Chapter 16: Inherited Madness

After a while, Lu Zhi regained his composure and felt like throwing caution to the wind, but Nanny Wen stood half a step behind him, refusing to leave his side.

Her aura, as unyielding as an iron guardian, shook Lu Zhi so much that he hesitated several times whenever he thought of making a move.

He was no match for this old woman, let alone his mad cousin who was wielding a knife.

As for his mother...

His mother was exhausted, leaning against Nanny Yao in a state that looked as if she might collapse at any moment.

Manager Liu, who had been assigned the task, went off with a pale face and returned with one.

The commotion at the Eldest Young Master's quarters was not something just anyone could witness; at the very least, he couldn't let it be spread around by Lu Zhi's big mouth. Consequently, he didn't dare delegate the task to others and ran two trips himself, bringing back two buckets of hot water, a large wooden basin, and a small stool.

Once the Cousin Lady sat down on the stool, Manager Liu poured most of the hot water into the wooden basin.

Amidst the rising steam, the already deceased black-feathered chicken was submerged in the water.

Having finished what he could, Manager Liu had just breathed a sigh of relief when a sense of doubt suddenly arose within him.

The Cousin Lady's movements in plucking the feathers were incredibly brisk.

He had heard that the Cousin Lady possessed some culinary skills, but he had dismissed it as a mere "hobby"—the kind where one could steam or stir-fry a few dishes on a stove and recite some anecdotes about various delicacies, no different from other noble ladies' hobbies like perfumery or flower cultivation.

After all, those who practiced perfumery would not personally chop down trees, and those who cultivated flowers would not tend to the fertilizer themselves.

But looking at the Cousin Lady's current display, one could not develop such technique without having plucked hundreds of chickens.

This was real skill!

It was absolutely not just for show.

A-Wei's hands never stopped moving as she "told stories" to Lu Zhi.

"Do you know how many chickens I've plucked?"

"When the Yu family first ran into trouble, the household had many cooks and someone to handle the offerings. Later, as more people died, things became increasingly eerie. Forget the kitchen staff; even when people were hired from outside to slaughter chickens, they were all afraid of the bad luck. Only the villagers from our own manor would grit their teeth and do the work."

"The surviving Yu family members needed it to nourish their bodies; it was used for the seven-day mourning rituals for the deceased, and for memorial banquets. Regardless of whether the guests came or whether they were guests of this world or the next, the banquet had to be laid out regardless. One couldn't lack the proper formalities."

"I was living at the manor back then. From watching the villagers slaughter chickens to slaughtering them myself, I lost track of whose banquet the chickens I brought back ended up being for."

"In ancient times, there was a saying: 'Learning calligraphy by the pond, until the pond water turns black,' referring to the ink-washing pond. There was a pond in the manor; so many chickens were slaughtered that no one cared about the blood anymore, so they just poured it all into the pond. The water turned entirely red. I called that place the Blood Pond."

Lu Zhi sat with his mouth half-open, unsure whether he should believe her for a moment.

He stared blankly at the inkstone in his hand; the crimson chicken blood felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, weighing down his arm so much he could barely lift it.

His mind went numb. Lu Zhi thought to himself: referencing the Ink Pond to speak of the Blood Pond, and using an inkstone to hold chicken blood—these mother and daughter were truly cut from the same cloth of madness!

They were utterly insane!

"I'm tired."

Manager Liu, who had been entirely focused on the plucking, suddenly looked up at Lu Nian.

The Aunt was standing askew, looking as though her whole body was uncomfortable.

Manager Liu glanced at Nanny Wen, who was guarding Lu Zhi, and suddenly remembered what happened on the day of the family sacrifice. He handed a lantern to another manager and went into the room to bring out two armchair seats, inviting Lu Nian and Lady Sang to sit down.

Lu Nian nodded with satisfaction and instructed, "Go to Chunhui Garden and let them know to start the fires in the small kitchen; we'll need to stew chicken soup in a bit."

Manager Liu hurried out on foot.

Before long, the chicken had been stripped of its black feathers, leaving it bare.

A-Wei stood up and began directing another manager.

That manager's thoughts were as thick as paste; he gave up on thinking and simply did whatever the Cousin Lady commanded.

He emptied the water from the wooden basin, rinsed away the stray feathers stuck to the sides, flipped the basin over to rinse the bottom clean, and finally placed the basin upside down on the stone table in the courtyard.

A-Wei placed the chicken back on top and picked up a knife.

The moment Lu Zhi saw the glint of the blade, he recoiled, his body trembling. "What are you doing now?"

"Deboning," A-Wei replied. "Deboning a whole chicken. I'll open your eyes to how it's done."

On the other side, Manager Liu, who had just returned from delivering the message to the inner gate, encountered several figures at the entrance of the small courtyard.

The figures were without lanterns, appearing as mere shadows, which nearly caused Manager Liu to cry out in fright.

Upon closer inspection, his heart jolted.

One of them was the Marquis of Dingxi. The Marquis stood with his hands behind his back, his serious face displaying a mixture of helplessness, embarrassment, annoyance, and urgency—a performance so colorful that Manager Liu felt like using an abacus to calculate it. Looking at the other two, the manager's heart sank instantly.

It was actually Prince Chengzhao and his attendants.

Setting aside why the Prince had suddenly arrived in the middle of the night, if the strange scene of his descendants slaughtering a chicken were seen by others, it was no wonder the Marquis of Dingxi looked so grim.

Inside the courtyard, Lu Zhi was overjoyed to see the Marquis of Dingxi and immediately opened his mouth to call for help.

*Thud!*

The tip of the knife sank into the bottom of the basin, gleaming silver.

Lu Zhi glanced at the upright knife, then at the basin that looked as if it might crack, and his throat tightened, swallowing his "help me" back down.

A-Wei did not draw the knife again; instead, she took another knife from the wooden box, used the bottom of the basin as a cutting board, and began working on the chicken.

"First, remove the four tips: the claws, the tail, the wings, and the beak."

Lu Zhi instinctively turned his head away, only to have Nanny Wen steady his head and turn it back into place.

"Eldest Young Master," Nanny Wen said with a smile, "not just anyone can stand by and watch our lady's craftsmanship. Stand straight and watch closely; perhaps you can share your insights with others later."

Lu Zhi could only watch helplessly as A-Wei applied the knife.

The claws that were most fierce in cockfighting, the tail with the most magnificent and beautiful long feathers, the wings that could flap to take flight, and the beak that could draw blood with a single peck—each was sliced away one by one.

With every cut, Lu Zhi's heart skipped a beat.

"Deboning starts with the claws. If you don't remove the bone from the claws, the chicken will just lie there stiff like a corpse once it's cooked," A-Wei said, her knife slicing through the skin on the inside of the chicken claw. She asked, "Have you ever seen a corpse lying stiff?"

Lu Zhi did not want to answer, but he did not dare close his eyes either.

These master and servant were determined to make him watch; even if he closed his eyes, they would pry them open.

"Make a slit, then use the knife to pry it out," A-Wei said, setting the knife down and lifting the claw. "Then, with a snap like this, the bone breaks away from the rest. Next, hold the knife against it, grip the skin, pull and kick, and with a *crack*, you'll see it come out."

A-Wei held it up for Lu Zhi to see. "If we apply this to a person, this would be your shin bone."

Seeing the deboning of the chicken claw was barely passable, but comparing it to a person—and specifically his own shin bone—made Lu Zhi gasp, feeling as though his own leg had been struck by both a knife and a hammer.

Once the two claws were done, A-Wei pointed to the wings. "Now, this is your arm, your forearm."

Lu Zhi shuddered, setting the inkstone on the table and incessantly rubbing his numbing arm with his palm.

"Then, make a cut at the neck to sever the neck bone—break the bone, but not the head. Then, from here—right where you made the cut when you killed it—you pull the neck bone straight out like this."

Lu Zhi couldn't help himself; he let out a strange cry and suddenly clutched his own neck with both hands.