Nan Zhi listened intently, unable to resist asking, "What happened after that?"
"Afterward?"
A misty look clouded Wanniang's eyes, as if she were sinking into deep memories.
"When I was sixteen, a disaster struck the south, and many refugees came to the city. My father took in an apprentice who was slightly older than me and adopted him as a son.
My father thought that since the apprentice's roots weren't in Dingyuan and he had no parents, his only reliance would be my Qu family.
That way, even after my father passed away, I would be able to control him and wouldn't suffer any losses."
"My father had a good eye. That apprentice was steady and hardworking, willing to endure any hardship, and he was completely obedient to me.
Once, I fell ill and spent the whole day coughing up blood without getting better. He somehow found a remedy, saying that wild loquat leaves could cure the illness.
Under the scorching summer sun, he ran into the mountains to pick a whole basket of wild loquat leaves for me, nearly getting eaten by the tiger on Wenshan."
Wanniang lowered her head, staring into the deep mouth of the well, gazing vacantly at the moon reflected in the water.
"I wasn't originally willing to agree to this marriage, but the matters between men and women in this world are never that simple...
When two people spend a long time together, seeing and talking to each other every day, and he treats me so well, I naturally started to care for him over time.
It wasn't that I loved him deeply...
I just thought that women in this world must eventually marry, and I needed a child—boy or girl, it didn't matter, as long as they took the Qu surname.
Since that was the case, I might as well do as my father said and marry someone easy to handle to save myself from future suffering.
So, from then on, I accepted him, only waiting a few more years before recruiting him into the family as a son-in-law.
At that time, I would handle external affairs while he managed the internal ones. Though it wasn't like a typical family, it would be a relaxed life.
I could also free up my hands to deal with those uncles and cousins who were coveting my family's property."
Nan Zhi guessed the person's identity but did not interrupt. She simply watched Wanniang quietly, waiting for her to continue.
A cloud drifted across the horizon, obscuring half the moon. In the dark, hazy sky, countless stars twinkled.
"The reputation of the 'Immortal Brew' grew greater and greater, and more and more people drank it. Everyone called me 'Lady Wanniang,' and they knew the Qu family had fine wine.
But brewing wine is not something that happens overnight, so the fine wine was hard to find in the city. Many high-ranking officials in Dongjing took pride in being able to drink the Immortal Brew from the Qu Family Distillery.
Qu family distilleries were everywhere, opening one after another. Yet I remember that one year, a strange Daoist came to the distillery."
Wanniang was silent for a long time before speaking again.
"That Daoist was very slovenly, filthy all over like a beggar, and he had a four- or five-year-old Daoist boy with him. They looked like master and disciple.
The two of them ate a meal at the distillery but had no silver to pay for it.
It was just a meal and a jar of wine, so I would have let it go, but I suspected the Daoist was a human trafficker who had kidnapped someone's child. I intended to use the excuse of reporting him to the authorities, but I didn't expect..."
Wanniang's eyes suddenly lit up, and the ghost seemed to come to life, a bit of vitality returning to her pale face.
"I didn't expect that when the slovenly Daoist saw I was going to report him, he didn't panic but laughed instead. He said that although my 'Immortal Brew' was beautiful, it didn't live up to its name.
I was young then, and seeing him disparage my hard work, I couldn't help but start arguing with him.
The Daoist smiled slightly, pulled a white-skinned gourd from his waist, and told me that only by using what was inside to brew wine could I create the true Immortal Brew.
After saying this, the Daoist became like a cloud. He threw a rope into the sky, and taking the little Daoist boy with him, he rose into the air and vanished.
Only then did I realize I had met a true immortal."
Wait, this story...
Why does it sound so familiar?
Nan Zhi covered her cheek and hissed, drawing in a sharp breath.
But Wanniang gave her no chance to interrupt, continuing the rest of the story in a low voice.
"With the immortal's guidance, I studied hard for a long time. I adjusted the formula for 'Immortal Brew' once more and finally managed to brew a single jar of peerless wine."
She suddenly stood up, her arms wide as she stumbled toward the moonlight, as if trying to embrace the moon.
"That jar of wine... that jar was the true 'Immortal Brew'!
Just one sip... one sip could make a person drunk, allowing them to dimly see Chang'e dancing in the Moon Palace, stars falling from the Heavenly River, and in a daze, they could even hear the Poet Immortal reciting poetry and the celestial palace playing music!
That was the true 'Immortal Brew'! The immortal did not lie to me! I finally succeeded in brewing it!
From then on, the Qu family's name soared to the heavens. Even people from the palace came, specifically requesting the Qu family's wine—"
Nan Zhi could imagine the kind of wealth and prestige the Qu family had back then.
She couldn't imagine, however, just how delicious the "Immortal Brew" must have been after Wanniang's many improvements and the immortal's guidance.
"But!! That wretch Wang Fugui, that filthy scoundrel! He actually dared!!"
Wanniang suddenly stopped. She whipped her head around, two streaks of crimson blood-tears hanging beneath her eyes.
"He is a deadly venomous snake! That year during the imperial selection, 'Immortal Brew' was famous, so it was naturally among the selections.
I spent all my effort and brewed a jar of top-grade 'Immortal Brew' two years in advance, sending it up with a heart full of joy.
But I never expected that once the wine was sent, what I would wait for was not good news, but a decree charging my entire family with a crime!"
Wanniang's eyes felt as if they were bursting, and the blood on her face was indistinguishable between tears and materialized resentment.
Ghostly energy surged around her, her long hair flying and dancing wildly like black snakes.
"That batch of wine had been spiked with mineral poison! The eunuch who tested the wine died within moments, bleeding from his seven orifices!
Furthermore, thirteen customers who drank from this new batch of wine all died unnatural deaths!
This wine was originally intended for the palace. Thus, it became a case of my Qu family intentionally poisoning people, not to mention attempting to murder the nobles in the palace!"
"That batch of wine was brewed by my own hands, and the mud seal on the jar was placed there by Wang Fugui himself!
My Qu family did not treat him poorly; we raised him as our own son. But what did we get in return? What did we get?!
Extermination of the entire clan! Extermination of the entire clan! Hahahaha! The man I once loved became the curse that took our lives. My heart full of sincerity was wasted on the wrong person!"
Wanniang began to wail, her sharp ghostly cries mixed with "ke-ke-ke" laughter that made one's skin crawl.
"If not for a former customer who pleaded for the Qu family and saved one bloodline, my Qu family would have been wiped out entirely—
I learned of this in prison and felt I had no face to meet my parents.
I originally planned to end my life with a length of white silk, but I never expected that beast Wang Fugui!
He used some unknown method to distance himself from the Qu family's crimes, and then he pulled strings to come see me.
But he didn't come to explain; he came to demand the secret recipe for 'Immortal Brew'!"
Large drops of crimson blood-tears fell from Wanniang's eyes. She seemed to have the bones sucked out of her body as her entire ghostly form collapsed onto the ground.
"Only then did I realize it was his greed for the immortal's treasure and the secret recipe in my hands that led him to put mineral poison in the wine.
He came to see me that day to force the location of the immortal's treasure out of me. How could I let him have his way?!
Thirty-seven lives of my Qu family—my father, my mother, my uncles and aunts—all died unjustly in prison, and the innocent customers who drank that poisoned wine died miserable deaths, while he, the culprit, stayed out of it—
Just for a bit of greed, just for glory and wealth, he treated me like this! How can you tell me not to hate? How can you tell me not to hate!"
Wanniang cried out her grievances, every word she spoke steeped in blood, every sentence heavy with tears.
In the dead of night, a misty rain suddenly began to fall, as if even the moon tonight were weeping for Wanniang's fate.
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