Chapter 32: Rebirth Mantra
Feng Linzhi watched her brother carefully carry the person to the soft couch, and suddenly laughed until tears came out of her eyes. "Pretending to faint is no longer new after using it twice. How dare you run into Luo Zhaohan's sword like that in Prince Duan's mansion? Do you think everyone else is blind?"
"Linzhi!" Feng Linyu raised his hand and it was suspended in the air.
The sound of rain suddenly intensified. Feng Linzhi leaned forward, leaning towards his palm. "Hit me! Beat your sister to death for this lying bitch!"
Feng Linyu's hands drooped dejectedly, the Buddhist beads on his wrist tangled in Liu Yueli's hair. He looked at the shattered light in his sister's eyes and said in a hoarse voice, "The banquet ended early. Why didn't you send someone to tell me?"
"A message?" Feng Linzhi grabbed the still-wet wolf-hair brush on the table, splashing ink on Liu Yueli's snow-white skirt. "From Prince Duan's Mansion to the Feng Mansion, you have to cross three streets, and there are carriages of noble ladies on every street. Do you know what they're saying behind the curtains? They're saying that the young lady of the Feng family is being made a fool of by Liu Yueli!"
Liu Yueli suddenly struggled to get off the bed: "I will go and explain everything to them now."
"Explain how you instigated me to slander Luo Zhaohan in public? Explain how you lied to me and said Xie Wuqi was an honest man?" Feng Linzhi grabbed her collar and dragged her out the door. "Let's go! First, go to General Fuyuan's Mansion and explain your dirty deeds of stealing someone else's fiancé!"
"Let go!" Feng Linyu pried open his sister's fingers and protected Liu Yueli behind him. The jade earrings flew through the air, leaving a bloody mark on the back of Feng Linzhi's hand.
The sound of drums came from the rain.
Feng Linzhi looked at the lip balm on her brother's clothes and suddenly remembered that during the Lantern Festival last year, her brother had protected her in the same way and fended off the harassment of the lecher for her.
That day, his cuffs were stained with her candied haws, and he smiled and said he wanted to keep it as a souvenir.
"Brother, do you still remember?" She touched the faded red rope around her wrist, "Last year you said that even if everyone in the world lied to me, you would never lie to me!"
The last words were drowned out by thunder. Feng Linyu turned his face away, his Adam's apple rolling violently: "Yue Li has already admitted her mistakes, can't you just let her go?"
"No!" Feng Linzhi broke the red rope and threw it on the ground, her little face flushed red.
Feng Linyu grabbed his sister's wrist and shook her off, and Liu Yueli fell into his arms.
His voice changed: "Linzhi, are you crazy enough?"
As Feng Linzhi stumbled back, her embroidered shoes snagged her skirt, and her back bumped against the door sill before she could even stand. She looked at her brother's hand around Liu Yueli's waist, a sweet taste welling up in her throat: "Brother, did you push me?"
"Sister." Feng Linyu hurriedly let go of the person in his arms, but saw that Feng Linzhi's hair was disheveled and a pearl hairpin was inserted diagonally into her temples. "Brother is afraid that you will hurt Miss Liu..."
"Are you afraid I'd hurt her?" Feng Linzhi suddenly laughed out loud, tears falling on the blue bricks. "When you two were whispering to each other in Tingyu Pavilion, why weren't you afraid of hurting my feelings? Now I want to ask—"
"Enough!" Feng Linyu interrupted harshly, veins throbbing on his forehead. "Yue Li is a pure and innocent girl, how can you slander her!"
Liu Yueli sobbed at the right moment and leaned softly against the screen: "Sister Linzhi must have misunderstood. Master Feng and I were just drinking tea and chatting."
Feng Linzhi suddenly burst into tears again, her face etched with grievance, unable to contain herself. Her hand, clutching the handkerchief, trembled uncontrollably, her eyes red as blood-soaked agate. "You're attracted to Liu Yueli, aren't you? You two were alone together in Tingyu Pavilion today, and you really thought I didn't understand?"
She sobbed and threw her silk handkerchief to the ground, her brocade embroidered shoes ruthlessly grinding against the plain white silk surface. "Don't you understand that a friend's wife should not be bullied? Brother, don't you understand this principle? Liu Yueli stole Xie Wuqi from Luo Zhaohan, and now she turns around and pretends to be pitiful and weak in front of brother!"
The splashes of water on the blue brick floor blurred her sharp accusations: "You're so fickle and disgusting! What did I say that was wrong?" Feng Linzhi wiped her tears with her sleeve and turned to walk out of the courtyard: "I will report this to my parents now and let the whole family judge right and wrong!"
Just after taking three steps out of the hospital gate, she suddenly froze in place.
Xie Wuqi was walking slowly from the Moon Cave Gate. The hem of his dark, patterned brocade robe was stained with remnant snow, and his brows were gloomy, like a cold pond. The guards following him, seeing the situation was not good, immediately retreated ten steps away.
"Brother Wuqi..." Feng Linzhi hurriedly turned around and wiped away her tears, her voice still nasal.
The crisp sound of a teacup falling to the ground could be heard from inside the house. Feng Linyu and Liu Yueli exchanged glances, each seeing panic in the other's eyes—who knew how much of those heartbreaking words had been heard.
Liu Yueli was the first to react, hurrying forward, her goose-yellow skirt in hand. The golden butterfly hairpins on her temples trembled with her movements, and her delicate hands expertly clasped Xie Wuqi's arms. "It's cold and dewy today, why aren't you wearing the fox fur coat I gave you?"
Xie Wuqi lowered his eyes and looked at the soft hands in his arms. At this moment, the temperature of these hands was even more piercing than the ice under the eaves.
"Sister Linzhi is always outspoken." Liu Yueli noticed the stiffness in his arms and hurriedly smiled to smooth things over: "I just said some angry words just now."
Feng Linyu followed closely across the threshold, his jade crown belt blown askew by the wind. "Brother Wuqi is the most sensible. My sister has been spoiled since she was young and always loves to talk nonsense."
Feng Linzhi turned abruptly upon hearing this, the last trace of hesitation in her eyes turning into determination. She sneered at the three people in the courtyard, "Since that's the case, I'll make it clear!" Her pearl-studded embroidered shoes stomped heavily on the bluestone. "I saw with my own eyes that Liu Yueli's cheeks flushed and her eyes flickered when she was alone with her brother in Tingyu Pavilion. She looked like a prostitute!"
"How dare you!" Feng Linyu shouted, veins bulging on his forehead.
Liu Yueli dug her fingertips deep into Xie Wuqi's sleeves, but she still pretended to be calm: "Sister Linzhi must have seen it wrongly. There was someone else in the pavilion that day..."
"Who else?" Feng Linzhi suddenly took two steps closer, the tassel of the silver hairpin in her hair brushing across Liu Yueli's pale face. "Sister Luo already told me about your secret correspondence with Xie Wuqi, and now you're pretending to be a chaste heroine?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the whole courtyard fell into dead silence.
Xie Wuqi finally raised his eyes, and Liu Yueli's panicked face was reflected in his dark pupils.
He slowly pulled back his arm, and the brocade cuffs made a slight tearing sound - there were five deep nail marks there.
"Brother Wuqi, I don't want to argue about the grudges between you and Luo Zhaohan, but Liu Yueli keeps telling everyone that Luo Zhaohan abused her. I have to ask you—" Feng Linzhi raised her hand and pointed at Liu Yueli, who was standing in the corridor. "Is what this little bastard says true?"
She violently shook off Feng Linyu's pulling hand, and the hem of her Shu brocade skirt embroidered with gold thread swept across the bluestone steps. "I've personally experienced Luo Zhaohan's strength. If he really wants to deal with Liu Yueli, I'm afraid these thin arms and legs will be broken into several pieces!"
Xie Wuqi's fingers on Liu Yueli's shoulders suddenly tightened. Feng Linzhi saw his pupils shrink slightly, and with a sneer, he flung the shawl aside, "Alright, just pretend I didn't say anything!"
"Zhi'er!" Feng Linyu stamped his feet anxiously and grabbed his sister's arm, "This is the general's family affair, why are you meddling in it!" He caught a glimpse of Xie Wuqi's increasingly gloomy face from the corner of his eye, cold sweat broke out on his back, and he wished he could sew Feng Linzhi's mouth shut.
"Major General, my sister drank too much today..." Feng Linyu was about to smooth things over when Xie Wuqi suddenly shook off Liu Yueli's hand.
The iron armor wristbands knocked against the corridor pillars with a dull sound. "It's getting late, please go back."
Feng Linzhi was eager to leave quickly and rushed out, pulling his brother.
As Feng Linyu stumbled past Xie Wuqi, he suddenly heard a cold laugh: "There's no need to interact with him anymore."
"Xie Wuqi!" Feng Linyu turned around in shock, only to see Xie Wuqi standing with his back to the light, his black cloak fluttering in the night wind, and half of his face hidden in the shadows.
His throat rolled, but he didn't dare to speak in the end. He was pulled out of the yard by his sister.
Until the sound of the carriage completely disappeared, the yard was so silent that you could hear the sound of snow falling.
Liu Yueli twisted her handkerchief and stole a glance at Xie Wuqi. The eyes that always looked at her with a smile in the past were now frozen. She was extremely flustered, her teeth biting a crescent mark on her lips, and tears came to her eyes: "Wuqi..."
Before he could finish his words, he was dragged into the inner room.
Xie Wuqi's steps were so fast and long that one of Liu Yueli's embroidered shoes fell off. The cold air from the bluestone rushed up through her stockings, and she gasped in pain: "Wuqi, you hurt me..."
Xie Wuqi suddenly stopped in his tracks. Liu Yueli seized the opportunity to throw herself into his arms, crying, "Don't you even believe me? Back then, to be with you, I gave up the luxurious living conditions of the General's Mansion. Madam Xie whipped me with a cane so hard I couldn't get out of bed for three days. Now, I'm huddled up in this tiny courtyard..."
The more she spoke, the more aggrieved she felt. Her tears soaked Xie Wuqi's front, "I've suffered so much for you, and yet you believed what outsiders said..."
Xie Wuqi's whole body stiffened.
Today in Prince Duan's Mansion, he should have shined as he did in his previous life, but was disrupted by Luo Zhaohan.
When he returned home, he discovered this farce again. He remembered that a month ago, Liu Yueli cried and complained that Luo Zhaohan whipped her with a horsewhip. At that time, there was clearly no red mark on her arm.
If I had known this earlier...Xie Wuqi felt a bitter feeling in his throat.
On the day of his rebirth, he should have married Luo Zhaohan as usual. That girl looked fierce, but in fact she was very easy to please. Unlike now, because of Liu Yueli, he broke with his parents and was trapped in this small place, missing even the most important opportunity to make a contribution.
Liu Yueli noticed his body trembling, and thought it worked, so she cried even more sadly: "You are all I have left now, if even you..." Before she could finish her words, she was suddenly pushed away.
Xie Wuqi stared at her tear-stained face, and vaguely saw Luo Zhaohan in his previous life standing on the city wall with a spear in hand, covered in blood and still smiling at him: "Xie Wuqi, in the next life, it will be your turn to chase me."
"Wuqi?" Liu Yueli took a half step back, frightened by the coldness in his eyes. Xie Wuqi suddenly raised his hand, and she subconsciously closed her eyes, only to hear a "crack"—the man actually broke the plum branch as thick as a bowl by the corridor.
Broken snow mixed with red plum blossoms fell all over his shoulders, and Xie Wuqi stared at the blood beads on his palm where the wood thorn had pierced his palm.
He closed his eyes and said in a hoarse voice, "Go back to your room and rest."
Before Liu Yueli could say anything, Xie Wuqi had already strode towards the study.
She stared at the man's back, then suddenly grabbed the teacup on the stone table and smashed it hard on the ground. As the broken porcelain flew, she wiped her face and sneered, "Feng Linzhi, we'll see."
Return to the study.
"Wuqi?"
Seeing Xie Wuqi remain silent, Liu Yueli was completely confused. Her fingertips clutching Xie Wuqi's sleeve turned white, and her carefully painted eyebrows were stained with panic - he was actually hesitating?
This realization was like an ice spike piercing her heart. Only then did she realize that she had already reached the point of no return, but Xie Wuqi still had room for maneuver.
As long as he was willing to admit his mistakes to General Xie and his wife, based on blood ties, he would at most reflect on his mistakes behind closed doors. Not to mention Luo Zhaohan...
Thinking of the girl who always lowered her head in shame before the engagement, Liu Yueli suddenly shuddered.
If Xie Wuqi turned back and admitted his mistake, Luo Zhaohan would definitely accept him again with tears in his eyes.
"You regret it, don't you?" She suddenly grabbed Xie Wuqi's lapel, her pearl-studded nails almost piercing the brocade. "When we proposed that day, you said you would marry me in this life. Are you going back on your word now?"
Xie Wuqi was pulled forward slightly by the force and finally raised his eyes.
He looked at the delicate face in front of him, tears streaming down his face, and suddenly remembered Feng Linzhi's resounding accusation before she left.
That girl who is so naive that she can't even tell a lie must be heartbroken by her brother right now, right?
"I..." He just opened his mouth when Liu Yueli suddenly stood on tiptoe and kissed him.
Tasting the salty tears between his lips and teeth, Xie Wuqi instinctively raised his hand to push her away, but stopped when he touched her trembling shoulders.
In the end, he simply concealed the turbulent light in his eyes, raised his hand and pulled her into his arms: "I am willing to break off the engagement for you and disobey my parents for you."
Liu Yueli was about to breathe a sigh of relief when she heard a deeper voice from above her head: "But Yueli, don't make me feel that all my efforts have become a joke."
…
Three quarters past ten in the afternoon, at the residence of the Earl of Changning.
The black lacquered flat-front carriage rolled over the bluestone slabs and stopped in front of the vermilion gate.
As Pei Ji lifted the carriage curtain, the copper bells on the eaves rang softly in the night wind. A few dead leaves clung to the hem of his dark official uniform, likely from his time under the locust tree on the palace path.
"Sir, will you stay at the mansion tonight?" Ling Ji followed behind, holding his black gauze hat. Seeing his master heading straight to the East Courtyard, he couldn't help but remind him, "Over there in the West Courtyard..."
"Get some old documents." Pei Ji did not stop, and the jade belt buckle on his waist made a slight sound with each step.
After passing through two moon-shaped doors, the lights of the study in the east courtyard came into view.
The gatekeeper saw him coming and knelt down hurriedly: "Master has ordered that if you just want to pay your respects, you don't need to enter the courtyard."
"I understand." Pei Ji cast a slender shadow on the blue brick ground and bowed to the closed carved wooden door: "My son greets his father." After speaking, he turned and left, as if there was only a clay statue behind the door.
Ling Ji glanced at the lanterns swaying in the corridor, and was suddenly choked by the scent of sandalwood wafting from the west, making him frown.
Turning around, I saw Pei Ji saluting towards the west courtyard, and the sound of a wooden fish could be faintly heard from within the dark red courtyard wall.
When the master and servant reached the southwest corner, Ling Ji suddenly gasped - under the moonlight, there stood a courtyard covered with gold foil!
The doors and walls were covered with yellow paper talismans, which rustled in the night wind, like ghosts flipping through a book.
"What is this?" Before he finished speaking, Pei Ji had already pushed open the gate.
Suddenly, all the copper bells in the yard rang, startling the crows in the paulownia tree.
Jiang Xi came out holding a candlestick. Seeing Ling Ji staring blankly at the banners under the eaves, he sneered, "You don't even recognize the Rebirth Mantra? You're a hero after all, having been on the battlefield."
"The Rebirth Mantra should be posted on the grave!" Ling Ji pointed at the prayer flags dancing wildly in the wind, his voice changing tone: "Who would hang this in the yard of a living person?"
"To exorcise evil spirits, of course."
Pei Ji casually pulled off the talisman paper that had fallen on his shoulder. The firelight reflected the sneer in his eyes: "After all, in the eyes of the madam, I am more terrifying than a demon."
Jiang Xi stood with his hands hanging down, the hem of his blue cloth rustling in the night wind. "Master, the master got a 'General of Ever-Victory' the other day. He's been playing with it in the study all day long with the golden cage in his pocket. He's even had his lunch in there these past two days."
He stole a glance at Pei Ji's expression and continued, "Madam left the house at three quarters past the hour of the yin yesterday. She had a vegetarian meal at Xiangguo Temple as usual and returned home at the last quarter of the shen hour."
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