Chapter 61: The Second Cleansing of the Daoist Maiden

  The Second Miss Dao was favored by Hu Zhongren because of her resemblance to Xiulian. She had been sent to the temple since childhood due to her family's poverty, and now she had risen to a high position, which made her extremely happy. Because her parents had abandoned her, she had been resentful in her heart, but today she finally had the opportunity to take revenge or show off. She deliberately asked Hu Zhongren for thousands of gold, jade, silk, and satin, and filled her home with carriages and sedan chairs. Now that her brother was married, he carefully flattered and fawned on her, hoping to borrow his sister's glory. Her parents were even more overjoyed, thinking that their daughter had brought honor to them.

  Er Qing knew that Hu Zhongren's attention was not on her, but as long as she did a good job playing the role of Xiu Lian, that was enough. She didn't hope for Hu Shaoyang to be sincere with her either; if he paid too much attention to her, it would be troublesome.

  Er Qing Dao Gu spent her days dressing herself up and showing off in front of her parents, taking pleasure in seeing them and her brother and sister-in-law lower their voices in her presence. Hu Zhongren was busy with his affairs and didn't pay much attention to what she was doing, but compared to other stepmothers, Er Qing Dao Gu did receive preferential treatment - at the very least, whenever Hu Shaoyang returned to Kyoto, he would definitely come home to sleep, and every time he went out and came back, he would bring gifts for Er Qing.

  Sometimes Erqing would not let her leave, and he could really hold back his temper, accompanying Erqing for several days. Erqing was truly delighted. One day, she came to watch the Taoist nun Yimiao and Hongfu Shijie.

  Master is not at home, what a great opportunity. Just right to have some fun with Hong Fu's sister.

  Hong Fu had long studied Buddhist scriptures and had changed her originally fiery temper. When faced with Er Qing's provocations, Hong Fu remained calm and sat there without saying a word. She thought to herself that this person would eventually get tired of showing off and leave. But unexpectedly, Er Qing spoke more and more, her sarcasm growing heavier. She even said: "Hong Fu, although you are the daughter of the Prime Minister and have given birth to a son for Hu Shao, unfortunately, she still looks down on you. She only likes Madame Xiulian. I, on the other hand, am favored by Hu Shao because of my unusual appearance. Now that you reside in the Taoist temple, you must be jealous of my good fortune. I entered the temple and received Hu Shao's favor, while you were abandoned and ended up in the temple. What a huge difference between us!"

  Hong's most unbearable thing is this matter, choosing to marry Hu Zhongren is her biggest mistake in life, not to mention that Hu Shao actually has such a big heart for this substitute.

  "After hearing Er Qing's words, Hong Fu couldn't help but say: 'You just need to remember that you're a substitute. Wait until Hu Shao has someone he loves dearly, and you'll be discarded like worn-out shoes. I'll wait with bated breath to see your future.'"

  The Second Clear Daoist was furious and speechless, only to return to the Hu Mansion, preparing to complain to Hu Shao. However, Hu Shao had gone out and wasn't home. Coincidentally, Yang Liuqing had arrived in the capital and saw the Second Clear Daoist, also being greatly surprised. "Xiu Lian! Xiu Lian!" he called out, following the Second Clear Daoist from the front yard to the back yard, and then to the bedroom. The Second Clear Daoist looked at this young and handsome man and hastily asked the servant who this person was.

  The servant said: "This is our Young Master, who has been brought to Kyoto by Hu Shao and is now the manager of a newly opened gold, silver and jewelry store." As soon as Er Qing heard about gold, silver and jewelry, her eyes lit up. In her mind, only money could bring peace, what family affection, love, friendship were all nonsense, only grasping wealth was the right way. At this time, she immediately thought of using Yang Liuqing to get jewels and silver.

  Yang Liuqing is very clever, as soon as he saw Er Qing's eyes, he knew that her greed was heavy, so he just took a few pearls from the jewelry store and attracted Er Qing's attention.

  The foolish Second Brother didn't realize that without Hu Shao, there would be no Golden Silver Jewelry Store, and no Yang Liuqing as the shopkeeper. Yang Liuqing was just a passing god of wealth. But when she came to her senses, it was already too late.

  When Hu Zhongren saw him and Yang Liuqing entwined, he merely hummed a light tune from his nostrils. The four great guardians beside him, like wolves and tigers, pressed the two Qing to the ground and gave them a good beating. Hu Zhongren's face was gloomy, his eyes bulging with rage, he had gone mad. He had put his heart into Yang Liuqing, his demands were low, as long as she did well in Xiulian, but she couldn't even do that properly, so what use was she?

  The whip lashed onto Erqing's body, and the bamboo stick hit Erqing's body. Although Erqing was already covered in wounds, Hu Shao still didn't give the order to stop.

  Yang Liuqing sat on one side, he didn't have any intention of saving Er Qing. He had already achieved his goal, the temptation was successful.

  He hated Er Qing even more than Hu Zhongren. It was also because she looked like Xiu Lian. In Yang Liuqing's heart, Xiu Lian was icy and pure, not someone who could be replaced by Er Qing, despite their similar appearance, but with a vastly different temperament. In his mind, he thought of Xiu Lian as a goddess, incomparable to anyone else. And this woman, who valued money above all else, without a shred of love for her relatives, was truly unworthy of being human. Therefore, he strongly approved of Hu Zhongren's actions, and such a woman deserved to be beaten to death.

  It seems I'm going to die from being beaten.

  As Erqing was on her last breath, two people came in from outside. It was really Yimiao Dao and Hong Fu.

  Yi Mei Dao Gu looked at Hu Zhong Ren and said, "Hu Shao, my disciple has accompanied you on a journey for a while, comforted your wounded heart. Although there is no merit, there is hard work. Therefore, Yi Mei implores Hu Shao to spare Er Qing."

  The Second Lady Qing could no longer tell who was coming, and she didn't even cry out in pain anymore. Several servants were exhausted from beating her. When they heard the words of the One-Browed Taoist Nun, they hastily took advantage of the opportunity to listen in. The Four Great Golden Guardians knew that the Second Lady Qing had erred, but not to the point of death. The three ladies ahead of her had also made mistakes, and their errors were identical - all had been seduced by Young Master Biao, yet he acted as if nothing had happened, ignoring them completely. Even when the three ladies lost their footing, he didn't seem to have any reaction. Observing Hu Shao's intentions, his heart was still on Xiulian Lady.

  Seeing Hong Feng, Hu Zhongren's face shook. "She repeatedly came to the mountain to provoke you, why do you want to plead for her?"

  "I just want to see if Hu Shao really has feelings for Er Qing or if she's still a substitute for Xiulian. Hong Fu dusted his hand, "Hu Shao's knot can definitely be untied by someone, but it's absolutely not Er Qing, so let go of the master sister. I'll keep an eye on Hu Shao to see who can capture his heart, and I think she's definitely not Xiulian."

  Hong Feng finished speaking and helped his senior sister Qing Qing up. "I have been waiting for this day to come, when the time comes, I will go to Hu Shao Yi to verify the truth."

  A Taoist nun with a single eyebrow and Hong Fu on either side of her, sandwiching two Qing, walked swiftly.

  Looking at Hongfei's dazed eyes, Hu Zhongren suddenly realized what Hongfei was thinking. He himself had never thought that he could fall in love again, and it was with a young girl much younger than him when he was almost middle-aged.

  Liu Qingqing blinked her eyes, looking at the two of them. After a long while, she narrowed her eyes and scrutinized them before saying, "Sister has no feelings for Hu Shao anymore. She just wants to see who has such great magical power that can pull Hu Shao out from being infatuated with Xiulian's memories and make him fall in love with someone else irreparably. Am I right?"

  Hong Fan suddenly woke up from his dream-like state and asked Liu Qingqing: "You are really unusual, how did you know what I was thinking?"

  Liu Qingqing said, "I naturally sensed it from the intersecting gazes between you two. I not only know that you both no longer have any misunderstandings towards each other, but I can also predict that in the future, you will become bosom friends who understand each other's hearts."

  Hu Zhongren said: "I'd like to hear your brilliant idea, how did you know that?"

  Liu Qingqing said, "I see that when you're reminiscing about the past, you look at each other with honest eyes, which means you've already let go of your past grudges. Moreover, I ran away so quickly, but you caught up in such a short time, there can only be one reason for this - Hu Shao is guilty towards Hong Fei's sister and didn't dare to show his face, so he ran back. And Hong Fei's sister is even more curious, who has such great magical power that made Hu Shao's evil intentions disappear completely, so she chased after him relentlessly, all the way..."

  Hu's family.

  Hu Zhongren and Hong Fu couldn't help but nod in praise, "Little girl, your insight into people's hearts is truly profound, just like we ourselves are thinking."

  Liu Qingqing smiled and said, "Thank you for the compliment." Liu Qingqing's eyes were indeed inherited from her grandmother. Her grandmother had taken Liu Qingqing on a journey through Jianghu, and her greatest skill was observing people's words and expressions to analyze things and understand their underlying principles.

  Liu Qingqing looked at Hu Zhongren again and said, "However, through Hu Shao's expression, he seems to care about someone very much, but is too embarrassed to ask, I wonder who this person is? Of course, if you feel uncomfortable, Hu Shao, then don't say it." Liu Qingqing thought to herself, I've already paved the way for you, whether or not you take it is up to you.

  Hu Zhongren took a sip of tea, gazing at Hong Fu with a thoughtful expression, but said nothing. Hong Fu hastily said: "Don't worry about me, I've also been away from Kyoto for a long time, and away from Linjing for a long time, so I don't know the situation with my son either."

  Liu Qingqing said: "So, sister and Hu Shao have already achieved their goals, why do they still want to leave? Is it because Hu Shao can't forget about Xiulian?"

  Liu Qingqing has a deep impression of Madame Xiulian. At that time, Hu Zhongren slapped his mouth because of one of Madame Xiulian's paintings, and now Liu Qingqing still remembers the pain.

  Hong Fu was not embarrassed and said calmly: "In those years, I got drunk with Hu Shao, we had a husband-and-wife relationship, and gave birth to our son Hong Rui. Unfortunately, the fallen flowers have feelings but the flowing water has no intention, Hu Shao and I were in bed but had different dreams, what was on his mind and what he muttered about were all about Xiulian Furen."

  Hu Zhongren said: "You are wrong, I want to ask about Er Qing Dao's situation."

  Hong Fu said: "Don't you really like Qingqing, or are you treating her as a substitute? Er Qing Shizi has already passed away, and it's impossible for you to see someone and think of someone else." After finishing speaking, he turned to Liu Qingqing and said: "Er Qing Shizi looked very similar to Xiulian, so Hu Shaocai married her. Unfortunately, she was not willing to be Mrs. Hu, and had an affair with Yang Liuchun, and was beaten by Hu Shaocai until she almost died. My master and I rescued her back to the Taoist temple, but now I don't know where she is traveling."

  Liu Qingqiang made an effort to recall and remembered that there were two Taoist priestess-like figures, who seemed to be Hong Fu and Erqing.