Chapter 157

Chapter 157: Just Because Her Face Is Big?

Yu Zhi Yi watched Ou Yang Shuo’s retreating back. Inside her sleeve, her fingers moved quickly as she tried to calculate, but one of the two was a girl blessed with great fate, and the other was a Daoist cultivator who had hidden his Heavenly Mechanism Device. For the moment, she found no clear thread to pull.

Seeing her stare in the direction they had gone and refuse to relax her brow, the young manor lord of Sky Domain Villa, Li Chang Huai, could not stand it. He said with biting sarcasm: “We admit it was a bit improper to support Brother You Lin and Miss You right in front of you, but they are gone now. There is no need to keep up that attitude, is there?”

He added in a mocking tone: “Sister-in-law madam, do not forget, even if you are the principal wife, you are still just a woman. Brother You Lin has the right to take concubines. If I were you, I would know when to stop. Otherwise, when the mess gets out of hand, you will be stuck guarding the title of young madam while Brother You Lin’s body and heart will never be yours.”

Yu Zhi Yi treated his words like a puff of foul air and did not even look at him. She turned to Du Zi Heng and said, each word clear: “I read Ou Yang Shuo’s face. In a few days he will step into a death trap. Anything that can kill a cultivator like him is tied either to a demonic cultivator or to an evil thing.”

“No matter which it is, the situation is very dangerous.”

Du Zi Heng, who had still been sunk in love and sorrow a moment ago, snapped out of it. He believed Yu Zhi Yi.

He was about to speak when Li Chang Huai burst out in disbelief and said loudly: “No way. How can you be so vicious? He only talked back to you a couple of times, and you curse him to die?”

He turned to Du Zi Heng and said: “Brother You Lin, you are not actually buying her nonsense, are you? Brother Ou Yang is Dragon-Tiger Mountain’s chief first disciple. He is not only strong, he also carries many treasures. Slay Demons and Exorcise Fiends is nothing to him. How could he die?”

Yu Zhi Yi fell silent for a beat. The second fool was too noisy. The moment he opened his mouth to say more nonsense, she flicked a Silence Spell at him.

She could not help a quiet sigh in her heart: [No wonder she is the daughter of destiny. Even a random passerby can feel her charm.]

Right now, Li Chang Huai had already taken a liking to You Bing Yue. She wondered what Du Zi Heng would feel in the future when he learned he had tied a red string with his own hands between his beloved and his friend.

With the noise gone, she looked seriously at Du Zi Heng.

Du Zi Heng knew the matter was no joke, so he dropped the talk of love. He said: “They are going to Cao South Village.”

He explained, stumbling, then correcting himself: “Bing Yue, no, Miss You, recently took a bounty. Anyone who can solve the thirty-year-old water ghost case in Cao South Village will get one hundred taels of gold.”

One hundred taels of gold equaled five hundred taels of silver. In daily life, common people still used copper coins. One thousand taels of silver equaled one million two hundred thousand copper coins. Many ordinary families could live off that for several lifetimes. Even for families of standing, one thousand taels was not a small sum. As long as they did not spend every day in brothels and in money pits like Splendid Brocade Pavilion and Treasure Pavilion, that much silver would let the sons and daughters of great houses live very well for half a year.

You Bing Yue had said that spending money earned with your own hands felt the best. Now she seemed like the girl she had been when she first met Du Zi Heng. That was why Du Zi Heng felt especially torn.

Yu Zhi Yi ignored his feelings. Her face changed a little and she said: “Cao South Village?”

“Is there a problem?” he asked.

Yu Zhi Yi thought briefly, then said: “I have been reading the case files on an old case from thirty years ago in Cao South Village and have already found a few clues.”

She pressed her brow and said: “Cao South Village has become a place of great calamity. It is best not to go.”

Du Zi Heng forgot his sadness and asked: “You mean the strange water ghost case where villagers died thirty years ago?”

Yu Zhi Yi nodded.

“Are there really ghosts,” he asked.

Yu Zhi Yi pressed her lips and said, careful and honest: “I have not finished reading every person’s file, and I have not visited the place yet. My judgment is not strict. But if the place Ou Yang Shuo plans to go is Cao South Village, and if there is a sign of great misfortune, then it is almost certain.”

She added in a low voice: “And it is a vengeful ghost.”

Du Zi Heng could not sit still and said at once: “Come, let’s stop them.”

Yu Zhi Yi looked at him calmly and said: “You go. If I say it, they will not believe me.”

“They will only think I am showing off and trying to steal their credit.” She glanced toward the loudmouthed fool by their side to make her point.

Du Zi Heng could not offer any rebuttal. He did not want to admit his friends were targeting Yu Zhi Yi on purpose, but he could not lie to himself either.

“All right,” he said. “I will go talk to them.”

Soon, Du Zi Heng caught up with You Bing Yue and Ou Yang Shuo. It was still not yet curfew. The three stood in a busy open space as Du Zi Heng repeated Yu Zhi Yi’s analysis, all while staring at Ou Yang Shuo’s face.

He stared so hard his eyes almost popped, but he still could not see a trace of death aura on the man’s face.

Ou Yang Shuo pulled a bronze mirror from the bundle he carried, glanced at his own face, then rolled his eyes and said: “As expected, that woman is best at grandstanding.”

Du Zi Heng and You Bing Yue both showed odd looks when they saw him take out a mirror.

Ou Yang Shuo had just put the mirror away when he noticed their faces. He frowned, thought of something, and hurried to explain: “This is my sect’s Demon-Revealing Mirror. If you sweep it over monsters and malevolent spirits, their true form will show in the mirror.”

“Most of the time, though, it is just an ordinary mirror.”

He did not need a glass mirror to see the fine lines of his face. He only wanted to check for death qi. As a Daoist cultivator, if there were death qi on his face, he would notice it.

“Relax,” he said with confidence. “I saw nothing at all, so that woman is lying.”

You Bing Yue said in a soft, tea-sweet voice: “Zi Heng, did you just say Young Madam Du has also been chasing the case from thirty years ago,” then she bit her lower lip as if she had said something she should not and added quickly, gentle and earnest: “I did not mean anything else. Young Madam Du is not that kind of person.”

She turned to Ou Yang Shuo and said: “Young Master Ou Yang, let’s go.”

Then she gave Du Zi Heng an apologetic smile and said: “I will think about it. If Young Madam Du truly does not want us to go, we will…”

Ou Yang Shuo cut in and said coldly: “Why should we hand the credit to her? Just because her face is big?”

He let out a low laugh and said: “The more she does not want me to go, the more I will go. She already stole your beloved. How could she also have the face to steal your credit and your money?”

He looked at You Bing Yue with a mix of pity and tough care and said: “With me here, no one will take anything from you again.”

Du Zi Heng drifted back to Bright Radiance Courtyard like a lost soul and was surprised to find that Yu Zhi Yi had not left. He opened his mouth, then stopped.

She looked at him and asked, quiet and even: “No success?”

Du Zi Heng nodded.

His trust in Yu Zhi Yi had begun to shake. Yu Zhi Yi was always quick to sense feelings. She caught his doubt at once. She gave a cold smile and said, each word crisp: “Du Zi Heng, I reported to the Ministry of Justice three days ago.”

Du Zi Heng felt as if thunder struck him. His face went pale as he said in a hoarse voice: “Zhi Yi…”