The sound of poles slamming to the ground outside was loud and clear. The old woman’s hand trembled, and the cup fell from her grasp, shattering with a sharp crack into pieces.
She shut her eyes tightly and, upon reopening them, stared blankly at the broken shards on the ground. “It’s broken,” she murmured, dazed.
Su Er said, “Peace and safety year after year.”
“…?” The old woman, lost in a stupor just moments ago, suddenly snapped out of it and looked at him in disbelief. “You’re not mute!”
No, that wasn’t right.
The voice just now had been clear—and unmistakably male. Not only was the ‘mute girl’ not mute, he was a man!
She hadn’t survived this long by being foolish. She jumped to her feet and seized Su Er by the shoulders. “You lied—you colluded to deceive me! You’ll be punished for this!”
Su Er stayed calm. “If you don’t say anything, who would know?”
The old woman froze.
Su Er added, “Even if we broke the rules, we’d need to be caught in the act. I lied to your face—but I doubt there were any wandering spirits nearby at the time.”
As he spoke, he glanced at the red pendant around her neck.
With that thing protecting her, no ghost could get close.
The old woman had schemed her whole life—so much so that even her own son, turned into a ghost, couldn’t do anything to her. Now she’d been tricked by two youngsters, and she was grinding her teeth in fury. “You’ll pay for this!”
Su Er looked to Ji Heng, who wasn’t nearly as kind. His tone turned cold. “That trinket of yours can protect you from ghosts—but not from people.”
He bent down, picked up a shard of the broken cup, and held it up, sizing it in his hand. His eyes flicked sideways at the old woman. She instinctively stepped back.
“If I kill you, that would fulfill the ghost’s wish and let me take the charm. Two birds, one stone.”
For a moment, the old woman couldn’t tell which was more terrifying—the ghost outside the door, or the people inside it.
With Ji Heng playing bad cop, Su Er played the good one. “If we kill someone, how are we any different from a ghost?”
Grateful someone was speaking for her, the old woman nodded quickly.
Su Er smiled. “Don’t be afraid. Just open the door and acknowledge this proper, official marriage.”
“But… but the town forbids marrying a male wife?”
Male wife?
Su Er tried to ignore the odd new label.
“It doesn’t matter.” He gave a soothing smile. “It was all your idea, after all. Naturally, you’ll bear the responsibility alone.”
The old woman’s eyes widened.
Su Er added lightly, “It’s just one more charge to your name.”
Even without this incident, she was already the one Zhou Linjun most wanted dead—in both life and death.
Her hand rested on the door but hesitated to push. Over the years, the ghost hadn’t been able to harm her, but it would still come by now and then to terrify her. She’d long since become mentally frayed. “Can’t I just…”
Ji Heng, unnoticed, had come to stand behind her, the shard of porcelain deftly twirling between his fingers.
Su Er added fuel to the fire. “After all these years of being tormented, isn’t it time you showed some backbone?”
In the end, she opened the door.
In the courtyard, the skeleton’s bones were tinged green, and countless bugs swarmed around the toppled white funeral banners. From a distance, it looked like a moving scroll—terrifying upon closer inspection.
Once the wave of extreme fear passed, the old woman seemed slightly calmer, though she still instinctively averted her eyes from the maggots that made her scalp crawl.
“I feared you’d be lonely down there…” The shard pressed silently against her waist. Gritting her teeth, she continued, “So I found you a wife.”
A blurry shadow flashed before their eyes. Before anyone could blink, the skeleton had closed several meters’ distance—but stopped an inch before the old woman. A flash of golden light forced it back to its original position. Its neck bone shifted with a low, bestial growl.
At this, a trace of pleasure even flashed in the old woman’s eyes. “Your life was given by me. I have the right to take it back.”
If she hadn’t reported him first, she would’ve been long dead at his hands.
There was no love between this mother and son. The skeleton showed no emotional reaction, only calm as it asked, “Did Father owe you anything? Didn’t he also die by poison?”
After all these years, neither had managed to kill the other. It wasn’t in a hurry now. The boiling hatred instead surged toward Su Er.
Su Er said, word by word, “You want to… kill your wife and murder your mother?”
The fire in the brazier had long gone out. The faint burnt smell lingering in the air was a reminder of the farce that had just taken place.
“Wife?” The skeleton suddenly let out a hoarse laugh, rougher and more jarring than any sharp sound. For some reason, its tone shifted. “The marriage is sealed. Next comes the wedding night.”
Su Er’s finger brushed past his pocket, over the outline of the stun gun, and he nodded in agreement.
Ji Heng didn’t interfere with his choice, only whispered, “A ghost exists because of its obsession.”
Su Er blinked, suddenly understanding. No wonder ghosts who had done wrong in life never showed any remorse after death. The skeleton’s obsession was rules—which meant it couldn’t break them arbitrarily.
With that in mind, his odds of survival were looking pretty good.
Ji Heng slipped Su Er a talisman. “If something happens, this’ll buy you a few seconds.”
Su Er: “A few seconds might not be enough to escape.”
Ji Heng: “I’ll be waiting at the door. It’s enough time to shout.”
Su Er considered it—sounded safe enough.
The skeleton crawled into the room with a twisted gait.
Not heading to the graveyard. Su Er was a little disappointed. With all the wandering spirits in the town at night, the graveyard was actually safer.
The door closed again—only this time, the roles had reversed: the ghost and Su Er were inside, while Ji Heng and the old woman were outside. Too much had happened tonight. The elderly woman, mentally shaken and physically drained, gasped for breath as she shuffled to another room.
Inside, there were still some unused red candles. Su Er lit them one by one.
With light, came clarity of sight—and in an emergency, it would help him aim the stun gun more precisely.
The candlelight flickered uncertainly, and even the skeleton’s hollow eye sockets seemed to take on some expression. Its voice sounded like a broken erhu, speaking of things unrelated to the night: “The one who lights the candle has a choice, but the candle does not.”
Just like no child can choose their own birth.
“My parents were both strict. Even a small mistake would get me punished by being forced to stand under the sun.” The skeleton seemed to try to laugh, but without flesh to cover its face, the angle at which its jaw opened was horrifying. “But I didn’t mind. All the children in the town grew up this way.”
“…Until one day, I saw my mother poisoning my father’s drink with my own eyes.”
The candlelight danced painfully in Su Er’s eyes. He looked away and asked, “Why didn’t you report her?”
Some children might cover for their parents out of familial affection, but the Ghost King didn’t seem to care much for his.
“Because my father was secretly drinking.” The skeleton seemed to think the question was pointless and started sounding impatient. “Once, during New Year’s, I snuck a piece of meat before the relatives arrived and nearly got beaten to death. Stealing alcohol was considered an even worse offense.”
The skeleton pinched out one of the candle flames. “Maybe we all had a habit of stealing—Father stole wine, Mother stole love, and I later stole votes. These things must run in our blood.”
After saying that, it seemed to feel much better. Its voice returned to its earlier, though still hoarse, tone—less angry now.
Su Er continued to play the role of a silent listener.
The skeleton seemed quite satisfied with his silence. “Since you want to be a Guard Chief so badly, I can help you.”
Su Er’s eyes flickered. “Really?”
“Husband and wife are one. Your glory is mine.”
Knowing there’s no such thing as a free lunch, Su Er waited patiently for what would follow. Sure enough, the skeleton soon started fiddling with the last candle’s wick: “All you have to do is remove the pendant from that old woman.”
Su Er: “Why me?”
Anyone could do that. It could just grab someone who broke a rule in town and force them to follow orders—wouldn’t the grudge be resolved just as well?
“It takes me years of sleep to wake again, and each time I’m only conscious for less than seven days.”
In that short span, it was rare to find someone who broke the rules. At most, it could spend that time scaring the old woman. If she actually died from fright, all the better.
Su Er reminded it: “This town’s not short on ghosts.”
It wouldn’t be hard to find a little ghost to do its bidding.
The skeleton replied: “Family disgrace shouldn’t be made public.”
Su Er pointed to himself.
The skeleton chuckled with obvious malice. “You’re family now.”
“…I’ll think about it,” Su Er said solemnly. “I’ll give you an answer tomorrow night.”
The skeleton seemed displeased with his hesitation, stretching its bony fingers several times, but ultimately held back.
As the darkness thinned and the faint light of dawn appeared, the skeleton slipped out the window like a snake and vanished.
Su Er opened the door.
Ji Heng asked, “How did the talk go?”
Su Er: “It tried to kill me a few times, but held back.”
That was within expectations. Ji Heng replied calmly, “Smart ghosts are hard to deal with, but that can sometimes be a good thing.”
Su Er repeated the Ghost King’s offer word for word.
Ji Heng smirked slightly. “What do you think?”
Su Er sighed. “If I take the pendant, I’ll be an accomplice. That crime would be enough reason for the Ghost King to kill me, too.”
Ji Heng nodded. “Good that you realized that.”
The pendant would have to be taken, but the method still needed careful planning.
At sunrise, Wen Buyu came running up, a blood scab forming on the corner of her mouth. “I ran into Wan Yi on the road. He said the host wants everyone back at Yutang.”
Su Er glanced at her injury. “You okay?”
Wen Buyu: “Just a minor wound. Surviving is already a blessing.”
She didn’t want to go through another night like that again.
Ji Heng had been silent for a while. Wen Buyu, worried, quickly reassured him: “I didn’t tell Wan Yi anything.” After the skeleton left, she’d been chased by wandering spirits half the night—there hadn’t been time to plot anything. She added, “Besides, I doubt Wan Yi would dare use the host’s name to lie.”
Ji Heng didn’t show whether he believed her or not, then turned to Su Er and said: “It’s worth checking out. This host has been unusually quiet.”
Su Er had the same feeling. Normally, it was hard to even see Mister Sea of Books. He seemed to spend all his time in his room reading. After thinking a moment, Su Er leaned over and whispered something to Ji Heng, who nodded in response.
On the neat streets, the two figures walking side by side looked out of place.
On the way, Wen Buyu asked nervously: “Will it be okay if Su Er doesn’t come?”
Ji Heng: “Someone has to stay behind, just in case.”
“But… what if the host asks?”
Ji Heng didn’t reply.
Maybe it was psychological, but the more she wanted to slow down, the shorter the road felt. Before she knew it, they had arrived at Yutang Hall. Wen Buyu took a deep breath and pushed the door open. Wan Yi and Shen Jiangbei were already sitting on the stone benches—and the host was present too.
Mister Sea of Books scanned them with his gaze. “One person’s missing.”
Ji Heng answered, “Su Er just got married last night. According to local customs, he can’t return to his in-laws’ home for three days.”
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