Having returned from the mountain in the back, Lu Heng did not reappear. But perhaps because he was preoccupied with the matter and was being overly suspicious, Song Xiaozhou, though he hadn’t seen Lu Heng, began to discover that besides himself and the nanny, there were other things in the house.
There was a maidservant fanning herself with a woven fan under the grapevine trellis.
A middle-aged man sweeping the ground by the well.
A chubby woman stoking the fire in the kitchen.
……
These were all ghosts.
Speaking of the plump woman; one late night, feeling hungry, Song Xiaozhou got up to look for food in the kitchen, only to unexpectedly spot a woman with her head lowered, tending the fire at the stove.
Still half-asleep, Song Xiaozhou yawned, assuming a new servant had been hired. “Auntie, is there anything to eat left in the kitchen?” He asked wearily.
After a moment, the woman looked up. Her face was deathly pale, and her throat had been slit, exposing flesh and blood. She looked at Song Xiaozhou and smiled at him.
Terrified, Song Xiaozhou staggered back a few steps, screamed, and ran back, stumbling all the way. His mind was filled with the horrifying, bloodless face.
Fortunately, the woman did not chase him.
Song Xiaozhou hid inside the room, his back pressed tightly against the door. He was trembling all over, not daring to breathe.
Later, he encountered other ghosts, one after another. They seemed to be the servants of the house, all with gruesome deaths, some had been hanged, some drowned, and all kinds of bizarre ways. They were like they were confined to the house, doing what they did in life. When they saw Song Xiaozhou, they would look up and smile at him.
Song Xiaozhou was so scared he didn’t sleep for three days straight. With a pale face, he grabbed the nanny’s cold hands and stammered, “Nanny, did you see them? There are ghosts here…”
The nanny slowly raised her head, looking dazed. She said woodenly, “Young Madam, you must be joking. How could there be ghosts here?” Song Xiaozhou pointed at the maidservant fanning herself. The maidservant tilted her head and smiled at him. Her beautiful phoenix-like eyes were striking, but when she lowered her round fan, half of her face was horribly disfigured with slashes, and blood tears streamed from the corner of her eye.
It wasn’t the first time Song Xiaozhou had seen it, but he still shuddered, his breath catching in his throat. His voice trembling, he said, “T-there! Right there!”
The nanny followed his gaze, then patted his hand. “Young Madam, this old servant sees nothing. You’re just overtired. A good rest will fix it.”
Song Xiaozhou looked at the nanny, then back at the maidservant, and swallowed with difficulty, unable to say anything. Song Xiaozhou’s life had been full of hardships for the past decade, but he didn’t believe in ghosts or spirits. Ever since he entered into this inexplicable ghost marriage and encountered Lu Heng, it was as if he had been given the “Yin-Yang Eyes” from folktales, plunging headfirst into a haunted house where a chilling atmosphere could be felt everywhere.
A haunted house.
This Jing’an Courtyard was a haunted house.
Thinking this, Song Xiaozhou used both hands to push open the heavy wooden door, only to see members of the Lu family standing a few steps outside the entrance. He hesitated for a moment, glanced back in fear, and walked out. He hadn’t taken two steps before two blades blocked his path.
“Young Madam, please return.” A house servant said coldly.
“The nanny is unwell,” Song Xiaozhou said. “I need to find a physician for her.”
“We’ll report that,” the taller one said impatiently. “You go back.”
Without blinking, Song Xiaozhou said, “It’s an emergency. I’ll be back quickly. Please, Big Brother, make an exception for me.”
The other person gave a fake smile. “That won’t do. The Second Young Master has given orders that no one from Jing’an Courtyard may leave. You’ve already married the Eldest Young Master, so you are no exception. Go back.”
Song Xiaozhou looked at the five people in front of him. He knew some martial arts and could tell that these people were very skilled. He was definitely no match for them.
What exactly was in Jing’an Courtyard, and what had happened there, that made the Lu family’s Second Master post guards around it?
“Brother Li, why are you wasting words with a slave? Just drive him back.”
“…Tsk, who knows how many more days he has to live?”
Even as Song Xiaozhou walked away, the sneering remarks of the few people echoed in his ears. His back felt cold, and he broke out in a cold sweat even standing in the sun.
He bit his lip. For some reason, his gut told him to think of one person. A sudden realization hit Song Xiaozhou, and he ran back to the bedroom, panting, staring intently at the black memorial tablet on the table.
Song Xiaozhou thought all this must be related to Lu Heng.
“…Are you there?” Song Xiaozhou took the plunge and asked outright, his eyes wide as he carefully swept his gaze around the area. After waiting a while with no response, he couldn’t help but call out again, “Are you here… are you in here? Lu—Eldest Young Master Lu.”
“Are you looking for me?” A light, smiling voice suddenly sounded.
Song Xiaozhou’s body went rigid, his wide, dark eyes locking intently on the man who had entered the room without him realizing it.
Lu Heng stood elegantly in white clothes while smiling at Song Xiaozhou.
Song Xiaozhou stared at Lu Heng for a long time. Suddenly, Lu Heng walked step by step toward his memorial tablet. The two characters for “Lu Heng” on the tablet looked truly strange and terrifying to Song Xiaozhou.
Song Xiaozhou was stunned for a moment before asking, “Are you a person or a ghost?”
It was a truly foolish question. Lu Heng ran his long, pale fingers over his memorial tablet, smiling silently, and said, “What do you think?”
Song Xiaozhou fell silent.
“What do you want to do?” Song Xiaozhou had no other option. He was just a living person and couldn’t do a thing to a ghost, so he resolved to just get it over with.
Lu Heng raised an eyebrow. “Hmm?”
Song Xiaozhou yanked the door open and pointed to the maidservant under the grapevine trellis outside. “She… and them! They weren’t here before!” He had no doubt that Lu Heng wanted to use these ghosts to kill him.
Lu Heng said calmly, “You’re wrong. They’ve always been here. You just couldn’t see them before.”
Song Xiaozhou glared at Lu Heng like a cornered little beast, showing his tiny claws, both anxious and uneasy.
Understanding his confusion, Lu Heng said slowly, “The back mountain is full of Yin energy. You went there and got some on you, so naturally, you can see them now.”
With a laugh, he added, “There are only you and Nanny Lin in this house. Now that you’ve seen others… people, isn’t it more lively?” He paused, speaking very gently, “You don’t need to be afraid; they are all very obedient.”
Whether it was an illusion or not, when Song Xiaozhou heard him say “obedient” with a gentle smile, it felt tinged with a thick scent of blood and a chill.
Song Xiaozhou cast a glance outside, then turned to Lu Heng and muttered, “It’s a wonder they haven’t frightened me to death yet.”
Lu Heng tapped the table with his finger, walked a bit to the side, and looked at the maidservant outside. “Did they scare you?” He asked, his voice soft and innocent. As if sensing something, the ghostly maid lifted her head, caught sight of Lu Heng, and, shuddering in sheer terror, vanished in an instant.
Song Xiaozhou was dumbfounded. Then he heard Lu Heng say, “If you don’t like them, just make them disappear.”
It took a while for Song Xiaozhou to find his voice again. He said dryly, “How can I make them disappear?”
Lu Heng smiled. “They were servants of Jing’an Courtyard in life, so they are in death. You are half the master of this Jing’an Courtyard.”
Hearing the words “half the master,” Song Xiaozhou seemed not to understand.
Lu Heng said, “Xiaozhou, don’t forget, you and I are already married.”
