Chapter 31
I have Chosen to Forgive her
“Don’t you think I’m unlucky? I would have ghost encounters whenever I went out. Now that I am staying home, I still experience the same thing.” Wang Longqi grimaced while looking at Li Chu and Li Xinyi.
Li Chu thought for a while; having vengeful spirits come visiting did not seem too bad either.
It saved him the hassle of looking for ghosts.
But then, he must first have sex with them before these vengeful spirits came back to haunt him. So forget it.
This was too troublesome.
You cannot get something from nothing in this world.
If Wang Longqi could see what was in Li Chu’s mind, he would be impressed by Li Chu’s godlike causal logic.
While Li Chu appeared nonchalant, Li Xinyi twitched her mouth at Wang Longqi. “Hmph, if you hadn’t been so heartless and a love-them-and-leave-them type, you wouldn’t have ended up like this.”
From the Imperial Administration Bureau’s standpoint, she certainly wanted to protect Wang Longqi, lest the vengeful spirit would harm more people.
But from a woman’s standpoint, she spurned Wang Longqi’s shameless behavior.
“I swear I don’t know why Meixiang resented me. It was not me who abandoned her.” Wang Long Qiji swore, “Li Chu, do you remember I told you two days ago, a courtesan and the madam had bad-mouthed about me? That courtesan was Meixiang.”
Li Chu nodded.
Wang Longqi sighed again. “We had a good time together, and we even thought of getting married. But who knows, after a female ghost bewitched me, not only did she not care about me, she deliberately avoided me and taunted me behind my back. It was from then on that I saw her true colors and completely kept a distance from her.
“She was only a lover when it suited her. Yesterday morning, she suddenly sent her servant girl to tell me to meet her at The House of Blossoming Spring. Maybe she was short of money again. Well, we—”
Speaking of this, he glanced at Li Xinyi. To respect the dignified cultivator of the Imperial Administration Bureau, he withheld some vulgar words and tried to find a better word.
“After all, we had been close friends. She might be heartless, but I would not blame her. When I was about to agree, Zhao Liangcai came to mind. I knew once he found out I had been to The House of Blossoming Spring during this period, he would definitely tell Gongsun Rou about it. So I replied to her maybe next time, and let the girl servant bring a hundred taels of silver to her.
“I did more than she deserved. Yet she was still complaining about me before she died, and even transformed into a ghost to come to me for revenge, which is unreasonable.”
After Wang Longqi finished, Li Chu thought for a while and said, “Then if she comes to you at night, you can try to explain to her. Maybe you can purify her grievances.”
From what he saw, since the middle-aged woman could let go of her grievances because of someone she had never met before, it might not be so difficult to purify grievances.
“Forget it.” Wang Longqi shrank his neck. “You all are as well get rid of her at once. I will explain in front of her grave later.”
“We can’t take things lightly in The House of Blossoming Spring either,” said Li Xinyi. “If what you said is anything to go by, Meixiang’s grudges against you aren’t that deep-seated. Maybe her vengeful spirit will still appear in The House of Blossoming Spring. ”
“Yeah,” Li Chu agreed with what she said.
“Then let us split up. One will stay here to protect him, and the other will stay in The House of Blossoming Spring. How about that?” said Li Xinyi.
Li Chu hesitated as he did not feel right.
Last time Li Xinyi almost got into trouble when she dealt with a Vengeful Spirit.
Before he could object to the suggestion, Wang Longqi chimed in, “Okay, let Li Chu stay with me.”
He sounded too eager.
Li Xinyi cocked an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“W-W-What do I mean?” Wang Longqi blinked.
“You are so quick to ask Daoist Li to stay with you. Do you think he is better than me?” asked Li Xinyi.
‘Of course!’
‘That’s what I have been thinking!’
Wang Longqi thought to himself.
But he knew the consequence of saying so, and he would not be so stupid to say that in front of her.
He let out a polite smile. “It’s not like what you think. It will be inevitable that you will have to stay in the same room late at night to protect me, and that is not the most decent thing to do between a man and a woman. My father taught me since I was a child that a good name is more important than anything else.”
Li Xinyi could not deny that. She nodded in agreement.
Of course, deep inside, she knew very well that Li Chu was indeed stronger than her.
But how could she let outsiders know about this?
If things spread out and people thought that she needed help from an outsider despite being the Violet Guard of the Imperial Administration Bureau, she would have a hard time building her reputation again.
She took a peek at Li Chu, who was still deep in thought as if he couldn’t care less.
Li Xinyi smiled. She liked how little this young Daoist cared about fame.
She really liked him.
Just then, Li Chu looked up at Wang Longqi. “Why don’t we go to the House of Blossoming Spring together?”
“Huh?” Wang Longqi was startled, and then a weird smile spread across his face. “Do you think that is a good idea? Miss Li is still here. Or are you two not even shy about this thing?”
“What are you thinking?” Li Xinyi chided.
She immediately knew what Li Chu meant.
They couldn’t move The House of Blossoming Spring, but they could move Wang Longqi.
Bringing him back to The House of Blossoming Spring had the advantage that no matter who the Vengeful Spirit would attack, it would have to go to The House of Blossoming Spring.
Once the Vengeful Spirit appeared, the rest would be simple.
…
When Wang Longqi arrived, he went in, helped himself to Meixiang’s room, and threw himself into the bamboo chair as if he had come home. “Hongzhi, serve tea.”
Hongzhi was the girl servant.
When there was no answer, he realized things had been different from when he came here in the past.
He sighed again with emotions. “Why did you have to kill yourself, Meixiang?”
“In case you don’t know—she stepped on this chair and hung herself,” said Li Xinyi quietly.
Wang Longqi bounced up to his feet and found himself another spot.
After a while, Chun Sanniang came again with Hongzhi, the servant girl.
When Chun Sanniang saw Wang Longqi, she gave him a sideways look. Meixiang grew up under her care, and she definitely had an affection for Meixiang. Inevitably, she got angry when she saw Wang Longqi.
“Sanniang, stop giving me that cold shoulder. I am sad enough when Meixiang has passed away,” said Wang Longqi.
“Oh, I didn’t know that Mr. Wang is so concerned about her. Why didn’t you show your concern when she was still alive? Now that she is dead and you are here shedding your crocodile tears.”
Chun Sanniang folded her arms, looking sensually hot as much as she was angry.
Wang Longqi spread his hands and beckoned the servant girl. “Come here, Hongzhi, tell Sanniang that I gave you a hundred taels of silver yesterday for you to give to Meixiang. I didn’t say any harsh words. I just said that I would see her another day, and no rush, right?”
He then continued to explain how Meixiang had bad-mouthed him, why he had alienated her and how magnanimous he had been.
What he meant was that he had been falsely accused.
Chun Sanniang’s expression changed after hearing that. “I will teach whichever madam making the slanderous statement a lesson. But Mr. Wang, it was also unbecoming of you to send Meixiang away with just a hundred taels of silver. She was pregnant, you know? Those who are not in the know will think that you are benevolent. But those who are in the know will see it as an act of humiliating our girl.”
“Huh?” Wang Longqi’s expression changed. “Meixiang was pregnant?”
“The inquest by the magistrate office revealed that Meixiang was two months pregnant,” said Li Xinyi.
“Two months?” Wang Longqi was even more shocked this time.
“I only learned about this this morning. The girls in the house have always had their own means to ensure that they are protected and will never easily conceive,” Chun Sanniang said. “Meixiang must have wanted to buy her freedom. That was why she approached you, conceived your baby so she could marry into a wealthy family. She didn’t dare to tell me about this. As she knew, I would surely stop her. Silly girl. She didn’t know that men are heartless.”
Li Chu glanced at her silently.
“Of course, handsome Young Daoist Li is different,” she hurriedly added.
“Impossible, absolutely impossible.” Wang Longqi repeatedly shook his head.
“You had been her only man in all this while. How could it be possible that the baby was of another man?” said Chun Sanniang.
“I haven’t seen her since half a year ago, let alone impregnated her. This is absolutely impossible!” Wang Longqi categorically denied it.
Chun Sanniang frowned and then suddenly looked at the servant girl Hongzhi.
The servant girl was trembling all over.
“Meixiang was hooking up with other men?” asked Chun Sanniang.
The House of Blossoming Spring had strict rules for its courtesans. Ordinary prostitutes could, of course, take as many customers as they wanted. But it was demeaning for courtesans to do so.
So Chun Sanniang made a rule that after a courtesan slept with her first client, she could only have one client for any period. If she wanted to change her client, she had to break off with the current one before accepting a new client.
Any violation would result in heavy punishments.
It was precisely this rule that made the courtesans of The House of Blossoming Spring was sought after.
Because those men knew that as soon as they could win the heart of a courtesan, she would be his alone, even though it was just temporarily.
It was a completely different feeling.
The servant girl faltered, “A-A-Actually, Mr. Wang was not Meixiang’s only man. T-T-The child was indeed not of Mr. Wang.”
“Who is the other man?” asked Chun Sanniang.
“It was…” said the servant girl, “it was Mr. Zhao Liangcai of the Zhao family.”
“It was him.” Wang Longqi slumped in the chair as if lightning had struck him.
This feeling was the same as finding his wife cheating with his arch-enemy.
No wonder Meixiang had been ignoring him. It turned out that she had another man.
Li Chu cast a look at him.
‘Be strong.’
Chun Sanniang looked at Wang Longqi with a complicated expression on her face. “I am sorry, Mr. Wang, that I have misunderstood you just now. I apologize. I have never known about Meixiang, now—”
“Now that she is dead, I don’t hold any grudges.” Wang Longqi forced a smile.
“Of course, I have chosen to forgive her.”