Chapter 48: A Blessing in Disguise

Before the young man could take a few more glances, a chilling gaze pierced through the thin curtain, freezing him to his core.

He shrank his neck back and gripped the reward money tightly.

Those shiny gold ingots were just too hard to dislike.

Nanny Wu chuckled and said, “You’re lucky to have benefitted from our Yaoyao girl. Normally, our young lord doesn’t care for things like this.”

Let alone personally inviting a shadow puppet troupe, even entering the Weirui Courtyard required permission.

The puppet troupe master immediately knelt with his people to express their gratitude.

After the young lord and Yaoyao left, the troupe packed up their gear and were escorted out.

Inside the carriage, the troupe master slapped the young man on the thigh. “Next time you enter the home of some powerful official, don’t go gawking. If you end up offending some master, you might lose your eyeballs.”

The young man replied carelessly, “It shouldn’t be that serious. That little girl didn’t even look like a master.”

The troupe master knocked him on the head, exasperated. “It’s not for you to say whether someone is a master or not. Didn’t you hear the servants in the household say we got rewarded all because that young lady liked it? If you still want to earn money next time, you better behave.”

—

Inside the Wei Residence

Yaoyao was already tired after watching the puppet show. During dinner, she yawned several times.

Seeing how sleepy she was, Madam Wei had Nanny Wu carry her down to rest.

If she woke up hungry later, they would make her a bowl of sticky rice balls and two pieces of red date cake.

After Nanny Wu coaxed Yaoyao to sleep and started checking her pockets, she realized—the little flower snake was missing.

Nanny Wu was immediately scared out of her wits. Who knew whether that little flower snake was venomous?

If it wasn’t, that was fine. But if it wandered around and scared someone, what then?

Nanny Wu quickly had someone call Caiwei over to watch Yaoyao while she slept. Caiwei had just recovered from her illness and could now resume serving.

Once Caiwei arrived, Nanny Wu mustered the courage to go report the snake situation.

When she got there, Madam Wei was comforting the wounded heart of Marquis Chengming.

Although he had known deep down that his parents favored his younger brother’s family, he had thought that as long as he gave enough, his parents and brother would remember his kindness.

But now he understood—greedy hearts are never satisfied. No matter what he did, they would always think it wasn’t enough and would try to drain him completely.

What grieved him wasn’t just the unfair treatment he received, but also the injustice done to his wife and child.

Since the facade had already been torn off, Nanny Zhao spilled all the grievances Madam Wei had suffered during her postpartum period.

Normally, Madam Wei would have stopped her. But today, she had seen things clearly.

No matter how she acted as the eldest daughter-in-law, her mother-in-law was never satisfied. They even threatened to have the marquis divorce her and went to her family’s home to stir up trouble.

If she kept persuading the marquis to stay connected with them, it would only ruin their own family in the end.

Thinking of their son, Madam Wei decided there was no longer a need to hide anything.

After hearing what his wife had endured, the Marquis Chengming felt even worse.

Just as he was lamenting how he had allowed his family to become like this, Nanny Wu and the house steward arrived.

Nanny Wu had barely reported that Yaoyao’s pet flower snake had gone missing when the steward followed up with news that there was a snake infestation at the Marquis’s main residence.

Between the two, the latter was obviously more urgent.

The Marquis Chengming immediately headed to the marquisate.

As for the lost snake, before Madam Wei could rise to help Nanny Wu search for it, Caiwei sent word that the flower snake had returned on its own.

Just as Madam Wei sighed in relief, a commotion erupted in the courtyard.

She soon found out that her nephew had somehow fainted while bathing.

Thankfully, he was discovered in time—any longer and he might have died soaking in the tub.

As for the marquisate, an entire night passed with no word from the marquis.

On the other hand, Yaoyao slept peacefully through the night. She woke briefly to eat a bowl of sticky rice balls and a red date cake, then went right back to sleep.

The flower snake lay coiled beside her pillow, having been fed half a red date cake. Belly full, it lay on its back contentedly.

Xie Yixing didn’t return to bed until very late. When he did, he noticed the flower snake lying between him and Yaoyao. Without thinking, he picked it up and tossed it onto a nearby chair.

The poor snake nearly passed out from the fall. Luckily, it lifted its head and got scared awake.

The whole night, the flower snake remained half-asleep, half-awake, terrified the young master would suddenly kill it to silence it.

—

It wasn’t until noon that Madam Wei heard news from the marquisate: the marquis’s parents and their family were moving out and would return to their hometown after the New Year.

Though the residence was now vacant, Madam Wei decided to stay for the New Year.

After all, the Wei family would be moving soon too. Who knew when they’d meet again? She wanted to spend a little more time showing filial piety to her father.

The marquis agreed.

But when Madam Wei asked why his parents suddenly decided to move, his expression darkened.

Yesterday, the marquis had sent someone to follow the large snake that left the city. They discovered a dog hole near the base of the city wall, hidden by weeds and hard to notice.

After testing it, they found that the hole was big enough for an adult to crawl through. No wonder some human traffickers had always evaded capture—it was because of this loophole.

The marquis had the hole sealed and ordered a search for other breaches along the city wall. Any they found were promptly filled.

But he hadn’t expected a snake disaster to break out in his own courtyard that very night.

When he opened the door and saw over a dozen large snakes circling his parents and younger brother’s family, he almost thought he was hallucinating.

These snakes were far fiercer than the one from earlier that day.

They opened their gaping mouths and lunged for people’s necks.

Luckily, the marquis drove off several with his sword, while the rest were slain after injuring people.

When the yamen officials came to investigate, the lead officer immediately recognized one of the slain snakes—it had killed a wealthy merchant at the foot of the mountain and had been on the wanted list for a while.

The marquis hadn’t expected to earn a reward during what should have been a routine errand. When he returned to the Wei household with the money, he still felt dazed.

Thankfully, none of the Xie family suffered any life-threatening injuries.

The elderly couple fainted from fright upon seeing the snakes.

The two sisters-in-law, holding their children, hid indoors and were mostly unharmed.

The two younger brothers weren’t as lucky—each was bitten by a snake. While the wounds weren’t fatal and the poison was expelled in time, there were side effects.

The second brother, in his panic, fell down the steps and broke his leg. He might now walk with a permanent limp.

The third brother jumped into the lake to escape and nearly drowned. He was still running a high fever.

When the old lady woke up, she kept ranting that the house was cursed and that there was a demon in the family.

Though it was nonsense, the marquis found it irritating. He had a small temporary courtyard prepared and had all their belongings and people moved there.

As for visiting them over the New Year, he saw no need.

Once the holidays were over and his two brothers recovered, he would have them sent back home.

Madam Wei looked at the tray of gold ingots the marquis had brought back and fell into deep thought.

They all said her son was a demon, that Yaoyao was a jinx.

But why did it seem like their family was becoming luckier by the day?