Chapter 4

Yu Zezhi.

Wu Yinyu’s mind wandered for just a moment, and suddenly, a lotus flower bathed in fire unfolded before her eyes.

In the dream, the one who had interrogated her had come treading upon a red lotus, wreathed in flames.

Wu Yinyu shook her head sharply, forcing herself back to the present. She suddenly recalled something she’d heard before: after Yu Xiangge and Wei Liuxing perished in the car accident, the Yu family would eventually have to be handed over to Yu Zezhi. But Yu Zezhi had been slow to return to Wise City, leading others to think she didn’t want to be Family Head.

Her return this time was sudden, with no prior notice, yet she appeared abruptly at the Cuihui Eight Treasures Pavilion in Wise City.

Compared to the past, the Five Gates were far more distant now. They rarely visited each other on ordinary days and weren’t as familiar with each other. It seemed no one yet knew about Yu Zezhi’s return.

Within the Five Gates, only someone as old-fashioned and conservative as Wu Wanying would occasionally visit other families. Although he appeared cold on the surface, his heart was actually quite warm.

Wu Yinyu couldn’t fathom the relationship between Yu Zezhi and the consignor in the video. As she was pondering, she suddenly received a new message.

The Cuihui manager messaged saying that the previous consignor had been introduced by Yu Zezhi, but this current one was not.

Staring at the text on the screen, Wu Yinyu abruptly sat up straight. In that light, Yu Zezhi leaving the auction after the jade was sold made sense, and her appearance in the video now also seemed logical.

Yu Zezhi herself probably didn’t know the jade was a pair. She likely lingered at the Cuihui Eight Treasures Pavilion precisely to investigate further.

Wu Yinyu called the manager. “Can you give me the previous consignor’s contact details?”

The Cuihui manager laughed over the phone. “First, whether it’s even in line with regulations… after this incident, I tried contacting the previous consignor myself, but her phone has been unreachable.”

“Why not ask Yu Zezhi? Since she made the introduction, she must be able to find her.” Wu Yinyu leaned forward, taking the jade out of the brocade box.

The manager replied, “We are contacting her. Please bear with us a little longer.”

“Fine.” Wu Yinyu set her smoking pipe on the table, having no desire to take another drag. “I spent a huge sum on this jade. I certainly don’t hope it’s a mass-produced item.”

The manager cautiously said, “But, Miss Wu, we never explicitly stated at the auction that this item was one-of-a-kind. Perhaps it really is a pair of jades.”

Wu Yinyu scoffed. “You’re quite good at finding excuses for yourself. Playing word games with me?”

“I wouldn’t dare. You’ve been coming to the Cuihui Eight Treasures Pavilion for so long, you should understand this principle. If it really is a pair, it’s even rarer! Truly identical pieces of jade are not something you see every day.”

“Not every day?” Wu Yinyu said meaningfully, “I’d say never before.”

“You are quite right.”

After hanging up, Wu Yinyu felt an even stronger desire to see Yu Zezhi again. Getting acquainted was secondary; the main thing was, she really wanted to meet the previous consignor.

The things in her dreams had troubled her for a long time. Whether the jade was a pair or not, she had to get to the bottom of those matters.

Late at night, Wu Yinyu went downstairs to find something to eat.

The huge Old Residence lacked the warmth of people. Wu Wanying had probably gone out again to deal with work issues.

Wu Yinyu disliked wearing shoes, so she went downstairs barefoot. Fortunately, the floor was spotless, and going barefoot wouldn’t pick up any dust.

Just as she took the cake out of the fridge, she heard a ringing sound from upstairs.

The lights were off in the house, the curtains all drawn open. Cold white light from outside streamed in.

Wu Yinyu was about to take the cake upstairs when the pendulum clock on the wall struck with a heavy thud.

Midnight.

Exactly the start of a new month. Wu Yinyu had no time to attend to the phone still ringing insistently upstairs. She turned and headed straight for the Shrine Hall. This month, it was her turn to manage the Shrine Hall, to offer Incense to the ancestors.

Wu Qiyu had passed away from lung cancer. Because of this, Wu Wanying had strongly opposed her smoking at one point, but his repeated admonishments proved useless.

After a while, Wu Wanying stopped mentioning it and became as indifferent to her as before.

After Wu Qiyu’s death, Song Youzhi grieved until her tears dried and her heart broke in two. Traveling eased her emotions quite a bit, but whenever she returned to the Old Residence, she’d become despondent again.

Wu Wanying had to persuade her to move to Jadeite Garden. After she moved, she never came back.

The Shrine Hall was in the western part of the Old Residence. On the spirit table, the lamps were always lit, and incense and candles were constantly burning. The memorial tablets of the Wu ancestors were arranged in neat and proper order.

Wu Yinyu used the Rootless Water she’d collected a few days prior to wet a towel. Wringing it dry, she began wiping the tablets of the ancestors. As she reached Wu Qiyu’s tablet, she sensed a cold presence closing in behind her.

That Yin Energy was extremely cold, carrying a strange fragrance. It somewhat resembled what she had seen near Wu Wanying earlier. Perhaps it was indeed the same one that had clung to him.

She whipped her head around, but could see nothing and sense no Evil Entity. It was as if that chill was deliberately hiding.

Wu Yinyu finished wiping the tablets, wrung out the cloth, and hung it to dry. She walked to the spirit table and replaced the incense and candles with fresh ones. Slowly, she leaned close to Wu Qiyu’s tablet and touched it with a single index finger, saying with feigned lightness, “I still feel like you’re hiding things from me.”

No one in the Shrine Hall responded.

After renewing the incense, she still needed to burn Paper Money. After that came offering wine and tea.

It wasn’t until she finished tidying the Shrine Hall that Wu Yinyu felt that cold Yin Energy fade away. Later, unable to locate it at all, she locked the Shrine Hall and returned to her room.

In her room, the phone that had been ringing earlier was still on the table.

Wu Yinyu picked it up and saw two missed calls. Both were from Lu Yiqi. She casually called back, only to be met with a busy signal.

Lu Yiqi had called her twice, and she had returned the call twice. Both times, it failed to connect.

Logically, that Soul Summoning method shouldn’t have failed. It was stable and very safe. Had Lu Yiqi still failed to retrieve Lu Sansheng’s Soul even after the summoning?

A sense of unease crept over Wu Yinyu. She casually ate two bites of cake, then put on her shoes and headed for the garage. Just as the car started, before she even engaged the gear, her phone rang again.

This time, she didn’t hesitate and picked it up immediately. To her surprise, it was Wu Wanying calling.

Wu Wanying rarely called her unless it was urgent.

The call connected. Before Wu Yinyu could speak, she heard Wu Wanying’s interrogating voice.

“Lu San is in the hospital, his Soul can’t be found, and Lu Yi has gone missing. Does this have anything to do with you?”

Wu Yinyu narrowed her eyes and switched on the car’s headlights. “He called me just half an hour ago. Missing, just like that? Or do you think I would harm Lu Yi and Lu San?”

“That’s not what I meant. It’s just that the last call Lu Yi made before disappearing was to you,” Wu Wanying said.

Wu Yinyu folded her arms. She really disliked Wu Wanying’s tone, but the situation was indeed strange. Reluctantly, she asked, “What makes you so sure Lu Yi is even missing?”

“Come and you’ll find out.”

“Fine.” Wu Yinyu let out a “tch.” “I’ll add one point: I didn’t receive Lu Yi’s call. I was downstairs, wiping the tablets. I only saw the missed call after I finished. Apology accepted for suspecting me, I guess.”

Even Wu Wanying’s apology was that cold.

Wu Yinyu engaged the gear and said, just as emotionlessly, “I’ll head over now. Where are you?”

“City First Hospital,” Wu Wanying said.

Arriving at City First Hospital, Wu Yinyu easily found Lu San’s ward. Entering, she saw Lu Dongqing standing with his back to her by the window, leaning on his cane.

Hearing the sound, Lu Dongqing immediately turned his head. His expression was grave, but when he spoke, there was no reproach in his tone, only, “Yinyu, you came.”

“Elder Lu.” Wu Yinyu glanced at Lu San’s empty shell on the bed, its Soul gone. The chignon she’d secured with a hairpin at the back was already a bit loose. “I was also at the Cuihui Eight Treasures Pavilion this afternoon. Lu Sansheng fainted during the auction; his fainting had nothing to do with me.”

Lu Dongqing nodded. “I know. Lu San’s Soul has been unstable since he was a child. This is not your fault.”

Wu Yinyu knew what he wanted to ask and directly stated, “Lu Yiqi was afraid you would scold him, so he came to me to summon the Soul. I taught him the Rice Scattering Soul Summoning method. He…”

She paused briefly, frowning, then continued, “If he really is missing, he was probably still summoning the Soul right before he vanished. He left notes in his phone memo based on my instructions. You all know the lantern and rice scattering method; it definitely wouldn’t fail.”

“He is indeed missing. His phone was found at the entrance of the Cuihui Eight Treasures Pavilion,” Wu Wanying said.