Volume 8: The Days of the Ghost Marriage
Foodstuff
Husband and wife are birds of the same forest1
After passing three wells, the fourth was the laundry courtyard in the northwest corner.
They were familiar with this place. The two of them pushed open the courtyard gate with practiced ease and immediately saw several servants washing clothes inside.
Shen Maomao nodded to them in greeting and said, “We’re here to place red paper on the well cover.”
One of the washerwomen raised a dripping wet hand and pointed in a direction, saying, “The backyard is that way. It’s best not to go alone.”
Shen Maomao deliberately asked, “Why not?”
The washerwoman said, “What are you asking for? I wouldn’t have any reason to harm two young girls like you.”
Shen Maomao didn’t press further, instead thanking her, “Thank you, we’ll be careful.”
The two walked past her toward the backyard. Shen Maomao held Lou Jingmo’s hand as Lou Jingmo pressed the red paper down by the well. Nothing happened the entire time.
Shen Maomao said, “It seems fetching water with two people has already become an unwritten rule in the Shao Manor. Do you think that woman knows something?”
Lou Jingmo shook her head. “Even if she does, she won’t tell us.”
Life is hard, Maomao sighed. But she was only halfway through her sigh when she heard a burst of crying suddenly come from the front yard.
Shen Maomao froze, first shaking her head, thinking the female ghost had chased them from the southwest to the northwest.
Lou Jingmo frowned. “What are you wobbling around for? It’s not a hallucination, someone is really crying.”
Shen Maomao immediately said, “Let’s go, hurry and see!”
As soon as the two arrived in the front yard, they found that the maids and servant women, who had been working separately just moments ago, were now gathered in a circle, chattering away at the person in the middle.
“Why don’t you go to the kitchen and get some salt and vinegar? Try them one by one and see if you can wash it out.”
“How did this even get on there? It’s too scary…”
“If it really won’t come out, maybe you should hide this dress and burn it?”
“What nonsense are you spouting?! The masters keep count of how many clothes they have. Hide it… Do you not want to work at the Shao Manor anymore?”
Shen Maomao listened in for a moment, then curiously pushed her way through the crowd and asked, “What’s wrong? What happened?”
In the very center of the crowd, a young maid was clutching a piece of clothing and sobbing her heart out. Seeing Shen Maomao squeeze in, she answered between sobs, “This dress… it won’t come clean… What do I do…”
As she spoke, she showed them the stained garment. “Look at this… What am I going to do…”
On the clothing was a patch of dark red, looking as if it had been dyed with blood. At first glance, it was quite startling.
Shen Maomao muttered, “This is blood, isn’t it?”
The young maid immediately denied it. “It’s not blood! It’s cinnabar2 that I accidentally spilled on it…” As she spoke, she generously unfolded the garment to show them, with no intention of hiding it.
A woman beside her said, “Alright, stop crying. Try washing it again. If it really won’t come out, just tell the Eldest Young Master the truth. He won’t blame you.”
Shen Maomao’s little plot-point-searching radar lit up at once.
This dress actually belonged to the Eldest Young Master!
“Okay… Thank you all for comforting me…” The young maid wiped away her tears, soaked the dress in the water, and began scrubbing while crying. She scrubbed for a long time, but the red stain on the dress showed no signs of fading.
Lou Jingmo tugged on Shen Maomao’s arm. “We should go.”
As the two walked out of the courtyard together, Lou Jingmo said, “The stain on the dress is blood.”
Shen Maomao nodded. “I think so too. Cinnabar isn’t this color, is it?”
Lou Jingmo nodded. “Cinnabar is so expensive. Where would a young maid like her get so much of it?”
“Blood on clothes that won’t wash out…” Shen Maomao hesitated for a moment, then said, “That reminds me of a joke…”
Lou Jingmo: “Just shut up, don’t ruin the atmosphere.”
Shen Maomao: “Hehe.”
With the northwest corner finished, the next place was the rockery, which was in the direct north of the Shao Manor.
This was where they had previously witnessed Zhai Yiqiao being thrown into the well. Later, Zhai Yiqiao was either dug out or climbed out on her own, made her way to their room in the far northeast corner, and was then sent by the two of them to the Eldest Young Master’s courtyard in the southeast corner. She had been quite busy.
There wasn’t a single person near the rockery. Shen Maomao secured the red paper by the well, and the two of them stared at each other for a while, but absolutely nothing happened.
Lou Jingmo said, “Next one?”
“Let’s go.” After taking just a few steps, Shen Maomao asked, puzzled, “I don’t get it… What’s the point of putting up this red paper?”
Lou Jingmo: “Maybe it provides some psychological comfort…”
Shen Maomao rubbed her head, a headache coming on. “In such a huge manor, just how many secrets could be hidden?”
A lot, that was for sure.
The next place they were supposed to go was the kitchen, but they had agreed to do the kitchen and the Eldest Young Master’s courtyard last, so they went directly to the east side, to the courtyard where Master and Mistress Shao resided.
This was their first time in the east wing. Only after arriving did Shen Maomao realize that the red lanterns outside weren’t even the strangest part.
Two red lanterns hung at the entrance to the east wing’s courtyard, but pushing the gate open revealed a scene of red and white. There were lanterns, funeral banners3, and white funeral flowers. It all looked rather incongruous.
A chubby little boy was sitting in the courtyard. The child wore a melon-rind cap4 with a small, numbered braid at the back, looking like a good fortune doll5 from a New Year’s painting.
The moment the good fortune doll saw them, he asked in a childish voice, “Stop! Who are you?!”
Shen Maomao explained their purpose.
The little fatty stood up, not even reaching Shen Maomao’s thigh in height. “No! Xiao Yu-jiejie already promised to only play with me!”
Shen Maomao: “?? Who?”
Lou Jingmo said, “We’re not here to play, we’re here on official business.”
The little fatty: “You’re lying! You’re all bad people! You must be here to capture Xiao Yu-jiejie!”
Shen Maomao squatted down in front of him and reasoned with him, “The Eldest Young Master sent us. Before we came, he instructed that if you, the Little Young Master, cause any trouble, he’ll come over and spank your bottom!”
The Little Young Master’s expression changed, and he quickly covered his little bottom with his hands. “Then… then give me the paper, I’ll go put it up.”
Shen Maomao pulled out a sheet of red paper but didn’t give it to him right away. “You can put it up, but we have to watch. We can only leave after we’ve seen you complete the task with our own eyes.”
The little fatty frowned, hesitated for a moment, then agreed. “Fine… Then follow me.”
The two adults and one child walked to the backyard together. The little fatty took the red paper to the well, cleverly found a rock to press on it, then clapped his hands and said to them, “How’s that? This should be okay, right?”
Shen Maomao patted his head. “The Little Young Master is so smart! Don’t move this paper later, okay? The Eldest Young Master is sending Steward Shao to come and check.”
The little fatty slapped her hand away. “Who said you could touch this young master’s head?!”
Shen Maomao narrowed her eyes and reached out, pressing down on his little head to keep it still. “Hitting a girl is very impolite behavior, understand?”
The little fatty flailed his arms and legs. “Xiao Yu-jiejie, save me!”
A blast of icy air rushed toward them. Shen Maomao abruptly took two steps back and was shielded by Lou Jingmo, who stepped sideways in front of her.
A black mist billowed out from the well, coalescing into a large black hand that clamped down firmly on the little fatty’s body. The boy’s originally rosy-pink face began to turn white at a visible rate.
The little fatty seemed completely unaware, still craning his neck to look at them like a fox borrowing the tiger’s might6. “Scared now, aren’t you?! How dare you bully me in front of Xiao Yu-jiejie! You’re dead!”
Shen Maomao frowned and looked at Lou Jingmo. “Lou-jie, this…”
Lou Jingmo said in a low voice, “It’s just guarding its food.”
Shen Maomao glanced at the little fatty, her heart aching with pity. “This is too tragic. I treat you like a sister, and you want to eat me?”
Lou Jingmo whispered, “It doesn’t seem to have any intention of eating him right now. Let’s retreat first, don’t startle the snake by beating the grass7…”
So Shen Maomao said, “You’re so amazing, we give up. Little Young Master, you can play by yourself. We have to get back to work…”
The little fatty stood with his hands on his hips, dissatisfied. “No! I’m going to tell my mom to have you… no, just you, transferred over to play with me!”
Play with you? Shen Maomao thought. You’re about to be played to death by your ‘sister’. Who would dare play with you?
But looking at the child’s chubby face, Shen Maomao found it hard to be cruel. “You play by yourself for now. I’ll come find you when I’m done with my work, okay? We can go fly paper kites outside then…”
The little fatty’s eyes lit up with a swoosh, but he still said with great restraint, “Fine, then. Remember to come find me when you’re done…”
Shen Maomao nodded and walked out of the courtyard with Lou Jingmo.
Only after they left did she ask Lou Jingmo, “Did I agree to that too quickly?”
Lou Jingmo shook her head. “It’s fine. In a game like this, there’s nothing wrong with maintaining goodwill toward NPCs.”
Many people had already forgotten that this game’s real name was the Confession Game. Confession is about repentance, about recognizing and correcting one’s own mistakes, not about continuing to do whatever one pleases.
She raised a hand and rubbed the little tuft of hair on Shen Maomao’s head. “To this game, you are special. Maybe you’re also its hope.”
Shen Maomao was instantly puffed up with pride. “Then can we save the little fatty?”
Lou Jingmo: “Don’t say ‘we,’ say ‘you’.”
Shen Maomao: “???”
Lou Jingmo: “You’re the hope, not me. Husband and wife are birds of the same forest, but fly their separate ways when disaster strikes, understand?”
Shen Maomao: “I’m tearing your wings off when we get back!”
Lou Jingmo burst out laughing.
At this point, six of the red papers had been placed completely. All that remained were the Eldest Young Master’s courtyard in the southeast corner and the kitchen in the northeast corner.
The next place they were headed was the kitchen.
Shen Maomao was flustered. “Will it be a problem if we don’t follow the instructions?”
Lou Jingmo said, “Not a big one. Seven of these eight wells are abnormal. Since we’ve already done all the others, these last two won’t make much difference.”
Shen Maomao figured that made sense, so she and Lou Jingmo pressed the red paper down by the well. They waited for a long time, and still, nothing happened.
Shen Maomao began to wonder if they had been overthinking things. “So is the only purpose of the red paper to dispel malevolent energy on a subjective, psychological level, with no actual effect in reality?”
Lou Jingmo was perfectly composed, looking as if everything was under control. “What’s the rush? Isn’t there still one last one to go?”
The author has something to say:
That joke—
A boy and his girlfriend had a fight. In a fit of anger, the girlfriend jumped from the boy’s apartment building, head-first, and died on the spot.
From then on, the boy would always hear a dull “thud, thud,” like the sound of his girlfriend’s head hitting the ground.
Terrified, he found a master to perform an exorcism but forgot to tell the master that she had died head-first.
Later one day, he was climbing the stairs when the lights in the hallway suddenly went out. The “thud, thud” sound came from far to near, scaring him so much his legs went soft and he sat right down on the steps. His girlfriend, her face covered in blood, appeared before him, grimly intending to take his life.
He frantically apologized to her, expressing his regret and love. The girlfriend’s heart softened, and she said, “As long as you wash the dress I was wearing before I jumped, I’ll forgive you.”
The girlfriend had been wearing a white dress before she jumped, which was now soaked through with blood. He went through great pains to find the dress and hid in the bathroom, scrubbing it with all his might. But no matter how hard he tried, the dress just wouldn’t come clean.
As he was washing the dress, the sound of a head hitting the ground came again. His girlfriend appeared before him and said grimly, “Do you know why you can’t get it clean?”
The boy shook his head, crying.
“Because—you’re not using Diao brand laundry powder!”
【This is not an ad, and Diao brand did not pay me.】
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