"That's where the problem lies," Xie Guang said. "The matriarch invited a Taoist priest, obtained some advanced magic, and wanted to adopt the marshal into her family."
"This will sever the last blood ties between the old marshal and the marshal, preventing the old marshal from finding the marshal in the mortal world and taking her life."
Xie Xia's expression darkened when he heard it was another adoption. But the marshal had no choice but to believe in these unorthodox methods if he wanted to keep his life.
Xie Guang said, "If the First Madam didn't have some selfish motives, I, your second brother, wouldn't believe it either."
"She's only concerned about making Shang Guang's lineage flourish." Xie Xia finally said what he had kept in his heart for a long time: "Two years ago, she deliberately arranged for Shang Guang to be by the Marshal's side, so that he would stay under the Marshal's nose every day. That was her purpose."
"If the Marshal has no successor, then wouldn't Shang Guang be..." The rest is self-evident.
Xie Guang told him to stop talking.
He said, "I am now more convinced that the Marshal is the fate of the Xie family. If she is not good, the Xie family will not have any good fortune."
"Otherwise, my illness wouldn't have healed so quickly."
Xie Xia asked, "Does it have to be her lineage?"
Xie Guangdao said, "Among the clan members, she has the strongest destiny according to her birth chart. The other one is the matriarch."
The matriarch and the marshal were wives, and their relationship couldn't be overstepped, so only the Grand Ancestral Mother Xie Lan was suitable. After a hundred years, the Grand Ancestral Mother would be the marshal's ancestor, and the marshal would have no further connection with the old marshal, even though he worshipped her. As for the old marshal, he would still be worshipped, and the incense offerings from these Xie clan leaders would never be lacking each year.
Xie Guang wrote a letter expressing his agreement to the adoption and promising to persuade the rest of the clan. The clan members, having suffered so much misfortune in the past, had long been superstitious, but now, with Xie Guang as a living example, they all agreed.
Because no one has the same voice as Xie Guang. He fell seriously ill overnight, and recovered just as quickly. What else could this be but being haunted by a vengeful ghost?
Everyone in the Xie family began preparing congratulatory letters, and Xie Guang personally delivered the letters to Si Xitong in Jinghua Prefecture.
Located in the Jinghua Prefecture, in the back hall of the county government office.
Li Fuyi kept driving away every doctor who claimed to be a famous doctor, but who turned out to be completely incompetent.
After Xie Lanzhi returned to Jinghua Mansion, she didn't even have time to tell her beloved wife that she was safe, because she developed a high fever due to an infection in the wound on her right wrist.
That day, the gauntlet blocked Artur's attack, but it also cracked. Artur's sword was not an ordinary one; it was extremely sharp and left a small wound on Xie Lanzhi's wrist and between her thumb and forefinger.
Xie Lanzhi used to be fine even with injuries like this, but today a small wound has caused an infection.
Si Xitong kept wiping her arms and forehead, while Lu Qing discussed with the doctor how to prepare the medicine, and they agreed to use the best Xiao Chai Hu to make the decoction.
Qianqian also leaned over the bed worriedly, glancing at Xie Lanzhi repeatedly before saying, "Sister, there's no more black energy on you."
"Okay. Thank you, Qianqian, for telling your sister." Si Xitong, in the midst of her busy schedule, tucked Xie Lanzhi's right hand under the covers, then freed her hand to pat her head.
After Lu Qing went out with the doctor, she returned with a letter: "Your Highness, I received a letter from Tianjing addressed to Marshal Xie."
Those idle bastards in Tianjing have no idea that their marshal has a high fever and almost died.
Si Xitong took the letter. At this moment, she had no mood to pay attention to other matters. As long as the Xie family maintained order in Tianjing, she didn't need to worry about them for the time being, even if they had ulterior motives.
Qianqian's eyes lit up when she saw the letter: "There are some very good things inside, which will be useful to you, sister."
Upon hearing this, Si Xitong's eyelashes fluttered slightly, and her tired eyes instantly lit up.
She opened the letter and read it. She discovered that it was a letter sent from the Southern Region in Xie Guang's name, from the Grand Mistress Xie Lan.
She remembered that this was Shang Guang's grandmother, who had also been a person of high status and power in the clan.
The letter contained the name of a Taoist priest from the deep mountains, some methods for warding off disasters, and a piece of ancient green jade. The jade was unpolished and felt cool and comfortable to the touch. Even Qianqian loved it, and after playing with it for a while, she returned it to Si Xitong.
Fortunately, she had a natural expert by her side, so Si Xitong handed the letter to Lu Qing.
After reading the letter, Lu Qing immediately replied, "I have heard of the great name of the Taoist priest from the deep mountains of your Southern Central Plains in the North."
At that time, the stinky tyrant invited a famous shaman from the Xiongnu to visit him. The shaman mentioned that the Taoist priest in the deep mountains was his senior brother, but unfortunately, due to political differences, the two lost contact after their birth. No one knew where the Taoist priest in the deep mountains had gone.
It just so happened that the stinky tyrant had invited the national shaman to solve the problem of his daughter's congenital eye, but for some reason, he didn't mention Qianqian's congenital eye and eventually sent the national shaman back to the palace.
"If it's a Taoist priest from the deep mountains setting up an array, perhaps it can suppress it."
"And only people with blood ties are qualified to take part of her misfortune in her place."
Lu Qing then thought of the matriarch, who was an elderly woman, and wondered if she could handle it. If something happened, the old woman might directly… She didn't say anything more, but secretly she knew that anyone could suppress the Marshal's horoscope, but it absolutely couldn't be His Highness.
Si Xitong stared at Xie Lanzhi lying on the bed, who was sweating profusely due to a fever, her face flushed, and her chest heaving.
She said with heartache, "For now, we should just go along with her. As long as Lanzhi can recover her health, anything is fine."
Lu Qing nodded. It seemed His Highness understood the implications. The couple owed such a huge favor that they feared they could never repay it in their lifetime.
She said, "Although we cannot defy fate, we can deceive the heavens and cross the sea."
After saying this, she felt extremely guilty. The Marshal was by His Highness's side every day; it was impossible to hide it from Heaven. If she were to say that Marshal Xie could live a few more years if he stayed away from His Highness, wouldn't she become the culprit who broke up their marriage?
But if she didn't tell him, the marshal would be half-dead. So Lu Qing was very conflicted, and she had no other way to solve the problem.
In the end, it was Qianqian who dispelled her mother's guilt.
Qianqian said, "Sister will get better. Sister has a strong destiny."
Si Xitong didn't press Lu Qing further, which relieved Lu Qing. At least she had gotten through this hurdle.
Si Xitong quickly wrote a letter to the Southern Region and also notified the Xie family in the new Tianjing.
Upon receiving her letter, the matriarch immediately went to the mountain to invite the Taoist priest, hoping he would perform a ritual to change her birth chart and replace the original one.
The Taoist priest in the deep mountains looked at June 21st and changed it to July 23rd. The number didn't make a huge difference; the new moon didn't change the old calendar, so it neither completely altered the original birth date nor compromised the new Four Pillars of Destiny. How long it could last depended on how long the matriarch could endure. Then, another young person with a strong birth chart could be born in the clan to take her place.
The matriarch is now sixty years old.
A note from the author:
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 18:54:18 on January 13, 2022 and 18:59:32 on January 14, 2022!
Thank you to the little angel who threw the landmine: Mr. Ze (1 landmine);
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: So (36 bottles); ADORA and Hongyan (10 bottles each); 3203448 and Tong (5 bottles each); Xinxin (2 bottles); and Qianxia Danshang (1 bottle each).
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 143 A Stranger from Another World
The Taoist priest in the deep mountains set up an altar and performed rituals for three days and three nights without drinking a drop of water. On the offering table were two yellow talismans, one old and one new, buried in millet. He continuously held up a peach wood sword and chanted the titles of the divine officials.
Finally, two hens were caught, each bearing a number from the Chinese zodiac. The young boy and girl then swapped the numbers and went directly to the ancestral hall. The matriarch personally chopped down the hen with the old number, signifying a severing of ties with the past.
As the matriarch Xie Lan held the old birth chart, a hint of sadness appeared in her eyes. Before killing the chicken, she patted its head and said, "Marshal, don't be afraid. It will pass in a moment."
These were the words she used to comfort Xiao Xieying when she was little.
The matriarch was about to act immediately after speaking when she heard the clanging of metal tools and the sound of approaching footsteps. She turned around; the night was dark, and the area was deserted except for the guards on duty. There was no one around.
She thought it was her imagination. The cleaver, smeared with vermilion, swung down, but the blade, as if possessed, struck the chicken with the new eight characters.
The hen tucked its head in at just the right moment, and the vermilion cleaver missed its target.
The matriarch suddenly stopped moving. Her hands were trembling inexplicably, and her back was cold. A chilling aura surrounded her, and it felt as if the body temperature was draining away.
The matriarch shivered from the cold and asked, "Who is it?"
Finally, her hand moved suddenly, and the cleaver chopped off the hen belonging to the old man. Chicken blood splattered all over the ground, staining the old man's body red.
The matriarch's hand trembled, and the kitchen knife fell to the ground.
Her face was filled with confusion. Then she recalled the sound of chains and footsteps, gradually receding into the distance, and then disappearing without a trace.
The matriarch dared not conceal such a strange matter. She waited for the Taoist priest from the deep mountains to return, and then put the chicken with the new birth date into the chicken coop. The chicken just stayed there, curled up, sleeping.
Upon hearing this, the Taoist priest in the deep mountains simply said, "This is good news, everything is alright."
The matriarch was half-believing and half-doubting, but she dared not ask any more questions; she had a vague feeling that something was amiss.
Someone then placed the rooster with the new birth date on a magic bag to formally acknowledge the kinship on behalf of Xie Zhu. The matriarch also gave the hen a red envelope, smiling broadly as she formally accepted this godparent relationship.
The matriarch also announced to the clan members that Xie Zhu would be given a new name: "Xie Lanzhi".
Meanwhile, another shrine was built in the southern region to worship Xie Lanzhi. The matriarch was worried that Xie Lanzhi's merits were insufficient, so she tried her best to do good deeds in Xie Lanzhi's name and help the suffering people to clear their names.
The Taoist priest in the deep mountains stood at the entrance of the ancestral hall, watching the shrine being erected, and sighed repeatedly: "You committed too many killings in your life. Even on the road to the underworld, the Black and White Envoys only dared to detain you, but dared not to judge you. Because it was a muddled account. Now, the newcomer will bear your sins and suffer the consequences for you."
"You've severed your ties with this world on your own, so you should rest in peace now. Perhaps there's a glimmer of hope that you can be reborn."
And then there's my junior brother; loopholes in the Heavenly Dao aren't so easy to exploit. Xie Lanzhi will be an exception.
Afterwards, before leaving, the Taoist priest from the deep mountains specifically told the matriarch, "I only managed to gain six years, but the marshal was only given three years."
The matriarch was surprised and asked, "What about the remaining three years? Where did the other three years go?"
The Taoist priest in the deep mountains did not say it explicitly, but instead addressed the deity as "Amitabha," and then promised that he would return in three years.
The matriarch was very sorry. She didn't ask any more questions. That night, she went to sleep and never saw the old marshal again. Instead, the marshal came in, had a cup of tea, and then stood by her bedside and glanced at her. This time, the marshal had no chains or bloody holes on his body; he was completely unharmed. He looked like a normal young man.
The matriarch smiled in her dream when she saw how healthy she was.
Finally, the marshal turned away with a flick of his sleeve, and she lifted her knee-length robe and strode out the door.
The next day, the matriarch woke up and burst into tears for no apparent reason, feeling only deep sorrow. After crying, her old face showed a look of bewilderment, as if she didn't know why she was crying. In short, she felt as if a piece of her heart had been emptied, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
News of Xie Lanzhi's fever subsiding also reached the Southern Region.
Si Xitong never expected that a family reunion would help Lanzhi recover so quickly.
Lying in bed, Xie Lanzhi felt sticky, sore, and swollen all over, with an itchy scalp. She guessed that she had been unconscious for several days and hadn't taken a bath in a long time.
"Little Phoenix." Her voice was still a little hoarse when she spoke.
Si Xitong turned her back first, secretly wiping away her tears with her fingertips, then she pursed her lips, leaned on her shoulder, and asked, "Is there anything else that's bothering you?"
"I want to eat meat, I want to take a bath," Xie Lanzhi said. "I feel like I'm spoiled."
A soft "plop" sounded from inside the room. Lu Qing couldn't help herself; she was still holding a letter from the Southern Region in her hand. His Highness was too happy about his lover waking up to open it.
She felt that nothing serious had happened, so she kept the letter in her hand for the time being and had not yet handed it over.
Si Xitong saw that she was recovering well and even knew how to keep clean. But she still couldn't take a bath, and she couldn't even open the door for ventilation.
She touched Xie Lanzhi's face and coaxed her, "Sweetie, the sun will be even hotter the day after tomorrow. Shall we wash then?"
Xie Lanzhi nodded slightly. She raised her right wrist and saw that it was tightly bandaged and a little itchy. It seemed to be healing.
She thought of Artur again and fell silent.
Lu Qing handed the letter to Si Xitong at the right time.