Chapter 76
Chapter 76
This Blood Letter must have been written in a moment of extreme panic and haste; the handwriting was large and crooked.
I had seen Zhao Zixun’s handwriting before, both with a Pen and a brush. It was usually vigorous, powerful, and full of character.
The beginning of the Blood Letter briefly explained his situation and offered blessings for Fu Wan’s future.
What followed was a summary of the war at that time.
“In early July, we fought a battle at Xiaoyingkou. We pushed all the way to the enemy’s doorstep, but unexpectedly, a troop of Ghost Soldiers suddenly emerged from the darkness. They caught us off guard, resulting in our only defeat in years. The casualties were devastating.
In mid-July, the Marshal ordered me to return alone to the Wufu Town Ancient Battlefield to seize a Red Banner. I fought my way back with it, and by using the Red Banner to command the Ghost Soldiers, we turned defeat into victory.
I thought that after winning this battle, I would be able to return and reunite with you, but I underestimated the Marshal’s ambition…”
As the Blood Letter reached this point, Zhao Zixun seemed to have been overcome with grief. Several drops of blood had blossomed and blurred the ink at the end of the sentence.
“Wanwan, after you receive this letter, if you ever encounter me again in the future, you must remember to run! Stay as far away as possible!
That… will definitely not be the same person I once was.”
The letter ended there.
At the signature line, he hadn’t even written the name Zhao Zixun. Instead, he had used blood to draw a long-eared bunny and a cute little pig, huddling closely together.
I held the Blood Letter in my hands, unable to calm my heart for a long time.
This Republic of China era romance between Zhao Zixun and Fu Wan had stabbed me in the heart twice now!
I had originally thought it was just Fu Wan’s unrequited love, but I never expected that Zhao Zixun was also acting out of agonizing necessity.
Why was it so hard for these two?!
When looking at this Blood Letter alongside the Town Chronicle from before, the timeline and events matched up perfectly.
In July of 1920, Chen Ping led his troops into a losing battle, one that nearly wiped out his entire army.
The reason was that they had encountered Ghost Soldiers.
In mid-July, Chen Ping ordered Zhao Zixun to seize the Red Banner and fight his way back, turning the tide of the war.
It was shortly after this that Fu Wan received news that Zhao Zixun had won the battle and was returning to Wufu Town, which prompted her to excitedly go and mail a letter to him.
She never expected that on the day she went to mail it, she would suffer a brutal assault and later die a miserable death.
Meanwhile, Zhao Zixun, caught in the grip of Chen Ping’s insatiable greed, became the first sacrifice.
Zhao Zixun must have sensed his own tragic end, which was why he wrote this Blood Letter and entrusted it to his confidant along with the Silver Ring, the Stamp, the Pawn Ticket, and the Shield.
Who exactly should be held accountable for all these debts of sin?
A hundred years had passed, and Fu Wan still hadn’t been able to find justice for herself. In the end, she had no choice but to offer a Soul Sacrifice to the Hexagonal Palace Lantern.
And Zhao Zixun was still imprisoned to this day by that Coffin Nail in his forehead.
The more I thought about it, the more upset I became. I decided to put these items away first; they might be useful later.
While tidying up, I accidentally saw the Pouch that the Red Banner Child had used to hold the Silver Coins when he came to Redeem Pawn.
The Red Banner Child wouldn’t have had enough Silver Coins to redeem the pawn himself. This Pouch must have been obtained from someone else.
My gaze was drawn to the bottom of the Plum Blossom embroidered on the Pouch, where the inconspicuous character ‘Mei’ was written.
Mei…
There were many people with ‘Mei’ in their names, but there weren’t many people with the surname Mei in Wufu Town.
This immediately made me think of one person-Mei Linshuang.
That was thirty-three Silver Coins!
Forget about being able to produce that many Silver Coins at once, most ordinary people nowadays had rarely even seen them.
At this critical juncture, who with the name ‘Mei’ could produce so many Silver Coins and be willing to help a Child Ghost for nothing in return?
I couldn’t think of anyone else besides Mei Linshuang!
Thinking of Mei Linshuang made me feel even more uneasy.
I put my things away and sat on the edge of the bed for a while, but I still felt unsettled. In the end, I decided to head to the back to talk to Li Qingying.
I went over clutching my pillow, planning to sleep with her tonight.
Just as I raised my hand to knock, I heard suppressed sobbing coming from inside the room, accompanied by blurred murmurs.
I was startled. Li Qingying wasn’t the type to cry.
She was covered in layers of old and new scars; once, her shoulder had been sliced deep enough to expose the bone, and she hadn’t even blinked. Why was she hiding in her room crying so heartwrenchingly in the dead of night?
After a moment’s thought, I pushed the door open and walked in.
The room was dark, so I turned on the lights as I made my way from the outer room to the inner chamber.
When I reached the inner room, I saw that Li Qingying was asleep. She was crying in her dreams.
“No, please don’t break my horns, I beg you!”
“Don’t jump!”
“Come back! All of you, come back! Please, don’t jump anymore!”
She repeated these few phrases over and over in her sleep. It took me several listens to piece together the general idea.
Li Qingying was trapped in a Nightmare.
The content of this Nightmare was likely related to her origins.
Her horns had been broken off by someone!
And who was she trying to stop from jumping? Jumping from where?
I couldn’t make sense of it, so I simply took Li Qingying’s hand and shook her gently while calling her name, slowly waking her from the dream.
When Li Qingying drifted awake, tears were still clinging to the corners of her eyes.
She instinctively reached out to wipe them away, but her hand touched something wet and metallic. It was blood.
The blood wasn’t coming from her eyes; it was from her nose… That little red mole had somehow ruptured and was steadily seeping blood.
I quickly grabbed some tissues to apply pressure. Once the bleeding stopped, I said worriedly, “How could this red mole just start bleeding out of nowhere? Sister Qingying, let me take you to the hospital tomorrow for a checkup.”
Li Qingying quickly composed herself and shook her head. “It’s fine. It’s bled before. It’s probably just because there’s been too much going on lately and I’m stressed. I’ll be fine after some rest.”
She then asked, “Xiao Jiu, why did you come to my room?”
“I couldn’t sleep, so I came to talk to you.”
Li Qingying shifted over to make space, and I climbed onto the bed with my pillow. We lay there together, head to head.
I didn’t ask about the contents of her Nightmare. It involved her past, and since she was already grieving and unwell, I didn’t want to rub salt in her wounds.
I slowly told her about the Pouch and the Blood Letter. We whispered for a long time before finally falling into a deep sleep in the small hours of the morning.
The next day, I insisted that Li Qingying rest while I handled the cooking and watched the Pawnshop.
It wasn’t until evening, when I was already lying in bed, that Tang Tang finally replied to my message.
Meng Po Gives a Bowl of Soy Milk: Xiao Jiu, I went into a tomb with my mentor. There was no signal down there, so I only saw your message after we came out. The Stamp can be restored. I’ll contact you when I get back.
I sent a reply telling her to focus on her work and that I wasn’t in a hurry.
Knowing the Stamp could be fixed made me feel much better.
Since I hadn’t slept well the night before, I fell asleep shortly after getting into bed.
I don’t know how long I slept, but in my dreams, I seemed to hear footsteps, followed by the sound of a door opening.
I was groggy at the time and thought I was dreaming.
But in the next moment, I jolted awake. I threw on my shoes and ran out.
The main door of the Pawnshop was wide open. It was pitch black outside, and the dim yellow glow of the streetlights across the road couldn’t reach very far.
Stepping out the door, I looked left and right, only to see Li Qingying walking toward the west with unsteady, floating steps…