Chapter 82
Chapter 82
At the thought, Ning Shuo instinctively reached out, wanting to take Ning Wang’s hand where it hung at his side. Before his arm could fully extend, he drew it back again.
He thought idly: Uncle-and-sister-in-law drama was certainly exciting, but having an affair with his younger brother-in-law right in front of an NPC, especially when that brother-in-law was born of a concubine, whose concubine mother was already dead, leaving him with absolutely no standing-
That would get them killed even more miserably.
So the poor brother-in-law would just have to feel aggrieved for now. Once they got out, Ning Shuo would make it up to him properly.
With one foot already over the threshold, Ning Shuo timidly looked back. “Father, please be careful of the shards on the floor. Don’t let them cut your feet. It would be awful if you couldn’t walk for ten days or half a month.”
Father Sun hurled the teacup in his hand at him as well, and it smashed right beside Ning Shuo’s foot. “Jinx! Nothing but unlucky words out of your mouth!”
Hey, that was actually pretty accurate.
In a certain sense, he really was a jinx.
Ning Shuo showed none of it on his face, but his steps grew noticeably lighter. Rao Lin stayed behind a while longer to act out their vicious father-son dynamic with Father Sun and further establish his character before leaving.
When he left, he pressed down on the back of Ning Wang’s neck and shoved him outside. “I heard one of the women from this batch was so stubborn she fell to her death? That cheap life suits you pretty well. Go take a look and see just how short-lived her face looks.”
“Maybe your face looks the same as hers.”
The two had only just reached the courtyard gate when they suddenly heard a scream from the front hall. Vaguely, there seemed to be words like “shards” mixed in.
Rao Lin instinctively wanted to turn back and look, but Ning Wang quickened his pace. “He’s in trouble. Pretend we didn’t hear. Hurry.”
…
When Ning Shuo was dragged to the ancestral hall, he clearly saw that the doors were covered in runes. Cultures from different worlds did not translate, and he had never seen this style before, but he could still tell that the runes served some kind of suppressive function.
Seeing that he was not moving, a household Guard holding him kicked him into the ancestral hall and cursed, “How is this woman taller than both of us?!”
The other picked up the thread. “If those matchmakers hadn’t said this person was a woman, and if the young master hadn’t been in such a rush to get married…”
“You know, this woman is actually pretty good-looking. Why don’t we…”
“Are you insane?” the other lowered his voice. “We could do that anywhere. Why the hell would you choose the ancestral hall?!”
The one who had suggested it muttered resentfully, “If you won’t let me, then don’t let me. Why drag the ancestral hall into it as an excuse…”
“Are you new here? No wonder you don’t know about the ancestral hall…”
Halfway through, that Guard abruptly fell silent.
He warily glanced at Ning Shuo, who was still sprawled on the floor, then shoved the new Guard out the door. “Move, move. These things are taboo. All you need to know is that every family’s ancestral hall is the most wicked place there is.”
The door slammed shut with a bang. Ning Delicate Little White Flower Shuo glanced around, found a prayer mat, and knelt on it. While putting on the posture of offering prayers, he carefully observed his surroundings.
The reason he had specifically chosen the ancestral hall was that on the way to the front hall, many NPCs had been whispering among themselves. The more people he encountered, the more he overheard. As all kinds of information converged, Ning Shuo learned quite a bit about the Sun Family’s household affairs, kitchens, and even trivial matters like the latrine.
Yet among all these places, not a single person had mentioned the ancestral hall.
At first, Ning Shuo had only been guessing. Even if he guessed wrong, he would at least be able to explore one section of the map.
Who would have thought that when Ning Shuo was dragged out, all the servants outside, upon learning he was to be locked in the ancestral hall, had worn expressions that said there was something they dared not speak of-
Looking at it that way, there really was something going on with this ancestral hall.
Two red candles burned on the altar before him, their wax slowly dripping down. Amid the wavering black shadows, Ning Shuo saw something flash through the darkness.
A rush of wind scraped past his ear. Ning Shuo twisted aside to dodge, clearly feeling a sharp sting on his ear.
With that kind of speed and attack power, it definitely was not an NPC in human form.
Ning Shuo’s delicate little white flower expression relaxed. He planted a palm on the floor and rose smoothly to his feet, tore off a corner of his skirt, wrapped it a few times around the wound on his hand, then casually grabbed several sticks of incense and held them together like a sword.
The sword was a little flimsy; it would snap with one bend, but it was better than nothing.
Blood dripped onto the floor. Ning Shuo swept his gaze around him.
Aside from the reek of blood and the waxy smell of incense candles, there was also the scent of face powder.
He certainly hadn’t put on rouge before leaving.
The wounded spot on his ear throbbed faintly. Ning Shuo tapped lightly off the ground, and every time he dodged the unknown killing intent, he caught that powdery fragrance.
And it wasn’t even the same kind of powder each time.
He had Xie Ning to thank for that. Not only had Xie Ning visited Jinxiu Workshop, he had also frequented cosmetic shops that sold every sort of rouge and powder, all to coax the young ladies of various households into smiling.
Different powders had different scents. Ning Shuo had a rough idea now, and even had the leisure to switch back to his original voice and chat with the Ghost/Monster. “Ladies, did you realize I was a man, and that’s why your killing intent is so intense?”
Nearly everyone he had seen in Aotianli had been male, and the men avoided all mention of the ancestral hall as if it were taboo. As for women, they either beat them or cursed them.
They feared the female ghosts imprisoned in the ancestral hall, and the female ghosts likewise hated the men who had driven them to this state.
At his words, the killing intent swept over the top of his head and past his ears like something solid. Ning Shuo dodged with a flip, then tossed the nearly spent incense sticks in his hand onto the ground. “Perfect timing. Used them up.”
On the floor was a set of ash-drawn runes Ning Shuo had traced with those burning incense sticks during the fight. The gloomy ancestral hall suddenly erupted with streaks of golden light.
Ning Shuo found a corner and sat down cross-legged. “My apologies. Although I’ve never seen the talisman at the entrance before, it does bear some resemblance to what I learned from my master in the Imperial Palace. It’s still within my ability to adapt what I know.”
Invisible golden chains locked a woman in tattered clothing at the center of the formation. Ning Shuo let out an “oh, whoa,” then hurriedly rose and draped his outer robe over her. “It may not do much, but it’s better than nothing. This way, miss, you might feel a little more comfortable.”
Aside from plot NPCs, purely murderous NPCs like this didn’t need to maintain a persona in front of him. For example, the female ghost in Li Kingdom Cold Case, or the Townsperson characters who later became patients in Dreamweaver’s Troubles.
But unlike what he had expected, despite smelling so many different fragrances of powder, there was only one woman here.
Ning Shuo turned slightly to the side. “Miss, I mean you no harm. My elder sister disappeared in Aotianli, and I was wondering whether you might know where she is.”
The female ghost couldn’t break free of the chains, so she simply held the outer robe in front of herself. She looked Ning Shuo up and down, and only after a long while did she speak in a hoarse voice. “You mean you dressed as a woman not out of some vulgar amusement at looking down on women, but to sneak into Aotianli and investigate the cause of your sister’s death?”
Several pieces of rotting flesh clung to her lips. As she spoke, blood and flesh fell away in soft, rustling bits.
The form a ghost took was the way they had looked at the final moment before death. No matter what they were like after dying, they would not feel pain.
But even if they couldn’t feel it, anyone watching still couldn’t help but feel their heart tighten.
Ning Shuo couldn’t bear to look directly at her and turned his eyes aside. “Miss, why speak in such absolutes? I came to investigate my elder sister’s whereabouts. How can you call that the cause of death?”
Even though the System mission had already stated clearly that Ning Shuo had come to investigate precisely because his sister was dead.
It might not be useful, but if he could sell the image of a devoted younger brother in front of the female ghost and gain even a little goodwill, Ning Shuo didn’t mind putting on an act, even if it made him seem somewhat cold-blooded.
The female ghost sneered. “There’s no use asking me. I’ve been locked in this place for a long time. From when I was alive, all I remember are my enemies and the things they did. The sisters who were once imprisoned here like me were naturally the same.”
Ning Shuo seized on the key point. “Like you? Then where are they?”