Because of its unique geographical position, Liuzhou in Jiangnan had been designated by the court as the tenth directly administered prefecture. Ringed by mountains and embraced by water, with both land and water routes, it was the central hub connecting Jiangnan to the north, and commerce flourished.
Its beautiful scenery and superb feng shui also attracted many wealthy merchants to settle there. As a result, even in prosperous Jiangnan, Liuzhou was a lucrative posting. Anyone hoping to be assigned there as an official had to pull a few strings with those above.
Now, however, an earthquake in officialdom had left Jiangnan's officials deeply reluctant even to speak of Liuzhou!
There was no helping it. The incident involving Painted Skin Mister sounded far too horrifying: painting bones beneath human skin, gouging out flesh and filling in marrow. There had actually been a terrifying monster capable of skinning officials and replacing them outright. Even though the court declared that the demon had been executed, it could not stop panic from spreading over a place where such a fiend had lurked!
The Duke of Qin's suggestion had been good, but it had its drawbacks. First, purging all of Liuzhou's officials might root out the demons' remnants to some extent, but such a sweeping operation made an already shaken populace even harder to reassure.
Over the past few days, for instance, no one had been running Liuzhou's government offices. Jiangnan's provincial administration commissioner had been forced to transfer officials there temporarily, but now... who dared take up a post in Liuzhou?
Everyone named declined. Those who truly could not avoid it simply surrendered their official seals and resigned, giving the governor of Jiangnan, who was responsible for the temporary transfers, an endless headache. He kept petitioning the court to send new officials as quickly as possible. After all, Liuzhou was now... practically in complete chaos!
Appointing the newly qualified jinshi to office had not gone smoothly either. Not all of them were like Chen Qing, so poor that they dared risk being flayed alive. Some from better families would rather refuse office than serve in Liuzhou. In the end, only about two-thirds of the originally projected number were willing to compromise and go. They were severely short-handed!
Even those who had accepted their official seals dragged their feet as much as possible, all hoping someone else would test the waters first while they watched from behind.
And under these circumstances, Chen Qing, that foolhardy idiot, had eagerly hurried to Liuzhou ahead of everyone else!-
"This is... Liuzhou?"
After crossing mountains and rivers and spending nearly ten days on the road, a travel-worn Chen Qing almost failed to recognize Liuzhou City when he arrived. Even the driver accompanying the carriage was dumbfounded.
The enormous city was so desolate that Chen Qing nearly thought it had just been looted!
There was not even a single soldier guarding the gates. Had it not been broad daylight, Chen Qing would have wondered whether he had mistakenly wandered onto the Yin-Yang Road.
"What's going on here?"
The driver and Chen Qing stared at each other in bewilderment. After a moment of silence, the driver hurriedly said, "Sir, I... well, how about you settle my fare now? I... I find this place a bit creepy. I won't be staying here tonight. Pay me now, sir, and I'll set off straightaway. Maybe I can still reach Shangshu County before dark."
Chen Qing: "..."
If I'd known it would be this eerie, I would have brought Ghost Child along. I only left him over at Azure Dragon Mountain because I was worried about prying eyes in a crowd. Well, look at this now-not even the shadow of a ghost on the streets!
"Sir... look over there!" The driver pointed in horror.
Chen Qing looked over and jumped too. It was a butcher's shop. Someone was actually selling meat on this desolate street?
The trouble was that the meat seller looked horrifying. More than half the skin on his face had peeled away, exposing flesh, bone, and the faintly visible wooden structure inside.
Thud, thud...
Ignoring everyone around him, the burly man kept chopping bones into pieces, his eyes vacant, as though he were a machine. On this street that resembled a ghost town, it was truly more than a little terrifying.
The driver backed away repeatedly in fright, but Chen Qing frowned and took a step closer.
Naturally, he could tell what the butcher chopping meat was. He was clearly a puppet made by Painted Skin Mister. After Painted Skin Mister's death, these puppets had lost their spirit bodies and become like walking corpses, capable only of performing repetitive tasks based on a few instincts from their lives.
Chen Qing had seen this among the personal guards Yuchi Peng had brought back to the capital. Lu Jiaming and the other guards who had been replaced with puppets could still do simple chores at the Yuchi Residence. Although they no longer had Divine Sense, they could understand simple commands.
Unable to bring himself to dispose of his former brothers, Yuchi Peng had kept them to help with target practice at the training grounds.
But the Yuchi Household was a major bloodline Lineage, after all, and did not fear these puppets. Ordinary people actually dared keep using them too? Weren't they afraid?
"Oh? Young fellow over there, did you only arrive in Liuzhou City today?"
As he was thinking, a voice rang out. Naturally, the speaker was not the butcher mechanically chopping meat, but a middle-aged woman tending the shop beside him.
The woman had a fair, clean complexion. Although she was a common townswoman, she had clearly never done heavy labor and was much better-looking than the average peasant woman.
She called warmly to them from afar, "Would you like to buy some meat to take back? There aren't any inn cooks here to make your meals now. If you buy some, I can personally cook you a couple of dishes to go with your wine."
Once Chen Qing got a clear look at her, he was taken aback. He asked cautiously, "Ma Erniang?"
"You are..." Hearing Chen Qing call her name, she froze, immediately stopping her stream of sales patter to look at him carefully.
"Oh my, isn't this Chen Qing?"
Seeing a familiar face made the woman even more enthusiastic. She came forward and looked him over closely. "Oh my, isn't this the esteemed jinshi from our lane? Didn't your mother say you'd gone north to become an official? Why are you back?"
"Ah... well... it's a long story." Chen Qing smiled and changed the subject, looking toward the butcher chopping meat. "That's Uncle Zhang, isn't it? What happened to him?"
"Him..." At the mention of her husband, the woman's eyes immediately dimmed.
"This is how he is now... I used to complain that he only ever slacked off instead of working, and he'd often go out gambling away our money when he had nothing to do. But now... all he can do is work!"
Chen Qing fell silent, unsure what to say for a moment.
He had known Ma Erniang's family for three years and could have claimed to know Butcher Zhang, who loved shortchanging customers on their meat, very well. Yet it turned out he had not known him well enough. When had Master Huang replaced him? Or perhaps he had been a puppet all that time?
Ma Erniang must have been terrified the day she learned the truth, right?
Yet she was still willing to stay and keep her man company...
Chen Qing sighed inwardly, but did not dwell on his sadness for long before asking about Liuzhou.
"Erniang, where is everyone in the city?"
Seeing that they knew each other, the driver cautiously approached and quietly listened. He was curious too. How had such a large city become like a ghost town? Where had everyone gone?
"Everyone?" Ma Erniang looked around at the desolation and sighed too. "They've all left..."
"Left?" Chen Qing was startled.
"Haven't you heard about the ghost puppets in Liuzhou City?"
"I... I've heard a little... I just didn't realize it was this serious..." Chen Qing cautiously watched her mental state. She was a butcher's wife, after all. If she picked up a pig-slaughtering knife, he might not be able to beat her.
"You have no idea how chaotic the city was back then. The soldiers cracked down here and sealed things off there, and in the end they simply sealed the whole city. A lot of people were badly frightened."
"In that case, everyone should have been locked inside Liuzhou." Chen Qing looked around curiously. This clearly looked as though everyone had fled a famine.
"At first, they wouldn't let us leave..." Ma Erniang smiled bitterly. "Later, some schoolteachers and wealthy merchants with connections started secretly finding ways to get out. Once enough people did it, word got around. What an uproar there was then. Lots of my neighbors rushed the gates. They say several people were even trampled to death..."
Her words made Chen Qing's scalp prickle. Those few short sentences were enough for him to picture the chaos at the time.
"Once more people started dying and things looked about to get out of hand, those above simply withdrew the soldiers. And once they withdrew, of course everyone ran off."
Ma Erniang looked at her husband, her eyes filled with complicated feelings.
Watching her, Chen Qing could more or less understand why ordinary people wanted to flee. With these puppets around, the soldiers not daring to act without orders, and the neighbors frightened, it would have been a wonder if anyone could stand staying.
"Where did they all go?" the driver asked curiously.
"Those with money went to the neighboring prefectures. Those without went back to their homes in the countryside. Everyone had somewhere to go..."
After some thought, Chen Qing still asked, "Erniang, where are your children?"
"They went back to our old home in the countryside." Ma Erniang smiled. "The piglets back there were just about due to be born anyway. It's good for my sons and daughters-in-law to go back and help the old folks look after things. As for this wretched man, having me here with him is enough..."
"How many others have stayed like you?"
"Probably not many..." Ma Erniang smiled. "Here on North Street, most people are ordinary families like us. These past few days, I've only managed to find a dozen or so when I went visiting. The wealthy merchants and scholars on South Street, the ones with property, moved away with their entire families long ago."
Chen Qing: "..."
Without time to pity Ma Erniang's plight, Chen Qing took to his heels and headed south!
He had originally been the first to hurry over, hoping to seize the chance to skim off some fat. Now look-not even a few chicken feathers remained, just a mess strewn everywhere. With everyone gone, how was he supposed to serve as prefect?
"Chen Qing, where are you going?" Ma Erniang hurriedly called.
"South Street!" Chen Qing answered without looking back. "Erniang, weigh out a jin of meat for me. I'll have dinner at your place tonight!"
"Oh? All right!" Erniang immediately smiled happily, but then added, "There isn't even the shadow of a ghost on South Street. What are you going there for?"
But she had barely called out before Chen Qing had vanished from sight.
Naturally, he was rushing over now to see how many households remained!
Are you kidding? Most of the ordinary people on North Street were just hiding in the countryside. With a few tricks, I could still get them back. But once these wealthy households ran off, they wouldn't be so easy to catch and bring back. If they left, whose taxes was I supposed to collect?