Chapter 40: Is Li Mumu Possessed?

Old Lady Li threw herself onto the flour sack, wailing so miserably and heartbreakingly that it even eclipsed her grief when her husband had died.

"What kind of sins have I committed in my past lives? Such misfortune upon our household, such utter misfortune!"

Li Mumu hurriedly hurried over. "Don't cry, Grandma. Aunt Lin certainly isn't throwing a temper tantrum; she really couldn't carry it."

Instead of comforting the old woman, these words made everything click in Old Lady Li's mind. She jerked upright with a start. "You little hussy! I merely scolded you a few times, and you throw a tantrum and ruin good things. You truly are a wasteful wretch! How are we supposed to live from now on?"

Lin Siyan's eyes glared as if she wished she could pierce several holes straight through Li Mumu's body.

She had known from the start that nothing good ever came out of this girl's mouth. To think she had once believed the child was simple-minded—she would never believe that nonsense again.

"No, Mother, I really couldn't carry it anymore. My foot is even sprained," Lin Siyan explained.

However, Old Lady Li was no longer capable of listening to reason. "Third Son, are you just going to stand there and stay completely silent?"

Looking at the finger pointed right at the bridge of his nose, Li Yuan frowned deeply, a flash of displeasure crossing his eyes. Yet his irritation wasn't directed at his mother, but at Lin Siyan. "Siyan, even if you were upset, you shouldn't have taken it out on the food. Now that it's ruined like this, how are we supposed to eat in the days ahead?"

"I..." Lin Siyan had not expected Li Yuan to say such a thing. "No... why won't you believe me?"

"The facts are right here before our eyes. I know you're uncomfortable because of your pregnancy, but look around—has anyone else had it easy? You really shouldn't have done this. So much flour has been wasted." Li Yuan shook his head, disappointment written all over his face.

Lin Siyan desperately wanted to find someone who would believe her, but how could anyone in the entire Li family possibly trust her?

She glared furiously at Li Mumu. "Why is it that you believe everything she says, yet not a single word I utter? Brother Yuan, think about it carefully! Every single time this girl opens her mouth, doesn't it throw the household into complete chaos? Either she's no longer simple-minded, or... she's been possessed by an evil spirit."

Lin Siyan suddenly said with mounting agitation, "That's right, she's been possessed!"

Li Yuan pondered Lin Siyan's words, reviewing the events of the past few days. It was true that the silly girl had indeed played a pivotal role at every critical juncture.

"Absolute nonsense! Trying to shift the blame left and right—she's just an idiot..."

"Mother, it's not that someone else taught her; she herself has been overtaken by a malicious entity. Just think about why that fortune-teller took her away in the first place. He surely didn't just say those few casual words."

Lin Siyan interrupted Old Lady Li. Naturally, she despised this old hag who frequently beat and scolded her at the drop of a hat, but now was not the time to deal with her.

She needed to strike back, but first she had to drive Li Mumu away; this girl simply clashed with her destiny.

Old Lady Li looked back at Li Mumu. It was true that Gu Yuru had hired physicians to examine the girl before, to no avail, yet the child had indeed grown noticeably sharper over the past few days.

"Oh, Mother, I just remembered something." Mrs. Zhao's eyes rolled around in her head.

"If you have something to say, spit it out!"

Mrs. Zhao remained unfazed by Old Lady Li's vulgarity; the old woman had been just like this ever since she married into the family. "I remember before... when the younger sister-in-law, that Gu woman, tried to teach her arithmetic, it took an immense amount of effort. Yet yesterday, she calculated the remaining silver with absolute ease. I found it strange even then."

Mrs. Zhao's words left everyone feeling uneasy, and they all turned their gazes toward Li Mumu.

As these examining eyes fell upon her, Li Mumu curled the corners of her lips in a nearly imperceptible smile. Look at that—the opportunity had delivered itself right to her doorstep.

The more Old Lady Li thought about it, the sharper her intake of breath became. Although the silly girl hadn't spoken much over the past few days, compared to her usual self, she had indeed become remarkably eloquent.

Could she truly have been possessed by an evil spirit?

Seeing her opening, Lin Siyan pressed on: "Mother, I'm clearly carrying a son, yet she kept insisting it's a girl. And think about yesterday's fortune-teller—didn't he speak exclusively of misfortune for our family? The Gu family didn't suffer a single bad word, did they?"

Old Lady Li nodded. "So what? We paid for that reading with our own money!"

"Mother, you're being muddle-headed! For all we know, that person was sent by the evil spirit itself. Besides, I swear on my life, I never stole food to eat in secret! Even if I wanted to steal, how could I possibly do it without making the slightest sound? Who could accomplish such a feat besides an evil spirit or a demon?"

Li Mumu remained silent, simply watching Lin Siyan's performance.

She had known all along that woman was up to no good.

How could someone who, in the novel, played the entire Li family in the palm of her hand and brought heavy casualties upon the Gu family ever be bullied so easily?

Seeing that the situation was turning in her favor, Lin Siyan decided to strike while the iron was hot. "If you all believe me, I would never do anything to harm the Li family, especially for the sake of Brother Yuan and the child in my belly. But as for certain other people, that's not necessarily true."

"Mother, I also feel this girl has been different lately," Li Sheng chimed in.

Li Ye and Mrs. Sun naturally nodded along as well. Mrs. Sun, in particular, felt that the one who deserved to die was Li Mumu, not her own son. Right now, she looked at everyone as if they might be the culprit.

"The most urgent task right now is to banish this evil spirit immediately," Lin Siyan said, her gaze filled with venom. Since her own days were miserable, she would make sure no one else had peace either.

Furthermore, this was a strategy that killed two birds with one stone. If anything happened to Li Mumu, Gu Yuru, who cherished her children so dearly, would undoubtedly resent Li Yuan, leaving the two of them with zero possibility of ever getting together.

Filled with this scheme, her eyes brimmed with eager anticipation.

"Little Sister is not an evil spirit!" Li Yujue shouted anxiously. "Stop talking nonsense! Grandma, don't listen to her!"

Lin Siyan lowered her voice and whispered to Li Yuan, "Brother Yuan, our food is truly running low. For the sake of the children, we might as well send them to the Gu family. After all, you are their father; once you make a comeback in the future, you can simply take them back."

Furthermore, a hard-to-detect cold smile flickered across the corner of her mouth, "The siblings are always sticking together; who knows, they might have already been infected by the evil spirit as well."

Li Yuan had also witnessed the ferocious appetites of these little ones. Now that the flour was ruined by water, very little rice remained, and their purse was completely empty, they probably wouldn't last many more days.

Pride meant nothing when your life was on the line; how could they talk about the future if they didn't survive the present?

"Yunjue, your sister is a demon, an evil spirit," Mrs. Zhao gloated maliciously, acting as a mere weather vane shifting with the wind.

"She is not! She's my little sister, and none of you are allowed to hurt her!" Li Yujue spread his arms wide, shielding Li Mumu behind him.

"It's true, you child! In a couple of days, that demon is going to eat you up."

Li Yujue shot her a disdainful look. "You're the demon!"

"I am certainly not," Mrs. Zhao's face chilled. "Why are you such an ungrateful child?"

Lin Siyan looked over at Old Lady Li, knowing that the ultimate decision still rested with her. Besides, even if Li Yuan's resolve was wavering, he probably wouldn't dare voice it himself—the man cared far too much about his pride.

She understood his temperament thoroughly, making him easy to manipulate.

"Mother, whether she is a demon or not—why don't we just test it and find out?"

Old Lady Li snapped her gaze toward her. "How do we test it?"

Lin Siyan stared at Li Mumu, offering a cold, confident smile as if victory were already in her grasp.

Li Mumu smiled right back at her. How she was looking forward to this!