ulterior motive
At the hour of Mao, roosters crowed and dogs barked, waking Yin Heng. He had slept on the floor all night and his back ached. He nearly fell when he stood up. After Yin Heng steadied himself, he glanced at the person on the couch. Seeing that Xiao Yuan was still asleep, he made no noise. After changing his clothes, he gently opened the door and went out. As soon as Yin Heng walked into the yard, he saw the servant of the Li Mansion. He ordered the servant to prepare breakfast and send it to the house. While waiting, he looked around. He had read a lot of books since he was a child and had learned a thing or two about Feng Shui. He found that the Feng Shui of this mansion was very good, but the recent strange things were inconsistent with the Feng Shui of this place. When he was puzzled, the servant of the Li Mansion brought the breakfast, and he put the thing aside first. After taking out the breakfast, he went to call Xiao Yuan.
He walked over to the couch. The weather was gradually warming up, and he had fallen asleep a little too hot. His hair was damp with sweat, and the blanket that had been covering him had been crumpled up and thrown aside. Yin Heng tucked the hair behind his ear, took out the handkerchief Ye Yu had embroidered for him, and carefully wiped the sweat off Xiao Yuan's forehead. He patted his shoulder and called his name again.
"Akan, wake up."
Xiao Yuan usually didn't sleep well and would wake up easily at the slightest noise. Hearing the sound, Xiao Yuan slowly opened his eyes, his eyelashes trembling slightly.
"Ahan, get up and have breakfast. It's time to go see Madam Li later."
Xiao Yuan propped himself up and got out of bed. He was only wearing a thin shirt. Just as he was about to change his clothes, he found Yin Heng standing next to him shamelessly again.
"You, get out." Xiao Yuan looked at the person in front of him seriously. Yin Heng muttered, "It's not like I haven't seen it before."
"What did you say?!" Xiao Yuan's voice was tinged with anger. Yin Heng saw this and quickly explained, "It's nothing, it's nothing. Well... I'm going to go out, you can take your time to change."
After changing clothes, Xiao Yuan opened the door and saw Yin Heng standing outside. He was holding a flower in his hand and picking its petals one by one.
Xiao Yuan couldn't bear to see such a gorgeous flower being destroyed by Yin Heng any further, so she asked someone to come in for breakfast. Yin Heng didn't care about the flowers at all, he just threw them on the ground and went into the house.
After breakfast, Yin Heng and Xiao Yuan walked to the front yard and found Jiang Yun, Ye Qingci, and the two Lianyun Sect disciples all there. They waited a short while before a servant from the Li residence led everyone to Madam Li's house.
Several people entered the room. Li Nui was sitting in front of the couch, looking at his wife with eyes full of love. When he saw them coming, Li Nui stood up and saluted them.
"My dear immortals, please take a look at my wife."
Yu Shang stepped forward and touched her forehead. The fever was indeed unusual. He took her pulse and was surprised to find that it was stable, just like that of an ordinary person.
"This is really strange. Your Madam has such a high fever, but her pulse doesn't show any abnormalities."
Li Jun sighed, "This is why no one can cure me even though I've searched for divine doctors. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered you all."
Xiao Yuan pondered for a moment, "Master Li, why don't you let me take a look?"
Mrs. Li is pregnant, and judging by her belly, she must be five or six months pregnant. Since her pulse is stable, the only thing that can be suspected is the baby in her belly.
Xiao Yuan stepped forward and placed his hand on the bulge in Madam Li's belly, then closed his eyes to sense it. The sight inside Madam Li's belly startled him. He opened his eyes and looked at Li Nu with a strange expression.
"Master Li, has anything wrong happened to your wife since she became pregnant?"
"This... Speaking of strange things... My wife was still vomiting when she was three or four months pregnant. Logically, she shouldn't have such a reaction after such a long time, but we didn't pay much attention to it at the time, just thinking it was a different physical condition. Immortal, is there something wrong with this child?"
Xiao Yuan did not respond to Li Jun, but turned around and called Yin Heng out. Seeing Xiao Yuan's heavy face, Yin Heng did not dare to delay.
After coming out, Yin Heng asked people about the situation.
"Akan, what's wrong?"
Xiao Yuan was silent for a moment. "I just checked, and there's a ghost fetus in her belly. If we delay any longer, the ghost fetus will probably start to erode her internal organs."
"What?! I've checked the feng shui of this place, and there's no way a ghost fetus would appear here."
"Don't worry, this place is a truly Feng Shui treasure land. It's really impossible for a ghost fetus to appear in such a place, but let's first understand the situation."
After the two finished talking, they returned to the house. Jiang Yun was curious about the two of them being mysterious, but it was not appropriate to ask too many questions at this time.
Yin Heng and Xiao Yuan came in without saying much, only asking, "Does Master Li have any other children?"
"Other offspring... I did have an eldest son, but he died a few years ago due to a serious illness. So I took in my current son, Li Chongyang. I took him in after my eldest son's death. He was living on the streets at the time, and I felt sorry for him because he had just lost his son, so I brought him back to my house to take care of him."
"Master Li, this isn't just a simple illness. Could you please let us meet your adopted son?"
How could he disobey the immortal's request? He led everyone to Li Chongyang's house, which was right across the front yard. However, what was puzzling was that there were guards outside his house in broad daylight. The guard opened the door when he saw the master of the house. Li Chongyang was sitting at his desk reading a book. Seeing so many people coming at once, a trace of panic flashed in his eyes.
"Chongyang, these are some immortals who want to see you."
Li Chongyang moved with restraint, and said softly, "Greetings to the immortals."
Everyone asked him a few simple questions but didn't get any useful information and left.
"Sir Li, today's matters still need to be discussed, so I'll take my leave first." Xiao Yuan simply sent Li Kun away and took Yin Heng away. Jiang Yun and Ye Qingci followed.
"Brother! Xiao Yuan! Wait a minute, you two, what's going on? I'm almost suffocating."
Xiao Yuan stopped and looked back at them.
"Jiang Yun, Ye Qingci. This is definitely not a simple situation."
Jiang Yun hurriedly asked, "Why?"
"Because, I just checked Madam Li's abdomen and found that the fetus in her belly is a ghost fetus, and it is extremely resentful. I believe you have all examined the feng shui here. It is not easy to raise a ghost fetus in such a feng shui place. I suspect it has something to do with Master Li's eldest son."
Jiang Yun and Ye Qingci exchanged a glance, and Xiao Yuan continued, "I wonder if you've noticed that there's a courtyard in the Li Mansion that's been locked up. It looks like no one's been in or out for a long time. I suspect that's where his eldest son lived."
Yin Heng remained silent, and after listening to Xiao Yuan's words, he thought of something.
"Akan, why don't we go over there and take a look."
Xiao Yuan nodded, and the four of them finally decided to split up. Xiao Yuan and Yin Heng would go to the location to take a look, while Jiang Yun and Ye Qingci would go to secretly test Li Chongyang's intentions.
Just like that, the four of them separated. Xiao Yuan took Yin Heng to that place based on his memory, and sure enough, it was still locked as he saw yesterday. Yin Heng stepped forward to look at the lock, which was covered with a thick layer of dust. In order not to alert the enemy, the two decided to climb over the wall. Yin Heng's lightness skills were excellent. After jumping onto the top of the wall, he looked inside. It was pitch black inside. He turned his head and stretched out his hand to Xiao Yuan below. Xiao Yuan took his hand and exerted a little force to jump onto the top of the wall. The two jumped over the wall together. After entering, they found that there was actually a large open space inside, which was completely different from the outside world. It looked like a courtyard from the outside, but it didn't look like a residence inside. The land under their feet also became similar to the surface of a lake. Going further inside, they saw a mound of earth. In front of the mound was a tombstone. This was a grave. And the tombstone was engraved with "Li Chongyang, son of the Li family."
"Li Chongyang? Isn't that the name of Li Kun's adopted son?" Yin Heng was puzzled. This was Li Chongyang's tomb, so who was the adopted son outside?
Yin Heng glanced at the person beside him and found that Xiao Yuan was staring at the ground in the distance. Yin Heng followed his gaze and saw a person with his back to them.
Seeing this, the two men didn't dare to make a sound, but just stared at the man. When they were thinking of countermeasures, the man suddenly turned around. He looked like a teenager in his teens, still a little childish.
The young man suddenly ran over, and Yin Heng and Xiao Yuan were a little at a loss. In this situation, should they run away or go to find out what was going on?
"Brother, are you here to save me?"
Save him? There was only one grave here besides the two of them. Could this be the owner of the grave?
"Save you?...Are you Li Chongyang?...Aren't you already dead?" Yin Heng decided to find out.
"Brother, I am Li Chongyang. I know I am dead, but I don't know why I am still conscious. I have been imprisoned in this place since I died."
Xiao Yuan softened his voice, lowered his body, and asked softly, "Then can you tell me what happened?"
Li Chongyang hung his head and whispered, "I'm sorry, brother. I'm not very clear either. I only know that I was seriously ill before I died. I actually had a dream before I got sick. In the dream, a child told me that my father had destroyed his family and wanted me to pay him back. After I woke up, I didn't pay much attention to it and just treated it as a nightmare. I didn't tell my father. As a result, I really got seriously ill. They all said that I was terminally ill and there was no medicine to cure me. I really died from that illness."
Yin Heng and Xiao Yuan roughly understood the reason for this matter. Yin Heng comforted him: "Chongyang, brother has something very important to do now. I can't take you away now. I will definitely rescue you after I have resolved this matter, okay?"
Li Chongyang nodded, and Yin Heng took Xiao Yuan's hand and continued walking in the same direction they had come from. This place seemed endless, as if it had no boundaries. After walking for an unknown amount of time, the surroundings returned to their original state. Only after they emerged did they suddenly realize that what lay within was Li Chongyang's state of mind. Meanwhile, Jiang Yun and Ye Qingci had also finished their explorations, and Xiao Yuan and Yin Heng met up with them.
“Senior Brother!”
"You've arrived just in time. We have a major discovery to share with you."
"We do too. Senior brother, you go first."
Yin Heng told Jiang Yun everything that had just happened, and Jiang Yun couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
"No?! This is too weird. I've never accepted such a commission. By the way, Senior Brother, let me tell you, there's something wrong with that adopted son. He said that as soon as he came into this family, Li Nu had a strong desire to control him, often locking him in the house and not allowing him to go out, and even having guards guarding the door. Also, I noticed that his expression became very unnatural whenever we mentioned Li Nu, and you could say he was a little scared. Combined with what you just said, could this adopted son be a substitute adopted by Li Nu?"
Yin Heng still felt something was amiss. "If they were really adopted, then it's such a coincidence. They are of similar age and look alike. And it just happened that shortly after Li lost his son, he ran into someone who looked so much like his eldest son. Is there really such a coincidence in the world?"
Jiang Yun touched his chin, as if something suddenly occurred to him. "Brother, do you think... Li Nu is doing something shameful? For example... kidnapping children?"
Although this conjecture is a bit scary, it is not impossible to connect it with this series of strange events.
Without further ado, they had to get to the bottom of this matter, and the four of them left quickly.
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