Wine-scented Beauty

Chapter 53: A Blessing in Disguise

"Imperial physician?" Xun Hua thought for a moment and then had another question. "Since you don't understand medicine, how do you know that this can cure my illness?"

"Well..." Ji Meiqing looked him up and down, her mind filled with all sorts of advertisements. She thought for a moment and said, "The places on a person's body that sweat the most are the fleshiest and densest, and the armpits are also the most prone to sweating. Once you sweat, your body odor will become stronger. Does the princess find the weather in June the most annoying, when the body odor becomes very strong?"

“Yes.” She admitted without hesitation, and added, “What you said is true, the smell of body odor is especially strong in the summer.”

“That’s right.” She smiled. “I have a way to make the princess better. If the princess doesn’t want to… and insists on killing me, there’s nothing I can do. After all, I only have the idea, not the ability to perform the surgery on the princess myself.”

"In the end, it's just a way to save your life. Since you have a way to cure my strange illness, I naturally have a way to make you successful and enjoy wealth and glory forever." She squatted down and personally untied the ropes binding Ji Meiqing. The ropes were thrown on the ground, and Ji Meiqing stretched her arms and legs.

"If you had said this earlier, things wouldn't have turned out this way. Why did you have to go through all this trouble, Miss Ji?"

"If I had rashly suggested this method back then, would the princess have kept me alive until today?"

"No." She immediately denied it, and Ji Meiqing looked at her with an air of certainty.

"Since that's the case, then you must have already decided what to do. I'm looking forward to it. As for the imperial physicians, I'll have my father send three to me. If it still doesn't work by then, I think it's better if all the people in Xiaohexi Village don't have to live."

"Yes. This humble subject will certainly not disappoint the princess's high expectations." Ji Meiqing said solemnly, while also breathing a sigh of relief. She didn't know what the future held, but the present was better than the future.

Given the current situation, we can only take it one step at a time.

Xunhua had someone send her back to the Lu family, and at the same time sent many gifts over. The villagers watched this turn of events with astonishment.

Ji Meiqing's smile became somewhat stiff as many valuable items were delivered, and the entire room was decorated in a golden hue.

Lu Yu stood to the side, puzzled, and asked, "What's going on?"

"The princess," she carefully prompted, glancing at the onlookers outside who were staring at her with astonished expressions, seemingly surprised by the drastic turn of events.

"I only promised to help her cure her illness, which is just a small request for me." She casually downplayed the matter. Lu Yu looked at her for a long time, still seemingly unwilling to believe it, but Ji Meiqing's calm demeanor showed no abnormality.

Lu Yu looked at the things in the room, then at the people who had already left, and said slowly, "What will happen if we fail?"

"I'll die." She still said that word casually. Lu Yu's heart tightened, but then he heard her say, "How could it be so simple? I won't give her that chance."

She turned and walked into the room. Lu Yu watched her back, completely helpless and unsure of what to say.

After Xunhua's people left, the people outside squeezed in and grabbed Lu Yu, asking gossipy questions: "Who were those people? Why did they send so many things?"

"It is a great favor from the princess." He said calmly, "The princess felt guilty for misunderstanding Meiqing last time, so this is her way of making amends."

"Wow." The people around looked at each other, seemingly unable to believe it was true, but with all the things in the room laid out there, it was hard not to believe it.

"It's getting late, and we have other things to do. If you're not busy, could you please head back?"

"Oh, then we won't bother you." They came quickly and left slowly. Lu Yu closed the door and then knocked on Ji Meiqing's door.

"Ji Meiqing, I have something to talk to you about."

After a while, the door opened, and Ji Meiqing looked at him: "Brother Lu, is there something you need?"

“I need to talk to you,” he said directly, looking around the room. “Shall we go in?”

She made way for Lu Yu, who went inside. The room was quite tidy. Ji Meiqing brought over a stool for him to sit on, and then brought him some tea.

"What exactly happened? Why did this happen all of a sudden?"

She was silent for a moment before forcing a smile: "It's nothing, just an apology for the misunderstanding last time."

“I don’t believe you,” he said directly, looking at her tired face, and continued, “If you’re unwilling to tell me the truth, I’ll ask. I’ll find out even if I have to.”

Ji Meiqing couldn't take it anymore and could only slowly tell the truth, "I agreed to perform the surgery on her, but I won't do it myself. At most, I'll give guidance. If something goes wrong... we'll all die."

Lu Yu remained silent, and the silence in the room was almost unbearable. Her frankness was like a knife hanging over everyone's heads.

"I know this is a very bold decision, but I won't hold you back. Even if I fail, I won't make you die with me."

“No.” He directly rejected her statement. “I will not let you die, nor will I let the whole village die.”

"Huh?" Ji Meiqing looked at him in astonishment.

Lu Yu didn't answer again. Ji Meiqing wanted to ask him, but then suddenly stopped. She didn't know what answer she would get, but gambling with the lives of the entire village was indeed a very selfish decision.

But now that it's done, it must be done to the end.

With these feelings in mind, Ji Meiqing didn't sleep all night. When she woke up the next day, she had huge dark circles under her eyes.

Early in the morning, a lot of people came to the house. Ji Meiqing stared blankly at those fawning faces.

"You...this is..."

"Miss Ji, I'm so sorry for misunderstanding you the other day."

This complete 180-degree turn left Ji Meiqing somewhat bewildered. "You've come here..."

"We're here to apologize." The leader pulled out a burlap sack from behind him. It was unclear what was inside, but judging from the noise and the clucking coming from the sack, it was probably a chicken... and a big rooster at that.

Ji Meiqing was completely terrified, "You...you don't need to do this..."

"We were wrong the other day; we wrongly accused you of being a bad person without clarifying the situation..."

"I'm really fine." Ji Meiqing didn't know how to express herself. "This has nothing to do with you, really."

She looked at the group of people as sincerely as possible, and thought to herself that they were probably the same people who had come in yesterday.