Lou Xin didn’t speak, but her hateful gaze already expressed her stance.
Ling Gu led people to pile up all the dry firewood stored by the Lou family. Mo Sigui and the others took turns bringing people out from the ice cellar.
During a break, Lou Xiaowu squatted next to Mo Sigui and whispered, “Brother Mo, will they be in pain? Can’t you use some anesthetic…”
These people were frozen solid, making it impossible to end their lives instantly with a blade.
“We’ll cut their throats later,” Mo Sigui said.
Unable to breathe, they would likely not wake up again, though exceptions couldn’t be ruled out.
“Mm,” Lou Xiaowu murmured.
For those with strong internal energy, their qi circulated autonomously within their bodies. So they wouldn’t be completely frozen solid and would feel pain when cut by swords. Mo Sigui had no way around this.
Lou Mingyue carried a four or five-year-old boy out of the ice cellar and walked straight to Mo Sigui. “Can he be saved?”
Mo Sigui looked up.
The fire mink fur gave Lou Mingyue’s face a hint of color, making her look like a newly bloomed red plum in the snow.
“Little brother!” Lou Xiaowu jumped up and quickly took the frozen child.
With only about twenty people in the Lou clan, Mo Sigui clearly remembered the order in which they had fallen ill. This child had contracted the disease almost at the same time as several elders and had been frozen in the ice cellar for so long. By all accounts, he should have died long ago.
Mo Sigui carefully examined his complexion. His face was deathly pale with a peach blossom color on his cheeks as if he had just contracted the plague bug. “If I’m not mistaken, the elders must have transferred their internal energy to him. There’s still hope!”
Lou Mingyue wasn’t surprised. Lou Mingrui was a rare male descendant of the Lou family. Although born to a Lou daughter and technically a grandson, he had been regarded as the continuation of the Lou family lineage since birth, treated the same as a direct grandson.
“Xiaowu, accompany Divine Doctor Mo to prepare for treatment. I’ll take care of things here,” Lou Mingyue said. Then she knelt before Mo Sigui, “I, Lou Er, swear that I will not rest until this debt is repaid. Divine Doctor Mo, by saving our Lou family line, Mingyue has no way to repay you. In the next life, I will surely repay this great kindness.”
Lou Mingyue resolutely kowtowed three times, then remained prostrate on the ground.
“This bow is one I should receive,” Mo Sigui said, looking at her calmly. “I don’t believe in next lives. Grand promises for the next life can’t compare to a single word, a single character in the present.”
He tucked his fan into his sleeve and took Lou Mingrui.
Lou Xiaowu helped Lou Mingyue up and hurriedly followed him.
Years ago, Qiu Ningyu had said something similar. She had told him: “Five years from now, I’ll marry you without a word. Before I’m married off, you’re not allowed to marry or be with anyone else.”
They had been betrothed since childhood, and this was just a young girl’s whim. Mo Sigui remembered laughing and saying: “That’s terrible. I must inform the young ladies of Bianjing tomorrow to cherish these five years well. Otherwise, under your torment in the latter half of their lives, how could they still have such a dashing gentleman of the mundane world as they do today?”
The words of the past still echoed, but that person was no longer here.
Today, encountered a woman with a similar appearance, she had promised him something for the next life. If five years were hard to fulfill, how could the next life be possible?
Mo Sigui felt that he was likely destined to grow old alone in this life.
An Jiu stood by like air. After Lou Mingyue left, Lou Xin approached her. “Miss Mei.”
She cupped her hands in salute and continued, “I have an unseemly request. I hope you can agree.”
“Speak,” An Jiu said.
Lou Xin said, “Earlier, Divine Doctor Mo said to cut the throats of our clan members to spare them pain. I can’t bring myself to do it, and Mingyue has already made such a difficult decision. I don’t want her to have to do this herself. I hope you could…”
“Alright,” An Jiu agreed decisively before Lou Xin could finish.
Lou Xin was stunned for a moment, then said bitterly, “Thank you.”
Having to ask someone to kill her family members and then thank them for it – Lou Xin felt a lump in her throat, unbearably painful.
The dry wood was set up, and the forty-odd bodies were arranged on it. An Jiu covered her nose and mouth, climbed onto the wood pile, and used a dagger to cut open a section of each of their throats.
Ling Gu had people pour oil on top. Although they poured carefully, this mass cremation was far from a proper burial.
Lou Mingyue bit her lip hard but forced herself to watch without blinking.
Lou Xin simply turned her back.
When everything was ready, Lou Mingyue said hoarsely, “Light it.”
As she spoke, blood flowed from the corner of her mouth.
No one moved.
After a while, An Jiu took the torch from Ling Gu’s hand and threw it onto the woodpile.
The fire roared to life, quickly engulfing all the figures within.
Placed furthest south, closest to Lou Mingyue, An Jiu, and the others, was the Lou family matriarch, a woman in her forties whose features somewhat resembled Lou Xin’s.
As the wind whipped up ashes and fanned the flames, An Jiu saw the Lou matriarch slowly open her eyes.
Lou Mingyue’s entire body began to shake uncontrollably, her throat emitting suppressed whimpers.
The matriarch made no other movement, seeming to stare at the floating ashes and lingering snow, her eyes unblinking.
“Mother!” Lou Mingyue approached, her eyes reflecting the dancing flames, a sea of red. “Your daughter will surely avenge you!”
An Jiu felt a sudden pain as if someone had pinched her somewhere. She had thought Lou Mingyue’s mother had passed away long ago, not realizing she was the family matriarch!
Lou Mingyue was a woman of great character. An Jiu knew she couldn’t do what Lou Mingyue had done. Even if the whole world burned, she couldn’t give up the slightest hope of her mother’s survival.
Perhaps because she couldn’t do it, An Jiu sincerely admired her.
Lou Mingyue didn’t kneel, hoping her mother would look at her one last time before dying. However, the matriarch finally just slowly closed her eyes.
The matriarch’s face was covered in droplets, with a red drop seeping from the corner of her eye, unclear whether it was blood or tears.
Lou Mingyue’s knees gave way, and she fell onto the snow, her cheek pressed against the cold snow, yet it didn’t bring her to her senses.
In the last moment before losing consciousness, Lou Mingyue only felt a pair of hands lifting her.
By nightfall, the Crane Control Army’s reinforcements finally arrived.
Lou Xin suppressed the resentment in her heart and reluctantly received the Crane Control Army.
Lou Mingyue, her mind preoccupied, only slept for an hour. Upon hearing that the Crane Control Army had arrived at the estate, she quickly washed up, put on mourning clothes, and went to the meeting hall.
She was much more clear-headed than Lou Xin. The plague bug had struck suddenly, and by the time it was discovered, two days had already passed. Much time had been wasted on the journey to seek help from the Crane Control Army and the Mei family. Even if the Crane Control Army had arrived a day earlier, the result would have been the same, only with a few more people to move bodies and firewood.
Halfway to the meeting hall, Lou Mingyue met Ling Gu escorting the Crane Control Army members down. She bowed and asked directly, “Has the Crane Control Army identified the mastermind behind this?”
“This is our Lou family’s new head,” Lou Xin introduced. With the matriarch gone, there was no longer a need for the title of estate master.