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墨書 Inktalez
The fox's gaze darkened, but Huang San was quicker, reaching the door first and pulling it open with a swift motion.
Standing outside was Ling'er, who was startled and turned pale upon seeing Huang San's face.
"Mr. Huang, it's me!" Ling'er said, patting her chest. "I noticed that this house needs a thorough cleaning before it can be used, but that White Tigress has just given birth and must be weak. She needs nourishment, so I hurried home to make some fish soup. Don't worry, it's made from carp that I caught just this morning, perfect for making soup."
"Thank you, Sister-in-law!"
Xing Ruyi had also arrived at the door. Seeing the earthen jar in Ling'er's hands, she felt a warmth in her heart but didn't know how to respond.
Ling'er smiled gently. "As long as the young lady doesn't mind."
With that, she turned and left.
Xing Ruyi stood at the door for a moment, holding the jar of soup until she watched Ling'er leave before turning back into the house.
The Yokai Yuan Shen that Huang San had brought back was meant to help Sister Tiger regain her spirit, while this fish soup would nourish her body. After drinking the soup and soothing her tiger cub to sleep, Sister Tiger focused her mind and began her training.
With nothing else to do, Xing Ruyi chased after Huang San to have him continue the story he had not finished earlier.
Meanwhile, Ding Zhanggui's son woke up in the middle of the night and heard someone knocking on their door. In the stillness of the night, under the bright moon and sparse stars, the knocking grew louder and louder. The child was frightened and quickly ran back to bed to seek help from his parents. Strangely enough, despite the loud noise and the child's terrified cries, Ding Zhanggui and his wife remained undisturbed.
Seeing that he couldn't wake his parents, the child curled up in his blanket, hoping to wait for that terrifying sound to fade away. Oddly enough, it seemed as if the sound had sensed his fear and stopped abruptly.
After listening for a while in silence, the child gathered his courage and peeked through a small gap in the blanket to look outside. To his surprise, he saw a pair of eyes!
"A pair of eyes? Whose eyes are they?"
"Madam Ding's eyes!"
Huang San gazed quietly, glancing up at the beam of the room.
The Son of the Tea Shop Owner was startled by the sudden knock on the door, and he cautiously lifted a corner of the blanket to peek outside. Suddenly, a shadow loomed before him, and within that shadow, he saw a pair of eyes. The eyes were all white. The Son of the Tea Shop Owner was stunned. Then he heard a voice beside him asking, "What are you looking at?"
With a loud scream, the Son of the Tea Shop Owner fainted. But just before losing consciousness, he recognized that the voice belonged to his Mother.
Later, when the sun was high in the sky, Ding the Shopkeeper finally opened his eyes. He first noticed his Wife hanging from the beam. Unlike typical suicides, Ding the Shopkeeper's Wife's head hung at an odd angle, her eyes rolled back with no visible pupils, staring intently at Ding the Shopkeeper as if to say, "You will be next."
Ding the Shopkeeper was terrified; instinctively, he wanted to flee. However, as soon as his feet hit the ground, he suddenly remembered that his Son had been sleeping with them last night. He hurriedly searched the bed and found his Son curled up in a corner at the foot of the bed, burning with fever. His Son was mumbling incoherently about knocking on the door.
Without time to think further, Ding the Shopkeeper grabbed his Son and rushed outside, calling for the servants and attendants. Eventually, this commotion also alerted those in the Yamen.
Madam Ding's death was ruled a suicide, but everyone in Ding's household knew that her death was suspicious and pointed their suspicions toward Ding the Shopkeeper.
However, suspicion remained just that—suspicion—and speculation remained mere speculation. The people in the Yamen could find no evidence to prove that Madam Ding had been murdered, even though they felt that the scene of her death was indeed strange.
The Son of the Tea Shop Owner was the only witness from that night, but due to his extreme fright, he had been running a high fever and had become dazed. Shortly after this incident, he choked to death while drinking water.
"Choked to death while drinking water? Is there really such a bizarre thing in this world?"
"Of course not! While mortals cannot escape aging and illness, it is unlikely for someone to choke themselves to death—especially those who seem dazed; their self-preservation instincts are usually stronger than ordinary people. The deaths of Ding the Shopkeeper's Son and his hanged Wife were both caused by a ghost, stemming from Ding the Shopkeeper's previous good intentions."
"I've heard of good intentions leading to bad outcomes before, but causing one's own wife and child to die out of good intentions... I..." Xing Ruyi pondered over her memories and then added, "Well, I suppose I've heard of that too."
Huang San smiled but continued with his story—also the story of the Ding Family.
"Madam Ding suddenly hanged herself in her sleep at midnight. The beloved Son not only became dazed from fright but ultimately lost his life due to a sip of tea. Naturally, Ding the Shopkeeper could hardly bear this and fell ill himself. Seeing this situation, the steward knew that great misfortune had befallen the Ding Family; thus he distributed Silver Coins and dismissed all servants from Ding's household. Finally, he brought a bag of Silver to Ding the Shopkeeper's bedside and told him that his ancestors had once made a living through fortune-telling but had changed careers to become a steward due to lack of inheritance. Thanks to Ding the Shopkeeper's care over these years, he had lived quite well.
The bag of Silver in his hand was what remained after dismissing all household servants. Besides that bag of Silver he held onto, before leaving, he wanted to tell Ding the Shopkeeper one more thing: that both Madam Ding and their Son's deaths were not accidents but rather caused by a ghost. As for who this ghost was, Ding the Shopkeeper would soon find out."
This person is about to die, and he has some sense of it himself. Ding the Shopkeeper knows very well that he won't live much longer, and the only thing weighing on his mind is the death of his wife and children. He gave the bag of Silver to the steward, hoping that after he passes away, the steward can bury his remains alongside those of his wife and children. Even in the Underworld, they could still be together as a family and enjoy a few days of reunion.
After some hesitation, the steward agreed.
Sure enough, on the second night, Ding the Shopkeeper heard a knocking sound at the door in a daze. Suddenly, he understood what the knocking sound was that his son had been mumbling about when he was alive. He struggled to get up and walked to the door, peeking outside through the crack. Just then, someone outside was squinting in.
The person had bloodshot eyes, and the skin around their eyes was swollen and even had a hint of white. Ding the Shopkeeper was so frightened that he immediately took two steps back. Once he regained his composure, he rushed back to the door and pulled it open wide.
"Was it just like your action when you pulled the door earlier?"
Xing Ruyi listened nervously but tried not to show it, quickly interjecting.
Huang San still smiled lightly and nodded: "I guess it was about the same."
"And then what happened when the door opened? Ding the Shopkeeper didn't see Ling'er's mother, did he?"
"No! After Ding the Shopkeeper forcefully opened the door, he saw nothing. The courtyard was empty; only a few lanterns with the character 'Ding' hanging in the corridor were swaying gently. Ding the Shopkeeper stood at the door for a moment, rubbed his eyes, and closed the door again.
Just as he turned to go back to bed and wait for death, he saw an old lady standing at the foot of his bed. To his surprise, it was someone he recognized."
"The ghost mentioned by the steward?"
Huang San nodded: "It's a ghost! A selfish ghost, but also a pitiful one."
Xing Ruyi glanced up at the beam above her head, where a woman's belt had been tied into a loop. The belt was indigo blue with some embroidered flowers on it; due to its abstract design, it was hard to tell if they were magnolias or something else.
The belt was covered in dirt and had a faint black ring around it. Xing Ruyi knew that those black rings were remnants left by the deceased. Clearly, this person who died by hanging harbored resentment in their heart before their death.
Xing Ruyi sighed softly and lowered her head.
Huang San looked up for a moment and said, "Since this house has changed owners, the belongings of the previous owner should no longer remain, especially since they are not auspicious items."
With that, Huang San reached out with his right hand, and the belt slowly fell into his grasp. He glanced at Xing Ruyi and said, "This item should also be dealt with."
Xing Ruyi raised her eyes but said nothing.
The story of Huang San continued.
"That old lady, Ding the Shopkeeper knew her, but when he met her, she was still alive.
At that time, the Ding Family's house had just been completed. Ding the Shopkeeper was a hospitable person and invited all the neighbors over for a gathering. They ate and drank until late into the night. Ding the Shopkeeper, slightly tipsy, still remembered his duties as the host and personally stood at the door to see each of the Guests off. Just as he was about to return inside, he heard a dog bark and saw a local dog lying in the corner, looking at him eagerly.
A gust of wind blew by, and Ding the Shopkeeper sobered up a bit. He looked into the dog's eyes and instructed his servants to bring some leftover food. However, the dog did not eat; instead, it stared at the Paper Wrap for a while before grabbing a Drumstick from it and quickly running towards Ding the Shopkeeper, throwing the Drumstick into the well.
Ding the Shopkeeper was stunned, and so was the servant who was bringing out food. What baffled them even more was that the dog proceeded to grab all the remaining food and throw it into the well, except for the last bits of meat scraps.
For several days, that dog seemed to have taken a liking to Ding the Shopkeeper, showing up at his door at regular intervals to beg for food. The dog's unusual behavior finally piqued Ding the Shopkeeper's curiosity. He spent quite a bit of Silver to hire a bold Clerk from the street who had good skills to go down into the well and take a look. As a result, the Clerk discovered a person at the bottom of the well!
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