Chapter 385: Three People by the Lake (Two in One)
Beside a pool of clear water, fine gravel and scattered pebbles mixed with soil form a hard but uneven ground.
Haitang suddenly stopped, turned around, drew her axe and pointed it at Fan Xian. Her movements were smooth, her voice was extremely cold and her attitude was very tough.
"Give me the antidote!"
Mei Cheng'an had been observing Haitang's gait with great interest, so he stopped the moment Haitang made a move to stop. He stood by with his hands behind his back, watching the two of them quietly without saying a word. Anyway, Haitang was not attacking him.
Fan Xian was thinking about something and was a step slow to react. He was frightened by Haitang's sudden action and took a step back to narrowly avoid the axe that almost hit his face.
He patted his chest and gasped for breath. After a moment's rest, Fan Xian rolled his eyes and spoke unhappily.
"If you want me to give it to you, why?"
Haitang's mouth puffed up and there was a creaking sound. It was the sound of teeth rubbing against each other, a little harsh, and it was obvious that she was very angry.
"If you don't give it to me, I'll kill you!"
The tone was vicious, but Mei Cheng'an noticed that the threatening girl had some panic in her eyes and raised her eyebrows. He calmly curled the corners of his mouth.
Fan Xian snorted, his eyes were disdainful and his tone was unscrupulous.
"Kill me, and you'll just have to spend every day in the North Sea."
"you!"
Haitang's eyes were wide open. His eyes were big to begin with, and they were full of murderous intent and danger.
Fan Xian narrowed his eyes and stiffened his neck, unwilling to be outdone.
"What?"
The negotiations broke down, and neither side was willing to admit defeat, so naturally there was no way to proceed to the next step of exchanging interests. The two of them just stared at each other, like two angry kids, which looked a little funny.
The white clouds in the sky blocked the scorching light, but it did not seem gloomy. Instead, it had a hint of clearness. In addition, the location chosen by Haitang had an open terrain and was surrounded by water on three sides. The scenery was beautiful and the breeze was blowing gently, which made people feel relaxed and happy. However, the stones on the ground were a bit uncomfortable. Mei Chengan quietly moved his feet to a relatively flat place to step on. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath of the fresh air around him, and stretched himself.
"You two... since this topic is temporarily deadlocked, how about we change the topic first? Otherwise it will be so awkward."
Fan Xian blinked his somewhat sour eyes, shrugged and took the lead in responding.
"I have no opinion."
Haitang put down the axe and turned her head to look away. She was once again glaring at someone until tears were about to come out and she urgently needed to calm down.
Seeing that she agreed, Mei Cheng'an smiled and walked towards a long and thin stone that was placed horizontally like a bench by the pond. When passing by the crabapple tree, he whispered a warm reminder to her.
"You can actually blink when you're glaring at someone."
Haitang's blinking movement froze, her expression was a little awkward, and she looked silly.
Fan Xian chuckled, shook his head and walked towards the pool.
Sitting down beside the low rock, Mei Cheng'an glanced at the gravel on the ground, picked up a flat stone, and casually threw it towards the calm water in front of him to make a skip. The flat stone, spinning at high speed, hit the water surface for more than ten times, creating circles of ripples, and floated for more than ten feet before sinking into the water with a splash.
Mei Chengan was so excited that he clenched his fists and pressed his elbows.
"YES!"
"Damn, it floats really far, awesome."
Fan Xian took a look in surprise, then looked away and exclaimed as he handed him the wild fruit he had accidentally picked up on the road.
Mei Cheng'an took the wild fruit and smiled.
"It's just so-so, basic skills are not bad."
Fan Xian rolled his eyes and sat down next to him.
"How shameless! I'm praising you and you're still pretending. I'll float a more awesome one later and show you what a true skipping stone god is."
Mei Cheng'an snorted, too lazy to pay attention to this patient in the late stage of chuunibyou. He casually wiped the fruit with his sleeve, took a bite, and then his eyes lit up.
The reason why Fan Xian didn't rush to eat was that he wanted to take a look at the situation before deciding whether to eat it. After all, it was wild fruit he picked up, so he had been looking at his fellow villager with sidelong glances, and his eyes lit up when he saw this.
"sweet?"
Mei Cheng'an took another gulp and nodded repeatedly.
“Extraordinarily sweet, unexpectedly!”
Seeing that his expression did not seem fake, Fan Xian felt relieved. Without even wiping it, he took the wild fruit, put it to his lips and took a big bite.
At second after the fruit pulp entered his mouth, his expression froze and his eyes widened. At second, his expression began to twist and crumple. At second, he opened his mouth to spit out, but Mei Cheng'an gave him a look in time. At second, Fan Xian was stunned. At second, his expression gradually returned to normal and he slowly began to chew, his lips trembling and his eyes rolling.
"It's really sweet. Let's pick more when we get back."
Mei Chengan clicked his tongue.
"Don't just focus on eating."
As he said this, he turned his head to look at Haitang, who had been standing behind the two of them, looking at their backs with a very strange look, as if she was looking at a lunatic, and greeted him.
"Would you like some fruit? It's so sweet, so good."
Fan Xian hummed, and with difficulty forced himself to swallow the half-chewed fruit flesh in his mouth. He turned around and waved his hand, and a whole fresh wild fruit appeared in his hand. His expression was indifferent and his tone was casual.
"I'm sorry I almost forgot about you. Do you want to eat?"
Haitang hesitated for a moment, looking very confused, and muttered something under her breath.
"How can there be people like you?"
As she spoke, she pulled her stomach into her lower back, walked towards the two of them, reached out to take the fruit that Fan Xian was holding, walked to the low stone and sat down next to Fan Xian. This was the only seat left, and she had no choice.
Mei Chengan smiled, looked away, and chewed slowly in his mouth.
Fan Xian grunted and took another bite of the fruit.
"What's wrong with us? There's something wrong with me sharing delicious fruits with you."
Haitang waved her hand casually.
"That's not what I'm talking about."
As she spoke, she raised the fruit in her hand again.
"Thanks!"
Fan Xian cried out in fear.
"Don't be polite, you are welcome here, and it is our duty to entertain you."
Haitang nodded, and under the furtive and expectant glances of the two people, she rubbed the fruit on her sleeve and took a bite.
After seconds, Haitang's expression changed exactly like when Fan Xian took the first bite, even more exaggerated.
"yue~Puh, so sour, tui~you guys..."
Fan Xian stopped pretending, his expression became distorted again, and he started vomiting.
"Tui~ sour, sour, it kills me, Yue~"
Mei Cheng'an's reaction was not as exaggerated as the other two. His expression remained calm. He simply opened his mouth, lowered his head, and spit out all the fruit pulp that had not been chewed in his mouth.
"Hoo~tui!"
Then he casually threw the wild fruit in his hand that he had not finished eating behind him, throwing it very far away with a look of strong disgust.
"..."
Haitang's eyes widened.
"You guys...were just pretending before?"
After Fan Xian threw away the wild fruit, he looked at her in surprise.
"You figured this out? You have good eyesight!"
As he said this, he gave a thumbs up in a serious manner.
Haitang's cheeks twitched, somewhat incredulous.
"You can hold back such bitterness, just to lie to me?"
Fan Xian chuckled.
"We are all brothers, we share the same suffering. Besides, you are not the only victim. I am actually the first one to be deceived!"
Haitang glanced at Mei Chengan, and Mei Chengan grinned.
"If I don't pretend, it's strange that you two can eat it. I can't be the only one who is jealous. That would make me feel unbalanced."
Fan Xian took over the conversation with a smile.
"Similarly, although I was deceived, I decisively chose revenge over dragging others down, because I would feel unbalanced if I didn't do that. Now it's so fair and just. Everyone is jealous. How great."
"..."
Haitang was stunned by their shameless remarks, which had her worldview refreshed. She could actually be so shameless, so justified, so... fresh and unworldly.
What was even more ridiculous was that she actually felt that...the two were being shameless and sincere! So sincere that even she, the last victim who was dragged into this, felt that what they did was...nothing wrong.
Haitang was speechless because of her own thoughts. She rolled her eyes, threw the fruit away and didn't say anything else. She didn't know what to say.
There was a moment of silence in the field. The three people were quietly looking at the calm water in front of them, and no one wanted to speak.
After a long time, Mei Chengan spoke first to break the silence.
"I can give you the antidote, but there are conditions."
Fan Xian was stunned for a moment, turned his head to look at him, and opened his mouth to say something, but Mei Cheng'an raised his hand to stop him. After looking at each other, Fan Xian's eyes seemed to be thinking about something, then he closed his mouth and curled the corners of his mouth.
Haitang threw a stone into the water.
"I don't accept blackmail."
Mei Chengan glanced at her, smiled and said softly.
"It's not a threat, it's a deal, a win-win deal."
Haitang thought for a moment and turned to look at him.
"What conditions?"
Fan Xian, who was standing in the middle, looked left and right, let out a sigh, and stood up. He walked forward a few steps, picked up stones and started skipping them on the water.
"It's very simple."
Mei Chengan shrugged.
"It will take the delegation no more than a day to reach the border, but the condition is that you don't take any action during that day."
After a pause, he continued.
"I didn't ask you to give up the task assigned by your teacher. You can kill Sean, but you can't kill him from us. It shouldn't be difficult, right?"
Haitang looked at him quietly.
"You know clearly that once we enter the territory of Da Qi, it will be inconvenient for me to take action."
Mei Chengan smiled.
"I understand. You are the Saintess of Northern Qi who cares about your country. But whether it is convenient or not is none of our business."
Haitang's eyes flickered and she remained silent.
Mei Cheng'an turned his head and looked at Fan Xian who was still skipping stones.
"Stop playing around and give her the antidote."
Fan Xian said "oh", put away his posture, stood up straight, took out a small medicine bottle from his arms, poured out a small pill, and then threw it to Haitang.
Haitang subconsciously reached out to take it and took a look. Her expression was not only unhappy, but also somewhat unpredictable. She gritted her teeth and spoke.
"I haven't agreed yet!"
Mei Cheng'an smiled but said nothing. Fan Xian then started laughing.
"The poison that the girl was poisoned with was developed by me. It cannot be forced out by using true qi. If it is misunderstood, I am afraid..."
Haitang looked angry, then blushed. After struggling for a long time, she silently took the pill.
As for why he didn't eat it directly, it was not because he felt the antidote was not real, but because he was simply embarrassed to eat it in front of the two of them.
Seeing this, Fan Xian looked at his fellow villager, smiled, threw away all the stones in his hand, turned around and looked at the water, standing with his hands behind his back. After a moment, he suddenly chanted softly.
"Last night, the rain was sparse and the wind was strong. I couldn't fall asleep. I asked the person who rolled up the curtain with the remaining wine. He said that the crabapple tree was still the same. Do you know, do you know that it should be green and fat and red and thin..."
Haitang stared blankly at his back with a puzzled expression. After a long while, she pointed at him and glanced at Mei Chengan.
Mei Chengan saw her puzzled look, as if asking why this person suddenly went crazy and started reciting poetry so suddenly? He couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Hahahahahahaha..."
Fan Xian turned around in confusion, and seeing him looking at him and laughing, he was stunned for a moment and asked in confusion.
"What are you laughing at? Is it so funny that I read a poem?"
Mei Cheng'an smiled and waved his hands, pointing at Haitang.
Fan Xian looked over and saw that she was also smiling. He was even more puzzled. Her name was mentioned in his poem, but she was not moved by it and even smiled? And that smile seemed like a mockery.
"What are you laughing at?"
Haitang was simply amused by Fan Xian's reaction. Upon hearing that, her lips moved and she spoke with a half-smile.
"Hey, Mr. Fan, do you have any common sense? Begonias cannot be exposed to rain. If water accumulates in the pot, the roots will rot. By then, don't even mention the green and red will become thin. It will just be a pot of rotten branches."
"..."
The corner of Fan Xian's mouth twitched, and his head was filled with black lines.
I finally got into the mood for poetry, but I met a straight-laced woman who has no sense of romance and knows nothing. It's really... fucked.
Mei Cheng'an's laughter had been gradually subsiding, but now he burst into laughter again, holding his stomach, even louder than before.
Haitang looked at him reproachfully, then smiled.
Fan Xian recited this poem not only on a whim, but also with the intention of pleasing Haitang and paving the way for him to casually bring up the topic of cooperation with her in a relaxed and happy atmosphere later on.
Now those two are relaxed and happy, but he is depressed.
After a long time, the laughter gradually stopped. Fan Xian took a deep breath and forced himself to forget the trouble in his heart. His expression became relaxed again.
"Duoduo, do you want to cooperate with me when we get to Shangjing?"
After saying that, he didn't wait for Haitang to respond. He bent down and picked up a stone, pretending not to care, then turned around and swung his arms to skip it on the water.
Haitang was stunned for a moment and looked at him with a strange look.
"What are you collaborating for?"
Fan Xian picked up a few more stones without even turning his head.
"Help you."
Haitang looked confused, as was her tone.
"What can you help me with?"
Mei Cheng'an curled the corners of his mouth and looked into the distance with a calm gaze.
Fan Xian stopped and turned to look at her.
"Help you and the Queen Mother seize power from the young Emperor of Northern Qi."
Haitang hissed and glared at him.
"What nonsense are you talking about~ Who said I am in the Queen Mother's party?"
Fan Xian raised the corner of his mouth into an evil smile and spoke calmly.
"Your teacher Ku He is the imperial teacher, so he naturally has to take sides. There are roughly three forces fighting for power in the Northern Qi regime..."
As he said this, he walked up to Haitang and squatted down. He picked up a few big stones on the ground as factions and started analyzing the situation with her. Haitang just looked at him quietly.
"The young emperor is on one side, the queen mother is on the other, and there is also a great general of Northern Qi named Shangshan Hu. He is not on anyone's side, but he is also on one side. Look, Shangshan Hu wants to save Sean, and you want to kill Sean. You are obviously not on the same side."
Haitang had a strange expression on her face and spoke in a ambiguous way.
"I can also be a party to your majesty."
Fan Xian sighed and stood up.
"The young emperor specifically asked Si Lili to go back. If you killed Xiao En in Qing, the delegation would definitely return, and Si Lili would not be able to reach Northern Qi. So you must not be a member of the young emperor's party, so..."
At this moment, Mei Cheng'an suddenly burst out laughing, accidentally interrupting Fan Xian's words. Fan Xian and Haitang looked at him together.
"Why, do you think there is something wrong with my analysis?"
Fan Xian raised his eyebrows, his tone somewhat unhappy.
Haitang also followed up with an inexplicable tone.
"Yeah, do you have any other opinions?"
Mei Cheng'an glanced at her with a half-smile, then looked at Fan Xian.
"The answer has already been told to you, so stop analyzing it blindly. Her killing of Sean was completely a personal idea of her teacher that came up with on a whim. It has nothing to do with factions. It would be strange if the result you came up with based on that is correct."
Fan Xian was stunned and subconsciously looked at Haitang.
Haitang couldn't help herself this time and burst out laughing.
"You, the poet of Nanqing, are quite capable of making serious and logical analyses. Seeing how confident and complacent you are, I feel embarrassed to expose and interrupt you. But to be honest, your analysis is quite good, but you should not make it next time. I reminded you twice and you ignored me both times."
"..."
Fan Xian's face turned red and he wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
Mei Chengan glanced at her.
"That's not a hint. You deliberately used that ambiguous tone to push his thinking in the opposite direction."
Haitang stuck out her tongue and giggled.
"You saw it."
Fan Xian suddenly spoke.
"Are you really the little emperor's man?"
Haitang smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, do you still want to cooperate? Wait a minute."
After saying that, she turned and looked at Mei Chengan.
"When did you know that I was on His Majesty's side?"
Mei Chengan shrugged.
"When you asked back, 'Who said you were the Queen Mother's party?', since you are not the Queen Mother's party, then you must be the young emperor's lineage."
When Fan Xian heard this, the corner of his mouth twitched and he looked embarrassed.
Haitang looked a little strange.
"Do you believe me when I say it?"
Mei Chengan spread his hands.
"You sound very serious, why shouldn't I believe you? And..."
"And what?"
Mei Chengan smiled.
"You can't lie. When I say you can't, I mean you're not good at it. You're too good at it. Your tone and expression can make people see what you're thinking at a glance. It's easy to tell whether you're telling the truth or a lie."
After a pause he added.
"Of course, this is not to belittle you, but to compliment you, because it shows that you are a simple and straightforward person who doesn't like to beat around the bush or lie. I really like dealing with people like you. Being straightforward doesn't require so much thought, and everyone feels relaxed. How great is that."
"..."
He analyzed her personality clearly in just a few words. Haitang couldn't figure out for a moment whether she was easy to be seen through or this person's ability to judge people was too abnormal. They had only met a few times and hadn't said a few words, but he could understand her so well. This...
Haitang looked at him angrily and muttered softly.
"I don't like dealing with you."
She spoke very softly and quickly, and even Mei Chengan, who had excellent hearing, couldn't hear clearly at such a close distance.
"what?"
Haitang waved her hand.
"Nothing, I just said you have a sharp eye and can judge people very well!"
Mei Chengan smiled slightly and said, I don’t believe you at all.
Haitang felt guilty when he looked at her, so she quickly looked away and looked at Fan Xian. Suddenly, she felt that his originally hateful face became much friendlier. It was relatively better to deal with such a silly but confident person. Thinking of this, she smiled.
"You said you wanted to help me before, how can you help?"
Fan Xian had a strange look on his face. He felt that something was wrong with her sudden softening attitude, but he couldn't figure it out. After pondering for a while without any result, he was too lazy to think about it anymore. He decided to focus on business.
"Well, after all, we are the chief and deputy envoys of the Qing Kingdom's delegation. If we join forces, others will definitely not expect it. We will naturally have no taboos and no obstacles when doing things. It will be a hundred benefits without any harm."
Haitang didn't comment on this and just smiled.
"You guys know you are from Qing, but you want to interfere in the political affairs of Qi. You are really brave."
She didn't care whether to cooperate with the enemy country or not. That was not her concern. What she wanted to know was the demands of these two people. If she didn't figure this out, she wouldn't be able to report.
Fan Xian shrugged.
"You know the purpose of our trip is to replace people, right? Sending Sean here is full of complications. I think it will not be easy for us to rescue our family, so..."
He spread his hands.
"We help each other and benefit each other."
Haitang's eyelashes flickered slightly, and her eyes seemed thoughtful, but no one knew what she was thinking. She neither agreed nor rejected.
Become!
Fan Xian and Mei Cheng'an looked at each other and smiled.
After a moment, Haitang, who seemed to have thought it through, suddenly stood up from the low rock, turned around and walked away, speaking with her back to the two of them.
"Shen Zhong, the Jinyiwei pacification envoy, is here to receive the delegation in person. You should be careful."
When Fan Xian heard this, he immediately let out an "ah" and shouted at her.
"Don't leave so quickly. What's his personality like? Does he have any weaknesses?"
Mei Cheng'an slowly stood up and turned to look at Haitang's back.
"Don't ask. Don't say she doesn't know. Even if she knew, she wouldn't tell you. The cooperation hasn't started yet. This sentence is just a signal to you to consider cooperation."
Fan Xian shrugged, his tone very casual.
"I know. I just asked casually. What if there's a surprise? After all, her brain circuits are pretty amazing."
"I heard it! Fan Xian, are you scolding me?"
Haitang shouted without even turning her head.
Mei Chengan's mouth curled up.
Fan Xian's neck shrank, the corner of his mouth twitched, and he muttered softly.
"You can still hear it even though you've walked so far away. You have super hearing."
"I won't give up on killing Sean before I go to the capital."
After leaving behind the last words, Haitang’s figure gradually walked away, and soon disappeared among the mountains and jungles, leaving no trace.
"Hey, why did she leave? I was going to tell her a story about a little girl picking mushrooms."
Fan Xian sighed and took out a bottle of antidote from his arms that was exactly the same as the one he gave to Haitang. He poured out a pill, put it in his mouth and started chewing.
Mei Cheng'an glanced at the medicine bottle and asked curiously.
"Is this what you gave her?"
Fan Xian hummed, poured another one and threw it to him.
"Liuzhuan Chenpi Pills, clear away heat and reduce internal heat, always have it ready for regular use."
……
There was no antidote for the aphrodisiac that Fan Xian prepared. All it needed to do was soak it in cold water for a day or two and it would be fine. Fan Xian knew this, and so did Mei Chengan, but Haitang didn't. That was why when Mei Chengan agreed to give the antidote, Fan Xian was stunned for a moment, but after receiving a look from Mei Chengan, he quickly figured out the reason for the cooperation and developed a tacit understanding.
A sixth-level tangerine peel pill for clearing away heat and detoxifying was exchanged for a temporary peace agreement with a ninth-rank upper-level master. It was a good deal no matter how you looked at it!
……
(End of this chapter)
