spoiled brat

Chapter 9. Eliminating Evil (Part 9)

South of the city.

This is the location of the Qingyang County government office. Only prominent and wealthy families could live here. Every household had a magnificent courtyard, like giant beasts crouching in the night.

The spring rain was heavy, and all the lanterns under the eaves of the houses along the street were extinguished. The sound of the wind carried a faint eeriness, like the whispers of a wrongfully deceased female ghost in one's ear.

"Zhao Zhao'er..."

The two hid at a street corner. Xiao Duo held up a large lotus leaf to shield Zhao Zhao's head, which wasn't covered by a straw hat. It was pitch black all around, and he was a little scared, but he still stubbornly insisted:
"If you're scared, we'll go back."

Zhao Zhao rolled her eyes at him: "Coward."

The moss-covered stone path became even more slippery after being soaked in water, and a small lamp flickered and drifted closer from the other end of the alley.

"coming!"

Zhao Zhao pressed Xiao Duo down, and the two of them hid in the shadows together.

The night watchman appeared in the rain, wearing a straw hat and raincoat, with a lantern hanging from his wrist and a clapper in his hand. The sound of the watchman's clapper was somewhat indistinct in the rain.
"At midnight, all is well!"

He didn't see the two people in the shadows as he passed the street corner, and went straight into the low shed prepared for the night watchman, adding wax to the lantern.

The rainy night was slightly chilly, but fortunately the county magistrate was a very kind man. He prepared a small stove in each of the low sheds so that the watchmen could brew a pot of hot tea when they took a break.

The night watchman lit a fire to boil tea, and soon the water boiled, the stove making a gurgling sound.

He grabbed a handful of stale tea leaves, about to throw them in, when he heard a thumping sound behind him.

But there was clearly a wall behind me.

The night watchman, doubting he had misheard, turned to look at the mud-brick wall and pressed his ear against it.

Two more thuds sounded, interspersed with a girl's whispered, tearful plea:

"...Help me!"

The night watchman's face turned pale, as if he were in an ice cellar, and he dared not move.

A gust of wind came, and the lights in the shed dimmed.

Then, with another bang, the wooden door of the low shed slammed shut. The watchman rushed over and tried to push the door open, but it was as if it were bolted shut from the outside, and he couldn't open it no matter what he did.

He thought he had encountered a ghost, but when he saw that the table was empty and the lantern was gone, he realized that he had been robbed. He pounded on the door and shouted:

"What kind of bastard stole Grandpa's lamp!"

Just then, the night rain stopped.

Zhao Zhao came out from behind the low shed, and sure enough, Xiao Duo had succeeded. The lantern filled with wax emitted a warm light in the night.

The night watchman in the low shed was still cursing. Zhao Zhao pressed the bolt down even tighter and said in a rough voice:
"Get a good night's sleep, and I'll return the light to you when it's light."

Upon hearing this, the night watchman was no longer angry. It was the middle of the night, damp and cold, who would want to wander outside?
It's not his fault that he was tricked and ambushed; it's good that he has to take a break.

"However, this lamp can't be returned for nothing... Let me ask you, are there any ghosts in this area?"

The watchman hesitated and said, "No."

Zhao Zhao laughed and said, "Then why do you tremble with fear when I just tease you casually?"

If there's no spark in your heart, how can it ignite so easily?

Having found the answer, Zhao Zhao carried the lantern and walked towards Zhao Si's house, with Xiao Duo following behind her, muttering:

“Zhao Zhao’er, we can’t always be scheming against people, that’s not right.”

She stopped and turned to look at Xiaoduo.

Xiao Duo avoided her gaze: "If you get used to being a bad person, you won't be able to change in the future."

Being a good person requires both resources and courage.

But Zhao Zhao is a cowardly poor wretch.

She didn't like listening to these empty platitudes, so she changed the subject:
"This watchman looks quite old; he must have been working here for many years. I just casually startled him, and he lost his senses. This shows that the area is not safe at night."

Xiao Duo nodded: "I'm afraid they've heard something, but they don't dare to spread it."

Strangely enough, the closer Xiao Duo got to Zhao Si's house, the more eerie the surroundings felt, as if evil spirits and vengeful ghosts were lurking in all directions.

A clap of thunder echoed in the rainless night sky, a white light piercing the heavens and splitting the darkness.

Between the light and shadow, a mansion appeared not far in front of the two. In feng shui, occupying the end of an alley is a major taboo, as it is considered unlucky, with four strange things rushing towards the door and nine ghosts causing trouble.

But this dark house not only occupies the end of the alley, but also has a row of locust trees planted at the entrance and red lanterns hanging under the eaves, adding to the ominous and eerie atmosphere.

Xiao Duo felt a chill run down his spine and could no longer care about his pride as a man. He shrank back next to Zhao Zhao, his voice so soft it sounded like he was pleading:
"Zhao Zhao'er, let's peek inside from the wall and see what it's like before we head back home."

After he finished speaking, he squatted down, and Zhao Zhao climbed up the wall by stepping on his shoulders.

The mansion was completely dark and deserted, not at all like a place where someone had lived for a long time.

But the red lanterns swaying in the wind were burning brightly, clearly indicating that someone had refilled their candles.

Zhao Zhao figured some things out, and her mind suddenly became clear.

She lowered Xiao Duo's shoulder and whispered:

Do you remember what that girl said?

Xiao Duo swallowed hard: "At Zhao Si's house, you can hear ghostly cries every rainy night."

"That's it."

Zhao Zhao glanced at the red lanterns under the eaves of the main gate and said disdainfully:
"It's just for show. These red lanterns are hung up specifically to scare people away, so that if they get close, they'll hear something they shouldn't hear."

I have no idea what kind of shady things are inside.

Xiao Duo, after being teased like that, realized it was a trick by someone to play someone else, and instantly became less afraid.

“I often heard storytellers say that if a person is involved in a strange event, then there must be no ghost. It’s a pity… the rain has stopped now, and we can no longer hear the ‘ghostly wailing’.”

Just then, they heard a creaking sound of a door opening from inside the courtyard.

Xiao Duo quickly squatted down, and Zhao Zhao stepped onto his shoulder, carefully peeking her eyes out from the top of the wall.

In the pitch-black courtyard, a figure holding a will-o'-the-wisp oil lamp in one hand and a wooden basin in the other slowly walked to the corner of the yard and spat out three words of disgust into the shadows:

"time to eat."

Xiao Duo looked at Zhao Zhao and told her with her eyes that the person who spoke was Zhao Si.

A heavy clanging of chains sounded, and a wet thing crawled out of the shadows in the corner of the yard.

Far away in the darkness, Zhao Zhao couldn't see clearly and could only guess what it was in her mind.

If you call it a dog, it's actually quite large.

It's not that fat, though.

The thing was chained with heavy chains, which clanged as it climbed up.

As if it were starving, it buried its head in the wooden basin and began to gulp down the food without any regard for its own needs, swallowing it down quickly without even having time to chew.

After finishing the food in the wooden basin, it seemed as if it was afraid it would never have another meal, so it also ate all the food that had spilled on the ground.

It was wet, dirty, and smelly, and accidentally bumped into Zhao Si's foot.

"You're so despicable!"

Zhao Si kicked it away in disgust, then went back into the house with the oil lamp in his hand.

A strange dampness rose in Zhao Zhao's heart. Would a person call a beast a despicable creature?
Then I remembered that Zhao Si had just told it it was time to eat.

...Could it understand human speech?
A thunderclap struck overhead, the sky and earth changed color, and a torrential downpour began.

Zhao Zhao stood blankly on the wall, hearing a woman crying in the wind.

Extremely shrill and indistinct, as if someone had gone mad or become mentally unstable, or as if they hadn't been around people for too long and couldn't even speak anymore.

Thunder rumbled incessantly, and in the blinding flashes of white light, Zhao Zhao could clearly see a woman huddled in the corner of the courtyard, living a life worse than that of pigs and dogs.

The woman looked over, giving Zhaozhao the look of someone looking at a straw.

She opened her mouth, but couldn't speak; she could only make indistinct "ah ah" sounds.

Her tongue was cut out; she was mute.

From her empty mouth, Zhao Zhao gleaned a sentence.

Please save me.