Against the Current - Chapter 182

Chapter 182 - Talisman (Part 3)

Mother Han unrolled it to take a look, and said to Lady Qin, "This is a talisman to pray for a child, which young wives in the inner quarters frequently seek out. I've seen it a few times myself."

Zhang Fa's wife hastily chimed in, "Such a pity for Mistress Mei's deep devotion, to actually seek out such a talisman just to help the Lin family flourish and spread its branches!"

Lady Qin's expression remained calm as she asked, "Are there any other talismans?"

Draw-Mouth quickly replied, "No, no, there's only this one. Taoist Priestess Cui is practically an immortal, and her talismans are extraordinarily efficacious as well as exceptionally precious. How could I possibly have enough silver to commission several of them?"

The group searched and checked further, but ultimately found nothing suspicious, so Lady Qin led everyone out.

Draw-Mouth instantly assumed a completely different demeanor, the cowardly look vanishing entirely from her face. A cold smile curling at the corners of her mouth, she seated herself as Xique walked over and whispered, "Mistress, everyone has left. Shouldn't we tidy up and go to sleep?"

A chilling gleam flickered deep within Draw-Mouth's eyes as she sneered, "Tidy up for what? I need to change my clothes anew and wait to watch a grand show."

Meanwhile, after emerging from the east wing, Lady Qin proceeded directly to Yingge's quarters. The room had already been secured by several matrons, who forbade anyone from moving about. Yingge had been going through her monthly flow these past few days and was feeling thoroughly unwell, so she had already turned in early. Hearing a commotion outside, she hurriedly forced herself up, groping around to dress, though it was already too late to comb her hair. She was thoroughly startled when she saw Lady Qin walk in.

Although Lady Qin disliked Yingge's frail, "ailing beauty" demeanor, she ultimately pitied her for being honest and for having once miscarried a child. Thus, she said, "There is no need for you to panic, nor do you need to busy yourself serving tea. We're just conducting a search and will be leaving shortly." With that, she ordered people to open the chests and luggage to inspect them, and went over to search the brick bed as well. Sure enough, a talisman was also discovered inside the pillow. Upon opening it, they saw that it was a talisman Yingge had purchased from Taoist Priestess Cui to pray for peace and health.

Seeing Lady Qin confiscate the item, Yingge could not help trembling as she asked, "Is this a bad thing? I even got one for my father and had someone take it back home with them a few days ago."

Seeing how frightened she was, Mother Han comforted her, saying, "It's nothing major, so stop letting your imagination run wild. It's best to avoid seeking these out in the future since Madam finds them distasteful... Rest early now, go on." With that, she waved her hand and accompanied Lady Qin on to the room where Luan'er lived.

Because of the commotion earlier, Luan'er had long since known Lady Qin was coming. Although she didn't know what was being searched for, a guilty conscience made her heart beat wildly. However, two steward wives had already stationed themselves inside the room to watch her, leaving her no way to act and forcing her to suffer in anxious agitation.

Just as she was fidgeting and racking her brains, Lady Qin walked in. Seeing that the room was dim, she ordered the candles to be trimmed brighter. Relying on the fact that she had previously enjoyed a measure of favor before the Old Madam, and that her song-singing had once earned Lady Qin's praise, Luan'er forced a smile and asked, "Why has Madam come here at such a late hour?"

Without acknowledging her, Lady Qin simply ordered the maids to open the large and small chests and cabinets for a search.

Her heart hammering against her ribs, Luan'er mustered her courage and asked again, "May I ask why Madam has come here? Why are you searching through my things when I have never been a thief?"

As it turned out, Draw-Mouth had previously gossiped about Luan'er with Zhang Fa's wife. Furthermore, because Luan'er always put on airs and refused to pay attention to ordinary people, Zhang Fa's wife had long looked upon her with disfavor. Seizing this opportunity now, she immediately glared and rebuked her, "You talk too much! Did Madam ask you anything?"

Luan'er's face flushed crimson instantly. She wanted to retort, but out of fear for Lady Qin, she had no choice but to swallow her anger. Zhang Fa's wife wore a look of triumphant glee, tearing through the chests and wardrobes with even greater fervor and leaving clothes, bundles, and cosmetic cases in utter disarray. Luan'er's eyelids twitched; under ordinary circumstances, she would have long since lost her temper and gone over to scold whoever dared such a thing, but right now she had no mind for that. Her face alternated between red and white, and her legs trembled slightly.

Before long, Mother Han indeed fished another talisman out from inside a pillow. After cutting open the cloth wrapper with scissors to inspect it, she froze for a moment before a look of disdain crossed her face, and she handed it over to Lady Qin. Taking it in her hand, Lady Qin saw that aside from scrawled, chaotic symbols, the talisman depicted a man and a woman, both completely naked and embracing in an act of intercourse. The drawing was crude, yet the names of Lin Jinlou and Luan'er were respectively written upon the little figures.

Mother Han murmured softly, "Madam, I have seen this sort of thing outside before. It should be some kind of romantic harmony charm. While it's not a harmful curse, it's still hardly an upright path to take."

Catching sight of such scandalous filth, Lady Qin's arched brows instantly erected themselves, and her face turned white with rage. Having such intimate items exposed for all to see left Luan'er overwhelmed with panic and humiliation. Her face burned red, her head buried itself desperately downward, and her body shrank back toward the base of the wall, while her heart fluttered even more violently in her chest.

With a cold sneer, Lady Qin commanded, "Search again." Walking at a leisurely pace, she stepped over to the rosewood table, causing Luan'er's heart to leap up into her throat right along with her. Seeing Lady Qin stroke the scattered rouge, powder, and hairpins on the table, she suddenly pointed a finger toward a locked stationery mirror box and demanded, "Open this."

Tucked away in the corner, Luan'er looked as though she had been frightened out of her wits.

Lady Qin arched her brows and urged sharply, "Open this! Quickly!"

Cold sweat had already broken out across Luan'er's forehead. With trembling hands, she fumbled to untie the key from her waistband, managing to pull it free only after several clumsy attempts. Mother Han took the key and went to unlock it. Upon lifting the lid of the mirror box, she found that the upper tier of mirrors was completely empty, while the lower drawers contained a few pairs of earrings and three or four rings. In the very bottom compartment, however, lay a parcel wrapped in green cloth.

When Lady Qin opened it to take a look, she saw that it contained yet another talisman right in the center, which surprisingly depicted a green-faced, fanged evil ghost. Peering over to take a look, Mother Han was startled out of her wits and blurted out, "Good heavens! This is disastrous!"

Her face turned white with fury, Lady Qin demanded in a harsh voice, "Wretched hussy! Who gave this to you? Who are you hiding this to curse?"

Seeing that the talisman had been dragged out into the light, Luan'er felt as though she had plunged into an icy abyss. Her hands and feet turned freezing cold, and a thousand mixed emotions of terror, dread, humiliation, and regret surged up to the tip of her tongue. Her legs went limp and she collapsed sideways onto the floor, rolling her eyes as she fainted dead away.

Lady Qin was already enraged beyond measure and had no patience to wait for Luan'er to regain consciousness and interrogate her about where such a monstrous object had come from. She merely ordered the matrons to place her under confinement, and then made her way toward the main chambers.

Pushing open the door and stepping inside, she found two matrons already keeping watch within. Lady Qin saw that Xianglan had just finished washing and grooming herself. She had gathered her hair into a soft, loose knot secured with two or three fine gold hairpins, and was wearing a round-collared robe embroidered with bamboo leaves and plum blossoms, paired with wide-legged white silk trousers beneath. Her face was completely devoid of powder or rouge, yet her dark hair and fair neck only served to accentuate her lotus-pink visage and ethereal, graceful aura. Xianglan had blossomed fully now, acquiring an even more alluring and enchanting charm than before. Lady Qin could not help praising inwardly: "What a exquisite beauty." Then she sighed again, seemingly understanding why her son insisted on having this Chen Xianglan serve by his side. Such a beauty was enough to make even her unable to resist feeling a touch of tenderness and affection, and her initial aversion faded by a couple of parts. Yet, reflecting upon how history had constantly proven that "beauty ruins people," while a woman being naturally beautiful was certainly a fine thing, becoming overly gorgeous caused things to reverse when they reached their extremes, turning a blessing into a curse. Moreover, this little maid was quite clever and sharp-witted; if she were to bewitch Lin Jinlou to the point of losing his senses and then instigate trouble, how could that ever be tolerated? At this thought, her expression turned cold once more, and she seated herself upon the round stool beside the table.