"Ah, Li Sanshao, you've gotten into character so quickly. Are you planning to beg for mercy on your knees next?" Qin Chu's teasing voice cut through the air.
It was then that Li Moyan noticed he wasn't alone with the woman. Three other people were in the room, and he recognized all of them. One of them was his dear elder brother.
"You... where am I?" he stammered, looking around and realizing he was in Li Mohan's apartment.
"What the heck? Where did you guys find this crazy woman? She scared me half to death! Waving a real weapon in my face like that, I actually thought I was being robbed." Li Moyan jumped up from the sofa, hands on his hips, pointing at Yan Rong. His face flushed and paled with anger.
When Yan Rong heard the word "crazy woman," her brow twitched, and a cold glint shot towards Li Moyan.
Ye Huohuo, Qin Chu: "Don't..."
Li Mohan: "Careful..."
Li Moyan saw a cold glint rushing towards him and instinctively retreated. But he couldn't match the speed of the glint. He felt a chill by his ear, and the glint embedded itself into the wall.
He looked back to see a small knife firmly lodged in the door of the wine cabinet behind him, its hilt still vibrating.
Then, a stinging pain erupted where he felt the chill, followed by a warm trickle of liquid. He reached up to touch it, and his fingertips came away stained with blood.
"You crazy woman, you actually injured my ear! I'll fight you!" Li Moyan, who never hit women, was furious. He was extremely protective of his appearance.
Even though this attack didn't hit his face, it cut his ear. Scars on the ear could sometimes draw attention on the big screen.
However, he had only taken one step forward when he stopped. Another chillingly sharp knife was pressed against his nose.
"Young Master Li, I know who you are, but my knife doesn't." Yan Rong's smile was deceptively gentle, but the cold tip of the blade showed no mercy. "Call me a crazy woman one more time, and I'll cut off your nose!"
Li Moyan, with the knife tip against his nose, dared not move. He didn't even dare to wipe away the blood dripping from his earlobe onto the floor.
"Beautiful lady, it was my fault. For the sake of..." His eyes darted around. He had just heard the woman mention "junior sister."
His mind raced. He quickly deduced that the "junior sister" the fierce woman mentioned must be Ye Huohuo.
Moreover, Li Mohan's indifferent reaction to his injury confirmed his suspicion. His attitude shifted 180 degrees, and his face immediately bloomed into a devastating smile.
He already possessed a "star face" and had once won an award for the most handsome smile online. His smile was indeed blinding.
However, Yan Rong was completely unfazed. The knife tip didn't budge, still pressed against his nose. For every step Li Moyan took back, she pressed forward, keeping the tip lightly against his nose.
"My dear senior sister, your junior sister is my sister-in-law. Please consider the circumstances. I promise I will never disrespect you again!"
Although Li Moyan and Li Mohan were brothers, their personalities were vastly different.
In their childhood, Li Mohan would never yield, even when severely punished. Once, he broke their grandfather's most cherished vase, and despite his father breaking a ruler over him, he refused to admit fault. Li Moyan, on the other hand, was quick to placate when he was outmatched. His parents would barely raise their hands to punish him before he would sweetly confess his mistakes.
This was why he had received far fewer beatings than Li Mohan when they were children.
Yan Rong let out a soft laugh and scrutinized him from head to toe before finally lowering her knife.
"Alright, I'll spare you for Huohuo's sake. But I have a rule: I only deal in money. To let you go, you need to show some appreciation. We agreed on five million for your rescue earlier. This time, I'll be lenient and charge you one million!
That makes six million in total. Pay up!" Yan Rong extended her slender fingers, ready to collect.
Her phoenix eyes glanced sideways at Li Moyan, projecting an unyielding stance until the money was paid.
"Senior sister, it's not that I don't want to pay you, but my company has several films waiting for release, and all the money is tied up. It hasn't been recouped yet. Could you possibly give me a few more days?" Li Moyan asked with a fawning smile.
"Absolutely not. I don't do credit!" Yan Rong kept her hand extended before him, refusing to retract it.
Li Moyan looked at Li Mohan with a distressed expression. "Big brother, could you lend me the money? I'll pay you back as soon as I break even!"
Li Mohan shot him a stern glare. "How dare you? Where should you have been last night? Why didn't you stay at the villa? I sent people to watch you, and you still managed to slip away. You've gotten quite capable!
Do you have any idea you were possessed by a malevolent spirit? Huohuo almost lost her life saving you! Look at her now!"
Only then did Li Moyan notice Ye Huohuo in Li Mohan's arms. Indeed, her face was pale and devoid of color. The usually lively girl now looked extremely frail.
"I... I just wanted to see how you guys were summoning souls. I thought I could use it in my film later. I didn't expect... I was wrong! Sister-in-law, please punish me!
And this senior sister, I will definitely send you the money once I've gathered it! I, Li Moyan, may not boast much, but my word is my bond. What I say, I will do."
"Slap!" A hand struck the back of Li Moyan's head. "Who gave you permission to call me senior sister? You're not my junior brother."
"Then what should I call you? You saved me, and I don't even know your name!" Li Moyan rubbed the back of his head, a somewhat憨憨的 (hān hān de - foolishly/simply) smile on his face.
Yan Rong looked at his demeanor and felt her mood improve. She crossed her arms. "Listen here, boy. I'm your sister-in-law's third senior sister. My name is Yan Rong. From now on, you'll call me Sister Rong!"
"Yan... Sister? How old are you? You look younger than me!" Li Moyan cupped his chin with his right hand, his fingers tracing his jawline. His peach blossom eyes scanned Yan Rong from head to toe.
"What are you looking at? Keep looking, and I'll dig your eyes out. Let me tell you, no matter how old I am, I can be your sister. If you don't want to call me that, fine. Hand over the six million now!" Yan Rong extended her hand again.
"Sister Rong, you're my biological sister from now on!" Li Moyan's smile immediately bloomed like a flower.
Li Mohan covered his eyes at the side, unable to bear watching. He suspected that if Li Moyan had a tail, it would be wagging like a propeller.
Ye Huohuo also chuckled. "Senior sister, keep that debt in mind. You must collect it from him."
"Sister-in-law, who are you affiliated with? You're not even helping me!"
"Young Master Li, you must bear the consequences of your own actions. No one can help you!" Qin Chu chimed in, gloating.
"Oh heavens, why is my life so miserable!" Li Moyan cried out to the sky, exclaiming in a Henan dialect.
"How is it? Was the malevolent spirit captured in the painting?" Ye Huohuo turned her attention away from Li Moyan's antics and looked at the beauty portrait hanging on the side.
"Don't worry, it's been sent in, and a seal has been added. Unless you release it, it will be very difficult for it to come out on its own." Qin Chu pointed to a tiny black dot on the corner of the scroll.
"That must be the blood splashed by Chi Lemin. After so many years, it's turned into an ink spot. This painting has passed through so many hands over the centuries. Who would have thought this inconspicuous ink spot was actually a bloodstain, a life?" Ye Huohuo couldn't help but sigh.
"He was also a pitiable person. Do you really have a way to let him see his former wife?" Li Mohan asked.
Ye Huohuo looked at the beauty in the painting. She indeed didn't resemble herself. Unlike the painting in the illusion, the beauty in this painting genuinely had a beauty mark on her eye corner, just like the beauty in the illusionary painting.
Ye Huohuo, however, did not have one.
It seemed this tear-shaped mole on the eye corner was Chi Lemin's last memory of his wife.
"He took lives. To see his wife from his previous life, he must accumulate merit. When his merit is complete, it will be the time for him to reunite with his wife from his past life and be reborn into the cycle of reincarnation."
Ye Huohuo spoke as she looked at the bloodstain in the painting.
"Are you willing to accumulate merit with me?"
The small black dot suddenly turned red.