Chapter 19

Looking at the scene from hell in front of him, even someone as mentally strong as Xiao Tangqiu couldn’t help but turn pale and stumbled a few steps backwards. Tang Mianmian cried and screamed in horror, turning away to vomit.

“Why is it like this………..” Xiao Tangqiu muttered to himself. The illusion had dissipated; the river which they traveled on wasn’t actually a river. Maybe it had once been one, but it had disappeared along with the slaughter of the entire village. Had anyone jumped into the river to leave in the beginning, they would definitely have burned alive in the “river” like Yang Bing and the others.

“Are these people……. the villagers?” Tang Mianmian was ghastly pale, “……….. Wait! Look over there! Isn’t that the fucking village chief?!”

Xiao Tangqiu looked in the direction where Tang Mianmian was pointing; in the sea of charred corpses, there was indeed a familiar looking corpse. But this particular corpse appeared to be in a worse condition compared to the corpses around it, because its body had been torn apart and head chopped off.

“It’s him.” Xiao Tangqiu’s heart sank, “Looks like the villagers died a long time ago, just like the village chief. I’m guessing they were also burned to death back then.”

Tang Mianmian proved himself to be Xiao Tangqiu’s long-time buddy; he understood what Xiao Tangqiu was trying to say, “So that’s the case…. It’s no wonder Jiang Zihan and Zeng Jinping died in the same manner! But what’s the reason? Was it because of Fang Lan? Was she the one who burned all the villagers alive?”

“Fang Lan was submerged in the pig cage…… which means she drowned to death. This village only has one river, which is the river we’re looking at.” Xiao Tangqiu stared at the “river” before him and began to speculate, “If someone was drowned to death, then even after turning into an evil spirit, wouldn’t that person still be terrified of water?”

“Is that why she chose to burn everyone to death? But why would she kill all the villagers?” Tang Mianmian frowned, “Even if she wanted revenge, shouldn’t she look for the Yun family?!”

Xiao Tangqiu laughed bitterly, “I’m not sure either. Let’s go back and look for more clues.”

Tang Mianmian nodded, “Let’s go back to Yun Manor first. I wonder if they prepared breakfast. I just vomited my guts out so I’m starving now……”

Xiao Tangqiu felt hungry as well; he rubbed his tummy, “I don’t know why but I have a bad feeling……”

Tang Mianmian’s face darkened, “Fucking hell! Can you stop planting these damn Flags!”

Xiao Tangqiu laughed dryly and wanted to say something when he quickly pushed Tang Mianmian aside. Tang Mianmian fell to the ground and was about to curse at Xiao Tangqiu, but was immediately shocked by the swing of a shovel right where his head had been just a second ago.

Shivers ran down his spine. He immediately turned to look back and saw the paper doll, all the while in that red wedding dress, staring resentfully at the two of them, looking as if it wanted to crush them into dust.

“Fuckkkkk! Quickly run! Ahhhhhh!”

Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian threw themselves forward with great abandon, but that paper doll seemed to rush towards them with an unparalleled speed. It looked like it was about to catch up to them any moment now. Xiao Tangqiu anxiously searched for obstacles that could hinder the paper doll, but he seemed to hit a wall this time; he couldn’t find anything around him to block the paper doll, running until he tripped miserably instead.

“Xiao Tangqiu!” The moment Tang Mianmian’s lung-busting scream rang out, Xiao Tangqiu, who sat on the ground in confusion, turned around to see what had tripped him – it was actually a tiny, red cotton shoe worn by babies………

Fuck! How did that thing trip him up ah!

Xiao Tangqiu was raging inside but the paper doll had already lunged onto him in the blink of an eye.

He could only watch in horror as that paper doll slammed into him. Just like a slow motion scene in the movies, the paper doll’s lifelike features slowly zoomed into focus in front of his eyes. Then, the paper doll stuck itself onto his body and went right through his chest!

At that exact instant, a thousand images flashed through his mind; one moment, it was two children fishing by the river; the next, it was a young man and a young woman catching fish on a boat; then, it was the both of them underneath the pale moonlight, making a solemn vow to be together for life………

“Ah Hai, they’re forcing me to marry the Yun family’s dead oldest young master. I don’t want to. Take me away………”

On that moonlit night, the young woman summoned up her courage and begged for them to elope. The young man struggled to make a decision but eventually nodded his head.

“Ah Hai! Ah Hai! Let go of me!”

But then on the day they were supposed to meet, the young man never showed up. The young woman, who had waited all night, ended up being dragged home by the villagers.

Forced to wear that red wedding dress, the young woman finally married into the Yun family. After that strange wedding night, she actually became pregnant.

She knew that it was a ghost’s child and was extremely frightened, withering away day after day. Yet the people of Yun Manor were pleased with that development, especially the Old Madame, who gave her the utmost care. The Old Madame was excited that she would hold her grandson but Fang Lan never realized that there was a pair of eyes that constantly looked at her with jealousy.

The day before the dreaded birth of her child, that righteous sister-in-law of hers falsely accused her of having an affair, saying that the child didn’t belong to the oldest young master. The Old Madame was furious and refused to listen to her explanation or her pleas, ordering the servants to tie her up and drown her in the river.

At the end, as they shoved her into the pig cage and slowly lowered her into the bottom of the river, the villagers that she once lived with with merely stood to one side and watched her die. Not one person came to save her. The village chief twisted his face as he condemned her, “Drown the slut!”

And as for her lover, he stood behind the village chief with his head bowed, afraid to even look at her…….

The villagers started to gang up against her as well.

“Drown her!”

“Drown her!”

Not one person came to save her………

No one.

Because of that deep resentment, Fang Lan eventually turned into an evil spirit after she died. Using the power of an evil spirit, she set the entire Yunjia Village on fire, burning all the villagers to death.

Amidst that sea of fire, she found the bruised and battered village chief, hacked him into pieces, then looked for her former lover and gouged out his eyes.

Why were you afraid to look at me?

I’ll gouge out your eyes then………

……

“Xiao Tangqiu! Xiao Tangqiu!”

As he stood there shaking violently, Xiao Tangqiu finally opened his eyes. He stared at Tang Mianmian in a daze with ice-cold tears rolling down his cheeks.

“Fuck! How did you do that?!” Tang Mianmian hadn’t noticed anything off about Xiao Tangqiu. He cheerfully burst out, “Just now when the paper doll went through your body, I thought you were definitely a goner! Instead that paper doll ended up becoming a piece of scrap paper, and you’re completely fine. When did you get fucking magical abilities?! You’re so damn badass, what the hell are you afraid for?!”

“What magical abilities?” Xiao Tangqiu frowned as he recalled something. He quickly took out the jade pendant from his pocket, “Don’t tell me it’s because of this………..”

When the both of them examined the jade pendant, they found a crack right down the middle. It was obvious the jade pendant had blocked that attack earlier.

“Wasn’t this jade pendant given to you by the Yun family oldest young master?” Tang Mianmian wondered, “Could he be one of the good guys? Or maybe……. he’s actually a lecherous ghost? Maybe he took a liking to you and wants to make you his concubine?”

Xiao Tangqiu laughed bitterly, “I don’t know…….. That’s right, I think I saw something that I shouldn’t have………”

He narrated what he saw through Fang Lan’s memories to Tang Mianmian. Tang Mianmian was astonished, “……… So that’s what happened! Now it all makes sense! It’s no wonder Fang Lan holds such a deep resentment for this fishing village.”

Xiao Tangqiu nodded, “All of the tragedies she experienced originated from Yun Manor, from that damn ghost marriage! Actually, we’ve been given many hints during these three days. Looks like we have to eliminate Fang Lan’s resentment by stopping tonight’s ghost wedding!”