outward appearance but inward appearance
The wind on the snowy night swept through the ancestral hall, making a mournful sound.
Xiao Diting pulled the brim of his night-clothes hood even lower, twirling a small copper bell between his fingers, and gave Ji Shuangqiao a wink.
Ji Shuangqiao understood and pulled out a burlap sack that had been prepared beforehand from under the offering table. Inside were paper money and a few strands of musty hair that she had specially found from the mass grave a few days ago.
She scattered these things on the open ground in front of the memorial tablets, and added some special spices to the candle flames. The smoke instantly filled the ancestral hall, carrying an indescribable eeriness.
“Yang Li is a big believer in ghosts and gods. On the seventh day after his father’s death, he knelt in the ancestral hall all night, saying that he saw Lord Yang’s spirit standing in front of the offering table glaring at him.” Ji Shuangqiao lowered his voice, a cold smile flashing in his eyes. “Tonight’s play will make him think that Lord Yang has appeared to him.”
Xiao Diting nodded and took out a small bamboo whistle from her bosom, which she had casually picked up at a street stall not long ago.
The whistle sounded exactly like a woman's crying. She listened intently to the sounds outside. There were hurried footsteps in the snow, mixed with the shouts of servants. It was clear that Yang Li had arrived with his men.
"They've arrived." Xiao Diting blew a short whistle, and Ji Shuangqiao immediately blew out the only candle in the ancestral hall.
Darkness instantly swallowed everything, with only the snow light from outside the window reflecting off the dusty memorial tablets, casting distorted shadows on the wall.
Yang Li's voice, reeking of alcohol, burst in: "Which bastard dares to play tricks here? I'd like to see which one is blind!"
Four servants followed behind him, holding torches that flickered and illuminated a corner of the ancestral hall.
Yang Li squinted and scanned his surroundings. When he saw the scattered paper money in front of the offering table, his face instantly turned pale, and he sobered up considerably. He involuntarily shrank back.
"Young master, there's nothing here except some broken memorial tablets," a servant said boldly, reaching out to pick up the paper money on the ground.
"Don't touch it!" Yang Li suddenly shouted, his voice trembling almost imperceptibly. "Don't touch anything here, or I'll break your arm!"
No sooner had he finished speaking than Xiao Diting’s bamboo whistle suddenly rang out, and a mournful cry echoed through the ancestral hall, sending chills down everyone’s spine.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Ji Shuangqiao pulled a thin thread in the dark, and suddenly a group of memorial tablets behind the offering table collapsed with a "crash," one of which landed right next to Yang Li's feet.
"Father...Father, is that you?" Yang Li's voice trembled so badly that the torch in his hand fell to the ground with a "thud," and the sparks were quickly extinguished by the snow.
The ancestral hall was plunged into complete darkness, with only the snowlight outlining the terrified figures of the crowd. Xiao Diting quietly circled behind Yang Li and gently tapped the back of his neck with a pebble.
Yang Li cried out "Ouch!" and turned around abruptly, but saw nothing. All he heard was the howling of the wind blowing through the window, as if someone was breathing in his ear.
"Stop pretending! I know it's you!" Yang Li suddenly shouted at the empty corner, his voice hoarse. "What happened before... I was wrong about what happened before, but I was forced into it! Who told you to go against the higher-ups? You touched that person's things, you deserve to die!"
He seemed to have broken down, still shouting without remorse, retreating towards the offering table as he shouted, his back slamming heavily against the memorial tablet.
Ji Shuangqiao listened from the shadows, her nails digging deep into her palms, and she angrily bit her tongue, the taste of blood spreading across her tongue.
Xiao Diting gestured for her to calm down and continued blowing the bamboo whistle. The crying grew closer, as if it were right next to Yang Li's ear.
Yang Li, feeling guilty, completely broke down. He knelt on the ground with a thud and cursed at Yang Zhengyuan's memorial tablet: "Father! I told you before you died that as long as we obediently followed your instructions, or even just nodded, we would enjoy endless wealth and glory! Your son could also obtain a degree, and that woman from the Ji family wouldn't look down on me!"
He cried and cursed, revealing all the crimes he had committed back then.
Finally, he couldn't resist shouting, "I can do better than you! Why should I waste my life under your shadow? I can go much higher! Once I get over this three-year period of despair, I'll get promoted and make a fortune! I'll bring glory to my ancestors!"
"Father! Just you wait and see!"
The snow outside the ancestral hall fell heavier and heavier, drowning out his cries. Ji Shuangqiao trembled all over as she listened, tears silently streaming down her face and dripping onto the cold ground. Xiao Diting gently patted her shoulder, indicating that the time had come.
Ji Shuangqiao took a deep breath and suddenly pulled another wire. Dozens of candles suddenly lit up around the ancestral hall, their flames leaping up and illuminating the entire hall as if it were daytime.
Yang Li screamed in fright at the sudden light. When he looked up, he saw Xiao Diting and Ji Shuangqiao blocking the doorway, staring at him coldly.
"Yang Li, I thought you were just lazy and not a bad person at heart. I never expected you would kill your own father for your own selfish interests!" Ji Shuangqiao's voice was icy cold as she tightly gripped the memorial tablet she had picked up from the ground.
Yang Li then realized he had fallen into a trap. He was both shocked and furious, and pointed at Ji Shuangqiao, cursing, "It was you! You bitch, you tricked me! I knew you weren't dead! You jinx, you and your consumptive brother should have been burned to death back then!"
"Who is your father? He's a renowned official in Huaizhou, praised for his integrity by everyone within a hundred miles!" Ji Shuangqiao trembled with rage, slamming the memorial tablet down in front of him. "Look at this tablet! Do you deserve to kneel here?"
"Whether you're worthy or not is none of your business!" Yang Li suddenly got up from the ground, a crazed look on his face. "You knew all along, Ji Shuangqiao. I really underestimated you... So what brings you here today?"
A young couple who appear so elegant in public suddenly become like a pair of mad dogs who have lost their minds, willing to tear each other apart for the sake of so-called justice.
"And you, this imperial envoy, you really don't know what's good for you, daring to come alone with her to violate the law before me." Yang Li looked at the sword in her hand with disdain, clapped his hands arrogantly, and the servants who had reacted quickly surrounded the ancestral hall in three layers.
"To be prepared for any eventuality, we have kept so many servants so that we can eliminate any potential threats one day."
Xiao Diting mockingly drew his sword at Yang Li, shielding Ji Shuangqiao behind him: "Coincidentally, I also prepared a generous gift for Young Master Yang when I came."
As she spoke with the same confidence, a loud explosion rang out outside the ancestral hall.
Yang Li was furious: "What have you done! This is the Yang family home! Who do you think you are!"
Xiao Diting glared at him angrily: "So what if you're from the Yang family? Even princes are subject to the same laws as commoners!"
Intending to provoke Yang Li, she simply stopped hiding her true feelings: "Even if the Yang family is as big as the sky and the earth, it shouldn't be bigger than the Xiao family."
"Let me introduce myself again. My name is 'Di Ting,' and my surname is 'Xiao.' Why don't you kneel before me?"
Yang Li's madness froze for a moment, as if he hadn't heard Xiao Diting's words. He squinted at the woman in black clothes in front of him. The jawline peeking out from under the brim of her hat was cold and hard, and the hand holding the knife was unbelievably steady.
"If you're the Third Princess of the current dynasty, then I'm the Emperor of Heaven!" he asked, but a sense of unease crept into his heart, a vague feeling of foreboding creeping in.
Xiao Diting slowly raised his head, pushed the brim of his hat back, revealing a beautiful face that carried a fierce air.
She held up the waist token Pei Wenjin had given her, her eyes icy, and said, word by word, "The Third Princess Xiao Diting of the current dynasty, the genuine article."
Yang Li, without saying anything else, naturally recognized this waist tag. A year ago, when Pei Wenjin visited the Yang family, he shoved this thing onto Yang Li's forehead.
"Princess...?" Yang Li's pupils shrank, and he staggered back a step, bumping into the offering table behind him. The incense burner on the table crashed to the ground with a "bang," scattering incense ash all over the floor.
The four servants behind him were also terrified, their faces pale, their hands almost dropping the torches, and their legs trembling.
No one expected that this woman, who dared to break into the ancestral hall in the middle of the night and even draw her sword, was actually a princess of noble birth.
Just then, a more chaotic sound of footsteps suddenly came from outside the ancestral hall, mixed with the terrified shouts of the servants: "Fire! Fire! The west wing is on fire!" "Quickly put out the fire! Don't let it spread!"
Yang Li turned around abruptly to look outside the door. The firelight illuminated half of the night sky, and thick smoke drifted into the ancestral hall with the wind, carrying a pungent, burnt smell.
The panic on his face was quickly replaced by ruthlessness. Now that they had broken off relations and he knew that the other party was a princess, if he let her go alive, his plot to murder his father and his treacherous intentions would inevitably be exposed. At that time, he would not only fail to get promoted and make a fortune, but he would probably lose his head.
"So what if she's a princess? Once she's on my Yang family's territory, she has to listen to me!" A resolute killing intent flashed in Yang Li's eyes. He stared intently at Xiao Diting and shouted sternly to his servants, "What are you all standing there for? Seize them both! I'll take responsibility for whatever happens to them, dead or alive!"
The servants looked at each other in dismay. Capture the princess? That would be a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of one's family.
But looking at Yang Li's fierce eyes and thinking about his usual methods, this man could even kill his own father without batting an eye, he had gone to a certain degree of madness.
But they dared not disobey, so they could only grit their teeth and surround them step by step.
"Truly courting death!" Xiao Diting's face turned cold. He pulled Ji Shuangqiao behind him, and his sword was drawn with a "whoosh," its blade gleaming coldly in the candlelight.
In terms of skill, ordinary servants were no match for her, but she also had to protect Ji Shuangqiao, which made things much more difficult.
"Miss Ji, stay close to me!" Xiao Diting shouted and rushed out first, his sword sweeping across, heading straight for the foremost servant.
The servant hadn't expected the princess to be so agile. He hurriedly raised his knife to block, but with a crisp clang, the stick in his hand was knocked out of his grasp. A sharp pain shot through his wrist, and before he could react, Xiao Diting kicked him in the chest, sending him flying backward and crashing into the wall, where he lost consciousness.
Upon seeing this, the remaining servants were so frightened that their attack faltered.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Xiao Diting pulled Ji Shuangqiao towards the door, and with flashing blades, he took down two more people in succession.
Seeing that the servants couldn't avoid the danger, Yang Li took the lead himself, grabbing a wooden stick from the ground and smashing it at Xiao Diting: "Stop them! Don't let them get away!"
Xiao Diting dodged the wooden stick by the side and slashed at Yang Li's arm with his backhand. Yang Li screamed and the wooden stick fell to the ground. He covered his bleeding arm and staggered back.
"Hurry up!" Xiao Diting shouted to Ji Shuangqiao, and the two took the opportunity to rush out of the ancestral hall.
Flames were raging outside the ancestral hall. Some of the servants were fighting the fire, while others were being chased down by Yang Li. The entire Yang family was in complete chaos.
Footprints were scattered in the snow, and the cold wind whipped up snowflakes that stung my face.
"This way!" Ji Shuangqiao was familiar with the Yang family's layout and pulled Xiao Diting into a secluded alley. The alley was narrow, with high walls on both sides, allowing only one person to pass at a time.
The servants called out from behind, "They're over there! Don't let them get away!"
Xiao Diting glanced back; the pursuers were getting closer. She stopped and said to Ji Shuangqiao, "Miss Ji, there's a back door to the left ahead. Go through there first, and when you get to the inn where I'm staying, tell them you're looking for Pei Wenjin. Tell them I'm in danger here and ask him to come quickly to help."
"Then what will you do?" Ji Shuangqiao asked anxiously, her eyes filled with worry.
"I have my own way of distracting them. You hurry up! It will be too late if you wait any longer!" Xiao Diting pushed Ji Shuangqiao, his tone leaving no room for argument.
She knew that if she ran away with Ji Shuangqiao, they would both be caught. Only if she lured away the pursuers alone would Ji Shuangqiao have a chance to escape.
Ji Shuangqiao gritted her teeth, knowing this was not the time to hesitate, and nodded firmly: "You must be careful! I'll bring people to rescue you soon!"
After saying that, she turned and ran into the depths of the alley.
Xiao Diting watched her figure disappear around the corner, took a deep breath, turned around and ran in another direction, deliberately making noise to attract the attention of the servants.
"I'm here! Come and chase me if you dare!"
Upon hearing the sound, the servants indeed chased after Xiao Diting.
Xiao Diting moved through the Yang family's courtyard, using the familiar terrain to evade her pursuers. Every now and then, she would turn back and cut down one or two of the fastest servants, buying herself some time.
The snow fell heavier and heavier, covering her footprints and blurring her vision.
Xiao Diting was covered in a layer of snow, but fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. She knew she had to hold on until Ji Shuangqiao returned with reinforcements.
The shouts of battle behind them grew closer, and Yang Li's voice, mingled with them, sounded particularly jarring: "Capture her! Dead or alive!"
Xiao Diting's eyes sharpened, and he quickened his pace, turning into a courtyard filled with miscellaneous items.
She leaned against the cold wall, took a breath, gripped her sword tightly, and prepared for the next battle.
Unfortunately, despite her previous outrageous remarks that angered Yang Li and her seemingly confident demeanor, she was actually still recovering from a long illness.
He was in a very bad state.
Xiao Di's head began to spin, and as he listened to the approaching footsteps, his heart sank.
I have to survive!
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