(Side Story) Shishu 03

Halfway through the meal, the government officials arrived. The prefect had heard that a master of the arts had come to town, and so he wanted to ask Wang Qianyue to help him deal with the ghosts haunting his old residence.

When he laid eyes on the prefect, Wang Qianyue's face changed.

He didn't actually have any real ability, but he did have a compass left to him by his master. At that moment, the compass was spinning so fast it wouldn't stop, as if it were about to fly apart at any second.

It was precisely thanks to this compass that he had always been able to accurately avoid the truly haunted and cursed places.

But looking at the sword-wielding bailiffs standing at the door, Wang Qianyue knew that this time, he might have finally screwed up.

If only he hadn't been greedy for that hundred taels of silver.

He and Little Mouse were "invited" into the prefect's old mansion by a squad of armed officers. After exchanging a few pleasantries, they locked the door from the outside.

"Apprentice, we might be in trouble." The expression on Wang Qianyue's face was uglier than a cry.

Little Mouse looked at the battered compass in his hand. The needle on it was spinning faster than a fan.

"Right, let's find the back door! We'll slip away while the going's good!" Wang Qianyue was never one to just sit and wait for death. In his own words, his escape skills were absolutely number one in the world.

"We probably can't escape now." Little Mouse surveyed their surroundings and let out a sigh.

Hearing this, Wang Qianyue followed his gaze. Even he could tell—who in their right mind has fog rolling through their courtyard? And accompanied by the mournful sobbing of a woman?

At that moment, a hundred escape plans flashed through Wang Qianyue's mind, but he shot them down one by one.

The thick fog trapped them both.

"Little Mouse! Stay close to me!" Wang Qianyue decided to gamble everything. He pulled out his most treasured possession: a few copper coins left by his master. At that moment, the coins emitted a faint glow, and the fog seemed to retreat slightly in fear.

But when he turned around to grab Little Mouse, the boy was already gone.

"Damn it! Little Mouse! Little Mouse!"

Wang Qianyue shouted a few times, but no one answered.

He gritted his teeth and charged forward holding the copper coins high. If he couldn't get out through the front gate, he would make a run for the back door!

Little Mouse! Don't blame your master for not saving you—I can barely save myself right now!

But what he hadn't expected was that as he pressed deeper, the glow from the copper coins in his hand gradually dimmed. The fog swirled around him, toying with him like a cat with a mouse.

Sweat beaded on Wang Qianyue's forehead. His vision was getting blurry, so he picked a direction and bolted.

Live or die, this was it.

But he guessed wrong. A pair of pale, ghostly arms shot out from the thick fog and clamped down on his throat with a death grip. Wang Qianyue's terrified gaze traveled upward—it was a woman in a red dress, her lips painted a vivid crimson.

He was, after all, supposed to be a Taoist priest.

Ghosts who died wearing red were always the most vicious. A woman who died in her wedding dress? Even worse.

The cold touch around his neck sent his life flashing before his eyes. He saw himself nearly starving to death when his master took him in. He saw himself kneeling and swearing to save all living beings. He saw—

"Master! Master!"

The stinging pain on his face snapped Wang Qianyue back to consciousness. His eyes flew open, and he realized the fog had already dispersed. Little Mouse was crouched beside him, slapping his face with open palms.

"Little Mouse!" Wang Qianyue sat up.

Little Mouse let out a breath of relief. "What were you doing? You ran off on your own, and no matter how much I called, you wouldn't listen. When I chased after you, I found you choking yourself. Master—did our sect teach you how to strangle yourself to death?"

Wang Qianyue felt a bit embarrassed.

"You don't understand. This ghost is vicious. It was all her doing..."

But Little Mouse fell into thought for a moment. "If you ask me, she can't actually kill us."

"Huh?"

"Look, when I found you, you were choking yourself. That means she uses illusions to get you to kill yourself."

Wang Qianyue thought for a moment and nodded repeatedly. "That makes sense."

"So what if we see something? We just don't panic, right?"

"Right, that's the idea... Holy crap, look at all that money!" Wang Qianyue leaped to his feet and ran toward a well.

Little Mouse shook his head in exasperation, jumping up to deliver a kick to his back. Wang Qianyue tumbled headfirst onto the ground. When he got up again, the pile of gold and jewels was gone—all that remained was a well.

"Ahem... not bad, not bad. This was just your master testing you..."

Little Mouse shot him a dirty look. "Have some shame."

"Your master has been roaming the world for years, of course I knew it was an illusion. After all, I mean—who would pile silver on top of a well opening?"

While the two of them bickered, the sound of a woman giggling drifted through the air once more.

Wang Qianyue sucked in a cold breath. "Little Mouse, did you hear that?"

Little Mouse nodded.

"We're in trouble." Wang Qianyue's expression turned grim. "My master told me that when a ghost wails, it has grudges. When a ghost laughs, it means it's about to kill."

Little Mouse nodded. But the next moment, he watched as Wang Qianyue pulled out a heap of tools and started arranging them.

"What are you doing?"

Wang Qianyue spoke with complete seriousness. "Say what you will—I'm still your master. Even if you're not truly my apprentice, you called me master. When the moment comes, I'll hold her off, and you run! Don't look back, understand? If you make it out, don't come back. That official must have done something terrible to deserve this!"

Little Mouse studied him for a long moment.

"Why should we be afraid of ghosts?"

Wang Qianyue blinked. "Why not be afraid? They're ghosts!"

"No, I mean—why are we afraid of them?"

Wang Qianyue was baffled.

"The reason we're afraid of ghosts is that they can hurt us, but we can't fight back. That's why we rely on peach wood swords, talismans, cinnabar, all that stuff." Little Mouse pointed at the pile of junk Wang Qianyue had dumped out.

"Right? You're not saying anything new."

"So what if—just saying—what if we could actually touch ghosts? What would happen then?" Little Mouse's expression turned strangely sly.

Wang Qianyue swallowed hard. "I don't follow. You'd better just run..."

But Little Mouse reach out and put his hand on Wang Qianyue's shoulder.

"Master, you've long suspected I'm not human. But you've got a good heart, and you couldn't bear to drive me away."

Wang Qianyue froze.

He had to admit—since Little Mouse had started tagging along, that compass went haywire at random moments. And at night, Little Mouse's body went stiff as a board, with no breathing at all. But come morning, he was as lively as any living person.

At first, Wang Qianyue had been terrified. But later, he reasoned it out: Little Mouse probably didn't realize he was dead. If he abandoned him alone, the kid would be truly done for. So it was better to keep him close. Even if the worst happened, Little Mouse would never turn on him.

The only thing he couldn't figure out was how a living corpse like that could eat more than he did.