22 Chapter 22: This Venerable One’s Shizun Is About to Get Angry

After hearing all this, Chu Wanning was livid. He wished only to withdraw the willow vine from Luo Xianxian and redirect it with vigor toward the Chen couple. But he couldn't open his eyes to curse them out just yet, because the restoration illusion would instantly disappear if he were to do so. A ghost could only be trapped by the Restoration Barrier once; if he interrupted Luo Xianxian, he would never hear the rest of what she had to say.

So, he could only weather the rage burning within him as he listened to the rest of Luo Xianxian's story.

After death, her numb and disoriented spirit went to the underworld.

She remembered only a lady dressed in resplendent colors, who looked quite like the ghost mistress in the temple, standing before her and asking in a soft voice, "You and Chen Bohuan could not lay together in life, but do you wish to be buried together in death?"

"I do… I do!" she answered in a panic.

"Then I will have him come keep you company right away, all right?"

Luo Xianxian almost blurted out an eager, unthinking agreement, but she suddenly remembered something and paused. "Am I dead?"

"Yes. I am the ghost mistress of ceremonies of the underworld; I can bestow upon you a good match, fulfilling your longtime wish."

"Then if he comes to keep me company, will he…also die?" Luo Xianxian said in a daze.

"Yes. But the heavens are compassionate; life or death is insignificant, merely a closing of the eyes. What's the difference?"

Just as expected, Chu Wanning thought upon hearing this. This ghost mistress uses trickery to lure people into asking it to take the lives of others. What an abominable deity.

Although Luo Xianxian had died a wrongful death, she was not a malicious ghost. She shook her head repeatedly. "No, please don't kill him. It wasn't his fault."

The ghost mistress gave her a melancholy smile. "Such kindness. But what will you get in return?"

However, it didn't try to change her mind; as a deity, coaxing people into making malevolent wishes was fine, but coercion was not. Gradually, its figure faded away and its voice became indistinct.

"The soul returns on the seventh day," it said. "When you visit the living world on that day, go see what the Chen family is up to. Then I will come to you again, to see if you are still without regrets."

Seven days later, on the day of return, Luo Xianxian's spirit regained awareness and visited the world of the living. She followed the familiar roads to Chen Manor, eager to see her husband one last time.

Unexpectedly, Chen Manor was festively adorned with lanterns and banners, the reception area piled high with bridal betrothal gifts, and a massive Xi character hanging in the main hall. Madam Chen's face was glowing, plagued by no sign of illness whatsoever, and she beamed as she directed servants to pack the betrothal gifts with red silk and ornate decorations.

Who was…getting married?

Who was…preparing betrothal gifts?

Who was…sparing no expense? How very grand.

Who was…

Luo Xianxian weaved between the busy crowd, listening to the drone of voices.

"Madam Chen, congratulations on the engagement of your son to Governor Yao's daughter. When's the engagement feast?"

"Madam Chen is certainly blessed."

"Young Mistress Yao truly is the Chen family's lucky star! The betrothal was just settled, and Madam Chen is already looking much better."

"Your son and Young Mistress Yao are as gold and jade, a match made in heaven. I'm so envious, ha ha ha ha."

Your son… Your son… Which son? Who is marrying the daughter of the Yao family?

Frantically, Luo Xianxian roamed the familiar halls and yard, looking for that familiar silhouette amidst the chatter and laughter.

She found it.

Chen Bohuan stood before the peonies in the rear hall, his face wan and cheeks sunken. But he was dressed in red—not wedding robes, but Butterfly Town's traditional butterfly-embroidered red robes, worn by a future son-in-law when he went to a bride's house to propose.

He was…going to propose? All of these lavish gifts, dripping with gold, silver, and pearls, all of them had been prepared by him…by Chen Bohuan, her husband, for the daughter of the Yao family?

Luo Xianxian found herself recalling when the two of them had been married: there had been nothing, just two people, one heart, and nothing else.

No master of ceremonies, no bridesmaid or best man, no gifts. The Chen family had not yet found prosperity and had not had so much as a single decent set of jewelry. Chen Bohuan had walked to the tangerine tree in the yard that they'd planted together and plucked a delicate blossom to carefully tuck in her hair.

She had asked him, "How do I look?"

"Beautiful," he had said. Then he had been silent for a moment before stroking her hair apologetically. "You deserve better."

Luo Xianxian had smiled and said she didn't mind.

Chen Bohuan had said to her that when he formally married her in three years' time, he would absolutely make it up to her with a grand ceremony, and everyone would be invited. He would pick her up with a big sedan carried by eight men, adorn her in gold and silver, and the reception would be filled with betrothal gifts.

The promise made that year rang in her ears. Here and now, the ceremony was grand, and everyone was invited. But he was marrying someone else.

Anger and sorrow washed over Luo Xianxian. She screamed as she tore at the red silks and brocades in the room. But, being a ghost, she couldn't physically touch any of them.

As if he sensed something, Chen Bohuan looked back, his gaze hollow as he stared blankly at the silks in the room. There was no wind, yet they drifted.

His little sister walked over. There was a white jade hairpin in her hair; she was mourning for someone, in secret. "Da-ge, please eat something. You haven't eaten properly for days, and you still have to travel to the governor's residence to propose. At this rate, your body won't hold up."

"Xiao-mei, do you hear someone crying?" Chen Bohuan asked out of the blue.

"Huh? No. Da-ge, are you…" She gritted her teeth and didn't finish the thought.

Chen Bohuan continued to stare at the place where the silks drifted. "How is Mother? Is she in a good mood? Has she recovered from her illness?"

"Da-ge…"

"It's good that she's recovered." Chen Bohuan stood there spacing out for a while, then mumbled to himself, "I've already lost Xianxian. I can't lose Mother too."

"Da-ge, please go eat…"

Luo Xianxian cried, screamed, held her head, keened in anguish. Don't… Don't go… Don't leave…

"All right," said Chen Bohuan.

His exhausted figure turned a corner and disappeared.

Luo Xianxian stood there alone in a daze, fat droplets of tears rolling down her cheeks. By chance, the voices of the Chen brothers who had caused her death wafted toward her. It was the second and youngest brothers whispering to one another.

"Mother is overjoyed. Whew, things are finally falling into place."

"You don't say! It took half a year of pretending to be sick to finally force out that unlucky pest. How could she not be happy?"

The youngest brother clicked his tongue. "I can't believe she just up and died, though," he exclaimed. "We only threw her out—it's not like we wanted to kill her. How stupid was she? Did she not even know to go find help?"

"Who knows? Maybe she was just thin-skinned like her sourpuss father. It's not our fault she died. Mother might have duped her, but things were difficult for us too. Just think about it—between the governor's daughter and some peasant girl, only an idiot would choose her. Besides, if we offended Young Mistress Yao, things wouldn't end well for us."

"You're right, that girl was just a dumbass. If she wanted to freeze to death, that's on no one else."

These were the words that reached Luo Xianxian's ears. Only in death did she finally understand that being a so-called "bringer of misfortune" just meant that she was poor and low-status, and that she couldn't compare to the governor's honored daughter.

Only an idiot would choose the peasant girl.

Luo Xianxian finally lost it. She returned to the temple of the ghost mistress, heart filled with hatred and resentment. She had died there, weak and helpless. She returned there now, bitter and stonehearted.

Luo Xianxian had once been so kind and good-natured, but now she called up all the hatred she had felt in her lifetime, and all the wickedness in her character that she had never before let loose. She screamed her throat raw, her eyes red, her soul quivering.

"I, Luo Xianxian, am willing to give up my soul to become a malicious ghost. I beg the Ghost Mistress only for vengeance! I want the entire Chen family to die miserably! I want her… I want that mother-in-law of mine, who is worse than a beast, to kill her sons with her own hands! All of them! I want Chen Bohuan to come keep me company in hell! To be buried with me! I refuse to accept this! I hate them! I hate them!"

Upon the shrine, the clay idol lowered its eyelids, the corner of its lips curving into a smirk. A voice echoed inside the temple.

"Your worship has been accepted, and your wish will be fulfilled. Henceforth, you are a malicious ghost. Go forth and slaughter all who have wronged you…"

A piercing, bloodred light flashed, and after that, Luo Xianxian remembered nothing.

But Chu Wanning already knew what had happened next. The ghost mistress controlled Luo Xianxian the malicious ghost to possess Madam Chen and murder the Chen family, one by one.

Chen Bohuan had been in that red coffin dug up on the mountainside in order to fulfill Luo Xianxian's wish: "I want Chen Bohuan to be buried with me." On top of that, the ghost mistress had intentionally placed the coffin where Chen Bohuan and his new wife were going to build their house as both curse and vengeance.

As for the scent inside Chen Bohuan's coffin, it was that of the Hundred Butterfly Fragrance that had been on Luo Xianxian's body when she died. The coffin had been filled with both strong resentful energy and that heavy fragrance because Luo Xianxian's soul had been asleep inside with Chen Bohuan.

Luo Xianxian had no family left. When such a person died, they were customarily cremated rather than buried. Thus, she no longer had a body and could only take on her form inside the ghost mistress's coffin. When Chu Wanning had split open the coffin with a whip, Luo Xianxian's soul had lost its shelter and scattered, temporarily unable to reconstitute. That was the reason why the coffin's resentful energy had been strong when closed but faint once opened.

Still, in the illusory realm, why had all the corpses been matched in pairs except for Chen Bohuan, who was matched with a paper ghost bride?

Chu Wanning pondered for a moment before figuring it out: The ghost mistress wouldn't break its own promise. Thus, that ghost bride had been meant to be Luo Xianxian's "corporeal body," or in other words a medium, since only Luo Xianxian could be buried together with Chen Bohuan.

Everything had become clear.

Chu Wanning looked at the helpless girl in the barrier's illusion. He wanted to say something but didn't know what. The Yuheng Elder really was bad with words; everything he said came out stiff. So the silence stretched on, and he ended up saying nothing at all.

The girl stood in the endless darkness, those soft, round eyes of hers open wide.

Chu Wanning looked at her eyes, and he suddenly didn't have the heart to bear it anymore. He was unable to withstand another glance and wanted to leave. He was just about to open his eyes to leave the Restoration Barrier when the girl spoke.

"Yanluo-gege, th-there's something else I wanted to tell you."

"Mn."

The girl lowered her head and started crying into her hands. Softly, she said, "Yanluo-gege, I don't know what I did afterward, but, I…I really don't want to get my husband killed. I don't want to be a malicious ghost. Really…

"I didn't steal the tangerines, I really am Chen Bohuan's wife, and my whole life, I really, truly never wanted to harm anyone.

"I really didn't want to hurt anyone. Please, I beg you, please believe me." Her wavering voice was broken with sobs. "I…didn't…lie…"

I didn't lie. Why is it that all my life, hardly anyone ever believed me?

She sobbed miserably.

Chu Wanning's voice rang out in the darkness. He didn't say much, but it was without hesitation. "Mn."

Luo Xianxian's small body jolted.

"I believe you," said Chu Wanning.

Luo Xianxian tried to wipe away her tears but couldn't stop crying. In the end, she covered her tear-streaked face with her hands and bowed deeply toward the person in the darkness who she couldn't see.

Chu Wanning opened his eyes. He said nothing for a long while.

Time passed differently inside the barrier than it did in reality. He had been within it for a long time, but it had been a mere instant to those on the outside. Mo Ran hadn't yet arrived, and the remaining members of the Chen family were watching him apprehensively.

Chu Wanning suddenly put away the willow vine. "I will voice your grievances," he said to Madam Chen. "You can sleep now."

Madam Chen stared blankly at him with bloodred eyes, then collapsed to the ground with a thud, unconscious.

Chu Wanning lifted his head again, his gaze sweeping across Landlord Chen's face, then landing on the youngest son. "I will ask one last time." His voice was flat and cold, and he spoke slowly, clearly enunciating each word. "You really don't know whose voice that was?"