Chapter 36: Portrait

Less than half an hour after Liu Weiyang and Clan Chief Luo Yue were locked in the same room, Shui Xing peeked in from outside, smiling shyly, "Which one of you is Young Master Yu Mo? Young Master Liu invites him over."

Yu Mo stood up, and then Shui Xing said, "My father asked me to tell you that he thanks you all for your kindness, but this marriage will probably have to be postponed for a while. If you feel bored, you can go for a walk, but please don't go too far—the woods ahead are a bit dangerous."

Yan Dan watched Shui Xing and Yu Mo walk away, holding her teacup with a half-smile, "Young Master Liu is truly skilled, managing to appease Lord Taishan so quickly. Not only do they no longer see us as villains, but they even come to thank us."

Liu Weiyang was always taciturn, but when he did speak, it carried a certain credibility. Yan Dan knew that it was because of his personality that others thought every word he said was true, while in reality they were being completely deceived by Palace Master Liu without even realizing it.

Tang Zhou walked to the door, then turned back and asked, "Would you like to go for a walk outside with me?"

Yan Dan also felt that staying indoors and getting moldy wouldn't do any good, so she nodded, "Sure."

The two walked side by side along the stream for a while, when Tang Zhou suddenly stopped and touched her neck, which was exposed outside her collar. "What's this?"

Yan Dan felt a slight itch when he touched her, and quickly squatted down by the stream to look at her reflection. The stream was clear, and a faint red spot was reflected on her neck. Yan Dan rested her chin on her hand, puzzled. "It wasn't here yesterday. Did some bugs crawl in and bite me while I was asleep?"

Tang Zhou was silent for a moment, then suddenly bent down and turned her shoulder. Yan Dan was squatting, but when he turned her like that, she was forced into an extremely difficult position, watching Tang Zhou lower his head.

"Tang Zhou, even if you're hungry, you can't bite me!"

Tang Zhou released his grip, carefully comparing the two marks, and nodded, saying, "They really are different."

Yan Dan flailed twice, clutching her neck in a pitiful state, "Of course they're different! If you want to compare, bite yourself!"

Even if she wasn't a mortal but a demon, she only had one appearance. What use would she be if she were bitten?

Tang Zhou dusted off his sleeves and looked down at her, "If I wanted to compare them myself, I couldn't bite my neck, right?"

Yan Dan snorted twice, muttering to herself, "I just feel like you did it on purpose..."

She turned her head to look at the other side, where she saw a young man's figure getting closer and closer, holding a scroll of painting in his hands. The young man was none other than Nan Zhao. She remembered that last time she was trying to strike while the iron was hot and train Nan Zhao into a strong and upright man, but before she could say more than a few words, Liu Weiyang interrupted her. He had come at the perfect time.

Yan Dan jumped directly from one side of the stream to the other, beckoning, "Nan Zhao!"

Nan Zhao was startled, his hand trembled, and the scroll fell to the ground with a clatter. Seeing how he had held the painting, Yan Dan realized it was something he cherished, so she quickly brushed aside her clothes and caught the scroll.

Yan Dan glanced at it hastily; the Xuan paper used for mounting the scroll was slightly yellowed. The woman in the painting wore a light lake-blue silk shirt, had a pair of shallow dimples at the corners of her mouth, her eyebrows were like crescent moons, her eyes were like water, and she smiled charmingly. Her expression was so lively, as if she might suddenly leap off the paper.

She returned the painting to Nan Zhao, casually asking, "Seeing how much you treasure this painting, who is the person in it?"

When she first saw it, she thought it bore a six or seven-tenths resemblance to Nong Cui.

Nan Zhao, holding the painting, thanked her politely before saying, "This is a portrait of my mother. I was afraid it would get damp, and since the weather is nice today, I wanted to air it out."

Yan Dan thought for a moment; the woman in the painting was too young, probably what Nan Zhao's mother looked like in her youth. It seemed Nan Zhao's mother had already passed away, and he could only look at the portrait, remembering her through the object. She had met Nan Zhao a few times and actually liked this gentle and sincere young man.

"Your mother is so beautiful."

Nan Zhao smiled shyly. "My mother was a famous beauty in our clan when she was young."

"Oh, weren't you going to air the painting? Hurry up and go." Yan Dan made way for him, watching him hurry away with the painting.

After Nan Zhao had walked a short distance, a young man in brocade robes suddenly darted out from the side and bumped into him. Nan Zhao swayed, almost falling, but still held tightly to the painting.

The young man shoved him to the ground, then snatched the scroll from his hand, weighed it in his hand, and coldly said, "This kind of woman is a disgrace to our Luoyue clan. What's the point of keeping this portrait?"

He tightened his grip, seemingly about to tear the painting in two.

Yan Dan was anxious. If the man was after her, she had at least a hundred ways to deal with him. But he was after the painting. If she used her magic to retrieve the painting from afar, she might accidentally tear it in half.

Just as she was getting worried, Tang Zhou's figure flashed, and he swiftly and decisively struck the man's arm holding the painting, striking his pressure point, snatching the painting, and gracefully landing in one fluid motion.

Yan Dan finally realized one thing: whether they were demons or Luoyue people, they all had pressure points.

Tang Zhou held the scroll tightly, gently rolling it up. While doing this, he inadvertently frowned, then handed the painting to Nan Zhao. He glanced down at the young man slumped on the ground and said indifferently, "It's not your turn to tear up this portrait."

The young man's face turned ashen, and after a long pause, he finally uttered, "Are you... are you a mortal?"

Yan Dan was taken aback, then remembered that the people of Luo Yue looked down on mortals.

The young man pointed at Nan Zhao, his audacity growing, "You two, one a mortal and the other a mortal's bastard, are actually on the same page!"

Tang Zhou frowned slightly, but his expression remained unchanged.

Nan Zhao lowered his head, then suddenly raised his head after a while, shouting, "My father is indeed a mortal, but he's a good man, that's why my mother fell in love with him!"

He clenched his fist, speaking hurriedly, his face flushed red.

Yan Dan couldn't help but think that with Nan Zhao's imposing manner, she really didn't need to go through the trouble of teaching him to be a true man.

The young man gave them a deep look, then turned and strode away.

Holding the recovered painting, Nan Zhao said to Tang Zhou, "Thank you, Brother Tang. Most of the clansmen don't like mortals, and Yi Lan is the clan chief's eldest son, so he said some rude things. Please don't take it to heart, Brother Tang."

Tang Zhou nodded slightly and patted him on the shoulder, "I won't hold it against you."

Yan Dan watched Nan Zhao's figure disappear before sighing, "The Luo Yue people have a deep-rooted clan mentality. Someone like Nan Zhao has probably suffered a lot."

Tang Zhou seemed thoughtful and said softly, "When I saw that portrait just now, I felt... there was a strange, eerie aura about the person in the painting..."

Yan Dan thought back and couldn't figure out how a portrait could have an eerie aura. She said with certainty, "The Luo Yue people are naturally a little different from mortals. You must be mistaken."

---

When Yan Dan returned to the house she was staying in, she saw Yu Mo already sitting at the table waiting for her. He rested his chin on one hand, his long eyebrows slightly furrowed, as if he was thinking about something difficult to understand. He didn't even notice her approaching.

Yan Dan, suddenly seized by a playful impulse, tiptoed behind him, about to place her hands on his shoulders, when Yu Mo abruptly shifted his body and swiftly grabbed her wrists.

Startled, Yan Dan lost her footing, struggled twice to no avail, and finally tumbled onto Yu Mo.

She was stunned, guessing that Yu Mo hadn't expected this either, and remained silent for a long while.

Yan Dan stared at him for a moment, then heard Yu Mo cough lightly and say in a low voice, "Did you go out for a stroll just now?"

Yan Dan was still a little confused, and mumbled a reply, thinking to herself, Shouldn't Yu Mo have pushed her away immediately at this moment?

Yu Mo looked at the two marks on her neck, suddenly reached out and pressed his hand against the back of her neck, their foreheads touching, their noses lightly brushing together, and slowly said, "Yan Dan."

Yan Dan felt a chill run down her spine, her mind racing, wondering what he wanted to do? Was he confessing his feelings or planning to kiss her? If it was the former, should she agree, politely refuse, or remain ambiguous? If it was the latter, should she remain calm and still, or just grab a teacup and smash it on his head?

After a moment, Yu Mo slowly said, "Palace Master Liu said he doesn't understand something. The things that appear in the Demon Realm should be things that at least half of us have seen before. But you haven't seen the Heaven-Turning Incident, I haven't seen it either, and Tang Zhou, being a mortal, naturally wouldn't have seen it either."

Yan Dan asked blankly, "What exactly are you trying to say?"

"Actually, I don't think it's a big deal either. If you've seen it, just say so. It's not your fault."

Yan Dan understood and clumsily climbed off him. "So that's what you wanted to say... I knew it! How could that be... No! Yu Mo, don't go too far! Don't slander me for no reason. I absolutely, absolutely haven't seen the Heaven-Turning Incident! I really haven't seen it, what do you want me to say?!"

Yu Mo smiled. "If you haven't seen it, you haven't seen it. Why are you so agitated?"

Yan Dan froze, then gritted her teeth and remained silent. She absolutely wouldn't reveal her embarrassing act of being presumptuous just now.

He stood up abruptly and said, "Do you still want to go out for a walk? The one who died suddenly last night was stabbed in the chest with a sword. I was just about to go to the mortuary to check on him."

---

The sword had slashed from the chest down to the ribs; the initial force had dissipated, leaving only a shallow mark.

When Yan Dan and Yu Mo arrived at the mortuary, Liu Weiyang was already there, standing with his hands behind his back beside the coffin. Hearing footsteps behind him, he didn't even raise his head, but reached into the coffin, lifted the corpse's arm, and examined the stiff fingers.

In this situation, Yan Dan really wanted to joke, "Young Master Liu, you really care about this matter; after all, it concerns your life's most important thing." But when she saw Liu Weiyang turn his head expressionlessly, she swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue.

Her courage, after all, wasn't strong enough.

Yu Mo took two steps forward and asked in a low voice, "How is it?"

Liu Weiyang shook his head slightly, his voice low and deep: "The wound is uneven, and the depth is also uneven. It seems that the sword is very dull, somewhat like the kind that has never been sharpened."

Upon hearing this, Yu Mo pondered for a moment: "If it is an unsharpened sword, and it was a direct stab to the lady, then this villain's skills must be quite good. However, judging from the force with which he wielded the sword, it seems that the person's skills are quite average... Brother Liu, do you mean that this villain must be someone the lady knows?"

Liu Weiyang nodded and said, "This is just a guess, it's not yet considered conclusive."

Yan Dan walked to the coffin, leaned over the edge of the wood and looked down. She saw that the woman lying in the coffin was quite old, with a few shallow wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. Her appearance was somewhat similar to Nan Zhao's mother. Nan Zhao and the two sisters, Nong Cui and Shui Xing, were cousins, so their mothers must also be sisters, which explains why they looked alike.

She had seen coroners examine corpses before, so she reached out to pry open the corpse's chin, but before she could even touch it, Yu Mo pulled her back. Yu Mo looked at her helplessly: "What do you want to do?"

Yan Dan answered matter-of-factly: "Examine the corpse."

Yu Mo pressed a finger to his forehead, even more helplessly: "This isn't your turn. The doctors from the Luo Yue tribe examined it carefully beforehand, checking everything from the lady's mouth and fingernails to even her hair, and found no trace of anything."

Yan Dan gave an "oh" and withdrew her hand regretfully.

As they spoke, a slender figure gracefully entered the mortuary. Hearing footsteps, Yan Dan subconsciously turned to look, only to see Nong Cui from the Luo Yue tribe enter. She didn't look to either side, heading straight to Liu Weiyang, a smile on her face, her voice soft and sweet: "I looked for you, but you weren't there. I asked around and found out you were at the mortuary."

Liu Weiyang glanced at her noncommittally, saying nothing.

"Don't always be so cold. I'm going to marry you after my mother's mourning period." Nong Cui reached out to grab the other man's wrist. But before she could touch him, Liu Weiyang suddenly grabbed her neck, his tone cold: "Last night, your wife passed away. You were the first to arrive. What else did you see?"

Yan Dan was speechless. She knew Liu Weiyang was a bit taciturn, but she didn't expect him to be so violent.

Nong Cui reached out to pry his fingers off, her pretty face flushed red from suffocation. She struggled to speak, "I...I didn't..."

Liu Weiyang slowly released her grip. "Fine, don't say it then. Do you really think you Luo Yue people can stop me?"

Nong Cui coughed violently, clutching her neck, and wiped away tears from the corners of her eyes with her sleeve. Suddenly, she straightened up, a flame burning in her eyes. "Ever since I met you, my heart has only belonged to Xuan Xiang. What's wrong with me thinking of you?"

She finally glanced at Yan Dan and Yu Mo, who were standing there like decorations, and smiled slightly. "Miss Yan, do you think I'm shameless and lack any restraint when I say these things?"

Yan Dan, unexpectedly asked this question, awkwardly stammered, "It's just that the customs are different."

Nong Cui raised her face, looked directly at Liu Weiyang, and said without any hesitation, "I know you don't like being forced. You are no longer the Xuanxiang you once were, and I feel I have no reason not to be worthy of you. I also know you can't wait to leave this place, so I did hide some things from Father and the others. It's just because I wanted to keep you here. Your Highness Xuanxiang—regardless of whether you are or not, if you leave, I will tell all the clansmen that you are the murderer of my mother."

Liu Weiyang remained expressionless, but his sleeve twitched slightly, revealing the jade flute he held. Nong Cui didn't even notice this subtle movement and continued, "Last night, when I arrived, Mother still had a breath left. She told me it was a curse. I wanted to ask more questions, but Mother couldn't hold on any longer. She only said it was a curse."