Chapter 1: Being kicked out of the house. He burst into tears and looked around in panic...
"Five stars suppress the light, illuminating the dark, thousands of gods and saints, protect my true soul!"
The sharp and artificial chanting mixed with the rapid and piercing sound of copper bells was like countless needles piercing Pei Yixue's temples.
He suddenly woke up from the chaos, his chest was burning, and every breath was accompanied by dull pain. His vision blurred for a moment, and then he saw clearly in front of him: the low wooden beams were old, and the windows covered with yellow paper let in dim light. The air was filled with a faint smell of mold and... the bitter smell of herbs.
This wasn't a hospital. It wasn't even the world he was familiar with.
Fragmented memories instantly flooded into my mind - the blinding lights, the deafening sound of brakes, the weightlessness of being thrown by the huge impact force... and more unfamiliar fragments: the life of a boy named Pei Yixue who lived a humble and painful life. A tragic male supporting role? A medical family? Being expelled by design? Not long for his death?
"...Where can this monster hide!" A loud shout from outside interrupted his thoughts.
This was followed by the chaotic sound of roosters flapping their wings, the sound of messy footsteps and the sound of bells getting closer and closer, heading straight for this remote courtyard.
"Bang!" The door was kicked open roughly.
The cold wind blew in, causing Pei Yixue's body wrapped in a thin blanket to tremble. His throat felt itchy and he couldn't help coughing a few times.
At the door, a man in a bright yellow Taoist robe and holding a peach wood sword was pointing the tip of the sword at him, with a look of pretended majesty and fear on his face: "I am following the order of the Supreme Lord Lao, and I am opening my eyes to see the inside and outside of you. If you don't summon the evildoer here quickly!"
Behind the Taoist priest, the Pei mansion's servants crowded in, all of them stretched their necks, with different expressions, curiosity, surprise, gloating... It was like they were watching a carefully choreographed monkey show.
Mrs. Pei stood a little ahead, her hair full of pearls and jade sparkling in the morning light, with a barely perceptible sneer on the corner of her mouth.
Pei Yixue half-raised himself, the dull pain in his chest slowing him down. He glanced coldly at the group of people at the door, especially the clown-like Taoist priest.
According to the memories integrated in his mind, the purpose of this absurd drama was obvious - to put an ominous label on this annoying "sickly guy" and kick him out with justification.
He raised the corners of his mouth silently, with a hint of mockery. The miraculous doctor was reincarnated as a male supporting role who was about to die? This old illness... Would the King of Hell really dare to take him?
Sooner or later, he would have to leave the Pei family, but how to leave was up to him. Kick him out of the house? How could that be enough? What he wanted was to cut off everything, completely.
His fingertips casually rubbed an inconspicuous herb by the windowsill, and as he stood up, he gently brushed across her Taoist robe. Then, slowly, his eyes swept across Madam Pei's luxurious clothes.
"Ahem..." He suppressed the sweet smell in his throat. His voice was weak after being sick, but it was clearly heard by everyone. "Please ask grandpa, grandma and father to come over."
In the living room, the atmosphere was so solemn that it seemed as if water could be squeezed out of it.
Sitting on the sandalwood chairs were the current leaders of the Pei family. Pei Jun, his nominal father, had a sullen face and tapped his fingers on the armrests in annoyance; Old Madam Pei twisted her Buddhist beads and sighed; Madam Pei raised her chin, looking righteous and awe-inspiring, as if she was ready to sacrifice her own relatives for the sake of justice.
Only Liao Qiubai, the protagonist that the original owner was madly in love with, stood beside Mrs. Pei, with just the right amount of worry and reluctance in his eyes.
Pei Yixue walked in with heavy steps, each step felt like walking on cotton, with fine sweat oozing from his forehead. He leaned against the door frame to catch his breath for a while, then slowly walked down to the hall. His frail appearance made Old Madam Pei's eyes look even more pitiful.
"Yixue..." Old Madam Pei spoke in a sad voice, "Grandma knows that you have been wronged. But for the safety of dozens of people in the Pei family, for your grandmother's old bones, and for... to prevent the child Qiubai from being implicated... you just... you just agree to it, right? Ah? Leave the Pei family and find a secluded place to recuperate..." As she spoke, a few tears squeezed out of her turbid old eyes.
Pei Jun slapped the armrest fiercely, making a loud "pa" sound, which made the teacup jump. "You evil creature! Didn't you hear your grandmother talking to you? Are you deaf or dumb? I raised you up, but you don't have any manners at all!"
Pei Yixue raised his pale face and watched their double act calmly. The trace of grief that belonged to the original owner in his chest just emerged, but was crushed by his own deeper cold disgust.
He spoke slowly, his voice was not loud, but extremely clear: "Yesterday the Bodhisattva told me in a dream that I was the reincarnation of the Golden Immortal, not an ominous body. Yixue, I dare not admit this crime." He glanced at the Taoist priest in yellow robe who was standing in the corner, his expression seemed a little dazed.
“Asshole!” Madam Pei seemed to have been stepped on. She stopped twisting her Buddhist beads and pointed at Pei Yixue with her hand shaking in anger. “How dare you tarnish the reputation of the gods and Buddhas! Are you going to kill the entire Pei family?!”
"Every word Yixue said is true." He said in a calm tone.
Mrs. Pei raised her head, with a look of grief and indignation of being insulted on her face: "The Taoist priest is highly respected and well-known far and wide, how could he slander you for no reason? Don't try to quibble anymore..." She didn't finish her words.
"Ah! Monster, monster!!" The yellow-robed Taoist priest in the corner suddenly let out a shrill scream, as if he had seen a ghost. He stared at Madam Pei in horror, his eyes bulging, his body shaking like a sieve, and he stepped back repeatedly, tripping over the door sill and falling heavily to the ground with a plop.
"Master? What's wrong with you?" Mrs. Pei was startled and subconsciously took a step forward to help.
As she moved, in the eyes of the Taoist priest, her body suddenly twisted and stretched, and a thick, black, smelly black aura surged around her, and her fangs and claws were looming! The Taoist priest was terrified and crawled backwards using his hands and feet, mumbling incoherently: "Don't come over! Monster! Man-eating monster! Help! Great Immortal, save me!!!"
Tears streamed down his face as he frantically scanned the people in the hall, then suddenly fixed his gaze on Pei Yixue - in the Taoist's confused vision at this moment, the frail young man was actually emitting a soft and holy golden light, like a god!
"Great Immortal! Great Immortal, help me!" The Taoist priest seemed to have grabbed the last straw, and he rolled and crawled to Pei Yixue's feet, hugging his calves tightly, "It's her! It's all because of this evildoer! She brought fifty taels of gold to me and asked me to slander you, the Great Immortal, as an ominous monster! She wants to harm your practice, Great Immortal! Please cast a spell to put an end to this disaster!!"
The sudden change made the entire living room silent in an instant.
Madam Pei turned pale and screamed, "You are slandering me! You are talking nonsense!"
Liao Qiubai also stepped forward at the right time, frowning, looking at Pei Yixue with eyes full of disappointment and heartache: "Yixue...how could you be so foolish? Colluding with outsiders to frame mother like this? Mother treated you..."
Pei Yixue struggled to pull his legs out of the Taoist's shackles. The surging blood in his body made his eyes go dark. He suppressed his discomfort, coldly glanced at Liao Qiubai's hypocritical face, and finally looked at Pei Jun, whose face was ashen and whose chest was heaving violently:
"She was the one who invited this Taoist priest. How can you say that he is slandering her?" His voice was slightly hoarse due to his weakness, but it had an unquestionable penetrating power.
"Rebellious son!" Pei Jun was completely furious. He picked up the gold-painted teacup on the table and smashed it hard!
Pei Yixue was prepared and tried his best to dodge sideways. The teacup brushed past his sleeve and smashed to pieces on the ground. This violent movement exhausted his last bit of strength. He held on to the back of the chair next to him, panting rapidly, coughing heartbreakingly, and his pale cheeks flushed with a sickly red.
I can't keep wasting time like this. This body won't last much longer.
He raised his hand and wiped the blood foam from his lips with his sleeve. He spoke with heavy breathing but very clearly:
"Let's settle this mess today. I'm leaving Pei Mansion. From now on, we owe each other nothing."
Pei Jun stared at him fiercely: "Account? What account? The Pei family has supported you for more than ten years! What else do you want?"
"Support me?" Pei Yixue coughed twice as if he had heard a huge joke. His eyes were as sharp as ice blades. "Master Pei, why don't you calculate the inheritance left by my mother's Wang family? The cost of buying those prosperous shops and pharmacies in the east of the city, the extravagant expenses of the Pei family in the past ten years... converted into silver, no less than one million taels, which one didn't come from the Wang family?"
He looked at Pei Jun's face, which suddenly changed color, and his voice became colder. "As for the cost of raising me... For twelve years, my nurse and I have been eating simple meals every day, barely filling our stomachs. Our clothes have been patched up year after year, and we have never received a penny of monthly salary. How much can we spend in a year? Fifty taels is enough to make us die! Twelve years, six hundred taels of silver, the Pei family can just check the accounts!"
He paused, feeling the pain in his chest like a knife twisting his chest, and took a breath. He glanced at the faces in the hall that had suddenly lost their color:
"Today I will use this one million taels of silver to redeem my, Pei Yixue's freedom, and buy out this so-called 'grace of giving birth to me'. From now on, I will have no ties with the Pei family, and we will have nothing to do with each other in life or death! Please ask the elders to witness, expel my name, and draft a letter of severance! Otherwise..." His eyes fell on the Taoist priest with a pale face, "Otherwise, this shocking scandal of this evildoer misleading the people and murdering the legitimate son will spread throughout Xitang County tomorrow!" The last sentence was loud and clear.
The living room was dead silent, with only Mrs. Pei's suppressed, curse-like sobs and Pei Jun's heavy breathing being heard.
The letter of severance was finally written quickly. The Pei family members pressed their handprints harder than ever, as if they were trying to shake off some terrible plague god.
Back in the cold and simple room in the side courtyard, wet nurse Li had just returned from outside. When she heard the bad news, her eyes immediately turned red. She cursed the Pei family for being ungrateful and unscrupulous, and grabbed a broom to rush out and fight.
Pei Yixue almost used up his last bit of strength to stop her. He leaned against the cold and mottled earth wall and stuffed the jade pendant, which was regarded as a "token" by the protagonist and treasured by the original owner, into Li's hand.
"Nurse... cough cough... go... to the pawnshop... exchange it for silver... to buy medicine..." Every word seemed to be squeezed out of the lungs.
Li looked at his pale face and the blood on the corners of his lips, tears finally rolled down her cheeks, and she clutched the jade pendant tightly: "Master! This jade pendant... is what you love the most."
"I don't like it now... give it to you to exchange for money..." Pei Yixue forced a weak smile, but his eyes were cold without a trace of warmth.
The jade pendant was given to "Pei Yixue" by the protagonist. He had always treated it like a treasure and held it tightly in his hand until his death, but he felt very uncomfortable.
The shabby carriage drove away from the vermilion lacquered gate of Pei Mansion with a creaking sound.
The wheels rolled over the cobblestone road and turned into the bumpy loess road outside the city. The violent shaking pulled at his internal organs. Pei Yixue wrapped herself in the thin blanket that Li had found, leaning against the cold wall of the car, feeling drowsy.
The carriage was small and filled with the rotten smell of dust and old wood. Just as the carriage was about to drive out of the city gate, the shrewd and mean old woman next to Mrs. Pei, along with several sturdy servants and maids, blocked the way.
"Second Young Master, please stay!" The old maid smiled wryly. "Madam has instructed that since we are dividing the family, the property must be handed over clearly, so that if valuables are lost in the mansion in the future, we will not be unable to explain ourselves!" Her triangular eyes swept over the broken car and the two men's shabby clothes, revealing contempt.
Li was so angry that she was shaking all over: "You... are going too far!"
The old maid pretended not to hear and waved her hand. Two maids climbed onto the carriage without courtesy and searched through the meager luggage, roughly shaking out the few old clothes. Two servants approached Pei Yixue and Li with unfriendly eyes.
"I'm sorry, Second Young Master." The old woman lifted her sleeves and her calloused hands were about to touch Pei Yixue's body. When the hand with the smell of sweat and powder was about to touch Pei Yixue's thin collar, he suddenly moved sideways and a violent cough made him bend down.
The old maid paused, a trace of impatience and contempt flashing across her face, but she was too lazy to bother with this sick man any more. Instead, she pinched the pocket of his outer robe rudely and went to check Li again.
Pei Yixue lowered his head and coughed violently, his hands clenched tightly in his sleeves, his nails almost digging into his palms. The humiliation was like a cold poisonous snake, wrapping around his neck. Dare to treat him like this... He originally just wanted to sever ties with the Pei family and have nothing to do with each other from now on.
Now the feud has been settled.
The carriage was on the road again, and the carriage was in a mess. Li wiped her tears silently, and Pei Yixue closed her eyes, exhausted as if her soul had been drained away. Only in the depths of her eyes, which occasionally opened, was there a cold flame burning.
Bumping, endless bumping. Passing through the golden fields filled with the fragrance of grain, the road becomes narrower and more rugged, and the population gradually becomes sparse. The late autumn wind is cold, blowing the withered yellow weeds on the roadside.
As dusk fell, the carriage finally stopped at the entrance of a remote mountain road. The driver pointed to a vague outline deep in the valley ahead and said, "Sir, Wangjiawan is ahead. The road is too narrow and steep, and the carriage can't go in."
Li helped Pei Yixue get off the car with difficulty. The dirt road was slippery and cold, and Pei Yixue's feet were weak. He leaned almost half of his body weight on Li. Looking in the direction the driver pointed, his heart sank slightly.
Deep in the valley, weeds grew everywhere, and broken walls and ruins were vaguely visible, like the skeleton of a giant beast. In the twilight, the whole village was shrouded in a gray and dead atmosphere. Is this where the Wang family's ancestral home is? It is more desolate and dilapidated than expected.
However, in this ruined scene, a subtle but clear scene suddenly came into view - a wisp of faint smoke rising from the depths of the village!
Anyone?!
Pei Yixue tensed up instantly, a sense of vigilance rising in his tired body. Li supported him, carrying large and small bags, and walked slowly and arduously along the muddy path towards the direction of the cooking smoke.
After walking around several collapsed earth walls and overgrown thorns, the scene before him made him stop in his tracks.
A house that was not very big but was obviously quite old suddenly appeared in front of me. In stark contrast to the surrounding desolation, its walls were mottled but not collapsed at all; the most eye-catching thing was the neatly arranged vegetable patch in the middle of the yard. In this bleak late autumn, cabbages and radishes were growing lushly!
A deserted village, a lonely courtyard, dusk, smoke from cooking, and this vibrant, out-of-place vegetable field...
A strong sense of disharmony gripped Pei Yixue.
At this moment, a tall and strong shadow straightened up silently at the edge of the vegetable patch.
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