Chapter 23: The Benevolent Southern Overlord

The carriage jostled its way back to the town, and before they reached the Feng Mansion, they ran into Kuang Hongyi and Su Tingting at a roadside stall.

Upon seeing Yang Xiao, Kuang Hongyi's tense expression finally relaxed, and he probed with an implication in his words, "Chu, was your journey smooth?"

"Quite well, thanks to Ms. Xu Su's care," Yang Xiao replied with a smile.

As the group made their way back to the Feng Mansion through a side gate of the alley, a servant came rushing up to report, shaking with panic, that a Blessing Guest who had stayed at the mansion had had an accident.

Hurrying to the courtyard where they resided, upon opening the door, they saw Shi Dali and Ke Long sitting at the table, while Shi Guanming lay motionless on the bed, his eyes tightly shut with a damp cloth on his forehead.

Next to the bed was a wooden stool with an empty bowl atop it, the bottom of the bowl still containing traces of a brown liquid, and the entire room was filled with the strong smell of herbal medicine.

"What happened?"

With a heavy sigh, Ke Long's face clouded over, "Don't even mention it. Shi Guanming was blinded by ghosts and attempted to move the millstone that was on top of the well. By the time we noticed, he had already fainted."

From Ke Long's description, Yang Xiao immediately realized he was talking about the well he had noticed before; something was also amiss with it in the real world, being sealed by a "Buddha head."

"But don't worry too much. The mansion's doctor has already examined him and there's no serious harm. He's already been given herbal soup to take," Shi Dali reassured everyone, then stood up as if he had suddenly remembered something and walked out, "Right, we found some clues in the mansion, come and have a look."

The group left the room of Shi Dali and others and went outside to the room of Yang Xiao and the other three, winding around to the bushes behind the room. There on the ground was a clear but strange set of tracks that twisted and turned, extending all the way to the window at the back of the room.

Kuang Hongyi measured the tracks on the ground with his steps, his face darkening, "They are the patterns left by a boat's hull."

This instantly reminded everyone of the bloated figure that had appeared outside the window the night before; the intruder really had come by boat.

What was even more chilling was that this ghost ship had actually come right up onto the shore!

The group returned to the room. Since Shi Guanming was still unconscious, they sat down and Shi Dali eagerly shared the clues they had gathered from investigating inside the mansion, "The Feng Family was indeed struck by tragedy, half a year ago the eldest son of the Feng Family was successful in the imperial examinations, but while returning home by boat with friends, he accidentally fell into the river. The current was swift, and in the end, not even his body was found."

Seemingly aware of what everyone might ask, Shi Dali added, "It has nothing to do with the Old Bull Bay Ferry Crossing. I've asked, it's not the same river."

"And that was just the beginning. Then there was the Third Young Master of the Feng Family, who, while taking an ordinary bath, suddenly went mad, claiming something in the tub was grabbing his feet. Despite many doctors being called, it was to no avail, diagnosed as hysteria due to excessive fright, with slim chances of recovery."

"Aside from the Third Young Master of the Feng Family, who was not yet married, both the eldest and the second sons had wives, and both their wives were with child. However, after the death of the eldest son, his wife, overwhelmed with grief, miscarried soon after."

"After that, her condition continued to deteriorate day by day, and she often experienced hallucinations, telling anyone who would listen that she saw her unborn child sitting by the well, calling to her."

"One day, when her maid went to fetch medicine, the eldest son's wife actually struggled to her feet and then crawled to the edge of the well and plunged into it."

"By the time the maid returned, it was too late to save her."

At this point, Shi Dali sighed and looked at Yang Xiao and the others with a complicated expression in his eyes, "It was that very well, the one that's sealed by a millstone. Not long after the death of the young wife, the maid, out of guilt, also chose to throw herself into the well one night. After that, the well was sealed, and nobody was allowed near it."

"The Feng Family's misfortune kept compounding. Recently, it was the turn of the Second Young Master Feng; he was very cautious, not taking boats or using large bathtubs, but while crossing a very shallow stream on horseback, the horse slipped. The man fell off the horse, and —incredibly unlucky— hit his head on a sharp rock and died on the way back to the Feng Mansion."

"Hiss—" Su Tingting inhaled sharply, finding the account truly tragic; out of a large family, now only a sickly Master Feng, a mad Third Young Master, and a pregnant Second Young Lady remained.

"All these deaths are related to water, which I believe can surely be attributed to the vengeance of that female ghost," Kuang Hongyi declared in a somber tone, "We've also gathered some information in town. The Feng Family had a good reputation in recent years, but not in the generation of Old Master Feng; back then, there wasn't a soul within ten miles who wasn't afraid of Old Master Feng. Dare to short him even a single grain of rice, and he'd break your legs; you'd have to sell your children if that's what it took to make up the deficit."

"Exactly, Old Master Feng even had a nickname; they called him the 'Southern Overlord'."

"We also discovered that Old Master Feng's grave is located not too far outside the city, at Xie Ma Ridge. We originally wanted to visit, but were worried we wouldn't have enough time back and forth," Kuang Hongyi said, shaking his head ruefully.

Then it was Yang Xiao and Xu Su's turn to share their experiences; they recounted everything they saw and heard at Old Bull Dock, as well as the Soul-Suppressing Pagoda they encountered on the road.

"The people from the Bai Family Stage also died in water-related accidents?" This piece of information was critically important, completely overturning everyone's previous speculations.

Ke Long furrowed his brows, "Is the information reliable? Could it be that the Feng Family bribed the boatmen to stage this..."

"Impossible," Xu Su interrupted, "First of all, not only people from the Bai Family Stage died in the accident, but also officers from the nearby military camp. The Feng are just rich folks without any official title; they wouldn't dare kill members of the Official Army. Moreover, how do you explain the sudden rain and the thick fog that night? So many people on the dock witnessed it."

The room fell into silence, and after a moment, it was Kuang Hongyi who spoke up again, "So the nature of this matter has changed. The fact that Xi Yao lashed out at the people from the Bai Family Gate suggests they too had issues; I suspect that it was the Bai Family Gate who had sold Xi Yao to the Feng Family."

"It was more like she was promised to the Feng Family," corrected Yang Xiao, who had also come to a realization, "No wonder they chose the seventh day after Old Master Feng's death. It turns out it was for a marriage alliance."

With this revelation, everything made sense; the Feng Family had paid a hefty price, buying the star performer Xi Yao from the Bai Family Gate, sending her off in the guise of performing a ghost play for Old Master Feng, who had been fond of opera in life. Of course, this was with the full knowledge of the Bai Family Gate and Master Bai, who, having taken the silver, had to ensure that the show would go on as per the Feng Family's expectations. But Xi Yao, the person directly involved, was surely kept in the dark.

Having understood this, Su Tingting's teeth itched with hatred, "Goodness, Master Feng, what a great philanthropist, how ruthless of a heart you have! And Master Bai, Xi Yao is his daughter, can he really bear to part with her?"

Shi Dali laughed wryly, "What can't he bear to part with? That bond of flesh and blood counts for nothing compared to the solid reality of cold hard silver."