Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Disgusted or not, the job still had to be done.

Besides, we were already here. Looking at the courtyard full of people in the same line of work, it really did prove the saying-if you won’t do it, plenty of others will.

The steward gave a few more brief instructions, and everyone began to scatter, putting on their acts. Those exorcising evil exorcised evil; those catching demons caught demons.

I even heard a few sighs of exceptionally bitter fate, but the next moment they pulled out their ritual tools and began chanting with voices that were absolutely meant to impress.

“Heavenly spirits, earthly spirits…”

“Compass of heaven and earth, point to the underworld; wicked things of all eight directions, reveal your true forms…”

“Namo Amitabha… Amitabha…”

“When the Sanqing bells ring through the ninth heaven, all heretics and demons shall be subdued…”

Old Swindler said he wanted to go take a look at the pigsty.

I did not want to go.

I was wearing new clothes today.

To match the image of an immortal child, I was dressed in white from head to toe.

Left with no choice, Old Swindler went by himself. Before leaving, he told me not to wander around, then said he would steal me a chicken drumstick from the kitchen later.

Bored of waiting, I leaned on my blind cane and walked toward wherever there was noise, wanting to listen in on the excitement.

There were advantages to having a crowd, too. It made it easy to fish in troubled waters.

Every last one of them seemed determined to make enough noise for the entire General’s Mansion to hear, just so everyone would know how hard they were working. No one paid any attention to me.

My cane struck the brick and stone beneath me with a dull tap.

I had no idea how long it had been before the chaotic chanting around me gradually faded.

I stopped abruptly. A cold breeze brushed across my face, carrying with it a thick, cloying stench of blood, mixed with some rotten sweetness.

I swallowed, sensed that the atmosphere around me was wrong, then stiffly turned around and began moving back the way I had come, my steps suddenly quickening.

I didn’t smell anything. I didn’t smell anything.

I’m blind. I’m blind…

My cane tapped and struck so fast I nearly whipped up afterimages.

“How dare you! Where did this blind lowborn maid come from? Why aren’t you kneeling when you see the eldest young lady?”

“Slap!”

The buzzing vibration in my eardrums and the crisp sound of a slap formed a double track of noise. My body fell backward out of my control.

I tried to clutch my cane, only for someone to kick it away. After grabbing uselessly at the air a few times, I crashed heavily to the ground.

My face burned with pain. Panicked, I groped wildly across the ground, trying to find something familiar.

Wait, what did I just hear?

You know I’m blind, and yet you expect me to see you? See your ancestors eight generations back, maybe!

Then my fingertips suddenly touched something wet and sticky, and I instinctively grabbed tight.

The thing in my hand let out a faint, muffled groan.

A person. A man. A hand?!

Let go, let go!

I swallowed the urge to scream and snatched my hand back with a whoosh.

“I…”

I had only managed one syllable before someone kicked me hard in the left shoulder. My body, which had only just started getting up, flopped back down again. My face pressed into the wet stickiness on the ground, and the smell of blood rushed straight up my nose.

I thought, My clothes must be dirty now.

“I’m asking you a question. Are you deaf as well as blind? Insolent thing with no manners!”

The woman’s voice was arrogant and shrill, annoying to hear, like someone destined not to live long.

I climbed up in a rather sorry state and said evenly, “My apologies. This humble Daoist was born blind and did not see Your Graces.”

“A Daoist? These days even women can be Daoists?”

“Miss, she should be one of the people Madam invited today to catch ghosts and drive out evil.”

The newcomer’s tone was teasing as she lifted my chin with the tip of her shoe. “Look at that pitiful little face. If my father saw you, what would happen then? Once night falls, are you planning to strip naked and go catch things in my father’s bed?”

“Miss is right. She reeks of seduction. These little vixens will really think of anything to climb up the social ladder.”

So it was the eldest young lady of the General’s Mansion, Xiao Yinfeng.

Curled on the bluestone floor, my palm still sticky from that lingering touch, I was forced to raise my chin. My gray-white eyes stared hollowly at her.

What an ugly way to speak. She sounded like someone who would die young, too.

“Eldest Young Lady worries too much. The General’s Mansion is so full of murderous aura that I doubt your honorable father will live long enough for me to climb into his bed.”

“What did you say?” Xiao Yinfeng seemed to suspect she had heard wrong.

I rolled to the side, dodging her furious kick, then rolled again, dodging the whip she flung over with a scream.

“Eldest Young Lady seems very fond of this skin of mine. But one’s looks are bestowed by one’s parents. Even if your face is ugly, there is no need to feel inferior. You may simply blame your honorable father.”

I said this with a calm expression, then felt around until I found my blind cane and finally managed to climb to my feet in a very messy, not particularly graceful manner.

“Seize her! Seize her for me! I want her skinned alive!”

Xiao Yinfeng’s furious roar drilled straight into my ears.

While carefully dodging the servant girls who lunged at me, I continued speaking.

“Eldest Young Lady need not grieve on behalf of your honorable father. This humble Daoist has calculated with a pinch of the fingers and discovered that your hands are stained with blood enough to reach the stars, resentment clings to you, and your karmic burden is grave. Your remaining days are no more than your father’s. Perhaps you may accompany your honorable father to the Yellow Springs and continue your bond in the next life.”

“Aaaaaah, I’m going to kill her!”

If I were not blind, I could probably be enjoying the sight of Xiao Yinfeng with fire in her eyes and madness on her face right about now.