Waiting for a Ghost in the Boudoir

Xie Hama's words sounded chilling.

Huang Qingyun was unafraid. "Grandfather, bring out our family genealogy. If I die, I'll muster all the fallen heroes of our Huang family and turn the underworld upside down!"

Huang Huaji's face was dark, as though he had heard nothing.

Madam Huang née Yao looked at him, wanting to speak but holding back.

Huang Liufeng said tearfully, "Sister, don't say such unlucky things. Nothing will happen to you. Uncle Dawu has already ridden off at full gallop to the capital to find Father..."

Huang Huaji suddenly tapped the table. The steward sighed. "Su Xin'an is dead. He was beheaded."

Everyone in the room was shocked!

Huang Qingyun abruptly raised her head and looked at the steward. "What did you say?"

The steward said, "Su Xin'an was a fugitive. The general arrested him and sent him to the county yamen. After questioning, he was beheaded."

Huang Liufeng covered his mouth and stopped crying.

Huang Qingyun looked at her grandfather in disbelief. "You're lying! You didn't do that. He was a reincarnated heavenly general..."

"He was a ghost," Xie Hama interrupted her. "He was the one who sucked away your yang energy. Don't you understand yet? That ghost market you visited was full of ghosts. What heavenly general sent by the Ten Kings of Hell to guard it? Nothing but ghostly lies. Hmph!"

Wang Qilin said nothing and watched them perform.

He was thinking about that tower that could lose only one floor each night.

That tower was strange.

Huang Qingyun ignored them and simply stared at Huang Huaji. "He's lying to me!"

Huang Huaji waved a hand. "I cut off his head myself!"

As he said this, the old general's face was cold and ruthless.

Wang Qilin was secretly shocked. A general's success was built on ten thousand withered bones. He truly was a hardened battlefield general who had killed countless men!

Huang Qingyun's pretty face turned murderous, her gaze frosty. "Huang. Hua. Ji! How could you do this?"

Huang Liufeng said timidly, "Sister, Grandfather must have done it because..."

"Get out! Who gave you the right to speak here?" Huang Qingyun snapped.

Huang Liufeng covered his face and ran outside crying.

At the doorway, he stopped and shouted, "Sister, you've known me for twenty years, and you knew that Scholar Su for less than two months, yet you're telling me to get out because of him? You're treating me like this because of him?"

"Hmph! I'm never speaking to you again! I'm never letting you bully me again!"

Xu Da gaped at these words, then reached over and scratched his arm furiously. "I'm itching all over."

Wang Qilin said, "Sprinkle on some insecticide when we get back. You must have too many fleas."

The Huang grandfather and granddaughter were still confronting each other.

Huang Qingyun demanded through gritted teeth, "Why did you have to take his life?"

Huang Huaji gave a muffled snort and said nothing.

Steward Ding explained, "Because he committed monstrous crimes! That scoundrel relied on his handsome face and glib tongue, traveling from the capital to every part of the Nine Provinces. Who knows how many girls he deceived, violated, or even abducted and sold? He was a major fugitive wanted by the imperial court!"

Madam Huang née Yao silently left and returned. When she came back, she brought a rolled sheet of paper and unfurled it:

On the paper was a portrait of a handsome man.

Above it were four characters: nationwide arrest reward.

A nationwide arrest warrant was the New Han Dynasty's highest-level warrant for apprehending serious criminals. For ordinary criminals, it merely said "notice"; for major fugitives, it used "arrest proclamation." Only for the most serious criminals did it use "nationwide arrest reward."

Looking at the man in the portrait, Huang Qingyun's face instantly flushed crimson.

Madam Huang née Yao said gently, "After Father-in-law discovered that this so-called Scholar Su was actually a major fugitive wanted by the imperial court..."

"Stop talking." Huang Qingyun slapped the warrant away. "I'm going to kill myself! I'll become a ghost right now and find him! I'll grind his bones to dust and scatter his ashes, destroy his soul utterly! I'll demand justice for myself and all those girls he abducted and deceived!"

Madam Huang née Yao hurried after her.

Though they were not related by blood, their bond as mother and daughter was deep.

Wang Qilin stared blankly. This general's granddaughter really did have a fiery temperament!

Besides, she looked lovely from behind, with that slender waist and those long legs.

Huang Huaji said gravely, "My granddaughter lost her mother when she was very young, and her father serves as an official in the capital. I'm a mere soldier and know nothing about raising children. I spoiled her. Alas, I never expected it to cause all this trouble."

Wang Qilin said, "So it seems the ghost haunting the young lady is that scoundrel Su?"

Huang Huaji slowly nodded. "It should be him."

Wang Qilin asked again, "The first thing Young Master Huang said when he came in was that Miss Huang 'doesn't know anything.' Is there something else strange about this haunting?"

Huang Huaji sighed. "Lord Wang, you truly can read the signs and notice the slightest detail. Yes, there are things we've been keeping from Qingyun."

"Qingyun's vitality and spirits grew worse by the day. Once I learned she was being haunted, I went to the county town and found a celestial master. But that celestial master died that very night. Seeing this, I hurriedly summoned one of my Black Yao subordinates."

"I knew what my subordinate was capable of, but even he couldn't suppress this evil. He died four nights ago. Then I personally kept vigil over him for three days, and yesterday, following Black Yao customs, I used the Black Dragons Carrying the Coffin method to send his soul up to heaven."

"That was why I refused your offer to help when you came yesterday, Lord Wang. I didn't think your abilities could surpass those of my subordinate..."

"In fact, we aren't stronger than he was. Farewell." Xie Hama cupped his hands and prepared to flee.

Xu Da grabbed him. "Don't disgrace our Heaven-Listening Bureau's reputation!"

Wang Qilin said nothing. He had noticed a small detail and quietly studied the old general.

Huang Huaji continued, "If you three lords don't wish to get involved, my gates are open. You may leave whenever you like. But if you can save my granddaughter from this suffering, then whatever you three need in the future, as long as I, Huang Huaji, can accomplish it, I will not refuse even at the cost of ten thousand deaths!"

Wang Qilin understood. The hexagram Xie Hama had cast earlier really had been accurate.

The Fellowship with Men Hexagram in the Book of Changes spoke of support from a benefactor.

Huang Huaji would be his benefactor.

He therefore cupped his fist. "Rest assured, General Huang. Our Heaven-Listening Bureau will take this case!"

Xie Hama said with a miserable expression, "Lord Wang, this won't be an easy case to take!"

Wang Qilin said, "Easy or not, we have to take it. Tonight, we'll stay with Miss Huang. I want to see just what ghost is stirring up trouble!"

Xu Da said, "Exactly. Tonight, I'll personally test what it's made of!"

Old General Huang knew how to treat guests, entertaining them with lavish meals at noon and in the evening.

There were actually quite a few people in the general's residence, but its many rooms and vast grounds made it seem rather deserted.

Huang Huaji had few blood relatives, however. He had two sons in all. His eldest had died on the battlefield, giving his life for the country, while his second son served as an official at the Imperial Academy in the capital, leaving only his second wife and the children of his first wife in their hometown to attend to the old general.

The day passed quickly.

Night fell once more.

The three were granted permission to enter the general's granddaughter's boudoir.

Only the outer room, however.

Xu Da asked to enter the inner chamber. General Huang gripped his saber and asked whether he wanted to join her in bed too.

Actually, even being allowed into the outer room excited Xu Da. This was a genuine boudoir belonging to a young lady of a distinguished family!

But once inside, he was disappointed.

As expected of someone raised by a general, Huang Qingyun had few feminine things in her boudoir. The outer room was particularly plain. Apart from furniture, there were only sabers, spears, and stiff bows hanging on the walls.

On the north wall, conspicuously, hung a spiked mace!

A man's spiked mace.

Xu Da was disappointed. "Wouldn't this be our room if you added a little stinky-foot smell? If we aired our room out, could we call it a boudoir too?"

"A ghost room, more like. It's full of your unjustly slain descendants," Wang Qilin sneered.

Xie Hama said nothing, his face full of worry.

Xu Da patted his shoulder. "It's just a little ghost coming back to cause trouble because it couldn't accept being beheaded. A trifle. I can deal with it myself!"

Xie Hama glanced sideways at him. "Could a little ghost kill a Black Yao spirit-channeling sacred child instead?"

Xu Da said, "Maybe that scoundrel Su knew some evil arts and became somewhat formidable after turning into a ghost. Or perhaps those wandering-grave tribesmen live up to their name and are only formidable at boasting."

Xie Hama said miserably, "Let's hope so."

Moonlight shone through the window paper.

It spilled over the blue-brick floor, cold and clear as frost and snow.

Time passed, and the general's entire residence grew quiet.

Wang Qilin looked from his eyes to his nose, then from his nose to his cock, his mind as calm as a lake frozen in the depths of winter.

Gradually, all he could hear was the breathing of the three of them.

The heavy, rapid breathing was Xu Da's.

The soft, slow, lingering breathing was Xie Hama's.

And there was-

Knock, knock, knock!