Chapter 17 (Corrections)

Before Wang Chan could speak, the matchmaker beside her already showed disdain. She somehow produced a handkerchief, flicked it in front of her face, and cast a critical and disdainful glance over Wu Fugui.

“Oh? You didn’t know?” she sneered.

“Just now you claimed to be the steward, knew everything about the Wu family’s affairs. So, how come you’re already contradicting yourself?” She leaned in close, lightly tapping her own face. “Does it hurt? Does it hurt? Tsk, looking at you, I don’t think it hurts at all. Thick-skinned, that’s what you are!”

“Hey!” Steward Wu curled his mustache in irritation.

“You, matchmaker! I’ve figured it out. Since earlier, you’ve had it in for me, slyly rolling your big eyes at me. What’s the matter? Is it because your eyeballs are big? What did I ever do to you?”

He placed his hands on his waist and leaned in, trying to glare back with equal effort, refusing to lose face.

“If you hadn’t fallen down the steps, and if it weren’t for my thick flesh cushioning your fall, you would have been crippled by now!”

“Like a dog biting Master Zhang, unable to recognize friend from foe. Tch, tch.”

“Oh, so now you’re putting on the righteous act with your new straw hat? Don’t think I don’t know—Miss Wang was the one who saved me, not you,” the matchmaker rolled her eyes.

Indeed, she held a grudge. Who could blame her? That old fellow had just used her as a stepping stool, climbing up by stepping on her, claiming he knew the way better than she did! Inside the house, he grabbed her hand and tossed it away, then dared to wipe his pants with it! Tch, she hadn’t even yet despised his old face that was all crumpled like a wilted gourd! Tch, tch!

“You—”

“Me? What about me?”

...

Wang Chan ignored their bickering and looked towards the reception hall.

Ever since Wu Jiuding had taken out that mushroom-like object, the Green-faced Ghost had shown signs of fear and retreat. But no matter how it tried to withdraw, Wu Jiuding wouldn’t let it off easily.

The garden had long since emptied—not just the guests, even the servants had fled. The red candles and drapes, once festive, now only emphasized the desolation.

“Ruined my Wu family’s wedding banquet, and you think you can just leave? Wu Zhen, nephew of Wu family, it’s been my kindness over the years that’s given you this illusion,” Wu Jiuding said coldly, then crushed the object in his hand without mercy.

“No—” the Green-faced Ghost howled.

Almost simultaneously, Wang Chan felt a surge of energy ripple from the heart of the Wu estate outward, shimmering with a chilling blue light.

At that moment—

“I feel a bit dizzy, and my heart’s swaying,” the matchmaker said, clutching her forehead and then her chest. She blinked her eyes, seeing the crumpled face of the thick-skinned gourd wobbling before her, her chest trembling.

No, no, no, she was just growing old and her vision blurry—that’s why she felt that face was hitting her chest. She closed her eyes and reopened them.

Matchmaker: … Heavens, it’s still swaying!

“The earth dragon is turning over! Run—”

Her heart dropped back into her stomach. “So it’s the earth dragon turning over.”

“What? The earth dragon turning over?” She paled in shock.

Xishui Road was in chaos. Upon hearing “earth dragon turning over,” many scrambled, street vendors pushed their carts, joining the stampede. In an instant, the place was filled with the sound of hurried footsteps and rolling wheels.

Wang Chan and her companions decided not to flee recklessly—they had Wang Boyuan with them, and in such chaos, if someone stumbled or got trampled, it would be disastrous.

At the Wu estate gate, people peeked out, then scattered like startled birds, rushing toward the open grounds. A few with weak legs fell where they stood.

“Ouch, ouch, I fell!” “Brother Yinuo, please put my father down.” “Hey, hey!”

The muddy ground seemed to come alive, as if something beneath was turning over. Wang Chan, worried that Shi Yinuo might fall with Wang Boyuan on his back, barely finished speaking before a startled shout rang in her ear. She followed the crowd’s fearful gaze.

Her eyes widened.

Something really was turning over—but it wasn’t the earth dragon.

The tremors ceased gradually as a massive, flourishing luohan pine tree near the Wu estate’s reception hall toppled, revealing its hollow core. At the same time, a long, strip-like object emerged from the tree hollow.

Mud trickled down like flowing water.

As the soil peeled away, everyone got a clear look at what it was.

“It’s a coffin!” Shi Qianjin shouted loudly.

A few days ago, they had carried this same coffin from Jianxing Prefecture to Yanzhi Town—by land, by water, through wind and rain, so it was familiar to them.

This coffin was even larger, its dark red wood still clinging with damp earth. Against the mud, the red looked like dried blood, foul and pungent.

“It’s the Green-faced Ghost’s coffin,” Wang Chan stated firmly, tilting Wang Boyuan’s head slightly and straightening it.

With the coffin’s appearance, the tremors in the Wu estate ceased abruptly. The disruption had come suddenly and left just as suddenly. Apart from the fallen tree, no other buildings collapsed.

As if to confirm Wang Chan’s words, a gust of wind rose. The Green-faced Ghost, which had been arrogantly trying to strangle the Wu father and daughter, now clung to the coffin.

An invisible energy was pulling and devouring the ghost. It writhed in pain and hatred, its face contorted grotesquely.

“Ah—It hurts—” The ghost’s malevolent energy surged upward, its limbs twisted in unnatural angles. Its ghostly face howled at the sky but couldn’t escape the devouring force.

“Wu Jiuding, I’ll kill you! I will kill you!”

“...Pingtin, Sister Pingtin, save me.”

On the reception hall, Wu Pingtin turned away, unable to watch any longer.

The Green-faced Ghost’s hatred grew. Blood tears streamed from its blurred face.

“It’s you. You must have told your father about my Zhu family’s secret. It’s you, you, you! I only told you, only told you... It’s you who betrayed me, it’s you who betrayed me!”

Wu Pingtin wept silently, tears falling one by one into her embroidered shoes.

“Ah Zhen,” she whispered softly.

“Don’t blame me, I had no choice... Father had long suspected. The more you grew, the more you resembled Brother Wenqian, even... even”—her right leg was slightly longer, the uneven leg length still the same.

No matter how close brothers were, or how similar their looks, defects like that could not be the same.

Wu Pingtin closed her eyes, tears burning her cheeks.

“It wasn’t me who revealed your secret. For all these years, Father has been watching you in secret.”

The Green-faced Ghost couldn’t hear any more.

Its ghostly energy surged fiercely; the barely formed humanoid ghost twisted and thrashed violently, shaking the coffin violently. In the next instant, the coffin shattered, the lid flew off, and the massive, heavy wood hurtled toward the reception hall.

With a thunderous crash, the coffin slammed down inches from Wu Jiuding’s feet, close enough to crush him.

“Ha!” Wu Jiuding gasped.

“Damn it, damn it!” He glared angrily at the coffin. Just a hair’s breadth away from being crushed, if he’d lost his life, all his schemes would have been for nothing!

His face pale with fright, his temper worsened. Unable to vent elsewhere, he stomped on the shattered remains of the object he had crushed earlier. The Green-faced Ghost inside the coffin wailed incessantly, its limbs and neck contorting even more painfully.

“What—what is that?” Wu Fugui stammered. “Is that... really the young master? He—he’s dead too?”

“When did this happen?”

“Brother Fugui, weren’t they supposed to send him to the manor? How did the young master die? And be buried here?”

Wang Chan glanced at Wu Fugui.

Wu Fugui slapped his thigh, his face wrinkled like a spoiled eggplant, turning a dark, sauce-like hue.

“You’re all asking me, so who do I ask? I carried the coffin with you all to Yanzhi Town! Came back together, rushing to this banquet!” He emphasized the word “together.”

“Ohhh—” several people drew out the sound.

“Ohhh—” Wang Chan looked around and echoed it.

In that moment, Wu Fugui felt the dignity he had built as steward evaporate with that single “ohhh.”

Wu Fugui: ... Why do I feel so awkward!

...

This really was Zhuwu Town.

Wang Chan looked at the corpse.

The coffin lay in pieces, revealing the body inside—a young boy, about twelve or thirteen years old. His eyes were wide open, mouth agape. That wasn’t the scariest part. More terrifying was the enormous mushrooms growing on his crown, eyes, and mouth.

The teal-colored clothes were torn apart, even around the navel sprouted these strange fungi.

Like lingzhi mushrooms or toadstools, with large caps and thick stems, faintly tinged with dark red, eerie and sinister.

Wang Chan wrinkled her nose, sensing a strong, pungent odor.

Some mushrooms were small, others large, but as the Green-faced Ghost was gradually consumed, the mushrooms seemed nourished and kept growing, even bursting through the coffin’s lid at the crown.

“It really is the young master.”

“Truly the young master’s brother.”

Wang Chan’s gaze shifted between the boy’s corpse and the Green-faced Ghost.

When the body’s energy leaves, it becomes a soulless corpse, but residual energy remained here. As an astral body freed from flesh, Wang Chan could see the essence: the young corpse was younger than the Green-faced Ghost. She could tell these two were actually one and the same.

But why?

Salamanders and lizards shed their skin but don’t grow smaller—so why did this person grow younger?

“Coffin mushrooms? Are these coffin mushrooms?” a young scholar in plain blue robes spoke, his features ordinary but gentle, exuding a compassionate aura that made people feel at ease.

“Coffin mushrooms?” Wang Chan repeated, wondering if they shouldn’t be called corpse mushrooms.

“Yes, coffin mushrooms. I’ve seen them in the classics,” said Dr. Zhu from the ancient bronze street courthouse.

Earlier, amidst the chaos on the street, he had tried to stop people, overheard talk of a haunting at the Wu estate, and found it amusing.

Haunting? In broad daylight, where could ghosts be?

Merely hysterics from the lost-minded, or skulking tricksters pretending to be ghosts!

He didn’t believe in such nonsense. Confident and upright, he strolled to the Wu household, even peeking at the commotion at the gate.

Unlike others who peered anxiously, he was unafraid and disbelieving. Just as he was about to ask if the Wu family needed his help, the ground shook violently.

Perhaps because he stood too straight, he stumbled and failed to follow the fleeing crowd, instead falling into the mud and witnessing the bizarre rising coffin.

There really was a ghost.

Before fear could grip him, his eyes were drawn to the mushrooms growing on the corpse.

Dr. Zhu’s excitement over a potential remedy showed. Looking at Wang Chan, he didn’t dismiss her as just a little girl but spoke seriously.

“According to medical texts, when coffins are buried in certain peculiar grounds, mushrooms sprout on the coffin and corpse. The mushrooms growing on the corpse are especially precious—a rare and valuable remedy.”

Wang Chan thought for a moment. “Could it reverse aging and restore youth?”

“Haha, no such thing as reversing age or restoring youth,” Dr. Zhu chuckled at the girl’s innocence. “Those are the lies told by charlatans and quacks—deceptions!”

“If such things were real, wouldn’t human order be thrown into chaos?”

He had barely finished when his eyes landed on the corpse and the Green-faced Ghost merging into it. His devoted healer’s heart trembled, and he took two steps back, filled with awe.

Perhaps it could be true—but the world is fair. If one gains something, one must pay something in return.

“Ordinary coffin mushrooms are only the size of a copper coin. This... this size is unheard of. Apparently, these mushrooms feed on the soul and flesh of the person. Evil. Truly evil...”

Seeing the spectacle, Dr. Zhu felt uneasy and prepared to leave.

“Are you a doctor?” Wang Chan asked, wanting to know if he could help examine her father, who had yet to wake despite the commotion. Even the pigs at the Wu family banquet had been startled and scattered by the tremors.

...

“Dr. Zhu, where do you think you’re going?” Wu Jiuding’s voice boomed from the reception hall, full of vigor but chilling in meaning.

“I, I’m going home,” Dr. Zhu stammered, suddenly seized by fear. His legs trembled uncontrollably beneath his long robe.

He looked up at Wu Jiuding and forced a smile, eyes filled with hope.

“Master Wu, I swear I saw nothing, I know nothing... Please believe me.”

Wu Jiuding only smiled silently.

Then he clapped his hands. “Bring him in.”

Why close the gates again!

Wang Chan sighed quietly.