In the mories filled with resentnt, Sang Que discovered so strange aspects.
In that remote courtyard she once visited, Huilan was kneeling on the ground, pleading with the old madam to help the young lady Ming Wanxi.
"Please, old madam, the young lady’s illness has flared up suddenly, and if we don’t find a way, sothing terrible will happen!"
"Disturbing the old madam’s peace deserves punishnt! Soone, drag her out and give her ten lashes!"
Originally, Huilan was dragged to the kitchen after a beating, where she witnessed an innocent little maid being killed for her blood.
But Sang Que, with a short fuse, snatched away the cane from the ones beating her, darkened her face, and knocked down all the nannies and maids in the courtyard.
If it weren’t for being taught from a young age to respect the elderly and love the young, she would have also given that pretentious old madam a couple of punches.
Yet, whatever Sang Que did couldn’t stop the continuation of the mory scene and could only vent her frustration.
Terrified, Huilan stumbled on the road holding a jar of life-saving human blood, bumping into a luxuriously dressed young man blocking her way, the eldest son of the Ming Family Head, Ming Qingyang.
Clang!
The jar was knocked over, blood spreading all over the ground.
"It’s best if that disgusting monster dies sooner! Get out of the way, don’t block this young master’s path!"
Huilan was shoved to the ground in the pool of blood.
Sang Que noticed that the young man Ming Qingyang’s features bore so resemblance to the old monk she had encountered while avoiding the rain.
Huilan climbed up from the ground, the silver bracelet Ming Wanxi had given her stained with blood, gradually turning black.
Huilan’s heart trembled, covering her mouth in horror, her whole body uncontrollably shaking.
Sang Que realized that it was the old madam who had poisoned the blood, wanting Huilan to deliver it to Ming Wanxi.
If Ming Wanxi died, Huilan would take the bla. The Ming Family forbade clan mbers from harming the ’monstrosity’, but what did it matter if a maid committed the murder?
She should have thrown a couple of punches earlier, Sang Que regretted.
The young man Ming Qingyang also clearly hated Ming Wanxi, and perhaps Ming Qingyang and Ming Wanxi were siblings. He purposely ca to overturn the jar of blood, hoping Ming Wanxi would die from lack of human blood consumption.
However, inadvertently, he ended up saving soone.
Sang Que could understand that such a glorious and famous Ming family, known throughout the Xuan Dynasty for its Jade Liquid, being Imperial rchants, yet having such an ’infamous’ blemish, was indeed improper.
Later, Huilan bled herself to urgently save a life.
The strange aspect Sang Que found was right here—why was Huilan desperately saving Ming Wanxi? Wasn’t Ming Wanxi a man-eating monster? And why hadn’t Ming Wanxi killed Huilan?
In these resentnt-filled mories of Huilan, the only ti Ming Wanxi appeared was when the Ming Mansion was preparing for the Nie God Sacrifice, and Huixin approached Huilan.
"Sister, please help once more. You have such a good relationship with the young lady. She dared to kill Nanny Wang beside the old madam for you. You plead with her to bring by her side, and that’ll be enough."
"..."
"Zhou Huilan! Are you truly so heartless, watching go to my death? Have you forgotten how I shared the food I stole and how I took the beatings for you? Originally, you were supposed to marry the Nie God, and I took that disaster for you! You stole my chance to serve the young lady!"
Slap!
Sang Que replaced Huilan’s hand with a slap across Huixin’s face, telling her to shut up if she couldn’t speak like a human!
But it was useless; Huilan eventually agreed, making Sang Que furious, wishing she could give Huilan a slap to wake her up.
What use is resentnt in the heart? Against injustice and dissatisfaction, one should fight back on the spot!
Afterward, through Huilan, Sang Que saw the monstrous young lady of the Ming Mansion, Ming Wanxi.
Inside a spacious and bright room, behind a screen embroidered with a grand landscape and flocks of wild geese, the slender and tall Ming Wanxi knelt by a low table under the window, writing sothing with a pen.
Only a simple silhouette, the real person unseen.
Huilan explained the reason, knelt to bid farewell to Ming Wanxi.
Behind the screen, Ming Wanxi put down the pen, her voice clear and powerful, "The Nie God is the lifeblood of the Ming Mansion; matters involving it are beyond my power to help."
Huilan smiled bitterly, "I understand. I just wanted to bid you farewell. You didn’t expose my stand-in marriage, which was already helping . Afterward, if anyone asks about , please bear a sin for saying you killed ."
From behind the screen, Ming Wanxi turned her head, "Are you not resentful?"
Huilan’s eyes were empty, devoid of all luster, "Resent who? My parents or my sister? They are all my kin. As a daughter, as an elder sister, how could I bear resentnt? That would be unfilial and unjust."
"Do you not resent the Ming Family?"
Huilan hesitated, then smiled bitterly, "The Ming Family is a towering tree. How dare I, a re ant, harbor thoughts of opposing? I am already tired and no longer wish to struggle."
"But it wasn’t what you used to tell ; you used to say that no matter how difficult the world, there is hope in living."
"Once upon a ti is once upon a ti, didn’t you also fail to escape the Ming Family’s prison?"
"..."
"Actually, my sister was pretty good to when we were young. She often stole food for to eat. Later, after being beaten by our parents too much, she couldn’t get enough to eat herself, and gradually she changed. An older sister should take care of her younger siblings; that’s what our parents always told ."
After a mont of silence in the room, Huilan stood up, ready to leave.
"Huilan, call sister." Ming Wanxi, from behind the screen, lifted her head to look at Huilan’s back.
Huilan’s eyes were hot and moist, and her voice caught in her throat. At the doorway, the two paper people she had made to cheer up Ming Wanxi still stood hand in hand beneath the eaves, like sisters. If only they were facing a beautiful landscape.
But unfortunately, the courtyard was filled with wild grass, a number of unnad graves, and so urns of ashes that had yet to be buried.
Those were all the people who died in this small courtyard—there were the strange children of the Ming Mansion and those accidentally killed during the children’s fits. Huilan was originally supposed to be buried here too.
Huilan ultimately did not call out "sister" and left, her head lowered, in quick strides.
In the empty room, only a faint sigh from Ming Wanxi remained.
At that mont, Sang Que’s heart was heavy, but the events that would truly devastate her were yet to co, lying in the deepest, most intense mories of Huilan’s resentnt.
With the veil over her head, adorned in her bridal attire and jewelry, Huilan waited alone in her room to be carried onto the flower sedan. It was then she heard the voice of her father, Zhou Renshou.
At that mont, Sang Que clearly felt Huilan’s heart pounding fiercely—a flicker of fla in the depths of despair, igniting her nearly extinguished will to survive.
Huilan, avoiding the guards, secretly slipped out of the courtyard and found her father, kneeling to plead with him.
"Father, if only you would report to the Evil Suppression Bureau about the Ming Mansion’s use of live human sacrifices to the Evil God, you could save and the other girls. They’re only sixteen, Father."
In the Xuan Dynasty, the Evil Suppression Bureau did not oppose the common people worshipping various Ghost Gods, but they did not allow live human sacrifices. Any Ghost Gods worshipped this way would be recorded as Evil Gods by the Evil Suppression Bureau.
Once it was discovered that soone sacrificed to Evil Gods, the entire clan could be exterminated.
The Nie God of the Ming Mansion was recognized by the Evil Bureau, and the Ming Mansion had its backers within the Evil Suppression Bureau. The Ming’s Jade Juice was quite favored by the court ladies.
Zhou Renshou understood this far better than Huilan did.
"Huilan, do you know how much the Ming Mansion ordered from our Funeral Shop for this year’s Nie God Festival? And they said that every year from now on, they would order paper flowers and paper people from us for the Nie God Festival."
"I raised you till now; you can’t make this hard on . You can’t just think of yourself and not care whether our family lives or dies. Your brother is still young. He has a bright future ahead of him; he might even earn a na for himself one day..."
Bam!
Sang Que kicked Zhou Renshou against the opposite wall, cracking the wall surface, as Zhou Renshou vomited blood and fell to his knees.
Beast!
Sang Que cursed in her heart, still able only to vent, unable to change anything.
The last mory was chaotic, with a vivid red veil, a swaying flower sedan, and the loud noise of music and instrunts.
Then, the mory fractured, leaving only blurred images and darkness gradually encroaching from the edge of the vision.
"Out of nine brides, only your resentnt is strong enough to beco an Evil Spirit. Raise you a while, and you will surely beco a Fierce Ghost."
Before the darkness completely swallowed her vision, Sang Que saw through Huilan’s eyes the handle of a knife, wrapped with red thread, its hilt carved with an Evil Ghost.
It was that thick-bearded man’s nacing knife; sohow, everything connected together.
The fleeing Returning Guest, Skinny, was Huilan’s sister Huixin’s son.
The mysterious old monk must have sothing to do with Ming Mansion’s young master, Ming Qingyang.
The fierce Green Forest Man’s knife ca from the one who sealed Huilan.
All these people were those Huilan wanted; they were involved in the main storyline of this tale.
And she was the hidden plot line planted by the storyteller, the prey the storyteller wanted to kill.
In the dark space, mirrors recording mories of Huilan’s resentnt fell one after another.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Sang Que heard a deafening sound of a heartbeat, black threads belonging to the village resentnt burst forth from her chest area, instantly tearing the surrounding darkness apart.
Lightning flashed, wind and rain swirled. In the silver light of the lightning, Sang Que saw a suspension bridge leading to the opposite mountain, with the abyss on either side.
Atop the mountain was an archway resembling the Ghost Gate, hung with two strings of red lanterns, perated with ominous yin energy. The arch bore the inscription,
Ming Clan Ancestral Hall!
Sang Que realized that was the door to leave here!
Sang Que imdiately ran onto the suspension bridge. Even if she ended up being a ghost out there, she would get out first!
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