CH 6

SmollStarks12-16 minutes 21.06.2022

Wen Xi leaned against the edge of the sofa and watched in horror as a woman crawled out of the painting. Her hair was disheveled, and her face was as pale as snow. She looked very similar to the ghosts in the horror movie Wen Xi had seen a few days ago.

Although it was reasonable to say that Wen Xi shouldn’t be afraid of ghosts since he was a ghost himself, he had woken up not long ago and was still unfamiliar with being a ghost. It was really….really….

“Stay away! Pi Xiu! Pi Xiu, where the hell are you?!” Wen Xi was so scared that his voice cracked. In turn, Wen Xi also scared the Female Ghost that had just come out of the painting, causing her to shrink back into the painting.

Then, the voice of the Female Ghost was heard, weakly and sobbing: “I don’t have malicious intentions.”

‘Liar!’ Wen Xi’s face turned even whiter.

‘In the short scary stories, the ghosts always start by saying these kinds of phrases. Those who believe in those words must be out of their minds!’

The Female Ghost finally crawled out of the painting and bitterly said: “Young Master, could you tell me what year, month and day it is now?”

Her red eyes startled Wen Xi, causing him to back away. He was so scared that he couldn’t say a single word. Due to the sudden movement, the jade statue slipped out of Wen Xi’s sleeve and fell to the ground. Right in front of the Female Ghost.

As soon as the Female Ghost grabbed the jade statue, she let out a sobbing cry from her throat. Suddenly, she raised her head, looked at Wen Xi, and asked: “Where did you get this, you…. Gongzi1?”

The Female Ghost crawled on her hands and knees towards Wen Xi, sadly crying out: “Gongzi! Wen-gongzi! It’s you!”

Her big red eyes began to shed tears of blood. The Female Ghost bowed as she called out to Wen Xi, crying and shouting: “Wen-gongzi, please save his life! Please save him!”

As the Female Ghost kowtowed, hitting the ground hard, Wen Xi’s face was pale with fear. As Wen Xi leaned against the wall, he asked: “Who are you? Get up, quickly!”

“Gongzi, if you don’t promise Suzhen to save him, Suzhen won’t get up!” The Female Ghost continued to kneel on the ground, crying and bowing to Wen Xi.

‘This ghost is going to shorten my lifespan from all the kowtowing2.’

Wen Xi clenched his fist and suppressed the anger surging in his heart. As soon as he lifted his robe, he knelt down and kowtowed to the Female Ghost.

‘It’s just fucking kowtowing, who doesn’t do it?!’

The Female Ghost was stupefied to see this and said with a trembling voice: “Wen-gongzi….”

Wen Xi kowtowed to her again: “I can’t help you. Please get up and go.”

“Gongzi, don’t do this. How can Gongzi kowtow to me? My lifespan is going to get shortened!” The Female Ghost wept sadly as she laid on the ground and kowtowed to Wen Xi, kowtowing four or five times in one breath. Wen Xi was so angry that his eyes glared fiercely, kowtowing to the Female Ghost several times back.

At that moment, Wen Xi could only wonder what kind of floor the man surnamed Pi had placed on the second floor, since it seemed to be harder than stone itself. However, Wen Xi didn’t give up, and he kept kowtowing until he suddenly heard a familiar voice.

Pi Xiu dried his hair, walked out of the bathroom, saw the two ghosts kowtowing to each other in front of him, and asked: “Are you two trying to see who has the thicker head?”

Pi Xiu slowly walked over and grabbed Wen Xi with one hand, lifting him off the ground. Pi Xiu then looked at the Female Ghost, who was still kneeling on the ground, and said with a cold voice: “Don’t even think of leaving!”

“Wen-gongzi!” The Female Ghost lay motionless on the ground, still insisting on kowtowing: “Please, save Wu Lang!”

After fiercely kowtowing for a long time, Wen Xi was extremely dizzy and speechless, leaning against Pi Xiu with a red forehead. Pi Xiu, seeing that Wen Xi didn’t have the intention to speak, said: “You have been dead for hundreds of years, and the person you want to save has also been dead for a long time.”

The Female Ghost was stunned: “Dead?”

Pi Xiu didn’t care about her, he just took Wen Xi to the sofa to sit down. Then, he reached out and touched Wen Xi’s reddened forehead. Although Pi Xiu was somewhat speechless, he said: “It’s the first time I have seen a ghost getting hurt from kowtowing.”

“Where’s the jade statue?” Pi Xiu asked.

Wen Xi closed his eyes and said: “The female ghost has it.”

Pi Xiu got up and walked towards the Female Ghost. Then, he reached down to retrieve the jade statue, but the Female Ghost took a few steps back with the jade statue in her arms, eyeing Pi Xiu warily. The wretched pale face of the Female Ghost gradually cracked and began to bleed, revealing the appearance she had had at the time of her death.

“Hey, don’t get your blood all over my floor!” Pi Xiu grabbed the Female Ghost with one hand, ignored the screams that came from her throat, and carried her out.

The Female Ghost screamed as she reached out towards Wen Xi: “Wen-gongzi, save me! Wen-gongzi! Huaiyu-gongzi!”

Pi Xiu’s hand jerked, raised the female ghost up and asked: “Huaiyu? Who are you calling?”

Wen Xi raised his head and his eyes were wide open. As he looked at the Female Ghost, he asked softly: “Who the hell are you? How did you get out of the painting?”

“From the painting?”

Pi Xiu frowned, threw the Female Ghost to the ground, and with a well-aimed blow, fixed her in place. Pi Xiu then walked over to the table to pick up the painting to take a closer look at it. Looking at the painting carefully, Pi Xiu discovered that the singer was missing from the painting, leaving a blank space in it.

‘A female ghost crawled out of the painting brought by Li Guizu.’ Pi Xiu sneered, grabbed his phone from the table, and made a phone call.

After waiting for a long time for the call to be picked up, no one answered. Mr. Pi was so angry that he threw his phone on the ground, scaring the Female Ghost to the point of making her cry again. As she tightly held onto the jade statue, the Female Ghost shrank on the ground, trembling.

Wen Xi stood up from the sofa and slowly walked towards Pi Xiu. Then he leaned against him and asked: “He didn’t answer the phone?”

Pi Xiu snorted coldly, separated from Wen Xi, and walked towards the Female Ghost again. After grabbing the Female Ghost’s hair, Pi Xiu asked with a cold voice: “Did Li Guizu send you?”

“No!” The Female Ghost denied: “I was already inside the painting!”

Then, she stretched out her hand towards Wen Xi and said: “Gongzi, help me!”

“He can’t save you.” Pi Xiu forced his hand: “Then how did you get inside the painting?”

The Female Ghost shook her head and said: “I don’t know, I don’t know!”

Wen Xi couldn’t listen anymore. As Wen Xi reached out to press Pi Xiu’s arm, he said: “She may really not know.”

Pi Xiu looked at Wen Xi and asked: “You know her?”

Wen Xi shook his head and replied: “No, I don’t.”

Pi Xiu: “But to me, it seems that she knows who you are. She keeps calling you ‘Wen-gongzi’ again and again. Let me ask you, who is ‘Huaiyu’?”

Wen Xi hesitated at first, but then he admitted: “It’s me. Huaiyu….is my courtesy name.”

When the Female Ghost, still lying on the ground, heard Wen Xi’s words, she sobbed: “Gongzi, don’t you remember Suzhen? You once praised Suzhen’s singing voice, you said that it was beautiful!”

Once she said that, she fell on the ground and cried again, spilling tears of blood all over the floor. Seeing this, Pi Xiu’s head began to ache from annoyance. With a flick of his fingers, a yellow piece of paper flew out from between them and sealed the lips of the Female Ghost, finally making the room become silent.

Lil Broom and Hou Er were called upstairs by their Boss. As soon as they opened the bead curtain, they saw the blood spilled all over the floor and the Female Ghost with a sealed mouth.

Pi Xiu grabbed Wen Xi again and sat on the sofa. Then, Pi Xiu raised his hand and pointed to the Female Ghost: “Clean up everything, and take this ghost downstairs. Watch over her, don’t scare the guests, and don’t make her cry.”

Hou Er carried the Female Ghost downstairs, while Lil Broom squatted on the blood covered floor and began to wipe it clean. Wen Xi turned his head to look at the Female Ghost being carried away by Hou Er.

“Do you remember her now?” Pi Xiu asked.

Wen Xi didn’t reply.

Mr. Pi looked at Wen Xi and asked: “What does that painting have to do with you? Why does the female ghost, who crawled out of the painting, know you?”

Wen Xi rubbed his head and remained silent for a long time before he managed to say: “That’s the portrait of my birthday banquet.”

Pi Xiu raised his frowned eyebrows, asked Lil Broom to bring the painting over and unfold it in front of Wen Xi. Pi Xiu asked: “Which one are you in this painting? Point it out, I wanna see.”

Wen Xi raised his hand, pointing to the man with a red and jade crown sitting on a table, right in the middle of the painting.

Mr. Pi looked at the painting, then at the person in his arms, and couldn’t contain himself from saying: “I can’t really see the resemblance. The face of the person in the painting is twice as big as yours.”

Wen Xi: “That’s how painters used to do portraits back then. Not as good as now.”

“Since this is your birthday banquet, you should know who came.” Pi Xiu pointed to a man dressed in white, who was supposed to be the ‘Taotie’, and asked: “Do you know who he is now?”

Wen Xi sighed: “You also said that it’s difficult to distinguish people apart in this painting. Besides, there are many guests at the birthday banquets, and I only receive those who have prestige. I never cared about those who talk with the maidservants.”

Wen Xi paused and stared at the blank space on the painting where the Female Ghost was supposed to be, then said: “Perhaps, the singer who was closest to the screen has seen Taotie.”

Pi Xiu looked at the blank space for a long time, before saying with a cold voice: “You had better be telling the truth when you say you don’t remember seeing him, Huaiyu-gongzi.”

“I wouldn’t lie to you.” Wen Xi wrapped his arms around Pi Xiu’s neck and revealed a smile: “If I do remember, I will definitely tell you.”

Pi Xiu didn’t reply, and instead, he kept looking at the painting.

Once upon a time, Pi Xiu also came down from the mountains to visit the places where humans lived. He had seen several birthday banquets as colorful and lively as the one shown in the painting. Pi Xiu had been a guest in the homes of aristocrats and Generals.

This ghost Scholar, now dressed in poor linen clothing, claimed to be the host of the birthday banquet, sitting in the center of the painting, wearing a red crown, and dressed in a crimson robe with a pattern embroidered with golden thread. The Female Ghost had also called him ‘Gongzi’.

Pi Xiu pulled down the hands Wen Xi had wrapped around his neck and squeezed it. These were indeed the hands of a Gongzi who had never touched water in Spring3.

“Is this painting yours?” Pi Xiu asked.

Wen Xi nodded: “It was painted by a Scholar who attended the banquet.”

Pi Xiu: “Then how did it fall into Taotie’s hands?”

Wen Xi was stunned. When his family was destroyed, and their wealth was stolen, all of Wen Xi’s belongings were confiscated. He really had no idea how this painting could fall into other people’s hands.

“You don’t remember again?” When Pi Xiu saw that Wen Xi was silent again, his expression became cold.

Wen Xi shook his head: “I really don’t know.”

“Since you’re a Gongzi, how did your bones end up being broken and hidden inside a jar? Why was your soul sealed and suppressed from being reborn? Did your family not care about you?” Pi Xiu made Wen Xi look at the painting and asked with a raised eyebrow: “Could it be that your family fell from grace, and just like the stories, they were unfairly accused of a crime? Were you sent to prison?”

Wen Xi stiffened, but as he forced out a smile, he said: “The reality is not that different from what you just said. The difference is that other people were wrongly accused, and my family was the one to blame.”

Not Wen Xi getting scared of a ghost when he’s also a ghost 

little by little, Wen Xi’s past is getting revealed 

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Ko-fi goal for extra chapies~ ( ˙꒳​˙ ) ♡♡