Chapter 140 The Altered History
The female ghost was terrified. Her pale hands pounded aimlessly against the invisible barrier around her, making "bang bang" sounds. She shouted in broken Mandarin, "Let me out! Who are you? What kind of sorcery is this?!"
Everyone: "......"
Being confronted by a female ghost asking "What kind of sorcery is this?" is just too fantastical.
Zhang Mo remained calm and composed, as if everything before her was within her expectations. Ignoring the female ghost, she asked Tang Manjing, "Do you remember this person?"
Tang Manjing was shivering in her mother's arms when she heard Zhang Mo's question. She mustered up her courage, carefully moved closer, looked at the screen intently, and examined it closely before saying with great certainty, "I don't recognize it!"
Zhang Mo's gaze returned to the female ghost on the screen: "She doesn't know you, so why are you living inside her computer? Believe me, I can install an antivirus program inside and make you vanish into thin air?"
The female ghost was shocked: "Really?!"
Everyone was shocked: "Really?!"
Of course it's fake.
But Zhang Mo's serious and solemn expression made him seem like an impartial and fair computer judge, protecting the peace of the computer world, which made it hard for people not to believe him.
The female ghost was terrified and hurriedly said to Yang Manjing, "You don't recognize me, but you came to our village three years ago. Do you remember Ao Family Village?"
Upon hearing this, Tang Manjing vaguely remembered: "Oh, yes. I remember now, during my freshman winter break, my roommate and I went on a trip to the south and visited this village. I still remember the story of that village."
Then, Tang Manjing took a deep breath to calm her nervousness and briefly told everyone the story of the remote village called Aojia Village.
According to the village records, in 1935, Aojia Village was occupied by the Japanese army, who set up an armory on the mountain behind the village. After discussing the matter, the villagers decided to draw lots to select one person to sacrifice himself to blow up the armory. The person chosen was a young man named Ao Xiang.
At that time, Ao Xiang had just become engaged to his childhood sweetheart, Hui Niang, and they were to be married the following month. The villagers couldn't bear it and wanted to redraw the lots, but Ao Xiang refused. He knew that only by going himself could he leave hope for the life of the one he loved.
One night later, Ao Xiang sacrificed himself, saving the entire village. However, no one expected that Hui Niang would also choose to commit suicide that same day, following her lover in death.
Even today, the traces of the explosion at the armory remain, silently recounting that tragic history. The villagers there also carved an inscription for the couple, commemorating this poignant love story.
Four young girls, freshmen in college, were deeply moved by this love story set against the backdrop of war.
"Back then, the four of us in our dorm even took a group photo in front of that inscription. I was also planning to use this story as the background for my graduation project." At this point, Tang Manjing suddenly realized, her eyes widening as she pointed at the screen and exclaimed, "So, you're Hui Niang?!"
From the perspective of a professional reader, Zhang Chenxiao understood: "Oh, so this is why the original author doesn't allow fan fiction or derivative works, and therefore deleted all your text?"
Tang Manjing instantly understood and said anxiously and guiltily, "Ahhh, I'm so sorry, author! I didn't know I would be infringing on copyright!"
The female ghost living inside the computer, who was clearly surfing the internet 24/7, rolled her eyes and said irritably, "Let's go home, okay? You two, go home."
Zhang Chenxiao: "Oh."
Tang Manjing: "Ugh." Is it possible that this is already her home?
The elderly, superstitious editor-in-chief, Mr. Tang, clasped his hands together and pleaded with a devout expression, "Did my daughter offend you by taking a picture in front of your tombstone? I'm sorry! I'll ask a Taoist priest to perform a ritual, burn incense, make offerings, and send you back home, is that alright?!"
The female ghost was much bolder when facing the others: "I've already said, that's an inscription, not a tombstone. Can you please stop being so superstitious?"
Everyone: "......"
The female ghost telling a living person not to be superstitious is such an absurd dialogue.
Seeing that her teammates were really useless, Zhang Mo decided to bring the main storyline back on her own: "So, you really are the girl in the story?"
Upon hearing Zhang Mo speak, the female ghost immediately became much more obedient. She lowered her head slightly and her voice softened: "Yes, I am Yan Hui."
She calls herself Yan Hui, not Hui Niang from the story.
Compared to characters in tragic love stories, the emphasis on subjectivity speaks volumes.
Zhang Mo stared at her for a while, then suddenly made a very strange request: "Could you step back a few paces so I can see your whole body? Right now I can only see your head and shoulders."
Yan Hui had already figured out who was in charge here, and upon hearing this, she immediately took a few steps back obediently.
Zhang Mo saw it clearly; indeed, she hadn't been mistaken—Yan Hui was radiating golden light.
It seems that there are basically only two types of ghosts that can linger in the human world for a long time.
One type is those who died too tragically, filled with resentment, making it too troublesome for the ghost messengers to catch them, so as long as they don't cause any major incidents, they are temporarily ignored.
One type is the one with golden light all over their body, a person of great virtue. Even if they become ghosts, they will not do bad things. The ghost messengers will give them face and let them linger for a while longer.
"Alright, I understand. You can come back now," Zhang Mo instructed.
"Oh, oh." Yan Hui immediately ran back in front of the camera.
Everyone: "......"
For Mr. Zhang to be able to make a female ghost so obedient, he must be incredibly terrifying.
Zhang Mo thought for a moment and said, "If I'm not mistaken, the village wasn't saved by that man, it was you who saved it, right?"
Tang Manjing: "Huh??? Wait, isn't this recorded in their village chronicle? How can this be wrong?"
Zhang Mo: "Have you ever seen a village chronicle written by a woman? History written by men is naturally most advantageous to them."
The little fox nodded in agreement; that's basic manly behavior.
Tang Manjing was very anxious: "Then what exactly happened back then?"
Yan Hui paused for a moment, then finally began to recount: "That day, after we drew lots, Ao Xiang came to me and said he wanted to elope with me, claiming it was for love. In reality, he was just afraid of death and insisted on using me as an excuse."
I disagreed, so he ran away by himself. There were Japanese guards at the entrance to the village, so he climbed over the mountain, but he accidentally fell and died.
The war situation was already extremely dire; I couldn't wait, and neither could the country, so I volunteered to take on this heavy responsibility.
Ultimately, this young girl sacrificed her life to destroy an entire Japanese arsenal and protect the lives of everyone in the village.
These are all people she once deeply loved, and she has no regrets.
"At first, the villagers were grateful to me and treated my family well."
But later, the people from that time gradually grew old and passed away. The young people began to tire of the story. Those proud and arrogant boys couldn't tolerate the label of "being saved by a woman." Later, inexplicably, even the inability to find a partner was blamed on me.
Coincidentally, ten years ago, someone came to develop tourism resources, saying that this story could be the village's selling point. They went all in and simply changed it to its current state, claiming that adding a simple, unpretentious love element would attract more unsuspecting young city dwellers to visit and take photos.
Tang, an ignorant urban youth who went to check in, was speechless.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
