The Hand of Confession – Chapter 263

Volume 8: The Days of the Ghost Marriage

Conspiracy?

Main plot?

Shen Maomao didn’t think much of it. The bite of food was so salty her throat was on fire, and she was desperate for a drink of water. She picked up the small bowl and drank the water down in one gulp, her eyes immediately widening in surprise.

This water…

“Hah…” The carbonation made her mouth tingle and go numb. The spicy-tasting liquid flowed directly down her throat and into her stomach, catching Shen Maomao completely off guard.

This water was actually the damn flavor of fat otaku happy water¹!!

Baozhu said: “What’s wrong? Did you taste something?”

Shen Maomao didn’t answer, asking instead: “Did you guys give me Spirit Water to drink?”

Baozhu said: “What’s wrong? Does it not taste good?”

Shen Maomao frowned: “It’s not a question of whether it tastes good… Such… such precious water, how could you just casually give it to me to drink?”

The main thing is, there might be a corpse soaking in this water! She really wanted to spit out all the water she had just swallowed!

Baozhu tilted her head, looking at her in confusion: “Why can’t you drink it?”

Shen Maomao didn’t know how to tell her, and besides, Baozhu had tried every possible means to make her drink the Spirit Water; who knows what kind of bad idea she was plotting in her heart.

She gave a dry laugh and said: “It’s nothing… I was just worried you’d get scolded by the head chef.”

Baozhu said: “Don’t worry, he won’t find out.”

Shen Maomao nodded, finishing the bowl of rice without tasting the food. Her chopsticks never reached for those two dishes again.

While eating, she remained vigilant, afraid that Baozhu and Feicui would suddenly make a move, but until she finished eating and put down her chopsticks, neither of the two made any move.

After finishing the meal, Baozhu said: “Alright, you can go find her now. We still have to destroy the evidence of all this…”

Shen Maomao’s heart skipped a beat, and she grew inexplicably uneasy.

But she did indeed walk out of the kitchen safely.

The warm sunlight shone on her body, dispelling the chill from the kitchen. She moved her cold hands and feet a little, lost in deep thought as she walked—

Baozhu and Feicui definitely had a problem, but she couldn’t say exactly what the problem was.

Why did they want her to drink the Spirit Water? Was the water she drank from the kitchen or from the Eldest Young Master’s courtyard? How was the newly-married Eldest Young Master now? Did Madam Shao truly resurrect, or was it a reanimated corpse?

She walked along the bluestone slabs toward the southeast. Before she had taken more than a few steps, she saw a paper kite trembling as it flew up into the sky. Shen Maomao’s eyes lit up, and she immediately quickened her pace and started to run.

In the open space in front of Madam Shao’s courtyard, the little fatty with red eyes was holding a kite reel and running around wildly, while Lou Jingmo stood beside him, looking at him speechlessly.

“Lou-jie!” The shout escaped her lips. Lou Jingmo turned her head at the sound. Shen Maomao waved at her excitedly, then ran up to her.

“You’re awake?” Lou Jingmo was still immersed in the morning’s tenderness, and her voice was especially soft and gentle.

Shen Maomao nodded: “I’ve been awake for a while.”

Lou Jingmo looked at her flushed cheeks and couldn’t resist pinching one, but was startled by the heat of her face: “Why is your face so hot?” As she spoke, she reached out to touch her forehead.

Shen Maomao obediently let her touch, saying: “It’s from running, right? I just ran all the way from the kitchen…”

“What were you doing in the kitchen?” The temperature on her forehead was indeed a bit high. Lou Jingmo said speechlessly, “It seems like you have a bit of a fever. You don’t feel it yourself?”

Shen Maomao shook her head: “No, I feel great, my appetite is amazing, I could even climb sixteen floors in one breath. Weren’t the servants all crying for Madam Shao at the door just now? I was here too, and then suddenly news came from inside that Madam Shao was fine. I originally wanted to go in and find you, but Feicui and Baozhu insisted on taking me to the kitchen, and even tricked me into drinking the Spirit Water…”

“Spirit Water?”

“Yeah, not sure which courtyard it’s from, but the kitchen is more likely…”

“What flavor was it?”

Shen Maomao: “?? What kind of a focal point is that?”

Lou Jingmo shifted the blame back: “…I learned this from you. It’s all your influence on me.”

Shen Maomao was speechless and helpless: “We’re talking about serious business, Big Sis, don’t mess around.”

Lou Jingmo said thoughtfully: “So, it seems the well water has some other use in this instance…”

Shen Maomao had a look of sudden realization: “According to what you’re saying, the reason I have a fever is because of this water of unknown origin, right?”

“I never said that.” Lou Jingmo said, “…You have a fever because you were caught in the rain last night and didn’t rest well.”

Shen Maomao: “…”

The atmosphere froze for a moment. Lou Jingmo skipped the topic and said: “The one who was resurrected is not Madam Shao.”

Shen Maomao quickly cooperated and discussed the serious matter with her: “What’s the situation inside? I didn’t get a chance to go in.”

Lou Jingmo said: “This morning, the servants of the Shao Manor found that Madam Shao and her head maid, Haitang, had both disappeared. In the end, everyone fished their two bodies out of the well.”

Shen Maomao glanced at the little fatty flying the kite with red-rimmed eyes and pressed: “And then?”

“Then the two were confirmed to have stopped breathing. The Second Young Master ordered the servants to immediately prepare for the funeral. When the servants were talking about it, that little ancestor heard them, so I brought him over here.”

“I’ve seen the bodies; they were definitely dead through and through. The one who woke up later seems to have some connection with that Xiao Yu… but I’m not too sure either.”

Shen Maomao asked her: “Have you figured out the main plot of the instance?”

Lou Jingmo asked in return: “What do you think?”

Shen Maomao: “I think… Old Master Shao must have obtained some sort of opportunity, like gaining wealth by throwing his wife into a well or something. In order to get rich, he started doing this kind of utterly immoral business, and then used these unknown methods to accumulate his current fortune…”

Lou Jingmo: “More or less. Now we have to figure out what his opportunity is, what the identities of the people in these eight wells are… and also, how to destroy his opportunity.”

If we think about it from the perspective of a game’s values, the biggest villain boss in this instance shouldn’t be a ghost, but the person who killed all these people.

Old Master Shao is already dead, so the path of helping them get revenge is not viable. But they can take the route of liberating or killing the female ghosts. All roads lead to Rome, and even in nine deaths, there can still be one life.

The little fatty flew the kite for a while, digested all the food in his stomach, and then started clamoring that he was hungry.

He turned his head while shouting that he wanted to eat, and only then did he see Shen Maomao, saying in surprise: “Why are you here?”

Shen Maomao rolled her eyes.

You’ve been monopolizing my girlfriend for so long, can’t I even stand here for a little while?!

Lou Jingmo said: “Let’s go. Reel in the kite and let’s go to the kitchen.”

The little fatty held up the kite reel.

Shen Maomao: “?”

Lou Jingmo: “Reel it in. What are you waiting for?”

Shen Maomao: “?? I have a fever, and this is how you treat me?”

Lou Jingmo: “You’re a long way from dying. Besides, a little exercise is good for recovery.”

Shen Maomao: “…”

She began to wind the kite string with great suspense, thinking as she wound—Does she have M-tendencies? When Lou Jingmo is around, she finds her annoying and gets angry, but when she’s not around, she worries and thinks about her…

As she thought, her train of thought went astray—She wondered, did Lou Jingmo save the world in her past life, to be able to find a girlfriend like her?

After the kite string was wound, the little fatty came over and pulled on her and Lou Jingmo’s arms, urging: “Let’s go… let’s go… my stomach is about to starve flat…”

Just as the three of them were about to leave, a voice suddenly came from behind: “Stop! Where are you all going?” The two older ones hadn’t yet distinguished who the voice belonged to when the little fatty had already turned his head happily and pounced, calling out sweetly: “Mother~ You’re awake?!”

Shen Maomao’s back stiffened. She turned her neck bit by bit and, sure enough, saw the resurrected Madam Shao.

Madam Shao had changed into brightly colored clothes and had also changed to a very girlish hairstyle. People in ancient times married and had children early. Although she had given birth to three children—the Eldest Miss and the Second Young Master included—her actual age was not yet forty. Coupled with her usual proper maintenance, dressing like this wasn’t entirely out of place…

But Shen Maomao always felt that something was strange.

Madam Shao picked up the little fatty and said gently: “Mother is fine… Were you scared?”

The little fatty acted spoiled and said: “I’ll never make you angry again, Mother… Don’t scare me like that again in the future. You nearly scared me to death.”

Madam Shao hugged him tightly, pressing his head onto her shoulder, but her eyes weren’t looking at him. Instead, they were cast toward the illusory air, and her tone was as light as a puff of smoke: “Don’t worry… it will never be like this again in the future…”

Her words made Shen Maomao’s scalp tingle.

The little fatty rubbed his stomach: “Mother, I’m hungry…”

“Let’s go… Mother will take you to eat something…” Saying this, she carried the child and walked toward the courtyard. Before leaving, she gave each of them a light, fleeting glance with her eyes.

Shen Maomao stood at attention on the spot, just short of giving her a salute.

The woman gave a contemptuous smile, turned her head, and left with the child in her arms. A wisp of black qi overflowed from her body and dissipated into the air in an instant, so fast that Shen Maomao thought she was hallucinating.

After she walked into the courtyard, a waiting servant shut the door with a “pa” sound. Shen Maomao immediately said: “Lou-jie! Did you see that clearly just now?!”

Lou Jingmo nodded: “This is the connection I was talking about. That Xiao Yu from the well also has black mist on her.”

Shen Maomao speculated: “Could it be that Xiao Yu had a grudge against Madam Shao, killed her for revenge, and then occupied her body to move about?”

“That’s a possibility, but I’m more afraid of another situation…”

“What?”

“Xiao Yu has taken Madam Shao’s identity, making Madam Shao stay at the bottom of the well in her place.”

Shen Maomao said with dawning horror: “Then what about the little fatty?! Will he be in danger?”

Lou Jingmo scanned her up and down: “You think you can snatch him back from the hands of a ghost?”

Shen Maomao: “…I can’t…”

“Then that settles it.” Lou Jingmo started walking forward, a sentence drifting into her ear, “Let’s go. Let’s find Su Han, and see what her thoughts are after drinking the well water. Maybe we can even figure out the reason why Baozhu and Feicui were so insistent on making you drink the well water.”

---

---