"First Wife! It was the First Wife!"
Xue Yangshi clutched the arm of the handsome young Daoist in front of her as though she had seized the only lifeline left to her, crying out in miserable despair.
She was the concubine of Xue Dayong, the shopkeeper of the Satin Shop, and had only entered the household three days ago. Though she wore no makeup and her hair was disheveled, it was still plain to see that she was a delicate, beautiful woman.
Li Chu soothed her. "Mrs. Xue, there is no need to panic just yet. Please recount last night's events to me from beginning to end."
As he spoke, he quietly withdrew his arm.
"That's right, little wife, you can rest assured. With this Head Constable and Little Daoist Priest Li here, we'll guarantee your safety!"
Zhou Dafu thumped his chest as he spoke, while one of his large, hairy hands crept onto Xue Yangshi's fragrant shoulder and gave it a few rubs.
Young, beautiful, and newly widowed! She was even about to inherit the Xue family's enormous estate. Constable Zhou could hardly wait to comfort her with his whole body and mind.
But Xue Yangshi lifted her rain-soaked, pear-blossom face, sized Zhou Dafu up, then looked at Li Chu. At once, she shot Zhou Dafu a glare, twisted her body, and flung off his greasy pork-paw hand.
She wrapped herself around Li Chu's other arm again and sobbed, "Then I'll tell Young Daoist all about it. You must protect me!"
That slut! Even scared half to death, she still didn't forget to throw herself at handsome men! Zhou Dafu cursed indignantly in his heart.
Of course, it was merely impotent rage.
"It was the First Wife! I saw her clearly last night!" Xue Yangshi began haltingly. "On the first day I married in, I was supposed to serve First Wife tea, but... but she refused to accept me. Master said there was no need to mind her, then sent First Wife to the side courtyard."
"Who would have thought that the very next day—yesterday morning—the people over there suddenly began shouting that something had happened to First Wife! At dinner, I asked Master what had happened. He said First Wife had suffered an accident and died. But... but I heard the servants saying that First Wife had taken her own life."
"I was terrified then. I-I-I knew when I married in that I was a concubine, but I never thought of competing with her for favor! What if she turned into a ghost and came to take revenge on me?"
"Then, in the middle of last night, I wanted to get up to use the chamber pot. I slept on the outer side of the bed, while Master slept on the inner side. When I got up, I found someone on my left, so I wanted to get out of bed from the other side. Then I discovered... I discovered... there was someone on that side too!"
"I hurriedly rubbed my eyes and looked. The one lying on the left was First Wife! Her entire face was bluish, and her whole body was ice-cold. At first, I thought someone had placed her corpse on the bed, and then... she suddenly opened her eyes!"
"And then... I fainted from fright."
Zhou Dafu nodded from the side. Putting himself in that situation, the scene truly was a little terrifying.
"When I woke again, it was already this morning. The maids woke me up. Only then did I discover that Master beside me was already non-humanoid. He was practically a heap of rotten flesh. I have no idea how First Wife tortured him—I truly didn't see a thing. The maids also said that all the men in the household were dead. The servants, the gardener, the coachman... only us women remained."
"First Wife is taking revenge on the men!"
"She must still be here. She died with resentment in her heart, so she won't have gone far. She didn't kill us this time, but who knows whether she'll kill us next time?"
"Don't worry. There won't be a next time." Li Chu spoke with certainty. Having finally heard all that Xue Yangshi had to say, he decisively pulled out his arm and retreated five steps, putting distance between them.
Xue Yangshi's embrace suddenly emptied. She looked at Li Chu with a disappointed gaze.
Zhou Dafu hurriedly offered up his own powerful arm.
Xue Yangshi blinked, turned around, and hugged the maid beside her instead, beginning to sob again.
Zhou Dafu had hit a wall and awkwardly walked over to Li Chu, asking in a low voice, "How is it?"
Li Chu paced into the bedroom. The first thing he saw was a screen covered in blood, with strips and shreds of flesh stuck to the floor, the bed, and even the ceiling. Though most of the corpses had already been removed, the sight was still too horrible to bear.
He asked in return, "Has Head Constable Zhou already examined the bodies?"
"Don't mention it." Zhou Dafu wore a look of bad luck. "The servants were better off. They were bitten to death alive, with only a few claw marks at most. But Xue Dayong's death was far too miserable—worse than being carved by a thousand cuts! It was as if the flesh had been torn off his body strand by strand with fingernails! No human could have done it. Even a wild beast couldn't do something like that. I took one look this morning and vomited up last night's dinner!"
Li Chu nodded. As he continued Monster Grinding, his five senses had grown sharper than those of ordinary people. At this moment, he could clearly sense a nauseatingly cold aura inside the room. It resembled the places he had encountered hauntings before—the lingering Yin Qi left behind after a ghostly being had appeared.
"From Xue Yangshi's account, it does indeed sound like the work of a Vengeful Spirit." Li Chu said, "Then I'll stay here tonight and see whether she appears again."
A Vengeful Spirit was a kind of ghostly being that a person might become after dying with extreme hatred in their heart, lingering in the world of the living through nothing more than a breath of resentment.
Most Vengeful Spirits were earthbound ghosts, ghosts and monsters unable to leave the place where they had died. After death, their intelligence gradually faded away. They forgot most things and remembered only revenge. Even after killing their enemies, they would remain where they were and attack more innocent people.
The more people a Vengeful Spirit killed, the heavier the resentment it accumulated became. It had to be eliminated as early as possible.
"But there are still some doubtful points." Zhou Dafu stroked his chin and pondered. "Vengeful Spirits aren't so easily born. In my decades as a constable, I've only encountered two or three, and all of them involved injustices that shook the heavens. By rights, this Xue Family's First Wife was merely a jealous woman. Even if she had been neglected, she shouldn't have been driven to prove her resolve through death. And if she killed herself rather than being murdered, how could she have so easily turned into a Vengeful Spirit?"
His suspicion was reasonable. If Vengeful Spirits arose so easily, then any petty-minded person could harm others after dying.
"You mean Xue Dayong might have killed his own wife?" Li Chu asked.
"I don't know, but it doesn't matter anymore." Zhou Dafu spread his hands. "Xue Dayong has gone down to the Underworld anyway. Let the husband and wife confront each other there."
With that, the two left the Xue family's bedroom.
In the courtyard, as the noon sun shone down, the Yin Qi in the residence seemed to have been dispersed. Xue Yangshi's state of mind also settled somewhat.
Seeing the two approach, she looked at Li Chu with watery almond eyes swollen from weeping. "Young Daoist, you must help me conduct a proper ritual. Altars, incense candles, talisman paper, whatever is needed—you may order it all. I will prepare the best of everything for you."
"Uh..." Li Chu hesitated, then admitted honestly, "I don't know how to conduct rituals."
Xue Yangshi froze. "A Daoist who can't conduct rituals? Didn't Constable Zhou invite you here to lay First Wife's spirit to rest?"
"Setting up an altar... chanting scriptures... conducting rituals—I really am not very good at those." Li Chu answered calmly. "But rest assured, I have other ways to lay spirits to rest."
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