“Did I draw your eyebrows crooked?”
Zhu Changsheng turned to stare at Wei Yuan’s soul.
She looked back and forth between the corpse and the spirit, but felt Wei Yuan’s soul was too faint to clearly see his face from more than three steps away.
She moved the candlestick in front of the coffin and walked over to Wei Yuan’s spirit.
Wei Yuan’s soul trembled, his eyes darting around, not daring to look directly at the woman who had now come before him. His voice was cautious: “It’s all right. When I died, my body was incomplete. I’m already grateful that you could restore it to this state and preserve my soul. There’s no need to worry so much about the details.”
He had never been someone who cared much about appearance.
Sometimes during military campaigns, he would go months without shaving, and even his own mother wouldn’t recognize him when he returned.
Zhu Changsheng’s skillful hands had almost perfectly restored his body one-to-one, leaving no room for criticism.
But Zhu Changsheng was a perfectionist. She would not allow her work to be crooked or distorted—it would be disrespectful to the deceased.
Zhu Changsheng stood on tiptoe, using her brush to trace the air around Wei Yuan’s brows and eyes, then nodded. Turning back to his corpse, she said, “They’re not crooked. Human features aren’t symmetrical to begin with.”
Wei Yuan stiffened slightly, secretly letting out a sigh of relief after she turned away. “I didn’t know. I never paid attention to such things.”
“Ah!” Zhu Changsheng sighed softly at his corpse.
Wei Yuan asked, puzzled, “What’s wrong?”
“Such a handsome face, such fine features—to die so young. What a waste of good looks and a strong body.” She rested her chin on her hand and murmured.
Wei Yuan felt himself blushing at her words and quickly changed the subject. “What I just told you…”
“Young Madam, the Old Clan Leader has arrived.” Steward Su Ji entered from the courtyard and reported to Zhu Changsheng.
Wei Yuan was taken aback.
She had already summoned the Old Clan Leader in such a short time?
Wait—she hadn’t sent anyone to fetch him earlier. That meant… before he even told her about the Old Clan Leader, she had already sent someone to the encircling dragon house to invite him to the Wei Mansion. Then she…
Wei Yuan instinctively glanced at the woman across from him, a doubt forming in his mind: She seems to know the Wei family well. Did Yuan Shu tell her?
If Yuan Shu told her, then it would make sense.
“I’ll go meet the Old Clan Leader first. You stay here and don’t wander off, all right?”
Zhu Changsheng looked at Wei Yuan’s corpse and spoke softly.
Seeing this, Steward Su felt a pang of sorrow, lamenting the injustice of fate that separated two people in love by life and death.
Only Wei Yuan knew that Zhu Changsheng was speaking to his soul. But with Steward Su present, they could no longer communicate across the void, lest they frighten others.
Wei Yuan replied with a “Yes,” then added a reminder: “I’ve heard the Old Clan Leader has a peculiar temper and isn’t in the best of moods. Please be patient with him.”
Zhu Changsheng didn’t respond. She walked straight past him and followed Steward Su to the Jade Dew Hall to receive the guest.
But just as Zhu Changsheng left the spirit hall and before she could enter the Jade Dew Hall, Steward Feng came from the direction of the main gate and reported to her: “Young Madam, someone has been sent over from the ancestral residence.”
“Is it a seven-year-old child?” Zhu Changsheng asked.
Steward Feng said, “Yes. The guard from Lady Xiang’s courtyard tied him up and personally escorted him to the Wei Mansion. He’s outside now.”Zhu Changsheng narrowed her eyes slightly, looking at the Jade Dew Hall right before her.
Through the lush greenery, she could vaguely make out a gray-robed, white-haired elder standing with hands clasped behind his back in the courtyard. Tall and lean, he appeared a decade older than his fifty years, with a silver beard reaching his chest—a testament to the profound grief the loss of his son and wife had inflicted upon this elder.
Zhu Changsheng said, “Bring the child to the outside of the Jade Dew Hall courtyard, no need to enter. I will appear at the right moment.”
“Yes,” Steward Feng replied promptly, leaving the mansion to fetch them.
Just as Zhu Changsheng reached the Jade Dew Hall, Steward Feng arrived with He Yong and the escaped Wei Jiangbai in tow.
He Yong pushed Wei Jiangbai forward and scolded him, “Kneel down now and tell the young mistress what you’ve done.”
Wei Jiangbai knelt before Zhu Changsheng, head bowed, and confessed, “Young Mistress, releasing the rats into the spirit hall was my doing alone.”
Zhu Changsheng looked down at the child at her feet.
Wei Jiangbai was not one of the children chosen by Lady Xiang. He had been picked up from the market by Wei Hu and, in a sense, was a pitiable soul kept alive by the group of young boys. Lady Xiang had never liked him, subjecting him to beatings and scoldings, and he had never been entered into the Wei family register.
His appearance was not unexpected.
Yet, with his strength alone, there was no way he could have rescued the brothers he wanted to save from her grasp.
“Your arms are thinner than a rat’s. How could you alone have quietly transported those one hundred and sixty-three rats into the Wei Mansion?” Zhu Changsheng countered.
Wei Jiangbai had prepared his words beforehand: “I had money. I bribed my brothers to help me bring the rats into the courtyard. When the time came, I opened the cages myself and released them. My brothers had no idea what I intended to do with the rats—they were deceived by me.”
“Where did you get the money?”
“I… I stole it,” Wei Jiangbai clenched his fists tightly, gritting his teeth as he spoke. “I used to be a pickpocket begging on Dongpi Street. If I wanted to steal a purse, I never failed. It was Lady Xiang who took me in, gave me food, and offered me a chance to start anew. You’re a wicked woman—the moment you married into the Wei family, you drove Lady Xiang and the clan leader out of the mansion, seizing their home like a cuckoo taking over a magpie’s nest. I wanted to drive you out of the Wei Mansion. Now that my plan has been exposed, I take full responsibility. Release my brothers and send me before the Emperor. Do with me as you will—kill me or cut me to pieces.”
Clap, clap, clap!
Zhu Changsheng applauded his brilliantly crafted confession.
This child was just as she remembered Wei Jiangbai from her past life—cunning, crafty, sharp-witted, and clever in small ways. With proper guidance and channeled toward righteousness, he could become a great talent.
“I’ve already confessed. Hurry and release my brothers—they’re all innocent,” Wei Jiangbai urged, growing uneasy as Zhu Changsheng defied his expectations.
Just as he was about to speak again, the Wei Clan Leader and Lady Xiang stormed into the mansion with a group of clansmen, shouting loudly, “Such misfortune has befallen our family! Jiangbai, how could you do such a foolish thing?”
Zhu Changsheng glanced at Lady Xiang, then turned slightly to Steward Feng and whispered an instruction. Steward Feng immediately went to the woodshed and brought all twenty-some young boys to the outside of the Jade Dew Hall.
Seeing the twenty-five children kneeling neatly before him, the Wei Clan Leader seethed with anger.
Years of cultivation, all gone to waste.
Defeated before they could even prove themselves—utterly useless.At this thought, the Wei Clan Leader stormed over to Wei Hu and slapped him across the face, angrily shouting, “Wei Hu, how could you commit such a heinous act? How could you lead your younger brothers to catch rats in the fields and then release them into the Wei Mansion’s spirit hall? Do you not know that those rats could very well damage the corpses inside the coffins? They are all loyal and brave martyrs! I have taught you the principles of being a decent person day in and day out, yet it seems all my lessons have gone to the dogs! Guards, take them all to the ancestral hall! Our Wei family has no place for such wayward descendants. Enforce the Clan Law and strike their names from the family register!”