Soul-Entangled Rhino
Yuanli was lying on the bed when she heard a woman's voice outside: "It's me, girl. Don't make a sound. Save me. She is coming to seek revenge on me today."
"Your room is cursed, so I can't get in. I have no choice but to speak to you forcefully. If you don't help me, I will be reduced to ashes. If you are willing, go to the deepest courtyard west of the Xu Mansion tonight and dig out the lily from under the willow tree and give it to me. Then I can take her in. Please, she's coming, ah!"
With the woman's scream, the sound disappeared by her ears. Yuanli hurriedly woke Hengjin up and told him where the jade hairpin was.
He immediately stood up and put on his clothes. Just as he was about to leave, he saw Yuanli pulling his robe with her hand and looking pitiful, so he decided to take her with him.
As soon as they arrived at Xu's house, they saw Xu Zhouruo already waiting there, pointing her in the direction.
The two of them quickly found the willow tree. Heng Jin jumped over the wall and dug up the earth with his sword. After digging it all open, he saw a black coffin lying inside.
Heng Jin frowned and opened the coffin. A strong stench of corpse hit him. He used his sword to dig around for a long time but couldn't find the so-called jade hairpin.
Xu Zhouruo had floated beside her without her noticing, and whispered, "Open the body, it's inside."
Yuanli stared at Xu Zhouruo and finally saw her appearance clearly. Although they were twins, this was the first time she had seen twins so similar.
Heng Jin took in her actions and expressions, "Madam?"
"Husband, open the body, it's inside."
After cutting it open, they found no spine, but instead the jade hairpin. Holding back her nausea, Heng Jin cut a section of her robe to wrap the hairpin, then landed steadily on the ground, holding Yuan Li.
"But my husband..." Yuanli looked behind her, hesitant to speak.
Heng Jin followed the direction she was looking and said with a fierce look in his eyes, "If you continue to pester my wife, you will never be reborn."
"Who are you talking to, sir?"
Heng Jin shook her head and pulled Yuan Li away.
All he could hear was Xu Zhouruo yelling anxiously behind him, "Stab her heart with the hairpin!"
Back at the inn, Peng Junru was lying on the ground with blood oozing from the corner of his mouth. Two women wearing the same wedding dress and covered with red veils stood facing each other.
Peng Junru clutched his chest in pain and cried out, "Don't hurt my wife!"
Yuanli tightly grasped the jade hairpin that Hengjin had wiped clean, and for a moment she couldn't tell who was who.
"Husband, save me!"
"Junru, get out of here!"
The two women spoke at the same time, and this made Yuanli recognize who Xu Zhouruo was. He bravely took advantage of the moment when the thinner one was distracted and stabbed her fiercely.
Peng Junru just shouted, "Madam!" and turned his back to Yuanli to block the jade hairpin for her.
Yuanli realized something was wrong and suddenly withdrew his strength, but the jade hairpin still pierced Peng Junru's back. Yuanli stepped back in fear and self-blame. His blood spilled and stained his clothes red. The woman suddenly went crazy, but Peng Junru staggered and hugged her.
"My lady, please don't hurt anyone, otherwise, how will you enter the reincarnation..."
Seeing this, Wen Yici hugged the trembling Yuanli in his arms and protected her.
Peng Junru pulled off the veil on her head. The woman panicked and covered her empty eyes. Peng Junru pulled her hand down and whispered softly, "Don't be afraid, my lady, I like you no matter what you do."
Looking at the rhinoceros horn incense burner on the table, Yuanli and Wen Yici finally realized that it was not her who was pestering him, but Peng Junru himself who was pestering her.
Raw rhinoceros horn cannot be burned. When burned, it produces a unique fragrance that can allow those who smell it to communicate with spirits in the underworld.
Peng Junru comforted her, then knelt on the ground and said, "Miss, you've been deceived by Xu Zhouruo. It was her family who killed my wife, Xu Xirong, and now they intend to turn her into ashes! Please, don't hurt my wife."
"Miss, believe me, you saw in the dream that it was Xu Xirong who wanted to kill me. Don't forget, I died at the gate of Peng's mansion the day after I got married. How could there be an opportunity to kill someone?"
"Xu Zhouruo! Do you really think I... don't know that it was actually Xier who married into the Peng Mansion?"
Wen Yici squeezed her palm and whispered in her ear, "Trust Peng Junru."
Wen Yici took the jade hairpin from her hand. His sharp gaze made Xu Zhouruo shudder and he disappeared in the inn.
After bringing Peng Junru back to the room, Wujiu treated his wounds. Because he smelled the raw rhinoceros, he naturally saw Xu Xirong standing beside him. He was scared to death, but he didn't dare to get angry.
Yuanli lowered her head guiltily, snapping her fingers nervously, and stealing glances at Peng Junru's room from time to time. Although she stopped in time, she had hurt the man's husband and dug up his grave. How could she face the real owner?
Wen Yici hugged Yuanli and stroked her back, soothing her: "My husband knows that my wife is a kind woman, but she was deceived."
After treating her injuries, the two went into Peng Junru's room. Afraid that she would be scared, Wen Yici even covered Yuanli's eyes with his hands.
"I'm sorry, Second Miss."
"It doesn't matter. You were deceived, just like I was deceived by the Xu family."
"What on earth is going on?"
"Every generation in our Xu family has only one daughter born, but in my generation, we had twins. I was born with green eyes, which my family considered unlucky. They declared me dead and locked me in the backyard to fend for myself. My sister has disliked me since I was a child. I was the one who was originally engaged to Junru, but since there was no second daughter to be announced, the engagement fell to her."
"Then why was it you who got married that day?"
"The backyard was shabby, with a dog hole. When I was a child, Junru walked into a feast by mistake. I was afraid he would be frightened by my eyes, so I covered my eyes and pretended to have an eye disease. I fell in love with him, but my sister found out. She was furious and gouged out one of my eyes. She pretended it was me and deceived Junru. Later, Junru fell ill and said he wanted to save his life. But my sister didn't want to marry him anymore, so she tricked me into doing it in her place. I happily married him, but I found out that the person I married wasn't Junru at all, but his father. He had humiliated me. I couldn't face Junru anymore, so I hanged myself on the willow tree at the door."
Hearing this, Peng Junru burst into tears. He held her hand, feeling guilty and said, "Xi'er, I didn't know. I'm sorry... I'm sorry... If I had recovered earlier, you wouldn't have..."
"Junru, there's no need to apologize. I'm not clean anymore and don't deserve to be your wife. I'm going to break my promise to you. I'm sorry..."
Hearing this, Yuanli's eyes turned slightly red. She was originally a sentimental ghost fire. She would cry when she heard those tragic love stories in the underworld. However, this was the first time she came to the mortal world and she was moved to tears in front of Wen Yici.
Wen Yici felt the warmth in his palm and habitually stretched out his sleeve to wipe her tears.
"Since you are the one who protects the hairpin, why are you afraid of the hairpin's pricks?"
"I'm not afraid, I'm afraid of her." When she mentioned Xu Zhouruo, her eyes became more ferocious, and the black energy emanating from her body became stronger.
"After I died, she went crazy searching for the jade hairpin. I followed her and learned from my mother that we were reborn into the Xu family to protect the hairpin. The hairpin was given to our ancestors by a mysterious person. He said that when twins appeared in the family, one of them would have to sacrifice his soul to the hairpin. That's why my mother didn't kill me. She wanted me to sacrifice the hairpin, but they couldn't find it. My sister was afraid it was her, so she tried every means to use me as a sacrifice first."
Yuanli looked at Xu Xirong worriedly, then at Wen Yici, fearing that he would lose his temper for the sake of his beloved and directly use Xu Xirong as a sacrifice hairpin.
"Husband, don't sacrifice to her." Yuanli whispered in his ear with a wry smile.
"As you say." After saying that, Wen Yici changed his gentle tone and turned to Xu Xirong and asked in a cold tone: "Xu Zhouruo...did you kill him?"
Xu Xirong sighed and shook his head. Peng Junru raised his head and said angrily, "That vicious woman deserves to die!"
Seeing how angry Peng Junru was, the two of them guessed what was going on, so they didn't say anything more and had to go back to their room. However, not long after they lay down, Yuanli remembered the seventh day of the lunar year.
When she sneaked out, she saw Xu Xirong being tied up with a soul-locking chain by the Ox-Head and Horse-Face. Seeing that she was staring at them, the Ox-Head floated over and stared at her closely.
Yuanli was afraid of exposing her identity and didn't know what to do for a moment, until a pair of strong hands were placed on her shoulders, and the Ox-Head and Horse-Faced Demons immediately lowered their heads and stepped back, saluting respectfully behind her.
She followed the direction of the hand's owner, and the familiar face she had shared with him for ten thousand years made her unconsciously exclaim, "Lord Pluto..."
"Oh, Star Lord, you still remember me?" Pluto jokingly said, his eyes and eyebrows curved into gentle arcs, and that bright smile was totally inconsistent with his identity.
In Yuanli's memory, Hades rarely smiled and often squatted on the ground crying at night, missing the girl named Li Wan. Since they parted ways in the underworld, it seems that his heart knot should have been better.
The woman named Li Wan, she had heard about from other underworld fairies when she was scattered in the Wangchuan River. It was said that she was a young prince in the demon world, a very beautiful woman, and Hades liked her very much. Unfortunately, the young prince liked a fairy in the heaven and died while suppressing evil creatures.
Hades rules over the spirits of the mortal world and controls the souls. Now that his affairs have been exposed, how can he keep it secret?
She had no choice but to admit, "Yes, but Lord Pluto, can you keep it secret for me?"
"Yes, but calling me Lord Hades will really draw attention to me, A-Li. Just call me A-Cha as usual."
"How can this be possible? You are Lord Pluto."
Hades smiled wryly in thought, "But we've been sleeping on the same bed for ten thousand years. Am I not even considered Ahri's friend?"
Yuanli pondered for a moment and said, "I don't mean that. Okay, okay. Can Ah Cha let this woman stay in the mortal world for a while? I need her."
"If that's what A'li wants, then it's as you wish." As he said that, A'cha looked back, and the soul-locking chain that bound Xu Xirong fell to the ground.
Yuanli looked at A Cha with gratitude, and after comforting Xu Xirong, she went back to bed to sleep. However, just as she fell asleep, A Cha took her soul out and brought it back to the underworld.
In the netherworld, the flowers of the other shore are in full bloom, and the sea of red flowers is extremely enchanting and eye-catching. Returning to the other shore, Yuanli feels like returning home.
Ah Cha stood in the sea of red spider lilies with his hands behind his back and asked softly, "A Li, can you stay with me for a while?"
Seeing the subtle sadness between his brows and his perpetual frown, Yuanli couldn't help but ask, "A-Cha, are you missing her again?"
But as soon as these words came out, Ah Cha's smile paused. Yuanli quickly covered her mouth and widened her eyes, feeling annoyed, which made Hades laugh softly.
"Yes, I miss her very much."
"Don't be sad, Ah Cha. Perhaps one day, that young master will come back. I heard from the gods in heaven that even if a powerful person dies, their soul can be reborn."
"Where did you hear that, Ari?"
Yuanli looked at the red spider lilies on the ground and said, "This story begins thirty thousand years ago..."
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