Chapter 39

Three girls held my hand as I stepped into the palace.

In an instant, the huge palace bustled with laughter and chatter.

Throughout the palace, young pretty girls were everywhere.

They wore various outfits, mostly late Qing and Republican-era attire, some with bound feet, some with short student haircuts……These girls were generally young, full of youthful vigor.

The palace was their stage; they laughed and danced as if in Eden, pure and beautiful.

Strangely, in the palace's corners sat some women in modern clothing, their ages ranging from a few years to forty or fifty, but without exception, their eyes were empty and bewildered, as if they had lost their souls.

What shocked me most was that on the palace's high hall stood a female deity, her visage kind, holding a jade bottle in one hand and a willow twig in the other, a faint Golden Light swirling around her, resembling a Guanyin pose!

When I looked at her, she also seemed to lower her gaze toward me.

Her gaze held a kind of magic, deeply attracting me, making me unconsciously want to approach her, kneel, and beg for her blessing.

Just then, a faint sound came from afar, as if from across thousands of mountains and rivers, continuously calling my name: "Xiao Jiu, wake up, wake up quickly!"

"Come out! Xiao Jiu, come out quickly!"

As that sound rang out, the entire palace began to churn.

My temples throbbed; the near-obsessive worship I had just felt for the deity on the high hall vanished in an instant.

The surrounding scenery also kept shifting.

Those girls who had been singing, laughing, or sitting foolishly in the corners all rose to their feet where they stood.

Immediately, their clothing began to change, turning into uniformly large Red Wedding Dresses.

A Black Hemp Rope loop was placed around each of their necks.

The ends of the Black Hemp Rope loops were thrown high, crossing the beam, and pulled down relentlessly……one by one……row after row……they hanged themselves in the palace like that!

Black qi swirled inside the palace, resentment sprouted everywhere, as if it were hell.

The deity's expression on the high hall changed—no longer kind-eyed, the jade bottle and willow branch in her hands disappeared, turning into a dragon-headed staff.

She lightly waved the staff, and the girls hanging from the beam instantly grew excited, glaring, sticking out their tongues, their long black claws lunging at me.

"Switch with me!"

"Switch with me!"

Little sis, come over here!

Don't fight me over her, she's mine!

……

Accompanied by shouts, Yīnfēng howled wildly in the palace, and black qi swirled.

The Black Hemp Rope hung those women in midair, where they collided with me, kicked me, each one desperate to kill the other, trying to take me down.

Xiao Jiu, wake up! Come out quickly!

Li Qingying's voice came again, as if a pair of hands were grabbing me, constantly shaking my body.

My sight pierced through the layers of black qi, looking again at the goddess statue, I felt as if I had seen her somewhere before.

Where exactly is she?

Just then, a pallid bony hand clawed hard onto my shoulder, a piercing cold drilling straight into my body.

I gave a sudden start, and almost at the same time I had already formed hand signs and chanted a spell, summoning Feng Wu.

The moment Feng Wu was in my hand, the grip on my hand loosened.

The women hanging from the beam also fell silent.

I aimed the bow at the goddess statue on the high hall and drew it to full.

Before I could release the taut bowstring, the goddess statue's staff swung again.

Whoosh~

I was pushed out of the painting, staggering backward, and Li Qingying grabbed me: "Xiao Jiu, you finally woke up! Are you alright?"

I lowered the bow, just about to say I was fine, when I felt a sinister gaze fixed on me from behind.

I instinctively turned my head, locking eyes with Madame Cai's venomous stare.

She didn't know when she had woken up, nor how long she had been standing there watching.

The moment our eyes met, she lifted her leg and charged at me, snatching the Black Hemp Rope from my hand and reaching to tear off my Red Wedding Dress.

Her movements were rough, full of brute strength; Cai Bin couldn't hold her back, until Li Qingying struck her neck with a knifehand, causing her to faint.

Cai Bin apologized to me while shouting for people to help move Madame Cai.

While they were busy, Li Qingying took my hand and asked, "Xiao Jiu, your complexion looks awful—what did you see in that painting just now?"

I didn't answer Li Qingying's question right away; instead I closed my eyes, replayed the painting's scene in my mind, then opened them and said softly, "Sister Li Qingying, I might not be able to take this painting—my ability isn't enough."

There were too many female ghosts in the painting, and resentment ran rampant.

Also, the moment the staff appeared on that high goddess statue, I remembered.

That dragon-headed staff is exactly the same as the one in Old Lady Bai's hand!

Moreover, the goddess statue's features bear some resemblance to Old Lady Bai's.

But she is younger, her whole body enveloped in a layer of Golden Light, giving her an air of immortality.

Could this painting also be related to the Bai Family?

Li Qingying probed, asking, "Are you still going to handle the Cai Family's affair?"

The business Tang Xun introduced me to—I certainly want to manage it.

Not only do I want to manage it, but I must handle it splendidly, so as not to waste Tang Xun's good intentions.

But I am perfectly clear in my heart right now that I cannot manage it.

In the end, I still shook my head: "Do what you are capable of."

Li Qingying then understood; she told me not to blame myself and to go explain the situation to Cai Bin.

Cai Bin obviously felt a bit disappointed, but he was a decent man. He glanced at the sky outside, already dark, and said: "It's getting late. You two must be tired from your journey. Given the situation at my house, I really can't spare the time tonight. Please stay here for the night, and I'll have someone send you back to Wufu Town early tomorrow morning."

We had come in Cai Bin's car, but on this mountainside he had no time to see us off, and we couldn't even get a car.

So we simply agreed.

Cai Bin prepared a lavish meal; after dinner he arranged for us to stay in a guest room on the second floor. By the time we washed up and went to bed, it was already midnight.

I went to bed with Li Qingying, and not long after, even breathing sounded from beside me.

Li Qingying had actually fallen asleep.

I, however, couldn't sleep at all, the scene from the picture repeatedly replaying in my mind.

The face of the goddess statue on the high platform kept merging with the old woman's face, making me feel a bit startled.

Just then, a faint singing voice came from the hallway: "Red wedding dress, black hemp rope, fifteenth night, hung in a row, don't cry, don't cry..."

That singing voice was unmistakably Madame Cai's.

The sound came from the master bedroom, drawing nearer and nearer… past the guest room door, seemingly heading toward the stairway.

I had already made up my mind not to worry about the painting, but in the middle of the night Madame Cai was singing as she went downstairs—where was she going?

Not a single person in the Cai family noticed?

As the singing grew fainter, I could no longer restrain myself; I tiptoed to the door, cracked it open a slit, and peered out cautiously.

Upon seeing that, I felt as if I had fallen into an ice cellar!

All I saw was Madame Cai already downstairs, wearing that red wedding dress and holding a black hemp rope in her hand.

That black hemp rope, I don't know when it had been twisted into a loop at one end and held in Madame Cai's hand at the other; she lifted her hand, and the rope passed through the enormous, splendid crystal chandelier downstairs and caught securely.

Madame Cai, barefoot, stood on a stool and slipped her neck into the loop of the black rope.

She… she was actually going to hang herself!

At this point, how could I just sit by and do nothing?

Even if I ignored the painting matter, I still had to rush out to save her.

At the very least… at least I should shout for Cai Bin to come rescue his wife?

But the moment I flung the door open and stood in the hallway, the surroundings suddenly changed.

The Cai family villa turned into the palace from the painting; at the palace gate, a white sedan chair stood silently…