After disposing of the bodies, Wang Gang tossed Chu Wanli into the front courtyard and brought the two women to the rear courtyard, where Qingniao would arrange their lodgings.
Wang Gang went straight into the rear residence, reached the well by the flowers, and retched, throwing up!
He had killed! In the end, he had still killed!
The Doctrine of the Mean said: "What Heaven ordains is called nature; following one's nature is called the Way; cultivating the Way is called instruction."
As a disciple of Confucianism, he had always followed these words, grounding his conduct in the goodness of his nature.
Now, the feeling of taking the lives of his own kind met with an instinctive rejection, both physical and mental!
Presumably, he would grow used to it in time!
"Ah! Young master, how did you get hurt!"
Wang Gang wiped his mouth and entered the room. Yingge, who followed him in, cried out at the wound on his back, bringing a crowd of maids hurrying over.
"It's nothing, nothing!" Wang Gang waved his hands repeatedly. "Just a little wound. Some medicine will do!"
As he finished speaking, he saw Xueyan waiting quietly nearby with a medicine chest. He glanced at her, saw that she had not left today, and said nothing more about sending her away. Forcing himself to rally, he teased, "Move aside, all of you. Can't you see Divine Physician Xueyan is waiting to treat your young master?"
Seeing this, the maids giggled and teased Xueyan until her little face turned red. At the same time, they felt relieved: this meant the young master was no longer angry and would not send her away!
Wang Gang's wound was not large; Zhu Danchen's judge's brush had merely grazed him. Xueyan soon finished bandaging it, but she was still a little uneasy and whispered into his ear, "Young master, you won't send me away now, will you?"
Wang Gang laughed. "If I said I would now, would you swap my medicine for poison?"
The women laughed again. Xueyan ignored them and merely lowered her head to pack the medicine chest. Only after she had finished did she murmur, "I would not."
Meanwhile, in a side courtyard, Gan Baobao looked around the room and said, "Senior sister, are we really staying here? The people I saw here just now didn't seem to know martial arts. Why don't we run?"
Qin Hongmian had been thinking about something else. At her words, she replied offhandedly, "We've both lost our internal power. Could we get away?"
"Then what do we do? We have to think of something!" Gan Baobao said worriedly. "We attacked him today. I don't think he'll let us off!"
Qin Hongmian was worried too. After some thought, she said, "For now, we can only play along with him. We'll only have a chance once he lets his guard down!"
"Mm, that's an idea. We can use the opportunity to recover our internal power!" Gan Baobao looked thoughtful, then suddenly laughed. "You haven't fallen for Wang Gang, have you? Is that why you can't bear to leave?"
"Pah! Keep talking nonsense and I'll tear your mouth apart!" Qin Hongmian spat, then sneered. "Aren't you the one who's fallen for Wang Gang?"
"I have not!" Gan Baobao shook her head repeatedly, still shaken. "Didn't you see how he treated Li Qingluo today? Just putting myself in her shoes frightens me!"
"Hmph! That's because that bitch had no sense of propriety! She was already married, yet she kept carrying on with Chun... Duan Zhengchun! If I were Wang Gang, I'd have killed her with one stroke long ago!" Qin Hongmian's face was icy.
"Ah, when you think about it, Wang Gang is rather pitiful." Gan Baobao pointed at the room's furnishings. "Look, he comes from a good family, he's handsome, and his martial arts are excellent. How did he end up with someone like that?"
"If he's so wonderful, why don't you kill Li Qingluo and marry him yourself?"
"I don't want to! You're the one who wants to kill her, yet you're trying to order me to do it. She didn't steal my man!" Ignoring Qin Hongmian's hostile gaze, Gan Baobao continued, "Say, do you think what Wang Gang said about Dao Baifeng was true?"
"Shut up and go to sleep!"
The next day, the sun was already high before the two women got out of bed. After washing, they exchanged a glance, reminding each other to follow the plan.
They had barely stepped outside when they encountered Qingniao.
"You ladies haven't had breakfast yet, have you? It's already prepared!"
Qingniao invited them into the dining hall. The table was covered with dishes, each exquisitely and ingeniously made. Both women had studied martial arts with their master in the mountains since childhood; having never seen such things, they could not help marveling.
Qingniao spoke at just the right moment. "Our young master ordered all of this. For two ladies as beautiful as heavenly immortals, surely only food like this would be fit to eat."
Qin Hongmian said calmly, "We aren't particular about food and drink. In future..."
Before she could finish, Gan Baobao had already picked up a rabbit-shaped bun and started eating. "Oh, this doesn't just look pretty, it tastes good too!"
Qingniao smiled. "Our young master has also devised stir-fried dishes. In a few days, we'll have the cook from town come over, so you can try something different too, young lady."
"Wouldn't that be too much trouble?" Gan Baobao finished the rabbit and picked up a panda-shaped one to examine.
"No trouble at all, so long as you like it, my lady!"
"Mm-hmm..." Gan Baobao nodded repeatedly.
"Baobao!" Qin Hongmian snapped, her gaze stern.
"Oh!" Gan Baobao became timid again.
"Please enjoy your meal!" With that, Qingniao left. Before stepping out, she glanced back at them. Knowing the young master, how would he ever think of any of this? He still needs me to help him!
With the outsider gone, Gan Baobao relaxed again, praising the food as she ate. Though Qin Hongmian said nothing, she too found it to her taste and unconsciously ate more than usual.
"Oh, we actually finished all of it!" Gan Baobao exclaimed in surprise. "Won't people laugh at us?"
Qin Hongmian felt a little embarrassed too. After thinking it over, she said, "Doesn't that just show how good their cook is?"
"Mm, right!"
In fact, though the dishes seemed to cover the table, each portion was small. Both women practiced martial arts and had larger appetites than ordinary people, so naturally they could finish everything.
Afterward, the two wandered around, looking at the water here and the hills there. They did not avoid the men either, strolling through every courtyard and making the young servants blush scarlet. Knowing these were the young master's women and that they could not look at them directly, the servants stole glances from the corners of their eyes.
After a sumptuous lunch at noon, the two women continued exploring the gardens. There was nothing else to do: the maids here were very polite to them, but also distant. With no other activities, they could only amuse themselves.
Wang Gang did not return until evening. Gan Baobao immediately went up to him and asked, "Where did you go?"
Wang Gang paused. This sounded rather like a wife questioning a husband who had just come home. Gan Baobao seemed to realize it too, and her pretty face reddened as she explained, "I mean, your home is too boring. What did you go to the estate for? Was it fun?"
"You're my captives! Stop thinking about having fun!" Wang Gang casually handed her the cloak he had taken off and said as he walked, "I built a distillery on the estate. There were a few things they didn't understand, so I went to explain."
"A distillery? For making liquor? Does it taste good?" Gan Baobao held the cloak, her face full of excitement.
"Not bad. We'll be selling it in town later."
"Qingniao said you wanted to find a livelihood for the estate's households. Is this it?"
Wang Gang nodded, went inside, and sat down. "Half the profits from the liquor will go to the estate's households."
"Oh, you're actually quite nice!"
"This is an experiment. I want to see what level productivity can reach with sufficient incentives!"
"What does that mean?" Gan Baobao looked bewildered. Turning her head, she found everyone looking at her. She glanced down and realized she was still holding Wang Gang's cloak. Her face and ears burned, and she flung it away as though she were holding a brazier of charcoal.
Xueyan picked up the cloak and folded it carefully. Glancing at Gan Baobao, she silently marked her as a formidable enemy.
"Young master, what would you like for dinner?" Yingge asked.
Wang Gang considered it. "Nothing too troublesome. Let's have a barbecue!"
"All right!" Yingge cheered and turned to run off to inform the kitchen.
Before long, several charcoal braziers were placed on the table, along with fish, meat, shrimp, crab-everything one could want.
Wang Gang tried a bite. Seeing that Qin Hongmian and Gan Baobao had not touched anything, he asked in surprise, "Why aren't you eating? Don't you like any of it?"
Qin Hongmian's face was dark, her eyes glinting coldly. "This has been drugged!"