Chapter 261

Chapter 261

The young woman’s words sent a chill through me.

Her warning that they would suffer retribution had indeed come true later.

Everyone in Luo Mansion had died. Not one person survived.

Those words sounded like a curse.

I wondered what relationship the young woman had with the little girl. She seemed to care deeply about her.

Judging by what the fat woman had said, the younger woman seemed to be Master Luo’s newest wife, the Ninth Concubine.

The servants had already dragged the Ninth Concubine away, but the fat woman continued punishing the little girl.

This was not discipline at all. She was trying to beat the child to death.

I could not bear listening to the girl’s screams any longer. I charged out and launched myself through the air, kicking straight at the damned woman’s face.

“Fuck you, you vicious hag!”

That kick should have sent her flying.

But something bizarre happened. She was like a shadow, and I passed straight through her.

My foot struck empty air. Because I had put too much force into the kick, I landed hard on my backside.

“You little bastard! How dare you bully my son?”

“You’re lower than a servant! My son is the eldest young master of the Luo family. How dare you touch him?”

The fat woman’s curses and the little girl’s cries filled my ears.

I stared blankly at the scene and suddenly understood. This had already happened. The little girl had died a hundred years ago. I had not traveled through time, so how could I possibly stop the tragedy?

But this did not seem like a Ghost Wall. If it was, why could no one see me?

I could not interact with anyone here. Where was I?

Soon, the little girl had been beaten to the brink of death. Even her cries had grown faint.

When the wretched hag finally stopped, she spat on the ground. Without sparing the little girl another glance, she turned and left.

She passed so close that she almost brushed my shoulder, yet she remained completely unaware of me.

After she left, torrential rain began to pour from the sky.

The little girl lay in the rain, her body twitching now and then. A wide pool of blood spread across the ground, all of it flowing from her mouth and nose.

I walked over, crouched beside her, and could not stop myself from calling Xiuzhu’s name.

She could neither see me nor hear me. In her eyes, I saw only despair.

Perhaps her mother truly had been unfaithful, but the child should never have been made to bear the consequences.

Born into a family like this, she had no chance of survival. Even the other children bullied her, and the servants treated her with contempt. The Ninth Concubine was the only person who cared about her, but the Ninth Concubine seemed to have little influence in the household.

Perhaps dying today would be a release for Xiuzhu, but she had endured far too much pain before death. They had beaten her to death.

She lay helpless on the ground, blood still seeping from her mouth and nose. Her pupils were dilated, a sign that death was near.

Even with her final breath approaching, she kept repeating a single word.

“Mother.”

“Xiuzhu…”

I clenched my fists, unable to bear the sight.

Just as I was about to turn away, the sound of many footsteps rose around me.

I knew the people here could not see me, but instinct still drove me to hide behind a pillar.

Before long, the wretched hag returned at the head of a large group of servants.

When she saw that Xiuzhu had been beaten to death, even she looked startled.

But not a trace of guilt appeared on her face. She was probably only afraid the incident would become public.

“No one is to breathe a word about what happened today, either inside the household or beyond it. If I hear even one stray rumor outside, don’t blame me for showing no mercy.”
The wretched hag swept a dark gaze around the group.

No one dared meet her eyes. They all nodded and assured her they would keep quiet.

“Second Madam, Xiuzhu is dead. What are we supposed to tell Master when he returns and asks about her?”

“What else can we say? She’s a bastard. Master won’t care whether she lives or dies. Tell him she ran away and no one knows where she went.”

Even with Xiuzhu’s corpse before her, the wretched hag continued humiliating the girl as she taught everyone how to lie.

Someone asked what they should do with Xiuzhu’s body.

Perhaps she did not know either. Finally, she said, “I’ll perform one last good deed and throw her into the well so she can keep her mother company. That well is useless anyway. Tear down the cover, throw the body in, then fill it and seal it up again.”

The servants did not dare disobey. Two men hurried forward and carried Xiuzhu’s body away.

As I silently cursed the hag’s cruelty, I also realized that I had learned a great deal.

The well she mentioned had to be the one where Xiuzhu’s mother, the Seventh Concubine, had fallen to her death. It had already been sealed once.

Now Xiuzhu’s body would be dumped into the same place. No wonder her corpse had never been found. After it was thrown into the well, the shaft was filled in and sealed again.

Manufacturing technology in those days was nothing like today, with all our advanced excavators. Digging open a filled well would have been an enormous undertaking. Perhaps no one ever excavated it, and no one knew Xiuzhu lay beneath it. That was why people believed she had died elsewhere.

In truth, Xiuzhu had died inside Luo Mansion, before any of the others.

After everyone left, I found somewhere to hide and carefully considered what to do next.

This place did not seem to be a Ghost Wall, but I had not traveled through time either. I had no idea where I was.

But I had to leave. I could not remain trapped here forever.

I had no idea how to get out.

And if I had come to this place, where was Seventh Master?

Without him, I felt completely exposed.

I cast a hexagram using Seventh Master’s name to determine his location.

If he was in the same place as me, the direction I calculated would lead me to him.

But if he was somewhere else, then any direction I derived would be wrong.

I took Self Yao to represent me and Other Yao to represent Seventh Master. My calculation soon placed him to the southwest, where the Earthly Branches aligned with Zi Water. He was somewhere with water, most likely water in a large vat or a fish tank.

Southwest, near a water vat or fish tank.

I followed that direction.

A few minutes later, I reached its furthest point. A side room stood there, with a stone vat outside. Lotus leaves floated on its surface.

When I approached, I saw that it did indeed hold water, along with several swimming fish.

Excitement surged through me. I drew a breath and pushed open the door.

No one had lived in the side room for a long time. Its furnishings were shabby, and the room was so damp that much of the furniture showed signs of rot.

There was no one inside. I could not see Seventh Master, and my heart sank.

Just as disappointment set in, a weak voice suddenly came from a corner.

“Chen Mo…”