The word “eat” sounded strangely wrong coming from her lips, as if it could strip someone bare. Gu Daosheng couldn’t quite grasp the meaning immediately, but he felt he was being flirted with.
Only he and Nan Ying were in the room. Lou Hongchen had left at dusk.
Why should I believe in ghosts when I can believe in myself as a god? The kind of god whose words became law, whose single sentence could decide life or death.
Why should I be trembling in fear here?
Gu Daosheng glared fiercely at the female ghost, snorted, and ignored her.
He turned to the only female ghost who actually wanted to kill him and said calmly, “I will not die. But you are already dead.”
“Haha, you…”
“Mingzhang, Mingzhang!” A woman with disheveled clothes and messy hair suddenly ran in frantically, shouting in panic.
Her sudden appearance shattered the boundary between the living and the dead.
Gu Daosheng instantly withdrew the technique he had been preparing to use in a great battle against the “Second Young Lady,” recognizing that this woman was a living person. As she rushed forward recklessly, he decisively took a step back.
But the woman wasn’t charging at him.
She wore a pale blue, knee-length skirt, much like a school uniform from his student days.
The long slit in her skirt had torn open along her leg, but she paid no mind to her appearance. She threw her arms around Lou Mingzhang, the dust smudging the tears on her face and leaving her looking grimy and dull, even her eyes turning a lifeless, ashen gray.
The woman knelt on the ground, frantically checking Lou Mingzhang’s head and face. “Mingzhang, Mingzhang, Mingzhang, my Mingzhang, Mama loves you so much, Mama. Who let you run off? You ran off again! You ran off again! Those women will kill you, they’ll definitely kill you! Don’t you know that being the only one alive will only make them hate you? Their children are all dead, all dead!”
“I’m going to die too, Mingzhang, Mama’s going to die too.” She lowered her head and sobbed, burying her face in the crook of Lou Mingzhang’s neck, which, due to malnutrition and the clinging ghostly aura, made his head seem too large for his small body. She gritted her teeth, and the words she muttered sounded chillingly sinister: “If you don’t behave… if you run off again, I’ll send you to your father. I’ll let your father punish you… Heh, hehehe, I’ll send you to your father…”
Lou Mingzhang burst into tears. “No,! No! Mama, !! Mama, I don’t want to go, I’ll be good! I won’t run off anymore! I just wanted to be with my new stepmother, to see the new stepmother.”
Gu Daosheng snatched Lou Mingzhang from the woman’s arms, pulling him into a one-armed embrace as he roared, “You bastard!”
He had a thousand words he wanted to say, but found himself at a loss for them just when he needed them most. His lack of education was showing; all he’d ever learned from childhood was “righteousness,” so he didn’t know how to swear. A surge of fury remained trapped in his chest, neither able to be released nor suppressed, leaving him to glare at the woman.
The Second Young Lady, who couldn’t stand anyone being more beautiful than her, glanced at him in surprise before lowering her eyes to Lou Mingzhang.
Sensing he was protected, Lou Mingzhang threw himself fully into Gu Daosheng’s arms, his small hand clutching the man’s lapel. He refused to go near his mother, sobbing softly.
The playful smile the Second Young Lady had worn while playing with the child slowly hardened into a cold, stern mask.
Her crimson-dyed nails looked like fresh blood. With a slight wave of her delicate hand, she signaled the other sisters to step back, moving them away from Lou Mingzhang.
The chilling aura instantly dissipated.
“Little beauty, you’re quite brave, aren’t you? To dare to help someone here. I suppose that’s just how humans are; all my sisters died after helping people… I’m starting to regret it a little. Mr. Lou won’t tolerate his wives and concubines communicating with each other; he’ll be furious.”
The Second Young Lady gazed at the back of Lou Mingzhang’s head, which was rather round and truly adorable. She smiled, wanting to reach out and pat it.
Her ghostly figure and those of the other young ladies grew transparent in the brightening morning breeze. She said to Gu Daosheng, “We don’t want to hurt him. He doesn’t want to play with Papa, so we have no choice but to play with him. Whenever we get close, he falls ill. When he’s sick, Mr. Lou finds him inauspicious and won’t call him over. Little Mingzhang doesn’t like watching Mr. Lou play games with others; if he can’t understand, he gets beaten.”
The Second Young Lady used a maliciously laced tone, trying to scare Gu Daosheng and give him a warning, her voice chuckling softly. “We can’t come out often, so we can only make Little Mingzhang sick for a few days. There’s no permanent solution. Since you’ve chosen to protect him now… you’ll have to protect him until the day you die. We look forward to you joining us.”
“Today is the Third Day. We can come out and walk for one night. On the Fourth Day of next month, we will meet again.”
The Second Young Lady’s voice drifted away with her vanishing figure, her final note a sigh. “The Third Day of the First Month, the Fourth Day of the First Month… three four, three four… life death, life death.”
“The living are guests, the dead return home. Eleventh Sister…”
The other young ladies curtsied slightly to Gu Daosheng, acknowledging his identity as “Young Master Twelve.”
Gu Daosheng’s brow furrowed so deeply it might as well have been tied in a knot. In his mind, he cursed the ancestors of “Gu Daosheng” for eighteen generations. How utterly outrageous to drag him into such a filthy and bizarre life!
He looked down at the madwoman still kneeling on the ground, his gaze devoid of sympathy. Her child had been dragged away, yet she still hugged her own arms, alternating between laughter and tears, acting as if Lou Mingzhang were still there.
In this scene, his anger transformed into a sense of absurd pity. Gu Daosheng softened his tone. “You are Miss Eleven, aren’t you?”
“Can’t send, can’t send… Your father will beat you.” Miss Eleven rambled incoherently, her eyes roaming blankly as she looked up at the sky. Tears mixed with dust streamed down her face. At the sound of her name, she paused, then immediately shook her head, waving her two filthy hands back and forth.
“No, no, no… I’m not Eleven! I’m not Eleven! I have a name, I have a name, I have a na… What’s my name? What’s my name? Please tell me, what’s my name? Cheng Jingru, Cheng Jingru, what’s my name? Cheng Jingru, what’s your name? What… what’s your name, Cheng Jingru…”
“Mingzhang, what did you just say? You said you wanted to see Stepmother with whom? …See Stepmother with Stepmother…” The woman pushed her own arm, rubbing half her face against her shoulder as if it were Lou Mingzhang’s head.
Her eyes fixed as she realized something, and she screamed at the top of her lungs, her face turning paper-white with terror. She threw her arms out, flailing wildly in the empty air. “Get away, get away! Don’t come for my child! Don’t you dare come any closer! My child! Your children are dead! Mine is still alive! Don’t come any closer!”
She swung her arm in a wide arc, flinging her “child” into the air.
Gu Daosheng was about to slap a talisman onto her crown to snap her out of it when Lou Ling rushed over in a panic, grabbing the maddened Miss Eleven.
“What are you doing here?! They’ve been looking for you in the North Courtyard for ages! Are you trying to get us all killed? If you’re going to lose your mind, do it in your own courtyard! Young Master Twelve just got married; don’t bring your bad luck to his doorstep! Young Master Twelve, I’m so sorry, please don’t blame her! She’s not in her right mind. I’ll take her back right now, just please don’t tell Mr. Lou!” Lou Ling’s eyes were red with desperation, his earlier arrogance from meeting Gu Daosheng completely gone.
He hauled Miss Eleven to her feet with a rough tug. The cheap fabric of her dress tore with a sharp rip. Fortunately, it split at the seam between the bodice and the skirt, rather than tearing up from the hem to her chest.
Nan Ying had slipped down from Gu Daosheng’s back at some point. He brought a blanket from inside the house and stuffed it into Gu Daosheng’s outstretched hand.
Gu Daosheng glanced at him in surprise, then lowered the talisman. He turned to throw the blanket over Miss Eleven, but Lou Ling had already stripped off his own servant’s jacket and decisively draped it over her.
He left only her eyes exposed so she could see the path beneath her feet, urging her to keep her head down and just keep walking.
“Hurry up! If Mr. Lou can’t find you, he’ll definitely be furious. Don’t get us all punished,” Lou Ling said, supporting the woman as he blocked her hand from reaching toward Lou Mingzhang. He pushed her forward without another word. “Forget about Young Master Mingzhang for now. Just leave him here. He’s worth much more than you!”
“Young Master Twelve, I’m taking Miss Eleven back right now. I’m truly sorry…”
Miss Eleven’s expression was dazed and lost as she stumbled away. “Father… my father still doesn’t know where I’ve gone…”
Some people come and go in a flash, leaving only a child behind for Gu Daosheng.
The morning breeze swept a leaf into a circle a few inches above the ground.
Nan Ying glanced at the leaf, then at Lou Mingzhang, who was playing with a pinwheel, completely unfazed by the ghost’s presence. Infants were physically weak and susceptible to malevolent spirits, yet Lou Mingzhang, at two years old, could still see ghosts; he had just been chatting with his stepmothers. Now, as Nan Ying stood beside him, the boy didn’t even react. He ignored his mother’s tears, utterly oblivious.
Nan Ying had said long ago that no child could see him, so he wasn’t surprised.
Finally, he looked up at Gu Daosheng and asked, “Were you set up?”
Gu Daosheng: “…”
“Don’t jinx me,” Gu Daosheng said, genuinely afraid of him now.
Nan Ying continued, “It seems they want you to raise a child.”
Gu Daosheng: “…”
“Then raising one more little ghost wouldn’t be too much, would it? I don’t even need to eat; you just have to keep me company.” Nan Ying opened his arms, pretending to be a human child, wanting Gu Daosheng to pick him up. He didn’t act like a ghost at all.
He lowered his voice, making his request in the cutest baby voice: “But if there are cakes or desserts, could you buy me one? I like sweets. And if there are ghosts who are bad guys, they’ve done so much evil anyway… it would be even better if I could eat one. I’ll eat the head, and you can have the body.”
Gu Daosheng was speechless. “You…”
“I’m lonely,” Nan Ying said.
“If you’re lonely, you can come find me.” Lou Hongchen, carrying a lunchbox, abruptly cut off the attempt at moral blackmail.
He had entered silently against the backdrop of a sun as red as blood. His eyes first fixed on Gu Daosheng’s face, and he offered a perfectly standard smile.
Then, his gaze slowly drifted downward. He glared at Nan Ying for a moment in displeasure before finally practically scowling at Lou Mingzhang. “Why are you here?”
The two children, sensing the threat, both shrank back. Lou Mingzhang timidly called out, “Big Brother,” and dropped his pinwheel. He slumped to the ground, flattening the toy beneath him.
Gu Daosheng was at a loss to explain why Lou Mingzhang was here, and found himself temporarily speechless.
How frustrating.
Nan Ying, being a ghost child after all, was stronger and craftier than a human child. He decisively scrambled onto Gu Daosheng’s head, using him as a hat. Borrowing Gu Daosheng’s prestige, he glared back and blurted out a defiant claim to bolster his courage: “My mommy will protect me!”
Gu Daosheng: “…”
What a lively day.
Lou Hongchen was puzzled. In a strange tone, he repeated, “Mommy?”
Hearing that word come from his mouth was so eerie that Gu Daosheng shivered slightly, a jolt of electricity coursing down his entire spine.
“Why aren’t you wearing shoes?” Lou Hongchen’s gaze suddenly sharpened. He strode forward, setting the lunchbox aside.
With one hand, he yanked Nan Ying down and tossed him aside, while the other pushed Lou Mingzhang away.
He crouched down, his hand hesitating as he reached out. His fingertips trembled, struggling to touch the snow-white skin of Gu Daosheng’s instep.
“Hey, get back!” Gu Daosheng, startled, stumbled half a step back. He stepped on his own foot with the other, trying to block Lou Hongchen’s perverse, burning stare.
He had never known how much wild grass these feet had crushed, how many streams they had waded through, or how many nonexistent paths they had forged, proudly displayed to the heavens and earth. They were too free to have ever grown a “shame” nerve.
Yet, at this moment, that nerve sprouted, twisting itself into a knot.
How shameful.
“I just forgot to put on shoes. You don’t have to act so weird… Stop trying to touch me! I’m going to put them on right now!” After speaking, Gu Daosheng spun around and headed back into the house without another word.
But Lou Hongchen caught him by the back of his knees, hoisting him up in a half-lift, half-hug.
“The floor is dirty,” Lou Hongchen said with profound reverence, unwilling to let a single speck of dust defile Gu Daosheng’s skin.
They did not have that honor.
“You’re being way too presumptuous!” Gu Daosheng cried out in panic as he was hoisted into the air. He grabbed Lou Hongchen’s hair, stunned by the sheer strength in the man’s arms and hands; the grip was so tight it made his thighs ache. “I’m your stepmother!”
Lou Hongchen set Gu Daosheng down on the sofa, but remained half-kneeling, his large, cool palms gently rubbing the soles of Gu Daosheng’s feet.
“The soles of your feet are dirty,” he said earnestly. “Let me wipe them.”
“No… no need…” Gu Daosheng let out a muffled groan. His entire body was a mass of ticklish spots, incredibly sensitive. Being touched on the soles of his feet sent a wave of ticklishness spreading far beyond just his feet.
He desperately tried to pull his leg away, wishing he could slap Lou Hongchen, this utterly audacious man, to death with a talisman paper.
But some people, the more you refrain from stooping to their level, the more they push their luck.
“Wipe them…” Lou Hongchen insisted stubbornly. “Wipe them… properly…”
Seeing Lou Hongchen’s efforts intensify, his eyes growing red with exertion, Gu Daosheng’s waist muscles spasmed and cramped under his clothes. Finally, he stopped holding back.
He kicked Lou Hongchen square in the face.