Chapter 120
120 Sweet Revenge
After dark, Li Yu covered the pig’s lungs and pig’s liver in the basin. She endured the disgust and stuffed them into two jars and secured them with wooden stoppers. She took out the knockout incense she had found on the few ox thieves from the Hu family and tied it with hemp thread. She put on a dark shirt and pants and carried the jars out of the village with Ruyi.
An hour later, the two of them arrived in town and went straight to High Scholar Ye’s house. When they reached the courtyard wall, Li Yu and Ruyi ran a few steps quickly and jumped onto the wall.
Li Yu followed the wall and went up to the roof with light footsteps. She scattered the pig intestines on the roof. Li Yu stood on it and looked at the layout of the house. She walked to the main roof and lifted the tiles. Under the dim yellow light in the house, she saw High Scholar Ye sleeping soundly with his arm around a woman.
Li Yu took out the incense and ignited it. She carried the hemp thread and placed it in the house to cover the tiles. After a while, Li Yu retracted the hemp thread and got off the roof. She covered her mouth and nose and entered the room. She saw that High Scholar Ye and the woman had already fainted.
Li Yu took out a dagger and grabbed High Scholar Ye’s hair, shaving his head and eyebrows clean. Li Yu looked at High Scholar Ye’s fair and smooth head, which was like a pig’s head with its fur removed. She nodded in satisfaction and held back her laughter as she turned around and jumped over the wall to jump out of High Scholar Ye’s house.
Ruyi went straight to the central room of Ye Ju’s house and poured the snake and scorpion onto the roof of the front courtyard. After scattering the pig guts, she climbed over the wall and smeared the snake blood on the front and back doors of Ye Ju’s house.
After Li Yu and Ruyi met up, she carried the jar and returned to Phoenix Village at night.
Not long after Li Yu and Ruyi left, the old man guarding Ye Ju’s house heard a knock on the door. He asked, “Who is it? It’s late at night.”
Again, there was no response. The knocking continued.
The old man got up and opened the door with the lantern, but there was no one in sight. “What the hell? Which dog is staying up in the middle of the night and knocking on the door?”
The old man cursed and turned around to enter the courtyard. Just as he lay down, there was another knock on the door. The old man carried the lantern to the courtyard door and shouted, “Which brat is it? Don’t let me catch you.”
As he spoke, he opened the door again and went out. There was still no one in sight. After running twice, the old man became afraid. Could it be that the residence was haunted? The more he thought about it, the more afraid he became. He broke out in a cold sweat.
The old man was so afraid that he did not dare to make a sound. He covered his head with the blanket and stuffed it into his ears. No matter how hard the knocks were from the outside, he did not go out anymore.
The same scene was played out by the old woman guarding the door in the backyard. The old woman was trembling in fear and kept muttering, “Every injustice has its perpetrator and every debt has its debtor. I didn’t harm you. I didn’t harm you.”
The next day, at dawn, a servant came to look for the old barn owner and the old woman guarding the door. The girl looked at the old woman and said, “Old Madam Ye, who was it who kept knocking at the door in the middle of the night last night? Why did’t you go and see who was or catch that person?”
The old woman looked at the girl and kept shaking her head. She thought to herself, “You’re the girl in Madam’s room. If you have the ability, come and chase her away! Why are you showing off in front of me?”
“Aiyo, Miss Xiaotao, you heard it too. Why don’t you scold me? I don’t have the guts.”
Xiaotao pursed her lips and looked at the old woman. “Look at how scared you are. Did you see a ghost?”
The old woman was shocked and quickly shook her head. “I didn’t say that. Don’t drag me into this.”
At this moment, Xiaotao suddenly pointed at the roof. “Old Madam Ye, look. Why are there so many crows and birds on the roof?”
Old Madam Ye looked up and saw that there were indeed flocks of crows and birds circling on the roof. They were also pecking at the roof with their mouths. Old Madam Ye was so frightened that she hurriedly knelt on the ground and kowtowed.
The neighbors around Ye Ju saw the crows and birds on the roof of the Ye family’s house. For a moment, the news of Ye Ju’s house being haunted spread.
Seeing this, the butler, Ye Gui, hurriedly reported to High Scholar Ye. Butler Ye stood outside the door and knocked anxiously. “Master, Master, for some reason, the roof is filled with crows and birds. The gatekeeper said that he heard someone knocking on the door last night. After opening the door, he didn’t see anyone. After closing the door, there was another knock.”
When High Scholar Ye heard this, he was shocked. He turned around and sat up. Madam Ye also turned around and sat up in a daze. “Master, why are there crows and sparrows for no reason? I can go to the Three Pure Temples to invite a Taoist priest to take a look.”
Madam Ye turned to look at High Scholar Ye. She screamed and fainted on the bed.
“Madam, Madam.” High Scholar Ye hurriedly shook Madam Ye awake. A moment later, Madam Ye slowly woke up and cried, “Master, our house is really haunted. Your hair and eyebrows are all gone.”
High Scholar Ye felt his head with his hand and touched a bare head. High Scholar Ye hurriedly got out of bed and staggered to pick up the bronze mirror. When he saw a bald head, he cried out in fear, “Madam, there’s really a ghost. My hair and eyebrows are gone. How can I go out and see anyone?”
“You stay in the house. I’ll go out and take a look.”
Madam Ye put on her clothes and ran to the courtyard. When she saw the crows and birds circling the roof, she shouted in fear, “Ye Gui, Ye Gui, hurry up and go to the Three Pure Temples. Invite Taoist Wei to see who is causing trouble.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll go and get the car.”
Ruyi arrived in town early in the morning, wanting to see the good show Li Yu had mentioned. He stood outside High Scholar Ye’s courtyard with a group of onlookers and looked at the roofs full of crows and birds. He felt a little creeped out and wondered to himself where Li Yu had learned these methods. They were so sinister that the Ye family couldn’t even figure out the way.
Ye Gui hurriedly got on the carriage and rushed towards the Three Pure Monastery. Everyone saw that Ye Gui no longer had his usual arrogance and domineeringness. He had become like a lost dog as he drove the carriage away.
The news that the Ye family was haunted instantly spread throughout the streets.
As the news spread, someone said, “I saw a woman in white knocking on the Ye family’s door with her hair down. After knocking, she went to the roof to dance.”
Someone else said that High Scholar Ye had offended a ghost god and had his hair and eyebrows shaved off. Of course, this news was spread by Ruyi in town.
Ruyi returned to Phoenix Village in satisfaction and told Li Yu the news. He asked Li Yu strangely, “Miss, why did so many crows fly to the roof of the Ye family’s house? What was the thing knocking on the door? Was it also due to the crows and birds?”
Li Yu smiled and said, “Crows like to eat rotten meat with a strong smell. I placed the pig’s lungs and pig’s liver in front of the stove. I covered them with the lid for most of the day and they were already smelly and fishy by the time I placed them on the roof. It was actually a bat that knocked on the door. When the bat smelled snake blood, it flew to peck at the door. The gatekeeper carried a lantern to open the door. When the bat saw the light, it flew away. Of course, he couldn’t see anyone!”
Ruyi was enlightened. “I see. I’ll go to town tomorrow to find out what Butler Ye’s Taoist priest says.”
“If that Taoist priest is an expert, he will see through the profundity inside. If he’s a quack, then High Scholar Ye will have to spend some money.”
“Miss, if he can’t see through it, do you still want to go again in a few days?”
“There’s no need to go again. If he has a guilty conscience, we’ve already scared him enough. It’s useless to go again if he has a clear conscience.”