Rules of the Strange: I Became a God in a Bizarre World Through Taoist Arts

Her robes shimmered and sparkled in the sunlight as she moved.

In addition, Shen Xingzhuo's regular, square steps made him appear exceptionally noble.

As soon as she stepped out of the dark alley, the eyes of those scholars involuntarily fell on her.

Three pairs of eyes scrutinized her from head to toe, then exchanged glances with each other before a black-clad man whom Shen Xingzhuo hadn't seen before stepped forward and stopped her.

Shen Xingzhuo's expression and posture were perfectly captured.

Although he looked displeased, he did not lose the demeanor of a noble scion despite the inappropriate behavior of the people in front of him.

She feigned ignorance and lowered her voice:

"What is the meaning of this, gentlemen? Why are you blocking my way?"

Upon hearing her identify herself as "Pei," the three scholars' eyes gleamed with even more interest in gossip.

"Brother Pei, please don't be offended!" The man in black, representing the three, quickly stepped forward and bowed. "The three of us are fellow disciples of Liu Jin. We heard that today is his joyous occasion, so we came to... offer our congratulations!"

"Congratulations?" Shen Xingzhuo slightly raised her eyelids. "Then why didn't you go to the front gate to offer your congratulations?"

Her tone was perfectly ordinary, yet she delivered the crucial hook.

The man in white's eyes lit up, immediately realizing that this was a signal that they could speak privately.

"Well..." He pretended to drink heartily, then changed the subject, "Brother Pei, if you're not busy, why don't you join us at a teahouse?"

"Oh?" Shen Xingzhuo smiled and teased, "It seems you gentlemen have a lot to say to me."

The man in white laughed loudly, "Brother Pei, this way please."

Shen Xingzhuo nodded and followed the man in white.

[Here she comes! Sister Shen is giving a live demonstration of "willing to take the bait!"]

If it weren't for Sister Shen's involvement in the ghost story, I would have suspected that these three men were planted...

[This guy in white is such a gossip, haha! Sister Shen just casually baited him, and he practically started telling stories on the spot. I'm going to laugh my head off!]

[Family members, this shows that you shouldn't approach handsome men on the street, because they might be a trap, hahaha]

……

In the strange tale, Shen Xingzhuo and the three scholars had already sat down in a teahouse.

The man in white spoke fluently, repeating the information he had shared with the other two before to Shen Xingzhuo, helping her keep up with the latest gossip.

And then she responded cooperatively, getting excited as she talked.

He patted Shen Xingzhuo's shoulder and looked sincerely into her eyes, saying:

"Brother Pei, I'm only saying this because I consider you a brother—"

Liu Jin may appear gentle and kind, but he's actually a bad person at heart!

I witnessed him eating a cake made with placenta…”

He looked around and, seeing that no one was paying attention to his table, lowered his voice.

"He even personally removed that thing from his own wife's womb!"

The men in green and black paled upon hearing this.

Shen Xingzhuo immediately adopted a serious expression. "Brother, watch your words!"

She hesitated and said, "Before he married my sister, he said he was devoted to his studies and had never been involved in romantic relationships!"

The man in white curled his lip. "Only scions of noble families like you would believe that."

"Didn't anyone in your family inquire at the academy before the young lady's marriage?" the man in blue asked in surprise. "I've always wondered how someone as heartless as him could catch the eye of the Pei family..."

"Besides, he's not even as good-looking as me."

"Well……"

Shen Xingzhuo hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

[Haha, my friend, if someone is heartless and treacherous, good looks won't help!]

[This guy in blue, seriously, I'm so upset, he's so concerned about being better looking than Liu Gou-nan.]

"Judging from Brother Pei's reaction, isn't Liu Jin a case of marriage fraud?" the man in black calmly analyzed.

Shen Xingzhu waved his hand, his face full of helplessness.

"Since we've come this far, I won't hide anything from you all anymore!"

She pulled out the folded ingots she had saved up earlier from her sleeve, and said, half-jokingly:

"I don't know what kind of bewitching potion this boy has given my sister Jinyu! She'd rather go against the family and risk her life to marry him!"

My mother couldn't persuade her otherwise, and how could she bear to see her own daughter commit suicide? So she finally agreed...

She slammed her hand on the table, splashing tea everywhere.

"I couldn't bear to see Jinyu being deceived, so I came out to clear my head."

I never expected to run into you guys...

Shen Xingzhuo gripped the white-clad man's hands tightly, her eyes filled with pleading.

Please tell me what you know!

If you can persuade my younger sister to change her mind, the Pei family will certainly offer generous gifts in addition to what's on the table!

The gold ingots glittered under the red sun.

The Jiangnan region was prosperous, and most scholarly families were not short of money.

But Shen Xingzhuo brought out far too much.

The dazzling light blinded the three scholars.

The man in white picked up a piece of gold and said with a smile, "Hey, Brother Pei, it's not that I'm after your gold. It's just that I'm naturally inclined to stand up for the weak!"

Shen Xingzhuo smiled and nodded.

The man in white didn't hold back and blurted out everything he knew—

"That Liu Jin... relying on his status as a scholar, specializes in swindling naive young women into spending money on him."

Today they say they need money to buy books, tomorrow they say they need to scrape together money to take the exam.

Anyway, there are plenty of excuses; once the money went into his pocket, it never came out again.

He snorted coldly, "Among our fellow disciples, many know his background, and none of them respect him."

"And then?"

The man in white sighed.

"Later, he got a woman pregnant."

"The woman's family wasn't wealthy, but they were a respectable family. According to custom, after something like this happened, the man should have sent a marriage invitation, given betrothal gifts, and married her properly."

"But his mother insisted that the girl was 'worthless and worthless' and didn't deserve to walk the straight path. In the end, they had a hasty wedding ceremony, without even a wedding banquet, and that was considered the marriage."

"I thought he had turned over a new leaf. But I never expected—"

"Once, I saw his wife faint on the road, her face as white as paper."

"I kindly called a servant to help take him home. But just as we arrived at his doorstep, his mother ran into us. Without saying a word, she started yelling that I was seducing her daughter-in-law."

A hint of disgust flashed across the man in white's face.

"I found it dirty and didn't want to argue with her, so I had my servant block her way and left. But halfway there, I became worried that something might happen to the young lady because of this, so I turned back."

He paused for a moment, his Adam's apple bobbing.

"But it was too late. By the time I arrived..."

He took a deep breath and forced himself to continue speaking, suppressing his nausea:

"Liu Jin cut open the young woman's belly and retrieved her placenta, which was less than five months along!"

"Even that vibrant...living young woman, she died instantly!"