After I stopped being a lady from a rich family, I fought all over the capital

Chapter 379 Crab Spirit

Yan Jun felt guilty.

Having lost all confidence to refute, he dared not utter another word and lowered his head to gnaw on his steamed bun.

Seeing that the atmosphere was tense, Liu Wu dared not say anything more.

He lowered his head and quietly ate his steamed bun.
-
After finishing her meal, Song Lan gave the owner of the steamed bun shop an address, paid a deposit, and asked him to deliver a serving of crab roe soup dumplings to her every three days.

"...Will this affect the boss's business?"

The steamed bun shop owner waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no, of course not."

He held the gold ingot given to him by Song Lan in his hands, so excited that he was about to shed tears.

Great!Great!
Moon Maiden's illness will soon be cured!

The steamed bun shop owner looked at Song Lan as if he were looking at a great benefactor.

Song Lan hesitated for a moment: "There is a doctor named An at Huichuntang in the east of the city. He is quite good at treating difficult and complicated diseases. However, his treatment methods may be difficult for people to accept. If you are not afraid, you can take your people to have a look."

The steamed bun shop owner was taken aback upon hearing this.

He asked, puzzled, "How did you know that someone in my family was sick?"

Still a difficult and complicated case...

Song Lan raised an eyebrow: "If I said I could tell fortunes, and that I actually did it, would the boss believe me?"

The boss was stunned.

Song Lan smiled and patted him on the shoulder: "Good luck!"

Then, without saying anything more, he turned and left.

Walking down the street, Liu Wucai finally couldn't hold back any longer and asked, "Lady Ghost, is there something wrong with the owner of that steamed bun shop?"

Song Lan raised an eyebrow and glanced at Liu Wu's face: "Why would you ask that?"

"I just think it's a bit strange that you would come all the way to such a remote place to eat, even though it's far away."

"Besides, those crab roe soup dumplings taste really strange!"

"The shop owner himself said that it was crab roe sauce made in the fall and stored until now, but it doesn't taste like it to me."

Liu Wu came from a wealthy family, and during the Double Ninth Festival, his family would inevitably hold several chrysanthemum appreciation banquets.

Even if they don't hold the event at home, they still have to go to other people's homes to drink chrysanthemum wine a few times.

The interactions between powerful and wealthy families are nothing more than these.

Crab is an essential part of the chrysanthemum banquet.

Autumn brings clear skies and crisp air, the perfect time for crabs to be at their fattest and most delicious.

The crab roe sauce that has been stored for a long time and the fresh crab, served immediately after steaming, still taste slightly different.

But as mentioned at the beginning, this season is not the season for eating crabs.

"That is indeed fresh crab roe taken from fresh, live crabs."

Song Lan's voice was calm, but Liu Wu couldn't help but be shocked.

"what?"

He was even more confused: "But this is not the season for eating crabs at all! Even if he could catch crabs, it's not the right season, so there won't be any crab roe or crab fat, right?"

Song Lan chuckled: "So, this is no ordinary crab."

"what?"

How else could a crab be unusual? Could it possibly cultivate itself into a monster?
Liu Wu thought about it for a moment and already found it absurd.

But then I realized that it wasn't entirely impossible.

Otherwise, the Xue family wouldn't have gotten into this mess!
And there are also roasted sesame seed cakes!!
Liu Wu suddenly felt that he had seen the world.

Yan Jun's heart was already in turmoil.

He hadn't thought about it carefully before, but after Song Lan pointed it out a few times, and after realizing why Song Lan had become a demon, he didn't dare to say anything more.

Only now, after hearing Song Lan's words and recalling the aura emanating from the steamed bun shop owner, did he finally realize the problem.

There is a demon here!
But—this was far from what shocked him!

What shocked him most was what Song Lan had been doing during this time!

It has absolutely nothing to do with revenge against the Xie and Zhang families.

No, perhaps there is a connection.

After all, evil spirits wreak havoc in the human world, stealing the lifespan and fortune of mortals, and the Zhang family was involved in this matter.

But what about the Xue family?

The Xue family had no grudge against Song Lan, but Song Lan still got involved because of the matter of evil spirits.

What Song Lan is doing at this moment is not to take revenge on the Xie family and the Zhang family, to vent his anger for his past self, or to make up for regrets.

Instead it's like...

He intervenes in all the injustices of the world.

Yan Jun panicked a little.

Song Lan already possessed merit accumulated over countless lifetimes, and even the Heavenly Dao could not scatter his soul.

Even in her past life, when karmic flames engulfed the entire city and reduced the Zhang and Xie families to ashes, her merits remained undiminished…

This shows that even the Heavenly Dao cannot find any problems.

But some people are clearly not guilty of crimes deserving of death!
Even if they said a few bad things about Song Lan, it's possible that those words weren't entirely true, but rather lies deliberately fabricated by the Zhang and Xie families to damage Song Lan's reputation, which were then passed around by word of mouth...

But that's because the Zhang and Xie families fabricated lies first!
Those people are just spreading rumors.

While they were certainly wrong, they were not irredeemably evil, yet Song Lan did not let any of them off the hook.

Kill them all.

Now, Song Lan has started doing things to accumulate merit.

Wouldn't that make it even harder to kill?

Despite accumulating merits over countless lifetimes, he was still persecuted by others, resulting in a body full of resentment that he could not resolve.

If you add another lifetime of merit...

Is there really any way to dispel this resentment?
Or perhaps, Song Lan's renewed efforts to protect the world and vanquish demons indicate that her resentment has dissipated, and she is now willing to cherish and protect the world once again?

However, Song Lan's resentment did not diminish at all.

Yan Jun was in a state of utter confusion and had no idea what to do.

Song Lan was too unfathomable to him.

Especially... Song Lan killed Pei Yuanshi!

To be precise, Song Lan lured and killed Pei Yuanshi.

To be fair, did Pei Yuanshi really need to sacrifice himself to escape the chaos caused by the Xue family?
No need at all!
Song Lan is fully capable of handling this.

However, Song Lan chose to let Pei Yuanshi sacrifice his life in exchange for divine retribution against the Xue family.

Did Song Lan already know that Pei Yuanshi was his alter ego...?

He created Pei Yuanshi because he wanted to gain Song Lan's forgiveness.

If Song Lan could forgive Pei Yuanshi's outspokenness born of prejudice, Pei Yuanshi wouldn't have to die...

Otherwise, even if he hadn't died in the Xue family's disaster, Pei Yuanshi was destined to have a short life and die a torturous death.

Yan Jun didn't know if this was Song Lan's way of responding to him.

Song Lan was telling him that she would never forgive his past prejudice...
-
"What are you thinking about?"

Song Lan couldn't resist Liu Wu's insistence in the end, and went back to the Liu family with him.

This was because Liu Wu said that the young emperor was prepared to formally bestow the house upon her as a reward for resolving the Xue family's evil spirit problem.

Tell her to move there later.

Song Lan thought about it and decided that this was a good idea.

With a legitimate reason to call it home, this place will now be her proper home.

She was no longer a wandering ghost living under someone else's roof.

So I simply agreed.

Unexpectedly, Yan Jun followed her all the way back to the Liu family.

Let's just follow along. What's with this man staring blankly like that?
"N-nothing." Yan Jun came to his senses and realized where he was, which made him a little flustered.

He swallowed hard a few times: "Um, it's still daytime now..."

"Daytime debauchery" is no compliment!
Song Lan scoffed lightly: "What's wrong with it being during the day?"

She suddenly leaned close to Yan Jun's ear and whispered, "You also need to exercise after meals during the day."

Before Yan Jun could say anything, he was pushed down onto the kang (a heated brick bed).

"Do not……"

He struggled a few times, but Song Lan quickly bound his hands and feet with her resentment, rendering him unable to even struggle and leaving him no choice but to let her take what she wanted. But—

The door wasn't closed!
The thought of how he looked now, and how he might be seen by someone passing by, made Yan Jun feel as embarrassed as if he had been stained by a balsam flower.

I was both anxious and embarrassed.

"Song Lan..." His voice softened involuntarily, as if he wanted to beg someone to close the door.

Before he could say anything, his mouth was sealed shut.

Song Lan showed him no pity as always.

After a vigorous activity, his fair skin was covered in bruises, leaving no unscathed areas.

Yan Jun finally regained control of the conversation and angrily rebuked, "Song Lan, are you a dog?!"

Song Lan straightened her clothes with a blank expression.

"Not convinced?"

She said calmly, "If you're not satisfied, you can come back to me!"

Yan Jun: ...

He was almost laughing out of anger.

Go back?
His hands and feet were already bound, and moreover, they were bound by Song Lan's resentment. How could he possibly return it?!

Song Lan's resentment changed completely with her mood; he couldn't even move, let alone retaliate!
Song Lan raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

Can't move?
"Just practice more cooking!"

After tidying up, Song Lan went to take a hot spring bath before calling over a group of teenagers to sing and dance.

Inside the room, Yan Jun, still bound and unable to move: ...

No, are you just going to leave me here?
The door isn't closed yet!

At least give him a coat to wear!
Unfortunately, no one paid any attention to him, and no one could hear any noise from inside the house.

A cautious person like Song Lan would surely remember to set up a protective barrier in broad daylight.

I just want to see someone who is anxious, embarrassed, and annoyed, but also helpless!
-
into the night.

Song Lan had a pot of tea warmed up and then sat in the courtyard, waiting leisurely.

Midday on the moon.

A gust of wind stirred up the air, carrying a slightly fishy smell.

Song Lan raised her hand and lit the sandalwood incense sticks beside her.

"Tsk!"

"When you're a guest at someone else's house, why don't you know how to clean up the mess?"

Bang!
A woman with a crab shell on her head appeared and, without saying a word, rudely raised her hand and struck Song Lan.

Bang!
Seeing the stone table beside him split in two, Song Lan remained calm and unhurried.

"It seems I was right, you really don't know much about manners."

"They didn't even say a word when they came in, and they were just shouting for war and killing."

"It will make people very uncomfortable."

Song Lan's calm demeanor only further enraged the other party.

Before long, most of the things in the yard were smashed to pieces.

"I said……"

Song Lan's expression darkened slightly: "You've damaged so many of my things, are you going to pay for it, or is the steamed bun shop going to pay for it?"

Upon hearing this, the other party became even more enraged.

"It seems you're not planning to pay up."

Song Lan said calmly, "Then I can only ask the person at the steamed bun shop for compensation."

"I just don't know if the money he makes selling crab roe soup dumplings is enough to cover his losses."

"Then it seems the only option is to close the store to pay off the debt."

The people who were about to smash things suddenly became much quieter.

"Can you talk properly now?"

Song Lan pointed to the stone bench opposite and gestured for someone to sit down, saying, "Your neck is getting sore from standing like that."

The other person didn't move, but stared fiercely at Song Lan: "What exactly do you want to do!"

“They’re all good people, you…”

"I told you to sit down." Song Lan looked up, her expression cold.

Visitor: ...

For some reason, she felt a strong sense of oppression, forcing her to submit.

"I..." she began, as if to say something.

Song Lan said calmly, "It is truly remarkable that a wild river crab like you could obtain such a fortuitous opportunity and cultivate into a demon."

"Why destroy your spiritual cultivation and remain in an ordinary household?"

"I even cut off my own crab roe to make crab roe soup dumplings for him to sell."

"Do you know that for a crab like you with such spiritual power, any ordinary person who eats a single bite of your crab roe is shortening their lifespan!"

Upon hearing this, the crab spirit immediately panicked: "I did it voluntarily!"

"I voluntarily cut off the crab roe for them to eat!"

How could it possibly shorten one's lifespan?
The crab spirit did not believe what Song Lan said.

Song Lan scoffed lightly: "So what if you did it willingly? That's the way of heaven! Those people who ate your crab roe ruined your cultivation. What goes around comes around, every cause has its effect!"

"Heaven will not let go of the sin of cannibalism just because you voluntarily cut off your own flesh to repay a debt of gratitude."

The crab spirit didn't understand.

"why?"

"There are so many unfair things in this world, so why is it that I am willing to give up my cultivation to repay a debt of gratitude, but I am not allowed to?"

Song Lan replied calmly, "I don't know."

Crab Spirit: ...

Song Lan truly did not know.

"So, you don't know that those people will have their lifespans shortened by eating the crab roe cut from your body?"

The crab spirit shook its head.

"I'm just a crab, how would I know about such complicated things?"

"But I really did it voluntarily!"

No one forced me!

"No one tried to mislead me!"

"They are all good people, I'm doing this to repay their kindness!"

Song Lan raised an eyebrow: "Repay a debt of gratitude? Repay what debt of gratitude?"

Seeing that the crab spirit was unwilling to speak, she scoffed, "I think repaying kindness is a pretense, and revenge is the real purpose, isn't it?"

"Don't you know that those who shortened your lifespan will eventually become karmic consequences, and the retribution will fall on the person who sells crab roe buns and causes others to lose their lifespan?"

The crab spirit immediately panicked.

"Why?!"

Song Lan remained silent.

The crab spirit felt like it had punched cotton; it finally told the truth.

"Back then, I was cultivating in a wild river outside the city when a sudden flood at night washed me ashore."

“I was picked up by fishermen nearby and sold at the market.”

"It's nothing special. The path of cultivation is inherently defying the heavens. As you said before, it's truly remarkable that a wild river crab like me has achieved such cultivation."

"I only hate that I was destined to fall into someone's hands and become a meal, but I was born with intelligence and had to die consciously and painfully."

"But what I didn't expect was that the family that bought me had a little daughter."

"When she saw that I was pregnant, she wanted to release me."

"Unexpectedly, when he went to the water's edge, he stepped into a deep pool covered with reeds and drowned."

"She died so that I could be freed!"

"At that time, I only hated the injustice of the world, that kind people did not get good rewards in the end."

"But I never thought about revenge. I only thought that for the rest of my life, I would do my best to make her family's life better."

"Is this not allowed either?"