CHAPTER 375: CHAPTER 368: I’M JUST A FACE-LOVER 10

Xiao Yuan hastily covered the Jade Pendant with his hand.

"You like it? I’ll buy one for you, but I can’t give you this one."

With an amused look, Anning glanced at Xiao Yuan: "Why, was it given to you by some young lady?"

Xiao Yuan, terrified, quickly shook his head: "No, no, it was given to me by Xu Jiu. I really can’t give it to you. After all, he has worn it, and it wouldn’t be good for you to wear it. If someone recognizes it..."

"Look how scared you are."

Anning chuckled: "I didn’t say I wanted it. Okay, stop covering it, let me have a look."

Xiao Yuan took off the Jade Pendant and handed it to Anning.

When Anning took it over, she felt a chill at her fingertips, and dense black resentful energy and Evil Qi clung to her fingers.

Using the Eye of Truth to observe Xiao Yuan, she noticed his body was bathed in a golden glow, with a hint of purple amid the azure above his head, surrounded by an auspicious aura. However, within this radiance, a point of black energy was gnawing away at the auspicious aura on his body.

Anning frowned, examining more closely.

She saw that Xiao Yuan was filled with dense Merit Energy, but for some reason, it seemed to have been sealed, the abundant Merit within him rendered useless.

No wonder that Evil Qi could take effect.

Had the Merit Energy not been bound, perhaps the Evil Qi would have already been purified.

"This Jade Pendant is not very good."

Anning wiped the Jade Pendant twice, erasing the Evil Qi: "Seems like it was taken from a tomb, carrying Death Energy. You better not wear it anymore."

Xiao Yuan was shocked: "Really? Xu Jiu did this to me?"

Anning pondered for a moment: "Perhaps he didn’t know either. Anyway, keep your distance from him from now on."

"Alright, I’ll definitely stay far away from him."

Xiao Yuan quickly snatched the Jade Pendant back: "You shouldn’t hold onto it, I’d be devastated if anything happened to you."

Anning burst into laughter: "You can take this Jade Pendant to the temple later, those monks will surely have a way to dispel this resentful energy."

"Okay."

Xiao Yuan hastily nodded.

As he was leaving, he cautioned Anning: "Don’t just accept things from others. If you want something, let Qing Xing pass me a message, and I will buy it for you."

Anning waved her hand: "Okay, I know. Be careful on your way."

Xiao Yuan left the Xu Family home and went straight to the nearest temple, handing the Jade Pendant over to the temple’s guest-receiving monk before heading home.

He returned still huffing with anger.

Mrs. Xiao, seeing Xiao Yuan come back furious, quickly asked: "What happened? Weren’t you visiting your sister’s home?"

Xiao Yuan waved his hand: "I went to see sister Anning."

"Is the Xu Family not treating your sister well?"

Mrs. Xiao promptly asked, "If not, I’ll have your sister bring Anning over to stay with her for a few days."

Xiao Yuan shook his head: "It’s not like that, sister Anning is doing quite well in the Xu Family, Uncle Xu and Aunt Xu treat her very nicely."

"Then what are you so mad about?"

Mrs. Xiao nudged Xiao Yuan: "Who has made you upset?"

Xiao Yuan huffed again: "It’s that bastard Xu Jiu, he schemed against me, claiming to make amends and handed over a Jade Pendant, and what do you know, it came from a tomb. It’s lucky I didn’t wear it, or else it would have brought so much misfortune to our home."

Mrs. Xiao was also quite angry upon hearing this: "That dog Xu Jiu really isn’t worth a damn, don’t hang out with him anymore."

Xiao Yuan replied: "I don’t want to hang out with him at all."

When Mr. Xiao came back, Mrs. Xiao told him about the incident.

Mrs. Xiao and Xiao Yuan thought simply, assuming Xu Jiu was unaware of the Jade Pendant’s origins.

But Mr. Xiao, who conducted such large business dealings and had traveled far and wide, certainly thought more into it.

He considered the recent competition between the Xu Family and himself for several deals, with the Xu Family suffering significant losses, and it was possible that Xu Jiu had intended to harm Xiao Yuan.

Thinking about Xu Jiu’s family character, he grew even more convinced of this idea.

Mr. Xiao sent someone to look into Xu Jiu, and then lured Xiao Yuan to stay at home and play, not allowing him to go out.

After Xiao Yuan left, Anning returned to her own room.

She sent away Qing Xing and the two little maids with a handful of Copper Coins, telling them to go play by themselves. Then she locked the door, sat cross-legged on the bed, and tried hard to sense the Evil Qi that rubbed off from the Jade Pendant.

The cold Evil Qi slowly spread from Anning’s fingertips.

Anning closed her eyes slightly and felt the cold and dampness of the grave from that Evil Qi, as well as the feel of corpse oil and lots of blood...

She suddenly opened her eyes, only to feel a headache splitting her skull.

That Jade Pendant was clearly tampered with. Xu Jiu must have deliberately given such a pendant to Xiao Yuan, intending to bring Xiao Yuan bad luck, or even to harm Xiao Yuan’s life.

A trace of fierceness flashed through Anning’s eyes.

She searched for He Anning’s memories again.

In the memories, Xiao Yuan also seemed to have a Jade Pendant, but He Anning never paid much attention to it.

Also, Xiao Yuan seemed to have been sick before getting married.

Most crucially, after getting married, Xiao Yuan often went out to play with several friends.

He must have been depressed and uncomfortable because he did not marry He Anning, therefore not wanting to stay at home, he went out to play with others.

However, those he played with were not any good, not only leading Xiao Yuan to places he should not have gone, but also giving Xiao Yuan many gifts, all of which probably had been tampered with, thus dragging Xiao Yuan down further and further.

Judging from the condition of Xiao Yuan that Anning saw today.

If no one had set him up, Xiao Yuan was destined to be extremely wealthy and powerful, second only to the emperor.

Yet, in his previous life, he ended up begging on the streets and was eventually beaten to death, not even leaving a whole corpse behind.

This contrast was truly huge.

Moreover, Anning began to ponder, who suppressed Xiao Yuan’s Merit Energy?

Anning thought for a while, then got out of bed and searched for a long time in the room, and finally found a purple jade wolf hair brush.

This brush was left by He Juren, the original owner had always treasured it and was reluctant to use it, but now it fell into Anning’s hands.

Anning looked at the brush and nodded in satisfaction.

She put the brush away, then went to the study to find some top-quality cinnabar and some paper.

With the materials ready, Anning cut the paper, mixed the cinnabar, and began to draw talismans.

She drew several talismans in a row, collecting them all after finishing, and then found a piece of Mutton Fat Jade from the storage room where the original owner kept her belongings.

Using her hand as a knife, she cut the Mutton Fat Jade into several pieces and then found tools to start polishing them.

By the time several pieces of jade were polished, the sky had already darkened.

Anning hurriedly put away the items and went to pay respects to Mrs. Xu and, by the way, to talk to Xu Bao’er.

Upon Anning’s arrival at Xu Bao’er’s room, Xu Bao’er quickly said: "You nearly scared me to death, Mrs. Yue just left not long ago, you don’t know how frightened I was pretending to be sick in front of her."

Anning smiled and walked over: "She shouldn’t have noticed, right?"

Xu Bao’er shook her head: "She didn’t notice. She even cried for a while."

As Anning sat down beside her, Xu Bao’er whispered: "My mother told her that it’s no longer possible for me to go on like this, and to avoid implicating Yue Zhong, she suggested calling off the engagement and letting Mrs. Yue find someone suitable for Yue Zhong again."

Anning’s eyes narrowed with a smile: "She must have been unwilling."

"Definitely." Xu Bao’er spit lightly: "With the likes of Yue Zhong, and his family being as poor as it is, if the engagement is broken off, where would he find a decent girl willing to marry him? His family must be clinging to us."

"Don’t worry."

Anning patted Xu Bao’er’s hand: "Uncle Xu must surely have a way out."

Indeed, the next day Xu Pengju went to the Yue Family.

When he went there, he also brought the tokens of the engagement agreement between the Xu and Yue families from those years.

Yue Zhong met Xu Pengju in the study: "Uncle could have just called me over if there was something, why trouble yourself to come here?"

Xu Pengju sighed deeply, with a face full of sorrow. His eyes were red, clearly someone who had cried.

"This matter... our Xu Family has done your family wrong, dear nephew. Uncle truly has no other choice. I hope you can understand, given the many years of kinship between our families, let’s call off this engagement, shall we?"