Among the crowd, a middle-aged woman with triangular eyes opened her mouth and laughed, revealing a mouth missing two front teeth, which looked somewhat comical.
She loudly echoed, "I knew it long ago, this Lin family daughter is destined to bring bad luck to her husbands!" Her words were somewhat indistinct.
Just then, several copper coins suddenly flew out from the wall of the Lin residence, moving as fast as lightning, and flew straight toward the woman's mouth.
With a few sharp cracking sounds, the woman screamed. When everyone looked closely, they saw that her face was covered in blood. Looking down, they saw her teeth and several bloodstained copper coins lying on the ground.
The woman started wailing and crying, then plopped down in front of the Lin family's gate, ready to throw a tantrum.
Seeing that the woman's disturbance would ruin his plans, He Shangang glared at her and shouted, "What the hell are you doing, wailing at a funeral? Get the hell out of here!"
He placed his hand on his waist, as if preparing to draw his sword.
The woman was so frightened that she shut her mouth, got up from the ground, and ran away in a panic. As she ran, she cursed resentfully, "My daughter is a jinx, she will never get married, and she will die a horrible death."
This sudden scene left the onlookers stunned.
They then came to their senses and remembered that the Lin family was a military household, and all the children in the family were skilled in martial arts, so they were not to be trifled with.
These people were so frightened that they dared not speak recklessly in front of the Lin residence anymore; they were all terrified and kept silent.
Lin Daoyan turned his head and glanced at the wall, where he saw a flash of red – the color of his daughter's dress.
He turned around and looked at He Shangang, saying, "Guard He, please go back. My daughter is not ready for marriage at the moment."
Seeing that there were too many onlookers, He Shangang felt it inappropriate to beg in front of them in a humble manner.
He thought about it and decided to come a day later, so that he wouldn't have to make such a big fuss and attract attention, making it easier for him to propose marriage.
So he said, "Guard Lin, this marriage naturally requires us to first check if the horoscopes of both parties are compatible. How about this, I'll leave the horoscope charts here, and you can find someone knowledgeable to match them. I'll come back in a couple of days to hear the results." After saying that, he winked at the matchmaker behind him.
The matchmaker hurriedly stepped forward, beaming, and handed over the birth chart with both hands. She also placed the gifts she had brought aside and stood there quietly, waiting for Lin Daoyan to give her a red envelope as a token of her gratitude after receiving the birth chart.
To everyone's surprise, Lin Daoyan stood still, showing no intention of reaching out to take the fortune-telling booklet.
Upon seeing this, He Shangang's expression instantly turned ugly, and a surge of anger welled up in his heart.
Without a word, he snatched the birth chart from the matchmaker's hands, slammed it onto the gift with a "smack," and turned to leave without looking back, muttering angrily, "They really don't know what's good for them!"
Lin Daoyan stared at the gifts and fortune-telling scrolls at the door with a distressed expression, his heart filled with mixed emotions, not knowing what to do.
He was torn between not taking the items and feeling that leaving them there was inappropriate.
Just as Lin Daoyan was in a dilemma, suddenly, a loud bang, accompanied by an extremely terrified scream, pierced the air, sounding particularly jarring in the quiet atmosphere.
Lin Daoyan's heart tightened, and he hurriedly looked up. What he saw made his eyes widen instantly, his face filled with disbelief, and he muttered, "My God..."
It turned out that He Shangang was walking back on the right side of the alley when suddenly, there was a loud crash, and a stone wall collapsed without warning, burying him completely.
"Help! Save him!" He Shangang's men shouted in terror. The people present immediately scrambled to the pile of rubble, desperately trying to move the stones and rescue He Shangang who was buried underneath.
When the last stone was moved, everyone stood frozen in place, completely dumbfounded, as if under a spell. What they saw was a lifeless corpse, mangled and bloodied by the high wall.
"He's asking for it." Someone whispered in the crowd, the voice low but like a thunderclap in everyone's ears.
Everyone then came to their senses and remembered the rumors about the Lin family woman being a jinx to her husbands. Knowing full well that the Lin family woman was a jinx to her husbands, He Shangang still dared to go and propose marriage. Now look what happened, he's risked his life.
The men He Shangang brought were extremely anxious. They hurriedly moved He Shangang's body away while searching for the cause of the stone wall collapse.
After some investigation, they were surprised to find that the building where the wall stood was actually a spare prison for prisoners in the government office, where various miscellaneous items such as torture instruments were usually kept.
The servants of the He family went to the government office to demand an explanation, saying, "The wall of your government office collapsed and killed our young master."
The officials from the government office, having learned the reason for the incident, spoke arrogantly, "The road is so wide, yet he insisted on walking outside our government warehouse. The wall didn't fall earlier or later, but it had to fall when he was crossing the road. Why didn't the wall kill someone else? It just means it was his fate." One group even brandished their knives, making their stance clear: if they caused any more trouble, they would be arrested.
The He family was helpless against the government, so they sought help from He Shangang's brother-in-law. He confronted the officials and questioned them, "Is my brother-in-law going to die in vain?"
When the officials saw that the visitor was Master Shan from the Prince of Lu's mansion, they dared not offend him.
The government office dared not take responsibility, as that would result in the demotion of several officials, or even the dismissal of some.
Lord Li sent men to investigate: "Before the incident, who did General He offend? Who had a grudge against General He?"
After questioning, the result was: "Just now, General He drew his sword and drove a woman away. The woman left cursing, saying, 'You'll die a horrible death.'"
"Go and bring that woman here," Lord Li ordered.
The triangular-eyed woman, whose teeth had been knocked out, was brought in by the constable. After being identified by the He family's attendants, it was confirmed that "it was her, it was her, she was the one who pushed down the wall and crushed our master to death."
The woman with triangular eyes had blood streaming from her mouth and looked completely bewildered. Normally quick-witted and sharp-tongued, she was speechless after being brought to the government office. The government sentenced her to have her property confiscated to pay for He Shangang's funeral expenses and also sentenced her to hanging.
Master Shan, the clerk of the Prince of Lu's mansion, left satisfied after the murderer was apprehended, saying, "The government office did a good job."
The news that He Shangang had been crushed to death by a wall on the day of the marriage proposal was relayed to the ears of Prince Lu by Master Shan, who was in a state of mourning. Upon hearing the news, Prince Lu was stunned and muttered to himself, "It seems that the Lin family woman's curse of killing husbands is indeed true."
After a moment of silence, Prince Lu waved his hand and had someone reward the clerk with a thousand taels of silver, saying, "Take this silver back to the He family."
He thought about it again and felt that this was not enough, so he added, "You can also pick someone from the He family to serve as a guard in the Prince of Lu's mansion. This would be a kind of compensation to their family."
"Thank you, Your Highness." Master Shan thanked Prince Lu.
He took the silver and hurriedly went to the He residence to arrange He Shangang's funeral, and then brought a man to the palace to serve as a guard.
After Master Shan left, Prince Lu said to his subordinates with a big smile, "I'm going to the palace!" His voice revealed barely suppressed excitement.
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