Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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As they drew closer to home, Zhuang Jiuge’s heart-wrenching cries suddenly rang out from ahead: “Lu Dan, wake up! Waaah! You murderers! You even kill dogs, you’re not human!”
Zhuang Li immediately quickened his pace, Zhuang Lao Er started running, and Liu Chunhua also rolled up her sleeves and rushed over.
The three of them went around the courtyard wall and saw Zhuang Jiuge kneeling at their own door, holding the dead Lu Dan in his arms. Lu Dan had a tight hemp rope around its neck. A group of children stood not far away, looking at this scene with blank and helpless expressions.
“What happened?” Zhuang Li asked in a cold tone.
Zhuang Jiuge seemed to have found his pillar of support, and pointed at the group of children, saying, “Big brother, they strangled Lu Dan!”
“What?! You sons of bitches! Did my Lu Dan offend you? You’re so young and already so vicious. I might as well beat you all to death so you won’t cause trouble when you grow up!” Zhuang Lao Er raised his fist, which was as big as a casserole dish, and walked towards the group of children.
The children’s parents rushed over upon hearing the news and immediately ran forward to protect them.
Liu Chunhua was no coward either; she immediately went back into the house to get a kitchen knife.
When she turned around, she noticed that a cut hemp rope was tied to the gate her husband had built the day before, and it was now swaying back and forth in the wind, while a pair of scissors lay at her youngest son’s feet.
It was obvious that Lu Dan was hanged on this rope, right in front of their house.
Liu Chunhua immediately exploded, pointing at the rope and yelling, “You bunch of beasts! You actually hanged Lu Dan from my door lintel! Who are you cursing? You don’t want my family to live, do you? Fine, fine, I’ll kill you all today! I’ll make you take my place!”
In this feudal and backward era, hanging a cat or dog at someone’s doorstep was an extremely vicious curse, implying that the whole family would die a violent death like that beast.
The person who did this harbored unimaginable malice towards the second branch of the Zhuang family! Did they actually wish for the entire family to be wiped out? Why? They hadn’t offended anyone. Why would they have developed such hatred?
Liu Chunhua didn’t dare to think too deeply. She just rushed into the kitchen, grabbed a gleaming cleaver, and wanted to repay blood with blood.
Zhuang Lao Er had already overturned the villagers who came to stop him and picked up a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy with one hand, ready to beat him up.
The boy covered his face and shouted, “Lu Dan hanged himself! We just tied a noose to your doorpost, and Lu Dan saw it, stuck his head in it, and strangled himself to death! It’s true, a lot of people saw it, you can ask them if you don’t believe me!”
“Zhuang Lao Er, what right do you have to take your anger out on other people’s kids! We all saw it with our own eyes! Lu Dan hanged himself, it has nothing to do with them!”
An elder stepped forward from the crowd, scolding them with exasperation: “We’ve all heard about what happened last night. Lu Dan bit Tian’er, and this is his just desserts. It has nothing to do with anyone else.”
“It bit the lucky star, and the heavens couldn’t stand it, so they had to destroy it! It was killed by the heavens! Second Brother Zhuang, I advised you this morning not to split up the family, but you didn’t listen. Now look what happened! Your family is in big trouble!”
The clan elder pointed to the hemp rope on the door lintel and said angrily, “Look, look! A curse has come knocking on your door. How are you going to live from now on?”
“This is just the beginning. Just you wait, you’ll suffer the consequences! First, you’ll lose money, then your family will be ruined, and then your entire household will be wiped out!”
“I advise you to release this child immediately, prepare a generous gift, and rush to Qingtian Temple tonight to find a Taoist priest to exorcise the evil spirit! What are you still making a fuss about? Don’t you even care about this family anymore?”
The clan elder slapped his thigh repeatedly, genuinely worried about Zhuang Lao Er.
Only then did Zhuang Lao Da and the others open the courtyard gate and come out, standing at a distance and silently watching the farce. Their faces were expressionless, but their eyes were gleaming with schadenfreude.
Grandma Zhuang carried a basin of chicken blood and splashed it all over Zhuang Jiuge, who was kneeling on the ground, while cursing, “Bad luck!”
Zhuang Li quickly pulled his younger brother away, preventing him from turning into a blood-soaked mess. Lu Dan’s corpse, however, was soaked in blood, making it look even more gruesome.
Zhuang Tian’er hid behind Zhuang Lao Da, peeking out half her head while timidly watching this scene.
Her eyes were as clear as a stream, filled with fear and sadness, as if she were also lamenting the death of Lu Dan.
However, the more innocent and pure she pretended to be, the more disgusted and angry Zhuang Li felt. He hadn’t been truly angry with anyone in a long time, but Zhuang Tian’er had successfully crossed that line.
Zhuang Lao Er released the boy and looked at the rope hanging from the beam above his door with suspicion. A group of children hiding behind the tree were talking all at once, recounting the horrific scene of Lu Dan hanging himself.
Looking at Lu Dan lying in the pool of blood, and recalling its strange behavior, Liu Chunhua felt a chill run down her spine for no reason.
Zhuang Jiuge cried so hard he couldn’t catch his breath and couldn’t utter a complete sentence. He had been reading inside the room and didn’t know that Lu Dan had hanged himself.
This strange incident affected the three people’s mood to some extent, making them fear Zhuang Tian’er.
Zhuang Li, however, remained calm and composed as usual. He just spread the satchel in his arms on the ground and said slowly, “Whether my family is doing well or not is none of your concern. If the door beam is dirty, we can just knock it down. If the house is tainted with bad luck, we can just rebuild it. If the feng shui is bad, we can just buy another piece of good land. There is no problem that money cannot solve.”
As he spoke, he took out two small gold ingots weighing five taels each, two large gold ingots weighing ten taels each, a jade bracelet with excellent translucency, a crystal-clear mutton fat jade pendant, and a fist-sized luminous pearl, and neatly arranged them on his satchel.
It was dusk, and the sky was gradually sinking in the west. But the luminous pearl was emitting a faint white light. The light was very light, but extremely dense, like a cloud of mist flowing in the air, beautiful as a dream.
Even the most unsophisticated villagers could tell at a glance that this bead was priceless!
The noisy village entrance immediately fell into a deathly silence as everyone’s attention was drawn to this rare treasure.
At the same time, an unbelievable thought flashed through everyone’s minds— the second branch of the Zhuang family had struck it rich! They were incredibly wealthy! This single luminous pearl was enough to buy the entire city of Bazhou! From now on, what would they have to worry about!
Zhuang Li waved to his father and said calmly, “Dad, don’t be angry. Tomorrow I’ll go to the city and ask a broker about that five-courtyard house on the western hillside. I’ll see if it’s for sale or not. If it is, we’ll buy it, and we’ll tear down this half of the brick house and leave it.”
“Alright, alright, Dad will go to the brokerage with you tomorrow.” All of Zhuang Lao Er’s anger was calmed down by the gold and silver treasures.
Liu Chunhua put down the kitchen knife, smiled, spat at the dumbfounded old lady Zhuang, and dragged her youngest son back into the house.
Zhuang Jiuge looked dazed but still remembered to hug Lu Dan’s blood-stained corpse.
Zhuang Li said gently, “Tomorrow, brother will hire a few Taoist priests to find an auspicious burial site in the back mountain, build a luxurious mausoleum, and give Lu Dan a proper burial. I will also invite a few monks to chant scriptures for Lu Dan for forty-nine days, so that it can be reborn into a better life in the next life.”
Zhuang Jiuge indeed forgot to cry.
What is the best medicine in the world for curing anger, resentment, and depression?
It’s getting rich overnight!
So the second branch of the Zhuang family, who had just felt dizzy, was now completely relieved.
The villagers standing around had just exhaled a breath of stale air when Zhuang Li’s arrogance made their hearts clench again.
They couldn’t even imagine the happiness of the rich! If their house gets dirty, they just tear it down and buy a mansion to live in; if their dog dies, they hire monks and Taoist priests to perform rituals and even build a tomb for it. Damn it! If the second wife of the Zhuang family is having a hard time, what do you call their lives? Just barely surviving?
The onlookers grew increasingly envious, their eyes turning red from exhaustion.
The Zhuang family stood rooted to the spot, unable to move for a long time. Compared to the treasures Zhuang Li had brought back today, the hundred taels of silver they earned from selling ginseng were nothing!
A slight ripple finally appeared in Zhuang Tian’er’s clear eyes, but there was little envy. It was just a little treasure; she didn’t care about it. She just wanted to know where these things came from.
Just then, Zhuang Li, who was about to step across the threshold, suddenly turned around, stared straight at her, and said in a deep voice, “Zhuang Tian’er, I know you killed Lu Dan. Only an evil spirit like you could do something so vicious. You wait, I will take you down.”
Zhuang Tian’er immediately shrank behind her father and let out a timid cry, as if she had been frightened.
Others thought Zhuang Li was talking nonsense, but the dockworkers who came back with Zhuang Lao Er showed expressions of fear.
They began to believe Zhuang Li’s words.
Lu Dan’s death was so bizarre that they couldn’t help but feel frightened upon hearing it. Moreover, how could they explain that Zhuang Li, the one who slandered Zhuang Tian’er, not only didn’t suffer misfortune but also met a benefactor and had great luck?
Wasn’t it said that God was Zhuang Tian’er’s beloved? Why didn’t He punish Zhuang Li, but instead took his anger out on a dog? If God was this petty, sinister, and cunning, their worldview was truly going to collapse!
Thus, a seed of doubt took root in everyone’s hearts.
That evening, Old Mrs. Zhuang frantically banged on Zhuang Lao Er’s door, shouting things like, “We won’t separate the family, we’ll live together as long as we want, and Da Bao and Er Bao can study for as many years as they want,” trying to appease him. But Zhuang Lao Er pretended not to hear anything.
Lu Dan’s death completely extinguished his desire to continue his association with the Zhuang family’s eldest son.
Zhuang Tian’er was too vicious and sinister. She wouldn’t even spare a dog. His family couldn’t afford to offend her, but they could at least avoid her.
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