A Way Out

Inside the room, Zhou Sheng's heart tightened. He knew Master had already developed killing intent.

Over the years, Master had almost never made a move, to the point that even Zhou Sheng sometimes forgot how many earth-shaking, horrifying deeds this seemingly aged old man had committed back then.

During those years before they settled in Qinggu County, the two had traveled far and wide. Master would occasionally disappear for a time, and when he returned, the stench of blood on him would be heavy, while a great deal of money would suddenly appear in the Household.

Master said it was the effect of feng shui fish gathering wealth, but news would soon spread.

Either some band of vicious bandits had been slaughtered overnight, or some corrupt official who preyed on men and women had his head taken in the dead of night.

Then Master would take him away to the next place.

It was only after they came to Qinggu County that Master stopped "disappearing" and settled down as a proper doctor.

If this had been on Earth, calling him a man who killed without blinking would not have been an exaggeration.

Zhou Sheng hurriedly opened the Ghost Raising Altar and lightly tapped its wall.

The next moment, a Yin wind blew out from within, taking the form of a translucent figure.

His beard was gray-white, his skin wrinkled like dead wood, and his eye sockets deeply sunken, as though he had not slept peacefully even once in a very long time.

Zhou Sheng's gaze fell upon his hands.

Uncle Xu was usually careless about everything, but he treasured these hands that played the fiddle. He always washed them spotlessly clean, never allowing them to be tainted by even a trace of filth.

But now, the gaps beneath his fingernails were packed with black mud and blood.

His hands were split with gashes, a blur of flesh and blood.

"Uncle Xu."

Hearing that somewhat familiar form of address, Old Xu visibly jolted, then stared at Zhou Sheng in astonishment.

"Old Xu, your soul has been severely damaged and is about to disperse. Even I cannot save you."

Yu Zhensheng suddenly spoke. His voice was calm, without the slightest attempt at tact, as though directly pronouncing a death sentence.

"But for the sake of the three years you spent training this child's voice and helping him through Molting Season, my disciple will avenge you."

"Consider it repayment for your kindness."

Zhou Sheng nodded as well. "Uncle Xu, don't be afraid. Master and I can help you."

At this moment, Old Xu finally understood. The youth whose voice he had once trained was no ordinary person.

No wonder he had such an excellent singing voice, yet never performed in an opera troupe.

He no longer concealed anything, tears welling in his eyes as he named the murderer.

"The one who killed me was that villain Zhu Zong, along with that pack of jackals and hounds beneath him, wearing official robes while devouring people without even spitting out the bones!"

Zhou Sheng nodded. Just as expected, the true culprit behind Uncle Xu's death was Magistrate Zhu.

But one was a lofty county magistrate, the ruler of an entire county, while the other was an artist who played the fiddle and sang for money in taverns and brothels. They were as far apart as heaven and earth—how had they formed such a deep and bitter grudge?

"Back when you and Doctor Yu had not yet come to Qinggu County, I played the fiddle in a brothel. There was a sick girl who entrusted her newborn daughter to me before she died."

"She said she would not live long. With a child only three months old, the madam would never raise her to adulthood. Forget raising her into a grown girl—even raising her to four or five and selling her to a human trafficker might not earn back the cost."

"She begged me to give that child a way to live."

At this, Old Xu sighed. "I may have been poor, often with one meal but no next meal, but how could I watch a baby die?"

"So I raised the child. I steamed coarse black flour, dried it, ground it into fine powder, then mixed it with boiling water into paste and fed it to her spoonful by spoonful."

As he spoke of those days, the lingering resentment in Old Xu's eyes unconsciously dissipated, and his voice softened without him realizing it.

"That child was sturdy. She really survived, and gradually grew up. Through wind and rain, she followed me around singing for money, holding a bowl larger than herself and bowing to people to ask for tips."

"Cui Cui was adorable and sweet-tongued. With her there, I could earn a little more every time."

"But how could a girl always follow me to places like that? She was still young then, but what would happen when she grew older? How would she ever get married?"

"Later, I saved up some money and pulled some strings to get her work as a servant in the Zhu residence. I thought working at the county magistrate's manor should have been a good place, but I never imagined... I had personally pushed that child into a pit of fire!"

As he reached this point, Old Xu unconsciously clenched his fists. His eyes were bloodshot, and even his voice trembled.

"At first, everything went smoothly. That child was diligent, clever, and knew how to speak. Before long, she caught the magistrate's wife's favor and was taken on as her personal maid."

"Cui Cui was filial too. She often came back to visit me, leaving behind most of her wages each time. I saved it all, thinking I would use it as her dowry someday. But over a month ago, Cui Cui suddenly stopped coming back."

"I was worried, so I wanted to go to the Zhu residence and see her. But the servants there would not let me in. Fortunately, I found a dog hole and crawled through it in the middle of the night."

"Heaven took pity on me and let me find Cui Cui in the woodshed, except by then... she had gone mad!"

"She was extremely agitated when she saw me, constantly babbling nonsense. She said things like... the madam was not the madam, there was a ghost in the well, don't kill me, and things like that."

"My heart broke for that child, and I wanted to take her away, but the servants discovered us. They called me a thief and beat me with dozens of blows from a staff, leaving my skin split and flesh torn before throwing me out of the Zhu residence."

"A few days later, they sent Cui Cui back, but by then..."

Old Xu nearly ground his teeth to pieces. His eyes were bloodshot as he said, word by word, "Cui Cui had already become a corpse!"

"That pack of beasts said Cui Cui had stolen something from the madam and killed herself out of shame, but how could someone who had already gone mad still steal anything?"

"What was even more hateful was that before she died... she had been violated by many people!"

"She was not my flesh and blood, but she had called me Grandpa for so many years. I could not let her die with her eyes unclosed!"

"So I wrote a petition in blood and prepared to beat the grievance drum at the Bing Prefecture yamen, to appeal to the prefectural lord. But what was hateful was..."

Zhou Sheng lowered his gaze. "What was hateful was that, forget Bing Prefecture City—you never even made it out of Qinggu County."

Old Xu nodded, his eyes filled with hatred carved into his bones.

"That night, the yamen constables strangled me to death, then threw me into Pear Blossom River!"

Zhou Sheng fell silent.

He already knew what happened afterward. Uncle Xu had not only died a violent death himself; more importantly, the rage in his heart at seeking justice for Cui Cui had refused to disperse, eventually transforming him into an Evil Corpse.

And that period had happened to be when Zhou Sheng went to Yang City to perform the Stage Breaking opera.

Perhaps the resentment that had swollen the corpse's abdominal cavity until it nearly burst was not crying out for justice for himself, but came from an old man's most simple and honest love for his child.

"Back then, when I held her, she was only this big, like a little kitten, crying from hunger every day..."

"Tell me, we endured through days that bitter. How was it that now, she could no longer live?"

Old Xu's eyes reddened as he clenched his fists.

"That night, I died at the bottom of Pear Blossom River, but I could not close my eyes no matter what. I clawed at the silt with my hands, thinking that even if I had to crawl, I would crawl to the Zhu residence and ask that magistrate with a human face and beast's heart..."

"Why could he not give us poor people... even a way to live?"