The Comeback of the Cannon-Fodder Supporting Actress

After Cong Zhongbai returned to the inn where Xiao Yuan was renting a room, he hurriedly used the sect’s secret method to send news to Constable Geng.

Only after he sent the message did he go looking for Xiao Yuan.

Cong Zhongbai peeled the talisman paper off his body and returned it to Xiao Yuan: ”I’ve found out everything about Li Pengju and Chunniang. I don’t need this talisman paper anymore, I’ll give it back to you.”

Xiao Yuan took it, closed his right hand over it, and when he opened his palm again, the talisman paper had already turned to ash.

Cong Zhongbai was not surprised, but instead discussed with Xiao Yuan: ”Daoist Xiao, do you have any way to investigate whether there’s something wrong on Lady Luo’s person? If she really has been hit by evil magic, then please help her remove it.”

Cong Zhongbai felt that Luo Anqing was truly pitiful. She had only gone home with her mother like any decent girl, and ended up caught in someone else’s scheme. A young lady from a great family was used by those two cheap wretches; not only used, but subjected to every kind of humiliation, and in the end even her life was to be calculated away. It really made one feel a surge of sympathy.

Xiao Yuan pondered for a moment. ”All right.”

And that night, the River Clam Spirit truly felt like crying but had no tears.

She had originally planned to wait until nightfall to escape.

But what happened? When night came and everyone went to sleep, the River Clam Spirit simply could not break free of those few red ropes.

Even when it transformed into human form, the red rope was still tightly bound around her body. With the red rope binding her, she couldn’t use any Spell at all, nor could she get out of the water jar.

The River Clam Spirit tossed and turned like this for an entire night. When dawn was about to break and the little maids got up to sweep the courtyard, the River Clam Spirit hurriedly reverted to its original form and shrank down to the bottom of the water jar.

A few little maids were sweeping the courtyard. When they came to the water jar and took a look, one little maid cried out in alarm: ”How did so much Water get splashed out of the jar?”

”Was there a thief last night?”

Another little maid also exclaimed loudly.

Anning glanced over through the window. ”What thief? It’s nothing but one ugly river clam making a scene. Hurry up and dry the floor, lest someone slip later.”

The few little maids quickly went to wipe up the Water stains on the ground.

Anning finished washing and changing, then came out in a fresh set of clothes.

She stood beside the water jar and bared her teeth in a grin at the River Clam Spirit sunk at the bottom of the jar.

That one smile scared the River Clam Spirit into trembling all over. The River Clam Spirit felt that Anning’s smile was simply the smile of a demon—no, even more terrifying than a demon.

Shivering, it kept crying in its heart: ”Mother, Mother save me, it’s so scary, really so scary. I’ll never come to the mortal world again. I want to go back to Dongting Lake, I want to go back...”

Anning took a net and scooped the River Clam Spirit up. She loosened the red rope binding it, then took a heap of food to feed the River Clam Spirit. ”Here, hurry and eat something, come on.”

The River Clam Spirit did not react.

It simply did not dare to eat what Anning held in her hand, afraid that she had poisoned it.

Anning was very persistent: ”If you don’t eat, I’ll take a knife and slice your flesh off piece by piece and stir-fry it to eat.”

The River Clam Spirit knew Anning was not joking, and hastily opened its shell and swallowed the half roast chicken in Anning’s hand in one gulp.

Anning, smiling with her eyes narrowed, picked up a fish. ”Here, eat this. This is tasty.”

After that, Anning stuffed the River Clam Spirit with seven or eight plates of pastries, half a steamer of mantou, and a big bowl of dumplings.

Once she was done feeding it, Anning smilingly tied the River Clam Spirit up again. ”Good girl. As long as you behave, I’ll feed you like this three times a day.”

The River Clam Spirit had long since eaten itself sick. It wanted to vomit, but with Anning tying it up, it couldn’t even throw up. It felt like its belly was about to burst.

Anning couldn’t care less.

She just felt that force-feeding the River Clam Spirit like a duck was quite fun.

And so, for half a month straight, Anning fed the River Clam Spirit this way—three meals a day, each meal enough to stuff more than a dozen grown men.

Over in the kitchen there was nonstop complaining; they even went as far as to bring their grievances to Mrs. Zhao and Old Madam Yao.

Mrs. Zhao also had some objections to Anning coming to demand so much food every day. But as an aunt, it wasn’t easy for her to say anything, so she could only discuss it with Old Madam Yao.

Just then Old Master Yao, who knew a bit of the inside story, told Old Madam Yao and Mrs. Zhao that whatever Anning did, they should not interfere, and should just let her have her way.

Mrs. Zhao then held her tongue.

Old Madam Yao scolded the kitchen servants soundly, then hired two more cooks specifically to make food for Anning, and had someone tell Anning that she could ask for as much food as she liked; if anyone dared to defy her, she could just go ahead and teach them a lesson.

With Old Madam Yao’s backing, Anning became even more unrestrained.

Every day she would take even more food to feed the River Clam Spirit.

After half a month, the River Clam Spirit had been fed by Anning until it had grown a full two sizes larger.

While Anning was going all out feeding the River Clam Spirit in the Yao Family, Constable Geng received the secret letter sent by Cong Zhongbai. After reading it, he immediately took it and went to the Luo Family.

As soon as Mrs. Luo heard that Constable Geng had come, she knew that there was finally some development regarding her eldest daughter.

She hastily had someone invite Constable Geng in.

As soon as Constable Geng entered, he handed the letter to Mrs. Luo. ”Lady, my junior has not disgraced his mission and has at last managed to find out some things.”

Mrs. Luo took the letter and read it; the more she read, the sadder she became.

Her eyes reddened, and tears flowed uncontrollably down her face. ”My child, my poor child, you have pained your mother to death. Had I known it would be like this, I should have stopped her back then and not let her marry Li Pengcheng no matter what. Even if she had threatened me with death, I should not have softened. Even if she died, at least she’d be clean and untainted; it would still be better than being humiliated without the slightest shred of dignity like this.”

Constable Geng, a grown man, felt a sourness in his heart when he saw Mrs. Luo weeping like that.

He now had a daughter of his own, and he thought that if his girl were degraded like this, he would surely hate so much that he’d have to take up a knife and slaughter that man’s entire family.

Once Mrs. Luo had cried her fill, Constable Geng suggested: ”Lady, on the day Miss returns to her parents’ home, I will bring the brothers from the government office to seize that Chunniang on the spot, and then invite a Mage skilled in Spell to remove the evil magic from Miss. If the evil magic is dispelled, Lady can then personally submit a memorial to the court, reporting all that Li Pengcheng has done to Your Majesty, asking Your Majesty to dismiss him from office and punish his crimes.”

Mrs. Luo ground her teeth. ”I could flay him and Chunniang alive and strip their tendons; merely dismissing and punishing him is far too light a sentence. Just wait and see.”

At that single ”just wait and see,” Constable Geng understood that Mrs. Luo certainly had no small number of methods prepared for Li Pengcheng in the future—methods that would leave him neither able to live nor to die.

Constable Geng waited until Mrs. Luo’s anger had subsided and her emotions had calmed before sitting down with her to slowly discuss how to capture Chunniang and how to expose Li Pengcheng’s true face.

Speaking of it, this Mrs. Luo could be counted as something of a hero among powder and rouge.

Back then when she married Prime Minister Luo, she could manage household affairs and maintain his network of connections, and could also help Prime Minister Luo handle some government matters, often coming up with ideas for him.

Not only that, Mrs. Luo was also well-read in poetry and books, skilled at chess, and her calligraphy and painting were second to none.

Because of this, she earned Prime Minister Luo’s wholehearted respect and affection. Even though over all their married years she bore only two daughters and not a single son, Prime Minister Luo never took a concubine and devoted himself to Mrs. Luo alone.

If Prime Minister Luo had not passed away back then, and if Mrs. Luo had not been too sunk in grief to pull herself together for a time, there’s no way Li Pengcheng and Chunniang could have found an opening.

Now, for the sake of her eldest daughter, Mrs. Luo had truly brought out the domineering spirit of those years. One scheme after another made Constable Geng break out in a cold sweat just from listening.

He thought to himself that it was fortunate Mrs. Luo was a woman; if she were a man, who knows how many people would be schemed to death by her and still feel grateful to her for it.