### Chapter 136: Save the Loli!
Dinner was held in a cleared-out building, said to have been the former residence of the second son of the Huang family. It was empty and spotless, perfect for hosting the gathering.
The outdoor setup was the real deal, with two to three dozen large tables placed for relatives and friends to eat and dash. It wasn’t even really their turn today, especially after learning about the Huang family’s current predicament, they didn’t dare linger too long.
All the relatives had gathered in the small building in the backyard, except for the young people and kids keeping vigil.
During dinner, Zhao Mingyue looked at the table piled high with food. Although she was genuinely hungry, she didn’t dare dive right in. After asking Bai Yu to confirm that nothing was poisoned, she finally felt safe enough to eat.
They were at the main table, but the eldest, second, and third sons weren’t around. Instead, an old lady sat down.
This old lady was the late Mr. Huang’s widow, a seemingly kind but rather taciturn elder. From their relations, it seemed she got along best with the second son’s family, while she barely communicated with the eldest.
Most of the people at the table were older, and as they chatted around Lu Liangting, he was surprisingly gregarious, managing to strike conversations with everyone, except the old lady, of course.
Zhao Mingyue focused on her meal, mostly silent, and whenever someone tried to engage her in conversation, she casually brushed them off.
“Bai Yu, now that everyone’s here, what do you say we sneak over to the back building and take a look?” Zhao Mingyue set down her chopsticks, leaning in to mutter to Bai Yu while Lu Liangting was having a grand time chatting with the aunts and uncles.
With her rabbit plush toy around, she had a telepathic bond with Bai Yu—an ability that was pretty much a superpower in this situation.
“Sure, let’s head over after this,” Bai Yu replied.
“Okay, I’ll signal Lu Liangting.” Zhao Mingyue found the perfect way to use him as a distraction.
She whipped out her phone, quickly typed and sent a message. Almost immediately, Lu Liangting felt his phone buzz. He glanced at it and replied with a simple, “Got it.”
With their communication squared away, Zhao Mingyue sped up her eating, no longer caring about appearances, just wanting to shove in more food to fuel her impending escapade.
Moments later.
“Excuse me, uncles and aunts—I’ve got something to deal with.” With her mouth wiped clean, Zhao Mingyue stood up and dragged Bai Yu along, leaving a gaggle of confused relatives behind, only to be halted by Lu Liangting’s wine glass.
Tonight, he was determined to stall for Zhao Mingyue’s sake. As for driving home? Not important. He knew he wouldn’t be leaving tonight; tomorrow was the soonest.
“Bai Yu, are we going to the fourth son’s place to ask about his son? He might know something, and it shouldn’t come with any loyalty issues.”
“Sounds good.”
“Alright, I’ll do the asking, and you look for an opportunity to sneak upstairs and check on that little girl. How can they treat such a child so cruelly?”
Bai Yu didn’t respond, but as they slipped into everyone’s blind spot, he merged into Zhao Mingyue’s shadow.
The spirit hall was a short direct distance to the third floor, and for now, there were no threats to Zhao Mingyue’s safety. Bai Yu slipped away, planning to check out the upper floor.
Walking in the drizzling rain into the yard, Zhao Mingyue was keen on finding the fourth son’s boy. As she entered, she spotted someone in the kitchen.
Just as she approached, her eyes lit up upon recognizing the person inside.
She’d been trying to figure out how to call out the fourth son’s kid without raising suspicions, and now she didn’t have to bother.
Huang Tianhua was in the kitchen, holding a bowl of rice topped with a bun, about to leave when he was thwarted by a shimmering figure blocking the doorway.
At sixteen or seventeen, he was just slightly younger than Zhao Mingyue. When he saw her staring, Huang Tianhua, naturally shy, quickly averted his gaze, his cheeks aflame.
He hadn’t spoken much to girls before, and a few words made him panic. Meeting a heavenly beauty like Zhao Mingyue? Just one look made his heart race. It could be embarrassment or anxiety, but deep down, it was his inferiority complex kicking in.
“I’m the exorcist your uncles hired. No need to fear; I’m not a bad person.” Zhao Mingyue stepped in and closed the door behind her.
If they had swapped roles, it might have conjured up some inappropriate imagery, but with her taking the lead, it felt off in a unique way.
“I’m Zhao Mingyue. I’d like to ask you a few questions about your sister and mother.”
At the mention of his sister and mother, Huang Tianhua’s head shot up.
“I know I don’t look much like a master, but I assure you I have some knowledge, and I can help you with your troubles.”
“You don’t want your sister trapped upstairs forever, do you?”
“Put down what you’re holding. Don’t be in such a hurry to leave. Tell me what’s been going on here.”
After hesitating, Huang Tianhua placed the bowl of rice down and appeared hesitant. “I don’t know where to start. I’m Huang Tianhua, the fourth in the family. The one being locked up is indeed my sister, Huang Fengxi.”
“No worries. I’ll do the asking; just answer me.”
“Okay!”
“This might sound a bit forward, but you must answer this seriously: is the person in that old coffin outside your mom?”
“Yes, it’s my mom,” Huang Tianhua’s expression darkened. “They deliberately dug her up. They claimed her coffin just appeared in my grandpa’s grave. If we buried her, her coffin would be on top of my grandpa’s, and then they dug it up!”
“It was clearly intentional; I saw it! They buried my mom!”
Zhao Mingyue frowned; she hadn’t expected this. “Why would they do that?”
“I don’t know, but their intentions aren’t good!”
“Then how did your mom d*e? Can you tell me?”
“She was forced to d*ath by them.” Huang Tianhua stood where he could see the coffin in the yard, his fists clenched in anger.
A moment ago, he seemed fine—just a little nervous. But after mentioning his mom, the boy couldn’t hold it together; his eyes watered with a mix of pain, anger, and resentment.
He almost spat out the next words through clenched teeth.
“My mom was kidnapped by my grandma. She was a university student from a neighboring city who came to teach at our elementary school. My grandpa told me my grandma was out working in the fields one night and saw my mom coming back from school, so she pretended to be sick and tricked my mom into carrying her home.”
“My mom, being kind, agreed, and then my grandma knocked her out from behind.”
“Because she hit her too hard, my mom had serious brain damage and became a fool. My grandma kept her locked up in a pigsty and dressed her in tatters, before setting her up with my dad, saying my mom was silly but had the capability to bear children.”
“My dad was disfigured and couldn’t find a wife. Under threat from my grandma, my grandpa eventually caved in. He sold the family cow and half the grain as dowry for my dad while also getting some stuff to help my mom recover and buy new furniture.”
“Later, when my sister was born, my grandpa only learned of all this when my mom suddenly regained her memory one day and caused a huge ruckus at home.”
“My grandpa exploded with rage and nearly killed my grandma. Do you know what my grandma did with the money my grandpa gave her? She went gambling! Lost every dime!”
“After that, when my grandpa wanted to send my mom home, he knew the police would be involved. My grandma, realizing she was a criminal, convinced my dad to trick my mom one night, claiming they would take her home to reunite with family, then killed her in the fields.”
“They claimed she stumbled and hit her head on a rock. Everyone knew she was foolish, so no one doubted it.”
“When my grandpa found out, he broke my grandma’s legs. She told him if he killed her, he’d be arrested, and with my dad being a criminal too, there wouldn’t be any guardians left for me or my one-year-old sister.”
Hearing this made Zhao Mingyue freeze. Are there really such wretched people in the world?
She felt a pang of sadness. What was that old man thinking in the end?
His daughter-in-law, once a perfectly normal person with a beautiful life ahead, had been ruined by his family, and all he wanted was to send her back home for some paltry restitution—yet it ended in tragedy as she was killed by her husband and in-laws.
And he couldn’t do a thing about it.
Two kids, one three years old and the other just one, left alone with no one to care for them.
Once word got out, those kids who had barely any future would be doomed.
Zhao Mingyue figured he probably softened in the end; otherwise, he could’ve just called the police and arrested Huang Tianhua’s grandma and father, which they wholly deserved.
But now it made sense why Huang Tianhua’s mom had become an evil spirit; there was certainly a sufficient grudge there.
But questions soon emerged.
If Huang Tianhua’s biological mom had become an evil spirit, how did his father and grandma survive?
Leave aside the spirits; an ordinary evil spirit could wipe this family out ten times over.
There was definitely a secret there, surely connected to the eldest or second son’s families; Zhao Mingyue just couldn’t figure out what role those families played in all this.
Unfortunately, Huang Tianhua was in the dark too; he only knew that his mother’s d*ath was tragic.
After a few comforting words, Zhao Mingyue continued to probe for more information.
Huang Tianhua knew limited details, but they confirmed that Feng Er had indeed been locked up on his uncle’s say-so, supposedly to protect her mother. The razor wire on the yard had been installed by Feng Er’s second mother a week ago after a violent quarrel with the old Mr. Huang. The old man, already in poor health, quickly deteriorated and died within days.
The ghost of old Mr. Huang had stopped by these last few days, refusing to leave as his resentment simmered, though he hadn’t harmed anyone.
Huang Tianhua’s mother’s spirit had appeared last night, luring two relatives out of the yard, and they hadn’t returned.
This red-dressed spirit wouldn’t dare enter the house, instead appearing every night outside, banging on the door.
Huang Tianhua sometimes heard his mom calling him, urging him to leave that place, with poignant dreams of her in tattered dark red garments, face mangled and bloodied, beckoning him to hurry and escape.
Zhao Mingyue couldn’t wrap her head around why this red spirit was afraid.
Why was Feng Er confined while Huang Tianhua seemed completely fine?
Having pieced together the story from Huang Tianhua, Zhao Mingyue could make no promises but assured him she’d do her best to resolve the situation and help his mom find peace.
Bai Yu had listened intently, not uttering a word. After Huang Tianhua managed to wipe away his tears and exited with his bowl, Bai Yu detached from Zhao Mingyue’s shadow and made his way directly to the third floor.
There were four unrenovated rooms on the third floor, their cement walls stacked with all sorts of junk. His sense of smell, weaker than normal, still detected a vile odor—a mix of multiple stinks.
One room housed a few chickens and rabbits, these poor bunnies seemingly terrified, huddled on the ground, trembling with their ears perked up.
Bai Yu reached the only locked room and slipped through the wall into the space.
This was where Huang Fengxi was imprisoned.
The room was a chaotic mess, the damp, rotting straw on the floor serving as Huang Fengxi’s bed. Near the door sat a plate with a jug of water, housing a hard piece of bun and some rotten vegetables—clearly untouched.
The air was still and suffocating, saturated with the smells of decaying plants, excrement, and damp straw.
Bai Yu’s gaze focused on the excessively thin little girl by the window, her body covered in cuts from razor wire.
This girl hadn’t washed her hair in ages; strands clung to her sweaty forehead and cheeks.
Her dusty face was marred with cuts.
These were injuries inflicted by the outside anti-theft wire, and due to unsanitary conditions, some wounds had festered without timely attention.
Huang Fengxi was about thirteen or fourteen; at her age, she should weigh around eighty to ninety pounds, maybe even a bit over a hundred. Yet she was at most seventy—more bones than anything else.
The Huang family’s economic status wasn’t bad, and treating a young girl like this only pointed to one motive.
To provoke the red spirit!
“Don’t be afraid, I’m here to rescue you.” Bai Yu extended a hand. “Lu Nianqiu, I know you’re here. I’m here to help her.”
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Waaah, I’m late!
