Interrupted by such a thrilling fall, the proposal of an eye for an eye was forgotten by Wu Li.
Seeing Chai Xiaomi and Wu Li return, Song Yueyao wondered in her heart, why did they delay for so long?
The young man did not say a word, his tight lips pressed into a straight line, exuding a low-pressure aura that warned strangers to stay away.
He walked straight to the farthest corner. A few loose strands of long hair fell by his cheeks. He silently combed the broken hair at his temples again, meticulously braiding them into his high ponytail.
With his movements, the faint, soft jingling of silver ornaments could be heard.
It interwove with the conversation between Jiang Zhiyu and Yan Xingxiao.
It is indeed a skeleton. The clay urn over there had been opened. Jiang Zhiyu held a tiny toe bone, his brows tightly furrowed.
Although he had expected it, he never anticipated that the bone would be so small, so small that it broke one's heart.
To pass away at such a young age, and instead of finding the peace of reincarnation, to be cruelly refined into this bone soup. What exactly did the person behind this intend to use it for?
Jiang Zhiyu's face was solemn. He took out a bright yellow talisman and gently covered the toe bone with it. His fingertips drew in the air, and a glowing incantation was imprinted onto the talisman.
Gradually, a faint red mark, resembling a birthmark, seeped through the surface of the talisman paper.
It is a baby girl who had just been born.
A baby girl... Yan Xingxiao muttered, his mind seemingly drawn away by these words. He suddenly remembered the waiter unintentionally revealing earlier that the shopkeeper was from Sanchao County. His expression changed to one of horror. So it is like this... It is actually like this!
Seeing his pale and shocked appearance, the others showed expressions of surprise and suspicion.
Only Wu Li in the corner continued to braid his last strand of hair as if no one else was there. Hearing Yan Xingxiao's exclamation, he merely lifted his eyelids faintly, then indifferently lowered them again, even turning his head slightly with impatience, as if he found him too noisy.
Originally, Yan Xingxiao had not thought of this level, as it was just some rumors he heard on the road, not to be taken seriously. But seeing the toe bone of the baby girl refined into corpse water with his own eyes, it seemed the rumors were not unfounded.
Sanchao County is named Sanchao, which means Three Days, because the local people are obsessed with having male children. Many baby girls are destined to not live past three days from the moment they are born.
They would be discarded along the way by the men of the family traveling for business. Barren mountains, deep cold pools, all are burial grounds. And the most vicious, the most heinous act is to refine their corpses into corpse oil and grind their bones to carry with them. They firmly believe that by doing so, they can borrow the resentful power of the infant spirits to reverse their luck, helping them to prosper in business and achieve wealth and success!
This is also what I heard people discussing privately during my early business travels. Many men from Sanchao County become wealthy merchants with prosperous financial paths. Rumor has it that they rely on such sinister tricks to steal the infant spirits' destinies and forcibly alter their own luck.
As Yan Xingxiao's words fell, the room plunged into an oppressive silence.
Chai Xiaomi listened silently, her heart feeling heavy, as if blocked by cotton soaked in ice water.
Is this not equivalent to raising little ghosts?
She had always been timid, but after hearing Escort Leader Yan recount the fate of those baby girls, she only felt endless sorrow.
Those newborn baby girls had not even had the time to look at this world with their clear eyes, had not even had a mouthful of milk. With their tiny, shriveled stomachs hungry, their weak cries were strangled by their own parents' hands.
After death, their souls could not find peace, reduced to tools, with even their last bit of value squeezed dry.
In that case, Song Yueyao calmly stated, the infant who Madam Yan mentioned playing with her, and who ultimately lured her to hang herself, is the vengeful spirit of the baby girl in this urn. If she is truly controlled by the shopkeeper, why would he do this? What benefit does he gain from murdering Madam Yan?
Why do this?
Chai Xiaomi's eyes flickered slightly. After thinking for a moment, she suddenly spoke up, I think...
That child, the person she originally wanted to find, might have been me.
Perhaps because she did not find her, or because she was hindered by some unknown resistance, she turned to the next room and found Madam Yan instead.
She remembered that although she and Madam Yan were in adjacent guest rooms, the layout inside the rooms was different.
Madam Yan's room did not have a wardrobe, while hers did.
In the night, she clearly heard a small creak of the wardrobe door opening.
Furthermore, according to what Escort Leader Yan said about the shift at the Yin hour, Madam Yan's accident happened in the latter half of the night, while she had heard the noise early in the first half of the night.
Chai Xiaomi was merely guessing, but it immediately gave Jiang Zhiyu an idea.
If that is true, the infant spirit's resentment is deep and its obsession has not faded. It is highly likely to come searching again tonight. We might as well beat them at their own game, he proposed. Tonight, using Xiaomi as bait, we will keep watch in the dark. As soon as it appears, we will capture it and ask for the reasons behind all this.
His gaze swept over everyone, finally landing on Chai Xiaomi. His voice was steady and firm, Do not worry, Xiaomi. I promise, I will not let you suffer even the slightest bit of harm.
Jiang Zhiyu had always been kind-hearted and chivalrous, always keeping his word. Whenever he made a promise, he would protect the person thoroughly, even through mountains of swords and seas of fire.
Meeting those firm, righteous eyes, Chai Xiaomi felt a full sense of security amidst her anxiety. So she nodded vigorously, with utmost trust, Mhm!!
But just after nodding, she suddenly felt a slight chill down her spine, as if a sticky, damp gaze had quietly wrapped around her back.
She subconsciously turned her head to look.
She saw the young man in the corner deliberately turning his face away, avoiding her gaze with a movement so fast it seemed predetermined.
Clearly caught red-handed peeking, yet he still pretended to look careless and indifferent.
The young man lowered his thick eyelashes, staring nonchalantly at his wrist, where a delicate string of silver bells was loosely wrapped.
Chai Xiaomi narrowed her eyes to examine it. That string of silver bells was the very one that had originally been around her ankle, which he had snatched away.
However, he had also given her something else in return.
She raised her hand and subconsciously touched the silver fish pendant hanging from her hairpin. Now, he only had a solitary one left on his right ear. The silver ornament was exquisite, hanging perfectly beside his beautifully contoured jaw, like a bewitching mark inadvertently added.
It made the young man look even more handsome.
Beautiful as it was, looking at it inexplicably made him seem somewhat pitiful.
He was looking down, fiddling with the silver bells on his wrist, his fingertips moving gently, one after another.
But after fiddling, he pressed the bell tightly with his finger pads, muffling the crisp sound that should have been in the metal shell, leaving only a faint, almost inaudible, muffled whimper.
This weak and obedient appearance, how did it look like a puppy drenched in the rain, stubbornly pretending it did not need a heater...
Chai Xiaomi's fingertips touching the hairpin grew slightly hot. She realized that the two of them seemed to be wearing a matching couple's set.
Never mind, never mind, she quietly sighed in her heart.
For the sake of him custom-making the dangling hairpin for her, she should hurry up and coax him.
Although she did not know what our little villain Wu Li was feeling awkward and upset about at this moment.
Anyway, it did not matter.
No matter how terrible his temper might be, when faced with her signature coaxing technique—a masterful blend of relentless persistence and brazen shamelessness—wouldn't he inevitably end up surrendering in the end?
