Chapter 8: Pricking the Fingernails, Learning a Lesson

Chu Yue’s face was deathly pale as she knelt on the ground.

The doors and windows were tightly shut, leaving no room for air to circulate.

Inside the bedchamber, high-quality gauze covered the lamps and candles. Amidst the flickering light, the Eldest Madam’s expression was dark and somber.

"Mother, I was wrong. I didn't know why the person who fell became Father."

"Because you lacked skill in your studies yet dared to speak nonsense to me, this situation has come to this."

As the Eldest Madam spoke, she reached out to stroke Chu Yue’s forehead.

Her expression remained gentle, but the depths of her eyes were icy cold.

"Yue'er, a good child knows their mistakes and admits them, but you must learn to remember them more deeply."

With that, the Eldest Madam's confidante, Mama Wang, stepped forward holding a silver needle.

Chu Yue retreated two steps in terror: "What are you going to do?"

Mama Wang gave a fake smile: "Miss, please don't struggle. This old servant promises it won't hurt!"

Chu Yue scrambled to her feet to run, but she was pinned down by Mama Wang.

"Let me go! Mother, I know I was wrong, Mother!" she struggled, tears streaming down her face.

The Eldest Madam merely sipped her tea, remaining completely indifferent.

Two maidservants entered to hold her down, and Mama Wang’s silver needle plunged directly into the tender flesh between Chu Yue's fingernails.

"Ah—!" Chu Yue's piercing scream pierced through the roof.

It was a pity; the people of the First Branch were long accustomed to the Eldest Madam's methods.

She had a kind face but a ruthless heart; when doors were closed, the servants never dared to ask questions.

Mama Wang stabbed once, then again.

Her strength was precisely controlled; she wouldn't completely injure Chu Yue, but she would make the pain heart-wrenching.

Soon, all ten fingers were red and swollen, with blood saturating the contours of the nails.

This kind of injury wasn't particularly serious; it hurt terribly at the time, but after two days, it would leave no trace.

The Eldest Madam frequently used this method to punish servants; the wounds healed quickly, so the Duke of Zhong could never find out.

Seeing that Mama Wang was about to stab again, Chu Yue cried out in desperation: "Mother! I can use the Koi Luck to help Father heal his leg!"

"Mama Wang, stop." The Eldest Madam finally deigned to speak.

She set down her teacup and looked quietly at Chu Yue: "Are you certain you can handle this? If the Master becomes a cripple, I will be even angrier."

Chu Yue did not dare to disobey; she nodded frantically through her tears.

"I can, I really can. Master taught me how to use the Koi Fortune to bring blessings to others."

As she spoke, her trembling hands slowly pulled a red jade plate from her bosom.

As blood from her fingertips soaked into it, Chu Yue closed her eyes and began to chant.

As the incantations spilled from her lips time and time again, the sound of hurried footsteps soon came from outside.

"Madam, the imperial physician who came to the house today has returned! He found a folk remedy that can treat the Eldest Master's leg!"

A flash of joy crossed the Eldest Madam's eyes as she stood up immediately: "Quickly, invite him in and take him to the Master's room."

She passed quickly by Chu Yue's side, followed by the maids and old women.

Only when the room was empty did Chu Yue collapse to the floor, gasping for breath.

She was drenched in sweat, her face streaked with tears, and most strangely, streams of blood were flowing from her nostrils.

Chu Yue didn't care about these things or give them much thought.

She simply cried from the pain, wondering in her heart: *What exactly is going on? Why is the Eldest Madam different from what I imagined?*

But she couldn't blame this on herself; it was clearly like this in her previous life as well.

Suddenly, Chu Yue thought of Yan Luo.

Could it be her playing tricks?

At this time, the night was deep, and Yan Luo had long since fallen asleep in a comfortable, soft bed.

However, her sleep was not peaceful, for she was dreaming of her past life.

The Duke of Zhong's condition had been delayed, and he had died after becoming paralyzed.

Over and over again, Yan Luo knelt on the ground, face covered in tears, her small mouth murmuring: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

Her two small hands resting on the ground were covered in bloody marks on the fingertips.

Because the Eldest Madam had intentionally delayed the Duke of Zhong's treatment, Yan Luo had tried to secretly tell him.

After being discovered by the Eldest Madam, all ten of her fingers had been pierced with bloody marks by Mama Wang's silver needles.

The Eldest Madam: "Yan Luo, you really are not a good child."

Those words rang in her ears like a nightmare.

Yan Luo sat up abruptly.

The room was very quiet, and the faint scent of flowers from the courtyard could still be smelled.

It was this wisp of fragrance that reminded Yan Luo that she was no longer a child of the First Branch, but a member of the Third Branch.

She didn't have to fear returning to the Eldest Madam's hands.

Just then, a rustling sound came from beside her ear.

"She had a nightmare and woke up in fright."

"Tsk, children are just children, even having nightmares."

"Shh, don't talk, she's looking this way."

Yan Luo gazed toward where the voices were coming from.

On the ceiling beams, three ghosts were sitting, watching her.

Two men and one woman.

Yan Luo had seen them before; they were among the group of wandering souls that had followed the Third Master, Lin Li.

She hadn't expected them to be bold enough to enter her room.

"Eh? Why does she keep staring at us?" the female ghost, dressed in flamboyant clothes, said. "Could it be she can see us?"

"Impossible. We are ghosts with some cultivation, unlike those low-level minions. She can't see us," the merchant ghost said.

Sitting between them was a youth of about sixteen or seventeen.

He wore blood-stained dragon robes, and his head was adorned with a beaded crown.

"This Sovereign shall go take a look." The dragon-robed youth leaped down and floated toward Yan Luo.

The female ghost grew inexplicably nervous: "Be careful, she has a different kind of aura. Don't let her hurt you."

The youth laughed: "Just her? A little brat? Whether she can see this Sovereign is yet to be seen."

"If we suck her Yang energy, it will definitely be a great tonic!" the merchant ghost urged excitedly.

The moment the dragon-robed youth was about to touch Yan Luo, the little one raised her hand even faster.

With a *slap*, she delivered a palm strike. The dragon-robed youth's head fell to the ground, rolling around in a circle.

"Suck my Yang energy? Say that again." Yan Luo's voice was soft and sweet, yet it carried a hint of pressure.

"???" The youth's head on the ground widened its eyes.

The female ghost and the merchant ghost on the beams froze for a moment, then suddenly screamed in unison.

"A ghost killer!"

The two of them quickly floated toward the window. With a wave of Yan Luo's small hand, a pale purple light instantly enveloped the room, forming an invisible barrier.

They could only see the two ghosts bumping around like headless flies.

"Little brat! It wasn't this Sovereign who said we should suck your Yang energy!" The youth ghost was indignant. He picked up his head and reattached it to his body.

Yan Luo sat by the edge of the bed, her jet-black hair draped over her shoulders. Beneath her straight bangs, her large eyes were watery and shimmered with a dark purple light.

"You must be afraid that I'm hungry, so you delivered yourselves to my door on purpose."

The little one smiled, revealing two cute tiger teeth.

The pressure from her body was released, making all three ghosts present feel the oppression.

"Oh mother!!" the merchant ghost wailed, "I remember now! She's the child who ate the fierce ghost in the attic right after entering the manor that day!"

The female ghost was startled, tears of blood flowing from her eyes.

"My life is so bitter! I was bullied by my husband's family in life, and after death, my grave was dug up by tomb robbers. My funerary objects were stolen, and then I was bought by that unlucky fellow, Third Master Lin."

"I followed the yin energy all the way here, thinking I could find a place to rest, but who knew I'd end up becoming a child's food! Heaven has no eyes!"

Yan Luo blinked her large eyes, understanding.

Many of the antiques Lin Li bought attracted yin energy.

These three ghosts most likely stayed because the items they used in life were collected by Lin Li as antiques.

They wailed and cried, but that dragon-robed youth didn't shed a single tear.

He glared at Yan Luo: "Little brat, do whatever you want to kill or mince me! This Sovereign has been through death before; do you think I'd fear a child like you?"

The little one looked at them and narrowed her eyes.

"I don't plan on eating you. How about this: from now on, you will be my subordinates and follow my commands. How does that sound?"

"What a joke!" The dragon-robed youth snorted. "This Sovereign was a feudal lord in life; even the Son of Heaven didn't listen to me. Who do you think you are!"

Yan Luo pulled out the ink-colored jade plate.

"Are you really not going to consider it?" She tilted her small head.

(Friendly reminder: The feudal lord is not the male lead, hahaha)

(End of Chapter)