Old Lady Lu, who had lived through much, suddenly had a thought that left her heart pounding with fear, yet she still inquired cautiously.
"That girl, I’ve seen her before. Even though she was willful, she never had that malicious look in her eyes. When did this start?"
Madam Lu was taken aback by her mother’s words and, tilting her head as she remembered, said, "In May, Xiuxiu had a bit of a quarrel with that girl and accidentally pushed her into a rock. I heard she was unconscious for two days before she woke up."
"And then?" Old Lady Lu asked hastily.
"And then? That’s it!"
"Her temperament changed just like that?" Old Lady Lu, frustrated that her daughter-in-law was missing the point, couldn’t help but feel depressed. That foolish girl had been spoiled since childhood and lacked smarts.
"Exactly, she became so vicious!" Madam Lu said bitterly, thinking of the several times she had been at the receiving end of Wufu’s tricks.
Seeing the look on her mother-in-law’s face, Big Sister-in-law Lu asked, "Mother, are you thinking of something?"
"A drastic change in personality. I’m wondering if some kind of monster has possessed her," Old Lady Lu said with a grim expression.
Upon hearing this, everyone’s complexion changed.
Being possessed by a monster was no trivial matter but rather something extremely frightening.
"Mother, could it really be?" Madam Lu asked uneasily, swallowing hard, "If it’s a monster, would it still recognize us?"
Old Lady Lu scoffed, "I’m talking about a monster. What form can’t it assume? Who wouldn’t it recognize?"
Madam Lu was immediately at a loss for words.
Suddenly, she remembered something and said, "Right, I remember there have been sightings of the Mountain Demon in our village before!"
"The Mountain Demon?" Eldest Sister-in-law Lu exclaimed in shock.
Madam Lu nodded and repeated the story of the village rascal Ma Dan being tied to a tree, adding vivid details, "At that time, it spread throughout the village. The adults didn’t dare to venture into the mountains for fear of being eaten by the Mountain Demon!"
Everyone present was visibly shaken, and Eldest Sister-in-law Lu rolled up her sleeves, looking at the goosebumps on her arms, her face filled with fear: "Could it really be that there’s a Mountain Demon?"
"I remember, your younger sister-in-law’s family, they live by the mountain, right?" Old Lady Lu said with an ugly expression.
"What does Mother mean?" Madam Lu asked, terrified.
"You can’t be sure without evidence in these matters, but then again, it’s better to believe something than to dismiss it entirely."
Madam Lu immediately stood up, "I must go and tell my mother-in-law right away; a monster must be burned to death."
"Hold it!" Old Lady Lu stopped her and rebuked, "With your temperament, even though you’re about to be a mother-in-law yourself, you still can’t keep your composure."
"But Mother, this is important..."
"Is there anything more important than your younger brother’s wedding today? If you go and tell your mother-in-law that girl is a monster, whose bad luck are you provoking? Aren’t you afraid of angering both her and your younger brother?" Old Lady Lu looked at her with exasperation.
Madam Lu’s lips trembled, and she sat back down sheepishly.
"Right, little sister, with no evidence, who’s going to believe you? You might even get accused of harboring ill intentions!"
Madam Lu said resentfully, "So we just let it go? Who knows what that monster might do?"
"Actually, it can’t be, can it? Today, both she and her daughter seemed quite normal. Your younger sister-in-law even brought a rather generous gift for your brother’s wife," said Second Sister-in-law Lu, the least noticeable of the three daughters-in-law, in a soft voice: "Besides, for a child with such a background, it’s not unusual to be a bit peculiar."
She looked at Wufu, so neatly dressed, and found the idea that she could be a Mountain Demon hard to believe.