by Ning er
Chapter 26: The demon is hiding in Qi Luo Yuan | Chu Wang Fei
道长 daozhang – Taoist priest
浮云山仙 Fu Yun Shan Xian – Floating Cloud Mountain Immortal
拂尘 fuchen – horsetail whisk, a special Taoist weapon; looks like a duster
“xiaojie, at first light today, Su yiniang’s Feng He Yuan was already busy. It seems that Wang mama really managed to invite a profoundly skilled Taoist priest over. They are discussing er xiaojie’s matter with xiangye in the drawing room right now!” While Mu Chun put the breakfast on the table, she told Yun Qian Meng everything she had seen!
“xiaojie, this Su yiniang is truly impatient. She can’t even sit still for half a night!” Mi mama arranged the tableware for Yun Qian Meng, then helped her over to the table as she spoke with a trace of worry.
Yun Qian Meng just calmly made a shallow smile. After sitting down, she first lifted a teacup and took a few sips, before saying, “mama, you’re one of the elderly in this fu, how can you not understand their aims? Do you think all of this is just a coincidence? If this Taoist priest is so amazing, surely a lot of people will be seeking his attention. How can it be that he arrives as soon as Su Qing demands it?”
After Mi mama heard this, she was momentary alarmed and asked with an astonished expression, “Don’t tell me that this was something that they had planned long ago?”
Yun Qian Meng just ate her breakfast as she listened. It was likely that they would be very busy later!
“da xiaojie, laoye has invited you to Feng He Yuan!” Sure enough, Yun Qian Meng had just finished eating when a mama from Su Qing’s side was sent by Yun Xuan Zhi to inform her.
“Got it, you may leave first! I will be there in a moment!” Yun Qian Meng out down her chopsticks and stood up. Mu Chun immediately draped a purple brocade cloak over her shoulders, while Mi mama also helped her put on a pair of rabbit-fur gloves. Finally, after pulling the hood of the cloak over her head, they left behind half the servants to watch over the courtyard, then exited Qi Luo Yuan!
“da xiaojie!” On the way there, they unexpectedly ran into Liu yiniang and Yun Yan. Seeing that they were also in a hurry, it seemed likely that they too had just received the news a moment ago, and were rushing towards Feng He Yuan as well!
In particular, Liu yiniang’s expression was very poor. Most likely, she didn’t think that Su Qing would move so quickly; for something that just happened last night, they had unexpectedly completed their preparations by today!
What Liu Han Yu had not anticipated was that Su Qing’s methods were so exceptional, actually managing to persuade Yun Xuan Zhi to stay in the fu today. This way, she didn’t have any means to execute the task Yun Qian Meng asked of her yesterday!
Noticing that Liu Han Yu was looking ashamed, Yun Qian Meng faintly smiled and walked to her side to comfort her, “yiniang doesn’t need to take it to heart. I trust that with father here, even if there are any crafty plots and conspiracies, it will be hard for them to succeed! We should hurry to go see er meimei, so that they can’t talk bad about us!”
After receiving this reminder from Yun Qian Meng, Liu Han Yu’s facial expression improved somewhat. She immediately nodded to agree as everyone hurried towards Feng He Yuan……
Only, as soon as they reached the doorway, they encountered a strong smell of incense. It looks like the Taoist priest was almost ready to start his rites!
“nü’er greets father!” “Greetings to laoye!” As they arrived in the middle of the yard, everyone saw Yun Xuan Zhi’s figure and bowed in succession!
But Yun Xuan Zhi only gave them a light glance, before waving his hands to let them stand. After that, he focused all of his attention on Su Qing’s matters, stirring up some displeasure in Liu yiniang’s heart. Still, they both entered and softly consoled Su Qing while saying some auspicious words!
Yun Qian Meng then moved away from them and, with Mu Chun’s support, walked under a banyan tree, before she quietly sized up the Taoist priest who was still in the midst of his preparations!
She only saw that he was wearing ash-colored priest robes as he brandished a horsetail whisk around in the air and seemed to be driving away something that couldn’t be seen!
Taking a closer look at this person’s features; his square-jawed face, triangular downturned eyes, round nose, full lips, slightly darkened yellow skin; as he was currently keeping both his eyes closed while muttering to himself, his appearance really did look somewhat like a Taoist priest!
A series of objects used in rituals was arranged on the table before him, while the surrounding young apprentices had serious expressions as they too held horsetail whisks and stood in place.
“Don’t know which temple sir Taoist priest is from?” Yun Qian Meng who noticed the nephrite jade ring on his thumb with her sharp eyes, found it funny and asked in a bright voice!
Right now, other than Yun Xuan Zhi having a quiet conversation and the sound of Yun Ruo Xue’s shouts coming from within the room, the courtyard was completely silent. When they Yun Qian Meng’s question, everyone froze for a moment, then looked towards Yun Qian Meng, not knowing why the young miss asked this question!
The Taoist priest clearly never thought that someone would go as far as to question his origins. His hand movements paused temporarily as he opened his downturned eyes to look for the source of the sound, only to find an otherworldly elegant beauty standing beneath a giant banyan tree. Under the pale yellow rays of the winter sun, the young girl was clothed in purple, her black silky hair adorned with an openwork lily topaz jade hairpin while her unpowdered face was inlaid with a pair of black eyes that were even more dazzling than night luminous pearls. Especially at the faint smile carried by the corners of her lips, the priest was momentarily struck dumb by his gaze, and the young apprentices also had their mouths agape, as they all felt vexed that they couldn’t just eat up Yun Qian Meng into their stomachs……
Looking at the situation, Yun Xuan Zhi’s eyebrows unwittingly creased downwards, while a trace of malicious laughter appeared in Su Qing’s eyes!
“If sir Taoist’s state of mind is not firm, how could you be capable of helping others and driving away the spirits?” Yun Qian Meng’s gaze lightly swept across the courtyard as she took in everyone’s reactions. Then, she looked towards the Taoist priest once more, her eyes clearly showing her contempt!
Hearing the ridicule in Yun Qian Meng’s words, the Taoist quickly fixed his own expression. Showing a deeply spiritual and religious appearance, he spoke in a lofty manner, “ben daozhang is Yi Zhen, a Taoist priest practicing the Way of Truth of Fu Yun Shan Xian!”
Still, after speaking, the Taoist Yi Zhen’s downturned eyes couldn’t refrain from sneaking a few more looks at Yun Qian Meng……
Seeing that this person was actually still so lustful right under Yun Xuan Zhi’s nose, Yun Qian Meng revealed a cold smileas she asked rhetorically, “Fu Yun Shan is very far away from capital. Even if the horses were forced to run at full speed, it would still take around three days to arrive. Why, this matter was only decided by father yesterday, how did Su yiniang manage to accomplish this? Could it be that sir Taoist has the capability to decipher fate and destiny, and came to the capital early?”
These two questions caused both Su Qing and Taoist Yi Zhen to blank out momentarily!
However, before Su Qing could respond, the Taoist priest Yi Zhen borrowed the excuse of answering her question to gaze at Yun Qian Meng with fixed eyes, then replied in earnest, “ben daozhang has profound methods. In the past few days, I foresaw that something will happen in the fu. Following the principles of the importance of life, I thus came to the capital!”
“da xiaojie, the time is almost up! Better first let Xue’er undergo the ritual!” Noticing that the Taoist priest Yi Zhen had a lecherous expression, Su Qing rejoiced in her heart. But, she also saw that Yun Xuan Zhi’s brows were tightly furrowed, and that Yun Qian Meng appeared to be shrewd and astute. To prevent any unforeseen event
s from happening before her plan succeeded, she immediately warned him with her words!
Still, having his happiness interrupted, Yi Zhen’s eyes flashed with slight annoyance as he cast a gloomy glare at Su Qing’s back, before he finally started posing and putting on an act for his ritual……
“Great Heavens, great Earth, immortals of each path……” A series of mantras was recited quickly from Yi Zhen’s mouth as the young apprentices beside him stole looks at Yun Qian Meng on one side, while absent-mindedly performing their rites on the other……
Mu Chun noticed their obscene stares and felt angry in her heart. She immediately blocked their gazes by standing in front of Yun Qian Meng, preventing these supposedly dignified people from peeking at her young miss!
At this moment, Yi Zhen took out an eight trigrams board from his sleeves. He held up the board with his left hand, while his right hand rapidly grasped some ashes from within the incense burner and suddenly scattered them towards the eight trigrams board. All of the surrounding people narrowed their eyes and coughed as they choked on the ashes……
As soon as everyone retrained at Yi Zhen, they found that his right hand was pointed directly towards the northwestern direction, as he faced Yun Xuan Zhi and said, “xiangye, the spirits are dwelling in the northwest of the fu!”
At these words, Yun Ruo Xue’s shouts seemed to quiet down. Everyone exchanged a few looks before they, one after another, turned to look at Yun Qian Meng……
Chapter 27: Executing the fake Taoist priest | Chu Wang Fei
后院 houyuan – the rear courtyard or backyard of an estate, where the women live
师太 shitai – Grandmaster, great expert
Qu Ruo Li – Yun Qian Meng‘s mother; the late Yun furen
However, Yun Qian Meng appeared to treat the matter as if it had nothing to do with her. Only, her calm eyes that were like still water radiated coldness, causing the Taoist priest to momentarily lower his head in guilt……
“Nonsense, how can da xiaojie be a demonic spirit?! You were asked here to save a person, how could you randomly frame da xiaojie?!” When Su Qing noticed Yun Qian Meng’s calm manner, her originally joyous heart momentarily tightened. Not waiting for Yun Xuan Zhi to react, she took the lead to speak, suddenly pinning down as fact that Yun Qian Meng was the malicious spirit!
When Liu Han Yu, Yun Yan and Mi mama all heard Su Qing use this method to falsely accuse Yun Qian Meng, their faces successively showed angry expressions!
In particular, the Taoist priest had only spoken about the northwest direction, and hadn’t clearly said that it was in Qi Luo Yuan!
What’s more, even if it was in Qi Luo Yuan, there were many servants living in the courtyard. But, Su Qing clearly named Yun Qian Meng, evidently directing all the suspicion towards her!
Liu Han Yu couldn’t help but raise her eyes to take a look at Yun Xuan Zhi. She only saw that his eyebrows were tightly creased, his deep eyes darting between Taoist priest Yi Zhen and Yun Qian Meng, obviously considering the truth of this matter!
Su Qing naturally also noticed Yun Xuan Zhi’s expression and looked at how useless Yi Zhen was. To think that he was actually unable to raise his head against a little girl’s stare! She then advanced a step, wanting to open her mouth, but was cut off by Liu Han Yu!
“laoye, our xiangfu’s houyuan is wide; there are numerous courtyards in the northwest. Taoist priest Yi Zhen only vaguely pointed in that direction, so we can’t hastily come to a conclusion! da xiaojie is your blood daughter, and also Empress Dowager’s niece. This kind of false accusation, we can’t simply anything that other people say!” Liu Han Yu looked somewhat worried as she gave Yun Qian Meng a deep glance, before she continued in a soft-spoken manner, “What’s more, nubi has heard from others that ghosts and spirits won’t come out during daytime, bright daylight is indeed their worst fear after all! You see, da xiaojie has been standing here for a long time, how can it possibly be like what Su yiniang said?!”
Hearing Liu Han Yu’s analysis, Yun Xuan Zhi couldn’t help but take another look at Yun Qian Meng. He only saw that she was calmly standing under the banyan tree while the warm rays of the sun grandly fell onto her body, her jade-like face showing a glossy luster under the sunlight. Thinking back to how Yun Ruo Xue had a mother like Su Qing to support her, but Yun Qian Meng didn’t even have a mother to protect her, some feelings of remorse grew in Yun Xuan Zhi’s heart!
At that moment, Yun Xuan Zhi’s severe gaze shot towards the Taoist priest, Yi Zhen, his gloomy eyes showing his rage. Also seeing that Su Qing still had something to say, he spoke in a deep and low voice, “Things that have no basis or foundation, cannot be simply said!”
Hearing Yun Xuan Zhi refute her words, Su Qing’s face stiffened and her heart tied into a knot. She secretly glared at Liu Han Yu before sneakily sending a meaningful glance towards Yi Zhen!
Yi Zhen was still savoring the aftertaste of Yun Qian Meng’s beauty when he heard Yun Xuan Zhi disagree with his verdict. With resentful feelings, he fearlessly said, “xiangye, ben daozhang is only telling things as they are. Coming here this time was not to seek wealth, but to help others avoid calamities! Only, all matters on Earth have always like so; if you believe, it is there; if you don’t, it is not! If xiangye doesn’t believe this old priest, we will just leave! Still, I will offer a bit of advice to xiangye; if the spirits are not eliminated, then future misfortune is certain!”
As Yi Zhen spoke, he, once again, pretended to accidentally look at Yun Qian Meng. But now his line of sight was being blocked by Mu Chun, only letting him see the edge of a pale orange skirt, resulting in him regretfully retrieving his gaze!
Su Qing also cleverly stopped mentioning Yun Qian Meng’s name, but brought up Yun Ruo Xue instead. Her face full of tears, as she bore the appearance of a warm, caring mother, sobbing and speaking with difficulty, “laoye, nubi is only anxious! It’s true that da xiaojie is your daughter, but Ruo Xue even though born as shu, is still your own flesh and blood! How can you bear to see her appear crazy like this forever?”
As she finished, Su Qing seemed to be gasping for air, her eyes darkened as she almost fell onto the floor. But luckily, Yun Xuan Zhi reacted quickly to support her body, and brought her shuddering body into his embrace. Only, his tightly pursed lips still hadn’t stated his final decision!
Su Qing’s words, fell into Yun Qian Meng’s ears, and only led her to coldly laugh in her heart!
What she had just said didn’t seem to involve herself, but was in reality, reminding Yun Xuan Zhi about how important she and Yun Ruo Xue were in his heart!
Even though Yun Qian Meng was the di daughter, she wasn’t doted on by Yun Xuan Zhi; instead, Yun Ruo Xue despite being just a shu daughter, had taken up all of their father’s love and affection!
Furthermore, if Qu Ruo Li hadn’t been married to Yun Xuan Zhi as the main wife at the time, then she was afraid that right now, the di eldest young miss of the xiangfu would be Yun Ruo Xue!
Raising these old topics, and pretending to be weak at the same time, Su Qing was likely trying to ignite the old fires that Yun Xuan Zhi had buried deep in his heart, and then from there, direct them towards Yun Qian Meng!
Thinking so, Yun Qian Meng restrained the anger at the bottom of her heart. Her eyes full of concern, she spoke to remind Liu Han Yu, “Liu yiniang, hurry up and ask the mama to help Su Qing back into her room to rest! The wind outside is chilly, be careful so that Su yiniang doesn’t catch a cold!”
“nubi hasn’t……” Su Qing saw that Yun Qian Meng wanted to push her away and thought to stand right up, but, remembering all of her efforts and acts just now, Su Qing had no choice but to allow Liu Han Yu to strongly drag her back to her own room!
“Father, Meng’er had an audience with the Emperor in the throne room not long ago, and could be said to have walked under the eyes of the dragon! If it truly is as Su yiniang says, could it be that the Son of Heaven can’t even push down a single demonic spirit?” Speaking up to th
is point, Yun Qian Meng paused for half a beat to wait until Yun Xuan Zhi had taken her words to heart before continuing, “Furthermore, the houyuan in our xiangfu is where the womenfolk live. How can men simply enter and leave? Even though this time for er mei’s illness, we had no other choice, but if this was spread outside, in the end, the reputation of us three sisters will be harmed! Wouldn’t it be better to go to Pu Guo An, and ask Jiu Xuan shitai to divine meimei’s fate to see if it’s really a conflict with demons and spirits?!”
However, before Yun Qian Meng’s words even reached the ground, Su Qing’s loud wails came from the inner rooms, “My poor Xue’er, mom has already begged your older sister, but she is really too heartless, actually doesn’t want to use the priest that is available, and purposely wants to go look for a shitai from over a hundred miles away! Seeing your condition, I don’t even know if we can wait until the day shitai arrives…… laoye, Xue’er and I will kowtow to you here! If anything happens to Xue’er, I won’t continue to live by myself either, you take good care of yourself! Qing’er can’t serve you anymore!
Finishing, they could only hear loud noises from inside the room. The servants inside and Liu Han Yu all tried to restrain Su Qing from striking the wall when they suddenly heard Wang mama say, “yiniang, why do this? How can da xiaojie fold her hands and see somebody die? What’s more, laoye still hasn’t said anything!”
When Yun Xuan Zhi saw that his peaceful home had become like this, his face showed impatience. Even though his heart agreed with Yun Qian Meng, because Yun Ruo Xue’s matter was so pressing, he had no choice but to decide, “Meng’er will stay here in Feng He Yuan, Taoist Yi Zhen, follow me to Qi Luo Yuan!
Ending his speech, he took the lead and stepped out of Feng He Yuan……
When Yun Qian Meng heard Yun Xuan Zhi’s decision, cold laughter flashed in her eyes. She then gave Shui’er and Bing’er a meaningful glance before telling them, “You two should go and send father out!”
