Jiang Lanzhi returned to the mansion with Mrs. He.
On the way, Mrs. He told Jiang Lanzhi the general situation of the matter.
She hoped that Jiang Lanzhi could persuade Jiang Zhong not to go to the gambling house anymore.
"Lan'er, please persuade your elder brother. Some things are not appropriate for me, a mother, to say. He won't listen to others, but he will surely take your words to heart," Mrs. He said, her head throbbing with pain at the thought of Jiang Zhong. "The gambling house is no good place. It's full of riffraff. If he continues like this, I'm afraid your father will really get angry and expel your elder brother from the family."
If the Marquis of Ningyuan really gave up on Jiang Zhong, even she wouldn't be able to dissuade him.
This was what Mrs. He was most worried about.
Jiang Lanzhi lowered his eyes, his expression calm. "Don't worry, Mother. I understand."
"I'll talk to elder brother when I'm free."
Mrs. He got angry when she saw Jiang Lanzhi's calm demeanor as if nothing could rattle him. "When will you be free?!"
"He's your own elder brother. Do you really want to watch him being expelled from the family?"
"All you do is say cold, polite words. Do you have a heart at all?"
Jiang Lanzhi wasn't angry. He said calmly, "Mother, if elder brother would really listen to me, this trouble wouldn't have happened today."
"Elder brother's audacity didn't come overnight. It's all because you've spoiled him."
"In the past, whenever elder brother made mistakes, you always pitied him for being young and protected him. Now that he's grown up, not a child anymore, you should urge him more."
"I'll persuade elder brother, but whether he listens and how he conducts himself in the future is his own choice."
"You! Sigh!" Mrs. He felt a lump in her chest, unable to breathe properly.
Forget it. So what if her son was promising? He was cold - hearted, and she couldn't count on him!
...
After returning to the mansion, Jiang Lanzhi first went to check on Jiang Zhong. Seeing that he wasn't dead, he then returned to his own courtyard.
In Jiang Lanzhi's view, this lesson wasn't entirely a bad thing for Jiang Zhong.
If he had any sense, he would restrain himself and not cause trouble anymore.
If he remained stupid, no one could save him in the future.
"Sir, I've found out," Ying Ran, the attendant beside Jiang Lanzhi, placed a booklet on the table.
It listed all the people who had gambled with Jiang Zhong at that time, which Jiang Lanzhi had ordered him to investigate.
"Some of them are wealthy young masters who often gamble with the eldest young master, and the rest have no family background."
Jiang Lanzhi tapped on the table with his finger and casually said, "Deal with those without family background privately. Be quick and leave no traces."
"As for the others, they're not stupid. They know what to say and what not to say. We don't need to worry about them."
They all came from noble families. For such a trivial matter, they wouldn't cause trouble for their own families.
After all, if something happened to Jiang Zhong, none of them could escape.
Jiang Lanzhi said, "If there are any gambling debts, deduct them from elder brother's allowance."
"Go."
"Yes," Ying Ran said without saying more and slowly retreated.
Jiang Lanzhi came to the window and looked at the thick night outside. He seemed to sigh.
The Marquis of Ningyuan, his father, didn't interfere. Presumably, he was waiting to see how Jiang Lanzhi would handle this matter and clean up Jiang Zhong's mess.
...
The gentle breeze blew across the lake, making the lotus leaves in the lake sway gently.
The slap mark on Jiang Zhao's face had faded a lot, thanks to the swelling - reducing medicine sent by Jiang Lanzhi.
These days, Jiang Yuyao had been sleeping in her room. In the past, Mrs. Wang would never allow this.
But Mrs. Wang had become more and more irritable recently. She was always out and didn't care about her children.
The old lady Jiang sent someone to urge them. It would soon be Jiang Yuzhu's coming - of - age ceremony. It was better to find Jiang Changlin's corpse as soon as possible.
Jiang Zhao calculated the days. It was about time. So she simply packed up and went to the Wuwenzhai.
Fu Shengyan wasn't surprised to see her coming. She was probably just coming to give him money.
"Didn't you determine the location last time? Why didn't you find it?" Fu Shengyan asked.
Jiang Zhao nodded, her face looking a bit solemn. "I only determined a general location. To really find it, I need an exact place. Just relying on the general location, I might not be able to find it in my lifetime."
After all, summoning a soul was easy, but finding a corpse was hard.
The tricky part was that because Jiang Changlin's soul was incomplete, he couldn't remember how or when he died.
Jiang Zhao had to find the corpse on her own.
Last time, Jiang Zhao had divined for Jiang Changlin. The Death Gate and the Tianren Star both landed in the Qian Palace.
Where the Death Gate landed, the corpse would be. And the Qian Palace was in the northwest direction. So it could be determined that the general location of the corpse was in the northwest.
The Tianren Star corresponded to a high - lying place, and the Qian Palace also meant a high mountain.
Wu represented mountains or something related to earth, while Gui represented a net on the ground and was related to water.
The general location of Jiang Changlin's corpse should be on a high - lying mountain with a ditch or a depression nearby.
Fu Shengyan didn't hesitate. "How can I help you?"
Jiang Zhao said, "I need you to act as a medium and draw out the specific location and route."
As they spoke, they entered the inner room.
There was a small square table in the inner room with a sand table on it. Jiang Zhao handed an unremarkable small wooden stick to Fu Shengyan and asked him to hold it in his hand.
She mixed glutinous rice and salt and sprinkled a circle on the ground around the square table and Fu Shengyan.
Glutinous rice and salt could ward off evil spirits.
Jiang Zhao then surrounded a larger circle with a red string soaked in cinnabar water, and there were bells tied to the red string.
She did all these because the practice of spiritual writing was dangerous and could easily attract some foolish things to cause trouble.
She could handle one or two, but if there were more, it would be difficult. So she had to make full preparations.
Fu Shengyan was still a virgin and dealt with the dead and evil spirits all day. It was most suitable for him to do the spiritual writing.
Fu Shengyan closed his eyes skillfully. Jiang Zhao put a dot of cinnabar on his forehead and draped the clothes that Jiang Changlin had worn in his lifetime over Fu Shengyan.
Jiang Zhao mumbled something. After a while, Fu Shengyan lowered his head as if he had lost consciousness.
The bells on the red string began to jingle. Jiang Zhao whispered, "Here they come."
As soon as she finished speaking, the twig in Fu Shengyan's hand started to move and drew on the sand table.
I don't know how long it took, but Fu Shengyan finally stopped.
Jiang Zhao quickly supported his chin and wiped off the cinnabar on his forehead.
Fu Shengyan slowly opened his eyes and moved his body with difficulty. "This job is so exhausting. You have to pay me more next time."
Jiang Zhao still counted on him to tell her what he had seen, so she readily agreed.
The lines on the sand table looked like scribbles.
Fu Shengyan pointed at the circular lines on the sand table. "This is a winding mountain road."
"Your second uncle's corpse is indeed in a very hidden cave."
"Outside the cave, there's a small river, and there are two very eye - catching Chinese flowering crabapple trees beside it. It's the flowering season."
A familiar place appeared in Jiang Zhao's mind. "A winding mountain road... So it's on Jiufeng Mountain."
Fu Shengyan nodded. "Jiufeng Mountain. That's right."
Jiang Zhao's face became more solemn. She sighed deeply and was speechless.
She never thought that her second uncle's corpse was so close yet so far away.
Jiufeng Mountain wasn't very far from the capital. If one rode a horse fast, it would take less than three hours at most.
Jiang Zhao put the silver on the table. "Pack up. I'll leave first."
"By the way, remember to sleep with the lamp on at night."