Her Rose – Chapter 67

Jiang Hanguang was arranged by a staff member to lie down on a soft bed, after which the person left on tiptoe. The temperature in the room was considerably higher than outside, and the intricate clothes she wore made her feel a bit hot.

A faint medicinal scent lingered in the air, and a mechanical system voice sounded in her ear.

“Open your eyes.”

Jiang Hanguang slowly opened her eyes to find herself in a quaint, antique-style room. Not far away, daylight filtered through the translucent curtain of a carved window, bringing a bit of light into the unlit space.

She pushed herself up to sit, intending to get a better look at her surroundings, but the moment she turned her head, a shiver ran through her entire body.

A woman in red was standing silently before her bed, positioned so close she was almost touching the edge. From where Jiang Hanguang sat, she could even make out the individual strands of her hair and the fine gold threads on the red dress.

The woman’s neck drooped at a bizarre angle, like a doll whose head had been broken off and then crudely reattached by an amateur tailor. Her jet-black hair hung down, obscuring her entire face, creating a terrifying sight.

Jiang Hanguang was speechless.

Seeing a ghost the moment she opened her eyes—was this part of the haunted house’s design, or was she just incredibly unlucky?

She wasn’t particularly afraid of ghosts, but the sight of the female ghost, whose head looked like it could fall off at any moment, still made her skin crawl. She could only shrink back toward the wall and cautiously ask, “Miss Li?”

Her voice seemed to trigger a mechanism. The female ghost’s neck suddenly began to turn with a creaking sound, and it abruptly lifted its head to reveal an ashen face with two streams of bloody tears running down it.

Jiang Hanguang drew in a sharp, cold breath but still attempted to communicate with her. “If you have been wronged, you can tell me. I…”

Before she could finish, the ghost’s mournful voice cut her off. It seemed to have no intention of harming Jiang Hanguang, merely gazing at her with a dazed look. Even though its eyes were now only whites, Jiang Hanguang was stunned to sense a hint of nostalgia in that prolonged stare.

“Why did you break your promise?”

The ghost’s voice was like coarse sandpaper, grating and harsh to the ear. Jiang Hanguang instinctively raised her hands to cover her ears, but the ghost before her had already vanished into a puff of red mist.

Before she could come to her senses, the sound of two women’s voices drifted in from outside the window. They were deliberately hushed, yet just loud enough for her to hear clearly.

“When the Second Miss died, I went in to help tidy up. Her neck was practically snapped from the strangulation, and her eyes were wide open—they wouldn’t close no matter what. I was so scared my legs turned to jelly. People say that’s called dying with a grievance. She’s bound to come back for revenge.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. The coroner from the government office already examined her and said the Second Miss hanged herself. If she took her own life, why would she come back to take someone else’s?”

“Haven’t you heard? On the night of the Mid-Autumn banquet, someone heard a woman wailing in the back garden. The sound was utterly miserable, and they said it sounded just like the Second Miss! And the night watchman from that night? He called in sick the next day and still hasn’t returned to work!”

“Alright, alright, even if you’re right and the Second Miss is back for revenge, she’d be after the ones who harmed her. We’re just servants; we shouldn’t worry our heads about it. Let’s hurry and see if there are any colored lanterns in the courtyard that haven’t been put away. Yesterday, the Eldest Miss fainted after just one glance. You know how furious the Master was.”

After finishing their conversation, the people outside left together. Jiang Hanguang was finally able to get out of bed. She first glanced down at her attire—a simple, ancient-style silk dress. The color was close to white, but not pure white, and the edges were embroidered with intricate, beautiful patterns. It was clearly not something a servant would wear.

From that brief scene, Jiang Hanguang had already gathered several pieces of information: 1. The character she was playing had broken a promise to Miss Li and was certainly connected to her death. 2. Miss Li had died by hanging, but something must have happened beforehand, most likely on the night of the Mid-Autumn banquet. 3. The abnormal behavior of the Eldest Miss and the night watchman required further investigation.

She began to survey the room she had woken up in. The furnishings were unremarkable; compared to the boudoirs of young ladies commonly seen in period dramas, it was simply less decorated, giving it a somewhat cold and cheerless feel.

On the round wooden table in the center of the room sat a celadon bowl, half-filled with a dark liquid. Jiang Hanguang picked it up and sniffed it, detecting the bitter scent of Chinese medicine.

She frowned and walked over to the dressing table. In the bronze mirror, she saw her reflection: dressed in an ancient-style gown, with a gold hairpin in her simply styled hair.

On the table before the bronze mirror lay half a pearl threaded with a red string. Beneath the pearl was a folded piece of paper.

Jiang Hanguang first picked up the thumb-sized pearl to examine it. The cut surface was perfectly smooth, clearly done by human hands.

Her gaze then fell upon the paper held down by the pearl. Though folded, she could still see the dark red bloodstains that had soaked through from the back.

“Heaven and earth may one day end, but this regret will stretch on and on…”

The writer’s handwriting was elegant, but it was clear they were weak. The characters grew fainter toward the end, and they hadn’t even managed to finish the short two-line poem before spitting blood.

Jiang Hanguang had already formed a preliminary hypothesis. Just as she was about to investigate further, her actions were interrupted by a commotion outside the door.

The faint sound of a girl’s scream reached her, followed by the sound of chaotic footsteps running past the door.

The voice seemed to belong to one of the two Omega girls who had come with her sister.

Jiang Hanguang casually slipped the pearl and the note into her pocket and pushed the door open.

Outside the door was a bright, sunny day with a crisp autumn sky. The set design for this haunted house was truly impressive; despite being indoors, it managed to simulate an outdoor environment using lighting and special effects.

Amidst the tastefully arranged scenery of small bridges and flowing water, staff members dressed as servants were huddled by a dilapidated-looking hut in a corner.

Just as Jiang Hanguang drew near, an enthusiastic older woman grabbed her hand. “Oh my, Cousin Miss, you’ve only just started to recover. Why are you out walking around again? It’s not clean over here. You have a delicate constitution, you really shouldn’t get involved in the commotion.”

Jiang Hanguang was speechless.

Did this mean she wasn’t allowed to get closer by herself?

She was hesitating whether to insist on taking a look when the large, vermilion gate was suddenly pushed open from the outside.

“A ghost!” A person in a Taoist robe scrambled in, looking utterly disheveled and scared out of their wits.

Jiang Hanguang: “Ahem… hahaha.”

She tried to hold back her laughter but not only failed, she ended up choking on it.

The newcomer was none other than Cheng Ying. The one-size-fits-all Taoist robe looked rather snug on the tall Alpha, which was already a bit comical. To add to the effect, she had run so fast that the hat, originally tied at her neck, had slipped to the back of her head, dangling like a kite.

Seeing this sight, even the usually reserved Miss Jiang couldn’t help but chuckle.

Boss Cheng, who had been putting on an extra-dramatic performance so no one would discover she had colluded with the ghosts, was left speechless upon running into her lover the moment she entered.

She took three seconds to wipe the terrified expression from her face, cleared her throat twice, straightened her Taoist robe, and sauntered over. “What a coincidence.”

Jiang Hanguang had no intention of embarrassing her further and simply asked, “Did you see Miss Li, too?”

“More than just saw her,” Cheng Ying raised an eyebrow. “The moment I opened my eyes, I was about to bury her, and she flew right at my face.”

Jiang Hanguang imagined the scene. “…That does sound pretty scary.”

“It was manageable,” Cheng Ying said, tidying her wind-tousled hair and adjusting her hat, completely ignoring the fact that her earlier terrified state was anything but ‘manageable’. Only then did she finally have a moment to properly take in Jiang Hanguang’s appearance.

The woman wore a moon-white period gown, her hair styled in a simple bun. Though it was merely a change of costume, she exuded the unique, graceful bearing of a well-bred young lady from ancient times.

This was the mark of a good actress—give her any role, and she could embody it perfectly.

Cheng Ying felt like a lecher from ancient times. Jiang Hanguang was only looking at her, yet she couldn’t resist leaning in, pressing close like an addict to inhale the woman’s scent.

In addition to the rose fragrance she knew so well, there was now a faint scent of medicine.

But she didn’t find it unpleasant; on the contrary, it made her want to take another taste.

Jiang Hanguang shivered as Cheng Ying’s breath washed over her. She quickly grabbed Cheng Ying’s hand, shot her a reproachful glance, and gestured toward the nearby staff members, who were desperately trying to signal with their eyes for the two of them to stop their public display of affection and move the plot along.

“What’s going on here?” Cheng Ying finally noticed the large group of people squatting in the distance.

Before Jiang Hanguang could explain, the enthusiastic older woman hurried over again. “Oh, Master, you’ve returned! Lan’er and Cui’er, the two maids who served the Second Miss, have been acting strangely ever since she passed, as if they’re possessed. The Master was afraid they’d cause trouble, so he had us lock them in the woodshed. They’ve started screaming again. Please, go take a look.”

As soon as her voice fell, the people gathered before the door parted as if on cue, clearing a path for the two of them.

Cheng Ying started to lead Jiang Hanguang inside but was stopped again by the older woman. “Master, our Cousin Miss has a weak constitution. It’s best she doesn’t go in with you. What if she encounters something evil…”

The woman’s eyes flicked between their tightly clasped hands. She resolutely decided to ignore their blatant, plot-defying intimacy and stick to her lines.

Cheng Ying’s eyes glinted. Instead of letting go of Jiang Hanguang, she pulled her closer and said with a grin, “You may not know this, but while the Cousin Miss appears frail, she was born with a noble destiny. With her by my side, this humble Taoist fears no evil spirits.”

Jiang Hanguang, suddenly praised for no reason, felt a mix of helplessness and sweetness. Unable to refuse Cheng Ying’s smiling eyes, she could only play along. “With the Master here, there’s nothing to worry about.”

The older woman, suddenly hit with this unexpected public display of affection, was speechless.

What was wrong with these two? One was eager to see a ghost, the other didn’t even scream when she saw one, and now this. It was as if they were here just to flaunt their affection.

But with things said to this extent, she had no reason to object and could only lower her gaze and step aside.

Cheng Ying shielded Jiang Hanguang behind her and removed the thick wooden beam barring the woodshed door.

“A ghost!”

The moment the door opened, the two people inside lunged out as if they’d seen a savior. Cheng Ying placed a hand on the shoulder of an Omega who was about to throw herself into her arms and nonchalantly comforted her.

“Hey, it’s just a game. Calm down.”

Everyone present was speechless.

Who was it again that was just chased by a ghost until their hat fell off?

The two people locked inside were indeed the two girls. They were also dressed in period costumes, though the fabric and details were clearly inferior to Jiang Hanguang’s. The woodshed was dimly lit, and both of their faces were streaked with tears. It was obvious they had also just seen a ghost, but unlike the composed Jiang Hanguang, they were thoroughly frightened.

To prevent guests from dislodging the glasses with sudden movements and ruining the experience, the haunted house used a buckle-style design. The removal process was rather complicated, and in their panic, the two girls couldn’t get them off, only managing to mess up their long hair.

Cheng Ying had a servant bring them two glasses of water while she took a look around the woodshed.

The red-clothed ghost was long gone, and there was nothing in the woodshed besides a few piles of dry firewood.

By the time Cheng Ying returned, the two girls had calmed down thanks to Jiang Hanguang’s reassurance, so she got straight to the point.

“Do you have anything on you?”

The haunted house wouldn’t have two players get scared for no reason. They must be holding key evidence.

The two girls searched themselves and, surprisingly, each produced an object.

The objects were about the length of a finger, rectangular, and glittered brightly. They were two gold bars.

How could two maids serving a young lady possess something so valuable?

Cheng Ying and Jiang Hanguang exchanged a glance, knowing that these two must have also played a significant role in Miss Li’s death.

Just as the two were about to exchange information, another wail echoed from the distance.

“A ghost! A ghost!”

The four of them turned their heads simultaneously to see a previously closed door burst open. A figure decked out in gold and silver scrambled out, clutching their head and desperately clawing at the glasses on their face. They ran out in a panic, tripped on the threshold, and fell flat on their face, still trying to crawl away frantically.

It was none other than the supposedly seasoned haunted house veteran who feared nothing, Jiang Xinyue.

The staff members on site all looked bewildered. The ghost in this scene was programmed to disappear automatically once the person exited the room. How could this guest still be so terrified after leaving?

Cheng Mantou’s smug voice echoed in Cheng Ying’s ear. “Hehe, how was that? This fool wanted to take off the glasses, but I locked the buckle. She’d have to rip her own head off to get them off. Did she really think she could run?”

A satisfied smile touched the corners of Cheng Ying’s lips, but she didn’t forget to mentally reprimand Cheng Mantou. “That’s enough. Don’t you know the meaning of gradual progression? If she faints now, the game will be over.”

Cheng Mantou huffed. “Fine, we’ll leave it at this for now?”

The moment she finished speaking, the ghost in Jiang Xinyue’s glasses must have suddenly vanished. She finally stopped flailing and collapsed on the spot, panting heavily, a wet patch spreading across her lower garments.