Tombstone

Every time she reached the wall of morality, Zheng Wuyou would do the opposite.

But this time, she decided to be a saint again.

Without the person who bickered with her, she would lose some motivation to think.

This was the reason she gave herself.

While the sound of digging earth continued, Zheng Wuyou quickly weaved and leaped through the gravestones.

"Keep screaming if you don't want to die!" she constantly reminded Hu Yu not to give up.

But suddenly...

She stopped leaping among the gravestones in front of her because she found a familiar string of characters carved on one.

The gravestone didn't bear anyone else's name, just two characters—Zhu Li.

This is...

Zhu Li's gravestone!?

Same name, or a coincidence?

Wen Dian didn't understand why Zheng Wuyou suddenly stopped here, but the sound of digging earth beside them was getting louder!

When the sun completely sets, and there's not a single source of light left.

If we don't find it now, we'll have to run!

Wen Dian's calls seemed to grow farther away.

Zheng Wuyou's back suddenly went cold, and an unbelievable thought flashed through her mind.

[Mid-July sets up flower stands, King Yama collects graves wearing a mask.]

That nursery rhyme echoed in her mind again.

The spiderwebs that instantly appeared at night, the ghosts drifting outside the door.

White candles in front of every house, yellow paper for ancestral worship filling the entire village.

And the constantly echoing nursery rhyme...

"Find the Zhu family's eldest branch!" Zheng Wuyou snapped back to reality in an instant, turning to yell at Wen Dian, who was preparing to flee.

Wen Dian turned back, looking somewhat lost. It was so far from the Old Zhu family's home!

How could they make it in time!

"The gravestones! It's the gravestones!" Zheng Wuyou quickly moved through the gravestones, meticulously and rapidly checking the names and descriptions on each one.

If she encountered white bones crawling out of a grave mound, she would kick them apart with all her might, buying time to delay the digging.

She continued to search for information about the Zhu family's eldest branch among the gravestones.

Hu Yu also hadn't given up calling for help; amidst the chaos, her increasingly tired voice could still be heard.

At this moment, the thought of escape occupied Wen Dian's mind.

He stood rooted to the spot, struggling for a moment before steeling his resolve.

He hurriedly turned back and searched the first row for the Zhu family's eldest branch that Zheng Wuyou had mentioned.

If he died here because of it, then his fate was to perish at this very spot!

[Tomb of the late virtuous wife Madam Zhao, beloved wife of Zhu Youcai. In life, my wife was virtuous and managed the household, supported her husband, and raised her children. She was benevolent and kind to others. Now that she has passed away in her prime, I am heartbroken. May you be well in heaven, free from illness and pain.]

Virtuous and managed the household...

Wen Dian looked at the information on the gravestone in front of him, and related knowledge instantly flooded his mind.

Only the eldest branch would have "virtuous and benevolent" inscribed on their tombstone!

And be included in the family genealogy!

And that woman had said at lunch that the middle-aged man's name was Youcai!

"It's here!" Even though Wen Dian had found the gravestone, he didn't know what to do.

He just didn't understand why the young woman from the Old Zhu family had a grave mound built here when she was clearly still alive.

Zheng Wuyou followed his call, leaping over several grave mounds in succession.

There was no time to worry about disrespect now!

"Find it! The hairpin is hidden in this grave mound!" Zheng Wuyou ignored the white bones emerging from the mound and shoved them back in.

Her hands frantically dug at the loose soil.

The dwarf from before had said that a woman had taken the hairpin away from the Old Zhu family!

And Zhu Li had said that once the eldest branch was rescued, the hairpin would naturally appear!

So...

Zheng Wuyou looked back in the direction of the desolate village.

It was impossible to successfully rescue the Old Zhu family's eldest branch...

Because the main wife was trapped in the graveyard!

The hairpin...

Zheng Wuyou's mind was filled with nothing but the hairpin.

Her intuition told her that as long as she found the hairpin, they could safely return to the desolate village.

But even with Wen Dian's efforts alongside hers, half of a shallow, decaying coffin had been exposed.

Not a single clue about the hairpin had been found.

"Is it really here?" Wen Dian asked, half-believing, half-doubting, digging frantically like a dog, his fingernails caked with yellow dirt.

Looking around, the exposed bones in the other graves were all half-visible.

They seemed to be baring their teeth and claws at the two of them.

Preparing to crawl over!

"Wen Dian, if you trust me, immediately take that stone and imitate what I did this afternoon. Worship counter-clockwise from the west in front of this tombstone! Don't get the direction wrong!" Zheng Wuyou suddenly remembered the local customs mentioned in the text!

These two tasks were closely related. Since they couldn't find it through conventional means here, they had to follow the customs of Zhu Family Village.

"Right, right! From the west... counter-clockwise!" Wen Dian took the stone with carved patterns out of his pocket, not caring if the mud and blood on his hands stained it.

He immediately began worshipping counter-clockwise from the west.

When he finally finished worshipping towards the north of the main wife's tombstone, he heard a loud rumble in front of him.

Zheng Wuyou, who was standing on a grave mound, jumped back just in time.

The tombstone engraved with Madam Zhao's epitaph shattered, and the coffin in the grave mound was exposed to the ground.

The coffin lid slid open automatically, and a hairpin lay inside, emitting a soft glow in the moonlight.

Zheng Wuyou reached into the coffin and picked up the hairpin from the bottom.

In an instant, the surrounding bones stopped moving, as if frozen by an invisible force.

After a moment, they comically retreated back into their respective graves.

The moonlight shone on the hairpin, softly covering it like a layer of silver gauze.

Through the light, Zheng Wuyou and Wen Dian saw scenes flashing by.

Madam Zhao leaned against the roots of a tree full of silver flowers in her own courtyard, sunlight warming her face, feeling cozy.

Madam Zhao, the main wife, woke up from a coma, her terrified eyes scanning the unfamiliar surroundings. She was forced to wear a festive wedding dress, and her once robust body grew increasingly frail.

While washing clothes by the river, Madam Zhao and Zhu Li met and felt like kindred spirits, chatting by the river until dusk.

After countless evenings, on a night when Zhu Li helped her escape, she was captured by the villagers and thrown into a dark cellar, never to see the light of day again.

When she was seen again, only her bones remained.

This hairpin was Madam Zhao's key to finding her family and the item she and Zhu Li had agreed upon, carrying the friendship and protective power between them.

It also carried a trace of Zhu Li's apology.

"What beasts!" Wen Dian punched a nearby tombstone heavily. Madam Zhao's despairing eyes when she was locked in the cellar.

It was something he would probably never forget.

So that day...

Was Zhu Li still alive?

Zheng Wuyou looked in the direction of Zhu Li's tombstone, more and more doubts appearing before her eyes.

At this moment, Hu Yu's faint cries could be heard from a distance. Her danger seemed not to have passed yet.

The light screen gradually dissipated. Zheng Wuyou clutched the hairpin and exchanged a look with Wen Dian.

They immediately followed the sound of the cries and found Hu Yu behind a tombstone, half of her body buried in the grave mound.

Hu Yu's eyes were red and swollen, and her hoarse cries had made her voice almost unintelligible.

Seeing this, Zheng Wuyou and Wen Dian rushed to rescue her from the ground.

The two of them helped the weakened Hu Yu and, carrying the hairpin, walked towards Zhu Family Village.