Chapter 9 – The Return of the Wronged Spirit

Editor: mako

Proofreader: kllua

Han Zhu carried a bowl of snakehead fish soup to Big Liu, who was in bed. “Junior Brother, do you want to drink another bowl of soup?”

After drinking a bowl of the mentioned soup in the afternoon, Big Liu’s pain had diminished quite significantly, so he took it over and said, “Thanking Senior Sister for her care.”

Han Zhu looked at him with warm eyes. “Since you have come back, I will naturally treat you well.”

Here, Big Liu dared not look directly into Han Zhu’s eyes, as he always felt that there was a dense feeling of chill radiating from them. He lowered his head and drank the fish soup, and the broth soon gave him a slight numbing sensation in his lips and tongue. Just as he frowned, Han Zhu continued, “Drink slowly, the soup is still hot.”

Assuming that the numbness was due to the scalding temperature of the soup, Big Liu blew on it before downing the whole bowl. In a daze, he then fell asleep not too long after.

With only one candle lit in the room, Han Zhu sat by the bed. The candle flame occasionally flickered from time to time as light reflected off her and Big Liu’s faces.

Han Zhu reached out her hand and gently scraped the tip of her finger over the tip of Big Liu’s eyebrows and nose with a trace of a smile on her lips.

Meanwhile, Second Liu, who was about to enter the house, saw this scene at the door and stopped, feeling distressed. He then saw his senior sister lowering her head near his brother’s ear and whisper something.

At this point, Second Liu turned and left, not paying attention to what she was saying.

Han Zhu said softly, “She and you are really a pair made by the heavens.”

“The both of you are equally fickle.” The more she spoke, the more her voice grew lower and gentler. It was akin to intimate private words shared between lovers.

She laughed mockingly, unsure whether she was laughing at Big Liu or herself. “Both are also the same in the sense that they have eyes but fail to see.”

At this instance, Han Zhu’s laughter abruptly stopped. Her originally unexceptional face, which only glowed because she smiled, faded.

She pulled out the envelope under Big Liu’s pillow. Taking out the contents, she exchanged them for a bunch of yellow paper before stuffing it back under the pillow.

With a huff, she then blew out the candle and walked out.  

Currently, Second Liu was preparing the items to be burnt for his master’s 100 days of death in the central room. While Bai Zhun promised to prepare the paper flowers and boats, the joss paper ingots had to be folded by the two people themselves.

These days, while he was busy with Big Liu’s issue, Han Zhu had been sitting in the central room folding ingots for her father day and night.

Lighting another oil lamp and placing it on the table, Han Zhu smiled and said to Second Liu, “It is too dark, which is not good for the eyes.”

She then sat down and started folding the ingots. As her hands were quick, she was able to fold quite a few in a short period of time and threw them into the basket. During the hundredth day, she would take them to her father’s grave and burn them so that he would not be short of money in the underworld.

“Little Liu, on the hundredth day, I want to break the marriage in front of my father’s grave.”

Second Liu was stunned, and the joss paper ingot in his hand fell on the ground. He stuttered, “Senior Sister, you do not want to marry my brother anymore?”

Han Zhu smiled. “It is your brother who does not want to marry me.”

Second Liu hastily explained to her on behalf of Big Liu, “No, my brother had lost all his conscience! He-he…how can he not marry you at this time?”

After all, Jin DanGui was already dead!

No matter how, Second Liu could not understand, as their senior sister was the best woman in the world. When their master had just adopted them, they were extremely starved, and it was her who had made some noodles for them. He even ate three bowls in succession, almost causing his stomach to burst.

At that time, what he had eaten was the most delicious food in the world.

To be able to marry Senior Sister and take her on as a wife was something he dared not dream of, but his brother unexpectedly did not want her!

“Even if there is no Jin DanGui, there will still be Yin DanGui¹ For “银丹桂” (Yin DanGui), she is not a real person but Han Zhu’s attempt at playing with the words. As the “Jin” from Jin DanGui stands for gold, she was trying to say that there would be other similar ones and in this case, she named those possibilities Yin DanGui, with the “Yin” representing silver. .” As the light from the candle stretched out Han Zhu’s shadow, her expression was mild, with no apparent signs of joy or sorrow. 

Second Liu dared not to look at Han Zhu directly and instead gazed at her shadow. Did this mean that they would not be a family anymore in the future?

When Han Zhu saw his lost expression, she smiled a little and was tempted to pat his head like how she did when he was a child. However, when she reached out, she noticed that her hand was stained entirely with gold powder. Choosing to pat his cheek with the back of her hand, she then said, “Both of us will always be a family.”

Hearing that, a red flush spread from Second Liu’s face to his neck.

Meanwhile, Big Liu, who was sleeping deeply, heard a “gululu” sound in his ear. It seemed like something had fallen on the ground and rolled quite near to his ear.

When Big Liu opened his eyes, he saw himself lying on the western spring bed with music coming from the room.

“Awake?” Jin DanGui smiled and handed a crystal glass cup to him.

When Big Liu smelt the scent of the French perfume on her body, he was puzzled. Thinking that he seemed to have forgotten something, he accepted the cup. “Where are we?”

Jin DanGui lightly swatted him. “This is the Liu Residence. We left Shanghai with the money and bought this garden villa.”

Liu Residence. That was right. They had finally left Shanghai, bought a house, hired a driver and amah. Now, he was known as Master Liu or Boss Liu.

Jin DanGui snuggled up to him, and she was still as gorgeous and flirtatious.

In a blink, Big Liu seemed to have cast aside all his troubles and attained the life he always wanted.

Feeling elated, he wounded his hand around Jin DanGui’s waist until they were stuck together. Jin DanGui encircled her arms around his neck and asked, “We are together in life and death, isn’t that great?”

Like floating in a dream, Big Liu made a sound of agreement, but in his heart, he felt uncertain.

It seemed that someone died? Who died?

The beauty in his arms was lively and fragrant. The person whose surname was Huo had said that her beauty was obtained under the knife but with such a beautiful face, how could it be false?

Thinking of Huo ZhenYe, Bai Zhun then came to his mind.

Here, faint doubts started rising in the heart. The scent of the French perfume was not right, as in the aftermath of the fragrance, there came an unbearable foul smell.

“You are dead!” the words rushed out of Big Liu’s mouth.

Like this, the western spring bed disappeared, and there was no more light or music in the room any longer. The hand that Jin DanGui encircled around his neck became wet and cold.

The face that entranced him was just right in front of him.

The two bloody holes in her face were fitted with new eyeballs. However, they were not her original ones, and they would fall out from time to time after being pressed into the eye sockets.

As soon as they fell out, Jin DanGui would use her fingers to push those eyeballs back inside.

Coming back to his senses, Big Liu let out a scream, causing Jin DanGui’s face to sink. “What? For you, I have specifically obtained this pair of eyeballs. I actually exchanged the earrings for them.”

Since Su ManLi took her earrings, she exchanged them for her eyes. Fortunately, when she went, the eyeballs were still fresh.

At this point in time, Big Liu wanted to escape, but his limbs felt as if they were weighed down with lead. Amid the panic, he finally remembered the protection amulet from Bai Zhun under his pillow.

Taking it out, he threw it at Jin DanGui, but she was not afraid. She just opened it and took out the paper.

As the eyeballs could not freely rotate in her eye sockets, she used her fingers to turn the “disobedient” eyeballs, eventually seeing the words “City God Pass”.

Big Liu, 19, with no burial items.

Jin DanGui laughed and rubbed the paper between her fingertips. A dull blue ghostly fire lit the pass, burning it to the City God.

Big Liu shrunk back. “I will not follow you. I cannot leave. I still want to carry on the third door. My master…my master…”

Jin DanGui’s ten thin fingers covered her eye sockets as she kept her sight on him. With her mouth splitting into a grin, the eyeballs popped out and bounced off her nose. “It is not up to you to decide.”

With a shove, she stuffed them back. With claw-like fingers, she then grasped Big Liu’s neck. “It is too lonely by myself, and it will be great if you can stay with me. Did you not want to be husband and wife before?”

As Big Liu’s four limbs flailed around blindly, he could see his junior brother and senior sister folding joss paper ingots in the next building through the window. However, no matter what he did, they could not hear him.

With thick clouds shrouding the moon, there was not even a shred of light outside the house.

Jin DanGui choked Big Liu until his eyes were about to pop out, and only a shudder of breath was left in him. Here, the “zheng” sounds of shackles rang out from the darkness.

Jin DanGui’s hand instantly loosened as she turned to the window in a panic. One of her eyeballs also fell out again and rolled onto Big Liu, but she did not care about picking it back up.

Turning back, she was in a hurry to escape. However, her feet were still bound by Bai Zhun’s shackles, so she could only turn her body part by part. With both her hands flat on the ground, she then crawled away, and her other eyeball also fell out during the haste.

She felt around for the space underneath the bed before folding herself up and slotting herself inside.

An iron shackle flew in from the window and locked around Jin DanGui’s neck, pulling her out of the house.

Here, Big Liu only saw a black shadow with a pointed hat standing outside the window. When the frost-white moonlight casted on the hat, the words “peace reigns over the land” could be seen.

“Black…Black Impermanence.”

Big Liu’s eyes rolled to the back of his head as he passed out. He even rolled down from the bed and hit his head on one of the bed legs with a loud “dong” sound.

The sound traveled to the central room, which caused Second Liu to rush over upon hearing it. When he opened the door, he saw that his brother had rolled onto the ground. “Brother! Brother, what is wrong with you?”

Han Zhu was holding an oil lamp when she entered. Upon seeing Big Liu on the ground, she asked, “What happened?”

Second Liu turned Big Liu over and saw that there were two ghost-like claws marks around his neck with distinct markings of finger joints. There were also traces of scratch marks that extended from the bottom of the bed to the windowsill.

As Han Zhu stared at the marks, she seemed to be terribly frightened. Here, Second Liu placed his hand under Big Liu’s nose before attempting to wake him up.

“Brother, what happened to you?”

Big Liu was still in a trance, and he flailed wildly. With only “wuwu” sounds coming from his throat, he could not speak.

Those two hands that were as slippery and boneless as snakes were ice-cold around his neck. Up until this moment, it felt as if they were still there.

He reached out a hand and gestured the number seven to his brother. Second Liu was stunned and asked, “Brother, what do you mean?”

“You want to see the Seventh Master?” Han Zhu managed to speak what was on his mind. “It is already so late. Let us go to see the Seventh Master in the daytime instead.”

Saying so, she reached out and lightly patted Big Liu’s back. However, with the touch of her soft palm, it reminded him of the situation that occurred just before. His whole body trembled and instinctively avoided her touch.

Nonetheless, Han Zhu was not angry. “Junior Brother, do not be afraid. Let us go to the Seventh Master in the morning tomorrow.”

Big Liu, who was lying in bed, pulled his brother’s arm. He felt that it would have been too late by then, but no one could understand what he said through his whimpers.

Meanwhile, the paper Impermanence seized Jin DanGui and took her back to Bai Zhun’s altar. The shackles on his hand had disappeared, and Jin DanGui had headed to where she should have gone.

Huo ZhenYe looked up. From this courtyard, one could see the raised eaves of the City God Temple’s hall.

Here, Bai Zhun once again lit another incense to send away the divine official respectfully.

With a light of the incense, the spirit of the Impermanence dissipated, and it changed back to its original appearance of a paper doll. Bai Zhun took out a black cloth and covered its eyes.

Huo ZhenYe asked, “What would happen if the eyes were not covered?” 

Bai Zhun did not answer him and only slouched. This time, it was really too draining.

Huo ZhenYe looked over Bai Zhun’s actions. It was only when Bai Zhun was finished that he asked, “The matter is resolved just like this?”

“If not, then how?”

“What about the one who murdered Jin DanGui?”

“That isn’t my business.” In order to invite the Impermanence, Bai Zhun had expended about 80% of his energy. So, as soon as the paper Impermanence had returned, his strength had also dissipated, and he spoke languidly with his eyelids drooping.

When Huo ZhenYe saw Bai Zhun’s pale face getting even paler, he went up to him.

Bai Zhun thought he was going to say something. However, Huo ZhenYe bent over and carried him up, even bringing him closer to his body.

Bai Zhun did not expect that Huo ZhenYe would be so bold. With the rise of his fury, there came the sounds of rustling from the whole house of paper dolls. Huo ZhenYe heard it and said in his ear, “I will send you to bed.”

Saying that, he entered the inner room and placed Bai Zhun on the bed.

As Huo ZhenYe had a strong back, it was naturally more comfortable being in his arms than those paper servants who lifted him.

Bai Zhun suddenly thought of something, and his anger gradually subsided. A long time ago, this person was also like this. At that time, he was only as tall as a table but yet still wanted to act like a hero.

From the front of the hall to the back of the house only took a few steps, and Huo ZhenYe walked very steadily. From his point of view, he could only see a little of Bai Zhun’s nose tip and a glimpse of his pale-white lips from his drooping head.

How could a person be this light?

Huo ZhenYe covered Bai Zhun with the quilt and sat at his bedside carelessly. He then asked Bai Zhun, “Why are you so light?”

After saying that, this became the second time that Huo ZhenYe was thrown out of Bai Zhun’s house.

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  For “银丹桂” (Yin DanGui), she is not a real person but Han Zhu’s attempt at playing with the words. As the “Jin” from Jin DanGui stands for gold, she was trying to say that there would be other similar ones and in this case, she named those possibilities Yin DanGui, with the “Yin” representing silver.