Chapter 67

Little did he know, Ning Ning narrowed her eyes and smiled: “If by’she’ you mean Madam Zhao, then yes.”

“…You mean, someone wants to frame her?”

“Assuming what the servant said is true, then there must be a demon lurking in the mansion. As for who that demon is, it leads us to the second suspicious point.”

Ning Ning glanced at Pei Ji, unexpectedly finding him looking back at her mildly. So, she smirked and continued, “According to Pei Ji, the skin worn by the demon is meticulously drawn to match the original body. If Madam Zhao hasn’t been replaced, then how did the demon interact with her to be so familiar with her appearance and paint her so vividly?”

“No, that can’t be.”

He Zhizhou finally showed a shocked expression: “You mean… a lover in bed?”

—Isn’t that Chen Yaoguang?!

“The third suspicious point.”

Ning Ning made a “three” gesture with her hand, speaking calmly, “Although we’ve had minimal contact with Chen Yaoguang himself, many inconsistencies can be found in his sister, Chen Lubai’s words.”

Since Ning Ning began speaking, Chen Lubai’s face has been pale. At this moment, her lips trembled incessantly, and upon hearing her name, she instinctively stepped back.

“Yes! There’s something I’ve been wondering about for a long time. Miss Chen mentioned that although her brother loves his wife deeply, after this incident, he has always refused to perform rituals and even prevented outsiders from contacting Zhao Yunluo.”

Without much thought, Zheng Weiqi blurted out, “Isn’t he worried at all that Zhao Yunluo, who is now truly a demon, is endangering his real wife?”

“Exactly!”

He Zhizhou nodded in agreement. “If you love someone, even if you trust them unconditionally, once you learn that they may be in danger, you would still try to investigate everything.”

Two true singles, when it comes to talking about love and non-love, are quick-thinking and as steady as old dogs.

“It’s because he has a guilty conscience that he keeps his wife indoors. Why refuse visits from family and refuse to let Taoists investigate inside?”

Ning Ning smiled with pursed lips. “On the surface, it seems he doesn’t want to disturb his wife’s rest. But once this cover is lifted, if it’s accidentally discovered by someone that the problem lies with him rather than Zhao Yunluo, everything would be over for him.”

She paused, took a sip of Longjing tea on the table, and continued, “There are more clues than these. Remember the sentence Miss Chen said? ‘Father invited a Taoist to perform rituals while the eldest brother was away, but no traces of demons were found in the mansion.'”

This was undoubtedly the most weighty piece of evidence, simply the most obvious hint.

Since there truly was a demon in the house, and the Taoists didn’t notice any traces—

He Zhizhou was shocked: “Because he wasn’t there… that’s why the demon’s whereabouts weren’t found!”

Zheng Weiqi’s expression turned slightly serious: “And before that, when Senior He asked Madam Zhao about any recent strange occurrences, Chen Yaoguang hurriedly interrupted the conversation. Perhaps… it’s because he’s afraid Madam Zhao might mention his recent abnormal behavior, thus exposing his identity.”

“So you mean, it’s not Zhao Yunluo who’s been replaced by the demon, but the eldest son of the Chen family, Chen Yaoguang.”

Ning Ning glanced at Chen Lubai’s desolate face and continued, “The demon is a disaster, often leading to the death of the original person and family . First, she transformed into Chen Yaoguang’s appearance, then drew a skin exactly like Madam Zhao’s, framing her for all the suspicions. By then, Zhao Yunluo would be unable to defend herself and, along with Mr. and Miss Chen, would die from the demon’s draining of their vitality…”

“By then, with the Chen family left with only him, who would be able to discern that he’s not the real eldest son, Chen Yaoguang?”

As her words fell slowly, everyone present felt a chill down their spines.

The demon they had been painstakingly searching for had been hiding beside them all along, and not long ago, they had even had a close conversation with it.

And for Zhao Yunluo, lying on her sickbed, her beloved bedfellow turned out to harbor ill intentions. He seemed to care for her deeply, but in reality, every move he made was pushing her towards a dead end.

The thought of such a scheming and murderous figure lurking beneath the thin skin and flesh was enough to make one’s scalp tingle uncontrollably.

“I was just suspicious, without concrete evidence. So, while He Zhizhou distracted Chen Yaoguang, I took out a mixture of lime and water from my bag and fabricated the lie of the ‘demon-repelling water’.”

Ning Ning took another sip of water and said, “As a shape-shifter, Chen Yaoguang would definitely not let me use the demon-repelling water on Zhao Yunluo—after all, once it’s proven she’s not a demon, the suspicion would turn towards other people in the mansion, which would be highly unfavorable for him.”

“So you guessed that he would break the bottle on purpose! You fucking-”

Zheng Weiqi swallowed the rest of her words, carefully choosing her next words: “You’re truly talented, Junior Sister! If he had nothing to hide, he would have immediately spoken up after being burned, but if he was hiding something from us, he would deliberately act as if nothing had happened!”

Ning Ning nodded. “He thought he had escaped by acting, but in fact, he walked right into the trap himself. In order to make Chen Yaoguang believe that those waters truly wouldn’t harm ordinary people, I intended to pick up the bottle, but I didn’t expect Pei Ji to…”