Xiaofeng's Experience

Wang Changsheng looked at Wang Qiusheng and instructed, "Qiusheng, prepare a basin of Black Dog Blood. I have a great use for it."

"Yes, Ninth Uncle-Grandfather." Wang Qiusheng agreed and turned to leave.

"Ninth Uncle, it is still early. If you do not mind, why not rest for a while at your nephew's home?" Wang Qingyun asked cautiously.

"Mm, lead the way!"

Wang Qingyun was greatly delighted and hurriedly led Wang Changsheng toward his residence.

In a certain overgrown courtyard house, there was a well on the left side of the yard, covered by a huge stone. Not far from the well stood a locust tree four or five zhang tall.

The locust tree was lush with branches and leaves, and it was especially cool beneath it.

Two young boys were playing in the courtyard, chasing one another.

After a while, perhaps tired from playing, they walked beneath the locust tree to cool off.

"What's that smell? It stinks!" One of the five- or six-year-old boys sniffed a few times, disgust appearing on his face.

"Brother Dahu, Erniu's family lives next door. They keep more than a dozen big fat pigs. It's probably the smell of pig dung." The other boy did not take it seriously.

"Pig dung doesn't smell like this. The stink seems to be coming from the well." The boy started toward the well.

Just then, a woman's voice rang out sharply. "Dahu! Dahu, where are you?"

"Oh no, my mother is looking for me. Erlengzi, I'll come play with you another day. I'm leaving first." The boy hurried away.

The other boy did not linger either and followed him out.

Through a few gaps, one could see a rotting female corpse soaking in the well water. Maggots had already grown all over the body, making for a revolting sight.

The door of a room directly facing the locust tree was tightly shut. Only a little sunlight drifted in through the battered window.

The room was sparsely furnished, with a red wooden bed and a wooden cabinet beside it. The cabinet door hung half-open, and one could vaguely see an azure shadow curled up inside.

The azure shadow was Xiaofeng, who had become a Ghost.

Ever since Xiaofeng could remember, she had never seen her father. Her mother told her that he had abandoned the mother and daughter to run off with another woman and live a life of pleasure.

Her mother had fallen ill from overwork and was frail and sickly. She ran a tofu stall, barely managing to support the two of them.

With no man in the household, the mother and daughter became targets for those hooligans and ruffians to bully.

When she was ten, a drunken old bachelor broke into Xiaofeng's home in the middle of the night, intending to force himself upon her mother. Xiaofeng's mother resisted unto death, while Xiaofeng shouted loudly enough to summon the neighbors and scare the old bachelor away. However, during the struggle, her mother's eyes were injured and she was blinded.

Afterward, the old bachelor paid Xiaofeng's family three hundred coins in compensation.

From then on, ten-year-old Xiaofeng shouldered the burden of the household. Under her blind mother's guidance, she learned to make tofu and made a living selling it.

When she reached fifteen or sixteen, the age for marriage, matchmakers nearly wore down the threshold of Xiaofeng's home.

Xiaofeng insisted on bringing her mother with her when she married and demanded ten taels of silver as betrothal gifts. None of the prospective husbands could accept those terms.

When she was eighteen, Xiaofeng met a young master surnamed Zhao who was heading to the capital for the imperial examinations.

Young Master Zhao fell in love with Xiaofeng at first sight. Thumping his chest, he agreed to both conditions she had raised. He was even willing to postpone his trip to the capital and settle their marriage first for her sake.

Young Master Zhao stayed in town for three days. Every time they met, he brought Xiaofeng little gifts and showered her with care, capturing her heart.

On a night when the wind was high and the moon was dark, Young Master Zhao and Xiaofeng met in secret in an alley. Unable to restrain himself for a moment, he began pawing at her, but Xiaofeng's neighbor Li Ermazi caught them.

The two ran to the abandoned Yang Estate for their tryst. Under Young Master Zhao's honeyed words, they took heaven for their quilt and earth for their bed, turning raw rice into cooked rice.

Having just taken Xiaofeng's chastity, Young Master Zhao immediately claimed that he needed to go to the capital for the examinations and would return for her after earning fame and rank. Naturally, Xiaofeng refused. The two began to argue, and in a fit of anger, Xiaofeng said she would report him to the authorities and accuse Young Master Zhao of violating her chastity.

Young Master Zhao tried again and again to persuade her, but Xiaofeng would not agree. She demanded that he marry her at once.

She was no fool. If Young Master Zhao truly passed the examinations and gained fame, who could guarantee that he would come back for her?

Driven into a corner by Xiaofeng, Young Master Zhao revealed his savage face. With the hands he used for reading and writing, he strangled Xiaofeng to death, then threw her corpse into the well and covered its mouth with a huge stone.

Because the neighbors kept more than a dozen fat pigs, the foul stench from the corpse failed to draw anyone's attention.

Xiaofeng had died with grievous injustice in her heart. She had never imagined that the lover who had been whispering sweet nothings to her moments earlier would strangle her to death in the blink of an eye.

Her resentful qi was immense. The Yang Estate had long been abandoned and remained unoccupied. Because there was a locust tree in the courtyard, and the furnishings in the room facing that locust tree were all made of locust wood, the yin qi there was especially heavy. Nourished by that yin qi, Xiaofeng's three souls and seven spirits gradually became a Ghost.

After Xiaofeng discovered that she had become a Ghost, she immediately returned home that very night to visit her blind mother. What broke her heart was that her mother, frail and sickly, had starved to death without Xiaofeng's care.

Even at that point, Xiaofeng had no intention of harming anyone. She wandered the streets aimlessly.

Unfortunately, Xiaofeng encountered several hooligans who had bullied her and her mother before. Having drunk too much, these ruffians spoke without thinking, treating her mother's death as gossip and embellishing the tale. The resentful qi in Xiaofeng's heart swelled greater and greater with rage.

After Xiaofeng returned to the room made of locust wood, the more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Her father had abandoned the mother and daughter. The old bachelor had blinded her mother. Young Master Zhao had deceived her into giving him her body, then killed her. Her mother had starved to death because of it, and even after death, she still had to be mocked by men.

It was all because of those stinking men that she had been strangled and thrown into a well, and that her mother had starved to death. She hated those men to the bone.

In a fit of rage, Xiaofeng went to a hooligan's home that very night and sucked him dry of his vital essence.

At first, Xiaofeng had merely wanted to vent her anger. But after draining that hooligan's vital essence, she discovered that she seemed to have grown considerably stronger.

After tasting the sweetness of it, Xiaofeng simply carried things through to the end. She began frequently devouring the vital essence of young, strong men to strengthen herself.

She had been bullied in life, and after death, she would collect every debt.

Everyone who had bullied her and her mother deserved to die.

Li Ermazi kept a black dog at home. Whenever Xiaofeng approached Li Ermazi's residence, the black dog would bark wildly without stop, waking Li Ermazi.

At first, Xiaofeng could do nothing about the black dog because she was too weak.

But after draining the vital essence of several grown men, she discovered that she could manipulate objects, such as stones and wood.

When she came to Li Ermazi's home again, the black dog barked madly at her and even tried to pounce on her and bite her.

The black dog's barking woke Li Ermazi. He tied it up in the woodshed, which instead made it easier for Xiaofeng to act.

After Li Ermazi fell asleep again, Xiaofeng controlled a stone and smashed the black dog to death. But dawn was approaching by then, so Xiaofeng could only return to the Yang Estate and wait for night to fall.

Time passed bit by bit, and the sky gradually darkened.

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