Wife is hell

Chapter 11 Shi Yuzhu

The next day, the sky darkened again.

Jiang Mu had just finished eating the breakfast prepared by his aunt when a torrential downpour began outside the window.

In this kind of weather, it's impossible to go out and investigate cases.

He had no choice but to stay in the room and review the information of the three households he had visited the day before, to see if there were any clues he had missed.

After sorting through the information, Jiang Mu, having nothing else to do, practiced the "Five Animal Frolics" in his room.

Although this exercise is crude, it is still effective in strengthening the body.

Now that his ex-wife has "agreed" to his marriage, he can't be too weak in bed.

I remember in my past life he was a super-upgraded version of Lao Ai.

By noon, the torrential rain that had been pouring down had turned into a misty drizzle.

After showering, Jiang Mu, who was drenched in sweat, got up and went to Shi Baolu's house next door, intending to call him to continue investigating the case together.

As soon as I stepped into the courtyard, the aroma of food wafted over me.

A slender figure was seen busily working in front of the stove in the kitchen.

The woman, dressed in simple cloth, was tall and slender with an extremely thin waist, as if she would break at the slightest force. Yet, beneath the cloth skirt, the curves of her hips and buttocks were unexpectedly rounded.

As she lowered her eyes and stirred the spoon, her profile was gentle and graceful, possessing both the soft charm of a young woman and the pure beauty of a young girl.

It exudes a beauty rooted in the everyday life of ordinary people.

She is Shi Baolu's older sister, Shi Yuhua.

Shi Yuhua was a few years older than Mu Jiang and Bao Lu. In Mu Jiang's memory, she was always a gentle and intellectual older sister with a very kind nature.

No matter how naughty Shi Baolu and Mu Jiang were when they were young, she never really got angry.

They took extra care of the young Mu Jiang.

When they were children, Mu Jiang often stayed overnight at the Shi family's house. On stormy nights, he and Xiao Xueying were afraid of thunder, so they would crawl into Sister Yuyou's bed, which was filled with the fragrance of soapberry, for a sense of security.

Shi Yuhua would always put down her needlework, gently hug them, and pat their backs to comfort them.

Even as Mu Jiang grew up, Shi Yuyuan still treated him like a younger brother, often making him delicious snacks, a stark contrast to her sister Shi Xueying's intentional or unintentional estrangement.

"Sister Yuzhu, what's the occasion? Why are you cooking so many delicious dishes?"

Jiang Mu looked at the several exquisite dishes that had been prepared, picked up a slice of meat from one of the dishes and threw it into his mouth, asking curiously.

Snapped!
Just as he was about to steal another piece, a chopstick tip lightly tapped the back of his hand.

Looking up, he saw Shi Yuhuan glaring at him with a hint of reproach, her almond-shaped eyes like water, and she was gesturing in sign language with her other hand: "You little glutton, go wash your hands if you want to eat." A few strands of her dark hair, loosened from her busy work, clung softly to her sweaty neck, giving her a touch of femininity.

During this time, a mischievous bead of sweat rolled down the woman's beautiful chin and across her collarbone.

Following the slightly concave curve...

It slipped silently into the slightly open collar of her clothes and disappeared into the undulating shadows.

Shi Yuhua was born mute.

The kind that won't make a sound even if you shout your lungs out.

"I've already eaten," Jiang Mu smiled, then asked, "Where's Shi Tou? Is he still sleeping in?"

Shi Yuhuan looked helpless, pointed to Shi Baolu's room, and gestured with her hands: "The chick he raised the day before yesterday went missing. He searched for it all day yesterday but couldn't find it. He was upset all night last night and just fell asleep."

The chicks are lost?

Jiang Mu recalled the little chick that Shi Baolu had been carrying the day before.

They even claimed it was their child.

For the simple-minded Shi Baolu, it was indeed a treasure.

Jiang Mu laughed and said, "Then forget it, I won't bother him for now. Oh, by the way, Bao Lu's appointment to work at the yamen has come down. From now on, he will be with me and Uncle An. I will take good care of him."

He took out the official document and handed it to Shi Yuhua.

Shi Yuhua's beautiful eyes lit up, and a look of joy immediately spread across her delicate face.

She wiped her hands, carefully took the document, looked up at Jiang Mu with gratitude in her eyes, and gestured in sign language, "Please thank Uncle An for me."

She went back into the house and took out a small cloth bag.

Inside were some loose silver coins she had saved up. She stuffed them into Jiang Mu's hand, gesturing as she said, "Uncle An must have spent a lot of money on this. I wonder if this is enough..."

Jiang Mu waved his hand: "Sister Yuyu, we're family, no need to be so formal. Uncle An is a constable, a 'divine constable' with some influence in Yancheng. Why would he need to take care of this? I'll just come over for a few more meals in the future."

Shi Yuhua felt rather guilty, and only after Jiang Mu insisted did she take the money back.

But when she heard the word "family," her eyes dimmed.

He was clearly thinking about his sister's attitude towards Mu Jiang.

Like everyone else, she believed that Mu Jiang still harbored feelings for Xue Ying.

Shi Yuhua then used sign language: "Xiao Jiang, Xueying will be bringing her master and senior sister to visit us in a little while. Don't leave yet, stay and have dinner with us."

"No wonder you made so many delicious dishes."

Jiang Mu shook his head and smiled, "No thanks, Sister Yuru, I still have to go investigate the case."

Shi Yuzhu quickly grabbed him, handed him a packet of osmanthus pastries wrapped in oil paper, and smoothed his slightly wrinkled clothes, her eyes full of tenderness.

"Hehe, Sister Yuru really understands me. I love this."

Jiang Mu took the pastry, waved, and said, "Let's go!"

Shi Yuyu saw him to the door, watched the man's figure disappear into the misty rain, and sighed softly.

……

Without a partner, Jiang Mu had to continue his "secret visit to the widow" journey alone.

After ruling out the three houses from yesterday, Jiang Mu came to a relatively secluded house in the south of the city.

The host family's surname is Shen, and they have a seventeen-year-old son.

Her family background was ordinary. Her husband was a member of the patrol office and died several years ago while handling a case of a spiritual disaster.

The authorities provided a considerable amount of compensation. Jiang Mu saw that the courtyard gate was half open and was about to raise his hand to knock when a scream suddenly came from inside the house, followed by the chaotic sound of things being overturned, mixed with a woman's urgent cries.

Jiang Mu was taken aback, pulled out the iron ruler from his waist, and slipped into the courtyard.

Following the sound, they entered the side room from which the screams were coming from, and saw a young man who looked like a scholar being pinned to the ground by two burly men, howling in pain.

Another young man, dressed in a blue Taoist robe, was sweating profusely and lying on the table, holding a cinnabar pen and writing furiously on a yellow talisman paper, looking very nervous.

Beside her, a pretty woman stood helplessly, her eyes filled with tears.

"What are you doing?"

Jiang Mu's first reaction was that it was a kidnapping and murder.

But seeing that the scholar's forehead was black and his neck was bluish, he realized that the guy might have been poisoned.

Jiang Mu's sudden intrusion startled everyone in the room.

Upon seeing that they were government officials, the two burly men who were holding down the scholar subconsciously loosened their grip.

In that brief moment, the young scholar, now freed from his restraints, suddenly sprang up, his eyes bloodshot, and tackled the Taoist to the ground, opening his mouth to bite at the other's neck!
I go!

Zombies?
Jiang Mu was startled.

Fortunately, the Taoist priest reacted quickly, desperately using his elbow to brace against the scholar's chin, and shouted at the two burly men, "Quick! Pull him away! Hurry!"

The two burly men snapped out of their daze and rushed forward, struggling to pull the young scholar away and forcefully press him back to the ground.

The Taoist priest, still shaken, scrambled to his feet, his robes torn and disheveled. He grumbled at Jiang Mu, a mixture of embarrassment and anger in his eyes, "Why didn't you knock first, you official? You almost got me killed!"

Jiang Mu stared at the scholar who was still screaming and struggling on the ground, and asked with a frown, "What's wrong with this guy?"

"He's possessed by an evil spirit, how could he be like this?"

The Taoist priest tidied his robes with annoyance, picked up the cinnabar brush again, and warned, "You'd better stay away. If he bites you, his evil energy will enter your body, and you'll become like him."

Bewitched?

Jiang Mu frowned.

The woman wiped away her tears and choked out:
“Officer, my son suddenly started having headaches last month, and they have gotten progressively worse. We’ve consulted many doctors, but nothing has helped. Eventually, he didn’t even recognize his own mother.”

"I had no other choice but to go to Chongtian Temple to beg the immortals. Last time, the old immortal from the temple came and put up a talisman, which finally calmed my son down."

Chongtian Temple?
Jiang Mu had heard of this name; it was the most famous sect in Yancheng.

It belongs to one of the six top sects of the Great Qian Dynasty.

They have real skills.

The young Taoist priest, while concentrating on drawing talismans, replied:

“This kid is too deeply possessed by evil spirits. My master came last time and put a ‘suppressing evil talisman’ on him, but that talisman is only effective for seven days. After seven days, a new talisman must be used to suppress it.”

The first two times, Master came to change them personally, but today he had other important business and sent me instead. But for some reason, the talisman I just put up doesn't seem to be working anymore. I'll try drawing another one."

Jiang Mu walked up to the scholar who was being held down and observed him carefully.

The other person's eyes were bloodshot, filled with a violent aura.

The black mark on the forehead is already half the size of a palm, and the color seems to be getting darker.

"Could it be the work of a spirit?"

Jiang Mu offered a guess.

The Taoist priest continued drawing talismans with his hands without looking up, and said:
“Master had already used a secret method to investigate. There was no trace of any spiritual object attached to him. It must have been that he had inadvertently come into contact with the evil energy that had been contaminated by some kind of spiritual object, which is why it was so difficult to eradicate.”

"Why not seek assistance from the patrol office?"

Jiang Mu asked again.

The young Taoist priest scoffed:
"I don't deny the ability of the patrol office to apprehend criminals, but for delicate tasks like exorcising evil spirits, our Chongtian Temple is the professional."

Besides, they only have so many people, and their main focus is on tracking down the spirit creatures themselves. The evil illnesses caused by indirect contamination from these spirit creatures are usually handled by our Chongtian Temple."

As the Taoist priest spoke, he finally finished drawing the talisman.

He took a deep breath, stood up, and prepared to stick the talisman on the scholar's forehead.

Jiang Mu stared at the talisman, feeling that its patterns were both familiar and strangely unfamiliar. He couldn't help but ask, "What kind of talisman is this?"

The Taoist priest first made two dots on the scholar's forehead with a cinnabar brush, then affixed the talisman and said:
"This is the 'Suppressing Evil Talisman' that is secretly passed down in our Chongtian Temple. It is unique in the world. You are just a lowly yamen runner, so you wouldn't understand even if I told you."

Jiang Mu remained silent, carefully observing the talisman.

As the fragmented memories in his mind gradually pieced together clearly, he murmured:

"It looks like a 'Kan-Li Ji Ji' exorcism talisman, which uses the hexagram of water and fire in harmony, with the Kan water pattern on top and the Li fire pattern on the bottom..."

Jiang Mu suddenly said, "Your talisman is wrong."

Everyone in the room immediately looked at him.

The Taoist priest was taken aback for a moment, then sneered:
"Officer, do you even know what talismans are? Ever since I entered the Chongtian Temple to study, I've copied this talisman every day for seven years without ever making a mistake. You say it's wrong? Could it be that my master taught me incorrectly?"

Jiang Mu shook his head: "The structure of this talisman does have the effect of suppressing evil, but the set of talismans you have learned is incomplete, with many strokes being stiff and forced, and the energy is not flowing."

If the possession is mild, it's fine, but if the possession is severe, drawing talismans in this way will not only fail to expel the evil, but will also cause stagnation and generate evil energy.

The first two times it seemed to work, but in reality, it was by forcibly suppressing the evil energy with the power of the talisman, causing it to lie dormant even deeper and accumulating a stronger backlash. Today, if you use this flawed talisman again, it naturally won't work.”

Listening to Jiang Mu's seemingly logical explanation, even the woman looked at the Taoist priest with some suspicion.

The young Taoist priest immediately blushed, both angry and anxious:
"What do you, a mere yamen runner, know about talismans and metaphysics! My Chongtian Temple has been established for a hundred years, suppressing evil spirits and protecting this region, accumulating countless merits! Who in Yancheng doesn't know us, who doesn't respect us? Never before has anyone dared to question our temple's secret talismanic arts like this!"

As the Taoist priest finished speaking, the young scholar who had been struggling gradually stopped roaring, his body stopped twisting, and his breathing seemed to calm down.

The woman breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this.

He quickly bowed and thanked the Taoist priest, saying, "Thank you, Immortal Master, for saving my son."

The young Taoist priest wore a smug look on his face, glanced defiantly at Jiang Mu, and sneered, "Hmph, see that? An ignorant yamen runner, daring to act presumptuously here—"

However, before he could even utter the word "axe," a sudden change occurred!
The scholar, who had just calmed down, suddenly opened his eyes, his eyes flashing with a blood-red light that was even more terrifying than before.

He let out a roar like a wild beast, his strength suddenly increased, and he directly overturned the big man who was pressing down on him, and pounced on the woman next to him!
(End of this chapter)