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墨書 Inktalez
"I didn't expect my Rouge to be this effective! Maybe I should go to the Underworld and promote it; it might become really popular!"
"What are you talking about?" Chang Tai heard Xing Ruyi mumbling but couldn't quite catch what she was saying.
"Oh, I bought this box of Rouge from my shop, and I didn't expect it to work so well."
"Things made by the Fox Demon are always good. But why is this called Rouge?" Chang Tai was straightforward and said whatever came to his mind. He simply found the name Rouge a bit strange.
Xing Ruyi tilted her head and thought for a moment before honestly replying, "Because when women use this box of Rouge, they instantly become charming and alluring, so I named it Rouge. Honestly, I was just too lazy to think of a new name. But now that I think about it, this product seems quite suitable for men as well, so when I go back, I might really need to rename it; otherwise, the target audience will be cut in half. By the way, Brother Chang, can you guess what flower I used to make this box of Rouge?"
"What flower?"
"The Red Spider Lily from the Underworld!" Xing Ruyi enunciated each word clearly, but Chang Tai merely smiled politely without taking her seriously.
Xing Ruyi secretly stuck out her tongue as she heard the voice of the elder from the Zuo Family filled with joy: "The couple bows to each other; the ceremony is complete!"
Along with the elder's voice, within the spirit hall, red and white lights intertwined. In an instant, the group of newlyweds who were still bowing and the elder from the Zuo Family had vanished. The spirit hall remained unchanged, with the pair of red candles still burning on the table.
Chang Tai searched around but could not find Rouge anywhere.
"Brother Chang, stop looking; Rouge is right here!" Xing Ruyi walked up to the spirit bed and pointed at Zuo You's right hand.
In Zuo You's right hand was something that Chang Tai found very familiar—it was Rouge's Soul Capturing Bell. However, this bell looked somewhat different from what he had seen a few hours ago; it was red and emitted a scent very similar to that of the box of Rouge.
"This..."
"All things in this world have spiritual energy. Some items, when infused with care over time, will cultivate into form. Rouge is transformed from this Soul Capturing Bell. It originally belonged to the Zuo Family as a family heirloom. After General Zuo passed away, this bell was given to young Zuo You by the Holy One. One person and one bell accompanied each other for several years. In Zuo You's eyes, this bell was not only a magical tool that could control corpses but also a companion he spent every day with; it held all his emotions. Later on, when Zuo You was sent off to war by the Holy One, this bell followed him closely. As the practitioner's obsession deepened, the bell eventually took on a human form."
"So, Fox Demon, you mean this Soul Capturing Bell became a demon and turned into Rouge."
"Sort of! But now it's just an ordinary bell." Xing Ruyi held the Soul Capturing Bell in her hand and gently shook it twice: "Zuo You was framed and died beyond the pass; Rouge couldn't bear for his soul to be lost without a home, so she became a corpse driver and brought him back over great distances. Now that her wish has been fulfilled and her magic has dissipated, there is no longer any Soul Capturing Bell in this world."
"What about that elder from the Zuo Family?"
"Look!" Xing Ruyi pointed under the eaves at a pile of bones: "He was General Zuo's deputy and the only one who returned alive after accompanying General Zuo into battle. To put it in my own words, he is a traitor—a traitor who survived by any means necessary. Yet this traitor still had some conscience; although he was sent back to Zuo You's side by the Holy One, he remained dedicated and diligent. Upon learning that Zuo You had died at the border, he took his own life in this general's mansion."
Xing Ruyi had just finished when the Soul Capturing Bell in her hand unexpectedly shattered. Looking at the spirit bed, the body of Zuo You, which had been perfectly intact, suddenly ignited and turned to ashes.
"They're gone; finally, I can be free!" Xing Ruyi said as she walked over to the pile of bones, picking them up one by one. She found a corner in the courtyard to bury them. "Alright, now you can rest easy. Your general and his beloved bell have gone to where they wanted to be. As for you, although you have done some wrongs against the Zuo Family, over the years you have atoned for your sins. I believe that in their spirit, they will not blame you. Dust to dust, earth to earth; let go of everything from this world and be reborn!"
"Fox Demon!" Chang Tai stood behind Xing Ruyi, watching her mutter to herself, unable to help but ask, "How do you know about the Zuo Family? And about Rouge, how did you know she was that Soul Capturing Bell? And you—are you—"
"And me, am I also like Rouge, a monster?" Xing Ruyi stood up and brushed off the dirt from her hands. "I am not a monster; I am just a female ghost borrowing a body!"
Xing Ruyi continued, opening her mouth as if to devour someone: "Actually, there are many things in this world that Brother Chang does not know. For example, Monsters and Spirits truly exist; it's just that humans have their own path, demons have the Demon Path, and ghosts have their own way. Usually, everyone does not interfere with each other. Beings like Rouge are quite rare, and generally, they do not wish to mix with humans. So, Brother Chang, you can rest assured; once you step through that door ahead, forget all these matters."
"So, Fox Demon, you're not a female ghost but a female mage who captures ghosts and exorcises demons?" Chang Tai asked softly.
Xing Ruyi laughed cheerfully: "That's one way to put it. However, I am a female mage who is reluctant to leave the mortal realm, enjoys looking at handsome men, and has a tendency to meddle in others' affairs—though I'm only half-competent at it. So please keep this a secret for me, Brother Chang!"
Chang Tai smiled in response but sighed lightly as he turned away.
Fortunately, his Fox Demon was not any kind of Monsters and Spirits!
Xing Ruyi also secretly breathed a sigh of relief as she collected an old man's white bones and the remnants of the Soul Capturing Bell, wrapping them in red cloth and placing them in her sleeve.
Since it was late at night, Chang Tai was worried about letting Xing Ruyi leave alone, so he insisted on escorting her back to the Ruyi Rouge shop. As they were leaving, he suddenly asked, "Why did the Soul Capturing Bell name itself Rouge?"
Xing Ruyi thought for a moment and smiled: "Perhaps it was because the first shop it entered after transforming into a human was my Rouge shop?" She pointed at the sign above the shop.
As Xing Ruyi, left with thoughts of that day when she hesitated while entering the store, felt that there was some intention behind it all. Back inside the shop, she took out the old man's bones and fragments of the Soul Capturing Bell and burned them into powder using Ghost Fire. Then she took a Red Spider Lily and made a new Rouge. The box for the Rouge only had one character on it: "Soul"!
After returning to the Yamen, Chang Tai handed over the Porcelain Bottle and the Secret Letter to his superior without mentioning anything about Rouge or what had happened in the general's residence; his superior did not inquire either.
The next time he saw Shengzi, he learned that during his absence there had been some changes in the capital. For example, the son of the Deputy Minister of War, Lord Li, named Li Hu, had died from illness. Additionally, there was a case involving a stolen female corpse in Sister-in-law Village. Whenever he thought of female corpses, he would recall Hui Niang. Upon further inquiry, he found out that this theft case was unrelated to hers.
The stolen female corpse belonged to the niece of Wang Laifu from Sister-in-law Village. Wang Laifu had an older sister who married into a neighboring village but died during childbirth years ago. A few years later, her brother-in-law remarried; however, their stepmother did not accept these two children. Seeing his niece's plight, Wang Laifu took both girls back home.
Wang Laifu made his living by selling goods on the streets throughout the year. His wife stayed home with their son and two nieces doing laundry and farming work. Although life was plain and simple, they managed well enough. Half a month ago, Wang Laifu's eldest niece, Qiao Qiao, went to fetch water from the well for washing clothes but accidentally fell in. By the time she was pulled out, she had already drowned.
This Qiao Qiao, just sixteen years old and yet unmarried according to village customs—was neither a daughter nor daughter-in-law of the Wang family—so she could not be buried in their ancestral graveyard. Moreover, since it was an accidental drowning classified as an unjust death, her spirit tablet could not be placed in the village either. Therefore, Wang Laifu set up a shelter next to the local earth god temple outside of town with plans to find an appropriate burial site for his niece. However, just one night later, her corpse was stolen.
“Was there anyone else in the shed when the Corpse was stolen?”
“No! According to Wang Laifeng, the Corpse was taken in the early hours of the morning, and he was the only one in the shed at that time. He was exhausted from working on the shed, and after his Niece fell into a well, he was heartbroken and drank quite a bit, eventually falling asleep in a daze. He slept until the next morning, when it was his wife who discovered that Niece's Corpse was missing and pulled him by the ear to wake him up.”
“But didn’t he report it to the authorities right away?” Chang Tai pressed, feeling that something was off.
Shengzi shook his head. “No! By the time we received the news, it had already been three or four hours! We also asked Wang Laifeng; when he first noticed that Niece's Corpse was missing, he didn’t think much of it. He assumed some wild animal had taken it, so he gathered people from the village to search for it. After searching for a while with no results, they discussed it with the Village Chief and decided to report it to our Government Office. When we went to investigate the scene, everything was gone; even the shed had collapsed, and we couldn’t find any clues.”
“If there are no clues, why are you still pursuing this case? Have you discovered something else?”
Shengzi shook his head. “It’s strange how these incidents keep happening at Wang Laifeng’s home.”
“Hmm?” Chang Tai raised an eyebrow. Shengzi shifted positions, leaned closer to Chang Tai’s ear, and whispered, “Not long after the big Niece's Corpse went missing, another incident occurred at Wang Laifeng’s house. This time it involved his other Niece; she suddenly fell ill after dinner and died.”
“She died from illness?”
“Yes, she died from illness, according to Wang Laifeng’s wife. Wang Laifeng’s Son can also testify; during dinner, this younger sister was perfectly fine. She was just a bit down because of her older sister's death. After dinner, she went back to her room early to sleep. Around midnight, they suddenly heard noises coming from her room. When they lit a lamp to check, they found her rolling on the bed clutching her stomach; within moments, she was gone.”
“And then? Was this sister's Corpse also stolen?”
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