Love letters are not allowed in the exorcism notebook!-Chapter 509 - 87: I’m Just Tasting if the Peach is Sweet

Li Mumu hadn’t expected that after a day of twists and turns, she would end up back in the hospital.

In fact, her health was very good, but to maintain her persona and clear her name of killing someone in the street, she had no choice but to inflict a few wounds on herself.

Initially, when she was stranded in Edo Port, she had heard about the saying that "a Fusang person without a tattoo on their face isn’t considered a human," and that it was not illegal to kill the latter.

At that time, Wendy was very curious, thinking it was a unique local custom. Only later did she understand deeply that it was not a cultural custom but a historical legacy issue.

In the early years before Fusang was incorporated into the geography of Ming Country, the beliefs of the Fusang people were quite chaotic. Often they didn’t even know what they were worshipping. Even between two villages separated by a mountain, the gods worshipped could be different.

The "Kojiki" was indeed authentically compiled, but it was only circulated among the upper ruling class. The common people knew nothing of this; they were illiterate, so how could you expect them to distinguish between Amaterasu and Izanami?

Late, after the Emperor of Fusang overthrew the Shogunate and modernized the era, not only in politics, economics, and culture but even in religious beliefs were reformed, mandating a uniform worship of the only True God.

This god was called the Master of Ten Thousand Transformations.

The above were rumors known by ordinary people, but the events that followed were more confusing and elusive.

At that time, in Edo Port, Li Mumu heard several completely different, even contradictory, versions. After discussing it privately with Wendy, she considered the most widely spread yet crudest version to be the most credible.

The Fusang government nominally worshipped the Master of Ten Thousand Transformations, but secretly, they worshipped Orochi.

The Orochi from Yamata no Orochi.

The eternally hungry Orochi could never satisfy its appetite. It not only usurped the devotion meant for the Master of Ten Thousand Transformations, endlessly exploiting the national believers, but in the end, it even aimed to devour the entire country. The senior officials in the Fusang government, moreover, exacerbated the tyranny, deceiving the entire nation into willingly offering up their flesh and souls.

At that point, the true Master of Ten Thousand Transformations finally took action, stripped and skinned it, and suppressed it eternally in the Deep Sea.

Although the Fusang people saved their lives, their souls had been contaminated by Orochi. After death, they could neither ascend to Heaven nor descend to Hell but were destined to become food for Orochi.

Nowadays, the tattoos on the faces of the Fusang people are actually a protection bestowed by the Master of Ten Thousand Transformations, able to block the spiritual contamination from the Ancient Deep Sea Gods.

Those Fusang people who refuse to tattoo their faces are either loyalists of the Former Dynasty’s Emperor and government or delusional fanatics whose souls have been completely contaminated, already having become unknowing puppet slaves driven by Orochi.

This version of the story at least seemed logically consistent.

Otherwise, were you to believe another claim—that the Master of Ten Thousand Transformations was a henchman of Ming Country, fierce and domineering? Even if the Fusang government shattered all norms by summoning Orochi, they could not match it and eventually had to kneel and meekly call it "father"...

The pride of the Fusang people is precious; they simply cannot accept such a defeatist narrative.

...

After taking a cold shower and changing into fresh clothes in the bathroom, Li Mumu, with her hands wrapped in bandages, lay on the hospital bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. She couldn’t figure out why she had been targeted by a group of rats along with a group of Fusang warriors.

Could it really be because of her natural beauty, catching the eye of some passing official’s descendant? Then him offering a hefty reward to firstly use the rats to cause a scare, followed by secretly hiring Fusang warriors to abduct her... such a far-fetched scenario is rarely seen even in mindless thrillers.

To investigate who was behind this, Li Mumu had Wendy stay at the scene to observe secretly, hoping to find some clues.

It could be said that Wendy might be lazy in other areas—to the point of not even wanting to wash her own underwear. She even played dead by lying flat and pretending to be a mere accessory after being demanded a toll by her own deity.

But in the areas she was interested in, her initiative was unmatched by ordinary people.

She single-handedly made the Heaven and Earth Bank come into existence, turning the trade in Nether Banknotes into the core business of the New Church of Eternal Life. Currently, the income was not high but it was stable and promised to be a sustainable revenue stream.

Another one of her greater hobbies, however, was probing into dark secrets.

The darker, deeper, and more mysterious something was, the more she loved it.

Li Mumu even wondered if she had been born with all her skill points invested in this area.

At Olympus, such a mysterious place, she roamed around as casually as if it were her own backyard.

Investigating the origins and backgrounds of the Fusang people was a piece of cake for her, posing no challenge whatsoever.

Li Mumu was still racking her brains, thinking.

Wang Yunxiao came in carrying some fruit.

In the North, sweet peaches are eaten in August.

At that time, the improved varieties hadn’t been introduced, or cultivated in the North, so it was impossible to buy the juicy peaches from the South.

Only sweet peaches, also called crispy peaches, the kind the monkey ate in the Flat Peach Garden in the 1982 version of Journey to the West, round with a bit of a red point. Their texture is similar to that of a green radish, and they could kill someone if thrown from the sky.

In the middle of the night, Youtiao had really suffered to buy these fruits.

But since they were for Eldest Miss Li, the brothers dared not grumble even half a word.

Let alone peaches, if Eldest Miss Li suddenly fancied something like braised stewed large intestines sashimi, they would have had to send Dumpling by train to buy it from the capital.

As long as it didn’t aggrieve her, nothing was considered troublesome.

"Does your hand still hurt?"

"It doesn’t hurt anymore, it’s all good now."

Li Mumu thought to herself that she had really put a lot of effort into maintaining this persona. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"I don’t know what happened today, I didn’t check the calendar before heading out."

Wang Yunxiao sat on the edge of the bed, took a washed peach, split it with a strong twist, and sighed long and short, "The security environment here in Seaside District is really bad, nowhere near as good as our place."

As long as I don’t go out, there are no security issues in Nantong District!

"Yeah, yeah, I was almost scared to death."

Li Mumu glanced at the peach, "How are those two kids doing, have they woken up yet?"

"They are still sleeping. I saw their breathing was very steady, so I did not wake them up."

Wang Yunxiao had already learned about the situation at that time through Zhou Qing (the ghost) and felt a sense of hindsight fear.

"Don’t worry, from now on I will stay right here, I won’t let you out of my sight!"

"That might not be necessary..."

Li Mumu secretly pouted, "You were also severely injured, right? I saw your clothes were torn, did you disinfect and bandage the wounds?"

"It’s nothing, I have thick skin."

Wang Yunxiao brought the split peach to Li Mumu’s lips, "Eat some fruit to calm your nerves?"

"I have hands..."

"Aren’t your hands inconvenient? Don’t worry, I washed my hands!"

Wang Yunxiao dared not tell her that, in order not to let her smell the brain matter on his fingers, he had washed his hands countless times in the bathroom, using up more than half a bar of soap.

Li Mumu hesitated for a moment but eventually opened her mouth and gently bit into the peach.

I’m just tasting to see if the peach is sweet, don’t misunderstand.