42: Chapter 42 Girl’s Heart

The scent of damp earth and night dew from the locust grove still seemed to cling to Qiu Shuzhen's skin.

She scaled the high wall, slipping into the shadows of the Li family's deep estate like a weightless wraith.

Yet, her steps were now more unsteady and erratic than when she had left.

As she passed through corridors and courtyards, the tree shadows swaying in the moonlight seemed to transform into that domineering yet strangely restrained hand.

The lingering sensation on her fingertips, the crisp sound of torn fabric, and the sudden profile of the man turning his head away...

These scenes tumbled endlessly in her mind, unsettling her heart.

She navigated the familiar path to a nearly abandoned, remote courtyard in the westernmost corner of the estate.

Here, cobwebs lurked in the dark, the smell of mildew mingled with the scent of aged medicinal herbs, a world apart from the opulence of the Li family's front courtyards.

Pushing open the creaking, dilapidated wooden door.

A stronger wave of herbal scent mixed with dust assailed her face.

Inside, only a bean-sized oil lamp flickered, its dim, wavering light barely illuminating a plank bed with tattered bedding in the corner.

On the bed, Qiu Zhiruo, who had been covered in gray cloth playing the 'corpse', was already sitting up.

She was leisurely combing her waterfall-like long hair in the faint light.

She had removed the layer of deliberately applied pallor and Death Qi.

Beneath the dim lamplight, Qiu Zhiruo resembled a night-blooming cereus, stripped of worldly adornments yet still enchantingly alluring.

Time had etched fine lines at the corners of her eyes, yet it had not erased the deep-seated, captivating beauty in her bones.

Her skin remained taut, and the lazy grace and sharp, worldly insight in her eyes and brows added a lethally charming allure, even surpassing Qiu Shuzhen's untarnished, bright, and cunning beauty.

Mother and daughter gazed at each other across the dimly lit room, creating a breathtaking sense of rivalrous beauty.

"Back?"

Qiu Zhiruo's voice held a trace of hoarseness from just waking, her tone lazily rising at the end.

Yet her gaze keenly sliced through the layer of feigned composure on her daughter's face.

"Did you leave your soul outside the city walls? Look at your little face, red as if smeared with rouge. Has my little girl's spring heart begun to stir?"

She acted just like a common market woman.

One hand pinched Qiu Shuzhen's ear, while the other kept pointing and gesturing.

Qiu Shuzhen's heart skipped a beat, and she instinctively raised a hand to touch her slightly warm cheek.

But her words immediately shot back, with a deliberately heightened crispness.

"Who's blushing! It's the night wind! Stop talking nonsense, Mother!"

She strode quickly to the bedside, her movements betraying a flustered urgency, and pulled a tightly wrapped plain handkerchief from her bosom, slapping it onto the bed board beside Qiu Zhiruo.

"Here, for you!"

The handkerchief unfolded, revealing several gleaming gold ingots and pieces of jewelry that still shimmered with pearl and gem-like radiance even in the dim light, instantly brightening a corner of the bed board.

Qiu Zhiruo's gaze was indeed immediately and firmly captured by the dazzling yellow and white objects.

Two unmistakable, almost greedy lights flared up in her eyes, like a hungry cat spotting fresh fish.

The laziness on her face was instantly replaced by a pure, childlike, blazing joy.

She extended her well-maintained yet time-marked hand, sweeping the gold, silver, and jewels close to her.

Her fingertips, filled with infatuation, gently caressed the cold metal and warm gemstones, soft sighs of satisfaction escaping her lips.

"Ah, my good daughter, this filial piety is truly weighty!"

Her eyes curved into crescents, having long forgotten her earlier probing about her daughter's strange state.

Her entire mind was immersed in the immense satisfaction brought by this unexpected fortune.

"Fatty Li's treasury is indeed rich with spoils... Excellent, truly excellent!"

Watching her mother instantly captivated by the treasure, Qiu Shuzhen secretly breathed a sigh of relief in her heart.

The tense line of her shoulders relaxed imperceptibly.

She said nothing more, turned, and leaned her back lightly against the cold, rough doorframe.

The air inside the room seemed to stagnate.

Only the faint clinking of Qiu Zhiruo handling the jewels and her suppressed, excited whispers remained.

The oil lamp's flame danced restlessly, casting Qiu Shuzhen's leaning figure into a long shadow on the dust-covered floor.

She tilted her head back slightly, the back of her skull resting against the hardwood of the doorframe, her gaze losing focus.

It pierced through the dilapidated roof, reaching out into the thick, impenetrable night outside.

The wind from the locust grove earlier seemed to blow back again.

She could clearly "see" that man's iron-tower-like figure under the moonlight.

Feel the overwhelming, almost suffocating ferocious Evil Qi that had assailed her.

And that vast power during his pursuit, precise as maggots clinging to bone, yet forcibly restrained at the critical moment...

The gust stirred by his fingertips when he tore her clothes still seemed to brush against her exposed skin, eliciting a faint shiver.

And the taut line of his jaw beneath the brim of his hat as he abruptly turned his face away.

The strange flicker in those lava-abyss-like eyes when they glimpsed the spring scene...

"Blockhead..."

She murmured subconsciously, almost soundlessly.

As if refuting her mother's earlier guess, or persuading herself.

But these four light words were like a stone dropped into a deep pool.

Not only failing to suppress her turbulent emotions, but instead sending out ripples of deeper disturbance in her heart.

How could she possibly like him? That ox-like, blood-stenched brute.

Crude! Domineering! Clueless about romance!

Then why... was her heart beating faster than when she was fleeing for her life?

Why was she still savoring the touch of the cool air that had suddenly met her skin beneath the torn fabric?

And... that furnace-like, scorching, iron-scented masculine aura emanating from the man?

Qiu Shuzhen's delicate face, in the dimness, took on a layer of complex, indescribable confusion that even she herself hadn't noticed.

...

Throughout the Li estate, the celebratory red silks of the festive lanterns had not yet faded, yet a sinister chill had quietly begun to permeate.

Steward Li's joy over his upcoming remarriage was in full swing.

Large red " 囍" characters were pasted on doors, windows, pillars, and beams; servants bustled about, preparing for the increasingly imminent auspicious day.

However, right amidst this jubilant atmosphere, rumors of haunting, like maggots clinging to bone, grew rampant within the deep mansion.

At night, patrolling servants would always come fleeing back, crying for their parents.

They would babble incoherently about catching glimpses of a fleeting red shadow in deserted corners or deep within the corridors.

A mournful, seemingly illusory sobbing would always drift eerily during the deepest, dew-heavy hours, plucking at taut nerves.

Furthermore, some night-watch boys swore they had seen a red shadow drift past the roof of Steward Li's bedroom.

This frightened Steward Li into having nightmares for several nights in a row, clutching his blanket, afraid to close his eyes.

His already plump cheeks grew even paler, his eye bags swollen like sacks.

Panic spread like a plague, diluting the approaching festive air.

Seeing the growing unease and the auspicious day drawing near, Steward Li could sit still no longer.

That evening's banquet had an atmosphere utterly different from the usual clamor.

The dishes were still sumptuous, the wine still mellow, yet an invisible layer of oppression hung over the gathering.

Steward Li's hand holding the wine cup trembled slightly, his gaze frequently darting fearfully toward the deep darkness outside the window.

As if man-eating demons lurked within that darkness.

He finally could no longer restrain himself.

His obese body turned toward Ding Qing, his face squeezing out a fawning smile uglier than tears, his voice tinged with barely concealed fear and tremor:

"Ding... Strong Man Ding! You... you've heard, right? That thing... that red-clad vengeful ghost... it... it's getting fiercer!

Even during the day, there seem to be gusts of Yin wind, unsettling the entire estate. The auspicious day is almost here. If that evil entity disrupts the joyous occasion...

Strong Man Ding! You... you must save me, save the Li family!

You are a Divine Being capable of subduing demons and vanquishing monsters. This matter... only you can handle it. I beg you... please intervene, quell this disaster. The price... the price is negotiable!"

His eyes were full of entreaty, as if Ding Qing were his only lifeline.