Chen Yaoguang probably would never have imagined that one day, at some inadvertent moment, in some completely unexpected way, he would suffer such humiliation in public.
He is young, but he has endured too much.
Ning Ning and He Zhizhou in the room exchanged a glance and politely asked the eldest young master of the Chen family: "Mr. Chen, do you need each of us to repeat what we did just now?"
Chen Yaoguang: ...
Get out of here! Do I need to repeat it again? Don’t you have any idea about it?
But he was a gentle and refined scholar after all, and he tried his best to hold back the curse stuck in his throat and curled his lips: "No need."
Then he moved to the side to make way for someone to enter the room, and his eyes wandered to the long swords that had not yet been unsheathed.
Very good, these people all have swords on their waists.
It turns out that this is the legendary swordsman, he is indeed extraordinary and lives up to his reputation.
Ningning thanked him and slowly walked into the house that was filled with the scent of medicinal herbs.
There was no light in the room, so in the misty and rainy weather, it inevitably seemed a little dim. The fog that broke in was shrouded in white smoke from the incense burner. The air was filled with cold air, silence, and darkness that spread quietly, creating a sense of unreality that was like a dream.
The carved wooden bed was covered with heavy black shadows. Outside the window, bamboo shadows were sparse. Occasionally, a few faint rays of light fell through the gaps, gradually illuminating the scene on the bed.
She saw a pale woman.
At first, I could only see a profile from a distance. In the dark room, the woman's fair skin looked like beautiful jade.
The darkness outlined her long hair that spread out like clouds and smoke, her straight and small nose bridge, and her lips as thin as paper. Even Ningning couldn't help but feel moved when she saw it, and secretly praised her as a beauty.
It was a pity that the beauty's complexion was as bad as her husband's. Unlike the latter, the young lady of the Chen family had a fever-like blush on her face, as if the evening sunset had been secretly stolen and dyed on her forehead and face.
Chen Lubai had told them that the young lady's name was "Zhao Yunluo", and she lived up to her name.
Sensing someone entering the room, Zhao Yunluo opened his eyes tiredly and tilted his head slightly from the pillow.
Her eyes were cloudy with pain and fatigue, without a trace of life in them, as if two pure black glass beads were randomly found and assembled on her face.
When he saw the stranger who suddenly broke in, he coughed lightly, and his emotion could not be heard: "Are you all here to exorcise demons?"
Zhao Yunluo behaved in a gentle and polite manner, so He Zhizhou also restrained his previous nonchalant appearance and smiled awkwardly: "Madam, you are mistaken. We just heard that strange things often happen in the mansion, so we thought of coming to investigate and see if there is anything fishy."
"Isn't it me who is the culprit in the Chen Mansion?"
She was not angry at all, and drooped her eyelashes with a bit of tiredness: "Sir, there is no need to hide it, I know what's going on."
"This matter has not yet been concluded. We have not determined that the young lady is a monster."
Ning Ning hurried forward to smooth things over: "It's just that now rumors are spreading everywhere. If the young lady wants to clear her suspicion, please cooperate."
Upon hearing this, Chen Yaoguang strode to the bedside and used his body to block Zhao Yunluo, still speaking impatiently: "My wife is not feeling well today, so I'm afraid I can't provide you with any clues."
"No problem, my husband."
Unexpectedly, it was Zhao Yunluo himself who took over his words, barely propped himself up from the bed and sat against the headboard. She coughed again, and the sickly red on her cheeks became more obvious. "It would be better if the misunderstanding could be resolved as soon as possible. If there is anything you want to know, please ask directly."
Zhao Yunluo's cooperation was beyond Ningning's expectations.
Chen Lubai beside her snorted and whispered to her: "This witch is pretending to be innocent again! Does she think that if she pretends to be harmless, no one will suspect her?"
He Zhizhou didn't hear these words. He already had some affection for this gentle and polite young girl in his heart: "Madam, have you ever been to the well in the middle of the night?"
"I have been afraid of the dark since I was a child."
Zhao Yunluo covered her chest and frowned slightly, her tone a little vague due to fatigue: "My husband also knows about this. I don't even dare to sleep alone at night, so how could I go to the well alone as the rumors say?"
Chen Lubai snorted again: "It's my sister-in-law who is afraid of the dark, not you."
He Zhizhou thought for a moment and then asked, "Then why did Madam fall seriously ill after the Taoist priest performed a ritual?"
There was a brief silence at this question.
Zhao Yunluo looked embarrassed, and he spoke again with some hesitation: "I don't know about this matter. After the ritual that day, everything was fine, but I woke up coughing up blood at night. From then on - cough! From then on, my condition became more and more serious. My husband also suffered from the same disease, and his health was getting worse day by day."
"But," seeing the woman on the bed coughing up blood again, He Zhizhou's tone softened a lot, "Madam, have you noticed anything wrong around you recently? Maybe--"
“That’s enough!”
Chen Yaoguang gently wiped the blood from the corner of her lips, stared at He Zhizhou and said in a deep voice: "Madam is seriously ill and can't bear the blow. But you have hurt her again and again. What is your intention!"
"Why are you so mean to me?"
He Zhizhou stiffened his neck and sternly said the most cowardly words in the most righteous tone: "Even if I really hurt your wife, you should also hurt my wife, so that we can be even. Every wrong has its perpetrator and every debt has its creditor, do you understand?"
God has a perpetrator for every wrong done and an owner for every debt owed.
Where did this logical genius come from?
Chen Yaoguang was furious and really didn't want to have any more entanglement with this person, so he immediately ordered them to leave: "My wife is not in good health. Since you have seen her as you wished, please go back."
He spoke with certainty, and the beauty in his arms was so delicate that even someone as thick-skinned as He Zhizhou could not find any excuse to stay.
Amidst the silence in the room, a clear girl's voice suddenly rang out from the corner.
—— Ningning took a few steps forward, with an ambiguous smile on her face, and took out a small bottle from her storage bag: "Brother He, you have finished your questions. I have another magic weapon here. Before I went down the mountain, my master gave me this bottle of demon-transforming water, saying that if you apply it on the skin, it will be the same as cold water for humans, but if demons and ghosts touch it, they will feel as if they are burned by fire and suffer unbearable pain."
Except for Pei Ji, the other two people who entered the pagoda together all looked extremely confused.
They had never heard of this "demon-transforming water". If there really was such a treasure, all the monster hunters in the world would be out of luck.
After all, when something strange happens, you can just sprinkle a bottle of it like a fairy scattering flowers, and there is no need to worry that the demons will not show up.
Chen Yaoguang also showed a somewhat confused look, and looked at his wife calmly. He heard Ning Ning's leisurely voice in his ear: "The demon-transforming water is very precious. I will drop a drop on the back of the young lady's hand to see her reaction. How about it?"
Zhao Yunluo looked at her husband, seemed to have made some kind of decision, pursed her lips and nodded.
So Ningning walked forward with the bottle.
She walked very quickly, the smell of medicine on her nose becoming stronger and stronger, and a wisp of white smoke rose up to the side, covering her long raven-black eyelashes.
Chen Yaoguang, who was sitting beside the bed, suddenly stretched out his right hand and said in a deep voice: "It is inconvenient for my wife to have contact with outsiders, so let me do the application of the medicine."
Ningning nodded and handed him the bottle.
At the moment when the two hands touched.
Perhaps because their vision was obscured by the hazy smoke, there was a brief misalignment in their movements. A slight mistake can lead to a huge difference. When Ningning let go of her hand, Chen Yaoguang had not yet held the bottle tightly. The small white round bottle rolled down, and a grayish-white liquid gushed out from the bottle mouth, a few drops of which splashed on the back of Chen Yaoguang's hand.
A loud and crisp sound.
The round bottle containing the demon-transforming water suddenly shattered.
"Mr. Chen!"
Ning Ning was shocked: "Are you okay?"
"This water is only effective against demons, so it has no effect on me."
Chen Yaoguang wiped away the water stains calmly and looked at the mess on the ground: "Sorry, I'm afraid the demon-transforming water..."
"It doesn't matter. Master said that this is a shortcut that is useless for cultivation. Now that it's broken, maybe God wants me to study hard and practice hard, and not always think about being clever."
Ningning didn't care much. She bent down to pick up the broken bottle when another slender arm suddenly appeared in front of her.
——Pei Ji came up to her at some point and helped her pick up the round bottle from the demon-transforming water with an expressionless face.
The appearance of the demon-transforming water is extremely strange. It is a pool of light gray and almost white liquid, but it seems to be boiling all the time like boiling water, and round bubbles are bulging one after another.
It is worthy of being a secret treasure of the immortals, and is completely different from the ordinary water used in the mortal world.
Just as Ningning said, the young man in black didn't show any change in expression even when he touched the liquid, as if he was just touching ordinary cold water, nothing special about it.
"The demon-transforming water is useless now. It seems we have to take a long-term approach."
Ning Ning raised her eyes and glanced at Pei Ji: "Then we will take our leave first. I hope you two take care of yourselves."
=====
"I'm so mad! I'm so mad!"
After leaving Chen Yaoguang's courtyard and sitting down in the reception room, Chen Lubai began to yell non-stop: "You are indeed a demon girl who has become a spirit. You actually tricked my brother into a loop!"
After a pause, he looked at Ningning with wide eyes again: "Miss Ning, in my opinion, brother must have deliberately broken your demon-transforming water - maybe he already knew that it was a monster, but he has been protecting her all along!"
"It's not impossible!"
He Zhizhou suddenly realized and took a big gulp of tea. "Look, even though he knew that his wife might be a monster, he still protected her against all odds, not letting anyone get close to her, and not allowing Taoist priests to perform rituals. Isn't this telling everyone clearly, 'Although I think she has problems, I won't let you mess things up and hurt her'!"
The storyteller Zheng Weiqi agreed with him immediately: "So that's it! This is definitely a love story between a human and a demon! Maybe from the very beginning, the one who fell in love with the young master was not Miss Zhao, but the painted demon who was wearing her painted skin. The two of them were humans and demons on different paths, but they finally became a couple after going through many hardships and dangers. Unexpectedly, one day when the painted demon went to the well to wash, the servant accidentally discovered the truth that had been hidden for a long time."
It was simply the cultivation version of flesh-colored silk and jacket, except that Master Chen coldly handed her a check from a bank and said expressionlessly, "Five million spirit stones, leave my son."
The two of them talked back and forth, and Chen Lubai's face changed after listening to them, and she slammed the table hard like a spoiled daughter.
"No! Even if they truly love each other, we can't keep that woman! You don't know that, in addition to my brother, my father and I are also getting worse and worse. Not only are we weak, but we are also very sleepy. If this continues, the entire Chen family will be finished!"
This is something that no one knows.
Humans and demons have different paths and are destined to be unacceptable to the world. How pitiful.
After hearing this, Zheng Weiqi calmed down and looked at her junior sister with some curiosity: "Ningning, what exactly is your demon-transforming water? How come I have never heard of it?"
Ning Ning was looking for something in her storage bag. She raised her eyes and looked at her. Although she responded, her answer was irrelevant: "Senior Sister, have you ever thought about this: if Chen Yaoguang really knew the true identity of Hua Mei, why would it sneak to the well to clean the painted skin?"
With just one simple sentence, they completely overturned their previous lengthy speeches.
The beautiful love story seemed to have become an unreliable bubble. Zheng Weiqi wanted to hear her continue to analyze it, but she saw Ning Ning took out a bottle of medicine from the storage bag and hooked her finger at Pei Ji beside her: "Stretch out your hand."
Pei Ji was holding the sword, his fingertips moved slightly when he heard the words, and he stretched out his arm stiffly with a little hesitation.
Seeing the state of his palm, Zheng Weiqi couldn't help but gasp.
Pei Ji's hands were slender, white, with distinct joints. Although they were covered with calluses from sword practice, they were still good-looking.
It's a pity that his right hand now seems to be burned, with a striking red color and slightly bulging blisters, which makes the hand look a bit hideous on the white jade palm of the young man.
"When I saw the demon-transforming water, I felt like I had seen it before."
He Zhizhou seemed to have thought of something, and his mouth opened wide: "Is it really what I think?"
"It's just what you think."
Ning Ning held the medicine bottle in one hand, and applied medicine on the tip of the index finger of the other hand, which she gently placed on Pei Ji's palm: "CaO+H2O=Ca(OH)2. Lime forms calcium hydroxide when it meets water, and it continues to release intense heat."
She paused after she finished speaking, and her fingertips brushed over Pei Ji's palm and fingertips in turn, her voice lowered: "You guessed it too?"
The girl's fingertips were incredibly soft, falling on the skin like cotton, bringing with them a cool ointment that greatly relieved the burning pain of the wound. Pei Ji looked down at the back of her white hand, not knowing whether it was itchy or painful, his fingers moved subconsciously.
Then he looked away and looked at the table on the other side: "Yeah."
"If it's just lime and water, anyone would get burned."
He Zhizhou stroked his chin, thinking: "But Chen Yaoguang acted so relaxed, doesn't this prove that he was deliberately lying?"
"There are three main suspicious points about the strange things happening in the Chen Mansion."
After Ningning finished applying the medicine, she habitually blew a breath of cold air into Pei Ji's hand, causing the latter's ears to feel hot and he retracted his arm stiffly.
Chengying was disappointed: "Are you still capable, Pei Ji? It was just a breath, is it necessary to have such a big reaction?"
Pei Ji didn't want to pay attention to it, and replied in his heart without changing his expression: "As for that."
"The first suspicious point is that the rumor that 'the young lady is a demon' spread because a servant went to the well late at night and witnessed her putting the painted skin into the well to wash it."
Ning Ning said, "But this is too much of a coincidence, isn't it? Let's not talk about why the two of them happened to meet each other like that. As a demon who had carefully considered replacing her original body, would Hua Mei really make such a low-level mistake as 'walking to the well and taking off her painted skin, and being accidentally seen by others'?"
“Yes.”
Zheng Weiqi nodded, not quite understanding: "If I were the Painted Demon, I would definitely not use such a dangerous method. Isn't it easy to clean the painted skin? After Chen Yaoguang leaves, get a basin of water and I can do it myself in the room."
"That's right. If we change our thinking, abandon our previous speculations, and look at the problem from another angle——"
Ningning paused, a hint of light flashed in her almond eyes: "What if the discovery of Hua Mei by the servant was not accidental, but intentional?"
This time it was He Zhizhou's turn to get impatient: "Did she do this on purpose? What's her purpose? Are you afraid that others don't know that she's a monster?"
But Ning Ning narrowed her eyes and smiled: "If the 'she' you are referring to is the young lady, then it is indeed true."
...Want to let others know that the young lady is a monster?
"You mean," he was stunned, "someone wants to frame someone?"
"Assuming that what the servant said is true, there must be a demon living in the house. As for who that demon is, we have to talk about the second doubt."
Ning Ning glanced at Pei Ji as she spoke, but she didn't expect that he was also looking at her indifferently, so she curled her lips and smiled, and continued: "According to Pei Ji, the painted skin that Hua Mei wears is painted according to the original body stroke by stroke. If the young lady has not been replaced, then in what capacity did Hua Mei come into contact with her to be so familiar with her appearance and paint her so vividly?"
"No, no."
He Zhizhou finally revealed a look of shock: "You mean... the person next to you?"
——Then wouldn’t that be Chen Yaoguang? !
"The third suspicious point."
Ning Ning made a “three” gesture and spoke slowly: “Although we have little contact with Chen Yaoguang himself, we can still find many things wrong from what his sister Chen Lubai said.”
Ever since Ningning started speaking, Chen Lubai's face turned pale. At this moment, her lips were trembling up and down, and when she heard her own name, she subconsciously took a step back.
"Yes! There is something that has puzzled me for a long time. Miss Chen said that although her brother loves his sister-in-law very much, after this incident, he has always refused to open the altar and even stopped all contact between outsiders and Zhao Yunluo."
Zheng Weiqi didn't think much about it and blurted out: "Isn't he worried at all that Zhao Yunluo is really a monster now, and his real wife is in danger?"
“That’s right!”
He Zhizhou nodded in agreement: "If you like someone, even if you trust her unconditionally, once you know that she is likely to be in danger, you will still find ways to investigate everything."
These two real singles are quick-witted and steady as old dogs when it comes to discussing the issue of love and not love.
"It is precisely because he has something to hide that he has kept his wife indoors. Why did he refuse to allow his family to visit him, and why did he not want to allow the monks to come in and investigate?"
Ning Ning pursed her lips and smiled: "On the surface, it seems that he doesn't want to disturb the lady's rest. But once this fig leaf is lifted, if someone accidentally finds out that it is him and not Zhao Yunluo who has the problem, then everything will be over."
She paused and took a sip of the Longjing tea on the table. "There are more clues. Remember what Miss Chen said? 'Dad took advantage of brother's absence and specially invited a Taoist priest to perform a ritual, but he did not find any trace of demons in the mansion.'"
This is definitely the most important piece of evidence and a very obvious hint.
Since there is indeed a monster in the house, and the Taoist priest has not noticed any clues——
He Zhizhou was shocked: "It is precisely because he is not here... that we cannot find the whereabouts of the demon!"
Zheng Weiqi's face darkened. "Also, when Senior Brother He asked Young Madam about something strange recently, Chen Yaoguang interrupted the conversation in a hurry. Perhaps... he was afraid that Young Madam would mention his recent abnormality and expose his identity."
"In other words, the one who was replaced by Hua Mei was not Zhao Yunluo, but Chen Yaoguang, the eldest young master of the Chen Mansion."
Ning Ning glanced at Chen Lubai's dejected face and continued, "The painted ghost brings disaster to a place, often causing the original person's family to be destroyed. He first transformed into Chen Yaoguang's appearance, and then painted a face that was exactly the same as the young lady's, putting all the suspicion on her. When the time comes, Zhao Yunluo will be unable to defend himself, and he and Master Chen and Miss Chen will be sucked of their yang energy by it and die of exhaustion..."
"By then, he will be the only one left in the Chen family. How can anyone tell that he is not the real eldest young master Chen Yaoguang?"
As the words slowly fell to the ground, everyone present felt a chill down their spine.
The monster that they had been trying so hard to find had been lurking nearby, and everyone had a close conversation with it not long ago.
For Zhao Yunluo who is lying on the sickbed, the man who loves her so much actually has evil intentions. He seems to be taking good care of her, but in fact, every move he makes is pushing her to death.
When one thinks that beneath the thin skin so close at hand, there is actually such a scheming and murderous skeleton hidden, it is hard to suppress the tingling of one's scalp.
"I was just suspicious, without any concrete evidence. So I took advantage of the time when He Zhizhou attracted Chen Yaoguang's attention, took out lime from the storage bag and mixed it with water, and made up the lie of the so-called 'demon-transforming water'."
Ning Ning took another sip of water. "As a painted spirit, Chen Yaoguang will definitely not let me use the demon-transforming water on Zhao Yunluo. After all, once it is proven that she is not a demon, the spearhead will turn to other people in the mansion, which will be very disadvantageous to him."
"So you guessed he would break the bottle on purpose! You fucking—"
Zheng Weiqi swallowed the next words and considered her words: "You are really talented, Junior Sister! If he has nothing to hide, he will tell us immediately after being burned. But if he is hiding something from us, he will deliberately act as if nothing happened!"
Ning Ning nodded: "He thought he had escaped with his acting skills, but he actually stepped into the trap. In order to make Chen Yaoguang believe that the water would not harm mortals, I was going to pick up the bottle, but I didn't expect Pei Ji to..."
She paused, not knowing whether to laugh or cry: "Thank you. It hurts, right?"
"Little Junior Brother, did you actually understand Ning Ning's intention?"
Zheng Weiqi exclaimed, "You two can think of the same thing. You two are destined to be together."
Chengying was so proud: "Keep praising me, keep praising me. I love to hear it."
"But Hua Mei's move is too mean!"
He Zhizhou was very indignant: "He caused a good family to be suspicious of each other and hate each other, but he kept pretending to be the victim. If he is not exposed, maybe one day the Chen family will be destroyed and others will think he is the most pitiful one."
"These evil spirits that eat human blood rarely have any conscience."
Zheng Weiqi smiled and raised her voice, "Don't you agree? Master Chen. You've been eavesdropping outside the door for so long, isn't it time to come in and take a rest?"
The shock on Chen Lubai's face had not yet faded. Hearing this, he quickly raised his head and looked towards the door.
The wooden door was pushed open with a bang by Zheng Weiqi's spiritual power. Chen Yaoguang, who was standing outside the door, had a sullen face and bloodshot eyes. There was no trace of his elegant and easy-going temperament left.
"So what if you see through it?"
Chen Yaoguang smiled coldly, and his body actually made a dry sound of bones rubbing against each other. The mask began to show wrinkles like paper soaked in water. The wrinkles became longer and more numerous, and finally fell off completely, revealing the skeleton wrapped in layers of painted skin.
His voice also became neither male nor female, and it was hard to tell whether it was male or female. Rather than a human voice, it sounded more like the harsh noise of gold, silver, and iron colliding with each other: "You are a bunch of rats! Now that you have seen my true form, don't even think about leaving!"
[I didn’t expect Hua Mei to reveal her true form directly, and everyone was shocked!
The demon looked ferocious and murderous, as cruel as an Asura in purgatory. The same thought flashed through the minds of several people present: If we can't defeat him, we will definitely die without a burial today——]
Before the last word "地" was finished, the narration fell into an embarrassing freeze again.
It's really annoying.
Can you guys make it read the lines smoothly? !
——The young man in black who was originally sitting at the table suddenly stood up. When he drew his sword and raised his hand, a cold light pierced through the misty rain.
Pei Ji was very fast, and compared to the foolishly laughing Hua Mei, the fierce aggressiveness around him was even more intense.
The long sword was unsheathed and pointed directly at the vital point of the demon outside the door, bringing up wisps of sword wind as sharp as a blade. Hua Mei never expected that this man's murderous intent was even more terrifying than her own. Her face changed for a moment. As she had no time to dodge, she could only dodge to the side in panic.
Pei Ji seemed to have anticipated his action. He stretched out his other hand and grabbed the skeleton's throat fiercely, pressing it against the long pillar beside the corridor without any explanation.
Hua Mei was so confused.
Clearly according to Chen Lubai, this group of people were just from small sects, and one could tell at a glance that they had no abilities and were just coming down the mountain to make a living.
But what is the situation now?
Who is he, where is he, what is he going to do.
"explain."
Pei Ji's brows were filled with murderous intent and coldness, and his voice was equally cold, like a real villain boss who would take his head with a sword if he was not satisfied with anything: "Where is the real Chen Yaoguang?"
The narrator was silent for a long time.
As if to save his remaining face, that familiar male voice sounded again.
[I didn’t expect Pei Ji to draw his sword and stand up. Hua Mei was horrified!
Seeing that sword cultivator had a ferocious look and murderous intent, he was as cruel as a Shura from hell. Hua Mei couldn't help but have a thought flash through her mind: If I can't satisfy him, I will die without a burial place today! ］
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