Chapter 18
"Su Qiwen's fiancée's family name is Ye. They own a small shop in this town, and their only daughter is Ye Lingxi. After their daughter went missing, her family searched for a long time, but eventually gave up. Only Su Qiwen has not given up."
"The two elderly people have not been in good health since their daughter went missing. Su Qiwen sometimes helps out at the shop. When he has free time, he goes around looking for Ye Lingxi. There is still a portrait of Ye Lingxi on the shop door, which Su Qiwen drew. He hopes that anyone who sees it can provide clues."
The following evening, after the coffin shop employees had all gone home, the three of them gathered together to discuss the clues they had each found. Xiao Mu gave the two of them the portrait he had obtained from the Ye family's shop.
Zhou Xuanzhi took the portrait and felt a surge of anger upon seeing the young and beautiful woman in it.
During his investigation at the Ye family shop today, Xiao Mu noticed that Su Qiwen's mental state was somewhat unstable, fluctuating between good and bad. Today, he was lucid. While helping out at the shop, he saw someone outside staring intently at Ye Lingxi's portrait with a look of pity and sympathy. Su Qiwen sized up the man; he was an unfamiliar face, but his demeanor suggested he came from a prominent family.
"Is there something you need, young master?" Su Qiwen asked as he came out of the shop.
Xiao Mu looked at Su Qiwen and, considering Su Qiwen and the Ye couple's actions, realized they were unaware of the ghost marriage arrangement. How could they accept it if he revealed it directly? After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Has this young master ever heard of ghost marriages?"
"What do you mean by this, young master?" Su Qiwen was probably disdainful; his previously inquisitive expression turned into disgust in an instant.
Xiao Mu said solemnly, "I come from Tianyu Mountain."
Tianyu Mountain is considered one of the four major sects. Even those who don't care about these cultivation sects know what the four major sects are.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Su Qiwen didn't seem to be unaware. He then went to move the door panel. "We're closed today. Please come back tomorrow, young master." The door panel was already locked. He didn't care about Xiao Mu's situation.
“I can help her reincarnate.” As Xiao Mu said this, he was also watching Su Qiwen’s expression. He first looked incredulous, then cursed, “Why are you cursing my wife?” As he spoke, he even raised the door panel to hit him.
Xiao Mu merely raised a finger, rendering Su Qiwen immobile. "I asked you, have you ever heard of ghost marriage? If it had been any later, your fiancée Ye Lingxi wouldn't even have had the chance to be reincarnated."
Su Qiwen's mental state was not as bad as everyone said. Xiao Mu was certain that he was conscious, could understand what she was saying, and could make the right choices.
The two remained locked in this stalemate for a long time until Su Qiwen finally put the door down. He sat there, covered his face, and burst into tears.
The words "Why? Why?" kept popping up.
As people on the street watched the grown man sitting on the ground crying, more and more eyes turned to them, and some even stopped to watch.
Knowing he was a new face, Xiao Mu felt uneasy and raised his hand to cover his face. He nudged Su Qiwen's foot and whispered, "I'm a new face. If people suspect me, I really won't be able to help you."
Su Qiwen calmed down, led Xiao Mu back into the shop, and closed the door. Xiao Mu found a chair, brushed off non-existent dust, and sat down.
Su Qiwen went to the back to wash his face and poured Xiao Mu a cup of tea, saying, "We only have coarse tea at home, so please bear with us, young master."
Xiao Mu accepted the tea and thanked him, then continued the previous topic: "Young master, are you familiar with ghost marriages? I've only been here a short time and I've already discovered that quite a few families in Jianye Town are engaged in ghost marriages."
Su Qiwen, who had also sat down, looked at Xiao Mu's determined gaze and said, "Ghost marriages have become popular in this town in the last few hundred years. It's not just this town; it happens in the surrounding towns and villages as well."
"Initially, it was said that they were worried the deceased would be lonely, so they wanted to find him a companion on the road. Later, I don't know how it turned into finding a partner for the unmarried deceased. At first, it was to match with the deceased, but later they found..."
"A living person." The two words that Su Qiwen couldn't say were spoken by Xiao Mu.
Seeing Su Qiwen lower his head in shame, Xiao Mu felt helpless. He couldn't understand what these people were thinking. Did they really believe that killing a living person could bring happiness to the deceased?
Those killed for ghost marriages harbor immense resentment; it's a miracle the two don't fight each other in the underworld. Besides, those who are already dead have long since gone to the underworld; why would they remain on earth waiting for a wife or husband to be assigned to them in this world?
Do they really think the lower realm is unaware of these things?
"Has no one stopped it all these years? Why haven't the government officials stepped in?" This was Xiao Mu's biggest question.
Su Qiwen shook his head helplessly and said, "It's not that the county magistrate who came here didn't care, but he's just an outsider to Jianye Town. Most of the people in the government are from this town, so even if he wanted to, he couldn't do anything about it."
"I originally planned to leave this place with Lingxi after passing the imperial examination. You said you saw Lingxi?" Su Qiwen couldn't hold back his emotions when his fiancée was mentioned.
The sight of Su Qiwen's tearful eyes made Xiao Mu feel somewhat uncomfortable. Although he was good at gathering information, he wasn't good at comforting people. Seeing Su Qiwen crying like this, Xiao Mu nodded: "I see, she's very resentful."
"It's all my fault. If I had gone out with her, none of this would have happened." He pulled at his hair in regret.
Xiao Mu did nothing and just let Su Qiwen sit there and cry.
After crying for a long time, Su Qiwen suddenly looked up and asked, "Can I take her home?"
Going home? Xiao Mu peered through the crack in the door at the people coming and going on the street and asked, "How many of the people here have had ghost marriages for their family members?"
"half."
Xiao Mu's expression suddenly turned sharp. He turned to look at Su Qiwen and asked, "Are you sure you can fight against half of them?"
"A life for a life, that's only right!"
The person in front of him was not a cowardly scholar, but a general who had fought his way back from the battlefield and could withstand thousands of troops.
Xiao Muchen nodded. "With your words, I will definitely send her back to you. If anything happens, light it. Also, be careful not to mention my existence to anyone else."
He then gave Su Qiwen a stick of incense.
Su Qiwen nodded as he took the incense. "When?"
"At least let me find out how many people here practice human sacrifice." Using a living person to marry a dead person in a ghost marriage can only be called human sacrifice.
"Are you sure Tianyu Mountain will let you send that woman into reincarnation?" Hearing Xiao Mu's assurance to Su Qiwen, Shi Yunzhou smiled sarcastically. Tianyu Mountain has many rules, so how could he be sure that Tianyu Mountain would let go of this girl who was tainted with violence?
Speechless at Shi Yunzhou's words, Xiao Mu turned to Zhou Xuanzhi, her eyes pleading for help.
Upon receiving the message, Zhou Xuanzhi looked at the portrait and said, "These people are being manipulated. Didn't that woman from last night also reveal some information?"
The woman said that all she knew was that a powerful demon was helping the wronged souls in the cemetery take revenge, on the condition that the demon absorb their resentment and malevolence.
Shi Yunzhou's expression was not good when he saw Zhou Xuanzhi speaking up for Xiao Mu. Before he could lash out, Xiao Mu said, "I found the family that killed Ye Lingxi. The family that killed Ye Lingxi to arrange a ghost marriage for their son is surnamed Zhang. Their family's conditions can be considered average in Jianye Town. They have some money."
Night fell, and fog descended upon Jianye Town again. It wasn't particularly thick, but it felt eerily strange in the night. Those who had been wandering the streets moments before had all returned home.
Xiao Mu arrived at the Zhang family's gate with Shi Yunzhou and Zhou Xuanzhi. Xiao Mu looked down at his outfit and felt very uncomfortable. "Can I not wear this?"
Shi Yunzhou glanced at him, a half-smile on his face, and said, "No, and it suits you very well."
Xiao Mu remained silent; at this moment, he could only accept it.
The lights were still on inside Zhang's main house, and two elderly people could be vaguely seen. The son and daughter-in-law were likely living in the side room, and they were talking about something.
Xiao Mu looked down at his red wedding dress and then covered his head with the veil. Since he was here to make a scene, the bigger the better. With the help of the mist, his wedding dress was truly frightening in the Zhang family courtyard. Of course, he also had some makeup on his face, modeled after the distorted expression on Ye Lingxi's face before her death.
He raised his hand and made a hand seal, summoning a strong wind that blew all the windows open. He never imagined that the magic he had learned would be used for this purpose today.
Those inside were puzzled by the strong wind, as the window was clearly secured with bolts. Upon reaching the window, they saw a woman in a wedding dress, her head covered, standing in the courtyard.
The old man mustered his courage and asked, "Who are you?"
The wind blew open Xiao Mu's veil, and when her daughter-in-law came to close the window, she saw her face under the veil.
"Ah..." she cried out as she backed away, her finger trembling as she pointed at the people outside.
Hearing his eldest daughter-in-law's scream, the old man was so frightened that he took several steps back. Hearing the sound and seeing the old man's reaction, the old woman was naturally curious and walked over, asking as she went, "Did you see a ghost? You're so scared..."
Before she could finish speaking, she saw the face beneath the veil, and the corners of her mouth inexplicably turned up in a strange smile. The "woman" suddenly appeared at the window from the courtyard, her hoarse, indistinct voice making it impossible to understand what she was saying.
The elderly people were so frightened that they dared not move. The two men looked at this "woman" and thought of the woman who had died a violent death.
The eldest son, holding a large machete, rushed out of the side room, ran to the "woman's" side, and raised the machete with his eyes closed, hacking down.
When he was too exhausted to lift it any further, he finally opened his eyes. The woman was gone. He looked around but saw no one. Suddenly, he felt a chill on his neck, and all the ghost stories he had heard before flashed through his mind.
He swung his machete and turned around, only to see the "woman" retreating rapidly before stopping on the rooftop.
He looked under the veil and saw that face, a face that had haunted his dreams for half a year, tormenting him to the point of near death.
"Ah...ah...ah." He couldn't understand what the female ghost was saying because her tongue had been cut off.
The fog dissipated at that moment, and the red-clad female ghost vanished into thin air. The man could no longer hold the machete; it clattered to the ground, and he collapsed to the floor, utterly exhausted from the shock.
When Xiao Mu came out of the Zhang family's courtyard, he saw Shi Yunzhou give him a thumbs up: "Not bad."
Seeing the other person's clearly malicious gaze, Xiao Mu felt extremely uncomfortable. He waved his hand, not daring to speak, fearing that such things might happen again. He couldn't let his lifelong reputation be ruined by playing a "female ghost."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
