eurekapd Chapter 98 098 Was the calculation wrong?
Chapter 98 098 Was the calculation wrong?
Chapter 98 098: Was the calculation wrong?
Ever since discovering the disturbed ground, Wu Yanzi had been muttering something with his eyes closed, counting on his fingers. Hearing Old Madam Song ordering people to dig up the soil, he opened his eyes, turned to Gongsun Yuan, and said:
"Madam, please forgive my rudeness. I am Wu Yanzi, the thirty-fifth generation disciple of Laozi under the Sanqing Hall of Taiqing Temple. I have a question I would like to ask you. May I ask if you would be so kind as to answer it?"
"Oh?" Gongsun Yuan looked up at him and said, "What does the Daoist priest want to ask?"
Wu Yanzi first asked, "May I ask if Madam has a son and a daughter?"
Gongsun Yuan said, "That's right."
Wu Yanzi asked, "Was the young master born to the lady born mentally challenged and unable to understand human affairs?"
Gongsun Yuan paused for a moment, then gave an ambiguous "hmm".
"After giving birth to your son, has your health been poor, and have you been bedridden for so long that you have been unable to manage household affairs?"
If Gongsun Yuan hadn't already known from Ye Pianran that everything that happened in Lanxin Courtyard today was a conspiracy by Aunt Song, she would have truly believed that this Taoist priest who called himself "Wu Yanzi" actually had some real skills.
With a cold laugh in her heart, Gongsun Yuan cooperated with the Taoist priest to continue the charade, saying, "Taoist priest, you are truly a master strategist."
Wu Yanzi left the question at that, then turned to Madam Song and sighed, "Madam, there's something I'm not sure if I should say..."
Madam Song now has complete faith in Wu Yanzi, and is practically worshipping him on her altar: "Daoist, please speak freely."
"After some speculation, I discovered that your family's fortune has been corrupted by the filthy energy, which is probably related to the recovery of your wife's illness..." Wu Yanzi sighed and said, "According to your wife's fate, she should have been destined for a tragic end and should have passed away not long ago. However, she rewrote her destiny and miraculously recovered. I'm afraid she used some kind of heaven-defying method to change her fate."
Upon hearing this, the faces of those gathered inside and outside Lanxin Courtyard all changed color.
"What kind of heaven-defying method is this?"
"I have heard that there is a kind of witchcraft circulating in the martial arts world that can exchange lives for lives, and even make people younger and younger..."
The more Wu Yanzi spoke, the more Madam Song believed it to be true! Ever since Gongsun Yuan was cured of the poison and her body gradually recovered, she seemed to have undergone a complete transformation. Her skin became better and better, almost like she had returned to the appearance she had fifteen years ago before she married into the Marquis's mansion!
This extremely noticeable change is simply unbelievable!
"My lord, madam, we've found it!" At this moment, the guard dug through the soft soil and finally found the thing buried in the deep pit.
Wu Yanzi's eyelids twitched, and he said casually, "This humble Taoist thinks that Madam's heaven-defying destiny-altering technique must be related to what is buried in this soil—"
The guard dug a small cloth bag out of the pit. The bag was only about the size of two palms, and it was bulging with something inside. Without Madam Song having to say anything, the guard opened the bag and emptied its contents.
Upon seeing what had fallen from the small cloth bag, Ye Yanxun's pupils constricted sharply, and he felt as if he were drowning, unable to breathe at all.
What was buried in the soil was not the dead cat corpse they expected, but a toy that Ye Yanxun had casually woven from straw for Ye Yankang to play with!
At this moment, Ye Yanxun realized that they had all been tricked by Ye Pianran and Gongsun Yuan! It turned out they had anticipated their plan, not only taking precautions in advance but also turning the tables on them! He had truly underestimated Ye Pianran!
Wu Yanzi originally intended to blame all the strange occurrences at the Marquis's residence on the dead cat buried in the backyard of Lanxin Courtyard, as planned. However, when he saw the grasshoppers and dragonflies made of straw, he was completely dumbfounded.
"What are all these things?" Old Madam Song asked in confusion.
Ye Pianran slowly walked out from the crowd, stood beside Gongsun Yuan, and calmly said with a hint of a smile:
“Grandmother, these are all toys that my eldest brother specially wove out of grass to amuse Kang’er after he returned from Xuzhou. Right, eldest brother?”
Ye Yanxun snapped out of his daze and looked into Ye Pianran's shimmering phoenix eyes. For the first time, he felt a chilling aura emanating from her. They had been siblings for over a decade, and he thought he knew her well, but he didn't know when it started, he could no longer see into her heart.
“...Yes.” Ye Yanxun gritted his teeth and admitted.
Upon seeing that the guards had dug out a toy that Ye Yanxun had given to Ye Yankang, Gongsun Yuan keenly sensed something was amiss. Now, seeing that the atmosphere between the two siblings was no longer as harmonious as before, and there was even a hint of tension between them, she couldn't help but furrow her brows.
Marquis Anshi breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Ran'er, why did you bury the things Xun'er gave to Kang'er in the ground?"
Ye Pianran said, "Yesterday, Kang'er accidentally dropped these toys on the ground. He thought they were all living things and that he had killed them all. He cried very sadly. To comfort him, I led him to bury them. It was just a little trick to make Kang'er happy. I didn't expect that Master Wu Yanzi would misunderstand it as evil spirits. I am really ashamed."
"Actually, what the Taoist priest said earlier is not right. The reason my mother has been ill for so long is because she was harmed by a villain and poisoned. If I hadn't met a skilled doctor in the capital who was good at detoxification, my mother would probably have died as the Taoist priest said."
With a soft sigh, Ye Pianran continued:
"When my mother vomited poisonous blood and was on the verge of death, my father, elder brother, and Aunt Song were all present. You can ask them and you'll know. My mother's recovery was the result of a lot of suffering. When you're sick, you need to treat the illness, and when you're poisoned, you naturally need to detoxify. My mother was just doing her best and leaving the rest to fate. It wasn't the kind of defying fate that the Taoist priest was talking about."
From the moment Wu Yanzi followed Aunt Song into Ciyuan Pavilion, Ye Pianran had been completely engrossed in watching their performance with a detached, almost theatrical, attitude. No matter how bizarre or terrifying Wu Yanzi's story became, she knew from the beginning that he was talking nonsense. If Wu Yanzi truly possessed the ability to see through the secrets of heaven and understand the past and present, how could he not see through her secret?
Defying fate? Ha, the one who truly defies fate is right here.
"This..." Wu Yanzi's face was disheveled by what she said, and he had long lost the air of otherworldly immortality he had at the beginning: "There are many people here, and the fate charts are a bit messy. Perhaps I have miscalculated..."
A miscalculation? That's just nonsense!
"What about these grasshoppers and dragonflies?" Ye Pianran asked innocently. "Are they really related to the foul air in the Marquis's mansion?"
Wu Yanzi was never a true Taoist priest; his words and actions were all pre-planned and arranged. Now that things were completely out of control, he was utterly at a loss and could only insist that there was something wrong at Lanxin Courtyard.
"This humble Taoist priest has indeed detected that the foul air here is the most concentrated..."
Unexpectedly, Ye Pianran then asked Ye Yanxun, "Brother, where did you pick these herbs? Why does such a strong, foul smell emanate from them after I buried them in the soil? Was it in Xuzhou?"
Feeling the unfriendly gaze of Old Madam Song directed at him, Ye Yanxun took a deep breath and tried to keep his voice steady as he replied, "I just picked it casually on the way back."
"Oh, really? Brother, you shouldn't bring things from outside back to the Marquis's mansion in the future. Who knows if those things will have any impact on our mansion? Grandmother, don't you agree?"
Madam Song's expression shifted between light and dark, her gaze moving back and forth between Ye Pianran and Ye Yanxun before finally turning to Wu Yanzi and asking, "Daoist Wu Yanzi, what do you think we should do with these things?"
Wu Yanzi felt cold sweat break out on her forehead: "It's naturally better to burn it."
Madam Song nodded and said to the guards, "Burn all of these things!"
The guards obeyed the order, took out a tinderbox, and burned all the grasshoppers and dragonflies to ashes.
Ye Pianran lowered her eyes and watched as the curling flames slowly devoured them, turning them completely to ashes. Her expression was neither sad nor happy, and she was extremely indifferent.
"Master Wu Yanzi, these items have been burned. Please take a look and see if the foul air has dissipated somewhat?" Old Madam Song asked, pulling Wu Yanzi aside.
"Alright, alright, I'll take a closer look." Wu Yanzi replied repeatedly, picking up the compass and pretending to calculate with his fingers, but in reality he was extremely anxious, his eyes constantly glancing at Aunt Song, hoping she could give him some hints.
Aunt Song thought her plan for today was foolproof and that victory was assured, but she didn't expect Ye Pianran to seize the initiative, causing all her efforts to be in vain. Even if she could come up with a countermeasure, how could she possibly tell "Wu Yanzi" in front of so many people from the Marquis's mansion?
Wu Yanzi had no choice but to say to Old Madam Song and Marquis Anshi:
"The foul smell in this courtyard has indeed dissipated considerably."
Upon hearing this, Madam Song breathed a sigh of relief.
Unexpectedly, Ye Pianran's lips curled slightly, and she suddenly said, "Grandmother, what Daoist Wu Yanzi just said was that the foul air in Lanxin Courtyard was relatively 'thick.' Presumably, there is such foul air in other parts of the manor. In order to prevent any accidents from happening in the future, why don't we have Daoist Wu Yanzi lead the way and check all the courtyards in the manor?"
Yes! Wu Yanzi also said before that the area above the Marquis's residence was almost shrouded in foul air. Presumably, the problem wasn't limited to Lanxin Courtyard. We should indeed be more cautious and investigate all the places.
Madam Song nodded to Wu Yanzi, whose expression was tense, and said, "Then I'll have to trouble you, Daoist Master."