Chapter 1 The clapper had just struck after the third watch. ...

The clapper had just struck past midnight.

A pair of red embroidered slippers appeared slowly on the dark Yong'an Street, braving the night rain. Looking up, one could see a slender, beautiful woman. She wore only a thin silk robe for bedtime, her long black hair reaching her waist, and a naturally charming red mole on her forehead. Strangely, in this rainy night, this beautiful woman didn't even carry an umbrella, seemingly unafraid of the incessant cawing of crows on the wall in the darkness. She simply walked blankly and aimlessly, not knowing where she was going.

Suddenly, as if she had heard something, the beautiful woman turned her head sharply behind her back in an extremely unnatural manner.

Suddenly, the sound of "clang clang clang" rang out on the previously deserted Yong'an Street. A group of messengers, banging gongs and drums, jumped out from nowhere. Their faces were as white as if they were not alive, but each of them looked very happy. Moreover, they were all wearing very festive red jackets and red boots.

They banged gongs and drums while shouting:

"Congratulations to Master Lu Hun for achieving first place in the provincial examination!"

Congratulations to Lu Hun for achieving the highest score in the provincial examination!

The moment the words fell, another group of people appeared out of thin air beside the constable, some pushing pancake carts, some carrying vegetable baskets, some leading children, and some holding butcher knives. They all stretched their mouths into exaggerated grins and shouted "Congratulations, Lord Lu Hun!" just like the constable who brought the good news.

The beautiful woman stood there in a daze for a long time. Then, as if bewitched, she blankly raised her foot, smiled, and followed the congratulatory procession while shouting "Congratulations, Master Lu Hun!"

Finally, the beautiful woman followed the procession of good news, knocking and banging as they arrived at a tall temple, where the three large characters "Bodhisattva Temple" were clearly visible on the plaque above the gate.

This Bodhisattva temple is located in a remote and quiet place, and many students who want to pass the imperial examinations live and study there year-round.

But the next moment, a blazing red tongue of fire shot into the sky from inside the temple with a loud "boom".

At the same time, several people burst out of the temple, shouting, "Something terrible has happened! Something terrible has happened! Scholar Lu has gone mad! He set fire to the place and then hanged himself!"

Suddenly, the temple gate opened completely from the inside by itself. The messengers and the people, however, seemed not to see the raging fire inside the temple and continued to knock and bang as they walked toward the main hall, where the fire was most intense. Just as the beautiful woman was about to follow them in a daze, she saw a handsome young man dressed in a cloth shirt appear in a small hut next to the main hall.

She recognized him as Lu Hun, her classmate from her family's school.

Lu Hun came from a poor family and lost his parents at a young age. He was raised by his blind grandmother, who painstakingly stitched together every stitch. Perhaps because he lost his parents at a young age, he was quite eccentric and gloomy, as well as shy. He never interacted with others in school and only focused on studying hard to earn a title for his grandmother. However, when he was sixteen years old and finally achieved the top score in the provincial examination, he suddenly went mad and hanged himself.

However, at this moment, the boy who had been dead for many years was sitting alone in the house engulfed in flames, head bowed, silently staring at a ball of hemp rope on the desk in front of him. After a moment, he reached out and picked up the rope, got up, stepped onto the desk and climbed onto the crossbeam, suspending the rope there. Then, filled with sorrow and grief, he turned back and looked towards the outside, but it was unclear whether he was looking at the beautiful woman or at the fire that had already spread out, while muttering something to himself.

The beautiful woman heard him say something like, "Wei Yin... Dead End Alley, remember, Dead End Alley..."

Before the beautiful woman could understand, she saw the boy resolutely stretch his thin, frail neck toward the other end of the rope loop...

Wei Yin stared at the scene before her, her face deathly pale. She was unable to recover for a long time until the sound of roosters crowing came from the street outside, the sky slowly brightened behind her, and the fire disappeared from her sight in a flash. Only then did she finally let out a scream and fall to the ground with a thud.

"A ghost!"

A note from the author:

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