In the dark night, the heavy and elegant courtyard is brightly lit, and the warm-colored mahogany carved beams quietly demonstrate its nobility and majesty.
Following the moonlight, they walked across the blue-gray floor tiles and around to the courtyard, which was where their meeting place was today.
Bai Ningning looked straight ahead, but was observing the mansion with her peripheral vision.
I don’t know if the Jun family is too cautious or deliberately showing off their wealth, but they invited them to a meeting and even set up mechanical formations everywhere in the yard.
You must follow the special green tiles on the ground. If you are not careful, you will fall into the maze and lose your way. The consequences are obvious. You will be stuck in the rooms of the courtyard until tomorrow morning.
Inside the conference hall, the first thing that catches your eye is the simple yellow wall and the plaque "Invulnerable to All Evils" hanging high above the hall. Looking up, you can see several palace lanterns hanging from the ceiling.
Very magnificent.
Bai Ningning even wondered if she should take down the palace lanterns and keep them for them before considering demolishing the house.
While the bosses were preparing for the meeting, Ningning was thinking about how to steal the palace lantern.
[Can what the King of Hell does be called stealing?]
[Your lights are fine, the next second they are mine]
[But the palace lanterns are really beautiful, I want one too.]
Bai Ningning's eyes were blank, and she looked away, staring at the floor in a daze.
She just took a quick look, and the commentators knew what she was thinking?!
Was she being so obvious?
Bai Ningning kicked Yuan Muyang's chair in frustration.
After kicking it, I realized that this chair is not cheap. It is made of small-leaf red sandalwood and is finely carved. Judging from the level of detail, this chair probably costs around one million.
The Jun family must be really rich to use such an expensive chair to entertain guests.
Yuan Muyang thought she had something to say, so he leaned back slightly and asked cautiously in a low voice, "What's wrong?"
Bai Ningning: "It's okay, I just feel a little unhappy suddenly."
Yuan Muyang: “?”
[Laughing to death, hatred of the rich, I understand, I understand]
[The Jun family is so rich, and the underworld is so poor. If it were me, I would also kick it to vent my anger.]
[But the question is, what did Mu Yang do wrong? ]
[The mistake was that there were only seven chairs, so Ningning could only stand at the back]
Bai Ningning finally felt relieved. The barrage of comments couldn't hear her inner thoughts, but only guessed through her expression - or maybe there really were a few prophets among them, and she really took the palace lantern away in the future.
But now, she was only slightly interested in the palace lanterns, and had no intention of demolishing the Jun family's house for the time being.
This place is like the big mansion of the old days, with the head of the family sitting in the main seat at the top, and the other six chairs distributed in order on the left and right sides.
Yuan Xiushuo had previously sat in the first chair on the right side near the main seat, and when it was Yuan Muyang's turn, he naturally sat here again.
Yuan Muyang appeared calm on the surface, but he was actually very panicked inside, fearing that he would be exposed.
Bai Ningning wasn't worried about this at all. It didn't matter if the truth was revealed. She could just come clean and stop pretending.
The old man of the Jun family knocked the ground vertically with his cane, signaling everyone to start the meeting.
"Now that everyone is here."
He was old but in good spirits, his voice was like a bell, and he stared at Yuan Muyang sharply: "Let this young man from the Yuan family tell us what's going on first."
What he was referring to was naturally the Yuan family's absence from the meeting.
Bai Ningning had previously reviewed his testimony and prepared some possible questions and reference answers for him in advance.
It’s a pity that I didn’t introduce myself, and Bai Ningning has never invited anyone to come.
Yuan Muyang coughed lightly twice and said, "I was not in good health before and had a serious illness. My father has been taking care of me and has no time to take care of other things. I apologize for my previous negligence."
The answers he omitted included the sudden closure of Qingwei Mountain.
Everyone present knew the answer, and if Yuan Xiushuo had given this answer, no one would have asked.
But Yuan Muyang is different. In the eyes of everyone, he is just a child who is still wet behind the ears. He is a little better than other children of the same age, but he is far inferior to the old foxes present in terms of scheming.
The Wei family representative had been staring at him before, and now he wanted to get to the bottom of it: "Where is he? Why did they send you here?"
Yuan Muyang said calmly, "Father is overly worried and needs to rest recently."
“Why was the mountain closed before?”
Yuan Muyang: "My illness came on suddenly. We don't know the source or the cause. We're worried it might be contagious, so we've closed the mountain."
What he said was reasonable, but everyone could also hear that he was playing Tai Chi and what he said might not be the truth.
"alright."
The old man of the Jun family did not intend to deliberately make things difficult for the younger generation, and stopped at the appropriate time.
He looked towards the Gu family.
Gu Xuan, the head of the Gu family, knew that it was his turn to complain.
Gu Xuan is about forty or fifty years old. I wonder if the fatigue from not sleeping all night and the dark circles under his eyes have made him look older.
His tone was passionate and rhythmic, "The underworld is going too far! Enclosing land in front of my Gu family's main gate, isn't that a bit too much?"
Bai Ningning was unmoved by what she heard, and even complained in her heart: That's alright, I heard that you guys often bullied the ghost messenger before, why didn't you feel that you were going too far at that time?
The Wei family representative gloated, "Perhaps he did something to anger the underworld before? I heard that the Gu family loves to tease the ghost messengers."
"That's nonsense!" Gu Xuan slammed the table in anger and stood up to confront him. "My Gu family has always been upright and honest. We don't do anything immoral!"
"Stop pretending! The ghost officials were driven back to the underworld. Your Gu family contributed a lot to this. Now you're acting like good guys? It's too late!"
Gu Xuan, as if someone had stepped on his sore spot, flushed and tried to drag everyone into the water: "When we were all together, it was Mr. Jun who decided the strategy. We're all in this room, and no one is clean. No one can escape!"
This was the first time Bai Ningning heard of this story. It was probably because each family wanted to snatch ghosts from the ghost catcher to fill their own "soul-transferring formation". In order to maximize the collective interests, they conspired to drive the ghost catcher away.
Gu Xuan's voice trembled as he muttered almost frantically, "It's the King of Hell! The King of Hell has come for revenge, hahahaha... Don't even think about running away! First it was the Yuan family, then us, and next it's you! Don't be too happy!"
"Don't scare yourself."
Old Master Jun knocked on the floor with his cane. The sound was as heavy as the bell in an ancient courtyard, waking everyone up and calming everyone down.
Bai Ningning looked at his crutch in confusion, suspecting there was a speaker or a loudspeaker inside.
Mr. Jun continued, "The King of Hell died a long time ago, seventeen years ago."
Bai Ningning was stunned. Seventeen years ago?
She is eighteen years old this year. Her mother died when she was just over one year old? But she was thrown into an orphanage as an abandoned baby as soon as she was born.
Mr. Jun said with great righteousness: "We are helping the underworld. Do you understand? The underworld is declining. If the metaphysical community cannot shoulder the heavy responsibility, the human world will be in danger. We must work for the well-being of the people. Even if we do something unacceptable, it is for justice."
Yuan Muyang lowered his head and hid his emotions in the shadows.
But Bai Ningning knew without even looking that his expression was frighteningly ugly.
He had heard this kind of words many times since he was a child.
After knowing the existence of the Soul Transformation Array, listening to such high-sounding words feels completely different, so disgusting that it makes people want to vomit.
Yuan Muyang suddenly spoke up and asked, "What if the underworld..."
"Master, it's time to take your medicine." Bai Ningning interrupted him expressionlessly and handed him a thermos cup.
All eyes in the room were on them.
Everyone remembered that Yuan Muyang had been coughing constantly before, and it was probably because his body had not fully recovered yet.
His face was extremely pale at this moment, as if he had just been to the gates of hell.
Bai Ningning looked at him with a dark face and didn't say a word, but Yuan Muyang clearly understood what she didn't say: If you say another word, you're dead.
"Feel sorry."
Yuan Muyang silently unscrewed the thermos cup, and the unique bitter smell of Chinese medicine instantly filled the entire hall.
The old foxes present also rarely showed the concern of elders.
"It's okay, just take your medicine."
"Taking good care of your health is the most important thing. I heard you coughing a lot earlier. If you're not feeling well, you can talk less."
"You just need to take the results of the discussion back and inform your father."
Yuan Muyang took a sip in silence and prepared to unscrew the lid.
This medicine is too bitter.
Bai Ningning: "Finish drinking."
Yuan Muyang: "..."
Didn't you just say it was a casual affair? Why would you prepare such a bitter medicine? And you have to drink it all?
He stared at the medicine with a sad face and didn't feel like drinking it.
The old foxes, like warm-hearted elders, continued to advise him: "Good medicine tastes bitter, drink it."
Even taking the opportunity to sell favors:
"Knowing that you are seriously ill, we have provided you with a lot of precious medicinal herbs."
"This is the intention of each sect."
This was just a small episode, and after taking the medicine, we moved on to the next topic.
But the Wei family representative suddenly became alert and asked, "Is this the medicine with red velvet?"
Bai Ningning: "No, just some supplements."
When this was mentioned, everyone remembered that the Yuan family had asked the underworld for help with red velvet grass.
The Wei family representative continued to ask, "Did you get the red velvet grass?"
Bai Ningning shook her head: "I'm sorry, I only know that Mr. Yuan cried very sadly that day and then fell ill."
This is consistent with the intelligence they received.
That most likely means that you didn’t get the red velvet grass.
Everyone fell silent tacitly. Some were drinking tea, some were curling their hair with their fingers, and some were motionless, staring at Yuan Muyang drinking medicine.
Yuan Muyang pinched his nose, drank the entire thermos cup of medicine in one gulp, and then handed the empty cup to Bai Ningning.
There's something wrong with this medicine.
He briefly lost his sense of taste and smell – it was too bitter.
But wherever this medicinal material passes, the throat and stomach will feel a burning pain, which makes people feel uneasy.
He was sure that he was completely speechless now.
He looked at Bai Ningning in confusion: Why?
The Wei family representative stroked his chin and revealed the secret: "Could the Yuan family be collaborating with the underworld? Are you here to gather information?"
At the same time, Qingwei Mountain.
Yuan Xiushuo checked the mailbox with a serious face and found that a piece of silver-plated card was missing, and the token ring was also missing.
But the Wei family clearly came to him and made some sarcastic remarks, saying that if he didn't attend the meeting, he would be expelled.
Although he didn't take it seriously, how could the invitation be gone?
He checked twice, confirming that both the invitation and the token ring had vanished at the same time. He then asked Xu Wanhui, "Have you touched the mailbox recently?"
"No, what's wrong?"
Yuan Xiushuo asked again: "Has anyone been near the mailbox recently?"
"No, haven't all the outsiders been sent away? No one has come near this place recently. I stopped them for you."
She realized something was wrong and asked, "Is anything missing?"
Yuan Xiushuo reacted quickly, picked up his phone, and prepared to call Mr. Jun to confirm the situation.
Unfortunately, the moment he picked up the phone, the signal base station in Qingwei Mountain was cut off.
The telephone and the internet were all out of order and no messages could be sent.
Yuan Xiushuo's face became increasingly gloomy. He realized that not only had someone impersonated him to attend the meeting, but the other party had also sent people to keep an eye on him to prevent him from suddenly doing something bad.
He put on his coat and said to Xu Wanhui, "I'm going out for a while. You keep an eye on the mountain."
"Okay." Xu Wanhui set about resolving the signal problem on the mountain. "I'll send you a message once I find out who it is."
The meeting has already started, and it would be too late for him to rush to the meeting now.
All you need to do is find a place with a signal and tell Mr. Jun that someone is impersonating him.
There is no signal on the mountain, and I'm afraid there may not be any signal even at the foot of the mountain. Should I go directly to Beiyang City?
He ran down the mountain at an extremely fast speed - the Xuanmen people used some special methods to move much faster than a car.
Unfortunately, he was stopped by a busybody just when he reached halfway up the mountain.
A ghost blocked his way. He couldn't see its face clearly, but he heard the ghost say, "This road is blocked."
"Will the Yuan family cooperate with the underworld?"
Bai Ningning answered for Yuan Muyang: "No."
All of you old foxes can see that Bai Ningning is the main person in charge, and was sent by Yuan Xiushuo to keep an eye on Yuan Muyang.
I just fed him medicine, probably because he wanted to say something he shouldn't have and was stopped.
The Wei family representative deliberately picked a fight: "Did they ask you? Let Xiao Yuan speak!"
Yuan Muyang held an A4 paper in his hand, on which was written: "It's too bitter!"
——This is the paper Bai Ningning just handed him.
He covered his head with paper and curled up with his back hunched.
Bai Ningning didn't take the Wei family representative seriously at all and said casually, "The suspicion about our cooperation is probably because of the office at the door. Does that mean that the Gu family will soon cooperate with the underworld?"
She shifted the blame elsewhere and directed her attack at the Gu family.
The Gu family argued: "I angered the King of Hell, so the underworld tore down my outer wall!"
The Wei family seemed to be experts at finding fault, saying, "If they were so capable, why did they only push your outer wall? And why did it collapse outwards, leaving the inner part unscathed?"
Gu Xuan: "Perhaps I brought a lot of people to watch me, and they discovered me, so I can only use some cheap tricks instead of showing up directly."
Bai Ningning was a little dissatisfied. How could such an exquisite technique and such precise design be called a low-level trick?
Is there another person in this world who can do this?!
The Wei family felt something was wrong: "With so many people from your Gu family watching, are you saying someone pushed down your outer wall in full view of everyone? You haven't figured out who did it yet? How come I didn't know there was someone in the world who could be so capable?"
After he said this, everyone realized that there was something fishy going on. "Yeah, how could someone make such a big fuss right in front of you, Gu Xuan, and still get away with it? You didn't let him get away on purpose, did you?"
Gu Xuan was speechless and became angry: "Why would I bother doing something like that?"
The Wei family reasoned logically, "You cooperated with the underworld, but didn't want us to know, so you deliberately staged this drama. You even showed up with dark circles under your eyes, hoping to let us down."
As he spoke, he snorted and laughed, looking like a smug villain. "But I didn't expect that I was too smart and saw through your disguise in one go."
Bai Ningning: “…”
There's no need to be so complacent about discovering this so late.
Gu Xuan swung his hand and said, "Believe it or not! I'm not cooperating with the underworld!"
Everyone raised their doubts:
"Ever since you showed up tonight, you've been spreading false information, deliberately disturbing our minds and trying to make us fear the underworld. What's your intention?"
"You've gone to so much trouble to push down the wall, but you're reluctant to damage the structure inside, right?"
"I heard you cleared the area around the wall in advance, leaving no one behind. Were you afraid the wall would fall in the wrong direction and injure your own people?"
“…”
Gu Xuan felt that these doubts were simply unreasonable.
Who knows that the wall will collapse?
They didn't leave anyone near the wall because they were afraid the people who were marking the area and erecting the wooden signs would notice they were being watched! This was a cautious strategy!
Gu Xuan grew increasingly angry as he thought about it. He slammed the table and started cursing at the Wei family, clearly furious. "You're the problem! Are you deliberately throwing dirty water on me? Are you so eager to distance yourself from this?"
"Because there's something suspicious about you!"
Gu Xuan: "Aren't you suspicious? You've been muddying the waters tonight!"
"Huh?" The other party laughed sarcastically. "Are you so angry that you're looking for trouble?"
Gu Xuan was breathing heavily with anger, and he felt his heartbeat getting faster and faster. He asked, "Do you have other motives? You are deliberately picking on me just to cover up your tracks!"
The Wei family representative raised one corner of his mouth, extremely angry: "It's you who are throwing dirty water on me for no reason, aren't you trying to cover up your tracks?"
"You--!" Gu Xuan was so angry that his face turned red and his neck became thick, and he actually fainted.
Seeing that no one else moved, Bai Ningning didn't move either.
She glanced at the comments and realized that the fainting was caused by a combination of lack of sleep, great psychological pressure, old age, and soaring blood pressure due to anger.
Knowing that there was no danger to her life, she felt relieved.
The Wei family representative was still shouting to distance himself from the matter: "This has nothing to do with me, don't try to touch porcelain."
Bai Ningning watched the farce end in silence and patted Yuan Muyang's shoulder gently.
Yuan Muyang had sat up straight during their quarrel. Although his throat and stomach were still uncomfortable and he still couldn't speak, he could at least pretend to be calm on the surface.
He handed the A4 paper with the words "It's too bitter" written on it to Bai Ningning, shrugged and spread his hands: Why?
Bai Ningning took the A4 paper and put it away, saying, "Good medicine tastes bitter, that's normal."
She paused, realizing that the old man of the Jun family, who was sitting in the hall, had just glanced at her.
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