The Hand of Confession – Chapter 251

Volume 8: The Days of the Ghost Marriage

Pasting Red Paper

Continuing to paste the red paper

There really was a well, located not far behind the courtyard gate. Only a small part of the well’s mouth protruded, and it was covered with a wooden board. If you didn’t look closely, you wouldn’t even notice there was a well here.

This board didn’t have any of those fancy patterns on it. Shen Maomao leaned in to get a feel and, seemingly, it didn’t cause her any discomfort.

Lou Jingmo saw her expression was a bit strange and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Shen Maomao said, “It seems like there’s nothing in this well…”

Lou Jingmo: “You can even sense that?” As she spoke, she picked up a small pebble from the ground, moved aside the stone slab on the well, and tossed it straight in.

“Hey—!” Shen Maomao wanted to stop her, but it was too late. The pebble fell into the water with a thud. The sound was dull and carried a slight echo, but other than that, there was no other noise.

Shen Maomao was a little angry. “What are you doing? What I said isn’t necessarily right! When did you become so reckless?!”

Lou Jingmo blinked innocently. “Didn’t I learn it from you?”

Shen Maomao: “…So it’s my fault??”

Lou Jingmo changed her tune. “It’s because I trust you. It’s all fine. Whatever you say, I’ll believe it~”

Shen Maomao: “…”

“Just stop singing.” Lou Jingmo threw an arm around her neck, pulling her into an embrace. “Don’t be afraid, I’ll protect you, hmm?”

Shen Maomao, blushing, gave her a push and then stuffed the red paper into her arms. “Alright, here’s the red paper, and that’s the well cover. Go on, it’s your time to shine.”

Lou Jingmo shook her head with a smile, pulled out a sheet of red paper, and found a large rock to press down on it to prevent it from being blown away by the wind.

Nothing happened the entire time. It seemed there really was no resident in this well, or… one hadn’t had the chance to move in yet.

The two began to hurry to the next location, from due south to the southwest corner.

The entire Shao Manor was a large compound, within which were smaller courtyards with different functions.

The southwest corner seemed to be the living quarters for the young ladies. Compared to the young masters who had entire courtyards to themselves, the young ladies’ status was slightly lower; two of them shared a single courtyard.

Previously, Milk Tea, Potato Chip, and Su Han had come here to deliver soup to the Second Young Miss and were nearly lured into the well as a result. They were almost certain now: those who had drunk the “spirit water” from the kitchen courtyard couldn’t hear the singing, while those who hadn’t were easily bewitched.

Shen Maomao couldn’t help but feel a little nervous.

Lou Jingmo comforted her, “If you get bewitched, I’ll slap you awake immediately.”

Shen Maomao: “…Thanks, I don’t feel comforted at all.”

However, after her teasing interruption, she wasn’t as nervous anymore and directly pushed open the gate to the small courtyard.

Compared to the world outside, which was decorated with lanterns and colored streamers, the young ladies’ courtyard surprisingly didn’t have a single lantern. It looked both plain and reassuringly safe—and very resource-conscious. The other courtyards in the Shao Manor should really learn from them.

Besides the lack of lanterns, there also seemed to be no servants here.

Shen Maomao looked around and shouted at the top of her lungs, “Is anyone here?!”

Still no response.

She found it strange. “Where are the young ladies? Where are the servants?”

Lou Jingmo also shook her head. “Don’t know. Let’s ignore it for now and complete the mission first.”

Shen Maomao nodded, and together they went to the backyard to find the well.

Just as she passed the house, a mournful song echoed in her ears. The desolate, melodious tune, a series of yiyi yaya¹ like the ramblings of a dream, seemed capable of hooking a person’s soul. It hooked Shen Maomao into dazedly walking forward, only to be met with a backhanded slap from Lou Jingmo.

Shen Maomao: “!!!”

Lou Jingmo flexed her wrist. “Awake now?”

Shen Maomao said, aggrieved, “Sometimes I really wonder if you actually like me.”

Lou Jingmo put on a shocked face. “Why would you say such a thing?”

Shen Maomao: “You hit so hard, aren’t you afraid I’ll be in pain?”

Lou Jingmo retorted, “Of course I’m afraid you’ll be in pain, but if I don’t hit you hard enough, you won’t wake up. I’m even more afraid you’ll lose your will to live and seek death, so you see, I still love you.”

Shen Maomao let out a disdainful “tui”², thinking to herself, afraid I’ll die, my foot. There were so many ways to wake her up, yet she chose this one. She was clearly just trying to save herself the trouble!

She said grimly, “Lou-jie… you’d better not get bewitched…” Don’t fall into my hands, she thought, or I definitely won’t be merciful.

Lou Jingmo smiled. “A day like that will never come.”

After the two finished their wave of bickering-flirting, the female ghost who started it all was still in the well, singing nonstop. This infuriated Shen Maomao to the point of wanting to curse, “Stop singing! What kind of garbage is that! It’s awful!”

The singing stopped. A cold wind blew over the well, making a low “wuwu” sound that was rather creepy.

But with Lou Jingmo backing her up, Shen Maomao wasn’t scared in the slightest. Instead, she added, “With such a lack of musical talent, you should just give up on learning opera in the future. I’ll sing one for you, let you hear what real art is!”

Lou Jingmo expressionlessly covered her ears.

Shen Maomao opened her mouth: “The blue-faced Dou Erdun! Stole the imperial horse! The red-faced Lord Guan battles at Changsha! The yellow-faced…”³

When the song ended, she turned her head. Behind her, Lou Jingmo was watching her with a beaming smile, an intoxicated expression on her face. Seeing her look over, she even clapped. “Well sung! That was beautiful!”

Female Ghost: “o_o??”

For a rare moment, Shen Maomao felt a bit embarrassed. Lou Jingmo really must love her, to abandon her principles just to make her happy.

Shen Maomao pulled out a sheet of red paper and handed it to Lou Jingmo. “I won’t get any closer, in case I fall in. You go.”

Lou Jingmo nodded and pressed the red paper down by the well with a rock. During this, nothing strange happened. The female ghost-jiejie seemed to have taken a blow and didn’t make another sound for a long time.

Lou Jingmo finished placing the paper without incident, took a few steps backward to Shen Maomao’s side, and remained as quiet as a mouse. Nothing happened.

The two of them looked at each other, and just as they turned to leave, the sound of a small child’s laughter suddenly echoed from behind them.

Shen Maomao whipped her head around to find a three or four-year-old little girl standing by the well, who hadn’t been there a moment ago.

The little girl had two pigtails, wore a pinkish outfit, and smiled, revealing two large white teeth. She looked very cute.

But no amount of cuteness could hide the fact that she had suddenly appeared behind them. Shen Maomao shielded Lou Jingmo and took a step back, asking in a soft voice, “Whose child are you? Are you the Second Young Miss of the Shao Manor?”

The little girl didn’t answer her question, her gaze falling on something behind them. She stretched out her two hands and called out weakly, “Mother…”

Shen Maomao turned her head again and found no one behind her.

Goosebumps crawled up her neck, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Just as she was about to turn her head to seek comfort, she saw Lou Jingmo raising her palm.

“Wait!” She snapped awake with a jolt. Looking closely again, there was nothing at all by the well.

It was another hallucination that only she could see, but she felt that the image she saw wasn’t entirely fabricated…

Lou Jingmo sounded a little regretful. “You’re better now?”

Shen Maomao: “What kind of hobby is this?!”

Lou Jingmo said grimly, “Sometimes you’re just too infuriating. I can’t bear to hit you in reality, so I have to ‘save’ you in the game…”

Shen Maomao rolled her eyes. “Oh, thank you so much.”

Lou Jingmo said, “Let’s go, don’t linger here. We’re going to the next place.”

The next place was due west. What was strange was that the small courtyard to the west seemed to be one large warehouse.

The layout of the Shao Manor seemed to have serious problems. Normally, the northern courtyards housed the elders, the east housed the eldest son, the west housed the second son, and the daughters lived in the rear courtyards. But the interior of the Shao Manor was a complete mess—the area that should have been the rear courtyard was occupied by a rockery, and the people living inside had no sense of seniority or order, living very casually.

Just like this place. Although the location wasn’t remote and the architecture was proper and grand, it was filled with a jumble of miscellaneous things—of course, this also included a large portion of the Shao family’s wealth, so the residence had dispatched trusted servants to guard it.

From the courtyard gate to the door of the house, two burly men holding weapons stood in front of every door. Each had bulging muscles; even someone of Lou Jingmo’s height would have to look up at them. They looked like trouble.

Upon seeing them, the burly men asked without emotion, “What are you here for?”

Shen Maomao said, “Steward Shao sent us to paste red paper on the well in the courtyard. We’ve just gotten to this one.”

At the mention of a well, the two guards exchanged a look, but their expressions didn’t change. One of them extended his right hand toward them. “The paper?”

Shen Maomao quickly pulled out a sheet and handed it over.

“You can go now, I’ll paste the paper,” the man said expressionlessly.

“But…”

“Leave here at once.” The man gripped the hilt of his saber. “Otherwise, don’t blame us for being impolite.”

Shen Maomao quickly pulled Lou Jingmo back a step and said, “Big brothers, you must be sure to place the paper down. Remember to find a rock to weigh it down, in case the wind blows the paper away. When Steward Shao comes to check and finds no paper on the well, we’ll be the ones punished.”

When she brought up Steward Shao, the guards’ trust in her increased somewhat, and their expressions visibly softened. “Don’t worry, we’ll definitely get done what we promised you. You can go to the other places and continue pasting red paper.”

Shen Maomao was out of options. Beside her, Lou Jingmo said, “Alright then, thank you.”

After saying that, she took Shen Maomao’s hand and walked out.

After they had walked some distance away, Shen Maomao asked anxiously, “What about this well? I feel like we won’t get a chance to observe it…”

Lou Jingmo wasn’t too concerned about that well. “Since it’s a warehouse for storing important and valuable items, and it’s so heavily guarded… could there be something shady inside? For example, the secret behind these wells in the Shao family?”

Shen Maomao: “Whether there’s a secret or not is secondary. The main thing is, I can’t beat these big brothers.”

Lou Jingmo: “…What a coincidence, I can’t either.”

Shen Maomao: “…” So what are you even talking to me about??

Lou Jingmo said, “What’s the rush? It’s only the third day. The plot will definitely have a major development after the wedding. Don’t panic, it’s not a big problem.”

Fine.

Since she said it wasn’t a big problem, Shen Maomao set her mind at ease, and they set off for the next location.

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The author has something to say:

I want to go to school 555555⁴ online classes are so annoying 555

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