Chapter 2: Old Mausoleum Swamp
Xue Sui had been in the Old Mausoleum Swamp for ten years.
The Old Mausoleum Swamp had no government, no laws, only darkness and terror, like a place of refuge pieced together from the ruins of abandoned mausoleums.
It was also, in the eyes of the world, a human purgatory.
There were no normal people here, no noble families, no high or low status, yet it gathered people from all walks of life.
The people here committed all sorts of evil, and could also do what others could not.
Things that couldn’t be bought outside could be found in the Old Mausoleum Swamp.
People the government couldn’t kill could be dealt with in the Old Mausoleum Swamp.
As long as there was a need and enough silver money was provided, the Corpse Keepers of the Old Mausoleum Swamp could satisfy everyone’s needs and desires. This was a place of human despair, and also a realm of desire. It was said that in recent years, many officials from the Imperial Court and imperial relatives had sought out the Old Mausoleum Swamp for matters that were inconvenient to handle publicly or could not be resolved.
When she first arrived, Xue Sui had no name…
Before, in the Xue family, everyone called her Xue Liu; her birth father had never thought of giving her a name.
The character “Sui” was one she chose for herself.
“May fortune and blessings bring peace and prosperity.”
She wanted to live, to live well.
Starting from begging for her first piece of clothes, she snatched food from dogs’ mouths, fought with fierce bandits, starved, endured the cold, suffered brutal beatings, and crawled out of piles of dead bodies countless times. She had long grown accustomed to the harsh and cold weather of the Old Mausoleum Swamp, but her body was not strong, and when winter arrived, her hands and feet would easily get frostbite.
Xiao Zhao entered with a copper basin, poured in hot water, and submerged Xue Sui’s fair and slender hands, then took out some essential oil and began to massage them slowly.
“Young Lady, the Xue family is almost here.”
Xue Sui raised her eyebrows, her expression listless as she rippled the water.
“Have everything been arranged?”
“Everything is as Young Lady instructed.”
As Xiao Zhao smiled and replied, clear voices could be heard from outside.
“This is Sixth Miss Xue’s residence. Old woman, hurry up and pay!”
“That dead girl lives here? Is she alive? Boy, you’re not tricking me, are you?”
“One hundred taels. Less nonsense!”
“You want a hundred taels just to lead the way? Are you robbing me?”
“Are you looking for death? Old woman, this is the Old Mausoleum Swamp!”
The surroundings fell silent.
Granny Fang, despite her temper, dared not make a sound.
The notorious Old Mausoleum Swamp, where all sorts of evil deeds were committed, a place beyond the reach of the government, where killing someone was as easy as killing a chicken.
She instinctively felt afraid, took out her money bag to give to the young boy leading the way, and then looked back.
“Sixth Miss? Is this Sixth Miss Xue’s home?”
The climate of the Old Mausoleum Swamp was strange. It was clearly midday, yet the sky was dark and overcast, the sparse daylight appearing murky and dim, with shadows flickering.
The dilapidated small wooden house in the cold wind, like other dwellings in the Old Mausoleum Swamp, seemed imbued with some ghostly aura, exuding a stale, cold aura. A winding stream flowed along the wall, its water deathly still. A few twisted and deformed wax trees made one’s heart palpitate with unease…
“Sixth Miss! Is Sixth Miss Xue here?”
Xue Sui lowered her eyelids and slowly raised her hand, causing a slight ripple on the surface of the water in the copper basin.
Xiao Zhao brought a soft cloth to wipe her hands and then held out a bottle of white porcelain scented paste to her. “Young Lady, do you wish to see her?”
Xue Sui gently rubbed her hands and smiled slowly.
“Open the door.”
The simple door opened silently.
Granny Fang was startled and looked at the woman inside the room.
“You are… Sixth Miss?”
She was no longer the child she once was.
A hibiscus face, peach blossom eyes, hair as black as ink, pupils dark and deep, her hair simply tied in a hair bun, her skin as white as paper, her face beautiful yet harboring danger. She was clearly a maiden of sixteen, yet she inspired fear.
“I am Xue Liu.”
Seeing her smile, Granny Fang cursed inwardly at the bad omen and stepped over the threshold.
The room was simply furnished, with only a table and two chairs, nothing else.
Granny Fang’s suspended heart finally relaxed.
An abandoned daughter, even if she had luckily survived, would surely be a servant, living a humble life. What was there to fear? That moment just now must have been her eyes playing tricks on her, making her feel a chilling aura.
Granny Fang subtly sized up Xue Sui, stated her purpose, and then leisurely stroked her brand-new hair ornaments and clothes, smiling with her upturned eyes.
“Once Sixth Miss enters the Prince’s Mansion, as long as she gives birth to a son or daughter for the Prince, who will be raised by the First Young Lady, she will only have to enjoy blessings from then on…”
Xue Sui listened without any reaction. “What if I refuse?”
Granny Fang scoffed. “Sixth Miss, don’t be ungrateful. If it weren’t for Princess Consort Duan’s favor, such a good opportunity wouldn’t have come to you.”
She then looked around, at the outrageously simple room, and said with a mocking smile, “Young Lady, be a bit more sensible. Don’t refuse a good offer. Becoming a concubine to the Prince is surely better than enduring life in this ghost place, isn’t it?”
Xue Sui smiled slightly. “When you came, did no one tell you the rules of the Old Mausoleum Swamp?”
A gust of cold wind swept through, and Granny Fang involuntarily shivered.
In the Old Mausoleum Swamp, “ghost” was a forbidden word, because there were too many lonely souls here, seeking to demand life.
“Bah, bah, bah, bah! Sixth Miss, this old servant is not easily scared. Don’t pretend to be some noble lady and cause trouble. Hurry up and pack your things and leave. Don’t force this old servant to do it herself—”
Seeing that she didn’t move, Granny Fang reached out to pull her.
Xue Sui slapped her across the face.
“This Mausoleum Land is the dwelling of Yama. Burning, killing, robbing, plundering – heaven doesn’t care, earth doesn’t care, the Emperor doesn’t care. You old hag, how dare you make decisions for me?”
Granny Fang touched her face, looking at her in disbelief.
Had that little maid, who used to endure beatings and scolding, grown sharp talons and learned to peck?
“Bitch! How dare you be so presumptuous?”
Granny Fang, enraged, swung at her.
Xue Sui casually grabbed her hair and forcefully slammed her head against the wooden table.
Her strength was immense. The simple wooden table creaked and, with Granny Fang’s heavy body falling onto it, was overturned and broken into two pieces.
“Ouch!”
Granny Fang clutched her sore lower back. “Bitch, you’re rebelling against heaven…”
Xue Sui grabbed half a bucket of lamp oil and poured it over Granny Fang’s head, then took out a fire starter and lightly blew on the sparks with a smile…
“Go back and tell the First Madam that I still have matters to attend to. Send someone to pick me up in ten days.”
A long scream echoed from inside the room.
Granny Fang fled as if for her life, frantically patting at her burning new clothes…
“Help!”
“She’s gone mad!”
“Sixth Miss has gone mad!”
Several servants of the Xue family rushed over.
After extinguishing the flames, Granny Fang leaned against a large tree by the road, panting heavily.
Her palm felt sticky and soft.
She raised her hand and looked at it in the dim light. Her mind buzzed, as if something was crawling up her spine to the crown of her head.
Blood!
There was blood on the tree, so much blood.
The congealed blood clots crumbled in her palm, like the slime of a slug, impossible to shake off. By the overgrown stream, there was also an unburied leg bone.
“Ah!”
The scream pierced the sky, but no one paid any attention.
From somewhere came the decadent sound of silk and bamboo music, interspersed with a few bursts of beautiful women’s laughter. In the dilapidated alley, figures passed by in the distance and near, appearing like ghosts emerging in the dead of night to demand life, wandering aimlessly under the eerie sky and clouds.
This was the Old Mausoleum Swamp.
A cursed land built by an emperor of the previous dynasty, where two hundred thousand soldiers were buried.
There will be a new book event today, everyone can pay attention~ Mwah~~
