Wanniang had taken her own life in prison.
When she was first thrown into the cell, grief and fury surged through her chest; an immense injustice weighed upon her heart with no one to listen.
So Wanniang bit her finger and penned a blood letter across her skirt, waiting only to cry out her innocence.
Yet to her disbelief, she saw Wang Fugui in the prison.
Back then, Wang Fugui did not yet possess his current look of wealth and prestige.
He was fair-complexioned and tall, bearing an exceptionally honest face. Whenever he looked at someone, he would instinctively shrink back a little.
—This was also one of the reasons Father Qu and Mother Qu had chosen him to marry into the family.
“Wanniang... disaster has struck. Official sealing strips from the yamen have been pasted over the distillery, and the vintage brew in the shop has been smashed to pieces.
Every customer who previously bought wine is clamoring for compensation. The households where people died from the brew even carried coffins over, blocking the entrance outside the prison...”
Wang Fugui glanced at Qu Wan, his voice barely audible as he murmured his next words:
“By now, I’ve taken out all the silver in the estate to grease palms and work connections everywhere, exhausting every last bit.
Yet who would have thought that even after giving them the silver, those people refused to let it go. They are shouting... demanding your... demanding your life in return...”
“Brother Fugui, listen to me! I was framed! How could there be poison in that batch of wine? Someone must have set me up!”
Through the wooden bars of the cell, Wanniang took off the jewelry on her body and handed it out along with the blood letter in her hands:
“I still have some valuable items here. Go find out who the presiding official of this case is, and seek out the litigation master who was previously acquainted with our family. Have him—”
“Finding a litigation master won’t do any good! That wine contained lethal mineral poison—whoever drank it died on the spot! You brewed it with your own hands without anyone else’s involvement, so how could you ever clear yourself?”
Wang Fugui didn’t listen to her words at all. He unwrapped the bundle and rummaged through it carefully, his brow furrowing after a long pause before he stammered:
“Wanniang, a great catastrophe is upon us, something beyond human power to resolve. I know you hold a treasure bestowed by an immortal.
Why not hand it over now and present it to the superiors as tribute? Perhaps there might still be a glimmer of hope.”
Distressed and agitated, Wanniang was about to argue, but something suddenly struck her, and she fixed a piercing glare on Wang Fugui:
“How did you know what kind of poison was in it? I did indeed brew that batch of wine with my own hands, but the mud seals passed through your hands...”
Realizing a horrifying possibility, she trembled violently all over and screamed uncontrollably, lunging forward to seize his collar:
“It was you! It was you! The wine wasn’t poisoned—the yellow mud was! You wanted to destroy me!!
Why?! Why?! My Qu family never treated you poorly!”
“You truly are as stupid as a pig. Even at a time like this, you’re still asking me why?”
The smile on Wang Fugui’s face looked completely foreign to Wanniang:
“Men die for wealth, just as birds die for food.
Originally, my family had some modest wealth and fertile fields of our own, but the disaster claimed both my parents. I had no choice but to swallow my pride and become a despised matrilocal son-in-law in your household. In your Qu family, I was nothing more than a dog you kept. Anyone could look down on me, saying I had to be provided for by a woman.”
He pried Wanniang’s fingers loose one by one, tossed the blood letter onto the floor, and ground it ruthlessly under the tip of his shoe, his expression vicious:
“Now, the Qu family’s estate is entirely in my hands. Once I get hold of that treasure, I’ll surely run the distillery far better than you ever did.
Don’t worry. During festivals, Qingming, and the Ghost Festival, I’ll have people burn paper money and light incense for all of you in gratitude for the Qu family’s kindness.
Your parents, relatives, uncles, and nephews have already set off on their journey to the Underworld, waiting only for you.
I’ve already bribed the jailers. If you don’t want to suffer, obediently tell me where you hid that treasure. Perhaps then, I can still leave your corpse intact.”
Wanniang felt as though her tears had run dry; what welled up and spilled over instead was pure blood.
She never looked at Wang Fugui again.
Seeing that he would get nothing out of her, Wang Fugui had no choice but to leave in exasperation.
The next day, Wanniang hanged herself in the cell using her sash.
She would rather die than be humiliated by that beast.
Much less would she hand an immortal’s treasure over to such a vile wretch.
The prison cell was cramped and narrow; Wanniang had to try several times before she managed to strangle herself to death.
Yet none of that physical agony could compare to the hatred burning in her heart.
For decades, Wanniang harbored this hatred. It had never faded, only growing fiercer and fiercer with time.
...
“Back then, it must have hurt so much.”
Nan Zhi stared at the strangulation mark on Wanniang’s neck and drew a deep breath.
The cell had been cramped, without anything to leverage against.
Wanniang’s process of hanging herself must have been excruciatingly painful and filled with desperate struggle.
It spoke volumes about her fierce and unyielding nature.
“So Wang Fugui eventually obtained the recipe for ‘Immortal Brew’ after all?”
Nan Zhi asked cautiously, “Then the current daughter of the Qu family is your...”
Wanniang lifted her chin and said faintly:
“After that catastrophe, only a few women and children remained in the Qu family. My elder aunt had no sons, and her maternal family was gone, leaving her with nowhere to turn.
A few years later, in order to protect the Qu family’s only remaining wine shop, she adopted a baby girl from a prominent local clan to raise.
So, today’s Lady Qu is technically my younger sister.
Back then, to win over the veterans in the distillery, Wang Fugui even arranged a betrothal between his unborn son and this adoptive sister of mine.”
Realization dawned upon Nan Zhi.
In that case, everything fell into place.
Back then, Wang Fugui framed the Qu family to obtain the immortal’s treasure.
Afterward, he bribed the authorities, seized the Qu family’s estate, and used that massive fortune to build his own business from scratch.
A dozen or so years ago, both to conceal his past deeds and to give a legitimate origin to the ‘Immortal Brew’ recipe in his hands, Wang Fugui took the initiative to establish ties of marriage with the Qu family.
Then, ‘Immortal Brew’ resurfaced in the world, and the Wang family gradually prospered, eventually becoming local gentry.
Soon after, Young Master Wang grew up and passed the examinations to become a scholar, followed promptly by breaking the engagement and marrying another woman.
Looking at Wang Fugui’s entire life, he was like a blood-sucking leech.
He had perched upon the corpses of the Qu family, gorging himself until he was thoroughly bloated and securing a smooth, prosperous road in commerce.
Yet the Qu family, merely for trusting the wrong person, suffered clan extermination, never even learning who had brought about their destruction until the day they died.
“Wang Fugui traveled far and wide in his youth, so he possessed some knowledge. Fearing I would return as a vengeful ghost after death, he filled his house with statues of the Kitchen God and plastered portraits of door gods all over his front gate.
In daily life, he even pretended to be a vegetarian Buddhist devotee who loved performing charitable deeds, donating silver notes to temples, paying off Yin debts, and inviting numerous Daoist talismans into his home.”
Wanniang sneered:
“A beast in human skin imitating the virtuous deeds of a good person—how truly laughable.”
【Long-term Quest: Wanniang Has a Grievance (II)】
【Quest Details: Wanniang placed her trust in the wrong man; thirty-seven lives of the Qu family died unjustly due to the poisoned wine incident, and thirteen innocent people died untimely deaths, all because Wang Fugui harbored greed and coveted the secret recipe for ‘Immortal Brew’.】
【The cultivator has learned the truth of the past. Your choice (Choices cannot be reloaded, please choose carefully):】
【A. As an arrest officer of the Demon Suppression Division, how can you sit idly by and watch a ghostly entity harm human lives? Even if Wanniang has suffered an injustice, it should be reported to the Demon Suppression Division to await judgment from superiors.
Loudly reprimand Wanniang to bring her to her senses.
Persuade her that using killing to stop killing is ultimately not the proper path, and that Wang Fugui should be kept alive to atone for his sins and wash away the Qu family’s past grievances. (Wanniang’s Favorability -5, Reputation +20)】
【B. As a cultivator of the Dao, how can you remain indifferent upon witnessing fifty innocent lives met with brutal deaths?
Wang Fugui is utterly depraved, a beast with a human face who deserves retribution.
Moreover, once a person dies, their light is extinguished. Even if the truth is brought to light in the future, those who died unjustly cannot be resurrected. Today, I shall enforce justice on behalf of Heaven and let Wang Fugui die!
(Wanniang’s Favorability +5, Reputation -50)】
Nan Zhi chose neither option.
She looked toward Wanniang, placing the power of choice into her hands.
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