Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 493 A Blow from a Thousand Years Ago

Tao Zhugong grabbed the little monk's bald head in his hand, glared at the last Chen Lingzhi, and roared, "You tell me! This might be your fate!"

“What’s there to say? Even I, a blind man, can see that you keep saying you have to give to receive, but what you’re ‘giving’ is her body, and what you’re ‘receiving’ is your own benefit. Deep down, you know better than anyone that you’ve wronged her, so how could she not resent you?” Chen Lingzhi, however, remained unfazed, sneering as he said:

"If she truly doesn't resent you, why do you keep bothering unrelated people with endless questions? You know better than anyone that no matter how rich you are, even if you bribe millions to say that Xi Shi doesn't resent you, you can't buy back her heart!"

Tao Zhugong suffered a four-hit combo, his old face turning a deep shade of red. But Su Xiaoxiao wasn't satisfied and continued to deliver the final blow:
"You must have chosen all these concubines to resemble Xi Shi, right? Too bad, a fake is a fake, and can never replace the real one. In matters of the heart, you are a complete and utter failure!"

Tao Zhugong coughed up a mouthful of blood.

"You ungrateful bastards, all of you, die!" After being bombarded with these hurtful words, Fan Li completely lost his mind.

He was disheveled, baring his teeth and brandishing his claws, letting out a beast-like roar. The entire Golden Terrace trembled violently in the roar, the strings of beads hanging from the eaves collapsed like a torrential rain, and the gold bricks and jade tiles shattered, turning into a vortex of gold dust that blotted out the sky.

At the center of the vortex, Fan Li's body twisted and deformed like melting gold foil. Half of his face still wore a purple-gold crown inlaid with pearls, and the gold-threaded dragon pattern on his gorgeous clothes gleamed with a cold, precious light; the other half revealed stark white bones, his knuckles as thin as withered branches, yet he tightly gripped a purple-lacquered abacus. The dzi bead on the crossbeam was engraved with the character 'win', and the earth bead below the crossbeam was engraved with the character 'profit'!

A bloodstained wooden hairpin, stained with blood, was still stuck in the center of the monster's chest. The carving on the hairpin was blurred, but it still exuded a familiar, feminine fragrance.

The aroma drove Fan Li even more mad. His fingers flew across the paper as he manipulated the 105 gold beads on the abacus, chanting incantations:
"A bolt of silk borrowed in spring can be used to offset ten acres of land in winter. Three bushels of grain can be used as collateral for a bushel of grain, and two boats can be returned in autumn."

Three days to buy a bushel of rice on credit, nine years to pawn one's children and grandchildren. A living contract can be overturned upon death; a dead contract brings profits even after death!

Fan Li's ramblings transformed into a shower of coins, each one accompanied by a piercing whistle, raining down on everyone like a storm!

Upon seeing this, Su Xiaoxiao immediately opened her red oil-paper umbrella, which transformed into a crimson light shield, blocking the attack for everyone. The moment the money struck the umbrella, countless phantom images of starving corpses scratching and clawing were projected onto the crimson light shield, emanating a nauseating stench of money.

Just as Fan Li was about to take out his golden scale to weigh the consciences of these heartless juniors, Fa Xiu's head, which had fallen to the ground, suddenly bounced up and slammed into his stomach like a cannonball.

Caught off guard, Tao Zhugong took two steps back and sat down on the ground. Just then, a white figure shot out from the golden cage and pounced in front of him!
He instinctively waved his hand to try to block, but he couldn't keep up with the lightning-fast figure. He watched helplessly as A Yao stabbed the hairpin all the way into his chest!

The moment the hairpin was inserted, Fan Li's body stiffened, and scenes involving Xi Shi flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern...

He recalled that when he was still unknown, he had fallen in love with Shi Yiguang, a washerwoman from the village of Zhuluo in the west. After pursuing her relentlessly, he finally placed a wooden hairpin he had made himself into Xi Shi's hair.

"Yiguang, once I learn the art of accounting, I will become the richest man in the world, and then I will give you the most magnificent gold hairpin." He made this promise to Xi Shi.

"I won't trade it. This wooden hairpin is the most precious one." Xi Shi shook her head contentedly.

“Alright, then I’ll take you boating on the Five Lakes then…” Fan Li then made another promise.

"That's fine." Xi Shi leaned happily on his shoulder.

The babbling brook reflected their clear, innocent youthful appearances...

~~
Fan Li then foresaw that several years later, he would persuade Xi Shi, with the guise of "righteousness," to go and serve the King of Wu. At first, she resolutely refused, but she couldn't resist his persistent pleading and entreaties. Fan Li then promised that if she couldn't bear it any longer, she should send him this hairpin, and he would definitely rescue her from the palace. Only then did Xi Shi agree with tears in her eyes.

But after receiving the hairpin, he did nothing, leaving Xi Shi alone in the Wu King's palace, weeping in despair...

Fan Li also observed that after the successful conquest of Wu, King Goujian of Yue summoned Xi Shi, who had made great contributions. Goujian was captivated by Xi Shi's beauty and wanted to keep her by his side. However, the Queen of Yue, seeing this, used the pretext that Xi Shi was a "woman who brought ruin to the country" to have her flogged one hundred times, wrapped in a sack, and drowned in the river.

Fan Li dared not stop her, so he could only wait nearby in his boat and retrieve the sack as soon as possible, rescuing the dying Xi Shi.

He wanted to take Xi Shi away to a distant land, to sail the Five Lakes with her as promised. But Xi Shi asked him, "Is that hairpin still there?"

"Yes, of course I have it. I've always kept it close to my body." Fan Li quickly took out the wooden hairpin that the two had used as a token of their love, then combed Xi Shi's hair and secured it with the hairpin. Xi Shi gave a bitter laugh and said, "Don't I look terrible now?"

"No," Fan Li quickly shook his head and said, "It's still as beautiful as it was back then."

"I don't believe it," Xi Shi said, shaking her head.

"Look for yourself." Fan Li quickly brought over a mirror and presented it to Xi Shi.

Xi Shi gazed intently at her haggard reflection in the bronze mirror and whispered, "The withered flowers and fallen willows are all for your sake."

Having said that, he pulled the hairpin from behind his head and plunged it into Fan Li's heart!
~~
The wooden hairpin pierced Tao Zhugong's chest, and he finally felt the pain that had been passed down from a thousand years ago.

"It turns out that she not only resented me, but also hated me, hated me so much that she wanted to kill me..." Faced with the bloody truth, Tao Zhugong finally could no longer deceive himself.

His carefully crafted armor of lies, built over many years, crumbled, unable to support this filthy spirit any longer. Finally, filled with eternal regret, he fell backward off the Chu Yang Terrace, sinking into the icy river.

Jiang Feng delivered his last words: "I truly wish this were Huansha Creek..."

Unfortunately, this is the Yangtze River. He will never have the chance to return to his hometown, to return to the youthful days he spent with Xi Shi…

With Tao Zhugong's drowning, the golden boat and the jade road disappeared completely, and Chu Yangtai returned to its desolate state.

Everyone was somewhat dazed, as if they had just woken up from a dream.

But Su Xiaoxiao bent down and picked up a wooden hairpin from the grass. Upon closer inspection, she saw a line of small characters engraved on the hairpin:
'Unaware of the strategist's skill, he once misled a washerwoman...'

"So it wasn't a dream after all." Su Xiaoxiao clutched the wooden hairpin, momentarily lost in thought.

"Hey, hey, where's my head?" Fa Xiu's voice rang out, and the headless body sat up from the ground, groping around for its head.

"Here it is, here it is!" the head that had rolled into the grass answered itself.

"Coming, coming." Fa Xiu followed the sound, but because she couldn't see where she was going, she accidentally kicked her head away again...

"Ouch! Stop being so clumsy!" Head cried out in pain.

Ayao couldn't bear to watch any longer, so she picked up his head and put it back on.

(End of this chapter)