Chapter 20

Chapter 20

“Uh, hey there, little sister… No worries, no worries at all. Just a minor hiccup, everything is under control.”

“But your expression says otherwise,” Baolong said cautiously.

Liu Ye: “…”

“Listen, don’t mind the bleeding. She doesn’t actually feel any pain. Watch and learn; this is a useful trade to have once you’re out in the world.”

Baolong glanced at the Bride. If she hadn’t looked like she was about to pass out, he might have actually believed him.

Then, with a series of sharp *cracks* and *snaps*, Liu Ye chopped off all of the Bride’s fingernails.

The scene looked like something out of the Ten Great Tortures of the Qing Dynasty. Baolong and Wang Weiwei trembled at the sight.

When the nails were finally all removed, Baolong heard a sound come from the Bride’s sealed mouth-it was a sharp intake of breath, as if she were sighing in relief.

Clearly, she had celebrated too early. Liu Ye pulled a piece of iron from his bundle. After some hammering and shaping, he fashioned it into the shape of nails and then heated them red-hot with a lighter.

The Bride: “!!!”

*Sizzle…*

A plume of white smoke rose, and Baolong and Wang Weiwei caught the scent of something burning.

“Done!”

Liu Ye looked up, his face full of excitement.

“Look at that. What do you think?”

Baolong and Wang Weiwei looked over. Ten crooked, jagged iron plates now sat where the Bride’s fingernails used to be.

Baolong and Wang Weiwei: “…”

“Give me some feedback here,” Liu Ye prompted.

How were they supposed to respond? If they said it was bad, they were afraid he’d kill them. If they said it was good, their consciences would never recover.

“Alright, let’s hurry up. Makeup! Do you have any cosmetics? If not, use mine.”

The Bride nodded so vigorously her head nearly fell off.

She pointed toward the dressing table in front of her.

Liu Ye walked over to inspect it. It seemed fine, though he didn’t recognize any of the products.

Well, he had never applied makeup before, but he had painted walls! As the saying goes, mastery of one craft leads to mastery of all. He figured there shouldn’t be much of a difference.

Liu Ye pulled a scraper out of his bundle.

“Big Brother!”

“What now?! I’m busy here, don’t keep calling me for nothing!” Liu Ye shouted irritably.

“No, Big Brother… do you really… know how to do this?”

“I… of course I do! I’m not bragging, but back in our village, I was the one who did the makeup for all the young maidens and new brides!” Liu Ye said, thumping his chest.

Baolong: “…”

*I have to say, Big Brother, your shamelessness when you’re bragging is truly something else!*

Just as Liu Ye was about to start, Wang Weiwei noticed the Bride looking at her, her entire body trembling. Thinking about everything that had happened since they entered and clutching the necklace around her neck, she summoned her courage.

“Big Brother, why don’t you let me do it?”

“Huh?”

Liu Ye turned around, looking at Wang Weiwei in surprise.

“Big Brother, the wedding is tonight, and there’s still so much to do. Let me handle a small thing like makeup.”

“Can you really do it?” Liu Ye asked, sounding a bit skeptical.

“Big Brother, look at me. I’m a woman; how could I not know how to do makeup?” Wang Weiwei said with a smile.

“Alright then. I’ll leave her to you. I’m going to go find a Wedding Gown for her.”

With that, Liu Ye headed out with Baolong.

Wang Weiwei took a deep breath, looked at the Bride, and walked over to begin the makeup.

Outside, the two men ran into Xiaoshuai and asked him where they could find a Wedding Gown.

Xiaoshuai thought for a moment before speaking.

“I don’t know about a finished Wedding Gown, but I saw some red fabric in the First Lady’s room.”

At the mention of the First Lady, his expression grew grim. The First Lady had a terrible temper; if he hadn’t been lucky, he nearly wouldn’t have made it out of there alive.
As soon as Liu Ye heard there was fabric available, he slapped his thigh.

“Great! Fabric works too. I know how to make clothes. I’m not bragging, but back in my village, I made all the clothes!”

Baolong: “…”

He had a bad feeling about this.

“You two should be careful. The First Lady has a nasty temper. If things go wrong, people might die,” John couldn’t help but warn them.

Baolong: “…”

It wasn’t necessarily the humans who would be doing the dying.

Following John’s directions, Liu Ye and Baolong arrived at the First Lady’s room.

As soon as they stepped inside, they saw three people. Two stood to the side dressed as maidservants, while in the center sat a woman draped in gold and silver, looking exceptionally wealthy.

The woman was rotting from head to toe, yet she still held a small mirror, obsessively grooming and applying makeup to her face.

Liu Ye seemed completely oblivious to the woman’s grotesque appearance and spoke up directly.

“Auntie, I heard you have some red fabric here. Could you lend me some? I need to make a dress for your daughter-in-law.”

The moment he spoke, the woman slammed her hand down, smashing the side table to pieces. Then she barked furiously,

“Who are you calling ‘Auntie’?!”

Liu Ye froze.

“What else am I supposed to call you? Your age is right there. If I don’t call you Auntie, then what-old lady?”

Beside him, Baolong covered his mouth, desperately trying not to laugh, and whispered to Liu Ye, “Call her ‘Beautiful Lady.'”

“But she’s not beautiful!”

Baolong tipped his head back, frantically dredging up every miserable memory from his life to keep himself from cracking up.

The First Lady was so enraged by those words that her ghostly yin energy scattered in all directions.

In the next instant, countless claw marks appeared all over her body. Her flesh clung to her bones, as if she had been torn apart by some ferocious beast.

The two maidservants at her side turned equally Terror-inducing. One had no head at all, with torrents of black blood pouring from the stump.

The other had a huge hole in her belly, and every last organ inside had vanished.

Yet to Liu Ye, this horrifying scene looked no different than usual, as if what was happening in front of him was perfectly normal.

The two maidservants flashed in front of Liu Ye, their pitch-black claws raking viciously toward his head.

“Brother Liu! Watch out!” Baolong shouted.

In the blink of an eye, the claws had already struck Liu Ye’s face-and with a sharp crack, the maidservants’ nails shattered on the spot.

Liu Ye instinctively raised his hand and gave them a huge slap.

Boom!

The moment his palm connected, it was as if a mountain had slammed into them. Their faces compressed, then their bodies exploded where they stood. Even the wall behind them was blasted open with a massive hole.

“…”

Everyone stood there with their mouths hanging open, staring in disbelief.

Liu Ye finally came back to himself. He patted his chest and complained, “If you want to talk, then talk. Why’d you suddenly pull out knives? You scared the hell out of me. I almost got hurt.”

Everyone: “…”

The First Lady sat there with her mouth wide open too, so stunned she couldn’t speak.

“Auntie, can you give me the cloth? I’m in a hurry.”

The First Lady snapped out of it at last and said, “It’s in the inner chamber. Go take it yourself.”

“Thanks!”

Liu Ye immediately went inside to grab the red fabric.