Chapter 47

Chapter 47: The Plan

After a long roundabout discussion, the topic circled back here.

Before this, Nie and Lu had been silent for a long time. Now, however, they turned to White Zhengliu and asked, "Brother Bai, could you tell us about the situation at Chang's residence again?"

White Zhengliu looked at them. Perhaps his gaze revealed some confusion and curiosity, which Nie and Lu noticed. Nie Qing'e sighed and slightly pursed her lips, saying, "Right now, we are all feeling our way forward. How deep or shallow the water is, we won’t know unless we try it ourselves. But when we’re facing so many wandering souls, how many lives do we have to ‘test’ with? We have no choice but to learn from your and Mei Lang’s past experiences."

As she spoke, her husband raised his hand and gently rested it on her shoulder.

The couple stood together. Although White Zhengliu already knew they were probably long dead, seeing them like this still revealed a bit of their heroic, resolute spirit typical of martial artists.

His heart tightened slightly: After all, Senior Nie and Senior Lu probably still want to get out, right?

"Alright," White Zhengliu nodded. "Mei and I will explain everything again. This time, if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask."

Everyone: "Alright."

White Zhengliu: "...From this, we deduced that Madam Huang's death was no simple matter. Only then did the people of Chang's residence reveal to us that there was also the existence of Madam Liu, the late wife of Old Master Chang."

Qian Gui clenched his fist: "To abandon his old wife... what a beast, worse than an animal!"

Juntao whispered to his brother: "Why does Brother Qian always say these few phrases when he's cursing?"

Junyang: "......"

White Zhengliu: "…Sister Wang led us to look at the embroidery in Madam Huang's room, and it turned out that it was done with the exact same stitching method as the handkerchief Madam Liu had left me. We should have made plans at that point. But since it was our first encounter with this kind of situation, we were overly cautious, and in doing so, we missed several opportunities."

Nie Qing'e felt the weight of it and sighed deeply.

Lu Qing gently squeezed his wife's shoulder in comfort. She sensed this and turned her head, offering him a smile.

White Zhengliu: "…At this point, Old Master Chang had someone tell us that he actually had an older brother."

Mei Yinghan added: "Upon further examination, this turned out to be a complete lie."White Zhengliu: "It's a pity we missed the clue that 'Madam Liu's handkerchief was embroidered by Madam Huang and given to her.' At this point, we can't tell whether Old Master Chang's words are true or false, and once again, we've lost a clue."

Mei Yinghan: "Fortunately, in the end, we didn’t let that old ghost succeed. It’s all thanks to Brother Bai’s vigilance. Even in such dire circumstances, you were still able to find clues, which eventually saved all of us."

White Zhengliu: "Mei Brother, do not be modest. The only reason I had time to tear off the talisman was because you were handling things outside."

Mei Yinghan gave a small, rueful smile: "Brother Bai, you say that, but it makes me feel ashamed. At that time, we were so focused on quickly completing the formation that we almost missed the truly important matter."

White Zhengliu rubbed his nose. Well, that was true. But Mei Yinghan’s intention to save him was undoubtedly genuine. If this situation occurred, it could only be said that Old Master Chang was too cunning. Since the final outcome was good, there was no need to dwell too much on the process.

Thus, at first, White Zhengliu narrated, and Mei Yinghan added details. As they continued, it became a back-and-forth conversation, full of mutual understanding.

After hearing the situation at Chang's residence once more, the others in the room summarized the key points: "To make these ghosts and wandering souls go inside, in the end, it still relies on other ghosts and wandering souls."

Thinking of the earlier evaluation from the man with the horse face, who had criticized the "insufficient" part of the twenty-eight generals, White Zhengliu responded, "Mm."

Juntao: "If that's the case, then it's simple. The Tan family has a grudge against the Meng family, and now that the day is in a cycle, they must be unwilling to die so miserably."

Everyone looked at him. Juntao clenched his fist in one hand and pressed it against the palm of the other hand: "As long as we expose the evil deeds of the Meng family to the Tan family, won't it be settled? The previous issue with Madam Liu was because she was sealed with a talisman. Now, the problem with the Tan family is that they don’t know the truth!"

The group fell into thought upon hearing this.

Qian Gui murmured, "But, who should we tell in the Tan family?"

"Tan Yuanwai," Juntao thought for a moment before answering. "Madam Meng is one of the mountain bandits, and she’s always 'known' the truth. Tan Qiulang... uh, should we bring him in as well?"

The group continued to think.

White Zhengliu, who had been deep in thought, suddenly realized that everyone’s gaze had fallen on him.

It seemed like they wanted him to make the final decision.

Realizing this, White Zhengliu's fingers moved slightly. His chest felt like it was carrying something heavy, weighed down. It wasn’t very comfortable, but he understood this was something he had to acknowledge and accept.

He glanced at Mei Yinghan.Mei Yinghan was also looking at him, his gaze calm and gentle.

As they made eye contact, White Zhengliu felt his mood lighten, thinking, "Yes, no matter what, I have Mei Brother here with me to face it together."

"The idea of ‘making the two groups of ghosts fight each other’ should be correct," said the swordsman, "but there’s still one problem. The mountain bandits are so vicious; do the Tan family really have a chance to fight back against them?"

The group scratched their heads, feeling that this made sense.

"So what should we do?" Juntao said. "Should we all go fight the mountain bandits together? —It's not impossible."

Junyao: "There are more than twenty mountain bandits, and we have only seven people, plus the four from the Tan family..."

Nie Qing'e gave an objective evaluation: "It sounds a bit forced."

Qian Gui shifted slightly to the left, then to the right.

His movements weren’t very large. However, because of his size, even the slightest shift seemed very noticeable.

After hesitating for a while, White Zhengliu called out to him: "Brother Qian, if you have any ideas, feel free to speak up."

Mei Yinghan also spoke up: "Indeed. Now is the time for us to brainstorm together."

Qian Gui took a deep breath and nodded: "What I’m thinking is, if we're talking about 'people,' aren’t there still so many people at the Meng family during the day? We can find a reason and say that we heard news about the mountain bandits on the way here, and we’re worried the Tan family might be in danger. We can convince Tan Yuanwai to leave everyone from the day behind!"

Everyone was stunned.

Qian Gui continued: "In any case, what we know now is that the mountain bandits are Meng family members, and the others are people from outside, unrelated to those from Tan's residence during the day. But we still have to worry about whether they’ll be able to stay."

Nie Qing'e: "They should be able to."

Everyone’s gaze shifted from Qian Gui to her.

Under their gaze, Nie Qing'e showed a barely noticeable trace of tension.

However, the others were all too anxious to notice any details. Only her husband, Lu Qing, and White Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan, who had already guessed something odd about the couple, noticed.

Realizing the importance of what was being discussed, Nie Qing'e didn’t hesitate, quickly speaking up: "I was just thinking. But those guests from earlier really seemed like ordinary villagers, and there was nothing suspicious about their speech or actions. I think, although they might be coveting outsiders, they still follow a big rule—acting in accordance with what’s expected at Wen Ge’er’s full moon banquet."The group thought about her words, some nodded, while others appeared to be deep in thought.

Nie Qing'e, uninterested in elaborating on these points, quickly continued: "In this case, the key issue is the attitude of the Tan family. Just like with us, if Tan Yuanwai invites us to stay, we can stay. If not, then they must leave. So, the most important thing now is to figure out how to convince Tan Yuanwai."

"Let’s take a step back—what if this plan really can’t be carried out? We still have to try, so we can figure out what the next step should be."

At this point, the Jun brothers and Qian Gui were still hesitating on how to convince Tan Yuanwai, but White Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan already had a clear idea.

As Nie Qing'e said, as long as Tan Yuanwai speaks up, the villagers can logically stay.

Why? Of course, because she herself is one of those who will "logically stay."

...

...

The responsibility of convincing Tan Yuanwai ultimately fell on Qian Gui.

The thought of having to be alone with a wandering soul made Qian Gui feel a bit pressured. Especially since Tan Yuanwai had already invited them, he had to consider an issue: the mountain bandits truly harbored ill will towards them, but what about the Tan family? Beneath the surface of their friendly and warm demeanor, the Tan family probably couldn’t wait to tear them apart.

But fear was one thing, and forcing himself to face the challenge was another.

They couldn’t just sit and wait for death, or they'd be killed by hunger alone.

Since something had to be done, making the vicious ghosts fight each other seemed like the most suitable answer.

Having figured this out, Qian Gui stood up straighter, and when he went to speak with Tan Yuanwai, he was able to show just the right mix of calm, worry, and hesitation.

He called Tan Yuanwai to the side, looking as if he didn’t know whether or not to speak. Tan Yuanwai waved his hand: "Brother, whatever it is, just say it directly!"

Qian Gui continued to hesitate.

Tan Yuanwai frowned and asked in a low voice, "Do you think I didn’t host you well today? Ah, it’s because we didn’t have enough hands. Yu Niang even said we should let the women who helped in the village leave early tonight. Otherwise, her uncles and aunts are coming over, and it’ll be inconvenient for the women to stay too long. But this can’t happen, or there’ll be no one left to do any work!"

Qian Gui's mind briefly wandered, thinking, "So Tan’s family only has a few people staying tonight, and there’s this reason behind it."

Tan Yuanwai continued: "Brother, you're from a prosperous place, so it’s no wonder that the things we prepared didn’t meet your expectations."Qian Gui said, "No, that's not it."

Tan Yuanwai looked at him.

Under Yuanwai's gaze, Qian Gui took a deep breath and spoke the lines that Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan had taught him earlier.

"It’s a few fellow Jianghu travelers with me," he said without changing his expression. "While they were wandering around your house, they found several places that had been marked... Brother, your house might be under watch by someone!"

Hmm, it's a lie.

But it was enough to catch Tan Yuanwai's attention.