Ch. 5 - Learning Talismans (II)
The next day, when Yang Ruo arrived at the appointed time, her two talisman teachers were nowhere to be found.
She sent someone to fetch them, only to be told that their rooms were empty.
Puzzled and a little anxious, she thought—No way. After all the effort I put into finding two people who actually knew a bit of magic, with silver flowing out like water, and they run off the very next day?
Were they swindlers?
She went to check their quarters herself. Sure enough, the place was deserted—except for an abundance of spiders and rats.
Disgusted, she hurried out.
Sigh. No wonder the teachers left. How could the Ye household staff be so careless, giving them such a wretched place to live?
She summoned the steward, pointed at the filthy rooms, and ordered him to get them cleaned up.
The steward was completely baffled. It wasn’t just that the Second Young Miss was suddenly taking charge of household matters—he’d always had those quarters cleaned properly. Since these were her guests, how would he dare be negligent? How could there possibly be that many rats and spiders?
But the evidence was right in front of him. He couldn’t argue and could only accept his punishment.
The crow reported Ye Xiwu’s dejection over her teachers’ disappearance to Tan Jin.
Tan Jin said indifferently, “You don’t need to tell me how she feels.”
He had also heard about the steward being punished. Nothing spread faster among servants than gossip about their superiors’ misfortunes, and he had caught a bit of that talk.
This Ye Xiwu… She was still the same as in his previous life, and yet somehow, not quite the same.
He couldn’t put his finger on it.
“Keep watching her. Only inform me when she’s about to die.” He didn’t want to waste any more time on her. What he wanted was to reclaim his former peak as quickly as possible. He intended to return to the Jing Kingdom and be king again.
The crow replied, “Yes.”
Yang Ruo, realizing she’d been cheated, felt upset for a while. She couldn’t believe that in the modern world, full of sophisticated scams, she had never once been duped—yet here, in ancient times, she fell for it so easily. She figured it was probably because she was now relatively wealthy, and money didn’t feel as tight, so she’d let her guard down.
Still, because of this incident, she gave up on hiring monks or Daoists as teachers.
As for talismans, she decided to let the matter go. It wasn’t that she hadn’t tried—it just wasn’t meant to be, and she wouldn’t force it.
But without talismans to protect herself, she absolutely refused to follow Tan Jin on any adventures. Sure, she pitied him, but her own life mattered too!
Tan Jin, you can go subdue demons on your own. I’m too powerless to help you.
She muttered this to herself in her heart.
…
That day, she learned that Prince Sheng had summoned Tan Jin to the palace. At once, another plotline came to mind.
In the original story, Tan Jin was threatened by Wu, the Chief Eunuch, one of the emperor’s attendants. To deal with it, he commanded a swarm of bees to kill—but because of this, Li Susu began to suspect him.
Yang Ruo thought: she already knew exactly what would happen. She wasn’t curious, and she didn’t need to get involved. For her, it made no difference whether she went or not.
But… what if this world didn’t follow the television drama exactly? What if her arrival and everything she’d done so far had already triggered some kind of butterfly effect?
…Could something unexpected happen?
Feeling uneasy, as soon as Tan Jin entered the palace, she submitted a request and followed in as well.
Judging by the timing, Tan Jin and Prince Sheng should still be in talks, so she first went to pay respects to the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager was old and frail, so she did not keep her long. Once she left, Yang Ruo wandered about the palace at leisure.
She thought it over, then went to wait along the path where Tan Jin would have to take when leaving the palace. That eunuch Wu should also be waiting for him somewhere along here.
If Wu met only Tan Jin and then ended up dead, suspicion would inevitably fall on Tan Jin. Especially since he was born with that ominous evil bone—it would only make people more hostile toward him. But what if she were present as well? Surely Wu would not dare to hurl insults or issue threats in front of her. And if Tan Jin wasn’t provoked, he wouldn’t kill him. As long as Wu stayed alive, Tan Jin would not be suspected.
She was right. Before long, she saw Wu approach Tan Jin in the distance. From her concealed spot, no one noticed her.
She hurried forward.
Wu, who had just been about to get to the point with Tan Jin, froze when he saw her. He quickly changed his expression and respectfully bowed to her. Yet before leaving, he still spat a few venomous words at Tan Jin.
Yang Ruo felt a chill in her heart. Old man, stop it already. Do you even realize you’re only a step away from the Yellow Springs?
She glanced at Tan Jin’s face. He showed no expression at all—no joy, no sorrow, no hatred, no anger. It was the look of someone long since numbed, accustomed to being reviled.
But could anyone truly be untouched by such malice?
Wasn’t the so-called evil bone precisely something that fed and grew stronger on that malice?
She turned back and called out to the departing Wu, speaking with earnest gravity: