If I stay in the Hehuan Sect, I'll live off the pampered daughters of the Heavenly Pride Sect.

Chapter 425 Let's settle the compensation for emotional distress first!

After the silver hairpin turned towards the river surface in the array plate, the sound of water in the old river channel outside the maple forest suddenly disappeared, leaving only the soft creaking of wooden planks coming from the direction of the abandoned shipyard.

Manager Hu carried a white paper lantern, the light of which illuminated the black water beneath the withered leaves, parting to reveal a narrow path leading to the abandoned dock.

She stared at the road, the talisman in her palm soaked in blood, her voice strained: "It lets us pass."

Mo Chengyue put the array plate into his sleeve and used his sword sheath to stop her from taking another step forward: "If it gives way, we won't be in a hurry."

Shopkeeper Hu looked up at him: "Aren't you going?"

Mo Chengyue looked down at the red marks on his palm, which were creeping up his wrist bone, like someone lighting a lamp inside: "Go, but make it wait."

A woman's voice, seemingly emerging from beneath the mud, laughed from the boat's deck: "Groom, are you scared?"

Mo Chengyue wrapped the silver hairpin in talisman paper and handed it back to Manager Hu: "I'm afraid you don't even understand the procedures, and the accounts won't be settled later."

Shopkeeper Hu took the silver hairpin, his finger pausing briefly on the outside of the talisman: "Are you still going to talk about the account now?"

"It's precisely at times like these that we need to speak out."

Why?

Mo Chengyue raised his Rain Flower Sword, the tip of which swept across the still-wet Crimson Sun Powder on the ground: "If we don't settle accounts, the other side will say it's fate."

The laughter from the dark water subsided, damp and close to their feet: "You and the Red Lantern Boat share a blood oath, wedding attire, bone needles, and the lantern's name—isn't that fate?"

Mo Chengyue tapped the scabbard against the edge of the mud, preventing the circle of water from getting close: "Consider it a work injury."

Shopkeeper Hu, who had been keeping a straight face, almost tilted the paper lantern when he heard this, but managed to hold back: "Can't you pick a time to be sarcastic?"

"Now is the perfect time."

"Where is the perfect spot?"

"It wants to scare me, so I'll annoy it first."

The sound of planks from the direction of the abandoned shipyard grew louder, like many hands softened by water patting the old ship planks.

Manager Hu pulled the lamp closer to his chest: "That place has been abandoned for a long time. Twenty years ago, after the boat capsized, no one dared to repair it. All the old ship planks are piled up inside."

Mo Chengyue scattered talisman ash along the edge of the narrow road, walking slowly: "The abandoned dock has sheds, planks, an old waterway, and is also near the river, so it's suitable as a temporary wedding hall for the red lantern boat."

Shopkeeper Hu gritted his teeth: "Don't make it sound like we're actually getting married."

Mo Chengyue looked at the shadowy gate of the abandoned dock shrouded in mist ahead: "The more seriously we take it, the more careful we need to be."

"What gift should we choose?"

"bride price."

Shopkeeper Hu glanced at him, suppressing the urge to curse: "Your life is almost taken away, and you're still thinking about the betrothal gifts?"

"They want to drag me onto the boat; they can't come empty-handed."

The woman's voice rang out again from the black water, filled with barely concealed annoyance: "What do you want?"

Mo Chengyue didn't stop walking: "First, get the ship owner's household registration, the original marriage certificate, the matchmaker's corpse, Madam Lin's IOU, and then make three more copies of the compensation."

Manager Hu turned his head and asked, "Do we need compensation too?"

"The stitching on the wedding dress was so poor, you should be compensated for the emotional distress."

The fog at the entrance of the abandoned dock suddenly dissipated, and a red silk ribbon hung diagonally from the rotten wooden beam. The ribbon was covered in water stains and fell without a sound, only turning the old wood a dark red.

Manager Hu pursed his lips tightly: "We've arrived."

Mo Chengyue stopped outside the door before entering, placing two soul-protecting talismans on the left and right doorposts, and then pressing a heart-cleansing talisman under the threshold.

A girl's soft laughter echoed from the abandoned dock: "You've set up so many talismans, are you trying to make the wedding hall look more presentable?"

Mo Chengyue lowered his head and smoothed out the corner of the talisman: "It's not about being dignified, but at least don't let it leak."

The girl's laughter stopped.

Manager Hu raised the lamp high, and the light shone in through the doorway. Sure enough, in the center of the abandoned dock stood a broken boat, half-buried in the mud, with its bow facing the river and its stern submerged in the black water.

A young girl in a red wedding dress sat in the center of the wrecked boat.

She wore a red veil, her hands folded on her knees, revealing slender, pale wrists, and her cuffs were embroidered with frosty leaves. Her figure was almost identical to the younger sister in Manager Hu's memory.

When Manager Hu saw the figure, he slid his lantern forward slightly and called out, "Shuang'er."

Mo Chengyue raised his sword sheath and pressed it down on the lamp handle: "Don't call me by my old name."

A soft voice came from beneath the red veil: "Sister, have you forgotten again? He just taught you not to call me that."

Shopkeeper Hu's eyes reddened, but he didn't take another step forward: "You're not her."

The girl with the red veil gently turned her head: "Of course I'm not your sister."

Shopkeeper Hu's expression changed: "What did you say?"

The young girl sat on the wrecked boat, the hem of her wedding dress soaked through, water droplets dripping down the fabric into the cabin, the sound of the dripping carrying exceptionally clearly through the abandoned dock: "I am the Seventh Eye."

Mo Chengyue stood outside the threshold, a talisman between his fingers, preventing his shadow from crossing it: "Finally willing to report your position?"

Seventh Eyes looked at him through the red veil: "Why are you still standing so far away?"

"Your floors are soaked in water, bad review."

"You're afraid to get close to me."

"I'm also afraid of damaging your wedding hall and not being able to afford the compensation."

The Seventh Eye raised his hand, his fingertips peeking out from his sleeve were bloodless, yet clean enough not to resemble a water ghost: "Groom, you dragged me all the way here, weren't you just trying to see what I look like?"

Mo Chengyue walked around the outer wall of the abandoned dock to the left, casually slapping a thunder talisman on the back of a wooden stake: "I have high standards; I can return goods even without lifting the veil."

Shopkeeper Hu stood at the doorway, not moving, only shining a white paper lamp on his feet: "What are you doing?"

Mo Chengyue affixed the second talisman to the crack in the fortress wall: "Visit."

The Seventh Eye whispered, "You are setting up a talisman."

Mo Chengyue didn't even look up: "Since the guests are here, let me check the fire safety for you."

The veil covering the seventh eye swayed slightly, and her voice, though laced with laughter, held no warmth: "You're trying to stall for time."

"If I don't waste time, am I supposed to tug the boat?"

"You won't make it to dawn."

"Even at daybreak, it's not necessarily safe. The red paper money you received yesterday morning already proves you were working overtime."

Manager Hu stared at the red figure in the center of the abandoned dock, his voice hoarse: "Seventh Eye, where is Shuang'er?"

The girl with the red veil placed her hands back on her lap: "Didn't you already see the ship's planks?"

"I want to see her."

"When you see me, it's the same as seeing her."

Shopkeeper Hu gripped the Soul-Suppressing Coin tightly: "You just said it yourself, you're not my sister."

The Seventh Eye answered softly, "I'm not my sister, but she's inside me."

Shopkeeper Hu's movement forward was stopped by the talismanic light on the threshold. The flame of the white paper lantern flickered outwards, only to be forcibly pulled back by her: "What did you do to her?"

The Seventh Eye didn't answer her, but instead turned to Mo Chengyue: "You know."

Mo Chengyue stopped at the side wall of the abandoned dock and inserted the array hook into the crack of the rotten wood: "I know a little, not much, enough to bargain."

"You don't want to save her?"

"If you want to save it, you have to inspect the goods first."

Shopkeeper Hu turned to look at him: "Who are you calling the goods?"

Mo Chengyue pulled the array hook outwards, forcing back the black water seeping from the cracks in the wood with talisman ash: "I'll tell you their version of events."

Seventh Eyes slowly raised his head, revealing a glimpse of his pale chin through the edge of the red veil: "Your mouth is even more repulsive than the files on the case file."

Mo Chengyue paused for a moment, then pressed the third talisman under the corner of the wood: "The dossier isn't detailed enough."

The seventh eye asked, "Where is it not detailed enough?"

"It didn't mention that I have a bad temper."

"I wrote it."

"Then it's still conservative."

Upon hearing the word "file," Manager Hu's face turned grim: "So you really have seen his case."

Seventh Eyes smiled and said, "When the red light shines on the shore, someone will always bring the paper to the water's edge."