Past three
Wen Zhibai immediately noticed the replica of the Wen family jade pendant hanging from Qin's son's waist: "What is your status and qualifications to speak to me?"
"Naturally, it is the eldest son of the Wen family!"
Wen Zhibai turned to look at Wen Lingchen: "I had no idea I had gained such lowly older brothers and sisters."
Wen Xian, however, quickly changed her tune: "We are both daughters of the same father, how dare you be so disrespectful to him?!"
"Is that so?" She turned to Wen Lingchen beside her and asked, "Father, is that what she said?"
Wen Lingchen remained silent, his face falling.
Qin Yanzhen covered her mouth and chuckled: "This kind of momentum reminds me of Sister Jiang's demeanor when she was in charge of the household affairs back then. It's just a pity that things have changed."
"Bang!"
Wen Zhibai slammed the teacup on the servant's tray down in front of Qin Shi: "This cup is Mother's favorite celadon. It's better that it's broken now, so it won't be touched by dirty hands."
"Wen Zhibai! You—" Wen Lingchen stood up at this moment, but in the end he swallowed his words: "Zhibai, let it go."
He tapped his palm on the table, making a crisp sound that startled the sparrows perched under the eaves. "Enough! Father, are you feeling sorry for her? Your first wife, my mother, is now missing, and you've brought her and her two children into the Wen family mansion without stopping! I can let it go, but where does Father place my mother?!"
Wen Zhibai grabbed Qin Yanzhen by the collar: "What a coincidence! My mother just left Shangjing, and you shamelessly stepped into my house!"
Wen Fushi roared at Wen Zhibai, "If you dare touch my mother, I'll make you pay a terrible price!"
She met Wen Fushi's bloodshot eyes: "You feel sorry for your mother, but I don't?"
Wen Lingchen: "Enough!! Has your mother and I spoiled you too much in the past? Is that why you've become so arrogant and willful!"
"Did Father really feel guilty for indulging me, or was he just feeling sorry for Mother, so his conscience wouldn't let him blame me?"
Wen Xian: "Your mother was already on her deathbed, so she can't blame anyone else! If we're really talking about who Father's wife was, ha, Wen Zhibai, not to mention my brother, even I am three years older than you!"
Wen Zhibai: "If you dare to say anything about my mother again, I'll cut out your tongue with my own hands!"
Wen Lingchen was furious: "How can you be so unlike your mother, who was virtuous and kind!"
Granny Chen said to Wen Lingchen, "Madam knows that Master hates her because of the marriage alliance back then, but how could Madam not feel wronged! Madam was weak, yet you went to drink with Qin Shi on the day she gave birth, allowing her to be ridiculed by prestigious families... Madam has been virtuous and kind for decades, but what she got in return was a fate of disappearing without a trace!"
Wen Zhibai slowly raised her head and looked at her mother-in-law who was arguing on her behalf. Over the years, she had been completely unaware of these matters.
"Twelve years ago, when you were wrongly imprisoned, it was you, Madam, who ran around everywhere, even petitioning the Emperor to plead for your life! Seven years ago, when you were swindled into incurring huge debts to secure a shop for the Qin family, you went into hiding, but creditors were constantly knocking down your door. Again, it was you, Madam, who sold your dowry to cover the losses! And now, your position as a high-ranking official was paved with your blood and tears by your wife!!"
As if someone had hit a sore spot, Wen Lingchen's face flushed red: "Guards! Drag her away and give her fifty strokes of the cane!"
"Let's see who dares!" Wen Zhibai stood in front of Granny Chen, glaring angrily at Wen Lingchen.
No one outside the door was willing to move.
"Guards! Can't you all understand human language?!"
Ultimately, it was out of fear of the head of the household that the servants stepped forward, but outnumbered, they managed to hold off Granny Chen after several tugs and pulls.
Wen Lingchen patted Wen Zhibai on the shoulder: "If you behave well in the future, I can let her off the hook for the sake of our father-daughter relationship."
"Miss! My life is not enough to trouble you." Before anyone could react, Granny Chen crashed into a stone pillar.
"No...no!"
Wen Zhibai rushed forward and helped the limp Granny Chen into his arms.
Looking at her hands covered in sticky blood, she finally understood the ruthlessness of her closest relative.
Wen Lingchen said expressionlessly, "I've already given you a chance."
Then, he and the three Qin family members turned and left, no longer caring about the mess.
She slowly raised her eyes, her gaze like the sharpest blade, scraping across each face before her.
“Miss, listen to me…” Granny Chen stuffed something into Wen Zhibai’s waist: “This is something that Madam left for you before she left… Take it and go to Wuyu Pavilion.”
At the foot of the green hills, before an unnamed monument.
All the resentment is buried under the yellow earth.
The remains of Granny Chen are buried there, as are the last vestiges of the father-daughter bond between Wen Zhibai and Wen Lingchen.
She knelt before Granny Chen's grave and took out the cold lotus token from her waist.
Wen Zhibai walked down the green hill in a daze, like a puppet whose soul had been ripped out, wandering aimlessly through the streets.
The surrounding noise was separated from her by an invisible membrane.
A few scattered whispers, however, were like sharp needles, piercing through the membrane and drilling into her ears.
"Have you heard? The young master of the Gao family has completely gone mad..."
"That's right, he's always yelling that... there's a monster trying to kill him!"
"Several waves of sorcerers from the Spirit Binding Division went to suppress it, but they couldn't!"
She froze on the spot, the image of Pei Qinzhou's unusual eyes flashing before her eyes, as well as the slippery, cold touch that had wrapped around her neck in her dream...
A chill ran down her spine, making her almost tremble.
“No.” She shook her head vigorously, trying to shake off the terrible association.
Whether she's a demon or not is irrelevant to her now.
She can no longer afford to lose anything.
Now, she only has one place to go and one goal to pursue.
She gripped the token tightly and inquired about the location of Wuyu Pavilion.
After much searching, I learned that this pavilion was mysterious, only opening at midnight every night, and was famous for its transactions. As long as the price was right, anything was possible.
Following the directions, she wandered through seven or eight secluded alleys before finally arriving at a quiet, narrow street.
The faded lanterns swayed in the wind, stirring up dust and sand from the ground, and an old attic stood silently before her.
As night fell, Wen Zhibai hugged his knees and fell into a deep sleep, leaning against a doorpost.
She was only jolted awake by a shiver when the lights inside the pavilion suddenly came on and the warm light shone on her face.
A gust of autumn wind blew up, and the door opened silently by itself.
The attic was eerily quiet, and she barely made a sound as she stepped in.
Looking up, the eight-story pavilion leads straight to the dome, with countless candles hanging on each floor, and hundreds of halos of light intertwining, making people dazzled and mesmerized.
A layer of purple gauze curtains moved swiftly without wind, carrying a subtle fragrance that was almost captivating.
She raised the token, her voice echoing in the silence: "This humble woman, Wen Zhibai, has been entrusted by my mother to request an audience with the Pavilion Master!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he caught a glimpse of a slender figure standing quietly behind the purple veil.
"You are Jiang Xuwan's daughter."
"Yes." Wen Zhibai turned around and answered the person behind the gauze curtain.
The woman slowly walked out, her straw hat slightly raised, as if scrutinizing Wen Zhibai: "Heh, she really does look like her."
"What is your relationship with my mother?" she couldn't help but ask.
The woman abruptly stopped stroking the ring, and after a long pause, she let out a cold sneer: "None of your business."
"What"
"What? What?" The voice was filled with icy mockery. "What I promised your mother back then, I will give to you today." A black iron token was thrown at her feet. "Jiang family assassins, seeing this token is like seeing the head of the family."
Wen Zhibai bent down to pick it up, his mind full of doubt: "An assassin? My mother, she..."
"Has something happened to her?" the woman interrupted her, her voice, hidden beneath her straw hat, carrying a barely perceptible tension.
Wen Zhibai's silence was the answer.
"You're as stupid as ever..." Although it was a reprimand, there was not a trace of sarcasm in it.
“Sister,” Wen Zhibai stepped forward urgently, “Where is the Pavilion Master of Wuyu Pavilion? I have a request and need the Pavilion Master’s help.”
"Elder sister?" The woman seemed to chuckle softly as she slowly approached, her nail-painted fingertips lifting her chin to examine her closely. Her voice softened slightly: "Don't I look like her?"
"You are the Pavilion Master?!" Wen Zhibai exclaimed in astonishment, then grasped at a straw, "My daughter has heard that the Wuyu Pavilion is incredibly powerful and can know everything under the heavens. My mother has disappeared, and I beg the Pavilion Master to lend a helping hand and find out her whereabouts! I am willing to pay any price!"
After a string of pleasantries, tears streamed down her face. The woman wiped them away, saying, "Like a child."
"I…"
For some reason, Wen Zhibai always felt that the Pavilion Master was very similar to her mother, but she was not as gentle as her mother, and had more of a heroic spirit.
"The last time I wiped away someone's tears was for your mother."
The woman lowered her hands, her voice filled with helplessness, "I can't save Jiang Xuwan, and... I can't save myself either."
What do you mean by that?
"Things have come to this point." As soon as he finished speaking, the lights in the attic went out one by one, starting from the top floor, leaving only the flickering candles on the bottom floor.
"Throughout history, the powerful and wealthy have sought immortality. The secret that the Jiang family has guarded for generations is related to the dragon—legend has it that the spirit of heaven and earth transformed into a dragon, and by taking its inner core and adding the blood of the Jiang family's daughter, one could attain immortality. To prevent chaos in the world, the ancestors of the Jiang family made a pact with the emperor and retired from the court."
"To prevent the emperor from purging them, the Jiang family secretly preserved a branch of their bloodline, severing all ties to serve as a kindling. Your mother was the chosen one. When we parted, we made a pact, using this decree as our bond. Seeing this decree again would mean our eternal farewell... Now, the royal family has likely begun to purge the Jiang family, and I... can no longer find your mother."
Ultimately, we are connected by blood.
"Can't we just walk together?!"
The woman didn't answer, only gazed deeply at her: "Under the whole heaven, all land belongs to the king. As descendants of the Jiang family, neither of us can turn back... Wen Zhibai, since your mother has left the Jiang family, we can only gamble that the royal family won't implicate you. Today, as you walk out of this door, forget the Jiang family, take these assassins, and go find your mother! Then, leave Shangjing and live on..."
"Forget...?" Wen Zhibai raised her head, her eyes brimming with tears as she looked at the Pavilion Master, her gaze filled with confusion and despair. "How can I forget?"
Wen Zhibai could no longer hold on; his legs gave way, and he slid down the wall to the ground.
From now on, will I live like a shadow, carrying this unforgettable secret, hiding and running away?
Seventeen years of understanding collapsed in an instant. All those warm daily moments and the mother's love were actually built on a crumbling lie.
It was only at this moment that Wen Zhibai realized that she had been living in a false peace for seventeen years.
After saying that, the woman hugged Wen Zhibai, and then reluctantly let go: "Let's go."
As she left, dozens of dark figures stood silently in the darkness.
"Wen Zhibai".
She turned around, but the Pavilion Master was already gone: "Hmm?"
The voice suddenly drifted down from above, tinged with a barely perceptible sob: "Take care."
With the last shred of instinct, he gripped the lotus token tightly and numbly stumbled out of Wuyu Pavilion.
...
Just as my thoughts were in turmoil, a soft sound reached my ears.
Wen Zhibai suddenly came to his senses and stepped forward to look, but there was only night outside the window.
As soon as I turned around, I bumped into a slightly cool embrace.
"Pei Qinzhou!?"
Before she could finish her question, his cool fingertips touched the corner of her eye.
"You cried?" Pei Qinzhou's face darkened, his long fingers touching the corners of her reddened eyes. "Why are you crying..."
She nodded, swallowing the sob in her throat: "Where did you go?! How could you just leave without a word? Do you know how worried I was..." All the hurt and resentment she wanted to say turned into one sentence: "How worried I was about you?!"
"I'm sorry." He unconsciously pulled her into his arms, placing a hand behind her head.
In an instant, his pupils turned into vertical pupils again.
His unusually high temperature made her suspicious, but she dared not think about it too much.
Pei Qinzhou was much taller than her, and his arms were like snakes coiled around branches, tightening even more the more she struggled.
"Pei Qinzhou, let go of me first, this isn't right..."
"Why not?" he asked seriously.
"It is against etiquette."
"Why don't you get along?" he asked earnestly, as if he genuinely didn't understand.
She was speechless.
After a long while, she was finally able to push him away slightly.
He complied, but his gaze remained fixed on her face, never looking away.
"Pei Qinzhou".
"Hmm?" His tone was neither happy nor sad.
"I may have to leave for a while."
“I’ll go with you.” He didn’t hesitate at all.
Shouldn't we ask her why she went where?
"I need you to stay here and help me."
She took a half step back, turned the porcelain vase on the display shelf, revealing a hidden compartment in the wall containing neatly stacked silver notes, a box of gold and silver, and a register.
“I have no one I can trust in Shangjing, but now I have you. I will put these valuables in my room. If I do not return in seven days, you can take the money from here and use it to dismiss all the old servants in the mansion. Their names are all written here.”
She demonstrated the mechanism again: "Also, at the beginning of each month, please go to Jingcheng on my behalf and deliver some money and grain."
Thinking it over, she decided that before setting off, she should take Pei Qinzhou to Jingcheng to familiarize him with the roads and people.
"No." He interrupted, his voice extremely low, approaching her step by step until he had her trapped in the shadows of the corner: "I don't want to."
"...I can pay you."
"What's the reward?" He suddenly leaned down, his breath brushing against her lips.
She turned her head and placed her hands on his chest: "Pei Qinzhou!"
He stopped pressing her and simply rested his forehead on her shoulder: "You can be alone, but I can't be alone."
"..."
"Please, help me," she whispered, pleading with him.
He looked into her eyes, and finally gave in, his eyes welling up with tears: "Will you come back?"
"…meeting."
That was enough for him; since she didn't want to say more, he didn't press her further.
“From now on, you don’t need to go back to the Wen residence. There’s a house in the western suburbs under my name, and you can live there from now on.” Wen Zhibai met his questioning gaze and said, “I will explain to you another day.”
Rumors about demons have been circulating in Shangjing lately, and the atmosphere is different from usual. Many people dressed in purple robes and wearing strange masks are patrolling the streets, carrying compasses and rune swords.
Their unusual attire instantly piqued Wen Zhibai's curiosity in the carriage. She asked the coachman, "I've never seen these people in Shangjing before. Who are they?"
"Replying to Miss, they are from the Spirit-Binding Bureau. They said that things have been unsettled in the capital lately, with many people dying, and the young master of the Gao family has been possessed by a demon, so they specially invited them to exorcise the demon... Alas, I don't know if it's true or not."
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