Fan Changyu went to the market early in the morning and bought an old hen to nourish Yan Zheng.
In the alley, she greeted familiar faces as usual, but they seemed to avoid her, barely responding.
Women who were now close to the Song family directly rolled their eyes at her, avoiding her like the plague: “She’s truly a bringer of misfortune. Her uncle-in-law visited her home a few times and ended up dead because of her. Her live-in husband is always sickly. It’s fortunate that the Song family’s elder sister specially checked their compatibility. Otherwise, if Song Yan had married her, who knows how the Song family would have been cursed!”
Some people who originally had good relations with the Fan family, upon hearing this, quietly distanced themselves from her.
If people hadn’t taken the Song family’s claim that she was born under an ill-fated star seriously before, the continuous killings at her home over the past few days, and the fact that if the soldiers hadn’t arrived in time last night, the elderly Zhao couple might have met with misfortune too, made the neighbors inevitably wary.
In the past, Fan Changyu would have retorted immediately, but the fact that the Zhao family was nearly implicated last night and Yan Zheng was indeed injured was undeniable.
She pressed her lips together and silently walked towards the Zhao residence, carrying the chicken she had bought.
As she passed the door of the woman who had spoken so acidly earlier, just after she walked by, the woman poured a basin of rice-washing water outside her door. The cold water splashed onto Fan Changyu’s embroidered shoes and the hem of her skirt.
Fan Changyu paused and raised her calm eyes to look at the woman.
The old woman’s surname was Kang. She used to be neighbors with the Song family and had always curried favor with them after Song Yan passed the provincial exam. To please Madam Song, she would often visit and chat, speaking ill of Fan Changyu.
Probably because she still had some use in keeping Madam Song company, after the Song family moved to the county town, she was the only one in the entire alley who had been invited to dine at their new residence.
Old Lady Kang took pride in this. After returning, she naturally boasted to everyone about how beautiful the Song family’s new courtyard was, and how there were servants at Madam Song’s beck and call, praising Song Yan’s abilities, while taking the opportunity to put down Fan Changyu.
Seeing Fan Changyu looking at her now, Old Lady Kang directly poured out the remaining half basin of rice-washing water outside her door again, cursing: “What bad luck so early in the morning. I’ll have to hang some dried pomelo leaves at the door later!”
It was a folk belief that rice-washing water and pomelo leaves could ward off bad luck.
Fan Changyu’s lips moved, but seeing how other neighbors either remained silent or discreetly distanced themselves from her, she finally just pressed her lips tighter and quickly walked towards the Zhao residence with her purchases.
The rice-washing water had soaked her shoes and socks. The cold dampness clung to her ankles, seeping from her skin into her bones, sending a chill to her heart.
After Fan Changyu entered the Zhao family’s courtyard, Mrs. Zhao was sweeping snow in the yard. Seeing Fan Changyu’s wet skirt hem and shoes, she hurriedly asked, “What happened?”
Fan Changyu walked straight to the kitchen, saying, “The snow on the road hadn’t melted completely. I stepped in it and got wet.”
Mrs. Zhao frowned as she watched Fan Changyu’s back, knowing she must not have told the truth.
Fan Changyu’s mind was in turmoil. After killing the old hen and putting it in an earthen pot to stew, fearing Mrs. Zhao would question her further, she made an excuse to bring medicine to Yan Zheng upstairs.
“Time for your medicine.”
Her voice lacked its usual energy, sounding somewhat muffled instead.
As Xie Zheng took the medicine bowl, he couldn’t help but examine her expression.
Though her face seemed unchanged, he immediately noticed something was off about her mood and asked, “What happened?”
Fan Changyu only said it was nothing: “Drink your medicine while it’s hot. If it’s too bitter, there’s dried tangerine peel candy by the pillow.”
She sat on a low stool, hugging her knees and warming herself by the charcoal brazier. With her head lowered, exposing a slender neck, her expression was hidden.
Xie Zheng noticed that the lower part of her skirt and shoes seemed damp. He said, “The snow fell quite heavily in the latter half of last night.”
Fan Changyu mumbled a vague “Mm.”
Xie Zheng frowned slightly. There hadn’t been any snow in the latter half of last night at all. She was acting too strange today.
She remained silent. After Xie Zheng finished his medicine and placed the bowl on the round stool beside the bed, he didn’t speak either.
After a long silence in the room, Fan Changyu suddenly said, “I’ll find you an inn. I’ll pay the attendants extra to take care of your meals and daily needs. How’s that?”
Xie Zheng’s fingertips pressed harder on the edge of the bed as he asked her, “Why?”
Fan Changyu said, “The authorities haven’t closed the case yet. I’m afraid those people might come back for revenge.”
Xie Zheng said, “Didn’t you say there were soldiers secretly guarding this area?”
After a few moments of silence, Fan Changyu looked up at him and said solemnly, “Then you should stay here to recover for now. Once you’re healed, leave.”
After she went downstairs, Xie Zheng picked up a piece of dried tangerine peel candy. His lips tightened, and the candy instantly crumbled to powder between his fingers.
It wasn’t until noon, when Old Lady Kang from the alley suddenly came cursing at the Fan family to demand an explanation, that Xie Zheng finally understood the reason for her unusual behavior today.
“Fan Changyu! Come out here!” Old Lady Kang’s voice was loud, her skill at cursing unparalleled.
With this shout, many people gathered at the Zhao family’s door to watch the commotion.
Mrs. Zhao heard the door being pounded as if it were being kicked and hurried to open it. Seeing Old Lady Kang standing at the door with her grandson, looking furious, she asked, “What’s the matter?”
Old Lady Kang pushed her grandson forward, put her hands on her hips, and cursed, “Tell Fan Changyu to come out here. Her sister pushed my Hutou down the steps, and he broke a front tooth. What do you think is the matter?”
Fan Changyu was stewing chicken in the kitchen. Hearing the shouting outside, she came out to the courtyard.
She saw Old Lady Kang’s chubby grandson crying with swollen eyes, snot hanging from his nostrils, occasionally sniffing it back only for it to fall out again a moment later. His chin was swollen, and indeed, a front tooth was missing.
She said, “My sister has always been frail, and your grandson is several years older than her. How could my sister have pushed him?”
Hearing Fan Changyu seemingly trying to deny responsibility, Old Lady Kang immediately sprayed spittle as she yelled, “Am I trying to frame you? Just call your Chang Ning out here and ask her. Then we’ll know if she pushed him or not!”
Mrs. Zhao saw many people in the alley peering in to watch the excitement. She tried to mediate, “Let’s talk about this inside. Children often get bumps and bruises when playing. There’s no need to make a scene at the door for the neighbors to laugh at.”
But Old Lady Kang wouldn’t have it: “I’m here to seek justice for my grandson. Why should I care if others laugh?”
Fan Changyu knew that Old Lady Kang was notorious in the alley for her shrewishness and pettiness. She had even driven away her daughter-in-law with her torment. Even now, whenever Old Lady Kang mentioned her daughter-in-law, she would curse her as a “cheap whore” who ran off with another man, shamelessly, never realizing how wrong it was to treat her daughter-in-law like a beast of burden.
Later, when her son fell for a widow, she objected because the widow had been married before, and her dead husband might bring bad luck. She made such a fuss that the widow, seeing the situation, quickly broke things off with her son. To this day, her son remains a bachelor.
Fan Changyu didn’t want to waste words with this woman. She said coldly, “Whether you get justice or not, I’ll talk to my sister first.”
Fan Changyu called out, “Ning’er, come out.”
Little Chang Ning shuffled out of the room, standing behind Fan Changyu like a little shadow.
Fan Changyu bent down and asked her, “Did you push Hutou?”
Chang Ning pressed her lips together, her small hands tightly gripping the hem of her clothes. She nodded, then shook her head.
Old Lady Kang screeched, “Look at that! Such a small child already knows how to lie. What fine family values does your Fan family have? She nodded herself, and now she’s shaking her head…”
“Shut your mouth!” Fan Changyu’s cold shout suddenly drowned out Old Lady Kang’s shrill voice, like a sudden snowstorm.
Old Lady Kang, who had poured that basin of rice-washing water this morning and thought Fan Changyu was easy to bully when she remained silent, was momentarily stunned by Fan Changyu’s sudden outburst. She immediately started screaming even more shrilly: “Is there no justice in this world? Everyone, look! The Fan family is so arrogant! They injured my grandson like this and still act righteous!”
Upstairs in the loft, even Xie Zheng was annoyed by the sharp cursing, frowning in irritation.
Were all common old women this noisy?
Just as he was getting frustrated, he heard that girl’s cold and sharp voice: “Keep yelling, and see if I don’t throw you upside down into the swill barrel!”
Fan Changyu’s eyes and brows were filled with coldness. She had tolerated Old Lady Kang this morning out of genuine guilt for the trouble her enemies had brought, but now that Old Lady Kang was trying to take advantage, she wouldn’t let it slide.
Old Lady Kang, feeling inexplicably frightened under Fan Changyu’s gaze, quickly looked toward the onlookers. She opened her mouth as if to say something more, trying to use the crowd to pressure Fan Changyu.
Fan Changyu seemed to have anticipated this tactic. She said coldly, “You and that old witch from the Song family gossip about me behind my back every day, thinking I don’t know? My reputation has already been ruined by your gossip. You don’t think I still care what others think, do you? If I wanted to act, how many of these people do you think would step in to stop me?”
These words dispelled the last of Old Lady Kang’s intentions. She swallowed hard, her mouth which could curse for an entire day without taking a breath now seemed sewn shut, unable to utter another word.
Fan Changyu then crouched down to ask her sister, “When I just asked if you pushed Hutou, why did you nod and then shake your head?”
Chang Ning’s round, black grape-like eyes were already rimmed with red. Her white, plump, delicate fingers clutched at her clothes as she said, “I did push him, but he was too fat. I couldn’t move him. He came to chase me, slipped, and fell down the steps himself. That’s how he broke his tooth.”
Old Lady Kang immediately started shouting again, “My Hutou said it was you who pushed him…”
Fan Changyu swept a cold gaze over her, and Old Lady Kang fell silent again.
Fan Changyu continued to question her sister, “Ning’er, why did you push him?”
Little Chang Ning lowered her head, and bean-sized tears instantly rolled from her eyes: “He pulled my hair, took my pine nut candy, and splashed water on me. He said his grandmother had poured rice-washing water on Elder Sister this morning to ward off bad luck, that I was the sister of a death star, and they needed to splash water to ward off bad luck from me too…”
After hearing this, Fan Changyu’s face had turned frighteningly cold.
Mrs. Zhao’s eyes reddened with anger. She had wondered why Fan Changyu’s shoes and skirt were wet when she returned this morning. So it was because this old hag had poured rice-washing water on her.
That rice-washing water was used to ward off evil spirits after ground-breaking. For her to pour it after Fan Changyu passed by, how malicious could she be?
Mrs. Zhao gritted her teeth and cursed, “You rotten old thing who won’t even have a coffin board when you die, if you can’t use your mouth to accumulate virtue for yourself, at least accumulate some for your children and grandchildren! Aren’t you afraid of having your tongue hooked when you face the King of Hell?”
Old Lady Kang was a bit guilty at first, but having been sharp-tongued for decades, she couldn’t help but retort aggressively, raising her chin: “How am I not accumulating virtue? Did I kill her parents? Did I kill those people in her house these past two days? Who in this town doesn’t know she’s a bringer of death? Only you and your old man, with no one to attend your funerals, would foolishly take in this family of disaster-bringers. Aren’t you afraid of being killed by her curse one day? If you ask me, the Fan family should have left this alley long ago. Who knows when their enemies might come looking for them again?”
“You…” Mrs. Zhao was so angry she trembled.
Fan Changyu wiped away her sister’s tears with her thumb, slowly stood up, and said with an icy gaze: “If I’m to bring death to anyone, it’ll be to an old hag like you who won’t die!”
She coldly smiled: “You want me to move out of the alley? On what grounds? Because your rotten mouth is good at gossip? If you’re so afraid, why don’t you move away yourself?”
Old Lady Kang was at a loss for words. She pointed at Fan Changyu, wanting to curse back, but Fan Changyu continued: “Also, keep your grandson in check. If he dares to touch a single hair on my sister’s head again, whichever hand he uses, I’ll chop it off!”
Old Lady Kang’s grandson, faced with Fan Changyu’s fierce gaze, immediately burst into tears, snot and tears flying.
Old Lady Kang shielded her grandson behind her, trying to sound tough but afraid: “Threatening a child, what kind of…”
Fan Changyu’s lips curled coldly: “Threatening? This is no threat.”
She glanced coldly at Old Lady Kang’s grandson’s arm: “I can chop through a pig’s knuckle with one strike. An arm would be even easier.”
Old Lady Kang’s grandson instinctively covered one of his arms, crying and pulling his grandmother back: “Grandma, let’s go home… I want to go home…”
Seeing her grandson so frightened, Old Lady Kang was both anxious and angry, but she didn’t dare to confront Fan Changyu directly.
She had no choice but to leave with her grandson, cursing all the way. As she stepped down from the Zhao family’s doorstep, her knee suddenly hurt for no apparent reason. She cried out in pain and fell down the steps, her chin hitting the last step. She lay there unable to get up, crying out in pain, her mouth full of blood.
The onlookers in the alley looked at each other in bewilderment.
Fan Changyu was also stunned for a moment. She instinctively looked up at the Zhao family’s loft and, as expected, saw a flash of dark blue clothing disappear.
After the initial shock, Mrs. Zhao quickly said, “Instant karma! Everyone saw it, neither Chang Yu nor I left the doorway. This old hag fell on her own! This is instant karma!”
Old Lady Kang, being elderly, lost several teeth from the fall. She sat up on the ground, crying loudly and pointing at Fan Changyu: “It was her! This bringer of death must have kicked me!”
The neighbors who had been watching the commotion for a while indeed hadn’t seen Fan Changyu do anything. Seeing Old Lady Kang making such a fuss, they couldn’t help but speak up: “Enough, Old Lady Kang. We were all watching. Chang Yu didn’t move from where she was standing. You just slipped and fell on your own!”
Old Lady Kang wanted to argue further, but then heard Fan Changyu snort coldly: “You’ve done too many bad deeds. It must have been a ghost that pushed you!”
As people age, they become more susceptible to superstitions and the supernatural.
Kang’s heart skipped a beat at those words. She indeed felt as if something had violently struck her knee before she fell, and recalling Fan Changyu’s reputation as a harbinger of doom made her lips tremble. Pointing at Fan Changyu, she shouted, “It’s you, you calamity star, that’s cursed me!”
Fan Changyu crossed her arms and replied, “If you don’t get out of here quickly, you might just lose your life due to my bad luck.”
At this moment, Madam Kang was genuinely frightened. Covering her bloodied chin, she left the Zhao family’s gate, dragging her grandson along in disgrace.
“She brought this upon herself!”
“Who in this alley hasn’t been hurt by her tongue? This is truly retribution!”
The onlookers chuckled and exchanged a few casual remarks before shaking their heads and dispersing.
Once the gate closed, Fan Changyu squatted down to meet her younger sister’s gaze, speaking earnestly, “From now on, if Ningniang encounters any trouble outside, you must tell me immediately, understood?”
Zhao Changningg obediently nodded.
Madam Zhao recalled the harsh words Kang had hurled at them and couldn’t help but shed a few tears for Fan Changyu in secret.
Fan Changyu comforted Madam Zhao for a moment, her gaze landing on the dried orange peel candy at the entrance before finding an excuse to head upstairs.
Upon entering, she found Xie Zheng indeed absent; instead, he sat on a bamboo chair by the window. Although his complexion was still somewhat pale, he looked much better than he had two days prior.
Before she could speak, his gaze brushed over her lightly. “Did you say those things to me this morning just because of a few words from others?”