Lu Dingfeng felt a stirring in his heart as images of being chased and accidentally entering Danxia Mountain flashed through his mind.
"I think this is the place. I remember Flame Mountain was very hot. I was on the mountaintop when someone knocked me off the cliff. I fell into a crevice and saw those two fire turtles."
Chu Tianjiao was overjoyed to hear this.
After entering the mountain, the terrain of Danxia Mountain became very steep. Chu Tianjiao ordered two female guards to watch the horses while she and the others continued on foot.
Halfway up the mountain, Chu Tianjiao's shoes were dyed red. She exclaimed excitedly, "Cinnabar?"
Chu Tianjiao recalled what Royal Physician Wang had said about the habits of fire turtles: "Born in places of fire poison, they feed on cinnabar." She was certain they had found the right place.
However, she wondered if after two hundred years, those two fire turtles were still there, or if they had any offspring.
Lu Dingfeng stood on the edge of a cliff, pondering, but he couldn't remember the exact path from back then.
Chu Tianjiao could only instruct her subordinates to search along the mountain, gradually moving upwards.
As they climbed higher, the temperature rose, and a layer of pink mist permeated the air, reducing visibility.
Lu Dingfeng shouted to Chu Tianjiao:
"It's here, no doubt! Back then, I couldn't see the path clearly and lost my footing, falling into a crevice."
Qingluan, standing nearby, asked Lu Dingfeng, "You've lived in the Marquis's mansion since childhood. When did you ever come here?"
Realizing his slip, Lu Dingfeng replied nonchalantly, "In a dream."
Qingluan had been feeling that there was something mysterious between Sangzhen and the young miss lately, but as a loyal maid, she didn't feel it was her place to ask too many questions.
"Sangzhen, I don't care if you talk nonsense, but don't mess up the young miss's important business."
Lu Dingfeng, not wanting to argue with Qingluan, stepped back to avoid her. Unexpectedly, his foot slipped, and with a cry of "Ah!", he plummeted downward.
Qingluan, who was closest to him, panicked and shouted, "Sangzhen, Sangzhen, are you still there?"
Hearing no response, Qingluan quickly reported to Chu Tianjiao.
Chu Tianjiao came over to look and was delighted: "There really is a crevice here."
She ordered Feng Jia to take out the rope they had brought along. After tying it to a tree, Chu Tianjiao prepared to descend using the rope.
Feng Jia stood in front of her: "Young Miss, let me go down first to scout the way."
Chu Tianjiao, who had been worried sick about Old Madam Chu's cold poison these past few days, was in no mood to wait any longer.
She tied one end of the rope around herself and began to rappel down the rock face.
The fire-red cliff face had layer upon layer of textures, providing good footholds.
Chu Tianjiao reached the bottom of the crevice unscathed, where she found Lu Dingfeng hanging from a pine tree.
After pulling Lu Dingfeng down from the tree, Chu Tianjiao pressed his philtrum, calling out to him:
"Wake up, Great-grandfather, wake up..."
Seeing that Lu Dingfeng had fallen unconscious and wouldn't wake, Chu Tianjiao had no choice but to lay him flat on the ground while she searched the bottom of the crevice.
In a cave, Chu Tianjiao found several pink eggs but saw no sign of the fire turtles.
"Could these be fire turtle eggs?"
Chu Tianjiao carefully placed the eggs into a jade box.
Just as she exited the cave, she saw a fire-red turtle the size of a millstone guarding Lu Dingfeng's side.
Lu Dingfeng had already awakened and was sitting on the ground, shivering.
"Little granddaughter-in-law, save me!"
Chu Tianjiao drew her Heavenly Crow Sword, remaining on full alert as she watched the fire turtle's movements.
"Little granddaughter-in-law, swords are useless! These fire turtles have incredibly hard shells. When they retreat into their shells, you can't stab them."
"I'll pretend to stab it, and when it retracts, you run."
"Little granddaughter-in-law, it won't work. There are two of them."
Only then did Chu Tianjiao notice that behind the pine tree Lu Dingfeng was leaning against, there was another fire turtle.
"Fire turtles don't eat people, right? Try standing up and walking."
"They may not eat people, but they can crush people to death."
Chu Tianjiao was at a loss. How could they capture such large fire turtles?
Judging by their size, these two were likely the same ones Lu Dingfeng had encountered two hundred years ago.
Before Chu Tianjiao could come up with a plan to capture the fire turtles, both of them turned and began moving towards her.
Pink mist spewed from the fire turtles' mouths, making Chu Tianjiao dizzy and disoriented.
"Fire poison!"
Chu Tianjiao immediately held her breath, but it was too late. She had already inhaled some of the mist.
Pulling out a silk handkerchief from her bosom to cover her nose and mouth, Chu Tianjiao launched a fierce attack against one of the turtles.
With a "clang," the Heavenly Crow Sword let out a crisp sound and bent slightly, nearly breaking.
The fire turtle's shell was indeed incredibly hard.
Just as she was at her wit's end, Feng Jia descended from above.
Feng Jia grabbed the rope with one hand and pulled Lu Dingfeng to the side with the other.
Seeing that more people had arrived, both fire turtles retracted their heads into their shells.
One by one, several more female guards came down, and together they managed to restrain the fire turtles with ropes.
Fortunately, these fire turtles were clumsy and couldn't actually breathe fire. Otherwise, Chu Tianjiao and her group would have had no way to deal with them.
Lu Dingfeng stepped forward, stroking the fire turtle's shell, and sighed, "We can be considered old acquaintances now."
Lu Dingfeng turned to Chu Tianjiao and pleaded, "Young Miss, these two fire turtles were born and raised here naturally, living freely for two hundred years. Do we really have to take them away?"
Chu Tianjiao had previously asked Royal Physician Wang, who said that to treat Old Madam Chu's cold poison, they only needed to use the fire turtle's blood in the medicine.
Looking at the two motionless fire turtles hiding in their shells, she inexplicably softened.
"Feng Jia, go to the turtle's feet and see if you can collect a bottle of blood from there."
Fortunately, these two fire turtles were large enough that Feng Jia only needed to make a small cut on each of their feet to collect a full bottle of blood.
Chu Tianjiao took out the jade box containing the fire turtle eggs from her bosom, kept only one, and returned most of the eggs to the cave.
She crouched down and spoke to the fire turtles hiding in their shells:
"I'm sorry. If it weren't for my grandmother's urgent illness, I wouldn't have taken your child, fearing that the turtle blood alone might not be enough."
"If Royal Physician Wang says we don't need the turtle egg, I will definitely keep it safe and return it when my grandmother recovers."
Chu Tianjiao didn't know if the two fire turtles could understand her. She ordered everyone to return the way they came, and before leaving, she cut the ropes binding the fire turtles with one stroke of her sword.
As soon as Chu Tianjiao returned to the Marquis of Liyang Mansion, she sent someone to summon Royal Physician Wang.
When Royal Physician Wang saw the bottle of fire turtle blood, he was ecstatic.
"Do fire turtles really exist in this world? Is this truly fire turtle blood? How did you find the fire turtles?"
Faced with Royal Physician Wang's barrage of questions, Chu Tianjiao simply smiled without answering.
She didn't want to reveal the whereabouts of those two fire turtles.
Royal Physician Wang took half of the fire turtle blood, saying he needed to take it back to develop an antidote for the cold poison.
After seeing Royal Physician Wang off, Old Madam Chu stroked Chu Tianjiao's head, praising her:
"My Jiao'er is still the most capable!"
Just as Chu Tianjiao was about to tell Old Madam Chu about Lu Zhaoling's matter, Old Madam Chu suddenly changed the subject and questioned:
"'Extensive study and steadfast purpose,' what's the next line?"
Chu Tianjiao looked bewildered and answered offhandedly: "'Spit out the seeds when eating melons, for benevolence lies therein'?"
Old Madam Chu slapped the back of Chu Tianjiao's head and scolded, "Did you memorize the Analects I told you to bring when you left?"
Chu Tianjiao pleaded with a pained expression: "Grandmother, there really wasn't time. I was busy dealing with Lu Zhaoling the whole way!"
Old Madam Chu stubbornly insisted: "I don't care. The assigned homework must be completed. If you haven't memorized the book, you'll have to eat extra pig brain!"
By dinnertime, Chu Tianjiao finally understood why Old Madam Chu was becoming increasingly obsessed with pig brain.
Her cousins fluently recited their daily lessons and were served fresh dishes.
She and Third Uncle, having failed to recite, were forced to eat a belly full of pig brain.
So it turned out that everyone was desperately memorizing their lessons because they couldn't stand eating pig brain anymore!
Chu Tianjiao secretly vowed that she definitely wouldn't eat pig brain again tomorrow.
After dinner, Second Master Chu and Chu Tianjiao stayed behind.
When Chu Tianjiao finished recounting her encounters with Lu Zhaoling along the way, Old Madam Chu scolded:
"Nonsense! Humiliating a prince like that, if this matter reaches the emperor's ears, even His Majesty won't spare you."
Chu Tianjiao rolled her eyes, "Grandmother, he even set off smoke bombs in my tent. Am I not allowed to retaliate at all?"
Old Madam Chu lectured Chu Tianjiao:
"If you want to teach him a lesson, you can wait until you're back in the city, put a sack over his head, and give him a good beating. Or you can strike when there are many people around. As long as you do it cleanly, others won't be able to find any evidence against you."
"But this time, it's just your people and the Fourth Prince's people going out. If anything happens to the Fourth Prince, it will all be on your head."
"Framing and humiliating a prince is a capital offense! Next time, please think about the consequences before you act."
...
After being scolded by Old Madam Chu, Chu Tianjiao also began to feel afraid.
Second Master Chu, Chu Ye, tried to mediate: "It won't come to that. The Fourth Prince probably wants to cover up this scandal even more than we do. However, niece's plan to use this incident to break off the engagement is likely to fail."
Chu Tianjiao let out a frustrated sigh.
This Lu Zhaoling was like a persistent ailment. As long as she couldn't break off the engagement with him, Chu Tianjiao would continue to feel miserable. It seemed she would have to think of another way.
