The Demon Lords

Chapter 1015 - 236: Overstuffed (Part 3)

"There’s such a thing as bringing prosperity to a husband, and now there’s bringing prosperity to a wife too?"

"Since there’s such a thing as bringing prosperity to a husband, of course there’s bringing prosperity to a wife. It’s just that most men in this world treat women like mere foils and never really take it to heart, that’s all.

Back then, I thought, well, that works, marry him and at least this life of mine can be safe and smooth."

"A person only lives once, who can thump their chest and guarantee that the next sixty years will go smoothly and steadily without any damned vexing trouble?"

"No one."

"So I married, just like that. At the start, Zhengwen’s grandfather didn’t fancy me. I was just a little nun back then. Sure, I thought I looked decent enough, but that Zhengwen’s grandfather already had a well-bred young lady of a matching family lined up."

"So I cast a curse. First time using that sort of thing. That well-bred young lady dropped dead on the spot."

The old woman’s face was serene as she reminisced about the happiness of her youth;

"And then it all worked out after that?"

"How could it? The Fan Family back then was living the high life. A servant clan of the Qu Clan—these days that sounds aggrieved, but back then, it was as glorious as glorious gets.

It took two more dying before Zhengwen’s grandfather couldn’t take it anymore.

The first one, you could say the girl had a thin fate. The second, you could chalk up to bad luck. By the third, well, even a fool could see he himself was the problem."

"So he ran off to a Daoist temple looking for peace of mind, even thinking of shaving his head and becoming a monk. How could I let that happen? I drugged him and slept with him."

"Oh?"

"Two months later, I was pregnant with Zhengwen’s father."

"Yo?"

"Another month, Zhengwen’s grandfather went back to the mansion and snuck me into the Fan Mansion as his wife too. Marrying a nun, knocking her up before wedlock, that’s not exactly glorious, so of course they didn’t beat drums and blow horns for a grand ceremony.

But what can I say, my fate’s good. I had a husband with a ’prosperity-to-wife’ fate. Not long after I entered the house, my mother-in-law passed. That mother-in-law really couldn’t stand the sight of me at first, always wanting to put me in my place."

"Huh?"

"Don’t ’huh’ me. I didn’t curse my mother-in-law. Am I that sort of person? She went on her own. First birth, I had Zhengwen’s father, the eldest son had an heir, and my status was settled, just like that.

For all the years after that, I just quietly lived my own little life, smooth and steady."

"All the way up to today."

"I’m jealous."

"Yeah. In this life, some people want to go experience wind and waves, but me, I just like things peaceful, smooth, and easy on the heart."

"Right."

"But guess what—yesterday when you, Lord, came into the mansion, I had a sudden itch and cast another hexagram."

"What did the divination show?"

"I couldn’t understand it." The old woman shook her head.

"Who did you cast it for?"

"For the Fan Family, of course."

"A healer can’t heal himself."

"But you can at least have some idea in your heart."

"That’s true."

"In the hexagram, for the Fan Family, the future’s uncertain—vaguely, there’s the risk of overturning."

Hearing this,

Zheng Fan narrowed his eyes,

and said with a smile,

"What do you mean by that?"

The meaning behind the old woman’s words was obvious.

"Guess what I did next? My interest was piqued again, so I cast another hexagram for myself. You have to know, ever since I married Zhengwen’s grandfather, I’ve never cast a hexagram for myself."

"And what did that hexagram say?"

The smile on the old woman’s face gradually faded,

finally

turning into a kind of hopeless calm,

as she enunciated each word:

"Ill-omened old age."

Zheng Fan drew in a breath, nodded, and said,

"That’s no small thing."

"Actually, I don’t believe in fate," the old woman said.

"You’d better keep that tradition going."

"But it just so happens that my hexagrams have given me more than sixty years of smooth and steady days."

"So what are you getting at?"

"People... shouldn’t stuff themselves. Once they’re too full, their minds start to wander."

"You said that earlier."

"Zhengwen is exactly someone who’s eaten too much."

"That’s called being blessed."

"No, not a blessing, Lord. You say you don’t believe in fate."

"Right, I don’t. Back then didn’t Master Zang go to Yanjing to cut the Dragon Vein? Yet look at what Yan is like today—you can see it as well as I can."

"Because there are people whose fate is hard as iron. His Majesty the Yan Emperor is that kind of person. For people like that, no one can change their fate, can’t budge it at all. On the contrary, they can affect the fate of anyone who comes into contact with them.

Lord, you’re actually that kind of fate too."

"Me?"

"Because ever since you entered Chu, my fate and the Fan Family’s fate have both been altered."

"So it’s my fault?"

"Yes."

"Try to make some sense here."

"I’m a woman."

"But you’re old."

"What, only young women are allowed to be unreasonable?"

"Of course."

The old woman nodded, then suddenly smiled and said, "Did I scare you, Lord?"

"A little."

"You’re bluffing this old lady. Lord, you’ve seen big scenes—how could you possibly be afraid of an old crone like me?

Everyone knows that those in Mystic Cultivation are pretty good at pretending to be gods and ghosts, but everyone also knows we’re no good at fighting."

"This is still the Fan Mansion." Zheng Fan pointed at the ground beneath his feet.

"You’re right, Lord—this is still the Fan Mansion."

The old woman slowly closed her eyes,

and said,

"This old woman is tired. Please, Lord, go find Ruqing later, tell her I said to ask you to help regulate her qi and blood. That girl’s life is bitter, and it’s my grandson whose fortune is too thin to handle her."

Lord Zheng rubbed his hands a bit awkwardly,

and said,

"How could I dare?"

"I just told you, your fate is hard—you can take it."

"Sigh."

Lord Zheng let out a sigh,

and said,

"Fine then—if I don’t go to hell, who will?"

Lord Zheng stood up,

and walked out with the air of ’the wind is bleak and the Yi River cold’,

and left the little courtyard.

At the courtyard gate, Lord Zheng paused slightly, stretched lazily, then continued walking forward.

After a short while,

a group of men of sacrifice dressed in black and holding sharp blades stepped out of the flowerbeds in the courtyard. These were men secretly raised by the Fan Family, whose loyalty was extremely high.

Fan Zhengwen also walked up to the courtyard gate, glanced around, and waved his hand. The men of sacrifice all withdrew.

Then,

Fan Zhengwen walked into the courtyard.

The old woman was still sitting on that step,

her eyes opening just a slit,

casting a glance at this eldest grandson of hers,

and said,

"There’s a rumor in the street that back when Lord Jingnan wiped out his own clan, he personally invited our old ancestor to go to his death.

So,

you planning to imitate him?"

Fan Zhengwen said, "My heart aspires to it."

"You think you’re worthy to be compared with Tian Wujing?"

"Your grandson is certainly not worthy."

"Heh, at least you’ve got some self-awareness. Let me ask you this: if I had made a move against Lord Pingye just now, what would you have done?"

Fan Zhengwen lifted his hand slightly and said unhurriedly,

"I’d help Grandmother you fulfill that hexagram, to prove that Grandmother’s calculations are flawless."

So that your so-called ill-omened old age becomes reality today.

"Heh... heh-heh... heh-heh-heh..."

Fan Zhengwen stood there, saying nothing.

The old woman took a deep breath,

and slowly said,

"If you live as a dog, the whole family, young and old, can live well. What’s so bad about that?"

Fan Zhengwen touched his own chest,

and answered,

"But your grandson is already stuffed full."

————

There’ll be one more Chapter after a bit.