The Hand of Confession – Chapter 247

Volume 8: The Days of the Ghost Marriage

The Corpse

It’s Zhai Yiqiao!

If you had to ask Shen Maomao how she felt right now, it would be—quiet.

The breathing of the few people around her was faint. They were huddled motionlessly in their quilts, not even making a sound as they turned over.

She clutched the candle as if it were her last life-saving straw, her heart beating furiously.

It was too quiet.

She couldn’t hear the wind outside, yet the shadows of the trees on the window were swaying. She couldn’t hear the chirping of insects outside, yet flying bugs would flash past the window from time to time.

It was as if their room had been isolated from the outside world, or perhaps only she had been isolated, huddled in her cold quilt, surrounded by a bone-deep chill.

The dark wasn’t scary; what was always scary was the human brain’s ability to conjure things up.

In just that short while, a horde of bizarrely shaped monsters had already appeared in Shen Maomao’s mind, each one diligently sharpening its claws, ready to rush over and tear her to shreds at any moment.

The more she thought, the more frightened she became. From Kayako to Sadako to Auntie Mei¹, she ran through a list of classic female ghost-jiejies from home and abroad.

Just as her fear value was about to skyrocket to its peak, a pair of warm hands suddenly reached into her quilt, making her jolt in fright. She whipped her head to the side to look.

By the red light from outside the window, she saw Lou Jingmo lying beside her, her eyes open.

Lou Jingmo’s eyes were full of amusement, but Shen Maomao couldn’t see them clearly.

She copied Shen Maomao and sat up, carefully draping the quilt over her body. Her movements made some rustling sounds, which put Shen Maomao greatly at ease.

The air outside the quilt was exceptionally cold. Lou Jingmo shifted her position and pulled Shen Maomao, quilt and all, into her own quilt, then lowered her head and gently kissed her hair.

Shen Maomao’s face flushed red. The faces of the female ghost-jiejies slowly drifted away in her mind, leaving only Lou Jingmo’s.

She really, really likes Lou Jingmo, ahhh!!

How could Lou Jingmo be so wonderful?!

A feeling that was difficult to describe in words surged in her heart, even causing her eyes to grow hot.

Those weren’t tears of grievance or sadness, but simply a physiological reaction born from excessive emotion—proof that her affection for Lou Jingmo had filled her to overflowing.

All her fear and aloofness vanished in that instant. She pulled her own quilt away and squeezed her entire body into Lou Jingmo’s embrace, sharing the warmth of a single quilt with her.

Their bodies pressed tightly together, separated only by two thin undergarments. Lou Jingmo’s arm was wrapped around her waist, her head buried in the space between Shen Maomao’s neck and shoulder, her warm, damp breath ghosting over her skin.

It was a very intimate position, but neither of them made any further moves, simply hugging each other like conjoined twins.

Shen Maomao heard Lou Jingmo’s heartbeat, and she heard her own.

The two chaotic heartbeats gradually merged into one, beating at the same frequency in two different chests.

Until Lou Jingmo’s legs went numb.

And Shen Maomao’s butt also went numb from sitting.

Lou Jingmo glanced at the watch; it was five minutes to eleven.

Time flew by when they were together; two hours had passed without them realizing.

Nothing had happened in those two hours, but that didn’t mean the time to come was safe. Shen Maomao’s turn was over; next up was Lou Jingmo’s star performance.

She made a gesture at Shen Maomao, signaling that she could lie down and sleep, and to leave the rest to her.

Shen Maomao handed her the candle and the tinderbox², then smoothly lay down on the bed. But she didn’t close her eyes, merely wrapping herself in her little quilt and looking at Lou Jingmo, her eyes sparkling.

She was actually a little sleepy, but Lou Jingmo had kept her company for two hours, and she wanted to stay up with Lou Jingmo as well.

Lou Jingmo reached out and tapped her on the nose. Her fingertips were as cool as jade, making Shen Maomao instinctively grab her hand and rub it up and down to warm it.

Another hour passed. Shen Maomao finally couldn’t resist the surging tide of sleepiness. Maintaining her position facing Lou Jingmo, she closed her eyes, and her breathing grew heavy.

Lou Jingmo looked at Shen Maomao for a while, then stared out the window for a while. She sat like that for another hour, holding the candle, and the supposedly most dangerous hour of midnight passed by in silence.

She silently got out of bed, went over to Su Han’s side, and patted her awake to hand over the candle. Then she quickly returned to her spot, wrapped her arms around the sleeping Shen Maomao, and closed her eyes as well.

Su Han rubbed her eyes and quickly became alert, then began her watch.

She sat up and looked out the window, drowsiness enveloping her, making her yawn widely, one after another. Tears brought on by sleepiness trickled down from the corners of her eyes.

In the middle of a yawn, her movements suddenly froze. Her eyes widened as she stared out the window.

A figure with long, disheveled hair was standing in front of their window, walking step by step toward the door.

She trembled all over and quickly took out the candle, her hands shaking as she lit it. The light illuminated the room; her four roommates were sound asleep, completely unaware of the approaching danger.

She stared out the window without blinking, her hand holding the candle trembling ceaselessly. She didn’t even notice when hot wax dripped onto her hand.

The person outside moved very slowly. As the figure passed, Su Han could clearly feel a damp vapor seeping in through the cracks in the door and window, coiling around her limbs and tightening around her throat, preventing her from making a single sound.

In a daze, she even had the illusion that she had been placed on the gallows. The darkness, like a rope, tightened bit by bit around her neck. She found it hard to breathe, a buzzing sound started in her ears, and death beckoned to her from just outside the door.

Then she watched as the person walked past their door, heading in an unknown direction until they disappeared completely.

The fear that had followed her like a shadow³ vanished in an instant. She collapsed against the wall, gasping for breath.

Shen Maomao was woken up by her panting. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, asking, “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“Something passed by our door…” As she spoke, Su Han glanced at Milk Tea and Potato Chips beside her.

The noise she had just made wasn’t small—even Shen Maomao, who was farthest from her, had woken up, yet those two had no reaction at all.

They were really sleeping soundly.

As for whether they were really asleep or just pretending… she had just been through a life-and-death experience and was in no mood to worry about such things.

Shen Maomao asked, “Is it okay now?”

Su Han nodded, then blew out the candle. “It should be fine… You guys go back to sleep, I’ll keep watch.”

Shen Maomao was truly exhausted, so she didn’t stand on ceremony with her. She groggily closed her eyes, squeezed herself into Lou Jingmo’s embrace, and fell asleep again.

All of Su Han’s sleepiness had been scared away by the terrifying scene just now. For a moment, she couldn’t fall asleep either and could only overcome her fear and continue to stare out the window, forcing herself to stay awake until three o’clock.

The moment it turned three, she immediately woke up the two people next to her, shoved the candle, tinderbox, and the rectangular digital watch into their arms all at once, and finally reminded them in a low voice, “Remember to keep looking out the window. If there’s someone outside, light the candle immediately. Don’t even think about calling for help, because you might be too scared to make a sound…”

Potato Chips nodded, gripping the candle and tinderbox. The two of them shifted their positions, choosing to sit at the innermost part of the communal bed with their backs against the wall, as if that could give them a sufficient sense of security.

…

The next morning, the rooster’s crow rang out again, along with the sounds of the other servants getting out of bed.

Shen Maomao wasn’t woken by the rooster but was startled into sitting bolt upright by a scream. “What’s wrong??!”

Lou Jingmo sat up with her, stroking her head to soothe her. “There, there, don’t be scared.”

Shen Maomao rubbed her eyes. “What’s the situation?!”

The one who had screamed was, in fact, Milk Tea.

Shen Maomao craned her neck to look in her direction, only to discover there was an extra person on their bed.

Next to Lou Jingmo, in the spot that originally belonged to Zhai Yiqiao, there was now a bulging quilt.

Milk Tea was huddled in a corner with her head in her hands, shaking like a sieve. She cried, “It’s Zhai Yiqiao! She came for me! She came for me!!”

Potato Chips, beside her, kept comforting her. “Don’t be scared, don’t be scared. You didn’t do anything to wrong her, why would she come for you…”

Milk Tea pointed at the bulge, saying hysterically, “She’s in there! I dreamed it… I dreamed it…”

Su Han, who had been squeezed into sitting up by her, heard this and asked, “What did you dream?”

“I… I dreamed that when I woke up this morning, as soon as I opened my eyes, I found myself hugging a quilt and the person inside it…” Milk Tea said. “I immediately threw back the quilt, and inside… inside was Zhai Yiqiao, without any eyes…”

Shen Maomao glanced at Lou Jingmo, who in turn asked, “What time is it now?”

Potato Chips was silent for a second before answering, “4:30…”

Su Han was immediately displeased. “Didn’t you say you’d watch until dawn? Why did you fall asleep?”

Potato Chips hurriedly explained, “Because it felt like nothing else was going to happen, and we were just too tired… We were only asleep for less than half an hour…”

Just as Su Han had been able to lash out at Zhai Yiqiao before, she could now lash out at them. Her explosive temper went off at the slightest provocation, and she immediately flew into a rage. “We agreed at the time that each person would take a two-hour shift, but you two insisted on doing it together, and we agreed without saying a word. And the result? Two people on watch, and both of you fell asleep? What were you guarding? Waiting to hold a wake for us⁴?”

Shen Maomao: “…”

Milk Tea said with red-rimmed eyes, “It’s not necessarily our fault… Maybe the instance deliberately made us sleepy to get Zhai Yiqiao in here?”

Su Han sneered, “Do you think that excuse is reasonable?”

“That’s enough,” Lou Jingmo, annoyed by their bickering, said in a cold voice. “If you’re going to argue, get the hell out.”

After speaking, her voice softened again. Without looking at the three’s expressions or reactions, she turned to Shen Maomao and said, “Turn your little head back around. No peeking.”

The contrast was so obvious that the corner of Su Han’s mouth twitched.

Shen Maomao obediently turned her back to them and said sweetly, “Okay.”

The next second, Lou Jingmo yanked back Zhai Yiqiao’s quilt, revealing the person hidden inside.

---

---