Chapter 18
He lied on the bed and rubbed Wu Ruo's stomach, then sent a trace of spiritual power into his body.
Wu Ruo kind of sensed it was Hei Xuanyi but he chose not to check, otherwise he might not fall asleep like last night.
When he woke up, no one was there beside him. It was cold under the quilt. And there were two black silver bracelets on the pillow.
Out of curiosity, Wu Ruo picked it up and observed the runes on the surface of the bracelets. With extra exploration, he found that the runes could hide spiritual power.
If he didn't get it wrong, the bracelets were gifts for him. As long as he wore them, his grandfather Wu Bufang wouldn't be able to sense spiritual power from him.
Wu Ruo hesitated but didn't wear them. He had to confirm with Hei Xuanyi first. Otherwise, it would be embarra.s.sed for both of them if he got it wrong.
He sent s.h.i.+yuan in to wait on him to fresh up and get dressed, and help him walk to the hall for breakfast. However, Hei Xuanyi wasn't there.
Wu Ruo asked Hei Xin, "where is Hei Xuanyi?"
"He was out of town last night. He asked me to give you a message that he will come back in five days." Said Hei Xin.
"Out of town? Did he say whereabout?" Wu Ruo frowned.
In last life, when he woke up, Hei Xuan had been still at home. Although he hadn't wanted to see him, Hei Xuanyi had come to stop by once a while. Once he was startled to death by Hei Xuanyi's fish-scale face.
But why was he out of town in this life?
"He didn't."
A lot of things had changed since Wu Ruo was reborn. Taking Hei Xuanyi off his mind, Wu Ruo wore the bracelets after breakfast and said to Hei Xin, "I will go back to Wu family and stay there for a few days. If Hei Xuanyi comes back, let me know."
"Yes."
Hei Xin escorted Wu Ruo out.
As Wu Ruo was worried that the low-level corpse servants might bring troubles to him, he only brought s.h.i.+jiu with him when he went back to Wu family.
When they made it to Wu family, the carriage stopped right at the south gate of the house.
The doormen were surprised to see Wu Ruo.
In the past, Wu Ruo had come in and out from the side door. Even on the first-visit day after his wedding, he also chose the side door. If he had had gone for the front door, he would have run into so many people that would have looked down upon and laughed at him. Given time, he had become fragile. But he was a different person this life.
Regardless of how people looked at him, Wu Ruo asked s.h.i.+you and s.h.i.+jiu to help him walk from the south gate, ignoring all gossips and mocks.
There were more than more than 1,500 courtyards in Wu family, located in the east, south, west and north.
When Wu Bufang, the head of Wu family and his father Wu Chenzhan moved out from the direct Wu Clan, they settled in Gaoling city. Thanks to their power and ability, soon they gained a fame and established a branch of Wu family. As the family grew, the house got expanded. Finally, it was as big as it was now. Wu Bufang later married Yao Shuyuan, the daughter of Master Yao's second son from the imperial city, and later had four sons and two daughters, Wu Xuanyu, Wu Xuanran, Wu Xuanjun, Wu Xuanyu and Wu Xuanmeng, and Wu Xuanyin. Wu Xuanran was Wu Ruo's grandfather.
Wu Xuanran married Mu Xiuwan, the first daughter of the Mu family in Yinluo City, and gave birth to five son and one daughter. Wu Bufang arranged them to move to the courtyard in south. Later, Wu Xuanran separated the south courtyard into six small courtyards when his sons got married, which were Xuanwan, Shujing, Shuli, Shuqing, Shubin and Shutong Yard. Wu Xuanyi and his wife lived in Xuanyuan Yard and arranged the rest five for his five sons.
Wu family was a large family by population. It was also a difficult environment to survive.
Those who couldn't be able to be recorded in the family tree would be not admitted as a member of Wu family and would be expelled from the family, never allowed to set a foot in the house again.
Wu Ruo's generation was given a middle name of "An". There hadn't been many young generations who had been given the middle name because most of them were not 20 years old yet, meaning they were not allowed to go out for practice. Those over 20 years old who had gone outside for practice hadn't come back yet. Therefore, so far in the entire south courtyard, only Wu Anqi, Wu Ruo's eldest uncle Wu Qianjing's first son, and Wu Anyi, Wu Ruo's second uncle Wu Qianli's first son, had been given the middle name.
"Ruo, why are you coming me?" Guan Tong hurried out to help her son as soon as she heard that Wu Ruo came back.
Wu Ruo was happy to see his mother.
He lowered his voice, "this morning, Hei…Ahem…Xuanyi gave me a prescription for father. So, I tried my best to finish my breakfast as soon as possible and bring it here."
In fact, it was him who wrote the prescription yesterday. Because they still needed a lot of expensive medicinal materials, he took the prescription here so that his parents could collect all the medicinal materials with him.
Guan Tong was relieved, "that's a relief. I was worried that you might have a problem in Hei family."
"Where is father?" asked Wu Ruo.
"He is in his study."
"Let's go find him."
"Good."
Guan Tong helped him into the backyard.
In the study, Wu Qianqing was practicing writing. He was particularly happy to see his youngest son. For somehow, he a.s.sumed the reason why his son came back. Therefore, he dismissed all the servants to guard the door outside.
Guan Tong left the study to prepare tea and cakes for them.
Wu Ruo explained why he came and gave the prescription to Wu Qianqing, "father, we need to find the medicine as soon as possible so that your body can soak into the herbs for 49 days. By then, you will be possibly recovered. If we fail, we still have time to try different ways."
He didn't want to get hopes too high in case that his father might get disappointed eventually. However, he and his master s.h.i.+fu once had studied how to cure his father in last life and there were 70% chance to cure his father. "Some of the medicines are really hard to find. Even if we find them, we might not be able to get them."
"Let me have a look." Wu Qian too over the prescription and read it, "we have everything on the prescription."
"Everything?" Wu Ruo was surprised, "do you have so many precious medicinal herbs? How do I have no idea?"
"Remind you. Xuanyi sent a big pile of precious herbs the day before yesterday." Wu Qianqing smiled, "he is a very nice man to send us so many expensive herbs when he heard that my power is ruined. Some of the herbs are too rare to buy."
"…" Wu Ruo had a complicated feeling. He couldn't understand why Hei Xuanyi treated him so well. Was it just because he was his wife?
Soon he denied the answer.
He didn't mean to suspect him. After all the things he had been through in last life, he just couldn't believe that people would treat him and his family for nothing, for no reason. He already confessed with Hei Xuanyi on purpose because he needed his help.
Wu Qianqing put away the prescription and said seriously, "Ruo, since you have been married for a few days, have you learned Hei Xuanyi's background? Do you know what makes him send so may rare herbs and materials at once?"
Even some great families in the imperial capital couldn't afford so many expensive gifts. His son-in-law was not easy at all.
Wu Ruo frowned.
He had lived with Hei Xuanyi for over a decade in last life. What he learned was that Hei Xuanyi was from Death Spirit clan. It was said that Death Spirit clan was not located in the country. But he had no idea of where.
Come to think of it, he knew nothing about Hei Xuanyi.
It made sense. Because he tried to avoid mentioning Hei Xuanyi as much as possible. He refused to listen or talk anything about Hei Xuanyi. Where Hei Xuanyi came from or who he really was absolutely was none of his business.
Wu Qianqing sighed as Wu Ruo couldn't answer, "never mind. Since you and him got married, you are a couple on the same side. You have to take his side no matter who he is. The head of the clan arranged the marriage for you. No one dares to deny it."
He didn't know Hei Xuanyi's family. Nor did his grandfather Wu Bufang. He had a concern that one day in the future if Hei Xuanyi was on the opposite side of Wu family, his son might be put in a difficult situation.
Wu Ruo sneered in mind. Wu family had even killed his parents. How could they possibly care whom he was married?
He changed the subject, "father, brother is going to turn 20 years old in 3 months. By then, he will be old enough to go out for practice. You'd better start to prepare as many as weapons for him. It is dangerous outside. We can't rest a.s.sured if he doesn't have many weapons with him."
"I will prepare some." Wu Qianqing nodded.
Wu Ruo narrowed his eyes, "but uncle has borrowed our weapons for quite a few months."
Wu Qianqing looked shocked and thoughtful.
At the moment, Guan Tong came in with tea.
At the sight of her, Wu Ruo thought of Longevity Slab, "father, it is still early. You'd better go collect all the herbs."
"Good idea." Wu Qianqing left the study.
"Have you finished talking?" asked Guan Tong.
After Wu Ruo made sure that no one was eavesdropping, he sat his mother, "mother, I got grandpa's wedding gift."
Guan Tong was shocked and finally understood who his grandpa was. She stood up excitedly, "he came to you?"
Wu Ruo shook his head, "no. but he sent someone to give the gift."
"What is the gift?" Guan Tong asked anxiously, holding his hands.
"A Longevity Slab." Said Wu Ruo while he was also reading her expression.
"Longevity Slab?" Guan Tong was surprised, "why Longevity Slab?"
"Because it seals my spiritual power."
"Huh?"
"Mother, you don't know it?" Wu Ruo raised his eyebrows.