Chapter 263
Chapter 263
Of those four suspects, the Seventh Concubine was undoubtedly the most suspicious.
For one thing, she had been the first person murdered. She had died in a well, which extended downward and therefore belonged to Yin. Water belonged to Yin as well, and women were also Yin. Combined with the fact that she had been murdered, she was the person most likely to have become a Vengeful Ghost and harmed others.
And every person killed afterward had been male, further supporting the idea that the Seventh Concubine was the murderous ghost.
But Xiuzhu was also suspicious. She was the most innocent person in the entire affair. Whether her mother had been unfaithful or not, Xiuzhu herself was blameless. She lost her mother at a young age, received no kindness in Luo Mansion, and was not even granted the dignity of a human being there.
Even her death had come at the hands of the Second Concubine, who beat her to death. It was entirely possible that Xiuzhu had become a Vengeful Ghost afterward.
But that did not fit with the Xiuzhu Seventh Master and I had encountered at the construction site. She was a pitiful, timid child who showed us no malice whatsoever. She had even wanted to leave with us.
She had also warned Seventh Master about the danger.
So I could not accept that Xiuzhu was the murderous ghost.
The next suspect was the Ninth Concubine. She was Master Luo’s newest wife, the second woman he had married after the Seventh Concubine’s death. There had also been an Eighth Concubine before her.
The Ninth Concubine seemed to care deeply for Xiuzhu, and that concern was entirely sincere. When she saw Xiuzhu being abused, she reacted as though Xiuzhu were her own daughter. No one could have feigned that kind of pain.
My primary reason for suspecting the Ninth Concubine was her curse against the Second Concubine. She had said they would all suffer retribution.
Whether “they” meant only those who bullied Xiuzhu or everyone in Luo Mansion was unclear.
In any case, the curse eventually came true. Everyone in Luo Mansion died, and their Ghosts remained trapped there for a hundred years, unable to reincarnate.
That was why I suspected the Ninth Concubine, but parts of it still made no sense.
If she had cursed those people, why had she died too?
And we knew far too little about her to speculate further.
The final suspect was Master Luo, Luo Baichuan. He was the least suspicious of the four. As the master of Luo Mansion, everyone obeyed and flattered him.
I could not find any reasonable motive for the head of the household to kill everyone in his own mansion.
Personally, I did not believe Luo Baichuan was the murderous ghost. That would also fail to explain why the later victims were all men.
But one thing still did not fit. The Xiuzhu we met at the construction site said that the other ghosts had constantly bullied her. When we asked which one, she named Luo Baichuan.
Looking at the four suspects now, every one of them had reasons for suspicion, yet every case contained contradictions and details that could not be explained.
There could only be one correct answer. Seventh Master and I could not decide who was most suspicious, so we had to investigate all four. Whoever proved the most suspicious would be the ghost responsible for the later killings.
Supporting Seventh Master, I pushed open the door and led him outside.
The moment we crossed the threshold, I froze.
Before I entered the room, fallen leaves had covered the courtyards of Luo Mansion, and much of the greenery was withered. It should have been autumn.
Now, a layer of white seemed to cover the entire mansion, and snowflakes drifted from the sky.
In the time it took us to enter and leave a room, winter had arrived.
“Time has no real meaning here. It’s perfectly normal.”
Seventh Master said, “If I remember the information Brother Lin showed us correctly, the incident at Luo Mansion happened in winter. Temperatures were extremely low, and this region received snow. That was why the smell of decay only began spreading a month after the people of Luo Mansion died.”
“This must be the winter when the massacre took place.”
It was not only autumn that had turned into winter.
Night had become day as well.
Yet despite the daylight, there were almost no servants anywhere in Luo Mansion.
We had no idea where they had gone. Seventh Master and I walked for ages and saw only one or two people.
None of them could see us, so we made no effort to hide.
We eventually reached a place on the eastern side of Luo Mansion. It faced south with its back to the north, the direction normally reserved for the master’s quarters in a prominent household.
Voices were coming from inside the room.
Seventh Master and I went over and listened at the door for a while.
What we heard made both of us flush. A man and woman were coupling inside.
And the woman’s voice sounded very familiar. It belonged to that wretched hag.
Was the hag in there doing it with Master Luo?
But when I thought about it, if I were Master Luo, I would not be that desperate.
The Ninth Concubine was so beautiful.
Sure enough, a line soon came from inside. “Master must never find out.”
Seventh Master and I were both startled.
The wretched hag had cuckolded Master Luo too!
What sort of man had taste this bad?
Their conversation came in scattered fragments, too faint for us to hear clearly, but I vaguely caught the words “Seventh Concubine.”
“Should we go inside and listen?” Seventh Master looked at me, asking my opinion.
My face reddened. “That seems inappropriate. They’re in the middle of…”
“If we don’t go in, how will we hear what they’re saying?” With that, Seventh Master pushed the door open and walked straight inside.
The people inside could not see us, but I still felt awkward as I crept in behind him like some kind of pervert.
The moment I saw what was happening, my stomach rolled.
Holy hell.
My eyes!
It was revolting, an absolutely unbearable sight.
Seventh Master and I sat down to listen. There was certainly nothing worth watching.
The man was middle-aged, around forty, and I had no idea who he was.
After listening for a while, however, I nearly laughed. The man was the steward of Luo Mansion.
I could not help feeling sorry for Master Luo. He was not merely wearing a green hat. There was an entire green prairie growing over his head.
The steward said, “Second Madam, there’s something I’ve always wondered. How exactly did the Seventh Concubine die?”
The wretched hag replied coyly, “Everyone in the household says I killed her. How ridiculous. I don’t have the nerve to murder anyone. As for the bastard Seventh gave birth to, I only beat her to death by accident. Her death was an accident.”
“But Seventh herself? Master was the one who pushed her into the well.”
I was startled.
So Luo Baichuan had been the one who killed the Seventh Concubine.
The steward sounded even more shocked than I was. “Master pushed her? Did you see it yourself?”
The hag said, “Not with my own eyes. But on the night Seventh fell into the well, I heard a splash from my room. When I went outside to look, I saw Master rushing into his study in a panic. It wasn’t long afterward that someone discovered Seventh in the well.”
“Master was most likely the one who did it.”