PFC Chapter 235 The Goddess Appears
Chapter 235 The Goddess Appears
The pills were colorless and odorless, and showed no abnormalities after being ingested, suggesting they were the kind of poison that takes effect at set times.
The six beggars were of similar age. Four of them were former servants of the Fang family, and the other two were guards who met them after leaving the Fang family. Among them was the one whose eye was poked by Lu Zhiyuan.
Strangely, the man wasn't blind; after some pus and blood oozed out, his vision actually became clearer than before. He looked at Lu Zhiyuan, puzzled, while Lu Zhiyuan brushed the dirt off her clothes.
“I didn’t stab your eye, but your tear duct. Blocked tear ducts cause retinal disease, leading to abnormal eyeballs and blurred vision. You don’t know martial arts, you’re just strong. You killed me because of your eye disease.”
"I am Niu Er, twenty-three years old, and I used to make a living by herding cattle. Herding cattle requires strength, and that's how I developed my strength. I don't know when my eyesight deteriorated, but I know that it made everything inconvenient for me. First, my master wouldn't let me herd cattle, then someone said I was a monster, a mad bull in disguise, and my fiancée broke off our engagement. I was driven out of the village and had to beg for a living until my parents fell ill and desperately needed money. That's when I joined them in assassinating the lady."
Lu Zhiyuan asked the guard, "Is what he said true?"
The guard nodded: "It's true. His parents are sick and urgently need money to buy medicine. We were short-handed, and since he was strong, fearless, and not from the capital, we kept him."
Lu Zhiyuan stared into his eyes: "You want him to be cannon fodder!"
The guards didn't know what cannon fodder was, but they felt that Lu Zhiyuan's gaze seemed to see through people's hearts, and they nodded unconsciously.
Niu Er touched his eyes and asked, "Are my eyes healed? If they are, I can die in peace. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm afraid that after I die I'll be treated as a monster on the other side, and even my ancestors won't recognize me."
"It's not better yet. The acupuncture only treated the symptoms, not the root cause. You'll need to take some more medicine to fully recover."
"I don't want gold or silver, nor do I want any beautiful women or courtyards. I'm willing to risk my life for you, Madam. I only ask that you grant me medicine."
Lu Zhiyuan agreed and looked at the other beggars.
The remaining requests weren't high either. One wanted a house. Not one in the capital, but a house in their ancestral home in the countryside. Grandfather favored his second uncle, giving him the house and farmland that originally belonged to them, leaving his parents and sister homeless and without land to cultivate, making their lives difficult.
He had previously taken the blame for someone else and served time in prison. After his release, he did not do any respectable work. If he wanted to acquire a large amount of wealth overnight, he would have to take risks.
There's another type who wants a wife, regardless of her looks, as long as she's of similar age and can give birth to a son.
It wasn't a difficult matter, and Lu Zhiyuan agreed to everything, instructing Lu Yun to lead away all the beggars except for the guards. There were hidden guards watching these people, and if they turned against them, they would be killed without mercy.
The guard, dressed in beggar's clothes, stood nervously to one side, wondering why Lu Zhiyuan had kept him there. After the commotion, there were hardly any people left on the street, with only a few stall owners packing up.
"Did you come from the front? Do you know what happened up there?"
"Your Majesty." Upon meeting Lu Zhiyuan's gaze, she changed her form of address: "Your Majesty, a few of us originally came out with Master and Madam, but we were afraid of being discovered and split up to keep records. We lost them and ran ahead, just in time to witness that scene."
"Was that the Black Lady who appeared?"
"Does Madam know about the Black Lady?" The guard glanced at Lu Zhiyuan out of the corner of his eye. "To be honest, Madam, I visited Chunfeng Town when I was a guard for the Fang family. Master Fang took a fancy to a house that was related to the Black Lady, and it was said to be haunted. Master Fang didn't believe it, so he sent me to Chunfeng Town to investigate secretly. After investigating, everything I found was similar to the rumors circulating in the capital."
"Are you talking about the He family's house?"
"It's the He family's residence," the guard said. "Master He only had one daughter. When Miss He was twenty, he took in a husband who married into the family. Because Miss He was jealous, her husband sent her to the old house in Chunfeng Town under the pretext of illness. No one knows what happened, but Miss He was accused by the Liu family of being unchaste and losing her chastity. She was drowned in the river in front of everyone. Miss He was resentful and turned into a vengeful ghost, slaughtering the Liu family and the He family in the capital. Therefore, this old Liu family residence and the He mansion in the capital have become haunted houses that people are afraid to talk about."
"We've heard those things before."
“There’s another one that’s different.” The guard took a deep breath: “The Liu family wasn’t wiped out; it was all the children who died. Not long after, the women of the Liu family went mad, the men fell ill, and the Liu family was torn apart. To protect themselves and their own lives, the Liu family commissioned the construction of a temple by the river to enshrine Miss He and her memorial tablet, and every now and then they would voluntarily offer tributes. The so-called tributes were the Liu family’s underage children.”
Chunfeng Town has four major surnames: Liu, Ma, Chen, and Zhang. While their surnames appear different, they are actually interconnected. For example, sons of the Liu family marry daughters of the Ma, Chen, or Zhang families. Conversely, daughters of the Liu family marry into the Zhang family, and their children later marry into either the Chen or Zhang families.
In short, most people in the town are descendants of the Liu family. He Niannian's revenge is not against those with the surname Liu, but against everyone related to the Liu family.
"Are the offerings for the sacrifices girls who are five years old or older?"
The nurse shook his head: "Boys and girls are both fine, as long as they are five years old or older."
The conditions weren't set by the vengeful ghost He Niannian, but by the town mayor, who was also the patriarch of the Liu family. Five years old was chosen because children of that age were considered sensible and their potential could be assessed. They would keep the intelligent, studious, and sensible children who had the potential to revitalize the family, sacrificing the honest, clumsy, and useless children. Girls were chosen because they were considered useless.
Even the most dim-witted boy can carry on the family line when he grows up, and even the most clever girl will eventually get married. Rather than marrying out, it's better for her to contribute to the family.
The sacrificial rites in Chunfeng Town are not fixed, and only the old clan chief knows how the girls are selected. He inquired with the townspeople and learned that the day after tomorrow is the town's sacrificial day. On that day, they will dress the selected girls in their finest clothes and send them to the temple of the goddess. After fasting and bathing, the temple gates will be opened three days later.
What lay beyond the temple gates was a secret the townspeople kept to themselves, and even after racking his brains, he couldn't find out.
The disturbance tonight was due to the strange occurrence at the Niangniang Temple. Someone claimed to have seen the Black Goddess emerge from the river, like a giant black shadow enveloping the entire temple. He arrived late and didn't see what they described; he only saw a little girl squatting in front of the temple gate, holding something dark and indistinct.
They wanted to go forward to see clearly, but the crowd was too large and chaotic, and they were swept along in this direction. It wasn't until they crossed the Spring Breeze Bridge that things loosened up a bit. On the bridge, they saw Lu Zhiyuan and the Crown Prince coming this way, and in a moment of impulse, they had the idea of killing her in the chaos.