Sixty: A Long-Held Wish (3) - Gossip

As soon as the little girl left, the ever-enthusiastic audience, who had been excitedly discussing the plot, began to fill in the blanks with their own imaginations.

[So it turns out he was Master's man; what a cruel twist of fate!]

[This is hilarious! Did you guys see how Sachi was just now? She suddenly became weak.]

[And his face really did turn pale instantly! My goodness! If I had this skill when I was in school, I wouldn't have had to go through so much trouble faking illness to get excused from school.]

[I heard that Xing has always been in poor health. Maybe he's used to being sickly, which is why he can do it so easily?]

[Who could be sure that his usual sickly appearance wasn't just another act he put on for others?]

[My information comes from the Research Institute, it's very reliable!]

[The Research Institute, isn't Ren Yi and the gambling tycoon here? Want to ask them?]

[Are you there, gambler big shot? Can we get a definite answer?]

[Zeng Lai:... Although I didn't gather the information about that guy above, Xing is indeed a bit weak; he's the type who faints after soaking in a hot spring for a while.]

[Hot springs... Please tell us your stories!]

Zeng Lai did not tell their story.

After all, what they had actually soaked in together wasn't a "hot spring," but a large public bath. And right there in that area, he and Wen Qinghuai, wearing only towels around their waists, were fleeing for their lives, looking rather disheveled.

It's best not to bring it up again.

However, now that the gamblers with names and identities have come forward to explain, a bunch of skilled spies in the live stream who were waiting to gather intelligence have silently noted down Xing's weakness.

He is weak and anemic; this could be used against him if he becomes an enemy.

Amidst the undercurrents, some were genuinely there to watch the spectacle, and they all marveled at the new intelligence.

[Oh ho, a sickly young master!]

The topic in the comments section usually veers off-topic, and during the deduction, Yu Xing sighed after just confirming her "faction".

Isn't this a kind of twisted sense of humor from the system? Knowing full well that he had just met the Master played by the Lingren, they still gave him such a despicable character in the third stage.

Although this meant he would have access to many secrets, the thought of the Master having the personality of Lingren made him uncomfortable.

Tsk, I wonder if there'll be a chance to backstab someone.

He sat back on the bed, crossed his legs, and began to plan how to get closer to Mama Liang.

Or perhaps he should guess whether the timeline of the third phase might jump?

From the time the young master didn't die until Liu Xue slaughtered the Fang Mansion, there must have been a long process in between. It's impossible for it all to be shown in the third stage. Otherwise, acting under the noses of NPCs and evil spirits for a month or two would be boring and dangerous, let alone for others. Even a drama queen like him would find it tedious and dangerous.

Therefore, he can be fairly certain that the third stage will employ a skip-time flow, extracting only the important time points for the participants to experience.

This suggests that today is probably a day when something bad happened.

He wasn't very interested in finding Zhao Yijiu and Zhao Ruru right now. Although knowing their identities would make it easier for him to cover for them, there was no need for it at the moment. Moreover, the more identities the other two teams knew, the easier it would be to expose them once the other two teams arrived.

Soon, the people outside finished their feat of cooking and had a short break.

The three people pushed open the door and entered the room. Yu Xing glanced at them. Besides the fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy from before, there were two older young men with slightly darker skin. These two were clearly closer to each other, and neither of them gave "Xiao Jin" a second glance. The only thing they said was a sarcastic remark.

"Oh, so Mama Liang got her revenge today! We all saw her kick your butt, tsk tsk tsk, it hurt just hearing that sound."

Yu Xing's character is the kind who likes to argue with others. Seeing the boy who was clutching a steamed bun in his arms about to retort, he sneered, "Sarcastic and sarcastic. Anyone who didn't know better would think you were a eunuch."

"You!" The young man, who had been mocking him, retorted, "Why didn't Mama Liang slap your mouth until it was swollen too!"

Another young man, who seemed to prefer quiet, frowned at the commotion, but instead of blaming his companion for starting the trouble, he said to the boy, "A Gui, you should avoid contact with Xiao Jin. He's not a good person. Be careful, or you might end up being kicked out of the manor for no reason one day."

Yu Xing deeply agreed.

That's so true. It seems that when Xiao Jin stole things to sell before, some people did notice.

Also, thank you to these two children; I now know the boy's name.

He ignored her, A Gui retorted in a low voice, "My good friend doesn't need your interference. Don't even think about trying to drive a wedge between me and Xiao Jin!"

Yu Xing:... Why is this silly child so stubborn? Let's quickly sow discord between them.

I don't know what Xiao Jin did to gain A Gui's trust.

When their advice failed, the two older youths, too lazy to say more, tidied up their own beds for a while before being called to help Doctor Cui.

A Gui and Xiao Jin were also going. Since they were going outside, they didn't know how many Masters were watching them. Yu Xing pretended to be in pain, which made A Gui feel extremely sorry for him, and she offered to help him.

Yu Xing controlled the force she exerted on him, and followed the two young men silently until they reached the fifth courtyard.

He had a deep impression of this place; in the first phase, the coffin at the escape gate was placed here, and the entire building was used as a mourning hall.

He didn't come in to see the second phase; according to Zhao Yijiu, it was a very normal residence.

Now, Yu Xing realized that the fifth courtyard was used to house visiting guests like Doctor Cui and the Master.

The Master's house was right next to Doctor Cui's house, the door was tightly closed, and it was unknown whether anyone was inside. Doctor Cui, on the other hand, had its door wide open, and wisps of white steam and the strange smell of medicinal herbs filled the air.

Doctor Cui sat next to the medicine pot, with a small stove in front of him boiling water.

When the four helpers arrived, he smiled gently, showing no airs towards the servants.

Unlike the Master, Doctor Cui, also an outsider, was very popular with the servants because he spoke gently to everyone when treating patients and treated them all equally. He would also greet the person whose name he remembered, making that person feel flattered.

Yu Xing glanced at him.

Thanks to the Lingren, he is now wary of people who seem as gentle and bright as moonlight; there are just too many good actors in this world.

Noticing Yu Xing's gaze, Doctor Cui looked over and caught sight of A Gui supporting Yu Xing's arm, feeling somewhat moved.

He took out a piece of paper and said to the two young men and A Gui, "The dosage of the medicinal herbs needs to be changed today. Go to the medicine cabinet next door and get the herbs for me according to the instructions on this new prescription."

At this time, the fifth courtyard was not set up as a super large room. Like the other courtyards, it had many rooms. Doctor Cui was assigned three: one for treating patients and decocting medicine, one was a bedroom, and there was a small side room with nothing else inside except a whole wall of cabinets and drawers, which stored all kinds of medicines like a pharmacy. Basically, you could get any medicine you wanted.

Yu Xing was left behind alone. When he heard that the prescription had changed, he began to pay attention to whether this was the key point of today's event. He also thought about taking a good look at what was written on the prescription later.

But he couldn't find the prescription.

After the three helpers left, Doctor Cui looked at him and asked with concern, "Are you alright? Why are you limping? Did you hurt your leg when you fell?"

This is a genuine Doctor, and his character seems quite helpful. If Yu Xing answers yes, she might have to roll up her trouser leg on the spot for the Doctor's observation.

[Let's see how "luck" is explained]

[Say dirty talk, say dirty talk!]

[Luckily, this character is always a villain. Will he be redeemed later, perhaps moved by Doctor Cui Mama Liang, or something?]

Yu Xing bent down and rubbed her calf, wincing in pain. "Yeah, I bumped my leg. It's probably a little bruised."

As expected, Doctor Cui became worried. He pulled Yu Xing to sit down in a chair and said, "Let me take a look. If it's serious, it will need treatment."

"Ah, no." Yu Xing quickly and gently grasped Doctor Cui's hand, feeling a little ashamed. "It's just a little bruise, it'll go away soon. It was my fault for applying the medicine, so... consider it a lesson learned."

Xiao Jin never revealed his impure thoughts to Doctor Cui and Mama Liang, and as a result, both of them thought that Xiao Jin was a simple and kind child and were very biased towards him.

All I can say is that Xiao Jin has a knack for saying one thing to one person and another to someone else, successfully deceiving several genuine people.

Upon hearing Yu Xing mention spraying medicine, Doctor Cui sighed even more.

"You only spilled a little bit, it's no big deal. If you ask me, the young master is weak, and too much nourishing medicine won't do him any good. But the Master is the one responsible for the young master, and he never listens to my advice, he just does whatever he wants. This person... is really hard to describe."

Yu Xing asked curiously, "But didn't I hear that under his care, the young master's health is much better than when he was recovering from his serious illness?"

"It's just an illusion, or perhaps the Master's mysterious magic worked." Doctor Cui shook his head. "Let's not talk about him anymore. With his servants around, you must be careful and not attract his attention. Come on, roll up your trouser leg, let me take a look."

He still hadn't given up on the idea of examining Yu Xing's legs, and had already half-squatted down to start working on them.

Yu Xing was currently wearing ordinary dark brown servant's clothes, with loose-fitting trousers that could be easily lifted up.

He released his grip on Doctor Cui's wrist, and with an expression that said, "I'm sorry to have troubled you," he slowly rolled up his trouser leg, revealing his calf.

It was a bluish-purple color with blackish tinges in the middle, a truly shocking sight.

Doctor Cui looked somewhat distressed, his brows furrowed. "You fell quite hard. Why didn't you tell me sooner? You need to apply this ointment, otherwise you won't be able to walk by tonight or tomorrow."

Yu Xing looked down and watched as Doctor Cui rummaged through the room and found a small bottle of medicated oil, which he then applied to Yu Xing's face. A cunning glint appeared in Yu Xing's eyes.

[???]

[I thought he was changing the subject to avoid Doctor Cui looking at my leg, but it really is bruised.]

Yes, when she's in her room, you can't tell at all that she has a mobility issue.

[Wow, this bruise is huge! It's so realistic, I can already feel the pain.]

Looking at this leg, I have a bold idea.

[+1]

[Indeed, it looks so good, so delicate, and with the bruises, it reminds me of some embarrassing things.]

[How can you drive on this crappy road?]

The same viewer who said they had a bold idea: [Damn, what are you guys thinking? I meant I guessed where the scars came from.]

[Where did it come from? Didn't it fall?]

[Did anyone notice that when Doctor Cui asked Xing how his leg was, he rubbed his calf a few times? I suspect that's when he pinched it and got the bruise.]

[Holy crap, then they change the subject to give the bruises time to show?]

[It can't be that fast, can it?]

[I think so]

Whether it was true or not, the audience guessed correctly.

To make the act convincing, Yu Xing went to extreme lengths to inflict wounds on her legs using her suppressed strength, thus confirming that she was injured.

Medicine has a smell. If he were to work as a helper covered in injuries and come out without smelling of medicine, it would only prove that Doctor Cui did not find any injuries on him.

The Master will definitely be able to see that he is lying.

Anyway, Yu Xing has never taken care of her body, so what's wrong with getting some evidence?

He also took this opportunity to start a business of using stock phrases.

"I heard that Mama Liang wasn't at the Fang Mansion all afternoon. Where did she go?" Yu Xing asked pitifully. "This leg injury was an accident. She certainly didn't expect me to fall so hard. I know she meant well, and I'm very grateful to her. I wanted to thank her as soon as possible."

The cold, medicated oil, whose ingredients were unknown, was sticky and cold when applied to the skin. If Doctor Cui applied it even slightly too heavily, Yu Xing would shiver. Under these circumstances, Doctor Cui would not realize that Yu Xing was deliberately trying to extract information from him.

He thought for a moment, then replied, "Mama Liang took A Hu out shopping."

"Purchasing?" Yu Xing uttered a questioning syllable.

"I remember now, you also did purchasing work for the Fang Mansion." Doctor Cui smiled. "After you were relieved of that position, Madam, remembering how diligently Mama Liang had served the young master since he was a child, specially entrusted the purchasing work to Mama Liang."

This job is lucrative, and the employers usually turn a blind eye, tacitly allowing the buyers to make a little extra money from it.

This is common knowledge that Mama Liang's family is not well-off, and everyone thinks that the lady of the house is helping Mama Liang.

"Actually, Mama Liang is a very upright person. It's a pity she married a bad man when she was young; she married a gambling addict who left her with a lot of debt," Doctor Cui continued. "Mama Liang isn't the kind of person who would skim off the top. The reason she agreed was because she could visit her daughter on her way out of the house."

"So that's how it is..." Yu Xing could sense that Doctor Cui, though seemingly unassuming, actually had a strong desire for gossip.

A knowing glint flashed in his eyes as he deliberately asked, "What's Mama Liang's husband's surname? Although he gambles, is he good to Mama Liang?"

Doctor Cui remarked with a sigh, "If I remember correctly, his surname is Liu."