Chapter 11 The Female Ghost Fang Wuyan
A cool breeze blew by, and everyone shivered.
"Where did this ghost come from!" Gu Feng slapped him on the head. "I think it's some shameless woman having a secret rendezvous with her lover! Come on! Let's go see!"
"Hey, hey, Brother Gu!"
Gu Feng shook off the man in green's hand and staggered over.
"Young lady, what brings you here all alone?" he teased her. "Could you be lost and unable to find your way back? Shall I show you the way?"
The figure carrying the things stopped upon hearing this and asked, "Really?"
"Of course it's true!" The men following behind felt a surge of excitement when they heard a woman's sweet and gentle voice. "What are you looking for? We'll help you get it!"
The woman in red turned around gracefully, her beautiful face stirring the hearts of those who approached.
"Have we met before...?" Gu Feng suddenly asked.
"Hehe, you're joking, sir."
The others ignored his clumsy attempts at flirting and vied to help him.
"I'll do it! I'll do it!"
"I'm strong! I'll do it!"
"Get out of my way!" Gu Feng said angrily. "None of you wanted to come just now, and now you have the nerve to try and take it from me! Get out of my way!"
"He who takes a man's money is bound to him; he who eats a man's food is bound to him." The men were immediately speechless, and could only stare intently at the woman in front of them.
Gu Feng went around behind her, bent down, and pulled up the black mass.
The moment he touched it, his heart stopped for a second, and his blood seemed to freeze.
The moonlight shone down.
Thump!
He fell to the ground, looking slowly yet quickly at the woman in front of him.
He glanced at the person on the ground again.
Frozen in place.
"What are you doing? If you can't move it, let me do it!" The man in the blue robe thought he was too slow, so he rolled up his sleeves, pushed Gu Feng aside, and reached out to drag him.
"..."
After he saw the face of the person on the ground, horror filled his face. He turned his head and met Gu Feng's stunned face.
"Gu...Gu Feng..."
"There's a... there's a ghost..."
"A ghost! A ghost!"
The man in the green shirt scrambled away.
Gu Feng was startled by the scream and suddenly remembered who her face resembled.
"Fang Wuyan..."
The woman in red looked at him with a smile.
The other men, upon seeing the person lying on the ground, were sobered up instantly.
"Gu...Gu Feng!?"
The living Gu Feng, the dead Gu Feng—which one is the real Gu Feng?
The woman in red looked at them and laughed, "Young Master Gu is quite forgetful; you've even forgotten me?"
With each step she took forward, they would crawl back in fright.
"You were perfectly fine when you died, why did you come out at all!"
"Didn't you say you were going to marry me?" The woman in red smiled sweetly, her delicate voice sounding to them like a demon crawling out of hell. "So I came to find you, Gu Lang. When shall we get married?"
"Fang Wuyan! You ugly woman, Wuyan, dare to dream of becoming the mistress of the Gu family? You're dreaming!"
"Ugly, ugly woman..." The beautiful face of the woman in red suddenly twisted, and the right half of her face gradually festered and smelled foul, revealing half of her stark white bone. "Ah! My face! My face!"
"Gu Feng, give me back my life!"
The beautiful woman transformed into a vengeful ghost and pounced on them.
A loud, jarring shout rang out by the lake, and the group fled in panic.
"Aaaaaaah!"
"ah!"
"Someone's dead! Someone's dead!"
There's a dead body in the lake!
"Oh my! I don't even know how many this is this month! Each one has its own way of dying..." A fearless passerby caught a glimpse of the spectacle and, seeing the man in a bright red coat over a green shirt, his face completely disfigured, clicked his tongue in amazement. "Drowned, hanged, fell to his death..."
"Whose young master is this? Tsk tsk, poor thing..."
"Could it be a vengeful ghost coming to claim my life?"
"Where did this evil spirit come from?! Don't talk nonsense!"
"That wine-selling woman! I heard she hanged herself! There was blood before her burial, so she's probably restless and looking for some scapegoats! I've heard that those who hang themselves in red are the most dangerous!"
The old man speaking startled the curious young man next to him.
"Really?"
"More people have died in Furong Town in many years than in this month! What is this if not vengeful ghosts claiming lives?" The old man snorted, picked up the fresh vegetables and was about to leave, but he still wanted to scare him a little before he left, "It was just a few days after the wine-selling woman was buried that someone hanged himself, and every few days another one dies... Hehe, young man, you'd better be careful, these days all the handsome young men who have died are like you!"
"What nonsense are you spouting, old man!" The young man's face turned pale and then red in an instant as he angrily flung his sleeves and left, walking quickly as if afraid of being caught by something.
The old man chuckled smugly, "They really can't be scared."
"Old Wei, stop scaring people." A middle-aged man laughed and scolded him, "That female ghost only killed those idle scoundrels who often bullied men and women together!"
The old man chuckled: "It's fun to scare young people! These guys are no loss, at least they'll have friends to keep them company on their journey to the underworld!"
After saying that, he turned to leave.
"Uncle, uncle, don't go yet, let's talk some more." A clear male voice came excitedly from behind him.
The old man turned his head and saw three heads approaching. He was so frightened that he jumped up and cursed angrily, "Good heavens! You scared the soul out of me! What are you saying! I still have to do business!"
"How about five taels of silver for your information?"
The old man hesitated: "Why would a handsome young man like you like to listen to these rural rumors?"
Cui Mingcan chuckled: "I love listening to stories about female ghosts! Want some?"
The money bag was waved in front of the old man.
The passerby who had been chatting with the old man suddenly lit up and exclaimed, "I want it! I want it!"
The old man pushed him away.
"Go away, go away!" The old man laughed, his wrinkles spreading wide with joy. "I want it! Of course I want it! Let's find a place, and I'll explain it to you properly!"
Cui Mingcan turned his head and raised his eyebrows at Bai Yuheng and Cen Ying.
Bai Yuheng and Cen Ying: "..."
"Speaking of that woman in red, she was a pitiful one. Everyone called her Fang Wuyan because half of her face was covered in red scars, while the left side was perfectly fine! That's quite a strange thing! Her right side was incredibly ugly, while her left side was as beautiful as a fairy..." The old man felt a pang of pity when he thought of this woman. "She lived at the end of Cat Lane, not far from this lake. She was a wine seller, orphaned and destitute since childhood, surviving solely on her winemaking skills... And you know what? Her wine was truly fragrant!"
The old man spoke without much logic, rambling on and on. It took the three of them an hour of listening at a tea stall on the street to piece together the short life of a self-reliant and kind woman.
Fang Wuyan, nineteen years old, has remained unmarried for many years due to her ugly appearance. She lost both her parents at a young age and runs a wine shop by herself. Because of her appearance and aloof personality, she never interacts with others, but she seems to have a friend named Mudan who works in a brothel.
More than a month ago, I heard that she was wearing red and had hanged herself in the wine shop. Her friend Mudan saw her and then realized that she had been dead for three days.
During the burial, her friend Mudan tried to kill herself by banging her head against the coffin, causing blood to be drawn and delaying the encoffining time. The coffin remained there for several days before being taken away by someone.
Five days after Fang Wuyan's body disappeared, the first young man hanged himself at home, wearing the same red clothes as Fang Wuyan before her death.
It is said that Fang Wuyan remained unmarried for many years and wanted to find a husband after her death. She killed the man she had chosen and dressed them in red wedding gowns.
After listening to what the old man said, Bai Yuheng and the other two unanimously decided to go to the wine shop where Fang Wuyan hanged himself.
The Wuyan Wine Shop is located at the very end of Cat Alley. Although the shop is in a remote location, it is always bustling with customers because of the quality of its wine.
The three of them walked to the front of the tofu shop and saw a person standing in front of the wine shop from afar.
The three were surprised: "Li Tiankuo?"
The handsome, tall, and slender man turned his head, his gaze cold and unsurprised, and nodded slightly.
Cui Mingcan, always outgoing, walked over and asked with a smile, "Brother Li, you were also selected to go to Furong Town?"
Li Tiankuo nodded and gave a curt "hmm".
Cui Mingcan ignored his coldness and continued, "I didn't expect you to be one step ahead of us. Want to join forces? If the four of us work together, we're sure to capture that female ghost!"
Only then did Li Tiankuo look at him seriously, meeting his earnest and expectant eyes. He parted his thin lips slightly and said coldly, "No need." After saying that, he glanced at Bai Yuheng and Cen Ying beside him, "More people will only be a burden."
Bai Yuheng, Cen Ying, and Cui Mingcan: "???"
"Hey! How can you be like this!" Cui Mingcan glared angrily at Li Tiankuo as he walked into the wine shop, his chest heaving with rage.
"Hmph, what's so great about that! Don't you know there's strength in numbers?! Just you wait! We'll definitely catch that female ghost before you do! Just you wait and see!"
Cen Ying quickly stopped him, slapped him, and scolded, "Are you a firecracker? You'll ignite at the slightest touch?"
Cui Mingcan winced in pain.
"Alright, let's go in and take a look."
Bai Yuheng chuckled and pulled the two people who were about to start making a scene again apart.
"If you two keep fighting, he'll get ahead of us."
The provocation worked, and the two temporarily ceased hostilities.
They couldn't stand each other, so they snorted and kept their distance, then walked side by side and blocked each other in front of the half-open wine shop.
"I want to be advanced!"
"Why should I!"
"Why? Because I'm more capable than you!" Cen Ying said, flicking her sleeve. A cloud of dust swept across her face, and Cui Mingcan was momentarily dazed, taking a few steps back.
What did you sprinkle on me?
"It's nothing," Cen Ying said with a smile as she walked in, hands on her hips. "See? You're fine now, aren't you?"
Cui Mingcan stood still, and after a while, he was indeed no longer as dazed as before.
"Hmph, boring!" Cui Mingcan snorted and decided to ignore her.
Cen Ying, beaming with pride, took Bai Yuheng's hand and walked into the house.
Li Tiankuo had already searched the entire small house.
The wine shop is divided into three parts: the front room sells wine and displays brewing tools; the central courtyard has a small lotus pond with a few koi fish and flowers planted in the corners, showing that the owner is a person with a great appreciation for life; and the back courtyard has three rooms: one for sleeping, one for storing miscellaneous items, and one for the kitchen.
Although small, the sparrow has all the vital organs.
Fang Wuyan hanged herself right on the roof beam in front of her bedroom door. Anyone could see her hanging by simply walking around the front yard and through the central courtyard.
The once bustling wine shop was now unusually desolate and deserted, and the chill that permeated the lotus pond was bone-chilling.
The three of them walked around but found nothing suspicious. They then went to the central courtyard. Bai Yuheng frowned and looked up at the beams where white silk ribbons were still hanging.
"Yu'er, what are you doing with this?" Cen Ying was startled when she saw her take the white silk ribbon down from the beam.
"You all move aside."
Bai Yuheng walked to the central courtyard and asked the two to leave.
"My mind's Dharma form, the old image and illusion, appear!"
Bai Yuheng quickly made a hand seal by wrapping the white silk around her wrist. As the last syllable was uttered, she dropped one finger, and a golden snake, two fingers wide, leaped out along with the white silk. The golden snake opened its mouth wide and crashed into the roof beam.
All three were startled and stared at her intently.
Whoosh—
A figure was reflected in the sunlight in front of the bedroom.
Cui Mingcan and Cen Ying exclaimed in unison in shock:
"It's Fang Wuyan!"
A note from the author:
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Happy International Women's Day! [Sprinkling flowers] Wishing all the lovely ladies a happy holiday and joy every day! [Sprinkling flowers] Welcome to comment and send holiday red envelopes to the ladies! [Let me see] Let's celebrate together! [Sprinkling flowers] Please also add this to your favorites! [Shy]
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