Lin Yu’er sorted through the branches before her.
She picked out several straight ones of similar thickness and handed them over: “Time for incense offering!”
Xie Xinyue instantly felt this was exactly as expected.
She took the three branches, glanced at the hideous little clay figure, then looked at Lin Yu’er’s solemn and dignified expression, her face full of struggle.
“Is this incense offering absolutely necessary?”
Lin Yu’er looked at her: “Of course it’s mandatory. Not just you, but your maid and everyone present must do it too!”
Everyone was stunned.
Only Du Du remained calm. “This servant will obey the Madam’s instructions!”
Zhang Momo spoke softly to Wanqing and Cuihu: “Just do as the Madam says. Consider it humoring the Madam’s play. If the Madam is happy, perhaps the Marquis will reward you all today.”
Only then did the two nod.
“Line up properly. Think about how you want to curse her. Let Yue Yiniang demonstrate first. Everyone should try not to repeat curses.” After glancing at Lin Yu’er, Du Du proactively began directing the maids.
When Yue Yiniang heard this, she felt inexplicably nervous.
“Madam, perhaps we should just forget it…”
She really couldn’t maintain composure facing that hideous little clay figure.
Lin Yu’er frowned, appearing disappointed.
Then, placing both hands on her shoulders while subtly wiping mud from her hands, she shook her head and said:
“This esteemed one is personally overseeing this for you, and you’re going to make things difficult? Do you look down on the Demon God or me? If you disrespect someone as exalted as myself, you’re finished! Your life is over~”
“Over~ over~”
Xie Xinyue hung her head at these words.
“But curses might not necessarily work.”
“Who says they don’t work? This Madam’s curses are effective against anyone. I am an exalted one, highly exalted.”
Lin Yu’er grabbed a bunch of branches, distributed three to Cuihu who was second in line, then to Wanqing and the other cleaning maids behind her…
Xie Xinyue watched Lin Yu’er bustling about and thought: Fine, I’ll just play along.
Since the Madam stood up for me when my cousin was here, I’ll treat this as humoring a child.
“Yue Yiniang, this servant will light your incense!”
Du Du pretended to touch her branch with air and called out.
“Lit!”
Xie Xinyue: ?!
She gave her completely unchanged branch a strange look, gritted her teeth, raised the “incense,” recalled Xie Zhiqiu’s humiliation, and spoke her desired curse aloud:
“I… I curse the Xie family’s eldest branch, meaning my uncle, to be disliked by his superior! I curse the second uncle to meet dishonest people and be deceived! I curse my eldest cousin to trip while walking and ruin her looks!”
“Next!”
As soon as Xie Xinyue stuck her branches into the mud before the little clay figure, Lin Yu’er immediately called for the next person.
Xie Xinyue quickly stepped aside.
Cuihu stepped forward to offer incense.
“I curse Xie Zhiqiu to lose… lose something every day!”
Next came Wanqing.
“I curse Xie Zhiqiu to get slapped too, preferably until both cheeks swell!”
Then came the younger maids.
Each was cautious, their eyes darting around as they spoke in mosquito-like whispers, their curses minor—things like neck pain, choking on tea, or biting their tongues while eating.
Xie Xinyue stood to the side.
Watching the maids utter curses to the little clay figure, she found the scene utterly absurd.
No matter how you looked at it… the clay figure was just a casually molded object.
There was nothing special about it.
Two arms hung precariously, one shoulder higher than the other with the opposite side having no shoulder at all, and a few leaves stuck into its head…
After the last maid finished her curse, Lin Yu’er also stepped forward.
She took a tree branch and “lit” it in the air, blew on it, then coughed twice as if irritated by incense smoke, even waving her hand in front of the imaginary incense.
“Finally, I’ll offer one last stick of incense, symbolizing the successful completion of this curse…”
As she spoke, she inserted the imaginary incense among a pile of branches, as if truly seeing curling smoke, then leaned in and took a deep breath.
Du Du: “What is Madam smelling?”
Lin Yu’er’s half-squinted eyes suddenly widened, adopting what could be described as a furtive expression.
Then, she covered Du Du’s mouth with her hand.
“Shh, keep your voice down!”
Du Du immediately quieted down, blinking her eyes to show she would behave.
Only then did Lin Yu’er speak: “This Madam is secretly stealing the faith power of the Devil God Avatar. You’re so lacking in perception, girl! If you remain this reckless, don’t serve me anymore!”
Du Du obediently knelt: “This servant knows her mistake, please don’t be angry, Madam!”
Zhang Momo stepped forward, soothingly coaxing: “Madam, only Momma and Du Du came with you to this realm. Please don’t be angry with her!”
Lin Yu’er pretended to think for a moment, maintaining her pose for several seconds before speaking.
“Then you may rise. The Demon Lord Avatar still needs you to make offerings at any time.”
Just as Du Du stood up wanting to make some promise,
Lin Yu’er suddenly brightened and dashed toward the corridor: “What a beautiful bird!”
…
The events at Bibo Pavilion were reported to He Jiulin.
“A curse?”
He Jiulin’s expression tightened, and as if thinking of something, his pupils suddenly contracted. He stood up and instructed Chang Sui: “Immediately arrange for some people to guard the Xie residence. Whether it’s Xie Ji of the main branch or Xie Tianhai of the second branch, including their family members – station people to watch them all…”
Just as Chang Sui was about to make arrangements, He Jiulin called him back.
“Wait.”
“What other instructions does the Marquis have?”
He Jiulin asked: “How did the guards sent by other parties react when Madam was cursing?”
Chang Sui: “Qingjue from the General’s Manor immediately returned to report and hasn’t come back yet. As for the guards arranged by the other officials, they showed no particular reaction, probably… they thought Madam was just playing crazy games!”
A faint hint of delight appeared in He Jiulin’s eyes, but it quickly subsided.
“If they don’t believe it, that’s for the best!”
He took a token from his waist and handed it to Chang Sui. “Then we can’t dispatch people from the residence to avoid alerting the enemy. Take this token to this location. Don’t ask unnecessary questions or look around carelessly – just say we need some personnel…”
He Jiulin gave detailed instructions while Chang Sui listened attentively.
After Chang Sui left with the token,
He Jiulin found himself unable to focus on any documents. He spread a fresh sheet of paper on the desk and wrote the three characters “Lin Yu’er.”
Circling the name, he continued staring at it.
After a moment, his cool voice slowly murmured, “If the curse proves real, this dull life might finally bring some amusement. When that time comes, Lin Yu’er, you can only be the mistress of Zhaoping Marquis! No other identity!”
Interesting people should be kept by one’s side~
At the very least.
We can’t let someone like Xue Yanzhou take Lin Yu’er away!
…
Meanwhile, at the General’s Manor.
Xue Yuanzhou nearly dropped the spear in his hand upon hearing Qingjue’s report.
“What did you say? A curse?!”
Qingjue nodded. “This subordinate believes that since we were able to locate the remains of Vice Commissioner Pei’s daughter through Madam’s auditory hallucinations last time, exposing that hypocrite Wu Yong, perhaps this curse might also…”
Xue Yuanzhou took the towel from the butler and gestured for him and the surrounding servants to withdraw.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, his voice slightly breathless, he said, “You’ve done well! After all, back when she was pregnant with our child, we encountered many bizarre incidents – strange celestial phenomena and the like.”
He tossed the towel aside and picked up the teapot from the table, drinking directly from it.
“Don’t think just because I’m a general that I’m less superstitious than He Jiulin! I’ve reached this position without any background precisely because I accumulated plenty of good deeds in my early years. These matters are profoundly mysterious – not to be spoken of! Not to be discussed too much!”
“In short, even if others don’t believe it, I certainly do!”
Qingjue asked, “Should this subordinate dispatch some men to…”
Xue Yuanzhou waved his hand. “We don’t need to do anything. Just wait and see what happens!”