As soon as these words were spoken, there was no sound from the other end of the phone for a long time.

Luo Yuan waited politely for a while, then said, “Sorry, if there’s nothing else, I’ll hang up now.”

Although she spoke with “sorry” and “excuse me,” such words were not pleasant at all. Qi Ji suddenly let out a laugh, sighing, “It’s been a long time since someone rejected me so straightforwardly and bluntly. I couldn’t react for a moment.”

Luo Yuan’s tone was calm, without a hint of mockery. “Because as the wife of a clan deity, everyone pursues and respects you. Once you get used to that kind of life, you start to think no one can refuse you.”

She had only been the wife of a clan deity for a short time, but living in this environment, she was already getting used to this “superior” feeling. Qi Ji had been a “big figure” for so many years, so naturally she understood it even more deeply.

Qi Ji fell silent again. “You’re right.” Her tone shifted as she returned to the previous topic. “Since you won’t come to Jinzhou and let me show my hospitality, I’ll have to bring those disappointing juniors of mine and personally go to Yuzhou to apologize to you.”

Luo Yuan: “You’re welcome. Let me show my hospitality instead, I’ll wait for you at the old residence.”

Qi Ji: “I’m not used to staying at your old family residence. I’ll go to the house where we met last time. And this time, I’m staying for a few more days. Don’t dislike me for being annoying.”

Luo Yuan smiled. “Of course not.”

The amicable phone call ended. Minghuang, who had been eavesdropping with her ears perked up, asked in a daze, “Sister An, you— you just rejected her like that? I heard the Liang clan deity’s wife has lived for a very long time!”

Luo Yuan sighed. “She looks younger than me. I can’t bring myself to respect the elderly.”

Minghuang: “That’s not what I meant. I’ve seen shinu occasionally interact with other families before— they’re always super reserved. Sister An, you’re so direct! But direct is honestly refreshing, hehe.”

Luo Yuan tilted her head and smiled at her. “Contact the people at the Yuhan District residence and tell them to prepare for guests.”

Seeing her finish speaking and rush off, Minghuang froze. “Ah? You’re not going over to host things yourself?”

Luo Yuan waved a hand. “Tomorrow.”

As for guests, she could entertain them tomorrow. She had to go see Er-ge.

“Er-ge, I’m going to Yuhan District tomorrow. I’ll probably stay for two days. I’ll send you a video then. I’ll have Minghuang connect it for you, all right?” Luo Yuan was helping the clan deity comb his impossibly soft and smooth hair, her tone gentle.

The clan deity shook his head. “No.”

Luo Yuan let his long hair fall over her knees and combed it carefully. “All right, if Er-ge doesn’t want to watch, then forget it. But Er-ge, is the relationship between the Qin clan and the Liang clan really that good?”

Although that’s what everyone said, the two Liang family members she’d met, including the Liang clan deity’s wife Qi Ji, all had a subtle attitude toward the Qin clan. Liang Wenye’s earlier frivolous tone when mentioning the Qin clan, and Qi Ji’s multiple mentions of the Qin clan deity’s “little secrets”— it could be interpreted as closeness and teasing, or it could be interpreted as ulterior motives.

“When a flower blooms, it is good. When it withers, it is bad. When it bears fruit, it is good. When it rots, it is bad. Good and bad are not eternal.” The clan deity had his back to her, his expression unseen, but his tone was cold and without fluctuation.

Luo Yuan finished braiding his hair, tied a bow at the end, let it fall over his shoulder, and from behind wrapped her arms around him, burying her face against his shoulder and back, taking a deep breath of his cool fragrance.

───♡───

Because he had spoken carelessly and offended the Qin family, Liang Wenye had hurried back to Jinzhou. Who knew he hadn’t even been home for a day before he was ordered to return to Yuzhou to apologize in person.

“Why should I!” In front of his parents, Liang Wenye’s temper flared even worse; he kicked up a huge fuss. “I only said a few unpleasant words, and I still have to apologize in person? That woman is making a big deal out of nothing. I heard she used to be an ignorant commoner, the Qin clan deity picked her casually. Now she’s suddenly acting like a phoenix risen from a sparrow, using me to show off her authority!”

No matter how his mother tried to persuade him with kind words, he only turned his head away. “I’m not going. It’s humiliating!”

The Liang clan was not like the Qin clan; there were very few people left, and every clan member was extremely precious. Liang Wenye was the youngest son of a powerful figure in this generation of the Liang clan, which was why he had grown into such an arrogant and domineering personality.

But this time, he could no longer be willful. His father, rarely stern, scolded him, “The Old Madam personally gave the order, do you intend to defy her? If you don’t go, I’ll break your legs. Even if we have to carry you there, you’ll go! I told you long ago that if you didn’t rein in that temper of yours, you’d cause a disaster sooner or later!”

“Chi, what kind of disaster is this supposed to be.” Seeing his father in a fury, Liang Wenye’s arrogance shrank a little, yet he still stubbornly refused to yield. “Fine, I’ll go. I don’t believe it— since I’m going with the Old Madam, would their Qin family still dare do anything to me?”

The Liang clan’s people rarely saw their clan deity, but the clan deity’s wife was someone they often saw. As the clan deity’s worldly representative, she frequently traveled outside. Most of the Liang family’s younger generation studied at the clan’s private school, and Qi Ji was the school’s honorary principal. The Liang children had known her since they were young; every one of them had grown up under her eyes, Liang Wenye included.

Because their lineage was said to have had an ancestor personally raised by the Old Madam Qi Ji, they held a special connection. With this privilege, Liang Wenye had always been favored by Qi Ji, and with that backing, he had become even more arrogant and reckless.

When he saw Qi Ji, he even spoke to her with a hint of intimacy, complaining, “Old Madam, surely their Qin family won’t be so petty as to punish me, right? You must help me.”

Qi Ji gave him a light, indifferent glance, telling him to stay at ease. “You’re still young. As elders, they naturally won’t hold it against you. But calamity comes from the mouth, be more careful next time.”

Lightly scolded, Liang Wenye wasn’t afraid at all— he even felt more emboldened. He could hear it clearly: the Old Madam was going to protect him. After all, he was still young!

───♡───

Luo Yuan received Qi Ji and Liang Wenye’s group at the large residence in Yuhan District. Qi Ji was still her warm and carefree self. After greeting Luo Yuan, she patted Liang Wenye’s arm, telling him to apologize.

Liang Wenye obediently said a “sorry,” looking much more well-behaved than before. Unfortunately for him, his secret lip-curl and eye-roll were all seen by Luo Yuan.

“I’ve been wanting to talk more with you. If you had agreed to come to Jinzhou, I wanted to take you around to see the sights.” Qi Ji said to Luo Yuan, “It’s been a long time since I’ve met another clan deity’s wife. You and I share the same status. Even if there’s an age difference, we must have plenty of common topics.”

She said these meaningless polite remarks, then talked a bit about the residence, offering a couple of compliments.

Luo Yuan: “Compared to this place, I prefer the old residence. No one lives here often, so it’s not the best for hosting. If you were willing to stay at the old residence, it would be much better— the air and environment are better, too.”

Qi Ji’s smile paused for a moment. “Forget it. I won’t disturb your clan deity. Staying here is fine. With the relationship between our two clans, there’s no need to be so polite.”

After arranging their lodging, Minghuang whispered, “I saw that Liang Wenye secretly rolling his eyes earlier. He really is an idiot, just like Minghui said! As if we wouldn’t notice! They didn’t come here to apologize at all, how perfunctory can they be?”

Luo Yuan didn’t mind. Her thoughts were elsewhere. Qi Ji had twice refused to go to the old residence. Luo Yuan felt as though Qi Ji was afraid of it. Not the residence itself, but the clan deity within it.

Why?

Liang Wenye entered his assigned room, slamming the door loudly. His eyes scanned the room with disdain. Spacious was spacious, and the antique decor had character, but it absolutely did not suit a young person like him.

“So tacky. Who decorates like this nowadays.” He muttered a couple of sentences, then casually flopped onto a chair, pulling out his phone to chat with someone. As he chatted, a wave of drowsiness washed over him, and before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.

The sun sank in the west. Suddenly, a candle in the room lit up. In the flickering red glow, Liang Wenye opened his eyes and was startled by the unfamiliar and horrifying sight before him.

“What the— what the hell!”

The once-spacious room had somehow filled with countless densely packed red threads. The threads intersected in every direction, covering the entire room, like the meridians and blood vessels within a human body.

The Qin family did this on purpose to scare me? To teach me a lesson?

That was the first thought to flash through Liang Wenye’s mind. His anger smothered the initial shock from waking to such a scene.

Red threads— such things should snap with a grab. Trying to scare him with this was ridiculous. He sneered and casually swung his hand through the crisscrossing red threads before him.

The seemingly fragile red threads did not even sway. Liang Wenye felt a sudden, delayed surge of excruciating pain in his hand. He saw his own blood spray out— the fingers and arm he had swung forward were sliced into fragments by those red threads, bones included. As easily as the sharpest blade cutting through tofu.

“Ah… ah—!” Staring at the horrific scene before him, Liang Wenye finally understood what had happened. Terrified and in agony, he clutched his spurting, severed arm and screamed uncontrollably.

“What— what is this… help! Help me!” His breath came fast and cold sweat drenched him as he stared at the red threads. They were still dripping with his blood— thick, sticky, dropping slowly onto the floor.

“Someone help me! Old Madam! Help— wuwuwu!”

Liang Wenye’s face twisted from the pain. He collapsed into the narrow gap between the red threads, not daring to move, not daring to touch those seemingly harmless, soft threads again. The room was utterly silent except for his desperate screams for help.

“Beng—”

A faint sound of a thread tightening made Liang Wenye’s scalp instantly go numb.

“No, no, no—”

The still red threads suddenly seemed to be pulled by someone. They shifted slightly, tightening toward the empty space in the center—

Liang Wenye’s voice cut off abruptly. Countless streams of vivid red liquid slid down the threads. The chunks of flesh that had been sliced into pieces disappeared as the threads closed in around them.

───♡───

Qin Clan Old Residence.

The clan deity on the divine platform moved his sleeve. The red threads in his pale palm trembled slightly with that casual movement. After this very ordinary gesture, he lowered his hand, and the strands of red thread wriggled as they slipped back into his sleeve.

The white clan deity drifted down from the divine platform, lifted his head, and spread open his wide sleeves.

The red candlelight within the shrine suddenly extinguished.

A sudden violent wind swept over the forest outside the old residence. Ancient trees of a thousand years groaned and cracked under the force of the gale. The wind came quickly and left just as abruptly.

In a secret Liang clan residence far away in Jinzhou, the bells hanging beneath the eaves suddenly shook violently, clattering noisily until they snapped and shattered, crashing onto the wooden corridor. A white hem of clothing brushed past, gliding over the broken bells— the Qin clan deity, who had been in the old residence moments ago, now silently appeared here.

As he floated forward, the closed doors before him opened and shut repeatedly. He passed through them without hindrance, as though he were the master of this place, drifting straight into the most spacious room inside.

The most eye-catching thing in the room was a soft bed, and sunk into it was a “person.” That “person” looked terrifying— like a worn, flaking stone statue, the entire body covered in cracks and half-detached fragments of shell.

Sensing the arrival of an uninvited guest, the “person” on the bed slowly opened his eyes and said, “Qin clan deity, it has been a long time.”

The white figure floating beside the bed looked down at him from above. “Indeed, Liang clan deity. It has been a long time.”

This figure buried deep in the bed was none other than the Liang clan deity that Qi Ji had described as busy with work and living quite well.

“Thanks to that one blood descendant of your Liang clan, I was able to come here.” Though the Qin clan deity’s expression was cold, his tone was calm. “Your wife keeps you hidden very tightly.”

The Liang clan deity’s tone was just as calm, even carrying the casual ease of old friends chatting. “Yes, she worries too much. She is a bit reckless in doing things. And you, I heard you also have a wife now. How is she?”

His murky, stiff gaze fixed on the thick braid draped over the Qin clan deity’s shoulder, where a bow made of red thread was tied. His lips stiffly lifted into a faint smile. “It seems she is a cute child.”

The Qin clan deity agreed, repeating, “She is a cute child.”

(TL: Why do I feel like he only came there to boast?)