After all the chaos, Second Madam Qi’s grief and anguish had lessened somewhat. Her heart finally felt less tight with pain.
But she was still furious, gritting her teeth as she glared at Feng Yuzhang: “Since your household couldn’t even manage its own affairs, you had no business talking about a marriage alliance! It’s because of you that my son nearly lost his life!”
She had held back, but now that she spoke, her tears began to fall again.
Madam Feng’s lips trembled, her face a sickly mix of blue and white as she stared at Qi Yuan for a long moment, then stammered: “N-No! You can’t do this! If you do this, you’ll suffer retribution. You will… retribution will come for you!”
Retribution?
Qi Yuan suddenly turned her gaze to the presiding abbot, who had been silently standing to the side all this time. Her voice turned low and sharp: “Master, I noticed your mountain gate has no couplets like other temples. Why is that?”
Everyone was stunned.
No one understood why Qi Yuan would ask something like this in the middle of such a tense situation.
Feng Yuzhang didn’t even know whether he should faint now or not.
If he didn’t faint, the stress might really explode his heart.
But if he did faint, Qi Yuan knew acupuncture. A few needles from her, and it’d be worse than death!
The abbot placed his palms together in prayer and chanted, “Amitabha, Benefactress… That has always been the rule of our temple. This humble monk does not know why.”
“No, you do know.” Qi Yuan glanced at his round, shiny bald head and suddenly found it funny then her expression turned cold: “Because you are unworthy! A temple this large, don’t you have monks guarding the back mountain? Isn’t there usually a guide for visitors through the ‘Thread of Sky’ trail? Why were there lapses only today?!”
Liujin secretly peeked at Lai Chenglong.
Tsk, tsk… and he likes Miss Qi too?
Did he see how smart she was?
Without Qi Yuan’s brain, if you ever wronged her, she’d dig out everything to the last drop!
But Lai Chenglong ignored Liujin’s winks, only frowning in thought.
The abbot was momentarily startled, completely unprepared for Qi Yuan turning the spearhead toward him.
“N-no, Benefactress! This has nothing to do with us! This temple has stood for a hundred years, always prosperous with incense offerings, full of devout worshippers, we would never do such vile things!”
“Then you should investigate. If you don’t find the culprit, I’ll assume the entire temple is guilty!”
Qi Yuan remained unmoved, then gave a chilling smile: “Oh, by the way, since your temple gate lacks a couplet, I’ll write one for you.”
The abbot’s face instantly darkened.
What arrogance!
The couplets posted at a temple’s gate were like its public face, a symbol of honor.
For example, the couplets at Huangjue Temple had been written by the great scholar Fan Daru himself.
That was a monumental honor.
Anyone who could write for a temple wasn’t just anybody.
And who did Qi Yuan think she was?
The abbot sneered: “Miss Qi, that’s inappropriate. There are no rules in the world that allow a woman to write couplets for a Buddhist temple.”
Indeed, temples around the world had many restrictions on women. They couldn’t dress improperly, pregnant women couldn’t pray, and menstruating women were forbidden from entering.
Qi Yuan burst out laughing: “You old bald donkey! Your face is bloated with fat, you hoard land, and you’ve got a wife and kids outside. Does that match your temple’s rules?!”
…
Liujin shivered.
He didn’t even dare call out to the heavens now.
The heavens didn’t seem to manage Qi Yuan very well, especially since she wasn’t fond of men. He could only scream in his heart: Dear mother, save me!
Miss Qi was truly fearless!
Who could be more unrestrained than her?
The abbot pointed at Qi Yuan, shaking with rage so much he couldn’t speak: “You, you dare show such disrespect before Buddha! You will fall into the H*ll of Tongue-Ripping, be boiled in oil after death!”
“Let your Buddha deal with you first, you bald fraud.”
Qi Yuan raised an eyebrow, then nodded toward Lai Chenglong: “Lord Lai, I said I wanted to write a couplet for Feilai Temple. Am I allowed to?”
Lai Chenglong leapt down from the wall, expressionless, brushing nonexistent dust from his robe and replying lightly: “Of course you can.”
The abbot hadn’t expected even the head of the Embroidered Uniform Guards to side with Qi Yuan. A chill swept over his body. “Y-you dare act so boldly before Buddha! I will report this to the Office of Buddhist Registrars!”
Lai Chenglong gave a short “oh”: “No need to report yet. First, explain why the wife of a pirate leader was able to come and go freely on Mount Feilai, killing and injuring people at will.”
He then nodded to Qi Yuan: “Miss Qi, if you wish to write the couplet, go ahead.”
Qi Yuan sneered, yanked Madam Feng to her feet, and looked at her coldly as if looking at a corpse: “Look carefully. Listen clearly.”
As she spoke, she took the paper and brush Liujin had hurriedly fetched from the monastery.
With a swift stroke of her hand, Qi Yuan wrote two lines:
“With wicked thoughts, your incense offerings are useless;
With a righteous heart, what harm in not bowing at all?”
As soon as the words were written, Madam Feng’s face went ashen.
Of course she understood Qi Yuan’s meaning.
It was a direct mockery of her.
Mocking her for praying and bowing every day—
Yet doing such heinous, heartless deeds.
Mocking her for having no right to speak of karma or retribution—
When she herself had committed the worst of sins.
This wasn’t just killing someone. This was destroying their soul.
Qi Yuan had truly killed both body and heart.
Madam Feng collapsed in despair, crying and screaming: “It was you! You forced me! If you hadn’t killed my grandson and granddaughter, I wouldn’t have done this!”
Qi Yuan bent down and looked into her eyes: “Your grandson and granddaughter did things so vile they deserved to die a second time. So even if we went through it again, I would still kill them without hesitation.”
Afraid of retribution?
You commit evil and still fear divine punishment?
She glanced at the also-pale-faced abbot and said softly: “Go to the imperial prison. Confess to your Bodhisattva there. Kneel to your Buddha and see if your gods will protect people like you whose hearts deserve to be executed.”
Feng Yuzhang collapsed completely. He couldn’t utter a single word.
Second Madam Qi’s palms were slick with cold sweat.
She had never known that words could be as sharp as blades.
It was terrifying. Absolutely terrifying.
Every sentence Qi Yuan just spoke had cut into Madam Feng and the abbot like knives, slicing them apart piece by piece.
Madam Feng sobbed in hysteria: “No, I didn’t do anything wrong! I didn’t!”
“You’re right, you didn’t.” Qi Yuan stared coldly into her eyes and gave a chilling smile: “Madam Feng, you’re absolutely right. There’s nothing wrong with raising a grandson who kills and burns, or a granddaughter who murders. The ones at fault are the Lan family, your birth family! Your aged, crippled mother, your limping brother, and even your newborn grandnephew, they’re all to blame.”
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