Chapter - 136 Junior Buhui Crossed My Wall (4) (1/2)

Ji Xiaofu and Zhang Wuji looked at each other, feeling exasperated and tickled at the same time. After all, this couple was so eccentric in their ways that it would probably be very difficult to find another pair like them. It was not really a big deal that Hu Qingniu loved his wife so much that he gradually became fearful of her, but it was unimaginable that Wang Nangu would be so eager to put her husband down that she ended up poisoning herself to prove her point.

”Think about it,” said Hu Qingniu. ”What other alternatives do I have? If I succeed in healing her, I would just be declaring that my skills are better than hers. She will be very upset. But if I fail, she will die! Sigh! I wish the Old Woman of the Golden Flower would appear soon and kill me with a stroke of her walking stick. Then, Nangu would no longer have to fret over me. Furthermore, her skills have advanced so much in recent years that I cannot figure out what poison she has ingested. So I

do not even know where and how to start treating her.”

”Sir, can you really not tell what poison Shimu has taken?” asked Zhang Wuji.

”Your Shimu's skills have reached the point of perfection in recent years,” answered the physician. ”So I am likely to fail in my attempts to heal her. She has probably ingested a deadly poison made from three pests and three weeds, but I do not have a single clue as to how these six ingredients are combined.” As he spoke, he used the index finger of his right hand to write a prescription on the surface of the table. Then, he waved a hand and said, ”Please go out. If Nangu dies, I will not carry on living alone.”

”Please take care of yourself and do encourage Shimu with kind words,” said Ji Xiaofu and Zhang Wuji in unison.

”What should I say to encourage her?” Hu Qingniu retorted in frustration. ”It is all my fault!” He burst into loud sobs after that, prompting Ji Xiaofu and Zhang Wuji to leave the room at once.

With the two outsiders gone, Hu Qingniu struck several acupoints on his wife's back and waist. Then, he said, ” Shimei, your husband is useless, for he is really unable to heal the poison wrought by the three pests and the three weeds. The only alternative left is to follow you in death, so that we can still be husband-and-wife in the afterlife.” He put a hand into Wang Nangu's pocket and pulled a few small packets out. Opening one of these packets, he found that it contained a multi-coloured mixture of powders that were obtained from the grinding of three pests and three weeds.

Although Wang Nangu could not move, she could still speak. So, she said, ” Shige, please … do not take the poison … ” But Hu Qingniu turned a deaf ear to her pleas and poured the powder into his mouth. Mixing it with his saliva, he proceeded to swallow the poison.

”How can you take such a large dose at once?” cried Wang Nangu in shock. ”That was enough to kill three people!”

Hu Qingniu smiled wanly and sat down on a chair beside the bed where his wife lay. Just then, he felt as if a million knives were slicing through his stomach. This was the work of the Gelsemium elegans (duan chang cao / duan4 chang2 cao3), the first of the six ingredients to take effect. The remaining two weeds and three pests would soon follow.

” Shige, there is a way to cure the poison,” cried Wang Nangu.

”No … I … I do not believe … I … I am dying …,” Hu Qingniu replied as his body shook and his teeth chattered. ”Take a combination of the Pill of Bezoar and Daemonorops-draco, and the Powder of 'Yulong-Suhe' quickly,” said Wang Nangu again. ”Then, use acupuncture to dissipate the poison.”