Chapter 8: Possessed By Evil
The sudden change startled Jiang Ce.
Weren’t the ghosts supposed to have no intelligence? How could it speak?
But after the surprise, Jiang Ce couldn’t help but suspect, could this be a unique ability of Jianghu sorcerers?
Out of curiosity, Jiang Ce probed: “What’s the deal? Tell me in detail.”
The old man didn’t stand on ceremony and recounted the whole story from beginning to end.
“A month ago, I picked up a bronze statue from Antique Street. I saw its pure bronze material and the craftsmanship from the Qin and Han periods, thinking I might get a bargain. I thought I’d have to spend a lot, but unexpectedly, the vendor seemed completely clueless about its value.
At first, I thought I’d made a killing, getting the treasure for just a few dozen bucks, but one day after waking up, I found the bronze statue had appeared at my bedside.
At the time, I thought it was my grandson being naughty, placing it by my bed while I slept, so I didn’t think much of it. Until it appeared at my bedside a second time, and after asking my grandson, he denied putting it there, that’s when I felt something was off.
That night, I put the bronze statue in the study and locked the door before sleeping, but when I woke up the next day, it was at my bedside again!
I wanted to throw it away, but every time I did, it would reappear at my bedside the next day.
I was going crazy, but what broke me even more was that my body was getting weaker day by day. Although my family said my complexion was getting better and better, I knew it was corroding me, draining me every day.
I remembered how the person who sold me the bronze statue was physically healthy yet extremely frail, and that’s when I realized he was a victim too—only by reselling the bronze statue could one escape the curse.
But when I went to Antique Street to demand an explanation, I couldn’t find that person at all.
Helpless, I had no choice but to follow his example, carrying the bronze statue to Antique Street every day, hoping to find a scapegoat. But for over ten days straight, not a single person inquired.
I was getting weaker and more desperate, until yesterday, when I felt I might not hold out much longer. I finally told my children, but not only did they not believe me, they thought I was senile, saying I was clearly very healthy.
I know I’ll die, but I can’t let the bronze statue finish me off and then harm my family. I won’t rest in peace!
Great Immortal, please, help me. Otherwise, I won’t find peace even under the nine springs!”
The dazed ghost stood in front of Jiang Ce, while Jiang Ce kept nodding, sometimes pursing his lips, sometimes frowning. The scene was extremely bizarre and terrifying; if anyone saw it, they’d probably faint on the spot.
Jiang Ce pondered for a moment, then finally spoke: “After hearing it all, I feel like… you’re not exactly a good thing either.”
“Huh?” The old man clearly didn’t expect Jiang Ce to say that and was momentarily dumbfounded.
“Let me sort it out for you.” Jiang Ce counted on his fingers: “First, greed, right? Thinking of getting a bargain, but you ended up being the unlucky person. Second, not very upright—you got unlucky, but if you’d been luckier, wouldn’t you have passed the bronze statue to some other unlucky person? Third, you’ve been rained on, so you tear up others’ umbrellas too. If you won’t rest in peace, fine, but why make trouble and even want to reanimate as a corpse? You’re really not a decent thing.”
The old man felt depressed by Jiang Ce’s words, unhappy inside but unable to find a retort, so he could only stew in silence.
“But…” Jiang Ce changed tack: “Whether you’re a good person or not has nothing to do with me anyway; it doesn’t affect me. I only care if you’ll cause trouble in my territory. As long as you don’t act up, everything’s fine.
And there’s one thing you said that makes sense—your family is innocent. So as long as you promise not to make trouble and get cremated obediently, I’ll go to your house to check out the situation, though I can’t guarantee I can solve it.
Anyway, pick one: either obey nicely and I’ll give it a try, or keep making trouble, and not only will I ignore you, I’ll deliver you right on the spot.”
The old man struggled for a long time but finally gave in.
“Then… I’ll trouble the Great Immortal.”
“Don’t call me Great Immortal, call me True God!”
“Uh… then I’ll trouble the True God.”
“Alright, go on. Tomorrow, turn fully ripe on your own; don’t make things difficult for me.”
“…Okay.”
With the conversation ending, the old man’s ghost faded and vanished. Jiang Ce looked at the corpse on the iron rack; sure enough, it gradually relaxed into a normal supine position, its expression changing from ferocious to serene.
At the same time, Jiang Ce was pondering the bronze statue the old man mentioned.
“What kind of ghost can inhabit an object? Hope it’s just an ordinary ghost; otherwise, don’t blame me for running away.”
Just then, the door was flung open. Chen Mian rushed in irritably, with Fang Yihang trailing far behind, looking unwilling to enter the room again.
“Damn it! Phone’s not connecting! Goddamn it, can’t act first and report later. What the hell do I do?”
Looking up, Chen Mian saw the serene corpse and froze in place.
“This, this this this, what’s going on?”
Chen Mian’s gaze darted wildly between Jiang Ce and the corpse, quite shocked by the change.
Jiang Ce shrugged: “I don’t know. I just tried talking to it a couple times, and it settled down.”
“What did you say?” Chen Mian grabbed Jiang Ce’s shoulders hard; his glasses fell to the ground unnoticed. His big eyes were full of doubt, extremely curious about how Jiang Ce had restored the corpse to normal.
“Just…” Jiang Ce gave a dry laugh: “Just told it that if it had any unfulfilled wishes, to send me a dream message instead of troubling others, and it went back to normal. I don’t know the principle.”
“That simple?!” Chen Mian found it hard to believe.
Jiang Ce nodded: “That simple. What’s most important between people? Communication!”
The nonsensical words made Chen Mian’s expression very strange, but he still released Jiang Ce and breathed a sigh of relief: “Anyway, as long as it’s fine.”
At that moment, the phone rang. Chen Mian answered: “Hello? Are you Su Da Yong’s family? Oh, I’m the funeral director in charge of your old man. Mm, nothing urgent, everything’s normal. Just want you to come early tomorrow; the paperwork is quite troublesome. Mm, no problem, no need to thank me, not a bother.”
Hanging up, Chen Mian looked at Jiang Ce solemnly and said sincerely: “Thanks to you this time.”
Jiang Ce waved it off: “Ah, Uncle Chen, no need to be so formal. I didn’t do anything special, just my duty. Oh right, I forgot to report something important to you—this old Mr. Su just used your glutinous rice to draw a ‘400’ on the floor. I don’t know what it means, but you surely do.”
Chen Mian couldn’t help laughing: “Your little scheme is so loud the whole Luocheng can hear it. Forget about the bonus; said two hundred, it’s two hundred.”
Jiang Ce’s expression instantly cooled: “Oh, then Uncle Chen, if nothing else, I’ll head out. Gotta hurry back to sleep; still waiting for a dream message later.”
Seeing Jiang Ce change faces so blatantly, Chen Mian wasn’t annoyed but smiled and said:
“Like that, huh? I was going to tip you off about my retirement plans, and originally thought to ask your thoughts on going permanent. Since that’s the case, go ahead and get busy.”
Jiang Ce had almost reached the door but turned back at those words, slinging an arm around Chen Mian’s shoulders with a fawning smile:
“It’s so late, and Uncle Chen, your place is far. I remember we’re on the way, right? How about I drive you home? We can talk details on the road.”
“You live west of the city, I live east—this is ‘on the way’?”
Though saying that, Chen Mian didn’t refuse; the weight lifted from his heart made this the most pleasant moment.
The two walked out of the funeral home chatting and laughing. Passing the bewildered Fang Yihang, Chen Mian smiled and said: “It’s all good now, you can go. Tomorrow, collect your bonus from accounting yourself.”
Watching their backs, Fang Yihang still didn’t know what had just happened.
“It’s all good just like that? Don’t we still need to cremate the corpse?”
The more he thought, the stranger it seemed; steeling himself, he returned alone to the compartment.
At that moment, the old man thought Jiang Ce had left and wanted to check out the cremation furnace while no one was around to mentally prepare, but upon opening his eyes, he bumped right into Fang Yihang walking in.
“Ghost!!!”
Fang Yihang’s eyes rolled back white, and he toppled straight over stiffly.
If Jiang Ce were there, he’d surely quip: Straight for life.
That night, the funeral home was exceptionally quiet.
