Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
When Xing Ruyi walked into the room, the girl was already sitting in front of the brazier, her eyes, slightly angry, fixed on her.
"Can you see me?"
Xing Ruyi nodded. "What’s your name? And what is your relationship with Li Nan?"
"What do you care what my name is!" The girl raised her chin proudly and said unhappily, "I have nothing to do with Li Nan; he is not my father!"
Indeed, she was still a child. Even after becoming an Evil Spirit, she retained the heart of a child. Just a few words in, she had already revealed her background.
"Oh, so Li Nan is your father!" Xing Ruyi sat down and reached out to poke at the charcoal in the brazier. "Your father doesn’t seem very impressive."
This statement struck a chord with the girl. Tilting her head, she looked at Xing Ruyi with her slightly red eyes and asked, "If you know he’s not impressive, why did you send him wine to please that Old Witch?"
"Old Witch?" Xing Ruyi paused her hand that was stirring the coals. "The Old Witch you’re talking about wouldn’t be Li Nan's mother, your grandmother, would it?"
"Not at all!" The girl pouted. "The Old Witch is just the Old Witch. She bullies me and even bullies my mother. It’s bad enough she bullies my mother; she also insults us behind our backs. Last night, if my mother hadn’t stopped me, I would have taught her a lesson."
"So it was you last night!" Xing Ruyi leaned closer to the girl. "How about we exchange a secret?"
"Not interested! You’re helping Li Nan and giving that Old Witch Medicinal Wine; you’re a bad person too!" The girl revealed two sharp teeth and her fingernails suddenly grew long and turned black.
Xing Ruyi shook her head. "Put those away; you’re not as cute like this as you were before."
"Aren't you afraid? My mother says there are very few people in this world who aren’t afraid of me!"
"Not afraid!" Xing Ruyi pointed at the girl’s nails. "Because I’ve seen longer and darker nails than these."
"She is also a child, and she was harmed by her family's Old Witch?"
Xing Ruyi shook her head. "No! They are all adults, harmed by other adults. After they died, they became like you, but they certainly aren't as impressive as you!"
"That's for sure!" The girl nodded. "If Lulu weren't impressive enough, Mother would be bullied by other spirits."
"So your name is Lulu?"
"Not at all!" The girl pouted. "Since you can chat with me, I'll talk to you. But first, you need to tell me why you gave that Old Witch Medicinal Wine. Are you interested in Li Nan?"
"Do I have such poor taste?" Xing Ruyi retorted.
The girl paused for a moment and reluctantly replied, "Actually, Li Nan isn't that bad!"
"Since you can chat with me too, I'll let you in on a secret. Actually, we don't have Red Flower Wine in our Tavern. But just because we don't have it now doesn't mean we won't have it later. Do you understand what I mean?"
"You adults make everything so complicated; how would I understand!"
"Then I'll say something you can understand!" Xing Ruyi hugged her knees. "The reason I mentioned Safflower is that I saw the pattern on your dress and noticed you were standing behind Li Nan, chattering away. So I deliberately brought up those two words to see Li Nan's reaction. Sure enough, when Li Nan heard those words, his expression became very unnatural, and you looked up at me. Clearly, Safflower is an extremely important term for both of you."
"Safflower is my mother's name! My mother was harmed by that Old Witch!" The girl lowered her head. "I was also harmed by that Old Witch."
"Can you give it to me? Perhaps I can help you punish Li Nan and that Old Witch you mentioned."
"Really?"
"Really!" Xing Ruyi affirmed, raising her right hand. "I swear!"
"You adults' vows are just to fool children!" The girl kicked her legs absentmindedly. "Before I was even born, Li Nan promised my mother that when I arrived, he would treat her well and would never let the Old Witch bully her. And what happened? Not only did the Old Witch bully her, but Li Nan did too.
Later, I was harmed by the Old Witch, and my mother was heartbroken. Instead of comforting her, Li Nan scolded her and even hit her while listening to the Old Witch's words. If it weren't for them, my mother wouldn't have died."
"Does Li Nan's mother, whom you call the Old Witch, often bully you?"
Xing Ruyi knew from later experiences how difficult the relationship between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law could be. In life, there were certainly some harsh mothers-in-law, but after the Golden Tang Dynasty, most of the ones encountered were good. Even if they occasionally exercised their authority, it was within limits. Could it be that Li Nan's family had this particularly strange case?
The girl blinked a couple of times, ready to explain herself to Xing Ruyi when suddenly she heard a woman's voice.
The sound seemed to come from far away yet felt close at hand.
"My mother is coming!" The girl jumped up!
Xing Ruyi squinted and hurried into the courtyard, only to see dark clouds gathering. The once calm courtyard was now swirling with an undercurrent.
"Si Niang! Bell!"
Xing Ruyi called out anxiously.
"Aunt Ruyi, Bell is here! My sister-in-law is also beside Bell!" Bell half-covered her eyes with her hand and quickly pulled Si Niang over upon seeing where Xing Ruyi stood.
"Aunt Ruyi, is it going to snow? Why did it change so suddenly?"
"It hasn't changed; it's just that the ghosts are anxious!" Xing Ruyi said as she led Si Niang and Bell into the house. She glanced back at the spot where the girl had been standing; it was now empty, leaving only a chilling aura behind.
"It's so cold! How can it be this cold inside with a brazier?" Bell said as she rubbed her arms.
Si Niang, although a mortal, had experienced some events alongside Xing Ruyi. At this moment, though she was unclear about what had happened, she could vaguely sense that the atmosphere was somewhat unusual. She lowered her voice and asked Xing Ruyi, "Has something evil come to my home?"
"Indeed, something has come, but there's no need to be afraid; she's just here to find her child," Xing Ruyi said, leading Si Niang and Bell to sit by the fire pit. "You two stay here for now; don't go outside."
"Fox Demon!" Si Niang grabbed Xing Ruyi's arm. "You need to be careful!"
"Don't worry, I will be fine," Xing Ruyi reassured her, patting Si Niang's hand and glancing at the surroundings. "By now, the fox is probably already on its way to the Tavern. Don't worry; in Luoyang City, there's no evil spirit that can harm me."
"Evil spirits are still evil spirits; it's better to be cautious," Si Niang said, still feeling uneasy.
"Rest assured, she can't provoke me nor would she dare to," Xing Ruyi replied, wrapping her cloak tighter around herself. She was already sensitive to the cold, and with two resentful Evil Spirits appearing in the courtyard, the temperature had suddenly dropped to minus twenty degrees. The water in the basin had long since frozen over, and even the wine jars against the wall were covered with a thick layer of frost.
She conjured a small flame of Ghost Fire, which looked beautiful but was not very effective for warmth. Staring at the flickering flame, Xing Ruyi suddenly thought of the fairy tale about the little match girl; it seemed quite similar to her current situation. Sniffling slightly, she was about to look for where the mother and daughter were when a chilling sobbing sound came from behind her.
"Woo! Woo woo!"
A pale-faced female ghost appeared before her, with eyes resembling two dark caves devoid of any whites. Her hair was disheveled, with strands stained by dried blood. Her clothing was neither black nor red but exuded a strong smell of blood.
Seeing that Xing Ruyi showed no fear and even seemed intrigued as she examined her, Safflower paused for a moment before letting out an even more terrifying sobbing sound. She then reached out her colorless hands toward Xing Ruyi's tightly wrapped neck.
"Stop!"
Xing Ruyi exhaled a puff of white breath and stomped her feet a few times in an attempt to dispel the icy chill enveloping her.
"I know you are Lulu's mother, I know you are Li Nan's Wife, and I also know you are not an Evil Spirit. So there’s no need for you to scare me by appearing in this pitiful form. To be honest, I've seen uglier ghosts than you. The reason I'm wrapped up like this is not because I'm afraid of you but because I'm cold. If you hear my teeth chattering, it's because I'm freezing. So could you please step back just a little? I'm about to freeze to death!"
Safflower was taken aback for a moment but then stepped back slightly and asked her daughter softly, "Can she see me?"
The girl nodded, "Mother, are you scared silly by her? If she can't see you, why do you have to look like this to frighten her?"
"Right!" Honghua realized belatedly and then took a few steps back, looking at Xing Ruyi and asking, "Can you really see us? And are you really not afraid of us?"
Xing Ruyi rubbed her hands together and took out a plaque from her waist, holding it out in front of Honghua. "Do you recognize this?"
Honghua shook her head.
"This is a Ghost Card from the underworld, the same as what you commonly refer to as the Hall of Yama. Haven't you seen it? Generally, a Ghost Messenger would have one. Of course, theirs wouldn't be as good as mine and wouldn't have the same grandeur. After all, mine is high-end!"
Honghua was taken aback and didn't understand half of what Xing Ruyi was saying. She held her daughter's hand and slowly transformed back into her appearance from life. Though she had lost some weight and darkened a bit, she was undoubtedly still beautiful.
"I'm truly sorry; Honghua didn't mean to scare the girl. It's just that Lulu suddenly disappeared, and I was anxious. I also sensed something unusual about this house, which is why..." Honghua glanced at her daughter before looking back into Xing Ruyi's eyes and said, "Though I didn't understand what the girl just said, I do know that you're not looking for common people. However, I've indeed never seen a Ghost Card before, nor have I seen a Ghost Messenger."
"You've never seen a Ghost Messenger?" Xing Ruyi carefully examined the mother and daughter pair and confirmed they weren't marked by any Ghost Messenger. "You are Li Nan's wife, and she is Li Nan's daughter. By rights, after death, you should be buried in the ancestral tomb. Regardless of how you died, a Ghost Messenger would come to gather your souls and take you to the underworld. But it seems like you two are like unclaimed wandering souls!"
"Honghua and Lulu are indeed unclaimed wandering souls!" Honghua said with a bitter smile as she held her daughter's hand tightly. "Before I passed away, my mother-in-law had already made Li Nan divorce me. So, I cannot enter the Li Family's ancestral tomb. It's just pitiful for my daughter to wander around with me and be bullied by those evil spirits."
Comment 0 Comment Count