Volume 2: Memories of Yonghui (Part 1) Chapter 8: The Moon in the Mirror and the Flower in the Water
The eldest daughter of the Shen family was obviously very dissatisfied with the presumptuous exclamation. She frowned and a purple light flashed in her long sleeves. She looked at the young man in plain clothes who turned around and wanted to run away, but she found that he had been tied up like a human dumpling by a thin purple gauze, and the end of the purple gauze was tied in Shen Chenyu's hand.
What is even more amazing is that the soft purple gauze looks as thin as a cicada's wing, but it is actually very flexible. Although the young man in plain clothes is not a martial artist, he is not a weak scholar who cannot even tie a chicken. He struggled desperately for a long time, but the purple gauze bound around his body did not show any sign of loosening, but instead seemed to be getting tighter and tighter.
At this moment, Yao Ji on the side keenly noticed that the energy of the living beings around her became a little unstable in an instant, or in other words, there was a hint of restless movement.
Yao Ji concentrated her mind, secretly adjusted her breathing, and tried to use her spiritual consciousness to inquire about something, but found nothing. She thought, maybe I was overthinking.
Looking at the miserable appearance of the young man in plain clothes who was tied up like a meat dumpling and unable to move, she felt a little bit sorry for him, thinking that he had not done anything unforgivable.
Then she spoke softly, "Sister Chenyu, he doesn't seem to be a bad guy. Please be magnanimous and don't bother with him."
Yao Ji had never seen the skills of the eldest daughter of the Shen family before. Unexpectedly, this plain-looking daughter of the Shen family could move so cleanly and skillfully, showing her profound inner strength.
Yao Ji murmured in her heart, wondering if she could escape this seemingly gentle but actually very flexible restraint.
When Shen Chenyu heard Yao Ji's plea, she naturally gave her face. With a slight movement of her fingertips, the purple gauze quietly returned to her long sleeves.
At this time, the young man in plain clothes, who had just been tied up, heard Yao Ji calling him "sister", and his face turned pale. He looked embarrassed, as if he didn't care about the sudden attack from the other party. He slightly cupped his hands and bowed to Shen Chenyu sincerely: "My lady, I was rude just now, and I apologize first. But..."
Then, he changed the subject, not afraid of upsetting the other party again: "But this is not a place for fun. To me, it is a place full of sadness. So, please give me some face and leave quickly."
Only then did Yao Ji notice the scattered sacrificial paper money and wine gourd on the ground. They were dropped by the young man in plain clothes when he was tied up by Shen Chenyu.
Thinking about what the other party said, and then carefully pondering the strange movements of the creatures around her that she had just felt, Yao Ji's heart trembled, her eyes lit up slightly, and she vaguely realized something...
She seemed not to have heard the meaning of expulsion in the other party's words, and she took out the bamboo sticks that she had used to break the bamboo forest formation before.
This place is unusual, or rather, this seemingly ordinary ruins seems to hide some unknown secrets. For Yao Ji, who is more curious than anything else, since she had discovered it, it is impossible for her to pretend that nothing had happened.
"The Signature of Heaven and Earth".
The so-called "Heaven and Earth Signs" is a mysterious art of heaven and earth created by the Shamo clan. It uses bamboo sticks as a medium, supplemented by various mental formulas such as asking the heart, pointing to the sky, calculating living beings, accepting gods, and exorcising demons. It can be used to observe celestial phenomena and check the ground. It can calculate some of the mysteries of the world, such as the gossip.
Yao Ji's right index finger drew a half circle in the air, and then her five fingers stretched out like a wheel. The bamboo sticks in her hand shot out like several rays of strange light, rushing into several strange directions hanging in the air above the ruins, and they were faintly arranged in the half circle drawn by Yao Ji's index finger just now.
Yao Ji murmured a short spell, but this time she just used the Life Skill with her right hand...
I saw words and some fuzzy images beginning to emerge on the bamboo sticks arranged in an arc shape. Yao Ji raised her left hand in the air, and those words and images seemed to have come to life. They appeared one by one in front of Yao Ji's eyes like a kaleidoscope. However, the speed was so fast that others could not make out what was happening.
Unlike the previous cautiousness in breaking the bamboo forest formation, this time it was unusually easy, Yao Ji was calm and composed, and there was no need for her to even meditate. For Yao Ji, this was just a little trick.
Huan Shu and Shen Chenyu, who already knew Yao Ji's identity as the wizard Sha Mo, were surprised to see the little girl getting serious, but they did not stop her. Instead, there was a strange gleam in their eyes.
As mentioned before, these two people really like to watch the fun, but when they saw Yao Ji like this, they had already vaguely guessed that something interesting was about to happen.
The young man in plain clothes, who was suddenly forgotten by everyone, was a little confused at this time. Seeing the girl in green doing something mysterious in front of the ruins, he felt more unhappy.
As if he had forgotten the humiliation and inferiority in skills, he tried to rush over to stop the girl in green from taking any further action without knowing his own limitations, but his body was grabbed by two strong hands at the same time in the next moment.
The eldest son of the Huan family and the eldest daughter of the Shen family attacked at the same time, but this time they deliberately showed some mercy and only held his body to stop him from moving forward without exerting any force. Otherwise, with the strength of these two people, Master Su Yi would probably have broken several ribs on the spot.
At this time, Yao Ji suddenly retracted the bamboo stick, and the expression on her face seemed a little strange. She stared at the young man in plain clothes for a long time, but then she became silent, saying nothing. She seemed to be thinking about something, or hesitating about something, with her brows slightly furrowed, as if there was something she couldn't figure out.
The young man in plain clothes was frightened by her strange look. The two curious companions couldn't hold back. They didn't know what the little girl saw. They immediately released the hand holding the young man in plain clothes and asked at the same time: "How is it, what did you find?"
Yao Ji, however, seemed not to have heard their questions, but walked straight to the young man in plain clothes and said, "Young man, can you describe to me the cause and effect of all this?"
Seeing the rudeness of these three people, Master Su Yi was already angry and embarrassed. He didn't have the energy to explain to her at this time. He said coldly: "What does it have to do with you?"
Yao Ji didn't mind the other party's attitude. She looked up at the other party's eyes with a burning gaze, which made the other party look away. "It's none of my business. However, as you just saw, I am a little bit proficient in the mystical arts of heaven and earth. If you can tell me the whole story, maybe I can tell you some secrets you don't know, or good news."
When the other party heard this, he was shocked, thinking that the person had already passed away, what good news could there be. But then he changed his mind and thought that this was a mystery that had not been solved so far, and the murderer had been at large. Although the girl in front of him looked very young, she seemed to be really proficient in the art of heaven and earth. If she could get a glimpse of it, maybe there would be a chance to seek justice for the deceased and comfort her soul in heaven.
After thinking it over in his mind, he told all the past events one by one.
Originally there lived a family named Ruo here. They moved here from somewhere on the South China Sea a few years ago, settled here and opened a pearl shop, selling precious pearls and agates that were said to be brought from the South China Sea.
However, the Ruo family is not very prosperous. Apart from the old couple, there is only one daughter.
The strange thing is that although the Ruo family's shop is not big, its business has been very prosperous in recent years. It is well-known as the best pearl shop in Yonghui City. Logically speaking, it can be regarded as a wealthy family, but it has always maintained a simple style and has never hired any slaves or maids. The three of them have always depended on each other.
And the young lady of the Ruo family is not like most women in the world who are kept at home. Also, the business of the Ruo family has always been managed by family members, and the two elders of the Ruo family are old and have limited energy after all.
Therefore, all the affairs in front of and behind the hall were handled by Miss Ruo. Although Miss Ruo had a delicate face that made people feel sorry for her, she was as good as a man in business. She was generous and straightforward in dealing with people. Soon she became famous and became the "Pearl Beauty" known far and wide in Yonghui City. People who proposed marriage to her even knocked on the door of the Ruo family.
But what is incomprehensible is that this young lady of the Ruo family has no idea what's wrong with her. She turns away those young talents from aristocratic families, and instead falls for the silly boy from the Wei family in the west of the city who only knows how to research some strange pills all day long.
Wei Shucheng.
Even Wei Shucheng himself still doesn't know how he has deserved the favor of such a beautiful woman.
He was just an ordinary person with no family background, and no literary or martial skills. His only strength was probably the strange elixirs in his room.
It would be fine if it was a bunch of panaceas that could cure diseases, but they were all drugs with strange effects, such as making mice grow wings or making fish mutate and grow two legs...
These so-called messy things that destroyed the original appearance of the world and its creatures naturally could not be recognized by the world. Wei Shucheng was also accustomed to the contempt and ridicule of the people around him.
However, Miss Ruo was an exception, or rather, she was his soulmate and his only confidante.
She understood him and was the only one in the world who supported him. Because he knew that she agreed with the strange things he studied from the bottom of her heart. When she first saw the little fish with two tiny legs growing out of it in his home, she was so excited that tears welled up in her eyes.
Since then, he has been running to his house every day, not shying away from the eyes of the world.
There is probably only one such wonderful woman in the world.
Wei Shucheng thought that when the fish's legs grew fully grown, he would give it to the beautiful woman as a gift, a one-of-a-kind gift in the world, and then propose marriage to her parents.
However, he did not expect that the fire that angered God and people would come so suddenly. Overnight, he did not even have the chance to express his feelings to her. The sky fell and he could only pursue her in his dreams.
No one knew how the fire started, and it happened so coincidentally and strangely. In such a big house, it was only the backyard of the Ruo family that caught fire, and the three members of the Ruo family lived in the backyard, and they turned into a black, scorched mass...
By this time, Wei Shucheng had broken down into tears. He recalled the tragic scene he had seen in front of the ruins that day, thought of all the good things Miss Ruo had done for him, and recalled the rather strange fire. He burst into tears and could not control himself.
The reactions of the three people who were listening attentively were completely different. The eldest son of the Huan family was fine, but the eldest daughter of the Shen family, who had a tough appearance but a delicate girl's heart, could not help but burst into tears when she heard that this originally happy fate turned into a tragedy of a human and a ghost. She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her sleeves.
Yao Ji, who was originally the kindest, was unexpectedly calm at this moment. She just listened to Wei Shucheng's sobbing silently without interrupting him, but her thoughtful eyes would always fall on a certain place in the ruins, as if she was looking for something, or pondering something, "Someone must have deliberately committed murder for money! The fire was very strange, only the backyard was on fire, but the shops in the front yard were safe and sound, and it is said that when the government went to investigate, they found that all the pearls in the shops in the front yard were missing. If this is not a deliberate murder for money, what is it? It's a pity that the government is so incompetent that it has not been able to track down the real culprit until now, and give justice to the family!" Wei Shucheng cried for a while, and suddenly thought of all the strange things, and he became a little excited!
After hearing this, Yao Ji's heart became clear. She connected the incredible things she had found out before with the "Life Art" and at this moment, she finally confirmed her bold guess.
She raised her head and spoke calmly to the plain-clothed young man Wei Shucheng, who had already cried bitterly, "The world is unpredictable. Many things you see are just appearances. Just like the moon in the mirror and the flowers in the water. So, don't blame the government for being incompetent, because the truth of the matter is not what you think. There was no murderer in the first place, so where do you want them to find a murderer for you?"
When these words came out, everyone was shocked. Wei Shucheng had already jumped up and stared at Yao Ji with wide eyes: "You, what did you say?"
"If Miss Ruo were still alive, although I don't know the reason, I can tell you with certainty that this so-called fire is nothing but a drama to cover up the truth." Yao Ji raised her eyebrows slightly and paused, as if she was considering whether to tell the other party the truth which was somewhat cruel.
She looked at the other person's haggard face and prematurely gray hair, and felt reluctant to break those beautiful memories in his heart. But she also felt that if she continued to deceive him, it might be truly cruel to him.
"The Ruo family are not ordinary humans. They are the legendary Ruoye tribe, that is, the fish-man tribe on the coast of the South China Sea."
