stoop to your level, stinky girl. My treasure disciple is hungry, let’s go eat!” Cui Shi said, then took one hand each of Lin Nan and Lin Tao toward the kitchen, saying as he went, “We’ll go wash hands first, then eat the good food.”
“Okay, Master.” Lin Nan said with a grin.
“Okay, Master!” Lin Tao parroted the line.
“Good, both my good disciples.” Cui Shi was so happy his eyes nearly disappeared, feeling quite accomplished as he washed their hands and led them to the dining table.
“This stinky old man.” Lin Xin smiled and shook her head, closed the door, and went to eat with Mo Ziyuan.
“Right,” after eating, with Cui Shi taking the two children to rest, as Lin Xin and Mo Ziyuan sat chatting in the courtyard, she suddenly remembered something big and said to him, “Since we’re taking Tao Tao back, he should change back to his original name!”
Mo Ziyuan nodded. “Definitely, but we’ll change it after we get back. Maybe Your Majesty will give him a new name.”
“Why can’t he use the original name?” Lin Xin asked in surprise.
“Probably thinks the old name is unlucky!” Mo Ziyuan didn’t elaborate.
“Alright then, anyway changing the name will be the Emperor’s business then, I won’t worry about it.” Lin Xin had a big heart.
“When merits are rewarded, you’ll get a share too.” Mo Ziyuan said.
“Me? I didn’t do anything, don’t want any reward.”
“You’ve raised Tao Tao for so long, and raised him so well. Your Majesty will definitely reward you. Didn’t he say before about granting you a house? That’s one of the rewards.”
“Oh, like that,” Lin Xin rubbed her chin and smacked her lips, “Can it be something more practical?”
“What’s practical?” Mo Ziyuan didn’t get it.
“Silver!”
Mo Ziyuan: “…”
Thanks to Song of the Goat and Story of the Eyes, MmyDang, caroletu for the votes, and caroletu for the tip. Much appreciated!
