Chapter 79: He's our man~ We have to serve him~

Lu Yuan tossed the finishing tasks to Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an, then shot out of the Pear Garden in a single bound.

Clearly, Lu Yuan's worries were unnecessary.

What greeted him was a completely different scene of human warmth.

On the street, five large raw wooden tables were lined up in a row, steam rising from them.

The big soldiers of the Fengtian Security Regiment were gathered around boiling hot pots, eating with flushed faces, their caps askew, military discipline long forgotten.

Old rifles were stuck one by one in the snowdrift beside them, like a row of bare tree branches.

And just over ten meters away, it was a completely different scene.

A delicate small table, two armchairs padded with soft fox fur.

Aunt Qin and Aunt Qiao'er were sitting side by side just like that.

Their delicate, powder-white jade feet, painted with glamorous nail polish, were bare, stepping right on the tiger skin.

They were eating hot pot while sipping warm wine in small sips, utterly content.

"You two sure know how to enjoy yourselves."

Lu Yuan appeared silently before the table, teasing with a smile.

The two stunning beauties turned their heads at the sound, their gorgeous faces first blooming with unconcealable delight.

Then, almost in unison, they gave him a coquettish, charming glare.

"You really know how to sweet-talk, you little liar."

"You said you'd be done in an hour, but it's been almost three hours now. Auntie's legs are all numb from sitting~"

In response, Lu Yuan could only smile helplessly and let out a soft sigh:

"No choice~"

"I thought it was a violent malevolent spirit we'd have to fight, but once inside, it turned out to be wronged spirits."

"Those originally in that Nurturing Malevolence Site were all innocent, pitiful people, cruelly killed by that damned Life-Severing Wang Family."

"If I could avoid fighting and let them pass on peacefully, depart serenely, then spending an extra hour or two was worth it."

"After all, besides that, there's nothing more we can do for them..."

A trace of melancholy in his words fell upon the ears of the two beautiful aunties, softening their hearts.

Aunt Qiao'er immediately looked at him with full concern, her voice dripping with charm:

"Aiya, sweetie, Auntie was just joking with you."

"How could I really blame you? See, we're quite comfortable here too."

Aunt Qin nodded repeatedly, her voice soft and sweet:

"That's right, that's right, don't cry, don't cry~"

"Come sit down and have something to warm yourself up."

Lu Yuan: "??"

What am I crying about??

He was momentarily torn between laughter and tears:

"It's not over yet. There's still a tail to handle inside. Once they're ready, I have to go back."

"Your setup here is impressive though. Where did you get all this from?"

Seeing that Lu Yuan was truly fine, the two beautiful aunties finally relaxed for real. Aunt Qiao'er explained sweetly:

"Funny enough, we were bored waiting, so we went to the hot pot shop diagonally across the street to get something to eat."

"Turns out, once inside, we discovered it was Auntie's shop~"

"So, Auntie just had them bring all the gear over here, thinking you could have a hot meal as soon as you came out."

Hearing this, Lu Yuan was speechless.

Good grief.

He's like Stark in a supernatural world. He doesn't even know what shops he owns or how much money he has.

As soon as Aunt Qiao'er finished speaking, Aunt Qin beside her lifted her jade hand and directly threw open the blanket covering her legs.

She patted her plump, beautiful thigh, sheathed in glossy black stockings, with a soft "smack," her alluring eyes like silk as she cooed:

"What are you standing there for? Come over quickly, sit with Auntie and have something to eat."

Lu Yuan looked at the soft flesh trembling slightly beneath the black stockings, his throat moving. He was just about to say something when Xu Erxiao's shout came from inside the Pear Garden:

"Brother Lu, everything's ready!"

Lu Yuan turned and acknowledged the call, the chopsticks he had just picked up having to be set down again.

He looked at Aunt Qin pouting her red lips, her face full of resentment, looking exactly like a spoiled young girl, and couldn't help but grin:

"Stop pouting. Pack up a bit and find a carriage, will you?"

"About an hour more, and before dawn, I'll be done over there."

With that, Lu Yuan turned and left.

Behind him, Aunt Qin cooed with feigned annoyance:

"Just you wait, you little thing!"

"If you don't sit on Auntie's lap today, tomorrow Auntie will sit on your face and smother you with my big fat bottom~"

"Hmph!"

Lu Yuan: "????"

Lu Yuan staggered, nearly tripping.

Aunt Qin really is something now!

Ever since the two of them confessed their feelings for each other at home last time, Aunt Qin has stopped hiding anything at all!

That remark truly made even Aunt Qiao'er blush bright red.

For a moment, Aunt Qiao'er couldn't help but lightly slap Aunt Qin, chiding coquettishly:

"We're on the street! What nonsense are you spouting~"

Aunt Qin gently adjusted the gold-rimmed glasses on her delicate, upturned nose with her jade hand, giving Aunt Qiao'er a glance with her incredibly intellectual, beautiful eyes, and said coyly:

"Oh?"

"You don't want to?"

Huh?

Aunt Qiao'er was stunned for a moment, then, as if possessed, she actually blinked and thought for a bit.

Then, Aunt Qiao'er turned to look at the coldly elegant, intellectual Aunt Qin beside her, a stunning curve appearing at the corner of her mouth:

"I do want to~"

Smack!!

A crisp sound!

Followed by a soft cry from Aunt Qiao'er.

Then, Aunt Qiao'er covered her own big, plump bottom, glaring at Aunt Qin in front of her and scolding:

"What are you doing!!"

"Hitting my bottom on the street!"

With that, Aunt Qiao'er quickly turned to look at the group of soldiers eating happily.

"There are chairs blocking the view!"

Aunt Qiao'er was stunned for a moment, then immediately snorted lightly:

"Even so, you're not allowed to hit me!"

Aunt Qin rolled her charming, coquettish eyes and said:

"That's exactly why I'm hitting you!"

"What were you thinking!"

"He's our man, we have to serve him!"

"We have to let him sit on the faces of us two shameless sluts~"

After Aunt Qin finished speaking, Aunt Qiao'er blinked, thought for another moment, then nodded seriously:

"That works too~"

...

Just as Lu Yuan was about to step through the Pear Garden entrance, a glint of reflected light in the snow caught the corner of his eye.

He turned to look.

Those four charred corpses, well...

Presumably, the people from Biyu Temple came to clean up after we left.

Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly, spotting the thing that had flashed into his eyes.

That Yellow Immortal Tribulation Knot!

Lu Yuan immediately turned and walked over, arriving before the pitch-black corpse, and yanked the "Yellow Immortal Tribulation Knot" off.

This was a fine treasure.

If it weren't for this thing back then, Zhao Bing would have been struck dead by Lu Yuan's heavenly thunder long ago.

Looking at it now, the tribulation knot was charred black, many of the Yellow Immortal hairs carbonized, but the main form was still intact.

Lu Yuan looked left and right, confirmed no one was paying attention, and then with a clear conscience, stuffed the treasure into his robe.

I found it!

Take it back, wait until next time I see Yellow Braised Chicken, pluck some fresh hairs from it, and then re-braid it.

Then, whether I give it to Aunt Qin or Aunt Qiao'er, it can save their lives at critical moments.

...

Returning to the Pear Garden, Lu Yuan saw, as soon as he entered the courtyard, a pot set up.

Inside the pot was water boiled with fresh cypress leaves, with three pinches of coarse salt and three grains of new rice added during boiling.

Wang Cheng'an used a long-handled wooden ladle to scoop up the boiling water, starting from the highest point of the stage, the "skylight" position, and splashing it all the way down.

The scalding cypress leaf water poured onto the stage boards. Those blood-tear burn marks, the black spots of condensed Yin energy, sizzled upon contact with the hot water, emitting white smoke and rapidly fading.

Where the water passed, the wooden boards returned to their original grayish-brown color, even the mold spots lightening considerably.

Afterward, Lu Yuan and the other two went back and forth between the backstage and the front courtyard, in and out.

After a good deal of bustling, they moved all the costumes, masks, props from backstage, including those trunks and dressing tables that had been attached to residual thoughts, all out.

They piled them into a small mountain in the center of the courtyard, doused them with tung oil mixed with sulfur powder, and lit them again.

This time, the flames were a normal orange-red, crackling as they burned, with various colored light points continuously escaping from the fire.

Pale cyan, pinkish-white, light yellow...

Those were the liberated residual thoughts of the opera performers.

The light points hovered in the air for a moment before scattering with the wind, returning to heaven and earth.

Lu Yuan personally mixed glutinous rice paste and pasted four "Home-Settling, Land-Pacifying Talismans" on the door lintel of the main gate, the door frame of the back door, and the two main pillars on the left and right of the stage.

The talisman paper was yellow ceremonial paper, inscribed with cinnabar mixed with Black Dog Blood, reciting the "Land Pacifying Incantation" while pasting.

The moment the talisman paper was pasted, the air in the entire Chunhua Garden seemed to lighten considerably, that long-permeating sense of oppression completely dissipating.

Finally, Wang Cheng'an dug a one-foot-deep pit in the southeast corner of the garden, the Xun position, governing wind, carrying the meaning of "sending away."

Xu Erxiao placed a bluestone tablet inside. On the tablet was carved only one line:

"The old affairs of the Pear Garden are settled; may all souls return to their rightful places."

Under the tablet, seven "Taiping Tongbao" coins were arranged in the shape of the Big Dipper, the inscription facing up, symbolizing "the seven souls at peace, the spirits returning to the stars."

They filled the soil, compacted it, did not mound a grave, keeping it level with the ground.

Four in the morning. Though it was still night, a hint of deep blue dawn light was already appearing on the horizon.

The Yin coldness, obsessive resentment, and restless energy that had entrenched the Chunhua Garden for decades had completely vanished.

Replacing it was the desolation, yet clean aura, that a normal dilapidated courtyard should have.

In the courtyard, a pigeon with pure white feathers had landed at some unknown time.

It tilted its head, looking at the three people in the courtyard, then at the empty stage, cooing twice, clear and melodious.

Then, it flapped its wings, soared up, skimmed over the eaves, passed through a hole in the courtyard roof, and flew towards that hint of dawn on the horizon.

To the side, Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an, rubbing their sore, tired eyes, having worked all night, were truly sleepy.

"Brother Lu, while we were tidying up here earlier, we seemed to hear someone softly singing 'Thank you, my lord' in our ears."

"The voice was so light and soft, like a feather tickling the ear."

Xu Erxiao said, looking at Lu Yuan.

After listening, Lu Yuan didn't say anything, just gazed at the empty stage.

The morning light gradually brightened. Of the nine oil lamps on the stage, most had already gone out, the remaining flames flickering in the morning breeze.

Finally, with a "poof," the last one also went out.

The azure smoke rose straight up, dissipating into the increasingly bright sky.

Lu Yuan said softly:

"No need for thanks.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,

The play has ended, it's time for people to be on their way."

From afar came the first crow of a rooster, clear and full of vitality.

The second Nurturing Malevolence Site, broken.

...

Early morning, a little past six, Lu Yuan and his group finally returned to Aunt Qiao'er's house by carriage.

After all the commotion from the night, everyone, no matter who, was exhausted, yawning repeatedly.

Now, no need to say anything else, just hurry back to their rooms and sleep.

However, while passing through the front courtyard, Lu Yuan suddenly remembered something.

He immediately turned back, went to the main hall of the front courtyard, and looked towards the incense altar in the northeast corner.

Hiss??!

Today is already the sixth day!

How... how come Yellow Braised Chicken still hasn't come??

Did... did it fail the tribulation???

If that's the case, then... then Lu Yuan really had no way to help.

In matters like this, whether one can get through it really depends entirely on Yellow Braised Chicken itself; no one else can help.

Gazing at the incense altar before him, Lu Yuan inexplicably took out that Yellow Immortal Tribulation Knot from his robe.

For a moment, Lu Yuan was stunned.

It should...

It should be...

No... it couldn't be... could it...