Chapter 7

Sitting by the brazier, I lit a cigarette, my eyes never leaving Zhang Yidan. His condition was what I was most worried about. After such a tragic event, I feared he might lose his will to live, so I planned to suggest we leave once he was in better shape.

Yu Xiaoxue sat not far from me, her eyes somewhat vacant. The once pretty girl now looked haggard and worn out. I guessed she had reached her limit; if we weren't in such a dangerous situation, she might have fallen asleep immediately.

The rooster crowed, and the sky gradually turned a pale white. I glanced back at the sky; the stars had faded, and this long night was finally coming to an end.

With the dawn, the yang energy increased, causing the spirits to lose interest in the cigarette and gradually leave the doorway, seeking out places with heavier yin energy.

I thought it was time to suggest we leave: "We—"

"Xiaoyi, big brother." Zhang Yidan interrupted me.

Zhang Yidan was a rough person, never showing respect to anyone, and he usually called most elders by their names. Now, from his name to his address, he finally called me "big brother," which made me take a deep breath.

If it wasn't important, he wouldn't call me that way. I said, "Yi, what is it?"

"Big brother, my sister-in-law died a terrible death. Grandma said she couldn't avenge her, and neither could I. But she said something else, which I didn't dare tell you these past two days." He looked at me, the tear marks on his face seemingly impossible to wipe away.

I didn't know what to say, just stared at him. Yu Xiaoxue's eyes flickered, and she lost her drowsiness.

"Grandma said she sent you a letter before she was injured, advising you not to come back. I asked why she would tell you about such a dangerous situation, and she said she could have not warned you. But after a hundred years of cause and effect, the retribution is inevitable. Even if she didn't say anything, you would eventually find out through other means."

"If you had resisted and not come back, it would have been best, and things might have lasted for ten or even several decades. But if you couldn't resist and came back, the revenge could be taken, but the cause and effect would become even more significant. The future would be fraught with danger, almost certain death, and uncontrollable. But, you ultimately came back." Zhang Yidan shook his head, looking at me with sympathy.

I noticed something was off in his eyes, a strange feeling that he was speaking on behalf of Grandma.

"Clack, clack, clack."

A chilling sound of wooden boards creaking came from Grandma's coffin. The coffin, which hadn't been nailed shut, slowly and solemnly opened!

I was dumbfounded, and Yu Xiaoxue fainted outright. Zhang Yidan's eyes, filled with a strange self-mockery, watched the scene.

"Bang."

A red sleeve emerged from the coffin, then fell limply, knocking against the edge of the coffin.

From the sleeve, a pale hand slowly extended, leaving claw marks on the coffin.

My eyes widened in terror, and I couldn't move. Yu Xiaoxue almost dragged me away, but before I could react, a loud bang echoed as the coffin lid was violently thrown open!

When I came to my senses, the owner of the claws was already standing with her back to me.

She wore a red dress, her hair cascading over her shoulders, her skin as white as snow, though she wasn't very tall. This immediately dispelled my initial thought that it was Grandma's corpse coming to life.

However, she was definitely not human, as no one could jump up from lying down without bending their legs.

I could feel how pale my face must have been.

The little girl, as if she had eyes in the back of her head, turned and stared at me with eyes that were completely black, then gave a chilling smile, like snow in July, sending shivers down my spine.

Red, a color of either great joy or great misfortune, the red dress and black eyes were the symbols of a vengeful ghost.

I remembered, she was the vengeful ghost sitting on Grandma's shoulders in my dream!

At that time, she waved at me, and Yu Xiaoxue sensed the danger, pulling me back.

After looking at me, she turned her gaze to the unconscious Yu Xiaoxue, then finally settled on Zhang Yidan.

Zhang Yidan's face was no better than mine, his legs trembling, but he stood firm.

The vengeful ghost in red laughed sinisterly, and in the next moment, she was in front of Zhang Yidan, grabbing his neck!

Zhang Yidan struggled, his hands flailing, but he couldn't touch the girl at all. Whenever he tried to touch her, his hands would pass right through her, while her hand remained embedded in his neck like a solid object!

The vengeful ghost girl laughed, a laugh of triumph.

Soon, Zhang Yidan's eyes rolled back, and his tongue protruded.

"Stop it!!" I shouted, a surge of courage propelling me forward to pull the vengeful ghost, despite Yu Xiaoxue's attempts to hold me back.

As I was about to grab the vengeful ghost, she turned her eyes to me, her mouth splitting open in a blood-red grin, and she let out a roar like a mountain collapsing and a sea surging!

My head spun, and I was thrown back, crashing into the wall. My stomach churned, and I vomited a large mouthful of blood!

Seeing me cough up blood, the vengeful ghost paused, as if realizing something was wrong. Her grip loosened, and Zhang Yidan collapsed, unconscious.

I never expected the blood to form a mist in front of my eyes, quickly dispersing in the air, and a fierce yin wind suddenly swirled like a tornado.

Then, the blood formed a shadow, taking the shape of a woman!

The woman, except for her skin as white as jade, was entirely blood-red, with a blood-red phoenix crown, a blood-red robe, and blood-red shoes.

The vengeful ghost, seeing the woman with her back to me, looked like a wilted flower, retreating and finally kneeling in fear, bowing repeatedly.

"Sister-in-law!?"

I couldn't speak, my ears ringing. I reached out to touch her, but couldn't.

Without any visible movement from Yu Xiaoxue, the vengeful ghost girl was lifted into the air, as if grabbed by an invisible force, like a chicken being held by the neck!

A series of piercing screams echoed, the vengeful ghost twisting in the air, seemingly in great pain, on the verge of disintegrating.

She looked at me with a pleading gaze, as if her previous arrogance had vanished.

I thought, since this ghost could sit on Grandma's shoulders, she must have a significant connection to Grandma. After hesitating, I pleaded on her behalf: "Can you hear me? Can you temporarily release her?"

"You can't even deal with a little ghost, and you want me to release her? Do you know that she just cost you ten years of your life?" Yu Xiaoxue didn't even turn her head, continuing to torment the vengeful ghost girl.

I was shocked, "Ten years of my life! Is that true?"

"Cough, cough, still release her. I need to ask her some questions." I coughed to cover my embarrassment, knowing it was my sister-in-law but feeling uncomfortable.

Is she really my sister-in-law? I don't feel like she's what I imagined. She seems so high and mighty, but thinking about it, she's been silent for over twenty years, so it's understandable she has some resentment.

The vengeful ghost girl looked at me with gratitude, though I found her terrifying, I decided to trust her once.

"You can't even speak human language, how do you expect to ask her anything?"

I decided to release her, and Yu Xiaoxue, seemingly furious, coldly huffed and stopped.

"Are you a ghost Grandma raised?" I asked the vengeful ghost girl, thinking it was the only possibility. After all, I wasn't completely ignorant about Grandma's affairs, and raising a ghost was the most detailed topic in her books.

Sure enough, the vengeful ghost girl nodded quickly, and this method of communication through nods and shakes displeased Yu Xiaoxue, who huffed again.

I looked at the empty coffin, ignoring Yu Xiaoxue's pouting, and asked, "Is Grandma dead?"

The vengeful ghost girl nodded, looking melancholic.

I sighed. When I saw the coffin was empty, I had a glimmer of hope, but now that even the ghost confirmed it, the situation was settled.

I took a deep breath, slowly standing up. I really wanted to see my sister-in-law's appearance, as she had been my wife for over twenty years, and I had never seen her.

However, my sister-in-law ignored me, turning her back, always doing the opposite of what I wanted.

Fortunately, Yu Xiaoxue and Zhang Yidan were unconscious, or I would have been embarrassed. But I wasn't deterred and went to check if Zhang Yidan was still alive.

The vengeful ghost girl started chattering in ghost language with my sister-in-law. Without burning incense and performing rituals, I couldn't understand what they were saying, and it sounded like a cold wind blowing past my ears.

This is what is known as "ghost wind." If a normal person occasionally feels a breeze at night, it's actually a familiar ghost speaking to them.

My sister-in-law didn't speak, so I knew the little ghost was saying something useful to her, and she decided to listen.

Seeing my lack of curiosity, my sister-in-law coldly said, "She says Grandma put her in the coffin to kill the person who opened it at a critical moment, but she didn't expect it to be you. Now she knows she was wrong and is willing to be your ghost. What do you plan to do with her?"

I didn't answer, going to Zhang Yidan's side, checking his breathing and pulse. He was still alive, but barely, and I felt a surge of anger.

"Kill her if you can, and destroy her if you can." I said coldly. I couldn't keep a ghost that had attacked someone important to me, and I already had a powerful ghost as a sister-in-law.

The vengeful ghost girl, who had been with Grandma for many years, understood human language and immediately bowed to me, a cold wind following, as if begging and promising many things.

Thinking about it, having this little ghost for protection wasn't bad, and I had read many of Grandma's books on raising ghosts, knowing they could do things humans couldn't.

With my sister-in-law, a powerful being, not easily summoned, and the cost of ten years of life, I couldn't afford it. At this rate, I didn't have many more decades left.

"Fine, a ghost of this level isn't very useful. Let her be extinguished." I didn't expect my sister-in-law to be so ruthless, and a fierce yin wind instantly swirled, the vengeful ghost girl screaming like a chicken being squeezed.

I felt a chill. "Sister-in-law, you're really heartless. I just wanted to discipline the little ghost, not really kill her."

"Now you're being so harsh. If the little ghost has been with Grandma for years, you must have seen each other often. You should show some mercy."

End of page

Start of page

End of page