Chapter 8

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Seeing that Butler Wen had no problem with her instructions, Feng Nian took the first bus to school in the morning.

When she stepped into the back door of the classroom, the bell had just rung. Today’s first class was by the old man, Liu Hua, who liked to take attendance.

Liu Hua glanced at Feng Nian, who had come in from the back door. The dissatisfaction in his heart was obvious on his face, but he did not make things difficult for her. He gestured for her to sit down and listen to the class.

Feng Nian followed and immediately sat down in the last row. The two boys who were originally sitting in the last row and planning to doze off in class hurriedly packed their books and moved forward a few rows when they saw her sit down. Feng Nian saw disgust in their eyes, but there was also a hint of fear.

The girl in the front row glanced at Feng Nian and lowered her voice. “Look, it’s her. She said that there’s an evil spirit on Xujun’s body. It’s already this era, yet she still believes in these things.”

Feng Nian was already used to everyone’s gazes and words. She sighed in her heart. She should not have been a busybody back then.

When he was teaching her metaphysics, her grandfather had said that she should not meddle in other people’s business, but Feng Nian did not take it to heart. Now, she truly felt the disadvantages of meddling.

Originally, she could still live in the school dormitory, but because she saw the black aura on her roommate, Liao Xujun, she kindly reminded her and even used a talisman to slap away the evil spirit on her body. Unexpectedly, Liao Xujun bit back and spread word in school that she was spouting nonsense, causing her to be unable to live in the school dormitory. Then, her classmates distanced themselves from her and immediately turned around to leave the moment they saw her.

Faced with the intentional distancing by her classmates in school, Feng Nian did not take it to heart. After all, she had been used to traveling alone since she was young.

There were no classes in the afternoon. She went to the supermarket and bought some daily necessities and food before returning to her rented house.

After Feng Nian opened the door, she saw the female ghost leaning against the window and discussing the most popular lipstick number this year with two paper figurines. They were paper figurines and looked very lifelike. They looked like girls. She remembered that these two paper figurines were originally placed beside the wall of the house next door.

Paper figurines, as the name implied, were people made of paper. In the era of Yao Yushun, in order to replace living people and bury them together, they were called “rum spirits”. They were chanted by sorcerers to show that they had human nature and then burned. Later on, after paper appeared, paper figurines slowly evolved like this. There were also various paper effigies, such as clothes boxes, daily necessities, transportation items, and so on, to commemorate their ancestors.

The day before yesterday, a neighbor moved in next door and brought a lot of paper effigies. Among them were a few paper figurines, a paper effigy villa, and a carriage. They were probably in the paper effigies business. Later, because of the limited space in the room, the two paper figurines were placed in the corner. However, she did not expect the female ghost to talk to the paper figurines. It seemed that they had become best friends.

When the two paper figurines saw Feng Nian, their extremely pale faces revealed a stunned expression. After the female ghost explained, they secretly glanced at her and silently retreated to the corner of the wall, pretending that they were just ordinary paper figurines.

Feng Nian ignored them. Anyway, it was the female ghost who had two more best friends, not her. She took out two self-heating hotpots and opened the packaging. After pouring water according to the instructions on the packaging, all that was left was to wait.

When she stepped into the school this morning, her cell phone notified her that there was a cash transfer. She took a look and saw that it was transferred from Wen Wen. Calculating the time, it should be the time when Butler Wen brought Wen Rou back to the Wen residence. Without a doubt, the butler must have brought all her words to Wen Wen. Later, the butler even specially called her. Other than expressing his gratitude on behalf of Wen Wen, he also requested for her to take charge of Wen Rou’s funeral. Of course, she agreed to it.

15 minutes later, the self-heating hotpot had boiled, and the entire house was filled with the fragrance. The female ghost craned her neck to look at the self-heating hotpot, but she did not dare to take any further action, afraid that Feng Nian would throw her out of the house like last time. The two paper figurines by the wall could no longer pretend to be ordinary paper effigies, so they also stretched their necks to look at the house. This made her a little worried about whether the paper effigies’ necks were firm or not. She did not want to knock on the neighbor’s door to explain why their necks were broken.

She took one of the self-heating hotpots and placed it in front of the female ghost, indicating for it to share it with the two new paper figurines. Then, she picked up her own portion and ate slowly. It was good to have living expenses. At the very least, she could afford to eat a higher-priced self-heating hotpot. After eating instant noodles for such a long time, the taste in her mouth was gone.

When the female ghost saw the self-heating hotpot in front of her, a surprised smile appeared on her pale face. She gently waved her hand and summoned the two paper figurines that were curled up in the corner. The ghost and two paper figurines sat in the corner with satisfied expressions and enjoyed the sudden delicacy.

After filling her stomach, the female ghost saw that Feng Nian did not dislike the paper figurines, so she directly pulled the two of them into the house and gathered around to continue their conversation.

She only took a glance at them and let them be. Anyway, it was not a bad thing for the female ghost to have two more friends. She returned to the bedroom and patted her pillow before preparing to rest. She still had to go to the Wen residence tomorrow to deal with the next thing.

In her dream, she had returned to that place.

The roof ridge, corner of the house, eaves, under the eaves, hanging band, and reflective wall were embossed patterns made of colorful embedded porcelain; the head of the pillar, the beams, the arch, and the lintel were carved from wood; the main wall, the facade, and the plaque were stone sculptures.

This was the Feng family’s ancestral hall. It was also the most magnificent ancestral hall in a radius of 50 kilometers. Perhaps it had been too long since she had entered the ancestral hall, Feng Nian did not remember the details of the ancestral hall clearly. The only clear memory was that the porcelain embedded on the roof of the ancestral hall should be in the style of two dragons playing with pearls and rich peony. However, on the roof of the Feng family’s ancestral hall, the patterns embedded with porcelain were demons baring their teeth.

“Black wedding dress, buried in the pit. If it doesn’t enter the pit, curse its birth. Curse the Feng family to give birth to wretched fetuses.” She heard her aunt, Feng Hengxin, chanting the ballad non-stop.

“Hehe, you all deserve it. You all deserve it.” Aunt Feng Hengxin’s crazy voice sounded again. She carried another doll and rushed towards the Feng family’s ancestral hall without caring about her own safety.

Unsurprisingly, her aunt was once again stopped outside the ancestral hall. Her second aunt, Peng Qingmei, pulled her aunt away from the ancestral hall while explaining, “Ah Xin, it’s all in the past. You should let it go too.”

However, her aunt was still glaring at the ancestral hall with hatred in her eyes and the chuckle she let out seemed helpless and mocking.

Feng Nian stood at the side and looked at her aunt who was pulled out of the ancestral hall. A red mark was drawn on her aunt’s hand, and it was deeply reflected in Feng Nian’s eyes. She could not help but shiver.

“Child, don’t be afraid.” Her grandfather’s wrinkled hand held Feng Nian’s small hand and led her away from the ancestral hall.

The alarm on her cell phone rang on time, pulling Feng Nian out of her sleep. Feng Nian reached out to wipe her forehead, and her palm was indeed filled with sweat. Although she had been chased out of the Feng family’s old residence, the scenes in the Feng family still appeared in her dreams from time to time. The only difference was that she could no longer hold her grandfather’s warm hands.

Perhaps it was because those memories of the Feng family had appeared again, or perhaps it was because she was reluctant to part with the warmth her grandfather had given her, Feng Nian sat quietly. 15 minutes later, the alarm on her cell phone rang again, and Feng Nian left the warm bed.