Yuan Qi walked up the steps, poked her with a finger, and blinked her beautiful eyes as she reminded her, "Have you forgotten what the Crown Prince told you? You're so jealous, you're not suitable to be the Crown Princess."
Yuan Qi's gaze was full of threat and warning, and Jiang Bailu found Yuan Qi to be unfathomable.
"How did you know? Did you eavesdrop?" Jiang Bailu was very surprised. It felt like Yuan Qi was watching her all the time. How could she know everything His Highness the Crown Prince said?
Yuan Qi wouldn't tolerate her, so he left without answering her.
Jiang Bailu dared not ask any more questions. She was worried that whatever she said or did would be found out by His Highness the Crown Prince. She muttered to the maid beside her, "Do you think she was eavesdropping, or is she some kind of fortune teller?"
The maid standing to the side stared at Yuan Qi's retreating figure with dissatisfaction: "Miss, I think the Seventh Miss is a bit mysterious. She might be able to predict the future."
Back at Peony Residence, Wen Zhujun followed closely behind. She was somewhat angry, so Yuan Qi asked her what was wrong.
Wen Zhujun asked Green Bamboo to make tea before saying, "Ever since the incident at Saihe, many powerful and influential people have learned that the owner of Yaoguang Pavilion is Tu Shanli. Every day, people line up in front of Yaoguang Pavilion to see him. Some girls even go to Yaoguang Pavilion every day to pester Tu Shan Ang to see Tu Shanli. Now he doesn't even dare to go out through the main gate anymore. He even said he was going to Qi Kingdom to avoid the storm."
Yuan Qi chuckled: "He's finally getting his comeuppance."
Wen Zhujun couldn't laugh at all. She was worried about Tu Shanli, and she was also worried that Tu Shanli would fall in love with those girls who were blocking his way. Even a little bit of affection would not be acceptable.
Yuan Qi had long seen through Wen Zhujun's feelings, but she hadn't said anything, and now she didn't want to either. Wen Zhujun was willing to have a one-sided love for Tu Shanli, knowing full well that there was no future, yet she was still so persistent. Let her do whatever she wanted.
However, she still reminded him, "That man in Tushan is heartless. Don't worry, even if the most beautiful woman in the world stood in front of him, he wouldn't feel anything."
She felt that her words were clear enough, meaning that even if Wen Zhujun had been by Tushanli's side for hundreds of years, Tushanli would never fall for her.
Unfortunately, Wen Zhujun was so engrossed in the conversation that she didn't realize what was going on.
During dinner, Hongshan came in carrying a food box and mentioned something she had just overheard in the kitchen: "The eldest young master is getting married in a month, and the madam has actually delegated the preparations for the eldest young master's wedding to the stewards, while she herself is busy worshipping the gods and chanting scriptures. This is not like the madam at all."
Even Hongshan noticed something was wrong. Yuan Qi naturally knew long ago that Xiangli Mingzhu was obsessed with worshipping the statue. However, the statue wasn't very harmful; at most, it would absorb a little bit of faith power, but it wouldn't absorb a person's essence or soul. However, Wuji Palace tampered with the statue right under her nose, making Xiangli Mingzhu so addicted that she couldn't extricate herself, completely disregarding her. This kind of behavior was indeed disgusting.
Yuan Qi couldn't sleep at night. He guessed that Xiangli Mingzhu had already fallen asleep, so he used a teleportation talisman to go to the small Taoist room that Xiangli Mingzhu had set up.
The small Taoist temple was located in a secluded room in the place where Xiangli Mingzhu lived. There was nothing in the room except for the statues of the Three Pure Ones, an offering table, and a futon.
The room still smelled of incense. Yuan Qi took a look around and saw that Xiangli Mingzhu was sleeping soundly in the bedroom, with soft snoring coming from her.
The three statues of the Three Pure Ones were placed on the offering table, with pastries and some meat as offerings. The incense in the incense burner had long since burned out.
Yuan Qi picked up the three statues and examined them one by one. These Buddha statues were not the real Three Pure Ones statues; subtle differences could be seen upon close inspection. The statues had eerie smiles and were equipped with small arrays that absorbed merit and faith. On top of these was another small array that made people willingly offer their faith, which could make worshippers become completely absorbed.
The harm is not significant; it won't endanger lives. At most, it will distract worshippers from other matters and allow them to focus solely on their worship.
Yuan Qi made a hand seal and channeled spiritual energy into the statue, instantly destroying the formation. The statue then transformed into a small ceramic figure devoid of any magical power.
After doing all this, Yuan Qi used a teleportation talisman to return to Peony Residence.
The next morning, Xiangli Mingzhu got up, washed up, and went to pay her respects to the old lady. Afterwards, she had breakfast with Jiang Bailu and Jiang Songlu.
Jiang Bailu and Jiang Songlu were also very surprised, as their mother hadn't called them to have breakfast together for a month or so.
Jiang Bailu asked curiously, "Why isn't Mother in a hurry to worship the Three Pure Ones statue today?"
Xiangli Mingzhu then realized that she hadn't paid her respects to the statues today, and smiled, "That's right, it's not too late to pay respects after we finish eating."
Seeing that she was no longer obsessed with it, the two were very happy and told her about Jiang Juncai's marriage.
After having breakfast, Yuan Qi went to set up a stall under the big locust tree.
In just one morning, she saw five people carrying statues of the Three Pure Ones pass by. She casually made a hand seal and destroyed the formation inside without anyone noticing.
Wuji Palace is not far from here, and many people going to Wuji Palace have to pass through here.
Yuan Qi did these things simply because they were convenient.
She didn't think anything of it.
Around noon, Zhang Liu brought her another bowl of noodles, which she accepted without hesitation.
Before he had even finished his bowl of noodles, Yuan Qi noticed a young woman in a green satin dress standing in front of the stall, looking over at him.
She finished the rest of the noodles in a few bites and returned to the stall.
The young woman looked to be around twenty years old, with an ordinary appearance. Her belly was slightly protruding, suggesting she was about four months pregnant. She had a somewhat mean expression on her face, a faint ghostly aura about her, and a worried expression.
After a cursory glance at the woman's face, Yuan Qi discovered that she had the appearance of someone destined for many children and good fortune. Although she was sharp-tongued, she was not malicious. However, she was destined to a life of toil.
"Does Sister want her fortune told?" Yuan Qi pointed to the seat opposite him.
The young woman sat down, placed ten coins directly in front of Yuan Qi, and said bluntly, "Young Taoist priest, I feel there's a ghost in my house. Could you come and take a look?"
Yuan Qi smiled faintly: "Why do you feel like there's a ghost in your house, sister? Tell me about it."
The young woman was somewhat embarrassed. She looked back at the bustling street, which was very noisy, and people were giving her strange looks from time to time.
She was a little reluctant to say, "There are so many people coming and going here, let's talk somewhere else. I live in this area and I heard that the young Taoist priest is very powerful, so I came to find you. Do you want to come?"
Yuan Qi nodded and said, "Please lead the way, sister."
Yuan Qi had a sweet tongue and didn't call the woman "auntie," which pleased her greatly.
She stood up and introduced herself: "My name is Wang Douhua, and my husband's surname is also Wang. We are from the same village and have been married for more than three years. This year, my husband passed the imperial examination and is now working at the Hanlin Academy. We rented a small courtyard nearby, but things have been going badly ever since we moved in."
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