Chapter 19 The Amazing Lychee Garden (19) The Qi family has arrived with wine and food. ...
Du Zhong sprayed several mouthfuls of cold water, and the Lu family's daughter-in-law gradually came to her senses, lowered her hand, and sat up. Seeing so many people surrounding her, she was stunned for a moment, then quickly grabbed one of them and began to cry to the crowd, "There really is a ghost in that bamboo forest! I saw it! Right behind that rock, wearing a red jacket and red skirt, laughing and crying intermittently. I heard it so clearly, it was a little girl's voice!"
Someone hurriedly asked, "How old is she, little girl?"
"Only two or three years old!"
"Oh! Isn't that Miss Li?!"
The more they talked, the more plausible it became. Jiuli listened to their increasingly bizarre tales, still not quite believing them. She sat down on the edge of the bed, took Lu's wife's hand, and said, "Sister-in-law Lu, don't be afraid. Tell me slowly, when did you see it?"
According to Lu's wife, last night after midnight, under the soft moonlight, she was walking through the small bamboo grove with a lantern. The cold wind rustled the leaves in the grove, and suddenly a chuckle broke out from the sound of the leaves. Startled, she dropped the lantern on the ground.
She composed herself, quickly picked up the lantern, and listened intently along the path. After a while, all she heard was the rustling of leaves. Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly heard a soft "weeping" sound, like a child crying. She immediately remembered the rumors of the Li family's young lady's untimely death and the ghost story. Her hair stood on end, and she shone the lantern towards the Taihu rock. Just then, she saw something shrink behind the Taihu rock!
"It's a red dress!"
Lu's wife grabbed Jiuli tightly, startling Jiuli. "Is it too dark? Did you see it wrong? Maybe it's a night owl or something."
"No! I saw it clearly, it was a bright red dress! A small foot, and embroidered shoes with red soles and white flowers. How could a wild cat or mouse be that color!"
Jiuli pressed on, "Did you see anyone?"
"I was so scared I almost lost my mind! How could I dare go back to look? I grabbed my lantern and ran as fast as I could out of the woods!" The Lu family's wife said, glancing around. "What if she followed me back? Everyone says Master Lin is a man, so even if I killed him, I couldn't possess him; I needed a woman. Wouldn't I just be the scapegoat?! I can't stay here anymore, I can't stay here anymore, I have to go home, I have to go home—"
As she spoke, her eyes fell on Yu Qi, and she threw off the covers, ran off the bed, knelt down in front of Yu Qi, and frantically tugged at his clothes. "Doctor Yu, am I cured? Please go and tell them that I'm cured, let me go home, let me go home! Don't let this little devil cling to me, I don't want to be her scapegoat!"
Yu Qi said in a light and indifferent voice, "Your illness is indeed almost cured, but whether or not I release you is not up to me. You can only ask the authorities for help."
As he spoke, he pulled a piece of clothing from her hand, while listening to the lively discussion among the crowd.
Ghosts and spirits are always swift, and so are tales of them. Within half a day, news of the Lu family's daughter-in-law's encounter with a ghost spread throughout the garden. Everyone spoke with absolute certainty, increasingly convinced that it was the spirit of the Li family's young lady, the infant spirit, who had first killed Lin Mo and was now plotting to harm others. There was also counter-evidence: if not, why would the Li family frequently send people to offer sacrifices? And weren't the talismans pressed on the Taihu stones in the woods used for exorcising evil spirits?
This reminded Yu Qi of something. Just then, Jiu Li came into the room to call him for dinner and saw him sitting at his desk, lost in thought, holding the last stick of incense. Outside the window, the sky was already dark, and a cold mist suddenly rose, mixed with a light drizzle, making his face even paler and giving the impression that he was as cold as ice.
She tiptoed to the table, and he didn't notice when she closed the window. She then went around to his side and bent down to stare at the incense stick. "Could there really be ghosts in this world?"
Her breath on his ear was warm and ticklish. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and thought to himself that she hadn't grown up even after meeting a strange man. She still didn't understand the difference between men and women, and she was getting so close to him.
He subtly leaned towards the handrail, creating some distance between them, and smiled at her, "Even you believed those lies?"
Jiuli thought for a moment, shook his head, took out the yellow talisman and pondered it, "I don't really believe it, but what Sister Lu said made it sound so convincing, and if it hasn't been haunted, why would I need to exorcise it?"
Yu Qi smiled and nodded, "Why don't you think about it the other way around?"
"Think about it the other way around? What does that mean?"
He tossed the incense on the table, then took the yellow talisman from her hand and threw it on the table as well, saying, "Perhaps it is these things that bewitch the mind."
Jiuli couldn't understand for a moment and blinked her big, confused eyes at him.
He smiled again. "I've been wondering these past two days, if the Li family is commemorating the spirit of the unborn child, and since they are blood relatives, then their primary purpose should be to help the spirit find peace, not to cruelly suppress evil spirits. Didn't you say these talismans are different from the ones you saw last time?"
She nodded hurriedly, "Yes, last time I saw yellow paper and black inscriptions."
"The difference lies here: yellow paper and black talismans are for the salvation of the deceased, while cinnabar is for exorcising evil spirits. If Master Li had no great grudge against his young daughter who died prematurely, how could a father bear to let his daughter's spirit vanish into thin air?"
"Yes, yes!" Jiuli understood, nodding her chin repeatedly. "No wonder I always felt there was something strange about these things—so, according to that logic, the person who set up this ritual might not have been sent by the Li family. This person acted on their own initiative to exorcise the infant spirits, or perhaps they've also encountered a ghost! Or—"
"Or perhaps he wanted to make people believe that the garden was haunted."
Jiuli pondered for a moment, then another question arose: "But what does whether it's haunted or not have to do with Lin Mo?"
Once he got into thinking about it, he forgot to eat. Du Zhong set out the bowls and plates but didn't see the two of them come out, so he went to the green gauze cabinet to call them.
Yu Qi put away the remaining incense and talisman, got up and called Jiu Li out. He saw her sitting at the table with a bowl in front of her, just staring blankly, picking up whatever was in her mouth and putting it in her mouth. He coughed and said, "Eat properly. I'm afraid you'll get distracted and have a stomachache at night."
Jiuli came to her senses and chuckled, "I'm not a child anymore, my stomach isn't that weak."
Du Zhong couldn't help but laugh, "Last year around the Lunar New Year, some people ate too much rice cake and couldn't digest it. Their stomachs ached so badly they were rolling around in bed, and they were so exhausted that they had to stay up all night getting medicine and preparing it before finally going to sleep at dawn—"
Jiuli was so angry that she hit him, saying, "You only remember people's embarrassing moments!"
In the misty rain, someone knocked on the door. Du Zhong got up to open it and found it was a yamen runner who brought a pot of wine and several exquisite dishes, which didn't look like they were from Liyuan. After asking, he learned that someone in the Qi family was celebrating a birthday, and Xu Bai had gone home in the afternoon. He had specially prepared some wine and dishes and sent them to Liyuan by his servants.
Du Zhong glanced at Yu Qi's expression and, seeing that he didn't say anything, took the basket and thanked him, "May I ask, sir, when will Lord Qi return to Liyuan?"
The constable said, "I heard that the Qi family is hosting a banquet for two days, and they probably won't be back until the day after tomorrow."
Du Zhong nodded, closed the door and came in, "This Lord Qi is really thoughtful. He came back to his residence and still thought of sending us wine and food."
A thoughtful person does what they intend. Yu Qi noticed that the wine was rose-infused, not easily intoxicating, with a sweet and mild flavor, always a favorite of women. Two of the four dishes were refreshing and fragrant seasonal wild vegetables, not expensive, but their freshness was their greatest asset. The other two were meat dishes, the ingredients of which were easy to obtain, but complicated to prepare. The four dishes were placed together to avoid being too elaborate, while also catering to the tastes of both men and women.
The person who made the arrangements must be a respected elder who knows how to manage a household; it's definitely not something a young man like Qi Xubai could handle. I wonder what Qi Xubai said to his family when he got home.
He felt a little nauseous at the thought, put down his bowl, got up, and went inside.
As soon as Jiuli finished setting out the dishes and wine pot, he craned his neck to peer into the gauze-covered cabinet. "Why don't you try the Qi family's food and wine?"
A cold voice came from inside, "I'm done eating."
She turned to Du Zhong, smiling and sticking out her tongue. For some reason, even though she knew Yu Qi was unusually cold towards Xu Bai, she preferred to get close to Xu Bai. Mama Feng used to say that when girls and boys reach a certain age, they like to go against their elders. She thought she was probably at that age too, so she deliberately picked up the dishes that the Qi family had sent and stuffed them into her mouth, chewing them with extra relish.
After dinner, Jiuli and Du Zhong played drinking games on the daybed in the west wing for half a day. When they heard the wind and rain, Jiuli opened the window and looked out with Du Zhong wrapped in their blankets. Before they heard the first watch gong, it was already pitch black. Although there were two dim lamps hanging under the eaves, they were useless. It was still dark and cold. However, the doctors in the back room were drinking and making a bit of noise.
Jiuli rested her arms on the windowsill, muttering to herself, "Did Sister Lu really see a ghost?"
Du Zhong chimed in, "What she said sounds so real; it doesn't seem like she was making it up."
"I didn't say she made it up. Why would she make up such nonsense? I'm saying that what she encountered must have been a ghost?"
"If it's not a ghost, is it a person?"
Jiuli bit her lower lip and pondered for a moment, then loosened her teeth and said, "Maybe it's a person. I don't believe there are ghosts in this world."
Du Zhong was still suspicious. "If you don't believe me, just say it doesn't exist in this world. The Lu family's daughter-in-law clearly saw it, otherwise why would she be so scared? Just now when I went to get the food, I heard the people in their main house say that she was so scared that she didn't eat lunch or dinner, and didn't eat or drink anything all day! She was afraid that if she ate, she would see a ghost again when she went to the toilet."
"Even if there are ghosts, would they come out in broad daylight?"
"Look at the sky. It's been overcast all day, and now it's so dark. What's the point of distinguishing between day and night?"
These people are too cowardly, Jiu Li thought disdainfully. "What if she starves if she doesn't eat or drink?"
"It's none of your business if she's starving. You've only exchanged a few words with her." Du Zhong chuckled wickedly. "There are people in this garden who care about her."
Jiuli blinked a few times and suddenly realized that he was referring to Guan Zhan. This Lu family's daughter-in-law had an affair with Guan Zhan, so naturally he was the one who should feel sorry for her.
But he had affairs with more than one person; could he possibly care for all of them? She snorted softly, then looked out the window. Suddenly, the lanterns under the eaves swayed in the wind, causing a flash of inspiration in her mind, and she thought of a certain possibility.
She pondered in her mind for a moment, then glanced at Du Zhong and said, "I'll make a bet with you. If it really is a ghost, I'll do you a favor. If it's just a ghost playing tricks, you'll do me a favor. How about it?"
After pondering for a moment, Du Zhong hesitated, "It's a gamble, but how can you prove whether it's a ghost or a person?"
"That's easy, just catch them in the act, right?"
He scoffed, "How can you catch a ghost? You're not a ghost-catching sorcerer."
Jiuli laughed, "Come with me tomorrow night, I'm going to catch a 'ghost' for you to see!"
A note from the author:
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Thank you for reading.
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