Chapter 64: Wenju' Brother Nearly Scared Me to Death

The sky gradually brightened; with my excited feelings calmed, I left the Anhui branch of the Great Harmony Hall and returned to Yao Yirong's ancestral castle.

Inside the Yao family castle, police surrounded the area; Pangzi sat on the sofa, still stuffing buns into his mouth. On the other end of the sofa sat a middle-aged man with a square face, and what struck me as odd was that Yao Yirong was leaning against him, softly crying.

Seeing me enter, the middle-aged man sprang to his feet, walked up to me, extended a hand, and said, "You must be Chen Hai Sheng, I've long heard of you; I am Yao Wenju."

Yao Yirong whispered to me from the side, "This is my brother."

I almost burst out laughing involuntarily… Wenju stationery—this name is just too funny!

I suppressed my laughter, extended my hand, and replied politely. At that moment I also had some doubts; Yao Yirong had told me she invited me to her gathering mainly because her brother wanted to meet me.

But why would his brother want to see me?

My mind involuntarily conjured a wildly absurd notion—could he want me to take responsibility for Yao Yirong? Though the idea was ridiculous, it was so absurd I'd rather believe Pangzi could win Silijing's heart.

But upon further thought, I couldn't rule it out; perhaps panic was driving me to think this way. Although Yao Yirong has the figure and looks, frankly, her temperament is something I simply cannot tolerate…

"Can we talk alone?" Yao Wenju said to me in my moment of distraction. I nodded dumbly and, without thinking, followed him into the room.

After entering the room, I grew increasingly nervous, for Yao Zhongju said nothing, merely lit a cigar slowly, walked to the window, and turned his back to me.

Looking at his demeanor, it seemed he was about to question me.

I listed three options in my mind: A, B, C.

A: He wants me to take responsibility for Yao Yirong.

B: I barged into Yao Yirong's room, insulted a girl's reputation, and he wants to settle the score with me.

C: Actually, he sought me out because he's long admired me, just wanting to invite me for tea as a courtesy.

Among the three options, C is the most absurd but also the easiest to handle; if it really were C, I could casually place my right hand over my heart, spout some cheesy pleasantries, say a few 'here and there' pleasantries, and be polite. If it were B, that would also be fine—at worst I'd waste some breath explaining the whole story in detail to convince him, even going so far as to summon two ghosts or show a couple of minor magic tricks to persuade him.

Only A is thorny; if he truly wants me to take responsibility for Yao Yirong, I wonder if I should just prostrate myself and beg for mercy: 'Your daughter is virtuous and pure, beautiful inside and out, capable of sinking fish and making geese fall, of hiding the moon and shaming flowers… I am congenitally calcium‑deficient, grew up like a vegetable, in my past life I was Dongfang Bubai, this life I'm just a big cabbage—lacking weight, with a crooked neck. Bad seeds severely affect descendants; for your sister's happiness and the Yao family's future, please never entrust her to me, lest I bring harm…'

First belittle myself, exalt Yao Yirong—basically, get rid of this trouble first.

When I was torn apart by anxiety, reason and fear battling inside me, Yao Wenju slowly turned around, startling me into a stumble; I almost instinctively wanted to drop to the floor, emptying myself of all adjectives, trying to portray myself as utterly worthless.

"Thank you… for saving my sister…" Yao Wenju spoke slowly.

"Uh… this is what I should do," I replied instinctively, politely.

Only then did I react, staring at Yao Wenju in disbelief.

"You… what did you just say?"

Yao Wenju repeated: "Thank you, for rescuing my sister Yirong from the hands of that Ou surnamed worm master."

Good grief, how did Yao Wenju know I saved his sister, and how did he learn I was a worm master… Could he also be an insider?

It seemed he sensed my doubt; Yao Wenju slowly pulled something from his pocket and handed it to me…

I took it with a doubtful expression, opened it, and couldn't help exclaiming, "Plowshare Witch Sect, you…"

What Yao Wenju handed me was a red paper cut into the shape of a plowshare, with red characters inscribed as a talisman.

This is exactly the Plowshare Witch Sect's plowshare talisman; in ancient agrarian society, the plowshare was a farmer's tool, and ancestors used locally sourced materials to inscribe talismans on plowshares to punish thieves who stole fruit or those who harmed lives. Over time, the plowshare talisman was passed down generation after generation; perhaps because of this tradition, later plowshare talismans are uniformly cut into plowshare shapes, making them the most readily recognized among various talisman schools.

I gripped the plowshare talisman and asked Yao Wenju doubtfully, "Are you a member of the Plowshare Witch Sect?"

Yao Wenju shook his head: "I am not, but my father is?"

His answer puzzled me—his father is a Plowshare Witch Sect member, yet as his son he is not; what's the principle? Isn't the Plowshare Witch Sect supposed to be passed down through generations?

Later, with Yao Wenju's explanation, I understood his meaning. His father is indeed a Plowshare Witch Sect heir, but he is not; he is destined this lifetime to have no affinity with the sect, and his father absolutely refuses to pass the sect's arts onto him.

Because this involves a folk curse that mainly targets the Plowshare Witch Sect and the Lu Ban artisans.

Folklore says, 'The witch family perishes after three generations, the Lu Ban line ends after three.' This means their arts cannot be transmitted beyond three generations; exceeding that invites heavenly punishment—eternal loss of offspring and no heirs.

To evade this curse, the Plowshare Witch Sect and the Lu Ban lineage devised a compromise—skip‑generation transmission: grandparents pass the arts to grandchildren, but not to their own children. Thus it does not count as three consecutive generations, and the curse is naturally avoided.

Therefore, Yao Wenju saying his father is a Plowshare Witch Sect member while he himself is not makes perfect sense.

Not long after, Yao Wenju produced another item from his pocket and handed it to me; I looked down and saw it was a check. I wondered what it meant, and Yao Wenju said it was to thank me for rescuing Yao Yirong from Ou Yaofeng's hands.

I originally didn't want to accept the check, but then I thought, taking it would settle my accounts with the Yao family—clean and clear, no debts, no karmic ties.

With that thought, I naturally slipped the check into my pocket.

Still, I couldn't curb my curiosity and asked Yao Wenju a question.

"Older Brother Yao, could you tell me why Ou Yaofeng keeps pestering your sister…?"

From a superficial angle, one would naturally think Ou Yaofeng is lusting after Yao Yirong's beauty, wanting to possess that delicate beauty.

But in my view, it's far from simple. Even now I recall the scene at the school's art building where Ou Yaofeng met a grisly death. Behind him seemed a mysterious black hand silently pulling the strings… Perhaps Ou Yaofeng's love‑spell on Yao Yirong was also directed by that black hand.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but wonder why the black hand would urge Ou Yaofeng to cast a lowering spell on Yao Yirong. If it were merely because of her beauty, I would naturally not believe it.

In my expectant gaze, Yao Wenju pondered a moment, leaned close, and whispered low: 'Because the Yao family possesses something that can make a person rich overnight, becoming the foremost tycoon; that worm master therefore risked everything, directing his disciple to approach my sister, his aim being to obtain that very thing.'

What is this overnight‑riches thing? Though I too am curious, I dare not probe further, lest having just escaped one vortex I fall into an even larger one. Having followed QingSongShu for so long, I've learned a principle: don't meddle in what's not your business; rather than let curiosity kill the cat, it's wiser to stay clear‑headed and swallow that curiosity.