This Is Impossible

"Waaah..."

From a room in the back courtyard of Li Manor came a series of hoarse, low sobs.

Granny Li was slumped over the bedside, muttering something under her breath, tears streaming down her face. She looked utterly alone and pitiful.

A girl in a red dress, about thirteen years old, lay on the bed. She looked exactly like the girl Chen Mo had seen in the ancient well earlier.

But unlike before, the red-clad girl's limbs had been firmly nailed to the bed with thick, long iron spikes. Red and white talisman papers covered both sides, and several paper women with eyes painted on stood nearby.

The arrangement was much like what Chen Mo had seen when he woke up in the Chen Family Ancestral Hall.

But the girl on the bed had already turned deathly pale. Corpse spots covered her face, and her back had even swollen, dotted with festering pustules. A thick stench of death filled the room.

Had incense not been burning, the stench would have spread far beyond it.

A small black whistle had been stuffed into the girl's mouth. Every so often, it could produce a low, hoarse sob, and even speak.

Granny Li wept copiously. "Hongxi, you poor child! It's all because your mother is useless. I have no way to call your soul back. Even Goddess Hong Deng refuses to help. They're trying to drive our family to ruin."

Just then, the black whistle in the girl's mouth began to move. Like a bobbing Adam's apple, it rolled as a voice came out. "Mother, I saw him."

Granny Li said, "He was possessed by evil and entered Ghost Land. It's no surprise you saw him."

The black whistle kept rolling, producing the girl's clear voice. "I saw him scrape the red candle wax off the mouth of the well. He can scrape off the red wax... Mother, there's hope for me. I can get out."

At those words, Granny Li suddenly shuddered from head to toe. Her despair vanished, and her eyes lit up. "Is that true?"

"It's true! I wanted to frighten him, then tempt him into scraping all the red wax off the well... But he's cautious and quick-witted. He didn't fall for it. Mother, you have to help me. Your daughter doesn't want to stay trapped in the well forever, without even the chance to be reborn..."

Granny Li was overjoyed. She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and nodded again and again, a fierce glint flashing in her eyes. "Good, good, good. Don't worry, Hongxi. You're my only daughter. As long as you can get better, I'd gladly die for you..."

When Chen Mo walked out of Li Manor, he felt a chill stab through him for no apparent reason. He stopped abruptly and looked back at the manor's gate.

"Second Young Master, what are you looking at?" Ma Tie came over, full of curiosity.

Chen Mo shook his head. "Nothing."

Then Chen Mo walked over to the ancient well by the gate and studied it closely.

This was a perfectly ordinary well. The stones lining its rim were smooth and even, with no moss growing on them, and there was no red wax on them either.

Nor could he smell that foul stench.

Chen Mo found this very strange.

Could the ancient well he'd encountered in Ghost Land not have been this one?

But he had clearly been possessed by evil here.

"Brother Chen, what are you staring at?" Xie Dong asked curiously as he came over.

Chen Mo said, "Dongzi, does Granny Li usually come here to draw water?"

"Yeah," Xie Dong replied. "Not just Granny Li, either. The shopkeepers and workers around here come for water all the time."

Just then, several workers came by with buckets and ropes. They walked to the well, lowered their roped buckets into it, then shook the ropes to draw water up.

Some of them carried their buckets away. One worker in a gray tunic filled a waterskin and took it with him.

Chen Mo immediately went over. "Young man, would you sell me that waterskin?"

The worker glanced at Chen Mo's fine clothes, then became much more respectful. "If you want a drink, sir, you can draw some yourself."

Chen Mo took the loose silver from Xie Dong and pressed it into the worker's hand. "I didn't bring a waterskin, and I'm terribly thirsty. Please do me a favor."

The worker saw the silver in his hand. It amounted to more than two taels.

It was enough to buy dozens of waterskins.

He wondered to himself, Could this be some landlord's foolish son?

He took off the waterskin and handed it to Chen Mo, still a little wary. "You won't change your mind, sir?"

Chen Mo took it and walked away. "I won't."

The worker in gray clutched the silver and watched Chen Mo go. "Since when did Honghe County have such a rich young master? He paid two taels for my beat-up waterskin?"

It wasn't that Chen Mo was careless with money. He desperately wanted to find out whether the well in Ghost Land was the same one as this. He wanted to take some well water back and examine it. And with Li Manor so strange, he didn't dare linger, so he had no choice but to pay extra.

Once they were away from Li Manor and had reached the busy streets, with crowds bustling everywhere, much of the dread in Chen Mo's heart faded.

Xie Dong and Chen Mo climbed into the carriage, while Qiulan and Ma Tie sat on the driver's bench and drove it swiftly out of the gorge.

The carriage was lined with animal hide and had a running horse lantern hanging inside, making it bright and warm.

Taking the opportunity, Chen Mo pulled out the waterskin, unscrewed its cap, and held it to his nose to sniff carefully.

It didn't have the distinctive foul stench that clung to the girl.

Xie Dong had watched Chen Mo act strangely all the way here and was growing rather impatient. "What are you doing? Ever since you were possessed by evil, you've been acting weird about everything. Don't scare me. If anything happens to you, Uncle Chen will skin me alive."

Chen Mo had no mind to argue with him. "Dongzi, is there another ancient well inside Li Manor?"

Xie Dong shook his head. "Not inside the manor, I think. Otherwise, why would Granny Li come to draw water at the gate?"

Chen Mo asked, "What about the back courtyard?"

Xie Dong scratched his head. "Granny Li never lets anyone into her back courtyard. Only the old hands at the Black Market might know."

Chen Mo said, "Ask around for me later. Also, find out what happened with Old Master Li and his daughter. The more details, the better."

Xie Dong had thought Chen Mo was making a fuss over nothing, but seeing his serious expression, he agreed anyway. "All right, all right. I'll ask around. So... when are we going to Spring Breeze Tower again? I've been longing to see Miss Ruhua. You've got to help me with that."

Chen Mo gathered his thoughts. Xie Dong had helped him a great deal, so he ought to at least ask what was going on. "What happened between you and Miss Ruhua?"

At the mention of Miss Ruhua, Xie Dong's eyes lit up. "I've spent no less than two hundred taels on her lately, but she still hasn't agreed to spend the night with me. It's driving me crazy."

Chen Mo shot him a sympathetic look. "Did Ruhua tell you that love takes time, and that you should give her a little while to accept you?"

Xie Dong was overjoyed, as if he'd found a kindred spirit. "Right, right, that's exactly what she said. How did you know?"

Ah.

Chen Mo sighed. "You've run into a gold-digger."

Xie Dong looked utterly baffled. "What's a gold-digger?"

Chen Mo tried to explain, but for a moment he couldn't think of how to put it. He simply said, "You should find someone else."

Xie Dong was struck as if by a heavy blow. "What do you mean?"

"You're no match for her. You can't outplay her. If you keep this up, she'll torment you to death."

Xie Dong immediately protested. "Impossible. Ruhua's a good woman. She likes me too! Brother Chen, I consider you a brother. Don't you dare play matchmaker and break us up!"

Chen Mo said helplessly, "Next time I'll go find Miss Ruhua and spend some money. She'll say all the same things to me that she's said to you, and act out all the same feelings. Believe me?"

Xie Dong shook his head furiously. "That's impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Chen Mo looked at him with sympathy.

Brother, you haven't been around the block enough. You're far too naive.

At the end of the xu hour, Chen Mo and the others entered the city through the western gate. After parting ways, they spent another half hour reaching the gates of Chen Mansion.

From far away, Chen Mo could see his mother, Madam Chen, standing at the entrance with a group of guards, searching all around for someone.

As soon as he got out of the carriage, Madam Chen hurried over, her eyes brimming with tears. "Second Young Master, where have you been? Your mother was worried sick!"