"Thank you for your understanding, Miss Xia."
Pei Guanzhu stepped up onto the next stair.
Xia Jian watched the golden ring on his right ankle, waiting until he had gone quite a distance before following.
The covered corridor was dark, illuminated only by the palace lantern Pei Guanzhu carried, casting a faint glow on the ground just ahead.
Xia Jian trailed behind him like a little tail, lingering in the darkness at his back.
"What exactly are you afraid of, Miss Xia—the darkness, or ghosts?"
The person ahead suddenly asked.
This scene was eerily reminiscent of a moment from a horror film. Xia Jian drew a sharp breath. "…I'm afraid of both, actually."
"Really?" Pei Guanzhu turned his head. The swaying palace lantern reflected in his smiling eyes. "Then why are you staying so far away from me?"
It took Xia Jian a moment to grasp the meaning behind Pei Guanzhu's words.
The corridor had no lights, only the single lantern Pei Guanzhu carried. She had said she was afraid of the dark, yet she kept such a distance from this sole source of light.
Xia Jian took a deep breath and moved to his side, maintaining the closest distance that would still allow for a quick escape.
Pei Guanzhu chuckled. "Speaking of ghosts, since the night road is long, would you like me to tell you a story if you're interested?"
They say one shouldn't speak of people during the day, nor of ghosts at night. Yet here was Pei Guanzhu, walking along this pitch-black path, mentioning ghosts without the slightest hesitation.
Xia Jian was a little curious. "What kind of story? A ghost story? I won't listen if it's too scary."
Pei Guanzhu gave a light laugh. "It's not scary. But what is 'A Piao'?"
"'A Piao' is…" Xia Jian turned her head to glance around, as if afraid someone might overhear. Pei Guanzhu raised an eyebrow at her actions and was about to ask when Xia Jian suddenly stepped closer.
"Ghosts!" the girl whispered, her voice extremely low.
The scent of pear blossoms came and went. Pei Guanzhu frowned slightly.
"Why whisper about ghosts? They're just ghosts."
"It's the middle of the night. Talking about 'A Piao' might attract unclean things," Xia Jian said, having grown up with her grandmother and believing in such things. She spat twice on the spot. "I spat twice for you, so you can't say it anymore either! It brings bad luck!"
Pei Guanzhu had never met someone so peculiar. "…Then, Miss Xia, would you still like to hear the story?"
"What kind is it?"
Pei Guanzhu smiled again. "Not scary. A story from the manor."
"A story from the manor? About 'A Piao' haunting it?"
Pei Guanzhu nodded with a smile.
Damn.
Xia Jian once again revised her understanding of Pei Guanzhu, this murderer. He was even stranger than she had imagined.
"…Have you actually seen 'A Piao' haunting our manor?"
Pei Guanzhu chuckled softly. His wooden clogs tapped against the bluestone floor, producing crisp sounds.
"I don't believe in talk of gods and ghosts," he said, tilting his head and leaning down close to Xia Jian's face, his pitch-black eyes staring directly at her.
"However, I have seen that ghost when it was alive."
Mountain winds howled, and the palace lantern swayed. Xia Jian was startled, instantly transported back to her school days when she and her classmates secretly watched horror films in class. Instinctively, she grabbed the wide sleeve of Pei Guanzhu's robe that hung down.
She clutched it into a crumpled, unsightly mess.
Xia Jian shuddered, hurriedly hiding both hands behind her back.
Pei Guanzhu smoothed his sleeve, then with a turn of his wrist, offered the wooden handle of the palace lantern to Xia Jian's side.
Xia Jian said thank you.
With the brightness now in her hands, her fear greatly subsided. "You've seen it?"
Xia Jian remembered that in the original story, it was said that the vengeful spirit who died was a maid named Lian'er who served under the Former Madam of Pei Fu—Pei Guanzhu's biological mother—while she was still alive.
"Hmm, I was quite familiar with her."
Looking at the strange smile on Pei Guanzhu's face, Xia Jian couldn't tell whether his familiarity was simply that or something more… like the kind of not-so-innocent familiarity Madam Chen's youngest son had with the pretty maids.
"What did that maid look like? I've forgotten," Pei Guanzhu's dark eyes shifted, then suddenly stopped at a certain point with an eerie stillness. "The story says the maid was very beautiful but fickle, having an affair with a guard from the estate."
Not long after, Lian'er became pregnant. The Former Madam, already unstable, found out about it and one night dragged Lian'er to the edge of a well.
"The poor maid thought the madam was going to spare her life, but instead, she was tied up by the madam's attendants and thrown into the well, where she drowned alive."
Hearing the words "drowned alive," Xia Jian instinctively swallowed.
A pair of cold hands suddenly wrapped around her shoulders from behind.
Xia Jian let out a short, sharp cry, then fell silent as if under a spell, her legs instantly going weak.
A strong scent of sandalwood enveloped her as Pei Guanzhu leaned in from behind, turning her slightly in another direction.
"Miss Xia, look ahead."
Xia Jian trembled all over, her legs feeling weak and unsteady. Hearing his words, she instinctively looked forward.
The full moon emerged from the clouds, unable to penetrate the dark corridor but illuminating the well ahead.
"Holy shit—!"
Seeing the well, Xia Jian felt her whole body go cold. She instinctively tried to run back, but her legs were too weak. Pei Guanzhu steadied her, watching her limp body as if it had lost all its bones, a flicker of excited tremor flashing in his dark eyes.
"Look at my memory," Pei Guanzhu took out a small, cold jar from his sleeve, lifted Xia Jian's hand, and placed the jar in her palm.
"I actually forgot—I happened to have this scar ointment with me today."
He spoke with an apologetic tone, but his acting was poor, his voice tinged with barely suppressed malicious laughter.
Xia Jian's face turned pale. His words and the sight of the well made her ears ring. Pei Guanzhu whispered gently, "Miss Xia, I don't believe in ghosts, but I don't like this well in my courtyard either."
"Maybe it really is because of this well. Look, everyone in the estate is going mad, aren't they?"
Xia Jian felt the strength slowly returning to her weak legs.
She broke free from Pei Guanzhu's grasp and immediately ran back.
She just wanted to get as far away from that well as possible.
Only when she finally ran out of the corridor without stopping did Xia Jian collapse onto the steps, clutching the palace lantern.
Damn!
In their first encounter, Xia Jian had been utterly defeated. Was it not enough to avoid pursuing favorability points and simply try to be a close guard protecting someone from the shadows? Did she have to be toyed with by the target too?!
Clutching the small jar that had long since warmed in her hand, Xia Jian was furious. She shouted toward the corridor, "Young Master Pei—! Since that's an ominous well—! I'll go to the temple tomorrow to burn incense and pray for you—!!"
The echo scattered in the mountain wind. Xia Jian looked into the dark end of the corridor, remembered the well, and felt her heart, which had just begun to calm, start racing again in fear.
The next day, Xia Jian woke up early.
Shaoyao helped her dress, pulling out the crimson cotton cloak she wore most often from Xia Jian's hastily packed bundle.
"I won't wear anything bright today—I'm going to the temple," Xia Jian said, selecting a set of light apricot-colored ruqun and a white outer cloak herself.
"Why has the young mistress suddenly decided to visit the temple?"
"My cousin isn't in good health. I'm going to the temple to pray for a Peace Amulet to give him."
With those words, all of Shaoyao's drowsiness vanished. She wanted to ask more, but Xia Jian nudged her arm, urging her out. "Alright now, you go on ahead. I need to change."
The young mistress was an odd one. In these times, slender women were considered beautiful, yet she always ate more than the average girl. Late at night, she often asked the kitchen to prepare snacks, calling them "midnight treats." Even when Shaoyao pleaded with her, she ate them anyway.
Who would have thought this young mistress could be so cunning and resourceful?
Shaoyao finally felt at ease—her mistress was finally starting to make moves! Lately, seeing the young mistress out of favor, even the small kitchen had grown neglectful. Let's see who would dare call their young mistress a blockhead behind her back now!
Xia Jian was helped into the sedan chair by an inexplicably eager Shaoyao.
"Young mistress, take your time. Here, a hand warmer for you to warm your hands."
Xia Jian: …
What was up with this little maid today?
Though Shaoyao was usually kind to her, she had never been this attentive before.
"…What's gotten into you today?"
Shaoyao beamed. "Nothing, nothing, hehe. You should get in now—don't miss the auspicious hour."
Full of suspicion, Xia Jian settled into the sedan chair. After confirming there were no hidden mechanisms inside, the exhaustion from her sleepless night washed over her again.
Qin'an Temple was neither too far nor too close to Pei Fu.
To reach Qin'an Temple, they had to bypass Jinling's main street and cross a gently sloping, treacherous hill.
As the ox cart reached the bottom of the slope, a scout ran back to Shaoyao and reported, "Sister Shaoyao, the road ahead is crowded. It seems a wounded merchant caravan is passing through. We can't get through—we'll need to take a detour."
"How dare they! A mere merchant caravan expects the sedan chair of Pei Fu to make way?" Shaoyao retorted. "Go and tell them to clear a path immediately!"
Xia Jian woke again, stirred by a commotion outside the sedan chair.
"Shaoyao?" Xia Jian felt a twinge of fear. She lifted a corner of the curtain and saw Shaoyao red-faced and shouting, engaged in a one-sided heated argument.
"Do you know whose sedan chair you're blocking? This is the sedan chair of Pei Fu's future titled lady! How dare a mere merchant caravan expect us to thank you?"
There was a long silence from the other side. Finally, a calm woman's voice spoke up. "Does being Pei Fu's future titled lady make her superior? If she disagrees, she may step down and confront me directly. Without so much as a word of thanks, I will not let you pass."
"Whether we pass or not, we must thank a nobody like you?!"
Xia Jian: …?
What was going on? I just took a nap.
Xia Jian lifted the curtain a little more, intending to ask Shaoyao what was happening, but she unexpectedly caught sight of the woman standing opposite Shaoyao.
Dressed in white, she wore a silver mask covering the left half of her face. Beside her stood a man in green robes, his right face adorned with an identical silver mask. Together, they looked like an immortal couple.
Xia Jian: …
Xia Jian's hands and legs began to tremble uncontrollably.
Holy shit.
Holy shit, these seem to be the male and female protagonists!!