Chapter 47: Chapter 46 Business Retribution_1
The night rain was desolate, and the waning lamp flame flickered.
The mottled divine statue had grown patches of rust, its face half merciful in the green smoke, half fierce as a Vajra.
In the huge water vat within the temple, splashes caused by the occasional turmoil of turtles and fish broke the surface, amidst which some suppressed gasps could be heard, quietly smothered.
The woman’s figure was slender as she stood beneath the feet of the statue, gripping the throat of the man in her hands, questioning him calmly and steadily.
She asked, "Lu Qian was slandered and thrown into prison, does Lord Fan of the Department of Criminal & Justice know the inside story?"
She asked, "Madam Ke said Lu Rou willingly seduced the young master of the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion, did the young master truly dishonor and defile Lu Rou?"
She asked, "Old Master Lu encountered a water disaster on his way to the capital, who arranged it?"
She asked, "In the great fire of Changwu County, Lady Lu perished within, did your Ke Family exert effort in that matter?"
With each question she asked, she would dunk Ke Chengxing’s head into the water once, making him experience the suffocation and agony of drowning.
Over and over she asked earnestly, over and over she tormented him to death’s door, and in the end, she still asked calmly, "Why don’t you answer?"
He had been poisoned, his tongue stiffened, how could he answer?
How could he answer?
Ke Chengxing was soaked through and through, although it was nearing summer, he felt the cold piercing his bones as if it were the dead of winter. He felt like mere fish on the cutting board for others to slaughter. Despair and fear enveloped him, making him feel more tormented than if the ghost of his deceased wife were haunting him.
"Wang Yingying" dragged him like a lump of mud, a dead dog, and looked toward the divine statue before the shrine, her voice soft as she began, "Master Ke, you bribed the gods and worshiped Buddha, have you never sought karmic retribution?"
She bowed her head and laughed, her voice seemingly mocking, "Indeed, if there truly were karmic retribution in this world, why would you still be living in luxury without a care? It seems the Bodhisattva lowers her gaze, blind to all beings."
"Since the Bodhisattva is of no use, I guess I’ll have to take matters into my own hands."
Ke Chengxing, terrified to the extreme, couldn’t help but glare at her, his eyes fixed on the Buddha statue before the shrine.
How dare she?
How dare she, in front of the Buddha, in this revered and sacred place, kill and silence?
Does she not fear retribution?
Wang Yingying noticed his gaze and seemed to understand what he was thinking in an instant, she said, "You’re wondering why I’m not afraid of gods and Buddha?"
Ke Chengxing trembled all over, staring at her as if she were the most terrifying demon in the world.
She laughed inexplicably, "I’m not scared."
"I didn’t come to the mountain today to seek blessings."
She leaned in slightly, her voice gentle, and spoke word by word into his ear.
"I came for revenge."
"Splash—" went the sound.
His head was submerged in the water again, the turtles and fish in the water startled by the disturbance and darted away. Whether it was his illusion or not, it seemed to him that in the darkest abyss, he saw the shadow of his deceased wife.
His wife looked gentle and bright, pure and lovely as a lily, yet there was a threefold resemblance to the vengeful ghost from earlier in her eyes and brows. She smiled at him, saying, "My sister, she truly has a different temperament than mine."
Ke Chengxing was in a daze, what was his deceased wife talking about? How could she have a sister, was it Wang Yingying?
But Wang Yingying was a distant relative of the Lu Family, how could her eyes and brows resemble Lu Rou’s?
And the temperament—
Lu Rou looked at him, smiling somewhat sheepishly, and said, "She was still a little girl when she went missing, no more than eight or nine years old, not yet fully grown. She seemed arrogant and willful on the surface, but in truth, she was very timid, scared to tears by a snake or a bee. I don’t know how she’s fared these years."
Went missing...
Like a bolt of lightning across the night sky, suddenly, he remembered.
"No, that’s not right! Lu Rou once had a sister."
She wasn’t some distant relative of the Lu Family nor was she Wang Yingying. She was Lu Rou and Lu Qian’s full-blooded, younger sister, the youngest daughter of the Lu Family who was kidnapped by traffickers seven years ago and had since disappeared without a trace!
Ke Chengxing finally remembered it all.
At the time, shortly after Lu Rou had married into the Ke Family, in the intimacy of their affection, she had mentioned an old family incident.
It turned out that the Lu Family originally had a younger daughter, Lu Rou’s sister, who succumbed to the plague that swept through Changwu County seven years prior. All four members of the Lu Family had fallen ill, leaving only Miss Lu San to hold the fort. As the family was on the brink of death, no one knew where Miss Lu San found some medicine. After brewing and drinking it, the Lu Family gradually started to recover.
Just as the family’s predicament was beginning to look up, Miss Lu San one day went out and never returned. Later, someone at the street corner claimed to have seen her follow a mysterious person with a veiled hat onto a carriage. The Lu Family immediately sent people to search for her, but they found nothing.
Because of this incident, Lady Lu developed a heartache and became sullen and joyless. Over the years, the Lu Family had not given up searching for their missing youngest daughter, all to no avail.
His wife looked at him cautiously, "Husband, I heard that our Ke Family’s porcelain is to be sent to various places. Could we draw my sister’s portrait and name on the crates? If an acquaintance or my sister sees it, there’s a chance they might be found, and we may even be reunited in this lifetime."
He offhandedly replied, "That’s a trivial matter," but in reality, he did not take it to heart.
For one thing, the Ke Family exaggerated their business prowess in front of the Lu Family, but in truth, they were merely a facade, barely maintaining operations, let alone expanding to other places beyond Shengjing.
Secondly, Ke Chengxing did not believe that the Lu Family’s youngest daughter could still be found. After so many years, she was likely dead or sold into a brothel, where even if found, her reputation would be tarnished.
Why waste the silver? Ke Chengxing thought it bothersome even to summon an artist to draw the portrait.
So he verbally agreed but took no action.
Later, after the incident at the Fengle Building, Lady Lu passed away during pregnancy, and he married Lady Qin. The casual conversations between husband and wife were long forgotten by him. But just when he was drowning in the pool, unable to die, he suddenly remembered everything.
Wang Yingying was nothing more than a distant relative of the Lu Family; how could she have gone to such lengths for the Lu Family unless she was blood-related?
Was the Lu Family’s youngest daughter still alive?
Was this woman Lu Rou’s missing sister?
Filled with questions, Ke Chengxing could not speak a word, feeling his body growing heavier and heavier as the waters of the releasing pool seemed boundless, bottomless, dark as though they were the ink-black pools of hell.
Yet, in that darkness, a brilliant light broke through. He saw a spark, growing bigger and brighter, accompanied by the reverberating sound of gongs and drums, the reds and colors of a wedding celebration.
The bridal chamber was decorated with vibrant, knotted love symbols, and tall candles burned. A pair of newlyweds sat in front of the bed, holding cups in their hands, drinking Joined Cups Wine.
Ke Chengxing saw himself in wedding attire, brimming with exuberance, while the woman opposite, bashful yet radiant as a flower, adorned with gold and silver jewelry, locks lightly trembling, looked at him with eyes filled with deep affection.
She said shyly, "Husband, once we drink this Joined Cups Wine, we are united as one, inseparable even in death."
He laughed heartily, vowing like a scholar from a play, "I am in your clay, and you are in mine. In this life, my lady and I, sharing the same blanket in life, shall share the same grave in death."
Suddenly, the drums and fireworks quieted and a distant voice called out, "Save me! Save me!"
Startled, he looked up to see the pond’s edge in the summer noon, where red lotus bloomed vividly like blood. Lu Rou was being forced into the water by the family’s servants. She struggled desperately, her hair disheveled, hands frantically reaching up to grasp the edge of the pool, refusing to let go. He felt both anxious and angry at the slow hands of his underlings, yet also fearful the noise might alert others. He approached to silence her.
When Lu Rou saw him, she stopped struggling, tears streaming down her face as she looked at him blankly.
Unable to bear the sight, he turned away and pried her hands loose, pushing her into the pool filled with pure lotus, until the icy water swallowed everything.
A woman’s gentle voice lingered in his ears, repeating, "Husband, once we drink this Joined Cups Wine, we are united as one, inseparable even in death."
A clap of thunder broke the mountain’s silence, lightning illuminating the ancient temple’s lingering smoke, as well as the indifferent eyes of the figure before Buddha.
She quietly watched the body in the vat cease its struggle, softly asking, "Are you scared?"
There was no answer; only strands of black hair floated on the surface of the dark murky waters of the releasing pool, twining like watergrass.
"Good. You should be scared."
Lu Tong spoke calmly, "When my sister faced her end, she felt the same fear."