I become a god in another world

Chapter 760 Hao’s Ghost Trouble
Chapter 760
Hao Dingzhu's smile froze for a moment.

But this man was like ginger, getting spicier with age; in just a moment, he said with a smile:
“The descendants of my family are unworthy, causing the envoy from the capital to make an extra trip. It is truly a sin, a sin.”

After he finished speaking, he turned to look at the people beside him, and the Hao clan members beside him immediately brought forward a large tray:
"This is just a small gift, nothing more, please accept it."

In Tongshan County, gift-giving is commonplace, and using gold as a stepping stone is an old custom. Hao Dingzhu didn't feel embarrassed at all when she said this. Instead, she calmly lifted the cloth covering the tray, revealing the glittering gold underneath.

Zhao Fusheng glanced at it and saw that there was quite a lot of gold. The big man holding the gold was using all his strength, and his rolled-up sleeves revealed the muscles on his arms.

But this is a ghost realm, so we need to take care of business first.

She waved her hand, signaling Cao Gu to handle the matter, then looked at Hao Dingzhu:
"Master Hao, I've heard that a ghostly calamity has befallen your clan?"

She went straight to the point, leaving Hao Dingzhu momentarily speechless.

It seems that gold has not impressed the demon tamer before him.

Hao Dingzhu rolled her eyes and looked at Qin Yongchun, secretly wondering if this person had been causing trouble all along and had whispered something detrimental to the Hao family in the ear of this envoy from the capital.

"My lord, this matter is complicated," he said, uttering a useless remark, and then secretly glanced at Cao Gu.

Cao Gu kept his eyes down, seemingly observing the situation from the sidelines, which made Hao Dingzhu somewhat hesitant.

This year, he wanted to send a member of the Hao family to the Demon Suppression Division. He had been bribing Cao Gu, and the two had a close relationship. In the past, Cao Gu had been quite friendly to him when they met. Judging from his appearance today, this envoy from the capital was not someone to be fooled.

When Hao Dingzhu thought of this, she panicked and looked at Cao Gu with a pleading expression.

Cao Gu nodded almost imperceptibly.

Zhao Fusheng watched the two exchange expressions with great interest, but did not say anything to expose them.

"Let's go inside first, we can talk as we go." Remembering the benefits Hao Dingzhu had previously received from offering tribute, Cao Gu steeled himself and spoke up:

“Master Hao, this Lord Zhao is a serious judge. Don’t ramble on. Just tell me what you mean. And bring out that troublesome boy of yours. The magistrate will know the answer when he asks him.”

His words were a clear reminder.

Hao Dingzhu breathed a sigh of relief and immediately said:
"Of course, of course."

As the group made their way into the ancestral hall, Zhao Fusheng observed the surrounding atmosphere as he entered the hall.

The buildings here are quite old, but many places show signs of new renovations.

The sallow-faced, emaciated man peeked from afar, clinging to a pillar, not daring to approach for fear of offending the adults' eyes.

During the journey, Hao Dingzhu seemed to have thought things through, and deliberately hunched over to follow Zhao Fusheng, saying:

"Lord Zhao, in truth, this incident was due to my lax management of my subordinates," he said.
"The matter originated from a family scandal, which was not something that could be made public before, but since Lord Zhao has graced my humble abode with his presence, I dare not conceal it."

“There’s a young man in the family, my cousin’s son,” Hao Dingzhu said.
“My cousin was also a lantern bearer in his early years. He unfortunately passed away more than ten years ago, leaving behind an orphan and a widow. I felt sorry for them and took good care of this kid. Who knew that this young man would be so ignorant and cause such a big mess this time.”

Zhao Fusheng frowned.

Hao Dingzhu had been watching her out of the corner of her eye. Seeing her expression, she immediately knew she was unhappy, so she quickly stopped beating around the bush and said:
"My lord, this is how it was originally done."

This person is also extremely shrewd and adept at reading people's expressions and demeanor.

“This nephew of mine—” He mentioned his nephew, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly, as if he wanted to sigh, but forcibly held back:
“This child has no father since he was a child. His father was very helpful to the family back then, so I have treated him like my own son since he was a child. Five years ago, I sent him to the capital to study under a famous teacher. Who knew that the child did not study well. He came back last year, not having finished his studies. He could not inherit the style of his great-grandfather. Instead, he brought a woman with him.”

Hao Dingzhu said:

"This whole thing was caused by this woman."

As he mentioned this, resentment flashed in his eyes.

Zhao Fusheng asked him:
"Is there something wrong with this woman's background?"

Hao Dingzhu shook her head:
“She is the daughter of Teacher Jin Yi,” Hao Dingzhu said. “When Jin Yi was in the capital, he stayed at his teacher’s house. This young lady did not avoid suspicion with him, and they developed feelings for each other over time.”

He said regretfully:
"It's so shameless."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Fusheng roughly understood:

"The two had an affair and pledged their lives to each other? Your nephew brought her back with him when he returned to his hometown?"

"Correct."

When Hao Dingzhu brought up the matter, he lost control for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure and forced a smile:
"I really get along with you, sir. As we talked, we went off-topic. This woman has bewitched Jin Yi and made him act foolishly."

He took a deep breath and forcefully steered the conversation back to the ghost case involving the Hao family on Cixi Road:
“Jin Yi brought this woman back last December, and soon after, something happened in his family.”

"What happened?" Zhao Fusheng asked casually.

Hao Dingzhu said:

"Her face was rotten."

Before they knew it, the group had entered the inner courtyard.

The Hao family was one of the major landowners in Tongshan County. Although they were not particularly prominent, their ancestral hall was still built in a magnificent and orderly manner.

The Hao family has not been wealthy for long; the family has grown in size in the last ten years or so, and there are obviously more children than family members.

As Zhao Fusheng traveled, he could see servants surrounding him, some carrying or leading one or two children.

Logically, having many children should mean new hope, but there was a depressing and heavy atmosphere here. The children did not have innocent smiles on their faces; instead, their eyes were vacant, as if they had lost their souls, which further added to the eerie feeling of the house.

"Your face is ruined?" Zhao Fusheng raised an eyebrow at Hao Dingzhu, who nodded.
"Patches of skin peeled off, like mottled patina of copper rust."

Hao Dingzhu could not hide her disgust:
"I knew this woman was an unlucky thing."

Afterwards, the woman's skin ulcerated, so she covered her face with a veil. Later, the skin disease worsened, so she covered her head with a veil.

An old man beside Hao Dingzhu also chimed in:
"Hiding its head and tail, unable to be seen by others."

With these two taking the lead, the others followed suit:

"It got even worse later, so I stopped going out."

"According to the servants who served her, they dared not enter her room to clean it every day because it was covered in leather."

……

Upon hearing this, Zhao Fusheng had a sudden thought; this kind of ghostly law was somewhat similar to the Dog Head Village case.

"In short, this woman is becoming increasingly strange, and no one dares to approach her. I suggested to Jin Yi that we find someone to send her back to her home in the capital—" Hao Dingzhu sighed:

"Jin Yi agreed."

Magistrate Pang was both horrified and frightened, and shrank back, not daring to utter a sound.

Zhao Fusheng asked:
"Was it successfully returned later?"

Hao Dingzhu shook her head:
"No."

Hao Jinyi said something to her, but according to the servants in her room, she became very frightening, and no one dared to approach her.

Only the lowly village slaves delivered her meals and cleaned for her every day, and they considered it unlucky to go out, so they tried every means to worship the lamp god.

"She died not long after."

Hao Dingzhu said with a headache:
"Later, collecting the body for burial was a real hassle." At this point, the Hao family members' faces showed a look of horror.

Zhao Fusheng's heart skipped a beat: "What happened?"

As they spoke, the group had already entered the inner courtyard. A threshold appeared before Zhao Fusheng, and Hao Dingzhu bent down and offered a helping hand, saying flatteringly:
"Sir, watch your step." He whispered only after saying this:
"Sir, her body is so light, like it's made of paper."

Hao Dingzhu seemed to find the words unlucky, and quickly finished speaking before letting out a barely perceptible sigh of relief:
"There's nothing we can do about this now that this has happened."

Even though such a powerful and aristocratic family had such a strange incident, he dared not report it, fearing that it would offend the people of the Demon Suppression Division. Therefore, he prepared to deal with the person.

"It wouldn't be appropriate to make a big fuss about it, so we decided to find a place to bury him."

The Hao family prepared a thin coffin, but then another strange thing happened.

"After the body was put into the coffin, even eight strong young men couldn't lift it."

An old man beside Hao Dingzhu whispered:

"This is really weird."

The thin coffin wasn't a high-quality one; it could be lifted by two people.

After the woman died, her body was hollowed out, leaving only an empty shell of a corpse, light and airy—in Hao Dingzhu's words, like a paper doll.

Both were light, so theoretically four people should have been enough to carry the coffin. However, no matter how many strong young men the Hao family hired, not one of them could lift the coffin.

Just then, a gaunt old man said:

"It's truly a case of 'it's easy to invite someone, but difficult to send them away; a misfortune for our family—'"

As soon as he said that, he was immediately rebuked by Hao Dingzhu:

"Eighth Brother, what nonsense are you spouting? My Hao family is blessed with good fortune, how could we be considered unlucky?"

Hao Laoba, startled by his glare, looked frightened and quickly put his hands into his sleeves, explaining:
"It was Jin Yi who was bewitched and brought back such a scourge."

……

From the conversation between the two brothers, Zhao Fusheng learned the whole story of the Hao family incident: Hao Dingzhu's nephew fell in love with his mentor's daughter while studying in Beijing, and when he returned to Jinzhou, he lured her back to the family.

The woman was not favored by the elders of the Hao family. According to Hao Dingzhu, she seemed to have been unaccustomed to the local environment and eventually died of a strange illness.

Strange phenomena occurred after the woman died.

The body was hollowed out by worms, leaving only the outer skin—no, even the outer skin was gone, because Hao Dingzhu said she was shedding a lot of skin before she died.

This unusual way of dying is similar to the Dog Head Village case, but although the substitute ghost in the Dog Head Village case also peeled off the skin, it did not remove the internal organs, and the body did not become an empty shell after death. These are the differences between the two.

Zhao Fusheng was multitasking, his mind preoccupied with other things, yet he asked aloud:

"Since the coffin exhibited strange phenomena, how did you resolve this matter?"

Hao Dingzhu was filled with resentment when she mentioned this matter:

“Please have mercy, sir, there is still someone in the household who carries the lamp in this situation.”

The Hao family also kept a lantern bearer.

However, Hao Dingzhu believed that the lantern bearer's role was to intimidate, not to actually summon ghosts.

As is well known, in Tongshan County, the difference between aristocratic families who wanted to reach the level of large landowners and ordinary households, besides the differences in wealth, population, residences, and servants, was that large landowners all kept lamplighters in their homes.

The presence of a lantern bearer in each region signifies the ability to safeguard peace.

If any strange or unusual event occurs, there is no need to report it to the Demon Suppression Bureau. The lantern bearer simply takes the lantern to the place where the evil spirit is, distracts it, and the matter is over.

From then on, the people lived in peace and prosperity, free from the suffering caused by ghosts.

However, this practice of summoning ghosts was merely for show—in reality, since Hao Dingzhu came to power, there haven't been many strange or eerie events occurring within his domain.

Many things are simply due to the ignorance of the common people. In addition, in order to consolidate their position, powerful families sometimes deliberately spread rumors and have someone pretend to leave with a lantern, thereby enhancing their prestige.

The common people, unaware of the facts, would report some events to the Hao family with false information, going through a perfunctory process, and then the matter would be resolved without any clear explanation.

Occasionally, a vengeful ghost might resurrect, in which case the lantern bearer would have to intervene, and that would inevitably lead to death.

However, the loss of a lantern bearer is a major event for each family. If the lantern bearer is not replaced the following year, it means that the family has lost its protection for that year.

The Hao family themselves had taken a large chunk of the profits from the Qin family, and they knew all too well the consequences of not having protection.

In this way, Hao Jinyi brought back a woman, causing great trouble for the Hao family and creating a "case" in the Hao family. However, this "case" could not be reported to the Demon Suppression Division: if it were reported, they would surely be reprimanded and disliked by the Demon Suppression Division.
If they don't report it, then the Hao family will have to solve the problem themselves.

Solving the problem means that the Hao family may lose a Lamplighter. At such a critical moment, the Hao family sacrificed the gold mine in order to gain a Lamplighter and strengthen their own power. If they lose a Lamplighter, wouldn't it be all for nothing?

Therefore, Hao Dingzhu has been having an exceptionally difficult time lately, and she harbors deep hatred for her nephew.

Unfortunately, this child is a troublemaker. For some reason, he dared to bring the case to the capital.

Once the news from the capital reached back, Hao Jinyi, as a person involved in this ghost case, was beyond Hao Dingzhu's ability to do anything about for the time being, and so far he could only be placed under house arrest at home.

At this point, Hao Dingzhu's face darkened, and she turned to look at the old man beside her:

"Seventh Brother, call out Second Brother's child."

In the short time it took to speak, he had already adjusted his mindset, and when he turned to look at Zhao Fusheng, he smiled:

"Sir, later our family's lantern bearer led the way, and then the coffin was carried away."

Zhao Fusheng seemed to be deep in thought:
"I don't know much about the Lamplighter's ability to summon ghosts. Does this mean the supernatural event has been resolved?"

She looked at Qin Yongchun and Zhang Xiansheng as she spoke.

The two nodded.

Despite his estrangement from the Hao family, Qin Yongchun, being a fellow "lamp bearer," dared not lie about such a matter. He said:
"My lord, according to the old rules, if an evil spirit appears, the lantern bearer enters the evil realm and simply walks through it, and the evil spirit will immediately disappear, and strange things will appear on the lantern. Then the matter is considered resolved."

However, the lantern bearer is not a ghost controller; he only dares to take risks because of the ghost lantern. Once he succeeds, he will most likely suffer a backlash from the ghost lantern.

Zhao Fusheng asked curiously:

What will happen after the backlash?

Qin Yongchun shivered.
"After the backlash, the previous lamplighter may become the lantern of the next lamplighter."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Fusheng understood.

The materials for the lanterns used in the annual lantern festival in Tongshan County come from donations from local gentry or powerful clans.

However, if a household wants to offer a ghost lamp, they must make the lamp themselves and then light it at the main lamp of the Demon Suppression Bureau—which is essentially inviting a ghost home as a guardian spirit. At the same time, they must find a ghost servant (lamp bearer) who is pleasing to the eye of the ghost servant to serve it.

When the current lantern bearer dies, his skin is peeled off and his bones are removed, transforming him into a vessel for the next lantern ghost, which then searches for a new ghost slave.

……

Zhao Fusheng spoke bluntly, and no one dared to refute him, so they could only smile and agree.

(End of this chapter)