Chapter 174 The Strange Visitor
"Guests? There are no visitors today." Aunt Sun looked puzzled when she heard what Li Daoxuan said.

She put down the needlework in her hands, sat in a chair and thought about what happened today.

The wrinkles on her face were squeezed together, and one could tell at a glance that she was recalling something seriously.

But maybe because she was old, or maybe no one had ever been here before, Aunt Sun finally shook her head and said, "I don't remember anyone having been here before."

Li Daoxuan looked at Aunt Sun and saw that she did not look panicked at all and did not seem to be deliberately hiding something. Knowing that asking further would yield no results, he turned and left.

He walked straight to the gatehouse and saw Li Ergou cleaning the door.

"Third Young Master." When Li Ergou saw Li Daoxuan stepping out of the threshold, he immediately stopped what he was doing, fearing that the flying dust from sweeping would dirty Li Daoxuan's clothes.

"Have you been on duty here all day?"

"Yes, Third Young Master." Li Ergou answered Li Daoxuan respectfully.

"Have any guests come today?"

"No, young master." Li Ergou answered decisively. He had not left this place since he woke up. Even when he went to the toilet, he went under the big tree diagonally opposite the courtyard gate.

"Are you sure there isn't one?" Li Daoxuan became more and more puzzled and couldn't help but ask again.

"Master, indeed no. When the master and his wife are not here, there are few visitors. If anyone came to visit you, I would have informed them first." Li Ergou was also frightened by Li Daoxuan's questioning, but then he thought that he had not been lazy today, so he added, "There is no work in the courtyard today that needs to be hired. The family just sent someone to deliver food a few days ago. Indeed, no one came to visit today."

"Well, I know." Li Daoxuan said no more. Since the gatekeeper Li Ergou said that he had not seen anyone visit, he believed it. If no outsiders had come, could it be someone in the courtyard? But from what Gong Youwei said just now, it was not a maid in the courtyard, so this matter was strange.

When he came to Aunt Sun again, he saw that she was still busy with needlework. Li Daoxuan said, "Auntie, which maid is working in the hall today? Please ask her to come over to the hall." After that, he turned and left, returning to the hall alone.

Aunt Sun put down the needlework in her hands, puzzled as to why the young master behaved strangely today. He just asked if there were any guests, and now he wanted to look for the maid working in the hall. Did something happen?
After putting away her needle and thread, Aunt Sun stood up, smoothed her wrinkled clothes, and went to ask the maid who stayed at home about this matter (it would be easy to do so).

This matter was not troublesome. Soon, Aunt Sun found the maid who had just worked in the hall and brought her to the hall.

The maid was a petite girl, wearing a simple emerald coat, with a hint of panic on her slightly dark face.

She held the handkerchief tightly in her hands and kept looking at Li Daoxuan.

"Third Young Master, you, you are looking for me?" the maid said stutteringly.

"Don't be nervous. I just came to ask you something." Li Daoxuan said in a gentle voice. He tried to relax his voice so that his words could be more soothing.

Sure enough, after hearing his words, the maid's nervousness visibly subsided.

She looked at Li Daoxuan secretly and said, "Third, Third Young Master, please speak."

"You were on duty in the hall today. Did you see any strangers come in?"

"It seems not." The maid recalled and shook her head hesitantly.

"Did you really not see anyone?" Li Daoxuan asked in a slightly stern voice. "Or, who else came to the hall? And talked to Miss Gong?"

The maids all knew who Miss Gong was. After all, no one could pretend not to see such a beautiful girl appearing in the house.

Moreover, they had heard from Aunt Sun that this girl was related to the Third Young Master, so everyone in the house had all kinds of speculations about this young master and this sweet-looking palace girl. They would discuss this in private on weekdays, but their words were all full of joy.

But as for Miss Gong's specific identity, no one dared to ask.

All I know is that the girl's surname is Gong and her given name is Youwei. The surname Gong is rare, at least it is not heard around Lijia Village.

"There should be no one there." The maid whispered, but then she seemed to remember something and said quickly, "I remember that I did see a figure in the hall at that time."

"Shadow?"

"Well, I went to get some water, and when I came back, I just walked outside the hall, and saw a figure wearing orange clothes and long hair standing in the hall. I looked down when I stepped on the stairs, but when I looked up again, the person was gone." The maid tried to recall. "At that time, I thought it was Miss Gong, so I didn't pay much attention to it. But now that I think about it, it's also very strange. Because Miss Gong always wears white clothes."

"Orange clothes? Very long hair?" Li Daoxuan wondered if he had ever known such a person, but it was obvious that there was no such person in the entire Lijia Village.

Clothes of this color are often worn by actors or ladies of officials, and few ordinary people can carry off this color.

What's more, red-orange color is extremely difficult to dye, and this kind of fabric is rarely used to make clothes.

So if the visitor was a distinguished guest, Aunt Sun should have known about it. However, this person appeared suddenly and disappeared suddenly. If this was true, it would be impossible for Aunt Sun to know.

"Do you know what that man did here?" Li Daoxuan asked again.

"This, I didn't see it clearly."

"Where does this man stand?"

"It's right here. It stayed in front of this table for a while." The maid pointed to the table in the hall.

After hearing this, Li Daoxuan did not ask any more questions and asked the maid and Aunt Sun to leave. He came to the table in the hall and stood where the maid pointed. He stroked the table with his fingers, and suddenly a cool feeling came from the palm of his hand.

"Something's wrong." Li Daoxuan's fingertips circulated the Dan Qi, instantly dissipating the cold air. Then he looked at the table and saw a wet handprint suddenly appearing on it.

"How could this happen?" Li Daoxuan stared at the handprint closely, greatly shocked.

This kind of strange thing is definitely not something that humans can come up with, and it is definitely related to evil spirits and ghosts.

But it is not simple that this thing can appear in the old house of Li family and appear in the main hall in broad daylight.

After all, there were talismans he drew in the old house to ward off evil spirits, statues of gods were enshrined in the main hall, and an eight-diagram mirror was hung high in the hall. Those evil spirits would never dare to step into the main hall.

But the handprints on the table would not appear for no reason, they must be related to something unclean.

The various strange phenomena that occurred in the village, and Gong Youwei's statement that this person originally came to find her, made him have to take it seriously. This matter was by no means an ordinary one.

"The matter of Lijia Village is probably not that simple." Li Daoxuan murmured to himself.

"Could it be that"

Li Daoxuan raised his head and opened his Qi-gazing eyes, looking at Aunt Sun who was standing in the yard. He saw a blood-colored mist suddenly appearing above Aunt Sun's head. The blood mist was exactly the same as the blood mist above Li Laosan's head, both showing an omen of evil.

Shocked in his heart, Li Daoxuan quickly walked out of the hall and looked at the heads of the maids in the house. At this moment, there was blood-colored mist on everyone's head.

"Everyone is covered in blood mist. This is probably... a sign of great misfortune!" Li Daoxuan was shocked.

He felt a sharp pain in both eyes and quickly retracted his Dharma Eyes.

He quickly went upstairs and took out three Kaiyuan Tongbao coins and a divination tube that he used for divination from the package.

Li Daoxuan drew a Bagua diagram, put three copper coins into the divination tube, held the tube with both hands, raised it above his head, fixed his eyes, and gently shook his arms, causing the copper coins to roll and jump in the divination tube, making crisp sounds.

Then he loosened his left hand, turned the divination tube over, and three copper coins fell to the ground, a Yin Yao.

Li Daoxuan repeated this action five more times, and each shake was accompanied by an inquiry into God's will and awe of the unknown.

Yang Yao Yin Yao Yin Yao Yang Yao Yin Yao
The 29th hexagram, Kan represents water.

Xiang says: Water is flowing, and it is in the water. A gentleman should always be virtuous and learn to do things.

When two waters overlap, the Kan water is dangerous. It is dangerous to advance, but it is also dangerous to retreat. It is a dilemma to advance or retreat.

Two Kans overlap, danger upon danger, and obstacles abound. One Yang is trapped in two Yins.

But fortunately, Yin is deficient and Yang is excessive, so although there are many dangers and difficulties, there is still a chance to break the deadlock.

"It's actually the Kan hexagram." Li Daoxuan stopped calculating. He knew that the fortune-telling was over.

As the saying goes: One cannot predict all the consequences of a divination, and one cannot express all the emotions of a person.

Divination has always been a blend of yin and yang, and persistent pursuit can easily backfire.

This was the teaching of the Taoist master, and he repeatedly told Li Daoxuan about it. Even Uncle Jiu had warned him that fortune-telling could be fake, and that those who acted against the will of heaven would be punished sooner or later.

Therefore, once people who study Yin and Yang mathematics do not follow their teacher's instructions and break the taboos, they usually do not live long. Those who plot to take over from heaven are prone to sudden death.

Li Daoxuan naturally knew the consequences, so he didn't think about it any further at this moment.

The situation in Lijia Village is very dangerous now, and there may be a major crisis.

Although there are opportunities to break the deadlock, they need to be grasped carefully.

Li Daoxuan recalled every detail of his arrival in the village, trying to find a way out from this information.

He sat at the table in a daze, looking at the scattered copper coins, and Gong Youwei, who had turned into a rabbit, jumped up.

"Are you worried about something?" Gong Youwei asked.

"Did you see clearly what the person I talked to you about today was? Or did you feel anything unusual?" Li Daoxuan asked her.

"Strange? I don't seem to feel that there is anything wrong with her." Gong Youwei tilted her head, as if recalling something, and continued, "It was a woman wearing an orange fox fur coat, something like that."

After saying that, Gong Youwei let out a breath, and saw the man's image slowly appear.

Li Daoxuan looked at the image that appeared and his face darkened.

"It turned out to be her."

(End of this chapter)