The Ninth Lady is a rebellious person.

Chapter 476 Rong Family's Qingcang, a Heinous Act

On the day that Master Rong arrived, Lang Jiuchuan did several extremely flamboyant good deeds, such as using his bone-finding skills to raid a beggar's den and rescue ten children, two or three of whom were sons and daughters of noble families.

But the most widely circulated story is about the vengeful spirits that crossed the Blackwater River under the Twin Bridges.

It was a famous bridge with a history of over 100 years. During the construction of the bridge, it was said that there was a vicious dragon in the river that was causing trouble. No matter how hard they tried, they could not drive the piles in, and the craftsmen lost their lives one after another. Later, they invited a Taoist priest to perform a ritual to suppress the dragon. After this, the bridge was completed. It was originally intended to be named Zhenlong Bridge (Dragon Suppressing Bridge), but fearing that it would violate the taboo of the imperial court, it was renamed Shuangzi Bridge (Twin Bridge).

However, after the bridge was repaired, on every stormy night, visitors to the twin bridges would hear a dull knocking sound coming from deep within the bridge arches, as if someone were hitting the stone walls of the bridge piers with their head.

During the Five Poisons Month, the water level of the dragon boats dropped to a great depth, causing the Blackwater River to rise and wash away the bridge. When the water level dropped and the Twin Bridges were to be rebuilt, strange things happened one after another. The bridge builders would always have accidents for no reason, which prevented the Twin Bridges from being repaired.

What's most bizarre is that some people heard a child's shrill cries on the river, saying it was the river god issuing a warning. The people asked the local gentry to petition the county magistrate to offer sacrifices to the river god so that the Twin Bridges could be repaired.

However, after the newly appointed young magistrate of the county government looked through the county annals, he did not offer sacrifices to the river god. Instead, just like a hundred years ago, he invited the supervisory office and Lang Jiuchuan to perform a ritual, imitating the Taoist priests of Xuanmen from a hundred years ago. After some divination and questioning of the gods, they chiseled open an old bridge pier and dug out two skeletons kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs.

The two skeletons were bound with ropes soaked in cinnabar and sealed with yellow talismans. Soul-suppressing nails were driven into their foreheads. Judging from their bone age, they were no more than five or six years old and were a boy and a girl. The mouths of their skulls were wide open, so they must have been screaming in terror when they died.

This is using living boys and girls as human stakes, which is extremely detrimental to heaven and yin virtue. Moreover, after investigation by the Taoist priests of Langjiuchuan and the Supervisory Office, it was discovered that the boy and girl were not sacrificed voluntarily, but were buried alive by the soul stakes, and their souls were permanently fixed in the bridge foundation. It was not until a hundred years later that the injustice was finally revealed.

Interestingly, the Taoist priest who performed the ritual for the Twin Bridges a hundred years ago was none other than Daoist Jiuping, the former head of the Rong family.

Once this news spread, the Rong family, whose credibility was already precarious, suffered an even greater blow to their reputation and was subjected to a barrage of insults.

Using living people as stakes to nail souls—especially a pair of young boys and girls—is not something a righteous person would do; they are treating human life like dirt.

Lang Jiuchuan had the remains of the boy and girl exhumed and prepared for burial, personally performed a ritual for their souls, and chose a propitious burial site. He then held another memorial service at the Blackwater River and donated a large sum of money for good deeds, which enabled the bridge repairs to proceed smoothly.

The boy and girl used their own souls and flesh to build the bridge and solidify its foundation. Although there was resentment, the twin bridges have never broken in the past hundred years, and many people have crossed them. Therefore, they have also performed meritorious deeds. Langjiuchuan ferried them across and also paid for the bridge's repair. Naturally, he gained this merit and became famous.

But what pleased her most was that, through this incident, she had climbed to the top by stepping on the Rong family's reputation—a truly virtuous act.

……

The fourth master of the Rong family, named Qingcang, also known as Wuyouzi, has not left the Rong family for many years. Now that he has come out of seclusion, he can always hear the Rong family's bad reputation, as well as the name that is often mentioned by people: Lang Jiuchuan.

Yes, the series of accidents that happened to the Rong family all stemmed from this woman. She tore off the Rong family's face and trampled it underfoot. Originally, he was just an outsider watching the show, but now that he thinks about it carefully, the inside story seems to be more complicated than he thought. Why did that woman keep going against the Rong family? I heard that she was just a noble lady from a marquis's mansion. How dare she provoke the Xuan clan? What is she relying on?
Although Master Rong despised his family, he knew the status of the Xuan clan in the eyes of the world over the years, and he also knew that they did have some foundation. Not to mention ordinary people, even the powerful and wealthy in Wujing dared not offend them easily. Back then, didn't he also voluntarily break his wings under such pressure?

All for the sake of protecting one person's safety.

Master Rong lowered his eyes, concealing the fleeting coldness within them. The young Taoist disciple, Sande, pushed his wheelchair and asked, "Master, who exactly is this Miss Lang? Are there such powerful wandering Taoists in the streets?"

She must be very capable to have repeatedly caused the Rong family to suffer setbacks.

Master Rong looked up, leaning lazily against the back of his wheelchair, and sneered, "The Xuan Clan has been established for many years, and has been domineering for many years, but how vast is the world? How could the Xuan Clan possibly measure it? And how many capable people exist in this world? They have no idea. The Xuan Clan seems powerful, but it's only because of the legacy and prestige of their ancestors. But, Little Third, even the king of tigers grows old, and their teeth become loose and dull. You see, is the phrase 'the sun setting in the west' just something written in books?"

San De followed his gaze and saw the setting sun hanging over the western hills, about to descend.

He answered in a muffled voice, seemingly irrelevant to the question: "Master, my Daoist name is Sande."

Why do people always call him a mistress?
Master Rong took a sip of wine from the flask, rested his chin on his hand, and continued, "The Xuan Clan, that's like a tiger that's about to lose its teeth. It's getting old. If its newborn cubs can't become the next king, the mere Xuan Clan family will be devoured. The great way of the world is that what is united will eventually divide, and what is divided will eventually unite. Where is there anything that remains unchanged for thousands of years? The so-called rock cannot be moved, ha, try a massive flood? Who knows where it will be swept to?"

“You have committed such a rebellious act. If the head of the family hears of this, he will surely punish you!” San De said in a low voice.

Master Rong sneered: "He's too busy taking care of himself to care about a good-for-nothing like me who's turned against him!"

“You’re not useless, Master is the best!” Sande retorted loudly.

Master Rong didn't reply, but looked down at his legs. If he hadn't been crippled, why would he have been suppressed by his family back then? In the end, it was because he wasn't strong enough, tough enough, or decisive enough.

He took another sip of wine and said, "Back to that girl surnamed Lang, either she's incredibly audacious, or she's been pushed out by someone to deal with the Rong family. Or perhaps, she already has a grudge against the Rong family."

“Aren’t you worried at all? Aren’t you afraid she’ll really destroy the Rong family?” Sande muttered. “You have Rong family blood in your veins.”

Master Rong snorted heavily, his handsome face, which had a touch of roguish charm, paled slightly, and said, "If she really has such ability, we should toast her!"

"I wonder what she intends to do by seeing you?" San De asked with some doubt. "Could it be that she wants to use you to cause trouble for the Rong family?"

"Why are you speaking such blunt truths!" Master Rong retorted irritably, tapping the wine bottle lightly with his fingertip, and said, "She had better have something on her mind."

It's rare that he's willing to step out of that already dug grave.

Gong Tinglan said: Wu Jinglangjia Jiuchuan and Rongjia have a mortal feud, and asked him to go and meet them, because it concerns Rongjia's secrets!

What secrets does the Rong family have that a good-for-nothing like him doesn't know?

He was very curious!
(End of this chapter)