Chapter 21

Inside the room, rustling sounds arose. The maid keeping watch in the outer room blearily opened her eyes and saw the door swing open. A small figure stepped out.

"Young master, what's wrong?" The maid fumbled for her fire striker, wanting to light a candle.

The figure stood motionless. The maid walked over with the lit candle, but before she could speak, she saw those pitch-black eyes.

She saw Zhao Wenqi part his lips slightly and exhale a stream of black smoke. Before she could scream, her voice cut off abruptly.

The maid crumpled to the floor with a thud, and the extinguished candle rolled to a stop beside her.

Zhao Wenqi left his room and headed for Old Master Zhao and Old Madam Zhao's room. He pushed open the door with his small hand. The maid keeping watch outside lay rigidly on the bed, utterly unresponsive.

The inner door opened. Older people slept lightly, and Old Madam Zhao heard the noise. "Who's there?" she asked.

Old Madam Zhao craned her neck, peering carefully at the person coming in by the moonlight filtering through the window.

That small stature could belong to none other than her precious grandson.

"Qier, is that you, Qier?"

When she received no answer, Old Madam Zhao remembered hearing back in her hometown that some children sleepwalked and shouldn't be woken, or they might lose their souls.

She anxiously slapped her soundly sleeping husband beside her. "Old man, wake up!"

"Hm? What's wrong?" Old Master Zhao grunted twice and opened his eyes.

"Qier's sleepwalking. Hurry and light a candle. We can't let him bump into anything."

Old Master Zhao hurried out of bed to light a candle, while Old Madam Zhao swiftly got up and rushed toward Zhao Wenqi.

The moment she touched Zhao Wenqi's hand, a bone-chilling cold suddenly crawled up her arm from his little hand.

She heard the grandson whose hand she was holding let out a laugh.

It was an exceedingly strange laugh. The voice was unmistakably a woman's.

Just then, the candle was lit, and Old Madam Zhao saw her grandson's face clearly.

The child's head was tilted back at an exaggerated angle. His eyes were pitch-black, and his lips were stretched into a grotesque, unnatural grin.

"Oh no, Qier's been blinded by a ghost!"

Old Madam Zhao had heard that children with weak horoscopes could be possessed by ghosts, turning their eyes black. They said that if you beat the ghost out with willow branches, it would leave the child's body.

Old Madam Zhao's thoughts raced. She hurriedly said to her startled husband, "I'll keep an eye on the child. Go outside and call for help, and have someone find a few willow branches."

"Okay." Old Master Zhao dashed toward the door in his slippers. Before his hand could touch it, the open door slammed shut in front of him.

"Mother really does dote on her grandson, doesn't she? Back then, when my son had a fever in the middle of the night, you slept soundly without a care. Why is it different now?"

Hearing her little grandson's tender voice turn into a woman's, and recognizing how familiar its tone was, Old Madam Zhao's heart turned cold and her scalp prickled.

"You... who are you?" Old Madam Zhao abruptly shook off Zhao Wenqi's hand and stumbled several steps backward.

Lady Xiao Lin smiled and advanced on her step by step. "I've only been dead for a few days. Have you already forgotten me, Mother?"

"L-Lady Lin?"

"Hehehe. I knew you'd remember me, Mother. Just as I remember you and Father, even after dying."

"Lady Lin, l-let's talk this over." As Old Madam Zhao spoke, she glanced at Old Master Zhao by the door.

Old Master Zhao quietly picked up the vase by the door and approached Lady Xiao Lin.

"I've always wanted to have a proper talk with you, Mother and Father..." Before Lady Xiao Lin could finish, Old Master Zhao's vase smashed hard against her head.

Yet Zhao Wenqi's body didn't move an inch. His neck twisted backward at an impossible angle. "Father, you really are heartless."

The wooden stool by the table suddenly shot into the air and slammed into Old Master Zhao's legs. Once, twice, three times...

As Old Master Zhao screamed, the sturdy wooden stool smashed both his legs to pieces.

Old Madam Zhao no longer dared cling to false hope. Watching her husband writhe in agony, she fell to her knees and begged, "Lady Lin, we wronged you. For Ming'er's sake—for how well he treated you all these years—please spare us. What do you want? Paper money, incense? Just say the word, and I'll give you anything."

"Hahahaha! He treated me well? If he had, he wouldn't have had me killed, and he wouldn't have joined you in deceiving me all these years!"

The wooden stool that had been striking Old Master Zhao flew through the air and into Lady Xiao Lin's hand. Her hands were so small she could barely grip one of its legs. She carried it over to Old Madam Zhao, who was prostrate on the floor, begging for mercy.

"When you and your precious grandson laughed at me for dying a wretched death, did you ever imagine this day would come—that you'd die at his hands?"

As she spoke, the wooden stool came crashing down on Old Madam Zhao.

"Ah—" Old Madam Zhao tried to dodge, but her limbs seemed glued to the floor. She couldn't move, and could only watch helplessly as the stool came down.

The stool struck her hands, then her legs. Agony surged through her, so intense she couldn't even cry out.

Lady Xiao Lin crouched before Old Madam Zhao, a childlike smile on her tender face. In Zhao Wenqi's voice, she said, "Grandma, you love me so much. You'll forgive me, won't you?"

Old Madam Zhao stared wide-eyed as the grandson she had once doted on rose to his feet and walked out of their room. He even thoughtfully closed the door behind him.

Zhao Wenqi's body drifted toward Zhao Ming's study, carried by resentful energy.

That night, Zhao Ming and Su Yao were once again sleeping together.

Su Yao dreamed of the time she had come to Shangjing to seek refuge with her aunt and met Lady Xiao Lin at Zhao Manor.

Her aunt had asked Lady Xiao Lin to let her stay in the manor as her cousin's concubine, and Su Yao had been overjoyed.

Lady Xiao Lin's contemptuous gaze had swept over her as if she were something filthy.

Not only had Lady Xiao Lin refused, she had also driven Su Yao, her aunt, and her uncle out of Zhao Manor.

The bundle she had brought was tossed on the ground, her undergarments spilling everywhere. It seemed everyone passing by was laughing at her.

Watching her aunt curse incessantly outside the manor, Su Yao swore to herself that she would not leave Shangjing like this. She would stay, no matter what!

Su Yao woke and turned to look at the man sleeping beside her. Now she had not only stayed in Shangjing, but also gained everything Lady Xiao Lin had once possessed.

Her man belonged to her, and sooner or later, she would be the mistress of the Zhao family.

Her son was useless, and beside him, her own son would become her cousin's most beloved child.

How wonderful.

The next instant, a pair of icy little hands clamped around Su Yao's throat.

The suffocating pressure made Su Yao kick wildly as she clawed desperately at the hands around her neck.

Zhao Ming was jolted awake. Seeing his son strangling his cousin, he hurried to stop him.

The instant his hand grabbed that slender arm, the icy touch made him shudder.

Lady Xiao Lin didn't strangle Su Yao to death. Just before she nearly suffocated, she flung her to the floor.

The candle in the room flared to life, but its light was a strangely eerie green.

Zhao Ming watched his son climb down from the bed with stiff, unnatural movements. His heart turned cold as he realized something was wrong. He had seen enough of the world to remain calm and think clearly. "Who are you? Whatever you want, just say it."

"Of course, I want you all dead."

Lady Xiao Lin's soft voice came from Zhao Wenqi's mouth. Zhao Ming's face filled with terror. "Qiao Niang!"

Hadn't Daoist Master Jingyun sealed her inside the coffin?

Daoist Master Jingyun had clearly said that once her soul was pinned down, she couldn't break free. She would suffer as though burned by flames every day, and after a dozen years, her soul would scatter into nothing.

Had someone let her out?

No. He had always kept people watching Lady Xiao Lin's grave, and no one had gone there before tonight.

Then how had she gotten out?

Su Yao came to her senses too. Hearing the exchange, she lunged at the small figure climbing down from the bed. "What have you done to my son? He's just a child! Let him go. If you have any resentment, take it out on me!"

Lady Xiao Lin laughed. She loved scenes like this: the terrified, desperate face of a woman like a rat in a sewer, who had stolen everything from her. It was such a delight.

"Don't worry. How could I hurt such a little child? Of course I won't harm him."

As Lady Xiao Lin spoke, she reached out, and a dagger flew into her hand.

"There's something I've always wondered about, and no one ever gave me an answer. Now's the perfect chance for you to clear things up." Lady Xiao Lin came to stand before Su Yao, looking at the woman whose face was stricken with panic, yet still retained her charm.

"You said I caused you to lose a child. When did I ever do such a thing?"

Su Yao's eyes flickered, and she involuntarily looked toward Zhao Ming, who was unable to move on the bed.

"I..."

Before she could think of an excuse, Lady Xiao Lin suddenly turned the dagger around and slashed her face.

The deep wound looked like a mouth caught in a grin.

"Ah—" Seeing the deep gash on her son's face, Su Yao shrieked.

"I'll give you one more chance. Answer carefully. When did I ever kill your child?"

"You didn't. You didn't! I lied to Cousin. I deliberately aborted the child, just so he'd pity me!" Su Yao answered shrilly.

Zhao Ming, who had been struggling nonstop, suddenly went still. He stared at the woman whose face was streaked with tears, unable to believe what he was hearing.

His resentment toward Lady Xiao Lin had begun with that aborted boy. Now she was telling him the child... hadn't been aborted by her?

"Clever, isn't it? An unborn child was all it took to win everything you have today. No wonder the son you gave birth to is so lovable." Lady Xiao Lin praised her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I just didn't want to be sent back to my hometown."

"You won't go back to your hometown. Your dream will come true, and you'll stay in Shangjing until you die." Lady Xiao Lin comforted her gently, then stabbed the knife into her lower abdomen and twisted it.

The knife wound wasn't fatal. It would only make the woman, pampered all these years, suffer.

Lady Xiao Lin lost interest in Su Yao and turned to Zhao Ming, bound by resentful energy.

"Husband, what about you? How did I wrong you, that you wanted to take my life?"

Zhao Ming shook his head frantically. "Qiao Niang, that wretch misled me. She deceived me!"

Lady Xiao Lin didn't listen to his excuses. She walked toward the bed. "You weren't deceived. You couldn't wait for me to disappear. You even used our own son. Didn't you tell me that yourself?"

"No, that's not it. I had no choice. Just listen to me!"

"Fine. Talk, and I'll listen." Lady Xiao Lin sat beside Zhao Ming, scraping the dagger against his neck. "If you say something wrong, I'll cut off a piece of you, like this."

She sliced off a piece of flesh from the side of Zhao Ming's neck.

Zhao Ming bore the pain, cold sweat streaming down his forehead. "I was forced. Xue Mingtang wanted you dead."

"Why?"

Zhao Ming swallowed. He suddenly realized that even the truth might not make Lady Xiao Lin spare him.

But Lady Xiao Lin gave him no chance to change his mind. The second piece of flesh was sliced away.

Zhao Ming suddenly understood. He wouldn't survive the night.

"Qiao Niang, for the sake of our marriage, I'll tell you everything. Just give me a quick death."

"Of course..."

"Because Xue Mingtang was the one who killed your eldest brother. He wanted to enter the Forbidden Vault, so he used me to make your eldest brother's acquaintance. Then he took control of your eldest brother, who secretly opened the Forbidden Vault and got the Lin Family exiled."

"So it was all to wipe out the roots."

"Yes... but I was forced."

Lady Xiao Lin reached out and touched Zhao Ming's face. "How could you have been forced? You're so clever. When you introduced my eldest brother to Xue Mingtang, you must have foreseen what would happen today. He must have promised you plenty of benefits, right? You could rise in rank and grow rich, and get rid of me, too."

She had never seen through the man who shared her pillow, but they had been together for nearly twenty years. She knew him so well.

"My dear, please."

Lady Xiao Lin sighed. "Husband, do you know how much it hurt the day you all nailed me inside the coffin? I begged you again and again to spare me, but you didn't. You forced me, with your own hands, to become a Vengeful ghost. Everything that happened today is the retribution you begged for."

Lady Xiao Lin lowered the knife in her hand. The resentful energy around her turned into countless blades that sliced away at Zhao Ming. As the man screamed, she laughed until she could no longer contain herself.

It was nearly the fifth watch when Lady Xiao Lin finally stopped. She lay on the bed and left Zhao Wenqi's body. Once she was gone, the boy breathed evenly and continued sleeping.

She smiled at the child and drifted out the door.

A wisp of green smoke rose from beneath her feet. Before Lady Xiao Lin vanished from Zhao Manor, she kept her gaze fixed on the direction of Zhao Wenyue's courtyard.

Bound by the smoke, she returned to the place she had visited before. The fox was still sitting on the stool.

In its paw was a yellow sheet covered in writing, which it gently waved over three burning incense sticks.

A Chan looked at Lady Xiao Lin, now thoroughly transformed into a Vengeful ghost, and spoke in a calm, gentle voice. "Auntie, have you avenged yourself?"

"Auntie? You're A Chan? No, who are you?"

A Chan answered, "The A Chan you knew is dead. Before she died, she lent me her name and body."

Lady Xiao Lin murmured, "I see."

"Dawn is near. It's time for you to enter the underworld, Auntie."

"Wait." Lady Xiao Lin suddenly called out to A Chan.

A Chan tilted her head and looked at her.

"Zhao Ming told me that Xue Mingtang controlled my eldest brother and used him to open the Forbidden Vault, bringing disaster upon the Lin clan. You must... be careful."

"I'll remember. Farewell, Auntie." A Chan used an incense stick to set the yellow paper bearing Lady Xiao Lin's birth date and hour alight. The green smoke binding Lady Xiao Lin's ghost coalesced into a vortex, swallowing her, resentment and all, until not a trace remained.

The yellow paper burned to ashes in A Chan's paw. Flames climbed over it, but she felt no burning pain.

She closed her eyes. When she opened them, the Three incense sticks before her were still burning, and the yellow paper that had been weighed down beneath the bowl had turned to ash on the floor.

She stepped on the few scattered ashes and ground them beneath her foot until nothing could be made out.

Dawn had broken.