A Wish Made with a Child’s Life

Startling words.

Chu Hanlin abruptly stood up, “Li’er, what did you say?”

Chunmei was initially startled, but quickly regained her composure, “Sixth Miss is still young, even if she knows medicine, how could she have examined Madam’s pulse? How can she spew such accusations?”

This matter was kept secret, there was no way Nanli could have known.

She must have fabricated this story to protect her elder brother, stumbling upon it by accident.

“Sixth Sister, how did you know?” Chu Huan pursued, and his face filled with anxiety.

“I saw it with my own eyes,” Nanli replied.

Chunmei couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Chu Hanlin and Chu Ye exchanged a glance, their hearts aching.

It was their incompetence that had led to Li’er wandering outside for so many years, dulling her wit.

Nanli sighed helplessly. This was exactly what she had expected.

Chu Shuo was the first to speak, “Father, sixth sister’s words must be true, you must believe her.”

Chunmei sneered, “Second young master, who would believe such words?”

Madam Shen’s face turned cold, “How dare you mock and ridicule the young master’s words? Mammy Cheng, slap her.”

With a command given, Mammy Cheng stepped forward and ruthlessly slapped Chunmei several times.

Chunmei, thinking that the Old Lady would arrive soon, endured the pain and cried out, “Madam, although Madam Liang gave birth to two young masters for the Marquis, if it weren’t for this incident, our Madam would have also given birth to a child for the Marquis. Madam, why favor one and neglect the other?!”

“Are you implying that my mother instructed Madam Liang to do this?” Nanli retorted.

Chunmei quickly shook her head, “I would never dare.”

Her cheeks were swollen, her eyes constantly glancing towards the door, wondering why the Old Madam hadn’t arrived yet.

“You don’t have to wait, Grandmother won’t come today,” Nanli walked up to her, smiling gently, “I’ll play this along with you.”

At that moment, the midwife came in to report that Madam Chen had already given birth to a stillborn child and was conscious.

The door to the side room opened, and they could hear Madam Chen sobbing, “What does Sixth Miss mean by this? The doctor came this morning and said that both the mother and child were safe.”

Doctor Hu, standing beside her, hurriedly said, “Yes, this morning, the child in Madam Chen’s womb was still healthy.”

He had received his payment, so naturally, he had to help speak up.

After hearing this, Nanli’s fingers were already holding a talisman.

She raised an eyebrow, “Doctor Hu, you are unaware that I spent half a year studying Taoist arts at the temple before returning home. I particularly enjoy researching and inventing new talismans. This talisman here causes excruciating pain, yet leaves no trace. Even if you report this to the authorities, you will have no evidence. If you don’t speak the truth, I’ll use you as a test subject.”

Doctor Hu found it amusing.

Although he believed in Taoism and Buddhism, he couldn’t believe that a little girl could draw talismans, let alone create something new.

So, he confidently said, “If Miss Nanli wants to try, go ahead. After all, what I said…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Nanli had already affixed the talisman to his back.

Immediately, Doctor Hu understood why it was called the Heart-Piercing Bone-Eroding Talisman.

Intense pain surged through his body as if his organs had shifted. He collapsed to the ground, curling up, with veins bulging on his forehead and hands.

Truly, it was worse than death, to the point where he couldn’t even catch his breath to speak.

Everyone in the hall widened their eyes.

Chunmei even moved back, her face filled with horror.

Nanli raised her fingers, retrieving the talisman, and the intense pain in Doctor Hu gradually subsided.

“Do you still want to try, Doctor Hu?” she asked.

Doctor Hu, struggling to catch his breath, hurriedly shouted, “No… no more! No more!”

Another round, and he would die from the pain.

Without Nanli’s reminder, after he caught his breath, he quickly confessed, “Three days ago, Madam Chen’s child had no pulse in her womb. Madam Chen gave me three hundred taels of silver to cooperate.”

Chu Hanlin slammed the table, angrily saying, “Chunmei, is this true?”

Chunmei trembled, knowing that she couldn’t hide it anymore. And she could only push the blame onto Madam Chen.

“It has nothing to do with me, Marquis. It was Madam Chen who forced me to do it.”

She prostrated herself on the ground, begging loudly.

Madam Chen lay upon the pallet, her countenance pallid and woeful.

Madam Liang, burdened by unjust accusations, rose and fixed her gaze upon Madam Chen, her teeth clenched in bitter resentment.

“When you served in my courtyard, I treated you generously. Why do you slander me so?” she seethed.

Madam Chen, weary of pretense, let out a hollow, chilling laugh.

Her voice carried a tinge of despair. “Why?”

Her eyes brimmed with hatred.

“Once Master had taken a liking to me, yet you forbade me from attending to him. You obstructed me at every turn. Naturally, I wished for your demise!”

Chu Hanlin listened, his face filled with confusion, “When did I ever take an interest in you?”

Madam Chen blushed, a look of embarrassment on her face.

“Did not Master express your fondness for the osmanthus cake I made?”

“And I also enjoy the braised chicken made by Old Biddy Zhang,” Chu Hanlin rolled his eyes.

“Back then, you deliberately changed clothes in A'rou’s room, causing me to stumble upon you. I had intended to sell you off, but it was A'rou who pleaded for your mercy, citing your destitution.”

Madam Chen froze.

She had believed that the Marquis had chosen her, which was why she became his concubine the next day.

But she never expected it was for such a reason.

“Impossible!” Madam Chen refused to believe.

“It must be Liang Rou! She must have cursed my child to death!”

Her powdered face remained pale and smooth.

Nanli, upon seeing her face, suddenly realized something and walked towards the table.

Wrapped in cloth lay the stillborn child.

“Li’er,” Madam Shen anxiously called out.

But Nanli showed no fear.

She opened the cloth and examined the seven-month-old fetus, its body marked with patches of red and purple.

“What do you intend to do to my child?!” Madam Chen tried to get up, but two quick-witted maids held her down.

Nanli inscribed a talisman on the child’s body before turning around and saying, “You killed your own child, it has nothing to do with others.”

“How could I harm my own child! I prayed for his well-being every day!” Madam Chen retorted.

Nanli stepped forward and pulled the jade pendant hanging from her neck.

“Do you not whisper wishes to this every day?”

The jade pendant depicted an Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, its visage serene yet eerily unsettling.

Madam Chen swatted away Nanli’s hand and protected the pendant.

“This is the Green Dragon Bodhisattva, granting wishes. What problem could there be with my prayers?”

“A mere object of evil, what kind of Bodhisattva is that?” Nanli sneered.

“It seems you wished for the disappear of the blemishes on your face, but when one makes a wish to an evil entity, there is often a price to pay. And the price you paid for your wish was the life of your unborn child.”

The onlookers stood in stunned silence.

Madam Chen, driven to madness, cried out, tearing the pendant from her neck and making another wish.

“Green Dragon Bodhisattva, I want Liang Rou to go die! I want her to go die!”