The rain hadn't stopped yet. Li Sheng held an iron-clad whistle stick in his hand, followed by twenty Xu family guards. The back gate was tightly shut, with a rusted bronze padlock hanging on it.
"Smash it."
Xu Qinghuan stood under the corridor to shelter from the rain, her fingertips twisting the land deed. It was sent by Wang Ruhai, and the bright red official seal on it had not completely dried yet.
Without a second word, Li Sheng swung his arm, and the whistle stick in his hand smashed down with a gust of wind.
Clang!
Sparks flew, and the padlock, along with half of a rotten door loop, flew into the muddy water.
"Leave a few people to guard the front and back doors. Not even a fly is allowed out." Xu Qinghuan folded the land deed and tucked it into her sleeve. "Li Sheng, light the torches."
The sky was extremely gloomy. Although it was broad daylight, the backyard was incredibly dark.
Pine oil torches were lit, the orange light tearing through the gloom and illuminating a row of black moss at the base of the wall.
"Miss, this kind of dirty work is for the lowly ones." Li Sheng looked at the half-open moon gate. It was pitch black inside, and the wind blew with a whining sound. "This place is evil."
"There are some things I must fetch personally."
Xu Qinghuan took the torch, the firelight dancing in her eyes.
"Guard this place well."
After saying that, she carried the torch and stepped alone through the moon gate.
This was an isolated forbidden area.
The weeds in the yard were as tall as a person, abandoned for an unknown amount of time. There was only a low stone house in the middle. The door was covered with yellowed talismans, which were soaked and rotten by the rain, hanging down and looking very eerie.
Bang!
Xu Qinghuan kicked open the stone door, and a strong musty smell mixed with the scent of old blood hit her face.
She raised the torch high.
The four walls had no windows, only dense scratch marks, not carved by knives, but gouged out by fingernails.
The marks varied in depth, some deep enough to show bone, with blackened scabs in the crevices. These marks were crisscrossed, ultimately converging into a single word—Hate.
Thousands of 'hate' characters crawled all over the walls, twisting in the firelight like distorted faces.
Xu Qinghuan was expressionless. Her gaze moved past the walls and landed in the center of the room.
There was a blackened futon there.
A wrist-thick iron chain was connected to the futon, with the other end nailed into the wall.
The iron chain did not lock a living bodhisattva, but a withered skeleton.
The skeleton was draped in a rotten, strip-like monk's robe, kneeling on the futon in a bizarre posture. The pelvis was unnaturally shattered, clearly indicating that the person had suffered extreme torture while alive, unable to even sit, and could only be suspended by the iron chain, kneeling to death here.
She had been dead for at least three to five years. The first wife Xie An had missed for fifteen years had long turned into a pile of rotten bones.
Xu Qinghuan walked over, her boots stepping on the dry straw, making a rustling sound.
She inserted the torch into the iron hoop on the wall and squatted down.
On the ground in front of the skeleton lay a half-piece of something black—a half-piece of a wooden tongue.
It was rough, and the edges were covered with teeth marks.
Xu Qinghuan picked up the half wooden tongue and weighed it in her palm. It was light, yet felt heavy.
"The Wang family, what a good method."
Xu Qinghuan's voice echoed in the empty stone chamber, carrying a bone-chilling coldness.
Xu Qinghuan untied the purple sandalwood box from her back. It was the one Wang Ruhai used to send the land deed, and now it was just right for a more precious return gift.
She had no taboos and reached out to pick up the skeleton.
The bones were brittle and crumbled at a touch.
Xu Qinghuan picked them up piece by piece, along with the half wooden tongue, and neatly stacked them in the box.
"Madam Xie, it's time to go."
Xu Qinghuan closed the lid and patted the top of the box.
Front yard.
The rain grew heavier, pattering against the eaves.
Dozens of women were driven from the meditation rooms to the center of the yard by the guards. Some wore nun robes, while others wore silks and satins they hadn't changed out of. Their faces were full of terror. Having been locked in this dark place all year round, their tempers had long been worn away. Seeing the burly men holding whistle sticks, they could only shiver and huddle together.
Li Sheng stood on the steps, his thin face expressionless, only his small eyes gleaming shrewdly.
He waved his hand, and two guards brought over three chests.
Bang!
The chest lids were kicked open.
Gleaming silver ingots cast a cold light under the gloomy sky, dazzling the eyes.
A commotion arose in the crowd.
"Listen to me, all of you!" Li Sheng shouted with his cracked, harsh voice, "This Ciyun Nunnery has changed masters! My lady bought this land. She doesn't keep idlers, and certainly not useless people!"
He bent down, grabbed two silver ingots from the chest, and struck them together hard.
Clang—
The crisp sound of metal clashing quieted everyone down.
"Considering you've lived here for so long, my lady rewards you with a severance fee. Fifty taels each. Take the money and get out immediately!"
Fifty taels was a large sum of money for ordinary people, enough to feed a family of five for ten years.
But for these women, it was life-saving money, and no one dared to move.
They looked at the silver, then at the blood-grooved whistle sticks in Li Sheng's hands, their eyes filled with suspicion and fear.
"What? Think it's too little?"
Li Sheng threw the silver heavily back into the chest with a muffled thud. "Or do you want to stay here and wait for the Wang family to come back and take you to enjoy good fortune?"
At the mention of the Wang family, a few older women in the crowd shuddered violently, as if hearing the name of an evil ghost.
"This... sir."
An old nun wearing an old monk's robe stepped out unsteadily and fell to her knees in the muddy water. "This poor nun... this poor nun has nowhere to go. I beg you, sir, to show mercy and let me stay. Even sweeping the floor and cooking is fine."
With her kneeling, a whole swath of people behind her fell to their knees.
"We beg you, sir, show mercy. We have nowhere to go."
"If we leave here, the Wang family will kill us..."
Cries filled the air, so miserable it made one's heart ache.
Li Sheng frowned, a look of impatient ruthlessness crossing his face. He took a few steps down and kicked away the muddy water in front of the old nun.
"Nowhere to go? The world is big. Where can't you go with fifty taels of silver?"
Li Sheng pointed towards the main gate, spit flying. "What are you hanging around here for? Waiting to die? This Ciyun Nunnery is going to be leveled to build a mansion. You unlucky things hanging around here will ruin my lady's feng shui. Can you afford to pay for that?"
As he scolded, he grabbed silver ingots from the chest and forcefully stuffed them into the women's arms, regardless of whether they accepted them or not.
"Take it! Get out!"
"If you don't get out, I'll have someone throw you into the mass grave on the back mountain to feed the dogs!"
His movements were rough, throwing the silver at the women and even pushing the kneeling women.
Ouch!
The old nun was pushed and stumbled, the silver in her arms rolling into the mud.
She scrambled to pick it up, getting mud all over her hands, but hugged it tightly to her chest, not daring to let go.
Li Sheng didn't notice, turning around and roaring, "Men! Give them half an incense stick of time! Pack your things, take the money, and leave! If anyone dares to take a single needle or thread from the nunnery, chop off their hands!"
The guards immediately rushed forward, waving their whistle sticks, driving the women out the main gate.
"Move! Move!"
"Don't dawdle!"
The yard was in chaos, with crying and shouting everywhere.
Li Sheng stood on the steps, watching this farce, his hands behind his back tightly clutching the hem of his clothes, his knuckles white.
These foolish women!
Staying here is a true dead end!
Wang Ruhai gave the title deed to the young lady as hush money, but the Wang family had no idea if this would actually keep her quiet. The people in Ciyun Nunnery knew too many of the Wang family's dirty secrets. Once the Wang family recovered, to prevent any future trouble, the women filling this courtyard would have no other path but death.
The young lady was saving people.
But she couldn't make her rescue too obvious.
She had to drive them out, letting them take the money and fly far away, completely severing their ties with Ciyun Nunnery and the Wang family. Only by becoming homeless refugees and blending into the vast sea of humanity would the Wang family be unable to find them, and only then could they survive!
Yes, that must be it!
"Listen to me clearly, all of you!"
Li Sheng looked at the women who had been driven to the door, still looking back with every step, and roared through gritted teeth, "Once you step out of these doors, keep your mouths shut tight! If anyone dares to spout nonsense outside about what happened in the nunnery, the Wang family won't even need to act, I will skin you alive myself!"
This was a final warning, and also a life-saving charm.
These women had been locked up until they were almost numb, but they understood the murderous intent in those harsh words.
Finally, someone picked up the silver on the ground and stumbled out of the main gate.
With one taking the lead, the rest dared not stay any longer. They scrambled to grab the silver and hurried out into the pouring rain.
Ding!
Just as Xu Qinghuan walked out of the backyard, a crisp notification sound rang in her mind.
Detected atrocious behavior from the host!
Forcibly evicting vulnerable groups, violently demolishing property, using money to insult personal dignity, and causing dozens of homeless women to become displaced.
Rich but unkind, cruel methods, truly infuriating!
Reward: One million RMB added to the pension pool.
Xu Qinghuan did not stop walking, but her lips twitched.
This Artificial Idiot was actually quite cute sometimes.
Holding a red sandalwood box, she walked to the main gate where Li Sheng was directing the servants to put seal strips on the doors.
"Miss, they have all been driven away."
Li Sheng leaned in, lowering his voice as if relieved of a heavy burden, "Fifty taels per person, and I also gave them two sets of clean clothes. I didn't let them take anything with the nunnery's mark on it."
Xu Qinghuan: Confused meme face.
?
What was this guy Li Sheng talking about? When did I arrange that?
Whatever.
Xu Qinghuan handed the box to Li Sheng. "Hold onto this carefully. This is our capital for negotiating business with Patriarch Xie."
Li Sheng took the box, feeling its heavy weight. His mind raced, but he dared not ask what was inside.
The rain gradually stopped.
Xu Qinghuan stepped onto the footstool and got into the carriage. The wheels rolled, crushing the muddy water on the ground as it slowly descended along the mountain road.
Halfway down the mountain, Xu Qinghuan lifted the carriage curtain and glanced outside.
At the crossroad at the foot of the mountain, the group of women carrying bundles and silver hadn't gone far.
They stood in the mud, their hair soaked by the rain and plastered to their faces, looking utterly wretched.
Seeing the Xu family's carriage coming down, the women did not scatter and flee.
The leading old nun suddenly turned around and knelt straight down in the direction of the carriage.
Thud.
Thud.
Dozens of women knelt in unison in the muddy water by the road.
They did not speak, nor did they kowtow. They simply knelt there, clutching the mud-stained silver tightly in their hands.
The silver dug painfully into their palms, yet it warmed their hearts.
In this man-eating world, Bodhisattvas were merely clay statues; only silver was real. The wicked person who had driven them out had given them the capital to survive.
"Let's go."
Xu Qinghuan dropped the curtain, leaned back against the soft cushions, and closed her eyes.
Li Sheng sat on the carriage shaft and cracked his whip.
Hyah!
The carriage sped up, splashing drops of mud, leaving the gloomy Ciyun Nunnery far behind.
The Wang family had burned incense before Buddha for thirty years, yet harbored man-eating demons in their hearts.
Today, Xu Qinghuan smashed the mountain gates and destroyed the place of peace, wielding a brutal club, yet she delivered a courtyard full of suffering souls from their misery.
Perhaps the Buddhas of this world have never resided in temples?
(Oh my! Sorry darlings, the morning chapter was posted late. I stayed up late last night writing the novel and making the outline, and I missed my morning high-speed train. I sat idly in the train station all morning, and just now I managed to type out a chapter in one go on the train. It is so shaky, and the second-class seats are a bit cramped. But I have to keep writing. I must do a mass release tonight to be worthy of your love!
I will just write a transition chapter first, and enter the new plotline tonight!)
