Chapter 305 The dust had settled
Madam Luo hurriedly pulled He Danggui out and said, “This is my granddaughter. Last night, she hung out a Broom Woman for Fine Days that my husband, who has been dead, taught her to make. The rain stopped suddenly. However, she did not save the fire.” Madam Luo turned her head to look at He Danggui.
He Danggui had to admit, “I did. After I was entrusted by my grandfather in the dream, I came to the ancestral hall, where I saw Second Sister setting fire on something. I called her to stop, but she seemed to be unable to hear nor see me. However, the thing that was buried by her did not catch fire at all. There was only thick smoke there. It went up strangely. Later, with a lot of effort, I managed to draw her away before I watered out the smoke. Then, you and everyone arrived at the ancestral hall and caught her. However, she blamed it on me when she became sober. Madam, I didn’t set the fire.”
The smoke last night was a trap for Luo Baiqiong. However, after seeing the fate of Sun Meiniang, she was persuaded by Meng Ying to “become a good woman.” She asked herself if she overdid it. Luo Baiqiong in this life had not set the poisonous snake for now. Should Luo Baiqiong bear the name of burning the ancestral hall and disturbing the ancestors’ spirits? After such a hesitation, she wanted to stop her vengeance.
The strange thing was how Bai Yangbai learned about these things and revealed them all. The flame of her revenge was almost extinguished, but Bai Yangbai added fuel to the fire. Maybe it was destiny that Luo Baiqiong was going to fall from the position of Second Miss of Luo’s Family. In other words, since Sun Meiniang’s reputation was ruined, even Luo Baiqiong’s birth was suspicious now.
Those wooden plaques in the dolls were sewed by her, but the four small coffins under the threshold were not her masterpieces. It looked like the remnants of the four unborn babies, but why were they buried here? How did Bai Yangbai know that? Did he come here to help sharpen her butcher knife?
He Danggui looked at the two people. The four bright and smiling eyes aimed at her together and then blinked at the same time.
“Since my granddaughter can save us, shall we worry about anything else? The whole Yangzhou City was affected by natural disasters except for our family. Is it a good thing or a bad thing?”
Hearing this, He Danggui grabbed the opportunity to defend herself, “Last night, Miss Ling, who was dressed in a beggar’s clothes and Second Sister’s cloak, is not familiar with me. In fact, she was closer to Second Sister and Fourth Sister. So, what she said last night that I asked her about He’s Family in the capital was out of thin air. When she was studying at Chengxu Academy, she ran away from home. When she ran out of money, she went to Luo’s Family to borrow money from Second Sister. Somehow, Miss Ling is once again a beggar. I guess she must have been paid to lie. Plenty of my classmates can prove that Miss Ling is a famous liar.”
“What about the dead mouses in the ancestral grave?” Madam Luo asked, “Why did you admit that?”
He Danggui smiled and said, “Madam, you are wrong again. They are golden mink in the guard matrix taught by my grandfather. The golden mink implied the golden immortal protectors. Didn’t you witness its effectiveness? Other families’ tombs have all collapsed. I have never done anything that is not good for the family. You know it.”
That was right. Madam Luo suddenly remembered that He Danggui had turned in all lifesaving jujubes. If she really wanted to join He’s Family, why didn’t she give the jujubes to He’s Family? Besides, in recent years, among the juniors in the family, she was the most caring and filial one.
Miss Ji also emphatically said, “Yes, that’s true! I didn’t expect it to be the credit of her. This matrix is amazing!”
Madam Luo reassured, “Good girl, you helped our family guard the ancestral tomb. It is a great achievement, and I will reward you later.” She then added, “I made you wronged last night.”
He Danggui said, “I just did what I should do.”
Madam Luo nodded with satisfaction and asked the two people, “My ancestors’ spirits are still there. They entrusted my granddaughter in her dreams and blessed our ancestral hall. Can you remove the evil matrix in it? I will give you a high reward.” Madam Luo was not afraid of spending money. She was afraid that the problem couldn’t be solved with money.
Bai Yangbai No.1 shook his head and said, “Too late! It has been activated and something bad will happen to your family soon!” Madam Luo froze.
At the time, someone came to report in panic, “Madam! Fourth Miss’s Xi Hua Ge was suddenly on fire and now it is in a mess. The cause is still unknown!”
Madam Luo’s expression was even more alarmed. She quickly looked at Bai Yangbai and asked, “What should I do now?”
Bai Yangbai No. 2 whistled and looked at the sky. Bai Yangbai No. 1 said shamelessly while picking his nostril, “Now the price has risen to five thousand liang. My service is worth it! It takes five days and five nights to conduct a religious ritual.”
This time, as soon as Madam Luo heard that there was a solution, she agreed immediately. The two people asked for various kits for the ritual, and then asked to rest for a day to restore their energy. Then, all the evil crafts in the ancestral hall as well as the four small coffins were all burned in public. As for the red note tied with the bell, Madam Luo threw the thing into the fire immediately after looking at it.
He Danggui lowered her head and smiled. She claimed that she had recovered after being treated by her grandfather. She hoped to go back to her yard to take a rest. After getting permission, she left the ancestral hall alone through the side door. When she looked up at the sky, which was blue and filled with clouds, the wind blew the clouds into various shapes. Things had changed.
Three years! She finally came to this day when Sun Meiniang fell from power as well as her daughter Luo Baiqiong. Luo Baiqiong set fire to the ancestral hall because she wanted to use the secret method that she heard from “somebody” to steal the blessings from Luo’s Family and put it on the marriage link between her and Peng Shi. In the past, Madam Luo indulged Luo Baiqiong because she was Luo Chuangu’s daughter. However, her birth was suspicious now. Even if Madam Luo had a deep affection for this granddaughter, she would still be grounded at home for two years in accordance with the family law.
Now that the dust had settled, should she consider an end of the big revenge except for the interest? She let out a sigh of relief, feeling relaxed as if she was about to leap up to a branch and fly to the sky.
“Girl, how is it feeling?” Bai Yangbai chased after her with a smile, “Are you very touched? Do you want to marry me?”
He Danggui frowned and looked at the “single” Bai Yangbai, “Where did you find a twin brother?”
Bai Yangbai spread his hands, “Girl, keep your eyes open and see. I am the Taoist Sage. That is just a skill called bilocation. The other person is a dummy without the shadow. You mortals can’t tell with clumsy eyes.”
“Bilocation? It sounds terrific.” He Danggui asked surprisedly, “But why? You are irritating enough.”
“Thank you.” Bai Yangbai said with a smile, “Who hates money? One for two thousand liang, and two will cost four thousand liang. If it weren’t for the limit of bilocation, I will create ten dummies. It’s easy money!”
He Danggui curled her lips and continued to move forward. Bai Yangbai followed her, “If you marry me, I will let you watch all my stunts for free! What do you say?”
He Danggui had now got rid of Zhu Quan, so how could she marry Zhu Quan’s uncle? Although she was curious about Bai Yangbai’s skill of preserving beauty, it was not a bargaining chip for marriage. Bai Yangbai couldn’t use it to seduce her revealing the secret of Yunqi Acupuncture. So, she turned the subject away and asked, “Why did Luo Baishao’s house suddenly catch fire again? You did that?”
Bai Yangbai blinked his innocent eyes and explained, “I didn’t. That is an accident.”
“What do you mean?” He Danggui asked curiously.
“Well,” Bai Yangbai scratched his chin, “I found a drunk and crying man outside the gate of Luo’s Mansion. I couldn’t help cursing him that he was weeping like a woman. So, he told me the details. His name was Zhang Xian and had a lover working for Sun Meiniang. Some time ago, he went on a dangerous trip. After making big money, he went to pick his lover out of here. However, he learned that his lover was locked up and tortured by Sun Meiniang. He sneaked into the Mansion to find her, but he only heard her last words. That was why he was crying there.”
“…Zhang Xian?” He Danggui recalled, “He is Run Xiang’s lover! It turns out that he doesn’t abandon Run Xiang! If Run Xiang’s spirit knows this, she will be happy. What a pity! Sun Meiniang and Luo Chuangu separated them.”
“Unfortunately,” Bai Yangbai shook his head, “I guess he has followed Run Xiang now.”
“What?” He Danggui opened her eyes incredibly. Did he commit suicide for love?
“That’s why I said it was an accident.” Bai Yangbai was a little regretful, but he was not sad at all. “I didn’t care about this matter very much at first. I just persuaded the young man not to fall in love with only one woman. However, when I heard him telling the last words of his lover Run Xiang, he mentioned you, so…”
“He did?” He Danggui was a little surprised and guessed, “The note clipped on my window with Run Xiang’s last words prompted me to keep the promise to a dying person, and I must avenge for Run Xiang. Was that from Zhang Xian?”
Bai Yangbai reached out and patted He Danggui’s forehead. He praised, “Smart girl! That note was written by Zhang Xian and then I put that into your window. I want to help you get rid of Sun Meiniang. Without her, you must be willing to marry someone, right?”
He Danggui suddenly realized, “It turns out to be you who was helping me secretly these days. No wonder that everything went so smoothly. Why did Zhang Xian die? He saw the revenge.”
Bai Yangbai expressed helplessness over her ignoring his “showing love” behavior. He temporarily stopped showing love and shrugged, “I didn’t expect that he would do it. If I knew it, I wouldn’t change his appearance into Wu Jiu.” After a pause, he explained to He Danggui, who was full of doubts. “Wu Jiu was the fake paramour of Sun Meiniang. I also got a portrait of him. But the portrait was so ugly, so I didn’t disguise myself as him. However, Zhang Xian wanted to participate in the revenge. So, I disguised him as Wu Jiu. Unexpectedly, he had the same temper as Run Xiang. He followed Run Xiang to burn him to death after Run Xiang dug out her eyes!”