The Eight Characters Betrothal Note

"What?"

Chen Mo's mouth fell open, his face full of surprise.

When had he gotten himself another wife?

Chen Dachuan looked at his son's bewildered expression and instead tugged at the corner of his mouth, revealing a bitter, self-mocking smile. "It was arranged back when Big Mouth Li was still alive. I never really took it seriously."

"Now that the girl doesn't want it, we won't force her."

He spoke decisively, then turned and went into his room.

After a bout of rummaging through boxes and cabinets, Chen Dachuan came back out holding a faded red envelope. "I've kept her eight characters betrothal note all this time. Go get yours back."

"We'll call it off."

Chen Mo took the thin red envelope, feeling a little strange.

Now that he thought about it, there seemed to be something like this in his predecessor's memories. He'd apparently been rather enamored with her.

No wonder that woman had looked at him as if he were dirt. She'd found someone better, after all.

Father and son left the house one after the other.

The gate to the Li Family's courtyard next door stood ajar, and quiet sobbing came from inside.

Chen Dachuan knocked on the door. The sounds inside stopped abruptly.

A moment later, Widow Li opened the door, her eyes red and swollen. She saw the red envelope in Chen Dachuan's hand, then glanced at Chen Mo behind him. Shame flashed across her face.

"Master Chen, Xiao Mo, come in..."

"We won't come in." Chen Dachuan waved a hand, keeping his tone as calm as he could. "The children have grown up and have minds of their own. That's a good thing. We elders can't stand in their way. This is Siqing's betrothal note. I've come to get Xiao Mo's back. Let's put the matter behind us."

Widow Li's tears welled up again. She looked at Chen Dachuan, then at Chen Mo's expressionless face. "Master Chen... we've wronged your family... Siqing was foolish..."

"Xiao Mo's note... wait a moment. I'll go get it right now."

She hurriedly wiped her hands on her apron and went inside. After a rustle of searching, she came back out empty-handed. "It's... it's gone. I remember putting it in the little box at the very bottom of the wardrobe... How could it be gone?"

Chen Dachuan frowned. "It's gone?"

"Mom! Did you put it somewhere else?"

Li Siqing's voice came from the inner room, carrying a trace of barely perceptible guilt.

She came out wearing old everyday clothes. Her eyes were a little red, but she kept her chin up and refused to look at Chen Mo and his father.

"I didn't move it! It was right there the whole time!" Widow Li said anxiously.

Li Siqing pressed her lips together. Her gaze darted over to Chen Mo, then her lashes lowered. "Maybe... maybe I accidentally packed it with my things when I was tidying up last time and took it to school. I left in a hurry and forgot to bring it back."

The excuse was full of holes.

Who would accidentally take a betrothal note to school?

Chen Dachuan's expression darkened. "Siqing, this betrothal note isn't an ordinary item. If you think this arrangement isn't right, bring it out openly and we can settle things face-to-face. No one will blame you. There's no point in making excuses like this."

Li Siqing's cheeks flushed. Her fingers twisted at the hem of her clothes, but her voice grew even more defiant. "Uncle Chen, I'm not making excuses! I really did forget it at school! If you don't believe me, I'll find it and return it to you the next time I go back!"

Watching her shifty eyes, Chen Mo felt that something was wrong, but for the moment, he couldn't put his finger on it.

Chen Dachuan's chest rose and fell. After a moment of silence, he gently set the red envelope in his hand on a stone stool in the courtyard.

"If you forgot it, then so be it." His voice was very calm, but a chill ran through it. Even an honest man had his temper.

"From now on, let's act as if this engagement never existed. Our families will remain neighbors, nothing more."

Having said that, he didn't look again at Widow Li, whose face had gone deathly pale, or Li Siqing, who was biting her lip. He turned to Chen Mo. "Let's go."

Chen Mo took one last look at the red envelope on the stone stool, then glanced at Li Siqing, whose expression was complicated and unreadable. He said nothing and followed his father out.

"That girl's got too many schemes and goes too far. Keep your distance from her from now on," Chen Dachuan said.

Chen Mo nodded.

He didn't care about the betrothal note. It was just that Li Siqing's behavior made it seem like she was hiding something.

Night deepened. With the Mid-Autumn Festival approaching, the moonlight should have been clear and bright, but now it shrouded all of Linshui County in a thick, dark-red glow.

Wang the Scabby, the thug whose leg Chen Mo had kicked in earlier that day, was being supported by two underlings as they limped toward the back wall of Deliverance Studio.

His leg was haphazardly wrapped in strips of cloth, and pain twisted his face. He clutched a blackened earthenware jar to his chest. It was filled with pungent fire oil.

"Deliverance Studio? This is the place, right?"

"Should be. Sanzhuzi said he saw that guy go in with his own eyes."

"Damn it... that little punk... I'll burn down his wretched den and see if he can still swagger around!"

Wang the Scabby spat. His eyes glinted with malice.

"Brother Scabby, are you really going to set it on fire? If someone finds out, we won't be able to stay in Linhe County." One of his underlings sounded a little scared.

Murder and arson were serious crimes in any era.

"What's there to be afraid of? It's dark and windy. We'll run as soon as we've set the fire. Who'll know it was us? I didn't break my leg for nothing!"

Wang the Scabby cursed under his breath and ordered his accomplices to bring over a few bundles of firewood and pile them against the wall. He himself shakily reached to pry the seal off the jar.

Just as the oil was about to pour from its mouth—

A gust of sinister wind sprang up without warning, icy cold as it swept through the alley and made the dry firewood rustle.

All three shuddered.

"Why did it suddenly get so cold..."

Before he could finish, the shadow in the corner suddenly came alive, gathering into three blurry human shapes.

They had no features. Their hollow faces turned toward Wang the Scabby and the others, and thick resentment poured from them.

These three vengeful spirits were the same three people Chen Mo had killed in Jin City.

In a daze, they had followed the source of Chen Mo's aura all the way to Linhe County.

But now they were drawn to the intense malice radiating from Wang the Scabby and his companions, and mistook them for their target.

"G-Ghosts!" The two underlings were scared out of their wits. They abandoned Wang the Scabby and turned to run.

Terror gripped Wang the Scabby. His hand jerked, and the jar hit the ground. Fire oil bubbled out, filling the air with its pungent smell.

The three vengeful spirits seemed roused by the noise. Black mist roiled around them as they rushed forward!

Yin energy entered his body, and Wang the Scabby immediately felt as if he'd fallen into an ice cellar. Agonizing pain stabbed through his broken leg.

"You two bastards, don't leave me behind!"

He let out a scream. Strength drained rapidly from his body, and his vision began to blur and darken.

Just as his consciousness was about to sink into darkness completely...

"Swish!"

A faint sound sliced through the air, like a sharp blade cutting through thick cloth.

At the edge of Wang the Scabby's blurred vision, he seemed to glimpse a swift, yellowish shadow, as thin as a sheet of paper, darting past at an unbelievable speed.

The three vengeful spirits, whose forms had just grown a little more solid, suddenly froze.

A slender crack appeared across each of their ghostly bodies.

The cracks spread rapidly.

Like bubbles bursting, or something being scattered by the wind—

They dissolved into wisps of thin black smoke, which the sinister wind swept away until nothing remained.

The thick resentment in the air faded along with them.

The cold sensation draining Wang the Scabby's body vanished in an instant. But weakness from depleted vitality and the agony of his broken leg struck together, and he collapsed onto the ground, able only to gasp for breath.

"Who was that? Thank you, senior, for saving my life!"

He stared at the empty alley before him, still shaken, but with the joy of having survived a calamity on his face.

"You're thanking me too soon!"

On the low wall to the left of the alley, Chen Mo had appeared without a sound. A trace of chilling Yin energy still clung to him, not yet fully concealed.

He furrowed his brow slightly, glanced at Wang the Scabby sprawled on the ground like mud, then looked toward the two figures fleeing in panic deeper into the alley.

His gaze swept over the oil jar on the ground, the fire oil spilled everywhere, and the firewood piled by his own back door...

"Looking for death." His eyes turned cold. He lightly jumped down from the wall and walked up to Wang the Scabby.

Wang the Scabby struggled to raise his head. When he saw Chen Mo's expressionless face beneath the red moonlight, his pupils contracted. Fear instantly overwhelmed his exhausted body. "P-please spare me... I won't dare again..."

"Crack."