Chapter 13: Drunk but Unaware
Lingxiang was drawing talismans in case of emergency. She was concentrating and making hand gestures when she heard the waiter knocking on the door, saying that a burly man downstairs was looking for her.
When she went downstairs, she saw Long Qi slumped on the ground, muttering to himself.
"This must be Brother Long Qi's master! I didn't expect that he is actually a little girl!" A sturdy man came forward and clasped his fists. It was the bearded guest that Long Qi met. "My name is Lu Zheng. I went to drink with my brothers today and shared a table with Brother Long. The three of us hit it off immediately and drank a lot. I didn't expect that he couldn't handle the alcohol. Fortunately, I knew that you were at Wutong Inn during our conversation, so I brought him here."
Lingxiang bowed to Lu Zheng and said, "Thank you, Brother Lu."
"Ah~ It's just a trivial matter, not worth mentioning. Brother Long is a cheerful person, and the three of us get along very well. I will definitely have a drink with him again someday!" He clasped his fist and left.
Lingxiang asked the waiter to help carry Long Qi back to the room, and asked for some sobering soup for him to drink. Just as she was about to go back to the room, Long Qi grabbed her skirt.
"Come! Don't leave! Have another jar!" He said as he sat up.
"You idiot, I asked you to go and get some information, but you got yourself drunk instead!" Lingxiang scolded with a smile.
Just as he was about to settle him down again, he unexpectedly lay down. He slipped unexpectedly and fell on Long Qi.
The sudden force sobered Long Qi up a little. He opened his eyes and looked at the little man who was so close to him, but in the blink of an eye he became confused again.
"You are so beautiful..."
Smelling the alcohol on him, Ling Xiang couldn't help but frowned and said disdainfully: "You don't need to tell me, your teacher is born with a natural beauty, stunning the whole country, so beautiful that she can make fish sink to the bottom of the water, geese fall to the ground, and the moon hide in shame."
Just as he was about to stand up after saying that, he was pulled back by Long Qi.
"I don't want you to be my master..."
Ling Xiang was startled when she heard this, and after a moment she came to her senses and said in surprise: "Do you want to recognize me as your mother?!"
……
As soon as Long Qi woke up, he felt hungover and had an unbearable headache. He struggled to get up and wanted to pour some tea, but found that he was only wearing his shirt.
He couldn't help but look around: yes, it was his room.
But who brought him back yesterday?
Who undressed him?
Long Qi patted his head, trying hard to recall, and suddenly remembered Lingxiang's face.
She seemed to be lying on top of him last night!
She even seemed to have untied his belt!
What did this she-beast do to him!
He has remained a chaste man for more than ten years!
Long Qi had a sad face, as if he had lost his parents.
As he was beating his chest and stamping his feet, the door creaked open. Seeing that it was Lingxiang, he hurriedly hid back in bed, protected his body with the quilt, and looked at her warily.
"What? Yesterday you wanted to treat me as your mother, but today you are sworn enemies with me?" Lingxiang said jokingly.
"Take you as my mother? What's that?" Seeing Lingxiang approaching, he squeezed closer to the bed and wrapped the quilt tighter around him.
"What...what do you want to do? What did you do to me...to me last night?!"
"What do I want to do? I want to eat you!" Lingxiang said, her eyes like a hungry tiger, and she opened her mouth towards Long Qi.
Seeing this, Long Qi shrank back.
"I... I tell you! Even if you get my body, you... can't get my heart!" "Hahaha!" His reaction was so funny, as if someone had picked a flower upside down, which made Lingxiang laugh uncontrollably.
"Don't be so conceited! You drank that yellow soup yesterday and got mad. You finally settled down and vomited all over again. You just went to the clothing store to buy some clothes," he said, throwing a package to Long Qi, "put on them quickly and go downstairs to discuss matters. Senior Brother Lu is back."
Lingxiang gave him a look as if he was a fool and walked out.
Fortunately, I am still innocent...
Eh? What does it mean to regard him as a mother?
……
"I checked the government records. Mr. Zhuang is a local. His given name is Wei, and his courtesy name is Jingwei. He is considered a teacher. Judging from his household registration, there is nothing wrong with him."
"Do you know what disease he has?"
"According to the yamen runners, this man has been weak and sickly since childhood, as if he had been sick since birth. His family has sought medical treatment for many years without success, and he showed signs of dying about half a year ago."
"That's strange. If he's about to die, how can he be getting better now..." Lingxiang frowned, puzzled.
When Long Qi came downstairs, he heard this and continued, "Come to think of it, Mr. Zhuang got married half a year ago. Could it be that he really got married for the sake of good fortune?"
I'm used to seeing him looking unkempt on weekdays, but today after he changed his clothes, he looks really decent.
"If it is really useful to pray for good fortune, then everyone in the world who encounters a natural disaster or man-made disaster will pray for good fortune."
"That's true, but what puzzles me is that Mr. Zhuang's parents have both passed away, and the wine girl Yaoyi is an outsider. How could they be a couple?"
"Mrs. Zhuang is not a local? Then do you know where she is from?" Lingxiang said and looked at Lu Ying.
"I haven't checked this girl, but I heard that she came here to look for her relatives, but she had nowhere to go because her relatives moved away. She happened to meet Mr. Zhuang, and the two of them got to know each other."
"Looking for relatives, but speaking of which, the Viburnum Dew she brewed is really top-notch. You can smell the aroma from a long distance away, and it tastes even more refreshing and mellow."
Lingxiang glanced at Long Qi with a look of disgust.
"Did Junior Sister Lingxiang gain anything?"
"It's strange. I checked the pulses of several people yesterday and found that they all had weakness caused by lying in bed for a long time. Although they looked like their souls were not in their bodies, it was not the magic of the demons. They were just stupid. I guess their souls were taken away. And the person who cast the spell seemed to have deliberately spared their lives and did not do anything cruel."
Hearing this, Lu Ying slapped his head and said, "Oh, I almost forgot, the prefect was also killed!"
Lingxiang was shocked when she heard this, and Lu Ying quickly told them what he had heard yesterday.
"I was wondering, with three people per month, how could one be missing? It turns out it was the prefect. It seems like he must have discovered something and that's why he was targeted." Lingxiang frowned.
"I have informed the old Tongzhi that you are pregnant with Xuanmen Qihuang. Junior sister, do you think you should go for a diagnosis?"
She didn't expect that the prefect was actually Yuan Qing's disciple. It was only right and reasonable for her to take care of this matter.
"Hmm..." Lingxiang thought for a moment and replied, "That's fine. Anyway, we have no clue right now. If we can rescue the prefect, things will be much easier."
After that, she told Long Qi to pack his luggage and prepare to visit the government office. Hearing this, Long Qi complained in his heart: This female tiger is treating herself as a handyman again.
Although they said they were packing their luggage, in fact, they only packed some snacks that Lingxiang bought on the street, and the rest were Long Qi's weird talismans.
When the three of them were ready, Lu Ying led them to the government office. During the trip, Lingxiang seemed to be out for fun, chatting with street vendors from time to time, or buying some small things. When they arrived at the gate of the government office, Long Qi was already full of bags, and even Lu Ying was busy.
Lingxiang, on the other hand, only had a string of candies in her left hand and cakes in her right hand, looking very leisurely.
(End of this chapter)
