Thousand Dusts Ferry Me - Chapter 22

Yunniang had already awakened and was in Madam Ding’s room. Fu Xue and Cheng Suiyan watched the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

As for the others, they had hidden in different rooms, closing the doors and imagining wild battles between the fairy maiden and the demon. These imaginings would later provide important material for Steward Sun’s storytelling of this incident.

Madam Ding appeared very afraid of Yunniang. Yunniang sat at the edge of the bed, while Madam Ding pressed herself tightly against the headboard, keeping as far away as possible.

Yun Qing pushed open the door and entered, with Jiang Baiyu following behind her.

Fu Xue exclaimed with delight. “Senior sister, you’re back! That little thing… did you catch it?” She had already heard from Cheng Suiyan that the thing was a small child.

Yun Qing shook her head, picked up a teacup from the table and took a large drink. Then she put down the cup, walked over to Yunniang, and holding her sword said, “Tell us about that stinking child.”

Yunniang lowered her head and twisted a handkerchief forcefully, her delicate knuckles turning white from the pressure.

Cheng Suiyan, seeing how pitiful Yunniang looked, said, “Yun Qing, she’s also a victim. She probably doesn’t know anything, right? Look how frightened she is.”

“It’s not like that,” Jiang Baiyu shook his head and said, “We examined her when she was unconscious and having nightmares, but found no signs of being possessed.”

Fu Xue clapped her hands. “I understand now. She herself agreed to let the little child possess her.” She turned to explain to Cheng Suiyan:

“In general possession cases, it’s because evil energy enters the body, and the body naturally resists, producing symptoms that lead to the discovery of possession.

But her body actively accepted the little child without resistance, so there were no symptoms of possession, and naturally we couldn’t detect it.”

Yun Qing saw that Yunniang kept her head down, silently crying, so she threatened her:

“If you don’t tell us yourself, we’ll use the Truth Incantation to make you talk. Do you know the Truth Incantation? Under this spell, you can’t hide any secrets. Baiyu, demonstrate for her.” She gestured with her chin toward Madam Ding, who was trying desperately to shrink into the bed.

Baiyu nodded and looked at Madam Ding, continuing his previously unfinished questioning. “You had those two Daoists cast a curse to kill whom?”

“To kill her! Han Yunniang!” Madam Ding immediately raised her hand to point at Yunniang.

Yunniang suddenly looked up, staring at her in alarm.

“Why did you want to kill her?”

“She stuck me with needles. She was possessed, but my son didn’t believe it, nobody believed it!”

“What reward did you promise them?”

“I promised them two thousand taels of silver. Daoists love money too, haha!”

Yun Qing thought this wasn’t hard to understand. Cultivation was indeed austere, and some people couldn’t endure the loneliness and wanted to enjoy the mortal world—for that, they naturally needed money.

Jiang Baiyu continued to ask, “What was their original plan of action?”

“They said they could trigger the killing curse while capturing the demon. This way, after she died, they could claim it was the demon’s rampage that killed her. But she didn’t die!”

Jiang Baiyu turned to ask Yun Qing. “Is there anything else you want to ask?”

Yun Qing suddenly smiled mischievously. “Ask her where she hides her private money.”

“Yes, where do you hide your private money?”

Madam Ding quickly replied. “Under my bed, lift up the floor tiles, there’s an iron box buried below, full of gold and silver.

Under the osmanthus tree in the garden, there’s another iron box buried, full of jewelry.

In the ancestral hall, under the ancestor’s offering table, there’s a hidden compartment with a sandalwood box full of Oriental pearls.

I also have a box of banknotes and land deeds kept by my elder brother at my parent’s home!”

“Enough.” Yunniang closed her eyes briefly, a tear sliding down her cheek. “I’ll tell you.”

“Go ahead, I’m listening.” Yun Qing moved a chair over and sat down, crossing her legs.

Jiang Baiyu folded his arms and leaned against a red wooden table behind her, one long leg supporting himself on the ground, the other bent with his heel resting on the table leg’s crossbeam.

Fu Xue and Cheng Suiyan both sat on stools, each holding a cup of tea, adopting the posture of listeners in a teahouse waiting for a storyteller.

“I first saw her about a month ago, on my grandfather’s memorial day—”

That day, Yunniang had taken a carriage to the outskirts of the city to burn paper offerings for her grandfather. On her way back, she passed by Mingyue Tower.

This Mingyue Tower had been built by her grandfather himself and had once been proudly included in her dowry, envied by many young women. Now, however, because of rumors that it was haunted, it had become a “burden” to the Fan family.

Erlang had feelings for it and sent people to clean it regularly, but that couldn’t sweep away the melancholy in Yunniang’s heart.

Thinking of her grandfather, Yunniang felt terribly sad and asked the carriage driver and maids to wait outside while she entered Mingyue Tower alone.

She wandered around the tower, touching the railings and walls, reminiscing about her grandfather, and couldn’t help shedding a few tears.

Thinking about her current situation—her mother-in-law’s dislike, her husband’s busy schedule, and her own uncooperative womb—made her sad.

Although Erlang had refused to take a concubine several times, if she continued not to bear children, him taking a concubine was only a matter of time.

Her mother-in-law also frequently invited her fifteen or sixteen-year-old niece to stay, with intentions that couldn’t be more obvious.

As she was thinking and crying, she suddenly heard the sound of a child laughing outside the window. The laughter was innocent and crisp, making even the listener unconsciously feel lighter in mood.

Yunniang assumed it was some child who had wandered into Mingyue Tower by mistake, so she went out to look.

In the small garden in the courtyard, she saw a child swinging on a swing. She wondered how such a small child had the strength to swing higher than the wall, and watched with alarm, fearing the child might fall.

She walked over and gently persuaded the child to come down.

The child jumped off the swing and looked at her with a smile.

This child was chubby, wearing coarse cloth clothes, with a face that was white with a touch of pink, like a ripe peach. The bright black eyes were like two freshly washed grapes, incredibly adorable.

Yunniang liked the child immediately and squatted down, saying softly:

“Whose child are you? I’ll take you home. It’s dangerous here. Please don’t play here, okay?”

The child spoke, and from the voice, Yunniang could tell it was a little girl. She said, “Big sister, don’t you recognize me?”

“Ah? I don’t know you.”

“Hee hee, I recognized you as soon as I saw you.”

Yunniang smiled and said, “Then we must have a special connection.”

“Big sister, are you unhappy? Why are you crying?”

Yunniang quickly wiped her face with a handkerchief. “No, the wind was strong just now, making my face hurt.”

But the child wasn’t easily fooled. She pointed at her own chin with her index finger, tilted her head and observed for a moment, then said:

“Big sister, you were crying, and you won’t admit it. Is there something making you unhappy? Tell me. I don’t want to see you unhappy, because then I’ll be unhappy too.”

Yunniang found this both amusing and touching. She gently stroked the child’s head and said, “Big sister was unhappy before, but now seeing you, I’m very happy.”

“Well then, big sister, take me with you?”

“Ah? That’s not possible. Your parents will worry if they can’t find you.”

“I don’t have parents.”

“Where is your home? I’ll take you back.”

“My home is right here.”

This answer confused Yunniang.

The child then said, “When you’re sad, just swallow me, and I’ll help you overcome all difficulties and make you happy!”

Yunniang laughed. “That’s not possible. How could I eat a child?”

But the child rolled on the ground, and Yunniang watched in astonishment as she transformed into a bead about the size of a thumb.

“Ah!” Yunniang screamed in terror and fell to the ground.

Chunxiang heard the scream and rushed in, helping Yunniang up. “Madam, what happened?”

“Nothing, I just saw a mouse and got startled.”

Yunniang lied, moving her body slightly to block Chunxiang’s view. She instinctively didn’t want anyone else to know about the strange child.

Hearing this, Chunxiang sighed with relief and helped her walk out, saying, “Madam, they say this tower isn’t very clean. The sun is almost setting, let’s go back.”

Yunniang followed Chunxiang out, but couldn’t help looking back. She saw the bead on the ground hopping and following them, which was truly bizarre.

“Madam, what are you looking at?” Chunxiang turned back curiously.

Yunniang quickly held her shoulder. “No-nothing, let’s go.”

The bead followed them for a distance, eventually jumping into Yunniang’s hand.

And so Yunniang was forced to bring the strange child home.

…..

After returning home, when there was no one else in the room, the bead transformed back into the little girl.

She was already adorable, and Yunniang had long yearned for a child, so the more she looked at her, the more she liked her, and she couldn’t help but keep her.

Yunniang cut cloth to make clothes for the child. Chunxiang thought her mistress had gone mad with desire for a child and hesitated to speak several times, often secretly wiping away tears.

Once the new clothes were finished, the child loved them and refused to take them off. To show her gratitude, the child again asked Yunniang to eat her, that is, to swallow the bead.

Yunniang laughed. “I really couldn’t bear to.”

The child said, “Don’t worry, I can come out by myself when I want to.”

“What will happen to me if I eat you?”

“Actually, I’ll just use your body to do some things you don’t dare to do.”

Yunniang understood but still didn’t agree. Swallowing a child was just too strange.

So the child moved into the Fan Mansion, with no one knowing except Yunniang.

The child didn’t always stay in Yunniang’s room. Sometimes she would suddenly disappear, going who knows where to play, and return when she was done.

Yunniang discovered that she could possess any object in the household, and gradually stopped being surprised by it.

One day, Fan Erlang had to go on a distant trip and said he wouldn’t be back for about ten days. That night, Yunniang was playing cat’s cradle with the child when Chunxiang rushed in. The child rolled onto the bed and turned into a bead.

Chunxiang found it strange that her mistress was playing cat’s cradle alone with her fingers, but she had more pressing matters.

Chunxiang urgently said, “Madam, word from the Old Madam’s servants is that she plans to take advantage of the master’s absence to give you a divorce letter! The reason given is that you’re unfilial to your parents-in-law!”

“What?! Really?”

“It must be true. Yuqin heard it first, then told Jixiang’er, who told Aunt Zhang in the kitchen. I’m on good terms with Aunt Zhang, so she told me.”

“But Erlang isn’t even home. How can the divorce letter be signed?”

“My foolish Madam, haven’t you heard the saying, ‘The world only bows to two officials—Gold Chancellor and Silver Minister’? Officials recognize money. If the Old Madam scatters enough silver, those dog officials won’t care whether your husband is home or not. The divorce will be granted!”

Yunniang was so anxious she didn’t know what to do. “But, but I haven’t been unfilial to her…”

“Oh, Madam, don’t you understand? She’s afraid her niece will pass her prime and can’t wait to bring her in! And she doesn’t want her niece to be a concubine, so she’s waiting to get rid of you, so her niece can be the proper wife!”

Yunniang grasped Chunxiang’s hand, tears in her eyes. “What should we do now?”

Chunxiang thought for a moment. “Madam, don’t panic. I’ll ask my brother to ride out tonight to find the master and see if he can catch up to him and persuade him to come back first.”

“Yes! Chunxiang, thank you!”

Seeing Yunniang cry, Chunxiang couldn’t help but redden her own eyes. “Madam, there’s no need for such formality between us.”

That night, Chunxiang helped Yunniang to bed, but Yunniang couldn’t sleep at all. She tossed and turned thinking about the divorce letter. Just as she closed her eyes, she dreamt that her mother-in-law was holding a divorce letter and driving her out of the Fan Mansion, leaving her homeless and wandering the streets…

Boundless panic enveloped her, and she opened her eyes in terror.

A bead rolled into her hand, gently rubbing against her palm.

Yunniang was never a decisive person, and now she was like a headless fly, considering any available option as worth trying. So she steeled herself, raised her palm, and swallowed the bead.

After swallowing the bead, she quickly lost consciousness.

The next morning, when Yunniang woke up, trembling with fear, she went to pay her respects to her mother-in-law, only to find that her mother-in-law looked at her with fear and hatred.

Yunniang was confused, but her mother-in-law indeed didn’t mention the divorce.

Another day passed, and Fan Erlang received the news and hurried home. As soon as he arrived, he went to question his mother.

To his surprise, his mother seemed even more wronged than him. Upon seeing her son return, she wept and complained that her daughter-in-law had gone mad and stuck her with needles in the middle of the night, asking her son to divorce her quickly, and saying that she had found a Daoist master to subdue her, and so on.

Fan Erlang was very puzzled. “Mother, you can make up such stories just to drive Yunniang away?”

“You don’t believe me? I am your birth mother!”

“Not only do I not believe you, ask anyone, see who would believe. Yunniang is such a gentle person, she doesn’t even dare to speak loudly, how could she stick someone with needles? How filial she has been to you, everyone has seen.

You are my birth mother, but I must speak fairly. Besides, didn’t you have Yu Ping check? Yu Ping couldn’t find a single needle mark on you. If you still won’t let it go, then let’s invite a doctor to examine you.”

The old madam naturally refused to have a doctor examine her. Doctors were all men; how could she let a man see her naked!

Chastity was the highest glory of her life, the foundation of her standing in the world; she considered it more important than life itself.

The old madam was dissatisfied and told the maids. Although the maids didn’t openly object, their eyes clearly showed disbelief, even her most trusted Yu Ping was no exception.

When these words reached Yunniang’s ears, strangely, she somewhat believed them.

Yunniang quietly asked the child. “Did you stick her with needles?”

“Yes,” the child nodded, “People like her don’t behave unless you beat them. Don’t worry, I didn’t leave any marks.”

“Don’t do that again.”

“Why not?”

“She is still an elder, it’s not right.”

“Alright, I won’t stick her again.”

“That’s better, good girl.”

“Then I’ll just kill her directly.”

“…..”