The fool took a knife and started slashing at people, which terrified the neighbors. They ran far away, too scared to come close and break up the fight.
The fool’s sister had originally been crying and arguing with her parents, but the moment she saw her brother brandishing a knife, she was so frightened she immediately turned and fled. Behind Shui Miao, the young bride tugged at him, pretending to try to stop him. Deliberately resisting her half-heartedly, Shui Miao managed to scare off the fool’s sister and her family of three.
The neighbors were all frightened, but Shui Miao only seemed aggressive toward the fool’s sister and her family. Once they had run off, the young bride easily wrested the cleaver from Shui Miao, who then squatted by the roadside, pretending to still be too angry to calm down.
An elderly couple sighed in exasperation but felt helpless—after all, their third son was just a fool.
In truth, the Zhang family had indeed suffered a string of misfortunes.
The eldest son, Zhang Lei, and the second son, Zhang Yu, had both been doing well outside the village. The third son, Zhang Ling, was especially bright and eager to learn, often winning awards at school. The two older brothers even returned home specially to build a villa for their parents and gave them a large sum of money, using their combined resources to support Zhang Ling’s education. But during the Spring Festival three years ago, Zhang Lei and Zhang Yu were killed when their car plunged off a cliff. Not long after, the third son also became mentally disabled. The elderly couple was puzzled until villagers told them that Zhang Ling must have suffered a psychological trauma, and that perhaps getting him married might help him recover. However, after Zhang Ling married the young bride, he didn’t improve—instead, he became even more foolish and erratic.
So Zhang Ling’s older sister, Zhang Juan, and her family moved in under the pretense of taking care of the elderly couple.
Although the elderly couple were old, they were still clear-minded. They knew that behind their daughter Zhang Juan’s back, she and her family often mistreated the now-mentally disabled Zhang Ling. Whenever the elderly couple mentioned taking Zhang Ling to the hospital, Zhang Juan and her family would strongly oppose them. Over the past few years, Zhang Ling had endured much hardship. A few days ago, Zhang Ling went missing, and the elderly couple noticed that their daughter Zhang Juan and her family didn’t seem worried at all—in fact, they often secretly smiled about it.
This was highly unusual, but the elderly couple, now old and frail, could do nothing about it.
Today, the young bride had brought Zhang Ling back home, which delighted the elderly couple. However, they never expected that Zhang Ling had changed—previously gentle and obedient, today he had actually taken a knife to attack people! Yet, the elderly couple didn’t blame him at all. Instead, they felt their son had improved. In the past, he only rambled nonsense, but now he could protect his elders and only attacked those who treated him badly. If he could understand these things, could he still be called a fool?
Shui Miao chased for a while down the road, driving Zhang Juan’s family down a mountain path before stopping. The young bride, who had rushed over, pulled him back home.
Zhang Ling’s sister, Zhang Juan, and her family, terrified, fled to the town clinic to treat their wounds.
Back home, the elderly couple didn’t ask many questions, simply instructing the young bride to help Shui Miao take a bath. Several kind neighbors came to help clean up the house. For their son’s sake, the elderly couple even had the neighbors help pack up Zhang Juan’s family’s belongings and place them at the courtyard gate, clearly signaling to their returning daughter that she should leave and no longer stay.
The elderly couple thought to themselves: now that their only remaining beloved son was left, they had to keep a close watch on him. He mustn’t be exposed to any more trauma.
The neighbors all knew that Zhang Juan’s family had bad tempers. Seeing that the elderly couple had made this decision, everyone was happy to help.
Of course, the elderly couple treated everyone well, preparing money and giving out red envelopes as thanks—for their son had been found, and it was only right to express gratitude.
Inside the small room, the young bride adjusted the water temperature in the large wooden tub, closed the door, and returned to help Shui Miao undress for a bath. Shui Miao was stunned. He already felt guilty for having taken over the fool’s identity—now he was also taking advantage of the fool’s wife? That was just too despicable.
Shui Miao wasn’t that kind of petty, selfish man, so he instinctively refused.
When the young bride saw Shui Miao resisting, she gently coaxed him, saying, “Don’t be naughty. Come on, let’s get you cleaned up, or else Grandpa and Grandma will scold me again. After your bath, I still need to take you to Auntie Wu’s to check your wounds…”
Shui Miao only understood a third of what she said.
This wasn’t just about being naughty—it was a matter of principle. Thinking quickly, Shui Miao suddenly started cooperating. When the young bride took off his upper clothes, he immediately sat into the wooden tub with his pants still on. The young bride tried to pull him out, but she wasn’t strong enough and gave up after two attempts. So, she stood outside the tub, washing his body. Shui Miao was uncooperative, just rubbing himself roughly a few times, hoping to end it quickly. But frustratingly, the young bride insisted on washing his hair.
The young bride felt a little suspicious because she noticed her husband seemed different. His eyes were no longer so dull, and his behavior and mannerisms had changed. She had to carefully check two birthmarks on her husband’s body—one a red mark on his head, the other a black mark on his buttocks.
Seeing the red mark still on his head, the young bride felt relieved.
After the bath, when it was time to change into clean pants, Shui Miao couldn’t think of a way out. Under the young bride’s watchful gaze, he had no choice but to turn his back to her and change into clean Miao clothing.
Seeing the black mark on his buttocks, the young bride finally felt reassured.
The bath was finally over, and Shui Miao dressed and came out.
He originally wanted to help the young bride carry water, but doing so might expose his act of pretending to be a fool. So, he could only grin foolishly and wander around aimlessly. At this time, the neighbors were busy helping out, so Shui Miao had nothing to do and walked toward a fighting bull that was as big as a calf. Strangely, the dog didn’t bite him but wagged its head happily, as if greeting an old friend. Shui Miao was just feeling puzzled when he suddenly saw an old woman, looking about eighty years old, walk out from behind the iron fence outside the courtyard. She gave Shui Miao a strange smile and walked straight through the gate. Curious about who the old woman was and why she smiled at him, Shui Miao quickly followed her inside. The old woman seemed to be of high status—when she arrived, Zhang Ling’s parents immediately stood up to greet her respectfully.
After a brief exchange of words, the old woman looked at the snakebite wound on Shui Miao’s chest.
Then she said a few more things, and Shui Miao saw the young bride come over, take his hand, and follow the old woman away…
Who exactly was this old woman?
Shui Miao was very confused. Not understanding the language was indeed a problem.
The old woman didn’t live far from here, and she lived alone. Shui Miao was pulled into her house by the young bride and immediately saw a statue of a deity being worshipped inside. Looking closely, it was actually the statue of Bai Niangzi (White Lady)!
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Shui Miao was instantly stunned. He hadn’t expected Bai Niangzi’s disciples to be so widespread!
The old woman didn’t say much, just lit incense, prayed, muttered some words, and then handed Shui Miao a bowl of tea, telling him to drink it.
Shui Miao thought that since she was a disciple of Bai Niangzi, the tea must be safe. Without hesitation, he drank it immediately.
After drinking, the old woman said a few more things to the young bride.
The young bride listened respectfully and nodded repeatedly.
On the way back home, Shui Miao suddenly felt discomfort in his stomach, as if countless worms were wriggling inside him. This frightened him greatly. Wanting to find out what the old woman had given him to drink, Shui Miao hurriedly ran back to her house. The young bride thought the fool’s madness had returned and was so scared she chased after him.
Shui Miao ran extremely fast, rushed into the old woman’s house, bolted the door, and whispered, “Did Bai Niangzi send you? What exactly did you give me to drink earlier?”
“Hehe, don’t be afraid. I was sent by Bai Niangzi to help you.” The old woman smiled at Shui Miao. She spoke in Mandarin, softly adding, “That tea was only a potion to help you maintain the appearance of the fool for thirty days. There’s no need to panic.”
“A potion?”
Shui Miao was puzzled. What did changing his appearance have to do with his stomachache?
“Yes. You’ll have a bout of diarrhea, and then everything will be fine.” The old woman nodded. Outside, the young bride was knocking loudly on the door.
Suddenly, Shui Miao’s stomach began to gurgle. He felt an urgent need to defecate. Unable to hold it in, he quickly opened the door and ran toward the bushes… Then, the young bride heard Shui Miao let out a very loud, very loud fart. Looking closely, the fart was even purple in color!
“Ugh…”
Shui Miao didn’t smell any stench, but seeing the purple aura made him instantly panic. He strongly sensed that the tea was definitely problematic—it wasn’t a potion to help him maintain the fool’s appearance, but rather a toxic brew meant to dissipate the immortal energy in his dantian! Then why would Bai Niangzi do this? Could there be a huge conspiracy hidden behind all this?
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage