"Do you think I've had rotten luck lately? Every time I go out, I run into ghosts, and no two ghosts are alike. Now it's even better—I stay home without going anywhere, and this still lands on my head."
Wang Longqi wore a miserable expression as he looked at Li Chu and Li Xinyi, speaking with grief and indignation.
Li Chu thought about it and felt that if a Vengeful Spirit came knocking while he was at home... that actually sounded rather nice.
Monster Grinding would be very convenient.
But on second thought, before getting entangled with a Vengeful Spirit, he would first have to seize every crack and crevice...
Forget it.
That was too troublesome.
Then again, that made sense. Where in this world were there good things that came without labor?
If Wang Longqi could see what he was thinking, he would surely bow in admiration before his godlike logic of cause and effect.
Li Chu stared blankly in calm contemplation, while Li Xinyi curled her lip at Wang Longqi. "Hmph. If you hadn't been heartless and faithless, starting chaos and abandoning it, how would you have ended up like this?"
From Facing Heaven Pavilion's perspective, she naturally had to protect Wang Longqi's life and prevent common people from being harmed by a Vengeful Spirit.
But from a woman's perspective, she utterly despised Wang Longqi's shameless behavior.
"Heaven and earth bear witness—I don't know why Mei Xiang harbors Resentful Qi toward me. I wasn't the one who started chaos and abandoned it." Wang Longqi raised his hand like a halberd and swore, "Li Chu, remember how I told you two days ago that a popular courtesan and a Madam at Spring Full Pavilion were badmouthing me behind my back? That person was Mei Xiang!"
Li Chu nodded.
"Ah..." Wang Longqi sighed again. "Back then, beneath flowers and beneath moonlight, we were sweet as honey and inseparable. Feelings had grown over time, and we had privately pledged ourselves to each other for life. But who would have thought that after I was bewitched by a female ghost, not only did she show no concern for me, she deliberately avoided me and mocked me behind my back! That was when I saw her true face clearly and completely distanced myself from her."
"She was the sort who kept you in front when she needed you and tossed you behind when she didn't. Yesterday morning, she suddenly sent the little maid to invite me to Spring Full Pavilion for a chat. Maybe she was short of money again. Originally, we were also..."
At this point, he suddenly glanced at Li Xinyi. A cultivator from Facing Heaven Pavilion still carried an air of authority, so he withdrew some of his cruder words and pondered his phrasing for a moment.
"After all, we had been close friends of Guan and Bao for many years. She was heartless, but I was righteous. Yet just as I was about to agree, I suddenly remembered that bastard Zhao Liangcai. If he found out I had gone to Spring Full Pavilion lately, he would definitely gossip about me before Gongsun Girl. So I said we would meet another day and merely had the little maid take back one hundred taels of silver for her."
"You could say I had done everything humanly possible for her, right? Yet before she died, she was still complaining about me. She even turned into a Fierce Ghost to seek revenge against me. That truly makes no sense."
After hearing him out, Li Chu thought for a moment and said, "If she comes looking for you tonight, you can try explaining things to her. Perhaps that can purify her Resentful Qi."
In his view, since even the First Wife had been able to disperse all her Resentful Qi because of the face of someone she had never met, perhaps purifying Resentful Qi was not all that difficult...
"Let's forget that." Wang Longqi shrank his neck. "You should just give her a quick end. Another day, I'll slowly explain things to her at her grave."
"We can't let down our guard at Spring Full Pavilion either," Li Xinyi said. "From what you've said, it seems Miss Mei Xiang's Resentful Qi toward you shouldn't be that strong... In that case, her Vengeful Spirit might still appear at Spring Full Pavilion."
"Mm." Li Chu agreed with her.
Li Xinyi said, "Then let's split into two groups. One person stays here to protect him, while the other stands guard at Spring Full Pavilion. How about it?"
Li Chu pondered it and felt that it was slightly inappropriate.
Last time, Li Xinyi had encountered an accident when dealing with a Vengeful Spirit...
Before he could decide whether to object, Wang Longqi shouted first, "Great! Then let Li Chu stay here with me!"
His tone was exceptionally urgent.
Li Xinyi's willow brows shot up. "What do you mean by that?"
Wang Longqi blinked and replied weakly, "What do you mean, what do I mean?"
"You're so eager to have Little Daoist Priest Li stay behind. Do you think he's stronger than me?" Li Xinyi asked.
Of course!
That's exactly what I think!
Wang Longqi declared in his heart with perfect confidence.
At the top of his lungs.
But thoughts this dangerous were best kept in his head. Naturally, he would not stupidly say them aloud.
He smiled tactfully. "No, no. Protecting me would inevitably mean spending the night alone in the same room. We're a lone man and a lone woman; it definitely wouldn't look good. My father taught me from childhood that one's reputation is heavier than Mount Tai!"
Only then did Li Xinyi nod in satisfaction.
She naturally understood it very well too.
Li Chu truly was stronger than her.
But...
How could outsiders be allowed to know that?
If word got out that I, a dignified Purple-Clad Guard of Facing Heaven Pavilion, relied on outsiders to solve cases, how could I make a name for myself?
She stole a glance at Li Chu. He was still pondering something, utterly unconcerned.
Li Xinyi smiled faintly. This Little Daoist Priest's indifference toward empty fame was simply wonderful.
Loved it, loved it.
Only then did Li Chu raise his eyes and say to Wang Longqi, "How about we go to Spring Full Pavilion together?"
"Huh?" Wang Longqi froze, then a strange smile surfaced on his face. "The three of us together... wouldn't that be inappropriate? Miss Li is still here... Or have the two of you reached the point where you don't even avoid this?"
"What are you thinking?" Li Xinyi scolded.
She immediately understood what Li Chu meant.
Spring Full Pavilion was dead, while Wang Longqi was alive.
If they brought him back to Spring Full Pavilion, no matter whom the Vengeful Spirit's Resentful Qi was attached to, it could only come there.
Once the Vengeful Spirit appeared, things would become simple.
For Wang Longqi, going to Spring Full Pavilion was like returning home. Upon entering the front gates, he made his way with practiced ease to Mei Xiang's Room, habitually flopped down into a bamboo chair, and said leisurely, "Hong Zhi, bring tea."
Hong Zhi was the little maid's name.
When no answer came after he called, he finally realized that this was no longer the same as his previous visits.
"Ah." He sighed again, his face full of deep feeling. "Why did Mei Xiang have to do this?"
Li Xinyi said gloomily from the side, "She hanged herself by stepping on that chair."
"Eugh—" Wang Longqi hurriedly got up and changed seats.
After a while, Spring Third Madam finally arrived with the little maid Hong Zhi.
Upon seeing Wang Longqi, Spring Third Madam rolled her eyes at him. Mei Xiang had been a girl she had raised since childhood, and there was certainly affection between them. Seeing Wang Longqi now, she could not help feeling angry.
Wang Longqi hurriedly begged for mercy. "Third Madam, don't keep giving me cold looks. Mei Xiang's death has already broken my heart badly enough."
"Oh? Young Master Wang Qi has a heart? Then why didn't you put a little heart into it while she was alive? Now that you've driven her to death, you know to come here and put on an act."
Spring Third Madam crossed her arms. Even her slight anger and coy reproach rippled with charm.
Wang Longqi spread his hands and beckoned to the little maid. "Come, Hong Zhi. Tell Third Madam carefully—didn't I give you one hundred taels of silver yesterday to take back to Miss Mei Xiang? I didn't say anything harsh. My exact words were that we would meet another day, that there was no need to rush... right?"
After saying that, he also explained how Mei Xiang had badmouthed him behind his back, why he had distanced himself from her, and how magnanimous he had been.
He was wronged.
After Spring Third Madam heard him out, her expression changed. "Which Madam was gossiping about people behind her back with her? When I return, I'll make sure to teach her a proper lesson. But Young Master Wang Qi, you got her pregnant and only wanted to dismiss her with one hundred taels of silver. Isn't that far too degrading? Those who don't know the truth might call you righteous, but those who do would only think you were humiliating our girl."
"Huh?" Wang Longqi's expression changed drastically. "Mei Xiang was pregnant?"
Li Xinyi said, "The Yamen examined the body. Miss Mei Xiang was indeed two months pregnant."
"Two months?" Wang Longqi was shocked again.
"I only learned about this this morning as well. The girls in our establishment have always had their own methods of keeping themselves safe in their comings and goings; they would never easily conceive someone's child." Spring Third Madam said, "Mei Xiang must have wanted to redeem herself, so she used some method to attach herself to you, borrowing a seed to marry into a wealthy household. She didn't dare let me know about this. If I had known, I would definitely have stopped her. That foolish girl—what man ever carries a conscience?"
Li Chu silently glanced at her.
She hurriedly added, "Of course, someone as handsome as Little Daoist Priest Li is another matter."
"Impossible. Absolutely impossible." Wang Longqi shook his head repeatedly.
Spring Third Madam said, "She had always only been intimate with you. Who else could it have been?"
"Ever since half a year ago, I haven't... haven't met with her again, much less seized every crack and crevice. This is absolutely impossible!" Wang Longqi denied it decisively.
Spring Third Madam's brows drew tight, and then she suddenly turned to look at the little maid Hong Zhi.
The little maid trembled all over.
"Mei Xiang was involved with someone else too?" Spring Third Madam asked.
The management of the popular courtesans at Spring Full Pavilion was extremely strict. Ordinary good girls could naturally smile as they welcomed guests from all directions, but if a popular courtesan did the same, it would be no different from lowering her own worth.
Therefore, Spring Third Madam had set down rules. After a popular courtesan took her first patron, she could only have one guest behind the curtain for a period of time. If she wished to change to another, she had to first make a clean break with the previous one.
Anyone who violated the rule would face severe punishment.
It was precisely such rules that made Spring Full Pavilion's Popular Courtesans admired by countless people.
Because literati and esteemed scholars knew that as long as they won this girl's heart, they would be her only one, even if only temporarily.
That mindset was completely different.
The little maid stammered, "Actually... actually, Miss Mei Xiang had always been involved with more than just Young Master Wang... The child... truly wasn't Young Master Wang's either."
Spring Third Madam pressed, "Then who was the other man?"
"It was..." the little maid said. "That person was... Young Master Zhao Liangcai of the Zhao Family."
"It was him." Wang Longqi was instantly struck as if by lightning, collapsing into the chair.
This feeling was about the same as having one's wife secretly sleep with another man behind one's back. And the man she had slept with was his lifelong enemy.
No wonder Mei Xiang had dared to be so indifferent toward him. She had already climbed another high branch.
Li Chu cast him a look.
Be strong.
Spring Third Madam wore a complicated expression as she looked at Wang Longqi. "Young Master Wang, it turns out I wrongly blamed you just now. I owe you an apology. As for Mei Xiang, I never knew about this. Now..."
"Now that she's dead, what is there left for me to argue about?" Wang Longqi gave a bitter smile.
"Of course I choose to forgive her."
This chapter was a complete collection of idioms.
Before you continue