The Hand of Confession – Chapter 248

Volume 8: The Days of the Ghost Marriage

The Stone Slab

A seal?

There really was a person in the quilt.

The person was lying face down, dressed in a maid’s uniform. Her body and hair were soaked with water, making her look as if she had just been fished out of a well.

Although her face was not visible, judging from her general build, it was Zhai Yiqiao, no doubt about it.

Su Han moved closer to look, asking strangely, “Didn’t you say she was chewed alive by the female ghost in the well? Why would she appear here again?”

“What we said was the absolute truth!” Shen Maomao tried to turn her head but was held in place by Lou Jingmo. “Let me take a look-see¹?”

Lou Jingmo said, “You can look after we’re done.” As she spoke, she reached out and flipped the entire quilt over. A thick, coppery smell of blood instantly rushed into their noses.

Milk Tea let out another short, sharp scream, raising her hands to cover her head, not daring to open her eyes and look that way again.

There was only half a body in the quilt.

Zhai Yiqiao’s entire lower body was gone, leaving a jagged cross-section at her waist. Her internal organs hadn’t spilled out; it was unclear if they had already been hollowed out.

The lower half of the quilt was soaked in blood, a dark, blackish-red.

Milk Tea claimed to be an old player, but it seemed she hadn’t experienced many worlds; her courage hadn’t been trained up yet.

Shen Maomao put herself in her shoes for a moment. If she had slept while hugging a corpse… although she wouldn’t be this dramatic, she could understand why she was so scared.

Beside her, Potato Chips put an arm around her shoulder. “Don’t be scared… don’t be scared… it’s okay…”

Lou Jingmo had no intention of dealing with them and simply turned to Su Han. “Come give me a hand.”

Su Han asked, “To do what?”

“Flip her over, see if it’s really that Qiao person.”

Su Han looked disgusted. “Do we really have to? Can we touch her directly? Won’t she suddenly grab our wrists?”

Lou Jingmo said, “Looks like she died cleanly. What you’re worried about probably won’t happen.”

Su Han gritted her teeth. “Fine. On three, we move together.”

Lou Jingmo nodded.

One on the left and one on the right, they waited for Su Han’s countdown to finish and flipped the corpse over.

Milk Tea didn’t dare to look. Potato Chips glanced over and said numbly, “Your dream… it seems to be real…”

Milk Tea was also stunned. “…What?”

Zhai Yiqiao’s eyes had really been gouged out.

Now, only two empty, hollow sockets remained on her face, dark and exceptionally horrifying.

Shen Maomao was still curious. “So what’s the situation? Can I look?”

Lou Jingmo patted her little cheek and told her the truth. “You can, but I reckon you won’t be scared, you just won’t be able to eat breakfast. Zhai Yiqiao’s lower half is gone, her eyes have been dug out, and the quilt is full of blood.”

Shen Maomao was silent for a second, unwilling to even imagine the scene, and said directly, “Never mind, I won’t look.”

Lou Jingmo reached out and rolled the corpse up in the quilt. This time, she called to Shen Maomao, “Alright, it’s rolled up. Give me a hand, let’s carry her out together.”

Shen Maomao turned her head and saw the damp hair sticking out from the quilt roll. She put on her clothes, slipped on her shoes, and then stood before the corpse, lifting its head through the quilt.

But on the first try, she couldn’t lift it.

“Why is it so heavy?” she asked, puzzled.

Lou Jingmo said, “That’s a good question, because I don’t know how to explain it either.”

Shen Maomao: “…”

Potato Chips asked, “Where are you taking her?”

Shen Maomao said, “Are we supposed to leave her here to sleep with us instead of taking her out?”

Potato Chips shut her mouth, not planning to speak again anytime soon.

As the two were about to carry the corpse out, Su Han quickly slipped on her shoes and followed, perceptively reaching out to open the door for them. When Milk Tea and Potato Chips saw that everyone was leaving, they were even more afraid to stay in the room and chased after them, their clothes in disarray.

The five of them had just stepped outside and hadn’t taken two steps when they ran into Bi Chun, who was coming to assign tasks to the maids.

The moment Bi Chun saw them, her eyebrows shot up. The bamboo stick in her hand made a swish-swish sound as it cut through the air. She barked coldly, “You lot, halt! What is that you’re carrying?!”

Shen Maomao immediately put her acting skills to use. Exchanging a look with Lou Jingmo, she let go of the quilt, dropping Zhai Yiqiao onto the ground with a splat. She started wailing, “Lady Bi Chun, save us! There’s a ghost in the manor!”

Bi Chun frowned. “What nonsense are you spouting? Where would a ghost come from?”

Shen Maomao pointed at the quilt. “This is the servant from our room. She disappeared as soon as she arrived at the Shao Manor, but this morning she suddenly appeared on our bed! Her entire lower half was eaten by a monster, and her eyes were gouged out by a demon! It scared us to death!”

Bi Chun’s eyes darted around as if she’d thought of something. She used her bamboo stick to poke aside the quilt at Shen Maomao’s feet, revealing the corpse’s pale face and empty eyes.

“I remember now!” She prodded Zhai Yiqiao’s lifeless face with the stick. “This is that little hussy who tried to seduce the Young Master, isn’t it? Ptooey! Doesn’t even look at what kind of thing she is, yet she fantasized about seducing the Young Master. Good riddance!”

The other servants nearby lowered their heads, not daring to breathe too loudly.

Bi Chun tapped the stone slabs one by one with her bamboo stick, saying, “All of you, remember this. This is the consequence of seducing the Young Master! Tomorrow is the day of the Young Master’s wedding. You’d better put your minds at ease. You think it’s so easy to fly up a branch and become a phoenix²? Heh, not measuring your own strength.”

After intimidating the servants, she pointed her stick at Lou Jingmo and Shen Maomao. “You two, throw her into the well for me. Such an unlucky thing.”

Shen Maomao looked at Lou Jingmo.

Lou Jingmo asked, “Which well?”

Bi Chun fell into thought. She rubbed her chin, and after thinking for a long while, she said, “Carry her and follow me.”

Su Han quickly asked, “What about us, Lady Bi Chun? What should we be doing?”

Bi Chun said, “You go do what you’re supposed to do. The Shao Manor is so large, with so much work. You mean to tell me you can’t find anything to do?”

No fixed job—didn’t that mean they didn’t have to do anything and could move about freely?

Su Han’s eyes lit up. She immediately replied, “Yes, we understand.”

Bi Chun scanned the area again. Seeing that the servants were all busy in an orderly fashion, she nodded in satisfaction and gestured for Shen Maomao and Lou Jingmo to follow with the corpse.

The two exchanged a look and silently carried the body, following behind her.

The sun had not fully risen, and the lanterns were still lit. The journey was silent. Bi Chun led the way in front, her head bowed as she walked, lost in thought. Shen Maomao and Lou Jingmo carried Zhai Yiqiao horizontally, walking side-by-side behind her.

Shen Maomao tried to communicate with Lou Jingmo with her eyes: What’s with this Bi Chun? Is there something wrong with her?!

Lou Jingmo shot her a flirty wink.

Shen Maomao: “…”

That whole thing about couples knowing what the other is thinking just by exchanging a look is a total lie!!

She and Lou Jingmo had zero chemistry. They could just announce their breakup right now.

The two of them followed Bi Chun, and the further they walked, the more familiar the route felt to Shen Maomao.

It seemed to be the same path they took when they picked up the paper kite yesterday…

Could it be that Bi Chun was planning to stuff her into the sealed well in the Young Master’s courtyard?

Thinking of this, Shen Maomao looked at Lou Jingmo again.

Lou Jingmo blinked at her.

Shen Maomao: “…” Forget it, no more communicating. We’ll know when we get there.

As expected, after walking a little further, she saw the familiar brick wall of the Young Master’s courtyard.

There seemed to be no one in the Young Master’s courtyard. Bi Chun led them in through the main gate, heading straight for the backyard with a clear purpose.

Shen Maomao’s guess was spot on. Bi Chun was indeed planning to throw the person who seduced the Young Master into the well in the Young Master’s courtyard.

From a woman’s intuition, she felt that Bi Chun seemed to have some sort of indescribable feeling for the Young Master.

There was also a well in the Young Master’s backyard. Baozhu had told them about it before, and she had also said that the well had been sealed by the Young Master.

Shen Maomao had originally thought that “sealed” just meant putting a rock over the well to prevent people from drawing water from it.

But when she got there and saw it, she realized that wasn’t the case at all.

The well was only covered by a thin stone slab. A strange pattern was drawn on it, which from a distance looked like a distorted woman.

Bi Chun stopped far away and ordered the two of them, “You go. Throw her in, the unlucky thing.”

The two carried the corpse forward. Lou Jingmo glanced back at Bi Chun and saw that she was staring at the Young Master’s room with a strange expression, not paying them any attention. So, she whispered to Shen Maomao, “Be careful. It’s very likely someone could die here.”

Shen Maomao’s heart skipped a beat, and her expression turned serious.

There were only the two of them. If someone died, it would be either her or Lou Jingmo.

If she died, she could be revived. If Lou Jingmo died, she would be truly done for³.

So Shen Maomao whispered, “Then you step back a bit. I’ll do it.”

Lou Jingmo didn’t fight her for it. After helping her carry the corpse to the well’s edge, she took two steps back, leaving the stage to her.

Shen Maomao reached for the stone slab. A gust of sinister, cold wind blew, making her bones ache. She swallowed hard, and a wailing sound seemed to reach her ears.

It was a woman, crying miserably, as if she had suffered a great injustice, making one want to personally wipe away her tears.

Shen Maomao’s hand began to tremble, but in the end, she pressed it firmly onto the stone slab and dragged it off the mouth of the well.

The crying stopped abruptly, replaced by the feeling of being stared at, extending from within the well.

Shen Maomao saw a pair of crimson eyes. They were filled with bloodshot veins, the pupils shrunk to the size of a pinprick, staring at her with venomous hatred, as if wanting to flay her and break her bones.

She took a sharp step back, which immediately caught Bi Chun’s attention. “What are you two doing? Why are you dawdling so much over a simple task? Do I have to do it for you?”

Shen Maomao’s mind cleared, and she snapped out of the terrifying atmosphere. She looked into the well again, but now it was empty.

Behind her, Bi Chun issued an order: “Hurry up. Throw her in, quilt and all. It’s disgusting.”

Shen Maomao acknowledged with a sound and carefully lifted Zhai Yiqiao’s head, stuffing her directly into the mouth of the well.

With a muffled plop, the sound of the corpse hitting the water echoed.

Bi Chun said, “Alright, put the lid back on. The wedding banquet is tomorrow. You two will clean the Young Master’s courtyard. Remember not to get any funny ideas, or else you’ll share her fate!”

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