Chapter 87 Kaifeng Weird Things
Before the carriage reached the gate of the Yi family mansion, the tablet that was quietly held in the arms of Old Madam Yi began to tremble, as if to convey some information to the outside. Yaya, who was sleeping inside, frowned uneasily, but could not wake up because of the suppression of ghosts during the day.
She is still too weak.
Madam Yi, who was holding the tablet, was the first to notice its trembling. She immediately called out to Mr. Yi, who was pacing outside the door: "Bo Yuan, come quickly! Ya Ya!"
They all thought that Yaya wanted something, so she used the shaking of the tablet to tell them. However, when the two old people came to the tablet and stared at it without blinking, calling out their granddaughter's nickname from time to time, the tablet stopped shaking.
Just when the two elders were thinking hard about whether this was what their granddaughter wanted, someone from the gatehouse came and said that the young master had returned.
After saying this, the servant who came to deliver the message hesitated for a long time before saying the rest of the words.
"The one who came back with the young master... was not the lady."
Madam Yi then responded as if struck by lightning: "Bo Yuan!"
Mr. Yi's expression was as ugly as hers. He held his wife's wrist and whispered, "Madam, Yaya is probably reminding us."
Reminder of what?
That murderous woman is here!
Madam Yi's face turned pale, and her wrist, which was held by her husband, trembled non-stop. She was half angry and half sad: "Not only that, not only that..."
Only now did she realize something that had been overlooked.
How could Yaya come here alone? In the past, she would only get on the carriage if Hengniang brought her here. Even when Ke'er said she wanted to carry her on a horse, she refused. She just couldn't remember her mother.
What about this time?
This time will certainly be the same as before.
But what about Heng Niang? !
Where did Heng Niang go?
Thinking of Yaya, Mrs. Yi almost couldn't catch her breath.
If it was really that woman who killed Yaya, then Heng Niang would be dead!
The couple looked at each other and saw the anger and fear in each other's eyes. If they knew that Ke'er would arrive today, they should have asked the fairy to stay last night. At the very least... at the very least, they should have asked the fairy to give them a magic weapon to protect them...
Now that the person has entered the house, it is too late for them to regret. The most urgent thing is to hide Yaya's body and the tablet and never let that woman find them!
Mr. Yi called his loyal servants and ordered them to do it immediately and quietly, and make sure Miss Sun was properly hidden.
Afterwards, he and Madam Yi tidied their appearances and looked at each other for a moment. After making sure that there was no trace of flaws on their faces, the two elders walked to the front hall hand in hand as if they were going to die.
When they arrived at the front hall, although the two elders were prepared, after seeing their son greeting them, the sudden grief almost broke their decades of patience.
Their son...is this still their son?
It looks flawless, but in fact, it is flawed everywhere! This is the child they have raised for more than 30 years, how could they not recognize and distinguish it!
Even if the person in front of them is their real child, I'm afraid... he won't be able to escape the clutches of this woman!
Mr. Yi's eyes were slightly red, and he and his wife turned their heads away, pretending to be angry at his son for taking a concubine and bringing the concubine home, and refused to look at them again.
"Go back to your yard! You unfilial son, Master Li has cultivated you with great care, but you treat Heng Niang like this! During the Mid-Autumn Festival, you didn't bring your wife and daughter back home to reunite with your elders, but actually, actually..."
He supported his wife, who seemed to be so angry that she had a headache, and turned her back. He swung his sleeves and scolded: "You can lose face, but your mother and I can't! We will go to Lord Li to apologize in a while, and you and this...you stay in your own yard and are not allowed to come out! Do you hear me!"
Yi Ke never dared to go against his parents' wishes, so he had to agree meekly and returned to his own courtyard with his fragile concubine.
The servants standing guard outside the front hall hung their heads, not daring to speak in private. As soon as the young master and the concubine left, the old master and the old mistress' angry curses and the sound of cups being smashed could be heard from the front hall.
Although the master and the old lady were tolerant of the servants, no one dared to step forward and offend them at this moment. Didn’t you see the butler shrink his neck and retreat?
About half a cup of tea later, the old man and the old lady came out one after another, both looking unhappy.
The official who had returned hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Master, Madam, the carriage is ready."
The two elders got on the carriage and headed straight for Li Tongpan's official residence.
The joy when the eldest son married the only daughter of the magistrate was still vivid in his mind, but now, only a few years have passed, and the vow of lifelong marriage made in front of his parents and guests has been broken so easily.
Mr. Yi and Mrs. Yi were ashamed and embarrassed to open their teeth, but they could not just pretend to be deaf and dumb. They could only sacrifice their old face and apologize to their in-laws.
In the backyard, Zhi Ji was lying on a noble concubine couch made of lychee wood, with one hand supporting her head and the other hand on her knee. Yi Ke was kneeling in front of the couch, trimming her nails.
This imperial concubine couch made of lychee wood was not exquisite enough, but Yi Ke spent several months asking a carpenter for advice and made it for his wife himself.
But now, its only owner is no longer in this world, and the murderer who killed it has occupied it openly and described it as "inferior goods".
“Cluck, cluck…”
The baby ghost, which only Zhiji could see, crawled towards her on all fours, hiding from the sunlight, and reported everything it saw to its "master" with high and low cries.
After hearing this, Zhi Ji sneered: "You old fool, you still dare to look down on me... I will eat you first!"
Upon hearing that the first person to be eaten was a good person with merit, the baby ghost shrank back for a moment, but was soon dominated by his insatiable greed. His smelly saliva dripped onto the floor, corroding several holes in it.
Evil spirits will not touch good people with great merits. Eating such people will increase their sins, and eventually their merits will backfire on them, causing them to be torn into pieces and their souls to scatter.
But evil spirits are different. All they think about is eating, eating, and eating.
Unless they are the sons of destiny favored by Heaven, the destiny recognized by Heaven can kill them.
Except for the Son of Fortune, everyone else can be food. It doesn't matter if they are backfired by virtue. The energy emitted by the fragments can heal them, as long as they come back in time before being completely shattered by virtue.
…
As soon as Mr. Yi and Madam Yi got off the carriage, they entered the mansion without stopping. Li Tongpan took off his official robe, but before he even walked into the front hall, he saw the two relatives-in-law walking in a hurry.
Li Tongpan was shocked: "Oh, Brother Yi, brother and sister-in-law, what are you doing..."
He was about to ask why he was so anxious, but Yi Yuanwai grabbed his hand and said in a very low voice, which seemed to indicate that a storm was about to come: "Shuhe, there is a ghost!"
The words "there are ghosts" instantly brought Li Tongpan's thoughts back to the morning not long ago when those women and children told him in no uncertain terms that there were ghosts and immortals in the world.
He still remembered the name of the immortal they had told him - Kakabai De.
As soon as the conversation started, Mr. Yi told Li Tongpan everything in rapid succession.
He had thought about speaking slowly on the way, but the closer he got to the Tongpan's residence, the more panicked he became, as if something terrible was about to happen.
So when he got off the car, he looked at his wife and changed his mind.
Upon hearing the bad news, Li Tongpan's eyes rolled back and he was about to faint. Yi Yuanwai and the official who always followed their master supported him in time from both sides.
But after all, his foundation in his youth was too good, and even when he was old, he did not forget to practice a set of Five Animal Exercises every day. Li Tongpan felt dizzy for a while, and was awakened by Yi Yuanwai who pinched his Ren Zhong point.
The three old men all had red eyes and tears were streaming down their cheeks.
Just when the three were about to burst into tears, the gateman of Li's mansion came and said that two knights had come to the gate of the mansion. One of them was Guard Zhan from Kaifeng Prefecture, and he had a token as proof.
Li Tongpan's eyes lit up, his hands trembled, and his voice was filled with obvious sadness: "Please come in quickly!"
These bad things seem to happen in clusters.
Before Li Tongpan could fully recover from the tragic news that his granddaughter was dead and his only daughter's life or death was unknown, Zhan Zhao, whom he regarded as his savior and slayer, dealt him a fatal blow.
His daughter was dead. It was his dead daughter who brought Zhan Zhao and Bai Yuting here from the mountains hundreds of miles away overnight. The person who killed his daughter was the concubine suspected by Mr. Yi and Mrs. Yi.
Not only that, his daughter also asked the two knights to tell him that the woman was not Yi Ke's concubine at all. She was a witch who came from nowhere and had the ability to drive away ghosts. From the moment she entered the gate of Fengyang County, she had set her sights on Yi Ke, the county magistrate.
The evil woman used countless tricks, but seeing that her beauty trap could not lure Yi Ke into falling for her, she came up with a plan of self-torture and sold herself to save her father.
That day, Yi Ke accompanied his wife and daughter to go out for a trip. When he passed by, he saw that she looked pitiful, but because she was just out for sightseeing and had no money with her, he asked the servant who accompanied them to take her back home to get some silver so that she could treat her father.
Who knew that with this one trip, the entire Fengyang County would fall into her hands!
After Yi Ke and his family of three returned home, they were forcibly separated by ghosts before they could react.
Li Hengniang watched helplessly as a fist-sized ghost drilled into her husband's body. After a painful struggle, when Yi Ke opened her eyes again, he was no longer her husband.
And the subsequent letters were all written by Yi Ke after she was possessed by the ghost. The letters written by Li Hengniang to persuade Mr. Yi and Mrs. Yi were actually to save her husband's life. That evil woman was not a patient person at all.
The three of them were imprisoned in the mansion, not allowed to go in or out, and could only vaguely hear screams coming from outside.
李衡娘抱着年幼懵懂的女兒，一面害怕，一面想方設法企圖自救。
可她到底只是一個尋常女子，不懂武功，更不懂玄門術法，如何能從這驅使鬼物的妖女手中逃走？
李衡娘也不知道過去了多久，忽有一日，那妖女使鬼來拖她和女兒，什麽也不說就将她們關進了馬車裏。
趕車的人是她的仆人，她還未出嫁時就跟随她的人。
李衡娘明白，這滿府的人都已經成了這妖女的傀儡，就像她的丈夫一樣。
馬車外面很安靜，或者說死寂一片，抱着女兒控制不住顫抖的李衡娘聞到了腐爛的氣味。這種氣味她并不陌生，她曾随父親外出查案，是見過死人的。
她不敢再想，更不敢伸手去掀開那搖搖晃晃的車簾。
馬車只在夜裏停下，那妖女許是不想她們死在半路，每天會在這個時候給她們一些吃食，允許她們在鬼物的監視下行動片刻。
第七個晚上，縮在她懷裏的女兒悄悄告訴她，那個女人有一顆黑色的珍珠，那些鬼物都會盯着那顆珍珠看。
李衡娘立刻意識到，那顆黑色的珍珠或許就是那妖女驅使鬼物的法寶。
她不知道他們将會被帶到哪裏去，看着日漸消瘦的女兒，她心中陡然升起了一股勇氣——她要去偷那顆珍珠。
李衡娘伏低做小好幾日，終于能夠近那妖女的身，但結果……
視“珍珠”如命的枝姬怎麽可能讓她得手？
顯形的鬼物監視着她們，那不顯形的鬼物呢？
鬼無處不在。
最終，李衡娘被群鬼咬死了，她的女兒則在她還活着的時候，就在她面前，被她夫君的忠仆慢慢掐死了。
她們一個被抛屍荒野，一個被帶到百裏外的山中湖泊沉湖，枝姬使了些手段，讓她們成為了地縛靈。
如不出意外，母女二人此生都不會再見了。
可意外也是這樣處處都在，從天而降的地獄主宰撈起丫丫，身負強大氣運的白玉堂破壞了困住李衡娘的陣法，讓她得以顯形，而身為氣運之子的展昭則給了這個陣法致命一擊。
母女二人回到了同一座城，回到了她們的親人身邊。
這便是李衡娘和丫丫的故事。
死後的李衡娘滿腔恨意，比之年幼懵懂的丫丫，她已經半只腳踏進了惡靈的預備役。
而比她還要兇狠數十倍的惡靈有很多，它們都跟着枝姬走進了南鄉的城門。
展昭猜測，枝姬不殺易珂，很可能是因為易珂是她進入南鄉的關鍵。
李衡娘也給了他佐證這猜測的證據。
變成鬼之後的李衡娘很懼怕當官的人，尤其是一身正氣為人清正的好官。
易珂也是一個好官，上任以來從未苛待百姓，也未曾判過冤假錯案。
因此在枝姬沒有控制住易珂之前，她什麽都沒做，而等她控制了易珂之後，能夠阻礙她的已經消失了。
在李衡娘眼中，這座城池被一道淡淡的金光所籠罩，她本是進不來的，但是——這道金光的源頭是她的父親，依着血脈，她從水裏潛入了她的家。
後一半是展昭和白玉堂不知道，李衡娘沒有告訴他們自己接下來想做什麽。
李通判和易員外夫婦聽完後哭得不能自已，就在白玉堂頻頻向展昭使眼色，示意他說點什麽勸勸人的時候，書房的窗外響起了啪嗒啪嗒的水聲。
——是汲滿了水的腳步聲。
展昭和白玉堂才要起身去查看，就聽窗外傳來了一個熟悉的女聲:“爹、爹爹……我回來了……”
李通判登時跳了起來，動作竟比屋內兩個年輕人還要敏捷，他幾乎是撲到窗前去的，聲音哽咽，眼淚止不住地淌下來。
“衡娘，是你嗎？我苦命的女兒，是你回來了嗎？”
說着，他就要把窗戶打開。
一只手啪的一下印在了窗戶紙上，那一塊立刻被水暈濕漉。
李衡娘在拒絕:“別看、別看，醜……”
她知道自己的死相很難看，她不想吓到自己的父親，還有視自己如親女的公婆。
可做父母的怎麽會嫌棄自己的孩子面目恐怖？
李通判推了兩下，沒有推開，方回過神來，知曉了女兒的意願。
他隔着一扇窗戶，哭得幾近昏厥。
易員外和易老夫人疊聲地問她疼不疼，告訴她丫丫已經回家了，是一位仙人救了丫丫，讓她不必擔心。
聽到這裏，不想打擾他們相聚的展昭和白玉堂對視了一眼，默契地提取到了一個關鍵詞。
——仙人。
這世上竟有這樣巧的事？
二人耐心地等待。
等到三老心情漸漸平複下來，窗外的李衡娘也在父親的極力勸說下進了房門，遠遠地坐在角落裏，長發覆面，說什麽也不肯将頭發撥開。
她感到饑餓。
書房內除了這兩個她不敢碰的人以外，她竟然對自己的父親和公婆産生了強烈的食欲。
這使她的頭腦越發混亂，她在極力地控制着，想丫丫，回想生前的所有美好，才能勉強這股強烈的食欲控制住。
如果她失控了呢？
那她就去求那位藍衣的公子殺了她。
白玉堂看了她幾眼，頂在刀锷上的拇指收了回去。
展昭問道:“易員外，您所說的仙人是？”
易員外聲音沙啞，咳了兩聲，才道:“說來慚愧啊，老夫活了五十餘年，不識仙人尊駕，亦不知仙人名諱。可惜仙人昨夜送丫丫回來，随後便離去了，不然……”
他們還能厚着臉皮去求一求仙人。
這次發問的是白玉堂:“這位仙人可是一身黑衣，十分貌美的女仙？”
易員外和易老夫人一驚:“白少俠怎知？”
展昭笑道:“這位仙人也救過展某和白兄。”
世上果然沒有這麽巧的事，救了丫丫的仙人正是那位從天而降的黑衣女子。
“竟有如此緣分？”李通判終于舍得将目光從女兒身上移開，他看向展昭二人，“展護衛，白少俠，你們可知這位仙人究竟是何方神聖？我于六日前安置了三十餘名被拐賣的女子和幼童，他們也說自己是被一位仙人救下的，那位仙人還曾留下名諱……”
李通判還未說完，便被白玉堂打斷，他問道:“可是‘珈珈百德’？”
李通判眼前一亮，似是找到了破局之法:“正是啊！”
展昭慢慢吐出一口氣，眼底有些許恍然。
三位仙子，俱是一人。
都在救人……
他忽覺自己當日的警惕實在不該，這樣一位救人性命的仙子，他如何敬重都不為過，怎麽就生出了懷疑警惕來？就因為這位仙子實在過于威嚴赫赫？
不該，不該啊。
“嗬嗬……”
進門後就安靜下來的李衡娘忽然發出急切的聲音。
幾人都朝她看去。
只見她從袖子裏伸出一只傷痕累累的手來，彎折着指向門外:“太陽、要落山了……快……惡鬼，夜晚……妖女會來，爹爹，躲起來……”
太陽一落山，就是惡鬼的天下了。
而枝姬……
話音還未落在地上，李衡娘猛的從凳子上跳了起來，她四肢着地，對着書房大門發出刺耳的低吼聲，就快要凝成實質的鬼氣從她體內溢出，圍繞着她形成了一圈類似于盾的形狀。
“大人，姑爺來了。”
官家在外面禀告。
——枝姬來了！
噌！
白玉堂頂開了手中寶刀，躁動不安的李衡娘回頭看了他一眼，又看了看要上前來的父親，她嗬嗬喘了兩下，退回了角落裏。
李通判咬着牙走到門前，刷的一下将房門打開。
頭頂的天空在半個時辰前分明還是晴空萬裏的模樣，此刻卻已經被滾滾烏雲籠罩，似乎有一場瓢潑大雨就要來臨。
無論枝姬要做些什麽，都繞不開這座城的父母官李通判。她利用李通判的女婿易珂敲響了李府的大門，只要李通判允許她踏入大門，南鄉……就會變成第二個奉楊縣。
“李大人。”
展昭上前一步，将李通判推進了書房裏，驟然掀起的大風吹起了他天藍色的衣擺，與一旁同樣被吹得東搖西晃的白色衣擺交疊在一起。
“您與二老待在書房不要出來，且讓展某和白兄會一會這位……”
他看了一眼不知何時攀爬到牆上的李衡娘，唇邊揚起的弧度與白玉堂極為相似。
“驅使惡鬼的邪士。”
他與白玉堂跨出書房，身後緊跟着殺氣四溢的李衡娘，房門合上，裏面是護衛這座城的“盾”。
府門外，挽着易珂胳膊的枝姬直勾勾地盯着緊閉的大門，她的左右、身後，盤踞着上百惡鬼，每一個都極為兇狠可怖形狀奇異。
它們緊盯着看似脆弱實則堅固的府門，從喉嚨裏、腹腔中發出迫不及待的嘶吼，此時此刻，它們的腦子裏只剩下了一個念頭——
進食！