Chapter 128: Infested! The Louse Curse

After the peasant woman finished speaking, the surrounding villagers began to speak up with righteous indignation. "The Princess Consort of Jin has gone too far."

"The woman lost her child, yet the Princess Consort still thinks she’s here to cause trouble."

"Does she look down on rural folk? Who would bring their own child just to stir up trouble?"

One voice after another quickly stirred the crowd’s discontent.

Xia Jiujing’s expression grew serious. It was clear the peasant woman had ulterior motives. Xia Jiujing had merely spoken calmly, but the woman’s reaction was overly aggressive. What troubled Xia Jiujing even more was that the peasant woman had left Ming Ningzi behind in the shop. What was her true intention?

Xia Jiujing knew she couldn’t be too harsh with these villagers; if she was, they would riot without caring about reason. She said, “Ma’am, I was only checking if there was really something wrong with the clothes. If there was a problem, then touching the clothes should cause an issue as well...”

Xia Jiujing had only touched the garment and was about to examine the child’s body for any abnormalities when the peasant woman angrily pushed her hand away.

Unhappy, the woman said, “I know I’m just a simple peasant, unworthy of the Princess Consort's notice. So no matter how much you look, you won’t link my son’s death to Jiang Mantang. If that’s the case, what’s the point of looking at all?”

If she wouldn’t even let Xia Jiujing look, how could she possibly know what was wrong with the child?

No wonder Ming Ningzi called these people troublesome folk; sometimes ignorance breeds only unreasonable defiance, caring nothing for the truth.

Xia Jiujing’s gaze turned cold. “If you won’t let me see, how am I supposed to know what’s wrong?”

The peasant woman sneered sarcastically, “Does the Jin Mansion suddenly have medical expertise? I didn’t know the Princess Consort was a healer.”

Xia Jiujing replied, “I won’t know unless I look. If you refuse, how can I tell?”

“I...”

Before the woman could speak, Xia Jiujing continued, “But I find it strange. You’re going to great lengths to keep me from examining your son, yet you keep insisting that Jiang Mantang had something to do with his death. Do you want to falsely accuse Jiang Mantang, or are you just trying to latch onto him?”

At some point, Green Luo had slipped into the crowd and spoke up, “The Princess Consort wants to find the real cause of death. If you don’t let her see, how will you know what the problem is? The Princess Consort is right.”

Encouraged by Green Luo’s words, some began to think Xia Jiujing made sense and started to agree.

The peasant woman, now enraged, retorted, “Fine, if the Princess Consort is so certain, then look for yourself. I want to see what clever thing a pampered Princess Consort can find out. I bet it’ll only end in laughter.”

Xia Jiujing ignored the woman’s sarcasm. From the brief touch earlier, she had felt something amiss. Though it lasted only seconds, the icy chill carried a sinister coldness. Suddenly, she realized something was wrong.

Just as Xia Jiujing was about to lift the child’s clothing again, scrutinizing him closely, the mother grabbed her son’s arm back. “Enough.”

Xia Jiujing’s tone turned suddenly fierce. “Enough. If you want to know why your son died, then shut up.”

Perhaps her tone was too harsh, for the woman froze in shock. Then she shouted loudly, “What? The Princess Consort wants to snatch my child’s body? How dare she be so cruel to my son? Everyone, look at this!”

Xia Jiujing frowned in displeasure. She hadn’t even touched the child yet, and the woman was already accusing her of wanting to take him away. Was she too quick to jump to conclusions?

The woman shouted loudly, trying to paint Xia Jiujing as someone who would harm the child, but Xia Jiujing paid no heed. She had already found what was wrong.

Xia Jiujing pried open the child’s mouth. The tongue was stiff, the face pale and icy cold. The eyes were open, but the pupils were dotted with tiny red specks.

Her expression darkened. “He wasn’t poisoned. He was afflicted by a Gu curse.”

In the ancient Gu arts passed down in the Xia family, she had read about this. Someone had used the child as a human vessel to cultivate a poisonous Gu—a sinister form of sorcery.

Similar to a Gu duel, where many poisonous insects are placed in a jar to battle until the strongest emerges, this dark sorcery used a human body as the jar, with flesh and blood as bait.

The child was infected with the Yin Lice Gu. Those afflicted appear dead: pale, cold, without warmth; pulse, breath, and heartbeat all seeming to cease. Their eyes are filled with Gu insect eggs. Without timely treatment, once buried, they would be trapped in the coffin, calling for help in vain, suffocating alive beneath the earth.

The child would suffer not only physical agony but also spiritual torment as the Gu insects bred and fought inside, ultimately producing the deadliest and most malevolent Gu, held together by immense resentment.

Who would dare curse a child with Gu?

Before Xia Jiujing could say more, the peasant woman screamed in shock, “Gu curse! How could it be a Gu curse? My child was fine before. How did he get cursed for no reason?”

After this outcry, the crowd erupted into murmurs. “Gu curse? Isn’t Gu sorcery a Southern Kingdom practice? Who would curse a child like this?”

“Wasn’t the Princess Consort the one talking about the Southern Kingdom princess by the door?”

“Yes, yes! She said the Southern Kingdom people could still come to buy clothes. So she must be from the Southern Kingdom!”

“Then could it be that she cursed the child?”

“The peasant woman said that when she was buying clothes, that woman was also there purchasing fabric and custom designs.”

“Could it be that she cursed the child then?”

The crowd suddenly took a few steps back, casting suspicious and fearful glances at Ming Ningzi, clearly suspecting her of having cursed the child.

Ming Ningzi’s eyes widened. “Xia Jiujing, what nonsense are you talking about? Who would waste Gu insects on a mere child? Do you think Gu bugs are free? Are you trying to frame me?”

Ming Ningzi thought Xia Jiujing was deliberately targeting her. After all, that one statement had turned the crowd’s suspicion and hostility toward her.

Xia Jiujing hadn’t expected such a strong reaction to the word “Gu curse,” nor that the blame would fall squarely on Ming Ningzi.

Suddenly, Xia Jiujing sensed something was off. Was the peasant woman not targeting her but aiming at the Southern Kingdom princess, Ming Ningzi?

The woman had forcibly left Ming Ningzi behind at Jiang Mantang’s shop, claiming she was a witness because she was present when the child’s clothes were purchased. But this excuse was flimsy.

If she was a witness, so were the shop’s attendants and the manager. The woman wouldn’t need to worry about Jiang Mantang denying the transaction since all purchases were recorded in the account books. Leaving Ming Ningzi behind must have served another purpose.

Clearly, the crowd included the peasant woman’s accomplices. Only now did Xia Jiujing realize that the entire ruse was aimed at Ming Ningzi.

Yet Xia Jiujing still harbored a doubt: how could the peasant woman be certain that Xia Jiujing would identify the child’s affliction as a Gu curse, and how was she so sure it could be pinned on Ming Ningzi?