Tang Dynasty Puppet Doctor

Chapter 18 Drawing Heart
The news that Su Sanlang was cured quickly spread throughout the Su family's backyard, but this did not bring much joy to the Su family. Instead, this incident cast a shadow over the Su family.

Su Sanlang also became a mediocre person who was disliked by his father and despised by his mother.

"I heard that my uncle was desperate and tried all kinds of treatments, but couldn't find an imperial physician. So he brought that wild girl from the countryside over to treat my third brother. It would have been better if she hadn't treated him. But after the treatment, my third brother became stupid!"

"That's right! He was so frightened that he barely had his last breath left, and now he's been cured into a fool!"

"Hey, how did you guys cure it? Could it be some kind of sorcery? Did they suck out Third Brother's brain?"

"So when the third brother woke up and started talking about the beautiful young lady, he must have seen a monster!"

Several young ladies, unaware of the truth, gathered around the Jinli Pond and whispered to each other, which was overheard by the sharp-eared Ah Shu. Ah Shu was immediately furious and was about to argue with these young ladies, but was stopped by Murong Huan, and the two of them quietly returned to their own Ziteng Courtyard.

"Ah Huan, you have such a good temper! What right do they have to say that to you? You even cured Sanlangjun's illness, and not only do they not appreciate it, they even accuse you of witchcraft!"

"So what? Let them be so? People have mouths on their bodies, and we can't stop them from saying anything, but we can control what we think. Zhuangzi once said, 'Great sounds are silent, great images are invisible.' This tells us that truly wise people don't need to argue with those rumors, because the more you argue, the more they succeed. Not only will this fail to change their limited thoughts or make you feel comfortable, but it will give them more material to talk about you."

This is the same reason why summer insects cannot talk about ice."

Ah Shu nodded, then looked at Murong Huan with admiration and said, "Ah Huan, you are becoming more and more like that Taoist priest!"

The Taoist priest who taught Ah Huan in Taoyuan Village would always talk about some profound principles. Although I couldn't understand them, it really made me feel comfortable listening to them.

At this time, Murong Huan asked Ah Shu to get some writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstone, and grind ink for her to write.

Life in Zhuangzi's house was simple and boring; writing, painting, playing the flute and listening to puppet shows became his only pleasures in life.

But in the blink of an eye, Ah Shu discovered that Murong Huan was not painting the scenery of the mountain village or flowers, birds, insects and fish as before, but an extremely terrifying skull. Then, next to it, he gradually painted one beauties after another in fluttering white clothes, but the eyes of these beauties could never be painted in.

"Ah Huan, why did you draw this? It's too scary, isn't it?"

Murong Huan pondered for a moment and whispered, "They're not scary. They're all pitiful people! It's just that my painting skills aren't good enough. I can't fully restore their appearance when they were alive!"

"they?"

"Yes! They..." Murong Huan said, closed his eyes, and then pondered, "Master once said that it's hard to paint their hearts even though it's easy to paint their skin and bones. I must work hard to paint their hearts!"

After saying that, she rolled up the unfinished painting, spread out another piece of white paper, and began to paint quickly.

When she finished, Ah Shu exclaimed in surprise, "This is San Lang Jun! But why does Ah Huan draw San Lang Jun like this?"

Murong did not answer, but murmured in a deep voice: "In fact, this is also the current Su family!"

After saying this, he was about to put down his pen and looked up, only to see Su Qing standing outside the door.

"Hey, when did the Master come? Why didn't he call us?"

Ah Shu called out and quickly brought a small stool over for Su Qing to sit on.

Su Qing said: "No need!"

He walked up to Murong Huan and looked at the picture of Su Sanlang she had painted on a screen.

Su Qing stared at it for a long time, until Ah Shu thought he was about to be lost in the painting. Only then did he sigh, "I didn't expect Ah Huan's painting skills to be so good. Ah Huan, your uncle apologizes to you on behalf of the Su family. In the past eight years, the Su family has not given you a single care, yet you were able to put aside the past grudges and cure Sanlang's illness."

Murong Huan didn't answer, so Su Qing smiled and asked, "By the way, who did you learn this painting from?"

Ah Shu was about to answer when Murong Huan interrupted her, saying, "There's a down-and-out old man in Taoyuan Village who's good at painting and calligraphy. I learned some from him."

"Oh, what's the old man's last name?"

Su Qing asked again, but he heard Murong Huan reply: "I don't know!"

Su Qing had no choice but to suppress the doubts in his heart, and got back to the point, saying gratefully: "Ah Huan, from now on, if you have any requests, as long as it is something that your uncle can do, I will grant you your request!"

"Does that also include going to the Imperial College?"

Murong Huan turned around and looked at Su Qing and asked.

Su Qing pondered helplessly, then advised again, "Only this matter... Ah Huan, if you want to study, you can go to a girls' school. You don't have to go to the Imperial College. Or I can find a teacher to come to your home to teach you. What do you think?"

Murong Huan remained silent for a moment, her clear eyes staring at Su Qing in a way that made him feel uneasy. It wasn't clear how long it had been before she finally spoke, "My father didn't die of illness, nor did he commit suicide for love. Uncle, you should know that since I was very young, I've been traveling with my father and mother, without a fixed residence. I remember that we've been assassinated many times, many times... My mother was seriously injured protecting me and my father. Even after being stabbed several times, she still took her last breath and brought us back to the Su family."

But she acted as if nothing had happened until she died!"

Murong Huan said, put down the pen in his hand, and turned his gaze to Su Qing:

"After my mother passed away, my father was very sad, but I clearly remember him saying that he would teach me to read and write and raise me, so he definitely wouldn't have died for love."

"But unfortunately, I was still young at that time, and there are many things I can't remember!"

Su Qing felt a little sad after hearing this. He pondered for a while before saying, "Ah Huan, I know you feel wronged, but this matter is too complicated. Our Su family is weak now. You want to investigate your father's affairs, but we simply can't afford it."

After a pause, seeing that Murong Huan didn't seem to want to give up, he sighed and said, "If you want to know about your father, your uncle can tell you!"

He pondered for a moment before continuing:

"When your father was young, he was a talented scholar who loved poetry and wine. He was friends with famous scholars and talented people such as Wang Bo, Lu Zhaolin, and Luo Binwang. He was once a guest of honor of Prince Pei Li Xian. He was often invited by the Prince to exchange poetry and wine with other talented people and appreciate their poems. Later, he also annotated the "Book of the Later Han" with a group of talented people summoned by the Prince Pei. At that time, his talent was well-known in the capital.

Later, after Crown Prince Li Hong died of illness, Prince of Pei Li Xian became the crown prince. Li Xian has always been respectful to wise men and fond of literature, and can be called a wise king. During his time as crown prince regent, he was fair and strict in his dealings, and was deeply loved by the late emperor. However, his relationship with the Empress Dowager, who is also the current saint, became increasingly worse. Finally, he was suspected of treason because of the murder of the sorcerer Ming Chongyan, and was demoted to a commoner and imprisoned in Chang'an.

Wang Bo, once hailed as a child prodigy, was expelled from the Prince of Pei's Palace by the late Emperor simply because of his "Cockfighting Proclamation." His subsequent career has been full of setbacks. Your father, once a distinguished guest of the Prince of Pei's Palace, is bound to arouse the Empress's suspicion. Furthermore, cruel officials like Suo Yuanli and Qiu Shenji are adept at fabricating charges. If our Su family doesn't completely sever ties with the Crown Prince's faction, we will surely face genocide!"

After hearing this, Murong Huan finally understood and asked with a sneer:
"So, it was the Su family who gave up on my father and asked him to leave the Su family and travel outside, right?"

When Murong Huan asked this, Su Qing lowered his head again and sighed, "Originally, I wanted your father to marry into the Qiu family, but your father brought your mother back. If he had married a girl from the Qiu family earlier, maybe things wouldn't have turned out that way..."

When Su Qing said this, he saw Murong Huan's unhappy expression and finally stopped talking.

At this time, Murong Huan said, "Prince Zhanghuai Li Xian's rebellion came later, and Qiu married into the Su family first. So, there is no necessary connection between Qiu marrying into the Su family and Li Xian's rebellion, right?"

After Murong Huan finished speaking, Su Qing showed a surprised expression.

"How do you know that Prince Zhang Huai rebelled later and that Qiu married into the Su family first? Do you know in which year Prince Zhang Huai rebelled?"

Murong Huan did not answer. In fact, even she herself could not explain why she knew all this.

Maybe it's the influence of another soul in the body!

Unable to explain, Murong Huan simply changed the subject and asked, "Uncle, who is involved in my father's death? Do you know?"

Su Qing shook his head again and remained silent.

Seeing Murong Huan staring at him without saying a word, in order to ease the tense and awkward atmosphere, Su Qing cast his gaze on the painting on the screen again, but he saw that Su Sanlang in the painting was weak, frightened and helpless, and even his whole body was shrouded in shadow, making it impossible to see his face.

So he asked curiously, "Ah Huan, why did you draw Sanlang like this? And why did you say the Su family is the same?"

Murong Huan chuckled: "Timid, cowardly, fearful yet powerless, isn't that exactly what the Su family is like now?"

After a cold remark, he continued, "When I was treating Su Sanlang, I spied on his dreams. He had personally witnessed Zhou Jiulang torturing and killing several young girls. Now that Zhou Jiulang is dead, there's no guarantee that the people from the Dali Temple investigating the case won't come to question him. After all, he and Zhou Jiulang did have some grudges, right? Uncle?"

Before Murong Huan finished speaking, Su Qing's face changed drastically with horror.

"Spying into dreams?"

Do you have this ability?

Su Qinghun was almost scared to death, and his eyes were full of disbelief, but he had to admit that it was a fact that Sanlang and Zhou Jiulang had close contacts and had some minor conflicts.

"Ah Huan, how do you know so much?"

"I've already told you that I've used the hypnotic technique to spy on his dreams. He likes to talk in his sleep. If you just stay by his bedside for a night, you'll be able to figure out what he's saying."

"Oh!"

So this is ah!

Su Qing had just recovered from his uneasiness when he heard Murong Huan say, "If someone from the Dali Temple really comes, uncle, please introduce me to the Dali Temple and let me help investigate this case!"

(End of this chapter)