His heart had never been so clear and firm.
He would take Ruo Ning back to the valley carpeted with white wildflowers. He would build a wooden cabin in the clearing by the stream. The wormhole would be behind the house, so Ruo Ning could go back if she ever missed home; the cabin wouldn't need to be large, but it must have a sturdy bed, a comfortable bathing room with a hot spring piped in from the mountains; the front yard should be spacious, with large trees transplanted for shade, and a stone table and lounge chairs beneath them; though they had enough money to last a lifetime, Ruo Ning would surely not want to be idle all day. She could do anything she wished, and he would help her achieve it; in his spare time, he would go down to the village at the foot of the mountain and set up a school, admitting children from several nearby villages to read and write. However, he was certain that Ruo Ning would be his most unruly and least diligent student.
From then on, the two of us would greet the morning bell and evening drum, living in peace and contentment.
Every image in my dreams features your presence, Ruo Ning. You must hold on until the day I find you.
Of course, before that, he still had many things to do, and his uncle in Youzhou City was one of them.
Now, he had a reason to eliminate his uncle.
This failure had already caused some people in the Luo family army to be dissatisfied with him, believing he was incapable of shouldering such a heavy responsibility and commanding millions of troops. To quickly and smoothly seize military power, he could not let anyone suspect him. The reason for taking over the Luo family army had to be just and reasonable; otherwise, the morale would be scattered, which would be detrimental to his plan.
Therefore, his uncle's death had to be in front of everyone, a "natural death," such as dying from a heart seizure.
How to disguise it as a "natural death" might be impossible in this era, but it could be achieved through Ruo Ning.
That night, he dragged Ruo Ning to watch movies again. The dynamic world within that small square held an irresistible charm for him. Ruo Ning said that he had basically watched all the movies on her computer, with only one left: an old series, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." She hadn't shown it to him because he wouldn't be able to understand it, and he wouldn't understand the dialogue either. But he didn't care, saying that whether he understood it or not would be determined after he watched it.
The medical and technological advancements shown in that film, from Ruo Ning's world, were incredible. Although he couldn't comprehend it, he watched with obsessive fascination.
He still remembered a case Ruo Ning had explained to him. A woman had poisoned her two husbands to death without anyone suspecting her. It wasn't until twenty years later, when the police exhumed the bodies, that the woman was apprehended. In this case, the woman's use of poison and the forensic techniques used to analyze the bodies were, in his eyes, the realm of gods.
Regarding this, Ruo Ning's evaluation was, "See? I've always thought those poisoners in street storybooks were very stupid. Arsenic, potent poisons, these are too lame, too weak. People know the symptoms of these poisons very well; they can tell at a glance that the person died of poisoning. If you really want to kill someone without anyone suspecting, use a poison that no one knows about, one that mimics death from sudden heart disease, so that unless a post-mortem is done in a laboratory, no one will suspect poisoning. After all, you can't perform autopsies here, right?"
"Oh? So you know of such a poison?"
"Englishyew, that was the poison the woman in that case used. The most poisonous part of this plant is its seeds; just 3-5 seeds can kill a strong adult. Look, it says here, 'it causes cardiac arrhythmias and can result in death from cardiogenic shock,' meaning it causes heart rhythm abnormalities and leads to the victim dying from cardiogenic shock. So it's just like sudden heart disease, and no one suspects you've been poisoned. It also says that this plant is very common in the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. If you search in the north, you might find this tree."
He looked at the picture of the yew tree on the computer and nodded thoughtfully.
English yew, he had indeed seen it, but it was not as common in the north as Ruo Ning described. He had only seen this beautiful fir tree with red berries in one place.
That place was a tribe nestled deep within a desert oasis – the Da Jin Kingdom. The Da Jin Kingdom was the most mysterious kingdom beyond the passes; they lived hidden in an oasis in the desert, and without the guidance of a tribal leader, no one could enter or leave. The Da Jin Kingdom possessed the most formidable warriors and the most agile horses in the entire northern region; they moved like phantoms, leaving only scorched earth in their wake. If this force could be incorporated, it would be like acquiring the sharpest sword. Luo Yuan, disguised as 'Su Jingren,' had entered this mysterious tribe with the merchant Ah Da, attempting to persuade the tribal khan to lend him a hand. However, Han Dan A Qi was arrogant and lacked wisdom; after several failed attempts at communication, he gave up on visiting in person and instead sent his subordinates periodically with gold and silver treasures as a gesture of goodwill.
Since he was exiled by Jiang Qi and returned to Youzhou, he had disguised himself and gone beyond the pass. Following the information given by the slave trader, he had been searching for Ruo Ning among various small kingdoms and tribes in the northwest until, one day, after the messenger sent to Jin returned, he mentioned a strange Han slave. The messenger described the Han slave as androgynous, reeking of filth, and someone who would secretly steal the tree god's offerings at night with Ah Qi King's half-brother.
Instinctively, he thought of her.
And so, on a bright sunny afternoon, after a long search, he finally found the woman with the halo.
She had lost a lot of weight, but her vitality remained undiminished. Despite being the humblest of Han slaves, she had gathered a collection of strange 'friends': an untamable thousand-mile horse, a marginalized prince, and a cryptic old witch. But perhaps this was her charm.
She smiled and said she had finally succeeded in losing weight, but he felt a pang of heartache. Thus, he would hunt game on the plains every day to feed her. He also discovered with surprise that she had finally developed an interest in learning to read, even proactively picking up books. Although he realized a few days later that she was only interested in trivial popular stories about himself. He emphasized again and again that those were fabricated tales with no basis in fact, that he had never set foot in a male courtesan house, and that he had no interest in men. Yet, the more she read, the more excited she became. After a long argument with him, she said that beautiful people were naturally interested in the same sex, and perhaps Luo Yuan didn't even know he had homosexual tendencies.
He was speechless at her theory, even feeling hurt. When she enthusiastically discussed those trivial gossip with Han Dan Chun, it was as if she were discussing a stranger. He was angry; she seemed to have forgotten him far too quickly.
However, he comforted himself, her actions were entirely understandable, given that she mistakenly believed he had sold her into this desert.
The only unexpected development was that negotiations with King A Qi had progressed. This time, Ah Qi Tian unprecedentedly told him that if he wanted his troops, he had to meet Luo Yuan first.
The sudden turn of events required him to leave immediately. Before departing, he wanted to take her with him, but to his surprise, she refused. She said she still had things to do.
He looked at Ruo Ning, who was arguing heatedly with Han Dan Chun by the campfire over "whether Luo Yuan should accept Miss Li's confession," and felt that he needed to explain everything to her quickly and take her away from here.
But that night, when he finally found an opportunity to explain everything, she preempted him by telling him that she had seen the future. He saw the determination in her eyes to leave, a resolute refusal to give him any chance to explain.
What followed happened too quickly for him to react. When he returned to the tribe, the shaman informed him that she and Han Dan Chun had gone south to Bianliang.
He found her again in a private room at a male courtesan house in Youzhou City.
When he entered, Ruo Ning was already drunk and was rambling, playfully teasing the man beside her.
He quickly walked over and pulled her away from the man.
He took the wine bottle from her hand and set it aside. To his surprise, she seized that opportunity to grab his hand and place it on her cheek. She affected a husky, childish voice, feigning a pout as she begged him to take her back for the night.
He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He flicked her forehead, annoyed yet doting, "Hey, I've had enough of you. How can you be so bold, bringing Han Dan Chun to a male courtesan house and getting so drunk? Do you really not know what you're like when you're drunk, or are you pretending? Why do you pull people into bed as soon as you get drunk? Aren't you afraid someone will take advantage of you? And you're acting cute here? I've never seen you talk to your own husband like this!"
"Hehehe," her cheeks were as red as the lanterns hanging by the door. She tugged at his sleeve, shaking it and pleading, "But I have no money..."
"You dare come here without money?!"
"Can we just consider it an exchange of experience?"