“Nonsense! The most renowned physicians in the capital have all declared the old madam beyond saving. How dare you spout such baseless confidence here? A village brat should crawl back to the countryside instead of embarrassing yourself in the city!”
Lord Si’s eyes blazed with fury as he immediately ordered servants to drag Qing Bao away.
The old madam must draw her last breath today!
“Grandfather, you are Old Ancestress’ son. Why are you so eager for her to die?”
Qing Bao nimbly evaded the servants’ grasp and approached Lord Si, lifting her round, cherubic face to ask.
Her voice was clear and innocent, easily giving the impression of a child’s unfiltered honesty.
Lord Si instinctively recoiled slightly, his gaze shifting uneasily. “Of course I wish for Mother to be freed from suffering and ascend to paradise soon.”
“Oh? Is that so? Then why did you only hire mediocre physicians who wouldn’t even attempt emergency treatment?”
“Who says they’re mediocre! Three years ago I even summoned an imperial physician to examine Mother. Even the imperial physician said she was beyond cure!”
“How filial of you.” Qing Bao nodded crisply before turning to her mother.
Si He sensed Qing Bao must have a purpose behind these questions and asked, “Qing Bao, what did you mean by your earlier words?”
Twirling the Judge’s Brush in her hand, Qing Bao’s gaze suddenly turned sharp:
“Grandfather, lying while alive will damage your nether virtue. Will you still refuse to speak the truth?”
Lord Si felt as if he’d seen a ghost.
How could he sense such a chilling, oppressive aura from a three-year-old child?
She appeared so soft and delicate, barely reaching his knees.
“You have no manners, daring to question your grandfather!” Lady Si, having restrained herself repeatedly, finally reached her limit.
She broke so completely that she reached out to grab Qing Bao herself.
The next moment.
A crimson light sent her flying backward, crashing to the ground in utter disarray.
“What is this?”
“Dark arts! It must be dark arts!”
“Master, quickly have someone drive her away! She’s a Star of Calamity who will be the death of us all!”
Lady Si shouted.
The crowd stood stunned by the sudden turn of events. Si Ye hurried to help Lady Si up, crying out in terror, “Are we truly seeing ghosts?”
Qing Bao paid them no mind, instead keeping her eyes fixed on Lord Si.
“Grandfather, you have only one chance to tell the truth.”
Lord Si gulped nervously. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“Qing Bao, what is this really about?” Si He crouched down to ask softly.
Qing Bao’s stern expression melted into adorable sweetness upon seeing her mother.
She smiled and said, “Old Ancestress’ maternal family were the Wangs, the wealthiest clan in the capital. Over forty years ago when she married into this family, her procession of wedding gifts stretched for miles, astonishing the entire capital—countless treasures included. A single wheel from her carriage alone could be worth a fortune…”
“Later, as the Si Family declined, Old Ancestress continuously subsidized the household using her dowry. Now Grandfather wants a promotion but lacks sufficient funds himself. Of course he’s eager for Old Ancestress to die.”
Since Old Ancestress had no daughters, her dowry remained intact.
After supporting over a hundred members of the Si Family for forty years, how much remained was unknown, but certainly a substantial amount survived.
Once she died.
All the dowry and assets in her treasury would naturally belong to Grandfather and Grandmother.
They knew Old Ancestress had tricked Mother into returning precisely so the old lady could die.
But Qing Bao refused to let this kind old woman breathe her last, instead choosing to tear away this veil of hypocrisy.
Behind the Si family’s glorious facade lay such unspeakable decay.
“Lord Si, is what Qing Bao said true?” Si He demanded angrily, her eyes already red-rimmed.
The grandmother had married into the Si family for over forty years. After the grandfather’s death, the family began to struggle financially. The grandmother had used her own dowry to support the entire Si household – one hundred servants and all these descendants.
Yet no one could have imagined that the son she had devoted her entire life to raising would covet her dowry while she still had one breath left.
Though Si He hadn’t been raised by the grandmother or the Si family, she knew perfectly well how wonderful the grandmother was.
Even as an outsider who stood to gain nothing, the sight pained her heart.
“A three-year-old child’s wild tales, and you believe them? Besides, I’m mother’s only son. We’re the ones handling her funeral arrangements. What right do you have to question me?”
Lord Si had always maintained an air of superiority within the household.
He couldn’t bear that his own daughter and this little bastard dared to question and judge him from such a high moral ground.
“Do you dare swear before Yama?” Qing Bao unexpectedly produced a piece of paper and hastily drew a few strokes with the Judge’s Brush.
She drew a crude ghost figure with the words “Yama” written above it.
The moment the characters for “Yama” landed on the paper, a red light flashed, directly reaching the Netherworld.
Yama, who had been frantically working on new Books of Life and Death, suddenly received this inexplicable message.
“Who dares to be so bold as to send me messages?”
Ox-Head and Horse-Face quickly rushed in, holding a drawing. “Report! A message from Qing Jie!”
On the paper was a crudely drawn ghost with the characters “Yama” written above it.
Yama touched his own face, then looked at the drawing, immediately flying into a rage, his eyes turning red.
“Who drew me like this?”
In the Netherworld, if he claimed to be the second most handsome, no ghost would dare claim to be first.
Drawing him like this – did they not want to live?
He’d have Old Black and Old White hook this bastard down here for questioning! Really!
Ox-Head and Horse-Face exchanged glances and timidly said, “It… it was drawn by Qing Jie.”
Yama’s red eyes instantly cleared, his face breaking into a doting smile. “Oh, so it was drawn by my dear baby that I raised!”
“It’s drawn so beautifully, so handsome – truly worthy of my good baby.”
“My baby sent me a message, I should take a good look and ask if she misses me, hehehe.”
Yama gently waved his hand over the drawing.
The scene from the human world immediately appeared before him.
There was little Qing Bao, holding up a drawing almost as tall as herself.
She was saying to Lord Si, “Do you dare swear before Yama?”
Absolutely adorable.
Yama’s eyes filled with pink bubbles – the good baby he had raised for ten years was still so cute even in the human world.
But…
Was someone bullying her?
“Hahaha, hahaha, what kind of thing is that you drew? Don’t think just because it says ‘Yama’ that this really is Yama! Have you even seen Yama? He looks like a terrifying asura, horrifying to behold! What kind of thing have you drawn here? Hahahaha!”
When Si Ye saw Qing Bao’s drawing of Yama, he couldn’t help but clutch his stomach with laughter.
“I think this isn’t Yama, but the Turtle King! Look at this Turtle King – it’s absolutely hilarious!”
He even snatched it away and paraded around the room, letting everyone look at the Yama portrait while they laughed unrestrainedly.
“Look, this is what Yama looks like. Even a hanged ghost is better looking than him.”
“A hanged ghost isn’t that sloppy. He’s practically a wild weed-entangled turtle, hahaha.”
Watching this scene unfold,
Yama’s face turned green—a dark green that truly resembled a turtle’s hue.
“Who is this person?”