Chapter 352: Chapter 135 Poison Flower_4
Lu Tong stuffed the towel into her hand, "I don’t need this." Then he grabbed the handle of the wooden cart and turned to step into the sea of scarlet flowers.
He Xiu was startled and hurriedly said, "No! Hong Fang Xu is poisonous, you’ll lose your life!"
But the one she called did not answer, merely pushing the somewhat heavy wooden cart, moving calmly toward the deeper parts of the misty flowers.
Without a single hesitation.
...
At the other end, in the depths of the Southern Pharmacy’s lodging, within a warm chamber, the air was filled with curling incense.
Sounds of "creak, creak" were heard from the shaking bed curtains, mingled faintly with the panting and sighing of a man and a woman.
After an unknown amount of time, the shaking canopy came to a stop. Someone lifted the curtain, revealing a slender, fair leg.
The woman, draping clothes over herself, sat up on the bed, her neck adorned with spots of red marks.
If Lu Tong were here, she would realize that the woman with a spring-like gaze before her was none other than the one who threw her bundle at her and asked her to change beds when she had first arrived at the pharmacy.
"Second Lady..."
A man’s vague low moan came from behind her, as if savoring the afterglow of satisfaction. Mei Erniang frowned in distaste and turned back around, already wearing an expression of feigned anger, "My lord hasn’t come to see me for so long, I was starting to think you had grown tired of the old in favor of the new."
Her voice was a mix of three parts grievance and seven parts charm, leaving Zhu Mao utterly softened, so he immediately pulled her back into his embrace, laughing playfully, "My dear, you are the most beautiful in the Southern Pharmacy, where could I find someone new?"
"How could there be no new?" Mei Erniang lifted her chin, "That new girl from yesterday, my lord, you looked at her a lot this morning. She is indeed graceful and young and beautiful, it’s very ordinary for my lord to fancy her."
Zhu Mao was startled for a moment before he realized that Mei Erniang was talking about Lu Tong.
He climbed onto Mei Erniang’s shoulder, chuckling dismissively, "Her? She’s no match for you. She offended people as soon as she entered the Medical Officer Institute, her days of suffering are long ahead."
"Offended people?" Mei Erniang’s eyes flickered, "Who?"
Zhu Mao merely smiled without speaking, a hint of sharpness flickering in his eyes.
It had to be said that the female medical practitioner named Lu was indeed quite attractive, with a frail and delicate appearance that made one’s heart itch. If it had been any other time, Zhu Mao would have found a way to have her in his hands on the day she arrived at the pharmacy.
Unfortunately, she was someone assigned by Envoy Cui.
Zhu Mao felt somewhat regretful.
He didn’t know who this young Female Doctor had offended to be sent to the Southern Pharmacy immediately upon entering the Imperial Medical Officer’s service; this was almost unprecedented. Envoy Cui had implied discreetly that he wanted to grind down the woman’s sharpness, so Zhu Mao could only do as instructed. That’s why he assigned the task of harvesting Hong Fang Xu, which everyone else avoided like the plague, to Lu Tong.
That was a deadly assignment.
Mei Erniang said, "Hong Fang Xu is poisonous, she won’t last long before begging for mercy. At that time, surely my lord will be compassionate and cherish her."
Zhu Mao snapped back to his senses and touched the face of the beauty before him, "Even with compassion, it depends on who it is for. She simply cannot be let off easily."
He harbored thoughts of taking advantage, after all, women sent to pick in Hongfang Garden never lasted very long. It was too easy to torment a helpless, weak woman; if she took the initiative to seek favor, he wouldn’t be good at refusing. But...
"But I see that Physician Lu is proud and haughty, determined to leave the Southern Pharmacy," said Mei Erniang.
"Leave?" Zhu Mao couldn’t help but burst into laughter, "Once you enter the Southern Pharmacy, there is no leaving. Besides, someone like her should just stay and behave in the pharmacy for a lifetime; she should stop dreaming."
Mei Erniang’s eyelashes trembled and a chill slowly rose from her heart.
Zhu Mao looked at her, then pulling her down onto the bed, buried his head in her neck indistinctly saying, "Don’t worry, you... you’re different from her..."