CH 10.3

Ming Huazhang was unbothered, he examined the entire corpse carefully, and said to Xie Jichuan, “Xie Jichuan, help me. Let’s put her down first.”

Xie Jichuan stood in the crowd, with a face full of reluctance, “When it comes to this kind of thing, you don’t have to think of me.”

Xie Jichuan was about to lift his foot when a shadow rushed out from behind the crowd, “I’ll do it, I’ll do it!”

It was Jiang Ling, that prodigal. Although he was ignorant and incompetent, he happened to be very daring. Xie Jichuan naturally took back the half-step he was about to make. Ming Huashang watched from behind and asked, “Brother Xie, are you not going?”

Xie Jichuan smiled gently and said, “I will stay here to protect you and Miss Ren.”

Ming Huashang glanced at Ren Yao who was stiff but still pretending not to be afraid and said, “Then I have to trouble Brother Xie. I will go find my second elder brother to see if there is anything I can do to help.”

After Ming Huashang finished speaking, she lifted her cloak and walked into the snow. Ren Yao gasped, and couldn’t help but say, “How did this brother and sister pair grow up; are they really not afraid of such bloody things?”

Xie Jichuan smiled softly and said in an inaudible way, “That’s right. Before, I thought that they were not alike at all, but now it seems that there are still some similarities.”

Jiang Ling’s brain was not good, but his physical strength was not bad, so he was barely useful. Ming Huazhang guided Jiang Ling and finally brought the woman onto the ground smoothly.

The dead body lay on the ground, and the onlookers retreated again, with horror and disgust on their faces. Only Ming Huazhang, as if he didn’t feel anything, squatted halfway in the snow and slowly sifted through the woman’s clothes.

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Jiang Ling liked adrenaline and danger the most, but he also felt creeped out when he saw the woman’s empty eye sockets. He rubbed the goosebumps on his arms, feeling a bit of pity, “Wei Zi girl looked like such a delicate beauty; especially her eyes, which seem to be able to talk, were dug away. Alas, what a pity.”

Ming Huazhang raised his head when he heard these words, “Do you know her?”

“That’s right.” Jiang Ling said, “She’s one of Her Highness Taiping’s most capable maids, who often goes to the Gongzhu manor; who doesn’t recognize her?”

Ming Huashang came over, heard Jiang Ling’s words, and asked, “Then have you seen her recently?”

“When Baobao and I first entered the manor, I met her once.” After Jiang Ling finished speaking, he blinked his eyes and suddenly realized, “You don’t suspect me, do you? It’s already been confirmed that the serpentine ghost committed the crime, how could it be me?”

Ming Huashang also blinked innocently, and asked, “What do you mean by a serpentine ghost committed the crime?”

Seeing that Ming Huashang didn’t know about it yet, Jiang Ling approached mysteriously and said in a low voice, “It is said that someone brought unclean things to the villa, and the serpentine ghosts possessed people to look for a scapegoat at the banquet. Do you know about the serpentine ghost?”

Ming Huashang shook her head. After Jiang Ling saw Ming Huashang’s beautifully curved distinct eyes, his desire to impress flared, and he began to talk endlessly, “It is said that in the Jizhou area, where the Jiangnan1 West Road is located, there is dense gas and snakes and insects everywhere. Many pedestrians were bitten to death by the snakes. The people who died had resentment in their hearts and gradually became serpentine ghosts. They were trapped in the gas and could not escape without finding a scapegoat. Therefore, when you travel in the mountains of Jizhou, you must not speak to any beautiful woman you encounter, otherwise, once you look into her eyes, you will be bitten to death by a snake and become her scapegoat.”

As Jiang Ling spoke, he deliberately lowered his voice towards the end, trying to create a frightening atmosphere. However, the beauty in front of him was unmoved. She just made an “Oh” remark and asked, “You die if you look into her eyes?”

“Exactly.” Jiang Ling said, “Didn’t you see Chi Lan from yesterday, and Wei Zi from today; they both lost their eyes, right? Who knows which malefactor came from the gas and brought back the serpentine ghost, which a guest brought to Feihong Garden? The serpentine ghost got Chi Lan to be its scapegoat. After Chi Lan’s death, it couldn’t let go of its grievances, so it found another person, Wei Zi. After Wei Zi, who will be next?”

Ming Huashang felt that such rumors were too bizarre to be believed, and asked, “How do you know about the matters in Jizhou? It couldn’t be you who’s making this up, right?”

Being underestimated, Jiang Ling said angrily, “How could this young master lie?! Didn’t you hear about the line of bloody words under Chi Lan’s body yesterday? That was the serpentine ghost seeking another scapegoat!”

Ming Huashang wanted to doubt again, and Ming Huazhang, who hadn’t spoken for a long time, stood up and said clearly and coldly, “He didn’t lie, it was indeed a ghost from the Jiangnan West Road.”

Ming Huashang and Jiang Ling were startled, and they turned to look at Ming Huazhang together. Ming Huazhang pointed to the corpse on the ground and said, “The thorns that bound her are blackthorns, indigenous to the Jiangnan West Road, and do not grow here.”

The crowd of onlookers heard what Ming Huazhang and the others said. Even Ming Huazhang said it was true. Then the crowd’s panic got even worse. Suddenly, someone pointed at the tree trunk and said in horror, “That line of words…”

The crowd dispersed with a bang, and Ren Yao turned around, only to find that there was blood clotted on the tree trunk behind her, and on top, it wrote: 

Those who see me, die.