Chapter86: Constant Vigilance Part 2
Li Xiaoran had ordered that no onespeak of that night’s incident, but among the servants, a rumor startedspreading that Da Furen was seriously ill, due to fright from the spiritshaunting her courtyard. Originally, this type of supernatural explanation wouldbe fodder for much gossip, and would also be a perfect cover-up for the truth.With so many Yatous and Mamas around, those who knew the truth did not dare tospeak out, and those who didn’t know had to make blind guesses, adding fuel tothe fire.
When Li Min De told Li Weiyangabout this, she was feeding her pet birds. She turned around to look at him.“What? They’re saying that Da Furen has been possessed?”
“Yes, they’re saying that Da Bomuis constantly paranoid, hiding in her rooms every day and refusing to comeout.” Li Min De did not know to laugh or cry, returning Li Weiyang’s gaze. “Shehas been talking to herself, requesting for a priest to perform exorcism. Sherefused to see the physician when he came. I bet she’s inches away frominsanity, and if she really is crazy, she’ll be a perfect companion for Wujie.But honestly, she is already considered blessed; with all that had happened,she still managed to escape death.”
Li Weiyang smiled. “Fuqin and LaoFuren would not let her die just like that; if she suddenly died, how is Fuqinsupposed to deal with the Jiang Family when they come to our door, demandingfor an explaination? So they’ll hire a physician to take care of her; she’lllive well, take her medications and rest, but when it’s her turn to die, it’llbe her release.”
Li Min De understood the hiddenmeaning in a flash, and he suppressed a smile. “Sanjie, you understand Da BoFu’s thinking the best.”
If you have spent half of your lifestudying someone, you would definitely understand, but Li Weiyang did not speakout her thoughts. She not only understood Li Xiaoran, but Da Furen as well. Shewas stubborn and competitive, with an enormous flaw; she loved to be incontrol. Da Furen wanted to have everyone playing in the palm of her hand, andif anybody fought against her will, she would not hesitate to crush the person.Her overbearing nature was exactly why so many people had died in the LiResidence. In truth, Da Furen was of noble birth, with a strong family backingher up. If she had behaved like a proper matriarch should, she wouldn’t have tosuffer as she did now; because the other sons any concubine would have hadcould not threaten her position in the family, but she chose to be such atyrant! Li Xiaoran was indeed hurt badly by Da Furen this time, and if not forthe Jiangs, she wouldn’t have survived.
So Li Weiyang only smiled as a formof reply, not saying a word.
Li Min De just opened his mouth,but caught sight of Bai Zhi hurrying in. She curtseyed. “Xiaojie, Wei Guo Furenis here for a visit.”
Wei Guo Furen? Li Weiyang archedher brows; she wouldn’t have bothered to visit if she hadn’t heard rumors. Shethought for a moment. “Lao Furen will deal with her, no need to worry.”
The moment Wei Guo Furen arrived,she made for Da Furen’s courtyard hurriedly, but was blocked by the guards atthe door. Furious, she rushed to He Xiang Yuan, where Lao Furen insisted thather daughter-in-law was resting and recuperating. Wei Guo Furen refused to giveup, pestering Lao Furen to allow her to visit.
With Lao Furen ignoring her pleas, WeiGuo Furen was helpless and could only leave. However, she wasn’t one to give upso easily. She returned every other day to kick up a fuss, demanding to see DaFuren.
Today, Li Weiyang was in He XiangYuan, serving Lao Furen her medicine when they heard Wei Guo Furen arriving.
Losing her appetite, Lao Furenslammed the bowl heavily on the table. “Hng, why is she here again.”
“Lao Furen, don’t worry. Since WeiGuo Furen wants to visit Muqin, we’ll just have to allow her to. It’ll befine.” Li Weiyang answered with a smile.
“If she sees how that woman is likenow, she’ll definitely accuse the Li Family of mistreating her oldersister! Not only should we keep her from seeing her, but not a whisper ofgossip should escape!”
“We can’t keep it a secret forlong, so rather than being so stubborn, we’ll let her see for herself. However,we can decide what we want her to see.”
Lao Furen froze for a minute,lifting her head to study Li Weiyang. She thought deeply for moments andfinally smiled, praising Weiyang. “Your mind is quick and sharp. Okay, you’llmake the arrangements.”
Wei Guo Furen waited outside for afull 2 hours before she saw Li Weiyang coming out with an apologetic smile. “Yimu.”
“Who is your Yimu!” Wei Guo Furen’sface darkened.
Not a trace of unhappiness showedon Li Weiyang’s face; on the contrary, she smiled even more warmly. “Yimu ishere to visit Muqin right? Aiya, what a bad timing. Muqin isn’t feeling well,she hasn’t been receiving visitors of late.”
“Don’t act in front of me, becareful of what I’ll do if you try to stop me from seeing my Dajie…” Wei GuoFuren started to rage, but Li Weiyang stopped her mid-sentence with a smile.“Yimu, since you insist, we won’t stop you, so please follow me.”
Wei Guo Furen was stunned,immediately assuming that she had scared Li Weiyang. She gave a cool hmph, andinstructed her companions to follow.
Gao Min was extremely displeased.“Muqin, how could you listen to this Xiao Yatou?!”
Wei Guo Furen whispered back in alow voice. “We’ll see your Da Bomu first, at least we’ll have some evidence tobring back to Guo Gong Residence.”
Gao Min nodded. “Yes, Muqin.” Justby looking at Li Weiyang, she felt irritated, so much that even the entire LiResidence annoyed her.
As they stepped into Fu Rui Yuan, LiWeiyang paused. “Yimu, please go in first.”
With a proud tilt of her head, WeiGuo Furen strode to the front as the Yatous opened the doors. She was the firstone through.
The moment she walked into thecourtyard, Wei Guo Furen did not even have a minute to take in hersurroundings. Two coils of rope flew towards her on the left and right sides,with a soft ‘sou’ sound, wrapping her. She saw two little priests chanting andwalking in a staggered formation in front of her; they were the ones whorendered her immobile.
Wei Guo Furen was furious. “Youdamn dogs, what are you doing! Li Weiyang, what is going on here!”
Gao Min quickly ran over, seeingthat there was an altar set up in the middle of the courtyard, with an olderpriest behind it, eyes half-lidded and chanting loudly. He was waving a bell inone hand, and making strange gestures with another hand in front of his chest.
“What are you guys doing! Let go ofmy Muqin!” Gao Min screamed.
The priest slammed down the bell onthe altar and his eyes flew open. His two disciples gave the ropes a tugin the opposite direction, tightening the binds and leaving Wei Guo Furen withnowhere to hide, uncomfortably bound. Her voice was pierced with fear. “Quick,somebody save me! Someone!”
However, Zhaoyue had blocked theway of the Yatous and Mamas, so other than Wei Guo Furen and her daughter, noone was able to enter the courtyard.
Li Weiyang stepped through the doorand gestured gently; the priest came forward, brandishing a wooden sword infront of Wei Guo Furen, chanting. “Swift judgement from the heavens, TaishangLaojun knows my intent, all demons and spirits begone!” As he chanted, he pickedup the brazier on the altar and burnt the yellow talisman, afterwards swingingthe brazier in front of Wei Guo Furen. He shouted loudly, “Demons and ghosts,dissipate!”
In a moment, a whole brazier fullof incense ash was hurled at Wei Guo Furen.
“Get away from me!” Wei Guo Furenscreamed ungracefully, but she was unable to avoid it. Ash covered her fromhead to toe.
Gao Min leaped over, smacking thelittle disciples. However, they were still men; she missed a step and fell ontothe floor, looking especially pathetic.
“All demons, reveal yourself!” Heshouted again, grabbing the bowl of chicken blood on the altar and splashing itacross.
Gao Min was caught unaware and gotdrenched in it. She had never been so humiliated before, and was hopping mad.She jumped up and gave one of the disciples a tight slap. “How dare you!”
Wei Guo Furen shouted, “What areyou all doing? This is too much! The servants outside, are you all dead ordying, quickly come in and save me!”
In a moment, Wei Guo Furen and herdaughter were covered in chicken blood and incense ash, totally losing theirglamour and poise as Furen and Xiaojie. In their current state, they were worseoff than crazy women in the streets. Wei Guo Furen’s screams had alreadypierced through the roofs, alerting everyone else in the house. With a wave of LiWeiyang’s hands, Zhaoyue deftly stepped aside, letting those Yatous and Mamasrush inside. Upon seeing such a scene, they wanted to laugh, but did not dareto; they could only rush forwards to push away the two disciples, saving WeiGuo Furen.
Gao Min broke into wailing sobs. “LiWeiyang, you damnable slut, you’ve landed us in this mess… how embarrassing!”
Li Weiyang walked in. “Aiya, what’sgoing on here?! Cui Mama, Cui Mama!”
Cui Mama was a servant sent by LaoFuren to watch over Da Furen, and she was strict beyond belief. She knewbeforehand about Wei Guo Furen’s visit, and had arranged everything accordingto San Xiaojie’s instructions. Hearing Li Weiyang call for her, she hurriedlyput on a panicked expression as she exited the house. “Xianzhu.”
Li Weiyang pointed towards Wei GuoFuren. “Yimu is here to visit Muqin. What are you all doing, why didn’t youmention earlier that you’ve invited priests to perform rites.”
Cui Mama quickly apologized. “Ididn’t know Wei Guo Furen was here, it is Laonu’s fault. Just that… this priestwas invited over at Da Furen’s instructions.”
“That is utter nonsense! My Dajiehas never believed in such hocus pocus!” Wei Guo Furen raged.
Li Weiyang sighed deeply. “At thismoment, if you want to know how serious Muqin’s illness is, seeing with yourown eyes and hearing with your own ears is the best. Yimu, please step in andtake a look at Muqin, and if you can, persuade her to recuperate properly.”
Wei Guo Furen was filled with fury,and couldn’t care less about her appearance. She stormed into the house withoutany hesitation.
In the inner chambers, heavycurtains were hanging from the windows, letting only a little light into thedim room. Da Furen lay on the bed, motionless. As Wei Guo Furen walked up, shesaw that Da Furen’s cheeks were like sunken pits, her eyes bruised blue-blackwith fatigue, and her sculpted high cheekbones jutting sharply; she was acomplete shadow of her proud and wealthy self.
Wei Guo Furen knitted her browssecretly, how did she become like this.
Da Furen was in a deep sleep, so CuiMama hurried in in front of Wei Guo Furen to the foot of Da Furen’s bed.“Furen, Wei Guo Furen is here, please wake up.”
As Lao Furen had rejected her somany times, Wei Guo Furen already had her doubts, suspecting that Da Furen hadbeen grounded by them. Seeing how Da Furen was sleeping in the middle of theday, and looking so sickly, she couldn’t help but frown. “Dajie!”
Da Furen jolted awake, rubbing hereyes and sitting up suddenly. Her blurry eyes scanned Wei Guo Furen for amoment, as if not recognizing her.
“Dajie!” Wei Guo Furen steppedforward quickly.
Da Furen fixed her stare onto WeiGuo Furen, brushing her away and flailing madly with both hands.
“Don’t look for me, don’t look forme, this is not my fault, I was forced to do it. It’s all your own misfortune…Wu Yiniang please let me off, I had no other choice. I have regretted it, I’ll performrites for you, I will make it up to you…”
Da Furen started off murmuring, butsuddenly kept pleading.
Wei Guo Furen was completelyshocked that she did not recognize her.
She was covered in blood; ofcourse Da Furen couldn’t recognize her. Cui Mama reminded her. “Wei Guo Furen,perhaps you should clean up first, in case you alarm Da Furen.”
“What do you mean alarm her, areyou saying that I look scary?!” Wei Guo Furen was enraged.
Li Weiyang hid her smile, watchingfrom the sides.
Wei Guo Furen grabbed Da Furen’sarm. “Dajie, did you order those people to do rites just now?”
“Rites? Yes, yes it was me…” DaFuren seemed to have realized something, muttering under her breath. Shenervously clutched at Wei Guo Furen. “Was the ghost caught?”
“What ghost?” Wei Guo Furen wasdisturbed and shocked.Normal0falsefalsefalseEN-SGZH-CNX-NONE /* Style Definitions */table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:0in; mso-para-margin-left:11.35pt; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-indent:-11.35pt; line-height:150%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; 12.0pt; "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language:EN-SG;}
“This courtyard is haunted! Youdon’t know, but every night a ghoul will crawl out to haunt people; longtongue, blood red eyes, dark hair and wearing white, it is Wu Yiniang! She hascome to demand my life! It must be her… or no, it might also be San Furen. Yes,it is them for sure!” Da Furen quipped mysteriously.
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Translator: Jaslynn
Editor: Panisa (In Progress)
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