Lou Xin pressed her lips together and said, "We appreciate your assistance, Miracle Doctor."
She rose, gave a slight bow, then turned to leave for the back hall.
Lou Xiaowu noticed her suppressed anger and said to Mo Sigui, "I'll go check on the Sixth Elder as well."
The others followed Lou Xin and Lou Xiaowu out, leaving only Mo Sigui and An Jiu in the room.
Mo Sigui was well aware of Lou Xin's displeasure, but he didn’t care. "What brings you here? Could it be that a day apart feels like three years?"
An Jiu ignored the latter part of his remark. "I was attacked in Bianjing. The Crane Control Army rescued me, and upon returning to Plum Blossom Village, I was assigned to accompany the Lou family here."
Mo Sigui rested his chin on his fan handle, his peach-blossom eyes gleaming with mischief as he regarded her lazily. "You were attacked? These people really aren’t picky, going after even minor players."
An Jiu nodded. "That’s why I heard you were also attacked."
"Ha!" Mo Sigui chuckled, straightening up. "I particularly enjoy talking to you—it tests my patience."
Before meeting An Jiu, Mo Sigui had never lost the upper hand in teasing others. Running into someone who could render him speechless was oddly amusing.
After sitting together for a while, Mo Sigui prepared to head to the ice cellar when a thought struck him. "Hiss! They all left—who’s going to carry the bodies?!"
An Jiu stared at him silently, and the atmosphere instantly turned chilly.
"Don’t look at me like that—it’s creepy," Mo Sigui said, leaning closer. "Mei Shisi, come with me to the ice cellar."
"No," An Jiu refused flatly. She had only come to gather information, not to lend a hand.
"If you accompany me, I’ll dedicate my life to healing your meridians," Mo Sigui called out.
An Jiu paused at the doorway and glanced back at him. "If I don’t go, could you resist treating them anyway?"
Given Mo Sigui’s obsession with the way of medicine, it was unthinkable he’d pass up the chance to study bizarre injuries and illnesses. An Jiu wasn’t falling for that trick.
The vast meeting hall was now empty except for Mo Sigui. He could have walked away, but as a physician, he couldn’t ignore the corpses in the ice cellar that might trigger a deadly plague.
Lantern in hand, he marched confidently to the back hall to find someone to guide him to the storage room.
Lou Xin was angry, but she didn’t leave Mo Sigui hanging indefinitely. After all, this was the Lou family’s affair, and his help was already a favor.
Winter demanded ample firewood, and Lou Manor had stockpiled plenty of dry wood. Mo Sigui checked the sky, judged that the snow wouldn’t return, and ordered the wood moved outside. He then took one person into the ice cellar to retrieve the bodies.
As a once-prosperous century-old clan, even in decline, the Lou family still numbered over forty members. Even if each had only one maidservant, that would match their count.
As expected, all the deceased were servants. Even if they had martial arts skills, most were below the fourth rank—unable to withstand such extreme cold. Nearly all had collapsed near the cellar entrance, sparing him the trouble of searching.
The scene suggested that someone had tried to escape the cellar, which was why Lou Mingyue had stood guard at the passage with her sword.
Mo Sigui worked through the night, retrieving a total of 107 bodies—more than half of them girls aged thirteen or fourteen.
Their lives had withered before they could bloom. A pang of sorrow struck Mo Sigui’s heart.The firewood pile, drenched in a thick layer of oil, erupted into roaring flames the moment a torch was thrown onto it. Those who had been frozen stiff burned from dawn until afternoon before finally turning to ashes.
Mo Sigui ordered people to go down the mountain to purchase large quantities of atractylodes and soap pods, preparing for another round of disinfection.
By evening, those sent to buy the medicine returned—but they brought back terrifying news: a plague had broken out in the suburbs of Bianjing!
Plagues usually occurred in spring or summer, yet this one, erupting in the depths of winter, spread just as rapidly as those in warmer seasons. In a village north of the city, the entire population fell ill within two days. Deaths followed one after another, and the panicked villagers attempted to flee elsewhere.
Fortunately, the imperial court had been prepared this time and managed to seal off the village just in time.
"This servant heard that other villages have also reported cases of the plague," the person sent to procure the medicine said.
The council hall fell into dead silence. At the head of the table, Lou Mingyue's face was deathly pale. Overnight, streaks of white had appeared at the temples of this woman not yet twenty years old, making her look five or six years older.
Everyone present knew exactly where this "plague" had come from. The terrain here was high and commanding, and the howling north wind could easily have carried the poison elsewhere. Another possibility was that the Lou family, while seeking help from Plum Blossom Village, had inadvertently spread the poison to villages along the way.
Lou Xin muttered, "We only took secluded paths and never went near any villages!"
"It seems someone has improved the Plague Gu," Mo Sigui said gravely. "In the past, as long as one avoided close contact with the infected, transmission wouldn’t occur. But now, the poison's potency has increased manyfold—not only is it more contagious, but the onset time has also shortened by a day."
Originally, Mo Sigui had estimated that delaying the disposal of those still alive in the ice cellar for a few more days wouldn’t pose a problem. But now, it seemed...
The gazes directed at Lou Mingyue varied. Hidden within Lou Xin and Lou Xiaowu's sorrowful eyes was a faint glimmer of hope—that she might find a solution that could both save the Lou clansmen and prevent harm to the innocent. Yet this hope weighed on Lou Mingyue like a mountain, crushing her to the point of near collapse.
Mo Sigui, on the other hand, hoped she would quickly resolve to burn those deeply infected—a decision unbearably cruel for Lou Mingyue.
Seeing that once-familiar yet now haggard face, Mo Sigui’s heart softened, and he turned away, unable to bear looking any longer.
Lou Mingyue stood and walked out of the council hall. At the doorway, she suddenly paused, raising her head to gaze at the four bold characters inscribed on the plaque.
An Jiu leaned against the inner side of the door, closest to her. The harsh glare of the snow reflected off Lou Mingyue’s pale skin, making it almost translucent. Her glass-like eyes clearly mirrored the words on the plaque:
Loyalty, Integrity, Duty, Righteousness.
Lou Mingyue closed her eyes and forced out a single word through gritted teeth: "Burn!"
That hoarse voice, carrying the weight of those four words—Loyalty, Integrity, Duty, Righteousness—struck An Jiu’s heart like a hammer, leaving an indelible mark.
"All of you, go back," Mo Sigui said. "Shi Si and I will handle this."
The task was thankless. Though the decision had been Lou Mingyue’s, no one could face with equanimity the person who had personally burned their own kin. Yet this time, An Jiu did not object.
Mei Jiu was already weeping uncontrollably, as though it were her own clansmen being burned.Lou Mingyue took a deep breath and declared resolutely, "No! I must go. How else can I etch this blood feud into my memory if I don't witness it with my own eyes?"
"I'm going too!" Lou Xiaowu chimed in.
Lou Xin remained silent, but the hatred in her eyes spoke volumes.
Ling Gu led a group to gather all the dry firewood stored by the Lou family, while Mo Sigui and the others took turns carrying the bodies out from the ice cavern.
During her break, Lou Xiaowu crouched beside Mo Sigui and whispered, "Brother Mo, will they feel pain? Could you use some anesthetic..."
These people were frozen solid, making it nearly impossible to ensure a swift death with a blade.
"We'll sever their throats later," Mo Sigui replied.
Without breath, most wouldn't wake again—though exceptions were possible.
"Mm," Lou Xiaowu murmured gloomily.
Those with formidable Inner Force had True Energy circulating within, preventing complete freezing. They would undoubtedly feel pain when struck, and even Mo Sigui could do nothing about it.
Lou Mingyue emerged from the ice cavern carrying a four- or five-year-old boy and strode straight to Mo Sigui. "Can you save him?"
Mo Sigui looked up.
The firelight reflecting off the sable fur cast a rosy hue on Lou Mingyue's face, making her resemble a freshly bloomed red plum in the snow.
"Little brother!" Lou Xiaowu sprang up and hurriedly took the frozen child.
The Lou clan numbered barely twenty, and Mo Sigui remembered the order in which they'd fallen ill. This child had been infected around the same time as the elders and had been frozen for so long—by all logic, he should have been dead already.
Mo Sigui examined the boy's pallid face, noting the faint peach-blossom flush on his cheeks, as if he'd only just contracted the Plague Gu. "If I'm not mistaken, the elders transferred all their Inner Force to him. There's still hope!"
Lou Mingyue wasn't surprised. Lou Mingrui was the Lou family's hard-won male heir—though technically a grandson born to a Lou daughter, he'd been regarded as the continuation of their lineage since birth, treated no differently than a direct descendant.
"Xiao Wu, accompany Miracle Doctor Mo to prepare the treatment. Leave the rest to me." Lou Mingyue knelt before Mo Sigui. "Lou Er swears to never rest until this vengeance is fulfilled. Miracle Doctor Mo, you've saved our Lou bloodline. Mingyue has no way to repay you in this life, but in the next, I'll serve you as loyally as grass binding a ring."
She kowtowed three times decisively, then remained prostrate.
"Your kneeling is deserved," Mo Sigui said coolly, watching her. "I don't believe in the next life. No grand promise for the future is worth a single word or character in the present."
Tucking his folding fan into his sleeve, he took Lou Mingrui from her.
Lou Xiaowu helped Lou Mingyue up and hurried after him.
Years ago, Qiu Ningyu had said something similar: "If I'm not married in five years, I'll marry you. Until then, you're not allowed to wed or be with anyone else."
They'd been betrothed since childhood—just a young girl's capricious words. Mo Sigui still remembered his teasing reply: "How dreadful. I'll have to inform all the young ladies in Bianjing to cherish these five years, lest they spend the rest of their lives suffering under your tyranny, missing out on this dashing gentleman."
The past echoed in his ears, but the speaker was gone.
Today, he'd encountered a woman with a familiar demeanor, pledging promises for the next life. If five years had been impossible to fulfill, what hope was there for another lifetime?Mo Sigui felt that he was destined to die alone in this life.
An Jiu stood nearby like air. After Lou Mingyue left, Lou Xin approached, "Mei Niangzi."
She clasped her fists in salute and continued, "I have an unreasonable request, and I hope Lou Niangzi can agree."
"Speak," An Jiu said.
Lou Xin said, "Earlier, Miraculous Doctor Mo mentioned cutting open the throats of our clansmen to spare them suffering when the time comes. I can't bring myself to do it. Mingyue has already made a difficult enough decision, and I don’t want her to have to carry it out herself. I hope you can..."
"Fine," An Jiu agreed bluntly before she could finish.
Lou Xin was taken aback, then said bitterly, "Thank you."
Having to thank someone for killing her own family—Lou Xin's heart felt as though it were blocked, the pain unbearable.
The firewood was stacked. Everyone arranged the forty-some corpses atop it. Covering her nose and mouth, An Jiu climbed onto the pyre and used a dagger to slit each of their throats.
Ling Gu ordered people to pour oil over the bodies. Though they were careful, such a mass cremation could never compare to a proper burial.
Lou Mingyue clenched her teeth, her lips trembling, but she forced herself to watch without blinking.
Lou Xin simply turned her back.
When everything was ready, Lou Mingyue said hoarsely, "Light it."
As she spoke, blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
No one moved.
After a long pause, An Jiu took the torch from Ling Gu and flung it onto the pyre.
The flames roared to life, swiftly engulfing all the figures within.
Placed at the southernmost end, closest to Lou Mingyue and An Jiu, was the Lou family head—a woman in her forties, her features somewhat resembling Lou Xin's.
The wind whipped the ashes, fueling the fire. Amid the flickering tongues of flame, An Jiu clearly saw the Lou Manor mistress slowly open her eyes.
Lou Mingyue trembled uncontrollably, a stifled sob escaping her throat.
The Lou Manor mistress made no other movement, her unblinking gaze fixed on the swirling ashes and lingering snowflakes above.
"Mother!" Lou Mingyue stepped forward, her eyes reflecting the leaping flames, blood-red. "Your daughter will avenge you!"
An Jiu felt as though something had pinched her, a sudden pang of pain. She had assumed Lou Mingyue's mother had long passed—she hadn’t realized it was the Lou Manor mistress!
Lou Mingyue was a woman of great resolve. An Jiu admitted she couldn’t have done the same—even if the whole world burned, she wouldn’t give up the slimmest hope of her mother’s survival.
Perhaps because she found it so difficult herself, An Jiu genuinely admired her.
Lou Mingyue didn’t kneel, only hoping her mother might glance at her one last time. But in the end, the Lou Manor mistress merely closed her eyes slowly.
Her face was streaked with droplets, a single red tear spilling from the corner of her eye—whether blood or tears, it was impossible to tell.
Lou Mingyue’s knees buckled, and she collapsed into the snow, her cheek pressed against the icy ground, yet it brought her no clarity.
In the last blurry moment of consciousness, she only felt a pair of hands lifting her up.
By nightfall, the Crane Control Army’s reinforcements finally arrived.
Lou Xin suppressed her resentment and reluctantly received them.
Lou Mingyue, burdened with grief, had only slept for an hour. Hearing the Crane Control Army had arrived at the manor, she freshened up briefly, donned mourning attire, and headed to the council hall.She was far more clear-headed than Lou Xin. The Plague Gu's poison had struck suddenly, and by the time it was discovered, two days had already passed. Much more time was lost during the journey to seek help from the Crane Control Army and Mei Shi. Even if the Crane Control Army had arrived a day earlier, the outcome would have been the same—merely adding a few more hands to carry corpses and firewood.
On her way up, Lou Mingyue encountered Ling Gu escorting the Crane Control Army members down. She bowed slightly and asked directly, "Has the Crane Control Army uncovered the mastermind behind this?"
"This is the new head of our Lou family," Lou Xin introduced. With Lou Manor gone, there was no longer any talk of a manor master. (To be continued...)
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