PCA Chapter 147

Su Cen froze upon hearing the words “Lu Family Village,” staring at the place where smoke was rising and slowly coming to a stop.

 

In the summer of the 22nd year of Yonglong, Lu Xiaoliu, who had been scheduled for execution in autumn, was sent back to his hometown at Lu Family Village after the new emperor’s amnesty. However, on the day of his return, he was beaten to death for allegedly harassing a butcher’s daughter while drunk. Chen Guanglu, then the Deputy Minister of the Dali Temple, handled the case and brought Zhang Jun, who was a temple official at the time, to investigate at Lu Family Village. However, the body had disappeared. Later, the case was hastily concluded after the butcher confessed. Afterward, Chen was demoted and left the capital for unknown reasons, while Zhang remained completely silent about it. Lu Family Village disappeared from people’s sight, with no further mentions in any records.

 

Su Cen never expected to hear the name of Lu Family Village here.

 

“Brother Su, what’s wrong?” Qu Ling’er stopped to ask.

 

Su Cen shook his head, took another look in the distance, and then followed behind everyone else down the mountain.

 

By the time they returned to Jinghe Village, cooking smoke was rising from most households. Su Cen and his party were staying with a family surnamed Zhang, consisting of just a husband and wife and their seven or eight-year-old child—generations of honest farmers. Su Cen had paid generously, so the couple prepared a table full of dishes, enough for seven or eight people.

 

Su Cen generously invited several neighbors over, as suggested by Madam Zhang, to create a lively atmosphere.

 

They were all honest country folk, and as cups were raised and exchanged, the conversation flowed freely once they were warmed by the wine.

 

Naturally, they discussed the murder case on Mount Meng.

 

A village hunter said that in all his years of going up and down the mountain, he had never discovered such a cave on Mount Meng. It must have been covered by rocks before, and only after this flood washed away the rocks was the entrance exposed.

 

“Doctor Li, you’re so young yet so brave!” The hunter, who had gone up the mountain with them, said to Su Cen, “Even the officials from the county yamen didn’t dare to go in, but I saw you leading this young brother in without any fear!”

 

“Doctor Li has traveled far and wide and seen much of the world. Do you think he’s as cowardly as you lot?” Madam Zhang teased. “Doctor Li, tell us, what’s inside that cave?”

 

Su Cen smiled and put down his chopsticks, “I was tricked into going in there. Had I known it was full of bones, I wouldn’t have gone.”

 

“Exactly, exactly,” Qu Ling’er agreed, “Just thinking about it now makes my scalp tingle. You don’t know what it was like—densely packed bones everywhere, all human remains, as far as the eye could see. What kind of heartless person would do this? Over two hundred lives, slaughtered just like that.”

 

The table fell silent for a moment, everyone pausing what they were doing. Qu Ling’er noticed the strange atmosphere, looked up at everyone, and shortly after, heard the hunter sitting opposite sigh, “Whether it was done by a human, that’s hard to say.”

 

Su Cen started, then raised his cup in a toast, “I’d like to hear more.”

 

The hunter clinked glasses with Su Cen, drained his cup in one gulp, and smacked his lips. Looking at the candle on the table, he seemed to hesitate before finally lowering his voice and saying, “Do you remember the legend of Mount Meng? They say there’s a Mountain Goddess up there who eats people and turns them into vengeful ghosts, who then lure more people for her to eat. That cave must be the Mountain Goddess’s lair, and those people must have been killed by her. Who else would have the ability to kill so many people at once?”

 

“No wonder no one could find where all these corpses came from,” the village blacksmith suddenly realized. “They must all be outsiders who were traveling at night and got captured by the vengeful ghosts!”

 

The table fell silent again, as everyone seated around it exchanged anxious glances. Their confusion and fear were completely exposed in the candlelight.

 

“No,” Su Cen suddenly smiled, “If you call her a mountain deity, she should be protecting the local land. How does it make sense for her to eat people?”

 

“Ah, you’re an outsider, so you don’t understand,” the hunter sighed deeply. “The ‘Mountain Goddess’ is just a respectful title. That thing is actually a white tiger spirit!”

 

Qu Ling’er: “A white tiger spirit?!”

 

Everyone burst into exclamations, only Su Cen remained unfazed. He never believed in tales of ghosts and spirits. If unsolvable cases were all attributed to supernatural causes, what would be the purpose of their Dali Temple?

 

Seeing that Su Cen wasn’t frightened, the hunter felt somewhat deflated but persisted: “Don’t be skeptical—I’ve seen those vengeful ghosts!”

 

Su Cen was surprised and finally showed interest, raising an eyebrow, “How so?”

 

The hunter narrowed his eyes, recollecting for a moment before beginning his tale: “It was about a dozen years ago. I was a young man then, full of vigor and dismissive of such superstitions. Once while hunting on the mountain, I encountered a blood-covered man. Despite the heavy bleeding, he was still breathing. He told me there was a tiger on the mountain, and that he was injured fighting it. He urged me to hurry up there, saying the tiger was also severely wounded, and I could easily get a tiger skin if I went immediately.”

 

The hunter sighed, “Fortunately, I was cautious and didn’t rush up. Looking back now, if I had gone, I would certainly have become tiger food. That blood-covered man must have been the vengeful ghost of someone killed by the tiger!”

 

“How do you know he was a vengeful ghost?” Madam Zhang quickly asked.

 

“That man was urgently trying to get me to go up the mountain, but it was already getting dark, so I hesitated. But he kept pushing me, saying the tiger would escape if I delayed, so I lit a torch and started walking up with him. Imagine—a man covered in blood yet walking so fast. I was suspicious, following behind him, and guess what—” the hunter dragged out his words, “Through his tattered clothing, I saw tiger fur! It was growing out of his wounds, where the tiger had clawed him!”

 

“Then what happened? How did you escape?” Qu Ling’er was hooked on the story, trembling behind Su Cen while peeping out to listen. “What happened to that vengeful ghost afterward?”

 

“After that—” the butcher took a sip of wine, “I said I needed to relieve myself, and under that pretext, I ran back.”

 

“Oh come on!” everyone jeered at him.

 

“That’s not enough? Did you expect me to fight that vengeful ghost?” the butcher protested indignantly. “This isn’t a story; it’s real! If I had really gone with him, you wouldn’t be seeing me here now!”

 

“So you didn’t actually see any white tiger spirit, and you’re not certain if that person was really a vengeful ghost,” Su Cen said. “It’s all just your speculation, with no evidence to support your claims?”

 

“Evidence? What evidence?” the butcher frowned, clearly displeased. “This isn’t a magistrate’s court hearing. What evidence do you need?”

 

Su Cen realized he had fallen into his old habit again. He penalized himself with a cup of wine and apologized with a smile: “I spoke out of turn. Please don’t take offense.”

 

The butcher magnanimously waved it off, “It’s because I didn’t see it through to the end, so I can’t blame you for not believing me. Let’s set that aside. As for Lu Family Village, I’m not making this up—that place is truly eerie.”

 

At the mention of “Lu Family Village,” Su Cen immediately became interested, raising his head to hear more. But he saw everyone looking uncomfortable, with no one willing to continue.

 

This suggested that Lu Family Village was an even more terrifying place than white tiger spirits and vengeful ghosts.

 

So Su Cen initiated, asking: “Is Lu Family Village haunted too?”

 

“Lu Family Village…” the blacksmith clicked his tongue, “That place is just uncanny.”

 

“In what way?” Qu Ling’er asked.

 

“Lu Family Village, they make coffins there,” Madam Zhang lowered her voice, saying: “Every household makes coffins. Each home in their village has a coffin displayed at the front door, but strangely, they never sell their coffins outside. No one knows where they all go.”

 

“Once, a family had someone die, and all the coffin shops in the vicinity were sold out. With no other choice, they went to Lu Family Village to buy a coffin. And guess what—in the entire village, there wasn’t a single person!” Madam Zhang clutched her chest to calm herself. “In other villages, even if no one’s around, maybe they’ve all gone somewhere together, but in that village, there wasn’t even the sound of chickens or dogs—just complete silence, like an abandoned village. It was almost dark, so the person decided to stay overnight and leave the next day. But half-asleep, half-awake, he heard noises. When he opened his eyes, he was nearly scared to death! The people of Lu Family Village were crawling out of the coffins at their doorsteps, lighting fires, cooking, singing, and laughing—just like normal life! The man hid in a haystack, trembling all night. The next morning at daybreak, when he came out to look, there was no one again! Not a single person from the night before remained! And this man was brave—he actually dared to open a coffin to look inside. Guess what he saw?”

 

Su Cen didn’t respond, but Qu Ling’er was already shaking with fear, “Wh-what? Corpses?”

 

“If only it were corpses,” Madam Zhang said. “There was nothing—just an empty coffin without even a bone fragment! Where do you think the villagers go during the day? And where do they come from at night?”

 

“C-could it be that the entire village is made up of ghosts?” Qu Ling’er’s teeth chattered. “That’s so creepy.”

 

“Who wouldn’t think so?” Madam Zhang said. “Since then, no one has dared to go to Lu Family Village. We never see people from their village coming out. The only road leading to their village is now covered in wild grass—no one has walked it for many years.”

 

“Where is that road?”

 

Everyone was startled and looked at Su Cen together. Madam Zhang tentatively asked: “Doctor Li, are you planning to enter Lu Family Village?”

 

Su Cen smiled gently: “I’m just asking casually, not necessarily planning to go.”

 

“The road isn’t hard to find—just follow the foot of Mount Meng all the way. But that place absolutely cannot be visited! Going there means death!”

 

Su Cen raised an eyebrow: “What happened? Did that person not return?”

 

“He did return,” the blacksmith said with a trembling voice, “but he died not long after—supposedly frightened to death. Even more bizarrely, the day after his death, a coffin appeared at his family’s doorstep. The body was already prepared for burial when the family realized that no one had purchased a coffin, nor had anyone delivered one. That coffin had silently appeared at their door, and no one knew how it got there.”

 

“Scaring someone to death and then providing a coffin—that’s quite humane,” Su Cen smiled. “Does this mean all the coffins from their village are distributed this way?”

 

Everyone around the table turned pale, frightened by Su Cen’s joke.

 

That night, as they went to sleep, Su Cen found himself kept awake by the bright moonlight streaming through the window. He decided to sit up and think about things while sobering up.

 

Unexpectedly, Qu Ling’er wasn’t asleep either. Seeing Su Cen awake, he immediately sat up as well. “Brother Su, are you too scared to sleep too?”

 

“…” Su Cen sighed helplessly, “I’m just thinking.”

 

“I’m thinking too,” Qu Ling’er tilted his head. “Do you think those vengeful ghosts are real? And what’s the deal with those coffins in Lu Family Village?”

 

Su Cen rolled his eyes in the darkness, truly unable to understand how someone as timid as Qu Ling’er had ever dared to attempt assassinating Li Shi. Wouldn’t he have scared himself to death before even getting close to Li Shi?

 

Seeing that Su Cen wasn’t responding, Qu Ling’er tried to make conversation: “Brother Su, what are you thinking about?”

 

“About Lu Family Village.”

 

Qu Ling’er pouted, thinking that Su Cen wasn’t any better than himself—equally afraid after all.

 

“Do you remember the case of Lu Xiaoliu that I told you about? That case took place in Lu Family Village.”

 

Qu Ling’er was slightly surprised, “Is that Lu Family Village the same as this one? It’s such a common name, there must be many places with the same name, right?”

 

“Do you remember the skeleton with the leg fracture we saw today?” Su Cen asked.

 

Qu Ling’er nodded.

 

“Years ago, Lu Xiaoliu had his leg broken after pushing the young master of Marquis Ding’an’s household into water,” Su Cen narrowed his eyes slightly. “I suspect that skeleton we saw today might be his.”

 

“H-how could it be such a coincidence?” Qu Ling’er was dumbfounded. “But how did he end up in that cave?”

 

Su Cen shook his head, then after a moment said: “I’ve decided to visit Lu Family Village tomorrow.”

 

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