Old Mrs. Lin thought to herself that this temple did indeed seem quite efficacious, able to dispel those two persistent ghosts.
In order to exorcise the ghost in a long-term and effective way, she made up her mind, gritted her teeth, endured the excruciating pain, took out a tael of silver from her bosom and handed it to the monk to buy a string of Buddhist prayer beads.
She held the Buddhist prayer beads tightly in her hand; these beads were her powerful weapon against ghosts.
Old Mrs. Lin muttered incantations and said softly, "With this string of Buddhist prayer beads, I'm no longer afraid of you two evil spirits!"
But the fear in Old Mrs. Lin's heart did not completely dissipate. She worried about what would happen if the Buddhist beads were lost.
She turned to the monk, a hesitant look on her face, and asked, "Master, are the monks here capable of suppressing those evil spirits?"
The monk, with a calm expression and hands clasped together, replied unhurriedly, "Benefactor, if you wish for the evil spirits to cease their torment, we can perform rituals to help those departed souls find peace and ascend to the Pure Land as soon as possible."
Upon hearing this, Old Lady Lin hurriedly asked, "How much silver does such a ritual cost?" Her voice betrayed a hint of nervousness.
The monk smiled slightly and replied, "A single ritual costs fifty taels of silver, and it must be performed continuously for at least three days and three nights to achieve the desired effect."
"What?! So much silver!" Old Mrs. Lin exclaimed in surprise, her face contorted with pain. Her eyes widened as she stared at the monk in disbelief, finding the price outrageously high.
After a moment's hesitation, Old Lady Lin quickly waved her hand and said, "Alright, alright, let's not perform the ritual for now." She muttered to herself, "Fifty taels of silver a day is no small sum."
Old Mrs. Lin curled her lip, secretly thinking to herself that she was unwilling to spend such a huge sum of money to send those two dead souls to the afterlife.
She would rather let their ghosts wander the world forever, becoming lost spirits, than suffer such a great loss to her purse.
Just then, Lin Daowei hurriedly rode to the temple to pick her up, saying anxiously, "Mother, please come home quickly! Without you here to keep watch, my eldest and second brothers are like oil and water, and my niece is even trying to drive our family away!" He told his mother, Lin, everything that had happened at home.
Upon hearing this, Old Lady Lin flew into a rage. "I'm going back! I want to see just how capable that wicked woman is of driving us away! I'll beat her to death with the family law!" With that, she angrily got into the carriage, still cursing the wicked woman from the eldest branch of the family.
Old Mrs. Lin regarded the Buddhist beads she wore as a protective charm. Having forgotten the pain of her past wounds, she once again conceived the idea of getting rid of Lin Yajun.
She refused to use her most skilled method of poisoning to kill, and decided to establish her authority by publicly beating Lin Yajun to death using family discipline.
Along the way, Officer Lin spoke kindly to Old Madam Lin, earnestly saying, "Mother, please don't scold the eldest branch of the family when you get back. Our family and the eldest branch have already severed ties, and it would be best if we didn't have any contact with each other in the future. That would be better for everyone."
"Let's not provoke them for now. You, as an elder, should think of a way to either get them to move out or find a way to keep us here and allow us to continue living here."
Upon hearing this, Madam Lin pursed her lips and said dismissively, "Wei'er, you're a constable, how can you be so timid? The eldest branch of the family has no backing now. Killing them would be as easy as stepping on an ant!"
Lin Daowei quickly shook his head and said in a low voice to Old Madam Lin, "Mother, now is not the time."
He paused briefly, then muttered to himself, "Wouldn't it be better to wait for someone else to kill the eldest son's family?"
Upon hearing this, Old Madam Lin's eyes lit up, and she hurriedly asked, "Who is it? Is it the Ren family?"
Lin Daowei smiled slightly, but did not answer. He simply waved his hand, indicating that he did not want to bring up the matter again.
Lin Daowei brought Old Madam Lin home. As soon as he entered the mansion, he was startled to see a person with red and swollen eyes and a pig's head standing in the courtyard.
After watching for a while, Lin Daowei finally realized that the pig-headed man standing there in a daze was his elder brother, Lin Daoqing.
"Brother, what's wrong with you?" Lin Daowei asked in shock, his eyes bulging like copper bells.
Lin Daoqing gently shook his head, unwilling to speak, but simply bowed to Old Lady Lin and called out, "Mother!"
Seeing her son in such a terrible state, Old Lady Lin cried out in anguish, "This must have been done by that beast Lin Daoyan!"
She ordered Lin Daowei, "Awei, your official rank is higher than Lin Daoyan's. Go and kill him to avenge your second brother."
"Mother, no!" Lin Daoqing and Lin Daowei cried out at the same time.
Just then, a constable rushed in, bowed to Constable Lin, and said, "Constable Lin, Lord Guan wants you to go to the Ren residence immediately. He says that your niece, Madam Ren, has fallen into the lake and drowned in the General's Mansion."
Upon hearing the news, Constable Lin was struck dumb, exclaiming in astonishment, "What? Ah Hui is dead?" His voice echoed throughout the Lin residence, and the entire mansion was shocked by this sudden and tragic news. For a long while, no sound came out.
"What? Ah Hui is dead?" After a while, Old Lady Lin's scream pierced the air. Her voice was sharp and shrill, drawing everyone's attention. The scream quickly spread throughout the Lin residence, causing a commotion.
The Lin Daoyan family, sitting in the corridor of the East Courtyard, naturally heard the old lady's shouts from the other side of the wall, and they were all startled and looked at each other in surprise.
"The second wife's daughter is dead?" Madam Xu was so shocked by these words that her hair stood on end, and she covered her mouth with both hands in fright.
"How did he die?" Lin Songhao suddenly stood up. He was very curious and wanted to go next door to see what was going on.
Lin Yajun quickly gestured, "Hao-di, stay here and don't go anywhere."
She looked at her shocked father and said, "We shouldn't go. If they take the opportunity to frame us, we'll be in big trouble."
Reminded by his daughter's words, Lin Daoyan nodded in agreement. Previously, the second branch of the family had blamed him for the events that had occurred at the Ren residence.
The whole family stood quietly in the corridor, straining their ears to listen carefully to the sounds coming from next door.
The old lady's shouts not only alerted Lin Daoyan's family, but also attracted the attention of Lin Daoqing's and Lin Daowei's families.
Er Chengshi, her face filled with panic, scrambled out of bed and staggered out of the room. Terrified, she asked, "Ahui, what's wrong? What happened?"
She rested for half a day, and the servants brought a doctor to give her acupuncture. Although she is now able to get out of bed and walk around, her body still twitches from time to time.
"Second sister-in-law, the Ren family reported that your daughter fell into the lake and died." Lin Daowei said, then turned and left. "I'll go to the scene of the crime to check it out."
Cheng was extremely anxious, pacing around the yard like an ant on a hot pan.
She cried out, "The dead person can't be my daughter, it can't be!" Her voice was filled with despair and fear.
In contrast, Lin Daoqing appeared unusually calm. He comforted her, saying, "Don't worry, let's go to the Ren residence and see if it's someone else who died."
Cheng kept muttering, "It must be someone else who died, not our daughter."
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