The Hand of Confession – Chapter 271

Volume 8: The Days of the Ghost Marriage

Cui Luoyu¹

Old Grudges

Shen Maomao was a little regretful. She shouldn’t have turned back for that one glance. Other than increasing her fear, that look served no purpose whatsoever.

Baozhu and Feicui might have been trying to scare her, but it was more likely that they were telling their own stories.

She hadn’t expected these two to voluntarily give her information. They had originally seemed like they were going to do something to her, but in the end, they gave up on that plan for some reason. It couldn’t be that the family background she had fabricated had moved them to compassion, could it?

Then again, maybe it was. Judging from Baozhu and Feicui’s daily behavior, they possessed self-awareness and didn’t look much different from humans. Perhaps they still retained the emotion known as pity.

She ran with quick steps in the direction Lou Jingmo had arranged for her, preparing to meet up with her and sort out the plot.

Although she had promised them she wouldn’t tell this matter to any outsiders… from a certain perspective, Lou Jingmo should be considered an insider²… cough. So, she felt no psychological burden at all telling Lou Jingmo about it.

The places Lou Jingmo was heading to were the southwest and the due west. The southwest was where Ying Meng lived, which didn’t need investigating for the time being, so she headed straight for the storehouse in the due west, hoping to run into her there.

There were still two burly men guarding the entrance to the storehouse. Shen Maomao took one look from a distance and immediately passed on the idea of getting in through the main gate. She furtively circled the building a few times and finally discovered footprints on one of the walls.

In the middle of this wall was a small hole, just big enough for someone to step into to climb over. She didn’t know if it had been made intentionally or if it was just there.

The soil in the hole was still fresh, so it was highly likely that Lou Jingmo had left it.

Shen Maomao stood at the base of the wall and visually estimated the height of the hole, thinking she could probably make it. So, she lifted her skirt, rose onto her tiptoes, raised her right leg, and stepped into the small hole, leaving a footprint that overlapped with the original one.

The moment her body was lifted, she reached up with both hands and grabbed the edge of the wall. Then, with a push from her hands and a few frantic kicks of her feet in the air, she scrambled atop the wall in one go.

As she was climbing, she had already confirmed that the courtyard was empty. From her current position, she could still see the backs of the two burly men at the gate. She carefully caught her breath, made sure no one had spotted her, and then jumped down from the wall like a cat. She landed with only a soft thud, attracting no one’s attention.

The courtyard gate was locked from the outside. She tiptoed once around the yard and discovered the well behind the house.

To prevent any accidents, she didn’t go near the well, simply skirting around it.

The courtyard was small enough to be taken in at a glance. Since Lou Jingmo wasn’t outside, she had to be in the house.

She went to the door and tentatively tried to open it.

The old wooden door let out a soft creak. It didn’t attract the attention of the men out front, but it startled her, causing her to stand frozen for a long moment before she dared to move again.

Then, little by little, she opened the door just wide enough for one person to slip through and squeezed inside. It was a good thing she was flat-chested; if it had been Lou Jingmo, she probably would have needed to open it a bit wider.

The lighting inside was a bit dim, but she could take in the entire room at a glance. She didn’t see any sign of Lou Jingmo.

Along the outermost part of the room were some wide-open chests. Real gold and silver were piled carelessly inside, not concealed in the slightest, as if there was no fear of them being stolen.

Beyond this gold and silver, the middle section of the room held vases in chests, calligraphy and paintings covered by boxes, and some other strange and peculiar treasures. She estimated they were all priceless items.

In just a few short decades, Old Master Shao had amassed such a huge fortune by eating, drinking, merry-making, and practicing dark arts. He even looked as if he didn’t care if people stole from him—after all, what was lost would just come back again. It was enough to make even someone like Shen Maomao, who considered herself a person of upstanding principles, feel a flicker of temptation.

Money has always been the thing most likely to make people’s eyes turn red³. That book had firmly grasped Old Master Shao’s weakness, driving him step by step to commit heinous crimes.

Besides all this money and treasure, more than ten chests were stacked in the innermost part of the room. These chests looked particularly different because, compared to the other dust-covered treasures, they were draped with white cloths to keep the dust off.

She lifted one of the cloths to take a look and found that these chests actually had lids.

What on earth could be so precious?

Shen Maomao’s curiosity was piqued.

She lifted a corner of the wooden lid and peered through the crack she’d opened—

—and successfully met a pair of ink-black eyes.

“!!!!”

Her hand trembled, and she almost let go of the lid.

Grass!!⁴

It was a paper effigy⁵!!

The next second, the paper effigy’s eyeballs swiveled, its gaze shifting from the right to the left to stare straight at her.

Shen Maomao’s scalp tingled with fear. She quickly and carefully put the lid back on, muttering, “No offense meant, no offense meant, I didn’t mean to disturb your sleep, Dage⁶…”

“Hiss… hiss…“

A sound like the flicking of a snake’s tongue came from all around, yet it also sounded like a light breeze rustling through thin sheets of paper. In an instant, she felt as if she were being targeted by a pack of venomous snakes. Their venomous gazes turned into steel needles, piercing her entire body again and again until half of her went numb.

“CLANG…“

“THUMP-THUMP…“

In the dim room, next to the frozen woman, dozens of chests began to make noise at the same time, as if the things inside couldn’t wait to crawl out and tear the person outside to shreds.

Shen Maomao was on the verge of tears. “This his mother⁷…”

Isn’t this fishing law enforcement⁸?!!

Making it so mysterious, who wouldn’t be curious?! Who could have guessed there was a trap waiting for her here?!

The commotion in the room was too loud. She could already hear the two guards outside talking—

“Is that a noise from inside?”

“What’s going on?!”

Then came the sound of a key in the lock, followed by the bolt being drawn back. It was only a matter of time before she was caught red-handed and thrown into the well as a snack.

Shen Maomao didn’t want to just sit and wait for death. Gritting her teeth, she rushed deeper into the room.

There was another door on the wall behind the chests. Maybe it led to the back courtyard, and she could find a chance to escape…

With that thought, she pushed the door open and dove inside without even seeing what was in there, then shut the door behind her.

Then, with her back to the door, she turned around and came face-to-face with rows upon rows of neatly arranged memorial tablets⁹. Kneeling below the table that held the tablets was a woman—and it was actually Madam Shao!

Shen Maomao: “…” One wave had yet to subside, and another had risen¹⁰.

“You’ve come?” Madam Shao greeted her in a placid tone, as if she were facing an old friend she hadn’t seen in a long time.

Shen Maomao debated whether she should reply with, “Have you eaten?¹¹“

Fortunately, Madam Shao was very considerate and didn’t require an answer.

She turned around, revealing a deathly pale face. From her forehead to her lips, she was completely white, as white as a piece of air-dried wall putty. Her eyes were pitch-black, with no visible sclera, like a starless night sky, or even the vast, boundless universe.

Shen Maomao’s leg started to shake. Before Madam Shao could speak, she blurted out, “Madam, your… uh, powder today is a bit thick…”

The corners of Madam Shao’s mouth turned up slightly, and cracks began to snake out across her face from her lips, revealing the pale flesh underneath. The sight was so terrifying that Shen Maomao felt she could drop dead on the spot.

The two burly men from outside had come in. Her back was pressed tightly against the door, and she could even hear their conversation clearly—

“What’s going on with these chests?!”

“It’s like there’s something alive hidden inside…”

“Forget it, let’s not worry about it and get out of here. I keep feeling like this place is a bit cursed¹²…”

As it turned out, even burly men were afraid of ghosts.

The sound of their footsteps gradually faded, and Shen Maomao let out a heartfelt sigh of relief.

But she soon realized she had relaxed too soon, because there was still a big boss in front of her waiting to be dealt with.

Madam Shao was shaking all over, but Shen Maomao knew she was shaking for a different reason. She herself was shaking from fear, while Madam Shao… seemed to be shaking from excitement, or perhaps it was the prelude to some kind of mutation.

Her mouth was constantly moving, as if she were saying something. The more it moved, the denser the cracks on her face became, and the more terrifying she looked.

Shen Maomao vaguely heard her saying words like “liar.”

“M-M-M-M-Madam, whoever lied to you, please go find them, okay? I-I-I-I just wanted to come in and find someone, no offense intended!!” she said, struggling on the verge of death.

The skin on Madam Shao’s face began to twist. Her neck jerked to the left, then to the right. Her eyes were wide and round, and the intensity of her trembling grew, as if something was about to burst free from the confines of her body, impatient to enter the world…

Outside was a horde of paper effigies crying out to be fed¹³. Inside was a boss on the verge of mutating. She didn’t have much time left to make a choice.

Shen Maomao chose death.

She slid right down to the floor, hugged her knees, and looked up at Madam Shao. Forcing down her fear, she asked, “Before I die, can you tell me your story? I bet you’ve been holding a lot in…”

This contestant, please tell your story¹⁴.

Madam Shao calmed down.

She cupped her own face with her hands and gave it a couple of twists with a “kacha kacha” sound that made Shen Maomao’s teeth feel sore¹⁵.

Then she looked at her, her pitch-black eyes reflecting Shen Maomao’s huddled form. She spoke coldly, “You’re quite bold.”

Shen Maomao hugged her head and burst into tears. “How am I bold! I’m scared to death, wuwuwuwu!!”

Madam Shao: “…”

She turned her head to look at the memorial tablets behind her, then reached out and picked one up, her fingers tracing the name on it inch by inch.

Shen Maomao wiped her tears and got up, seeing the three characters written at the top—Cui Luoyu.

Yu…

Could this be that Xiao Yu?!

Madam Shao tugged at the right corner of her mouth, a mocking smile appearing on her stiff face. “I was willing to take her surname, to serve the same husband as her, just to stay by her side. But in the end, this is the fate I received…”

Shen Maomao’s expression turned into that of a melon-eater¹⁶.

From the sound of it, this was a grudge between Madam Shao and Cui Luoyu—

—or rather, a grudge between Cui Luoyu and Madam Shao.

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