Chapter 32 The Curse of the Peony Soul

Upon hearing Shao Yanzhe's words, Madam Yin's smile froze on her face. Her teasing eyes looked him up and down with suspicion, as if she were looking at some rare species.

Seeing the serious expression on Shao Yanzhe's face, one could tell that this scholar, though seemingly frail and naive, was actually cunning and difficult to deal with.

"Hehe, Scholar Shao is joking."

Madam Yin took out a handkerchief embroidered with red peonies from her sleeve, pressed it against the side of her nose, and then a somewhat sorrowful expression appeared on her face.

“My husband died early, but the family still has a small fortune. I am afraid that others will covet it, so I thought of finding someone I like to marry so that I can uphold the family’s reputation and prevent the family property from falling into other hands.”

As she spoke, a tear slid down her cheek. She gently wiped it away with a handkerchief, radiating a broken beauty that made one want to be held in someone's arms and comforted.

Madam Yin was engrossed in her performance. She moved closer to Shao Yanzhe and, with a cry of surprise, tried to fall into his arms.

Shao Yanzhe, like a cat whose tail had been burned, jumped up and hid to the side.

Madam Yin's face was full of disbelief, and she almost didn't react even when she was about to fall to the ground.

Shao Yanzhe, whom she targeted, was cold-hearted and showed no mercy whatsoever. Liu Mingyuan had just entered the front hall when he overheard these words.

He was overjoyed. When he saw Madam Yin's worried and pitiful appearance, and that she was about to fall to the ground, he immediately pushed aside Shao Yanzhe who was blocking his way and rushed over to support Madam Yin, who was about to fall to the ground.

"Madam Yin, are you alright?" he asked with concern.

Madam Yin, who was helped up by him, took a few steps back without making a sound. She looked up at the foolish fish that was being caught, without feeling any sense of accomplishment.

"Thank you, scholar. I'm fine."

Liu Mingyuan wanted to know what else, but Zhou Jiming, Chen Yunhe, and Leng Zhijie also arrived at the front hall. They were unaware of what had just happened there.

Madam Yin returned to her seat as if nothing had happened, and even invited the others to sit down.

Soon, a dozen or so beautiful maids entered gracefully, dressed in gorgeous dresses with a string of golden bells tied to their wrists. As they moved with light steps, the jade pendants at their waists jingled like shattered jade.

They held small plates in their hands and placed them one by one on the table. Each cup of fine wine was filled with a shimmering glow from the candlelight.

They lowered their heads and looked demure, but couldn't hide the allure in their eyes and brows. After putting down what they were holding, their slender fingers released a subtle fragrance.

The scent of cosmetics in the air blended with the original fragrance of peonies in the room, creating a more pleasant aroma.

A subtle fragrance wafted through the air, and everyone felt as if white smoke was appearing before their eyes. The flickering candlelight shone like stars, as if they were not in the mortal world, but had arrived in a heavenly palace filled with ethereal beauty.

Madam Yin smiled slightly, casually picked up the wine cup in front of her, and said to everyone, "This cup of wine is a toast to all the scholars for passing the imperial examination with flying colors!"

Everyone spontaneously raised their glasses, toasted each other, and then drank them down in one gulp.

After downing a glass of wine, the dazed, dreamlike feeling vanished completely, as if it had just been a fleeting image in my mind.

Shao Yanzhe put down his wine glass, frowned, and felt as if he had just forgotten something.

But the lingering fragrance made him a little sluggish, and he tried to think hard, attempting to recall what he had just forgotten.

He looked up at the others but didn't find anything unusual, so he put it aside for the time being.

While drinking, Madam Yin glanced at the five scholars on the table. Her gaze swept over them, but occasionally fell on the scholar named Leng Zhijie.

Looking at his fairly decent face, she frowned slightly, feeling that the face was inexplicably familiar, but she was certain that she had never seen this scholar before.

However, upon seeing this face, she inexplicably felt irritated and found it very unpleasant to look at.

Madam Yin put down her wine cup. Since she didn't like them, she figured the five scholars might as well stay.

As they sipped their drinks, those with low alcohol tolerance, like Chen Yunhe, began to blush, their eyes becoming unfocused, and they were on the verge of getting drunk.

Shao Yanzhe, who didn't like drinking to begin with, was perfectly sober at this moment. He glanced at the others and found that only Chen Yunhe had drunk too much.

Seeing that he was about to pick up his glass and drink again, he reached out to stop him.

"Brother Chen, you're drunk, you can't drink anymore."

Madam Yin looked over and chuckled, saying, "It seems that Scholar Chen has a low alcohol tolerance. Shall I have someone escort him back to rest?"

Shao Yanzhe was a little worried, so he helped the man up and said, "No need to trouble yourself, I'll take him back to rest."

Unexpectedly, Chen Yunhe, who was still somewhat conscious, did not want to go back. He pushed away Shao Yanzhe, who was supporting him, swayed his body a bit, stood up, and then sat back down at the table.

"I'm not drunk, I want to keep drinking."

Shao Yanzhe was somewhat helpless, so he could only take away the wine pot that was next to him and let him drink from the empty wine cup.

Seeing that Shao Yanzhe's attention was on Chen Yunhe, Liu Mingyuan, who was sitting opposite Madam Yin, relaxed. He held a wine glass in one hand, swirling it gently, and occasionally glanced at Madam Yin with a teasing look in his eyes.

Faced with his provocation, Madam Yin frowned imperceptibly. This kind of clueless fool was truly annoying.

However, since this stupid fish is deliberately courting death, she won't stop it.

Thinking of this, Madam Yin smiled slightly at Liu Mingyuan and glanced at him with a flirtatious look.

When Liu Mingyuan was looked at like that, he felt his whole body go weak. If it weren't for Zhou Jiming and Leng Zhijie being there, he probably would have pounced on them long ago.

Just then, he suddenly noticed something rubbing against his leg. He glanced down while pouring wine and saw a red embroidered shoe with peony patterns gently rubbing against his calf.

Looking at the familiar embroidered shoes, Liu Mingyuan glanced at Madam Yin opposite him and saw her looking at him affectionately.

She really does have feelings for me!

Liu Mingyuan immediately smiled and boldly reached out to touch it.

Lady Yin on the other side seemed to be startled and withdrew her foot.

However, Liu Mingyuan kept the red embroidered shoes on his feet. He glanced at Madam Yin and quietly tucked the embroidered shoes into his sleeve.

After a satisfying meal, both host and guests enjoyed themselves immensely.

Shao Yanzhe and Zhou Jiming dragged the nearly unconscious Chen Yunhe ahead, with Leng Zhijie following behind and Liu Mingyuan bringing up the rear.

Before he left, his gaze fell on Madam Yin with a hint of aggression, and he didn't forget to take out the red embroidered shoes hidden in his sleeve and wave them at her.

After seeing Madam Yin turn away shyly, he laughed and left with his hands behind his back.

Madam Yin turned her face away, the shyness on her face vanished, leaving only coldness.

She glanced disdainfully in the direction Liu Mingyuan had left, flicked her sleeves and walked into the inner room. As she walked, her skirt fluttered, revealing two pairs of red embroidered shoes that she was wearing properly.

On the other side, Shao Yanzhe and Zhou Jiming put Chen Yunhe on the bed.

"I didn't expect Brother Chen to be so short yet so heavy."

Zhou Jiming stretched his slightly sore arms, walked to the table, poured himself a glass of cold tea, and gulped it down.

Shao Yanzhe covered Chen Yunhe with the blanket and was about to leave when he suddenly felt something was wrong.

He glanced down at Chen Yunhe and noticed a faint red mark that had appeared between his eyebrows, resembling a flower bud.

However, he wasn't quite sure, so he quickly called Zhou Jiming over to take a look: "Brother Zhou, come and see if there's anything between Brother Chen's eyebrows?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jiming asked curiously, "What could it be?"

That's what he said, but he still leaned closer and carefully examined Chen Yunhe's brow, becoming more and more alarmed the more he looked.

He pointed a trembling finger at Chen Yunhe, then turned to look at Shao Yanzhe beside him: "He, he seems to have a small peach-shaped birthmark on his forehead, and the little peach I just saw has split open!"

Shao Yanzhe quickly looked over and saw that the right side of the complete mark he had seen before was cracked.

As he pondered what was going on with Chen Yunhe, Zhou Jiming suddenly clenched his left fist and slammed it into his right palm, saying with a look of sudden realization, "I remember now, Brother Chen's forehead mark shouldn't be a birthmark, but something called 'Floating World Ephemeral,' a very powerful curse. Anyone cursed by it will have a mark on their forehead, starting from a flower bud, splitting into a petal every day until seven petals have split in seven days, at which point they will be devoured and die."

Shao Yanzhe said with a solemn expression, "So, if we don't lift the curse on Brother Chen within seven days, he will die in seven days? Do you know how to lift the curse?"

Zhou Jiming scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly: "Well, I don't know. I only read the first half, and I haven't had time to read the solution yet. But the solution should be to find the ghost that cast the curse and have it lifted."

Shao Yanzhe nodded, recalling the time he had accidentally been struck by the Soul-Severing Curse, which Yun Suqing had ultimately removed from his body.

At this moment, Zhou Jiming finally realized what was happening. He leaned close to Shao Yanzhe and said in a trembling voice, "So, there's something bad here?"

He didn't utter the word "ghosts" aloud, afraid that saying it would actually summon the ghosts and monsters here.

"That's right."

Zhou Jiming asked, "Madam Yin?"

Shao Yanzhe nodded: "It should be."

Zhou Jiming hugged Shao Yanzhe's arm with both hands, and only then did he feel a little more at ease: "Then let's leave here quickly!"

Shao Yanzhe was taken aback, and finally realized what he had forgotten earlier: he had forgotten to remind the others to leave.

However, it's too late now. We can't just leave Chen Yunhe here to die.

"We'll leave after we remove the Floating Worldly Ephemeral from Chen Yunhe's body," Shao Yanzhe said.

Zhou Jiming wanted to say why he should care about Chen Yunhe, but then he thought that if he were unlucky enough to get caught one day, wouldn't it be terrible if no one cared about him?

Thinking of this, he said righteously, "You're right, save Chen Yunhe first."

“Alright, let’s go. We’ll find Liu Mingyuan and Leng Zhijie first, and then we’ll figure out a way to get rid of the curse on Brother Chen.” Shao Yanzhe made the final decision.

However, when the two went to their room to look for the person who should have been there, they found that the person was not there.