Chapter 2: An Old Enemy
This was not a coincidence or a guess. Even after being separated by a thick and tall wall, the person on the other side of the wall could realise that someone was approaching even after the wall was soundproof. The one outside, whose name was Jīn Mèi, was merely a messenger employee, if he was this talented then what should people expect from the higher-ranked employee of the organization, Hóng Bǎoshí?
That's true. He was that famous Hóng Bǎoshí, favoured by Diǎn zhēn zhī zhú. The one and only Dì sān zhīzhù of the organization. But this was not the problem here. The problem was that it was almost midnight. The organization was not so cruel as to disturb a person's sleep at a time like this and if they really needed to, then it must be because there really was an emergency. So he put aside any doubts and saved it for later.
On the other side of the wall, Jīn Mèi waited for the reply from his senior. It was quite dark at the end of the alley and pretty quiet all of a sudden. Suddenly a hand penetrated through the wall and before he could dodge, with scary speed, it pulled his clothes and him, both inside. It was quite a jump scare. The hand belonged to none other than Hóng Bǎoshí himself.
He really scared the hell out of him. The expression on his face was worth seeing. He was panting lightly and his face was totally pale. He didn't expect this kind of attack but didn't dare say anything about his actions right now. Quite the obedient and well-mannered type.
Taking a close look at the messenger now, he truly didn't lie about him being from Diǎn zhēn zhī zhú. How can he not recognise the uniform for the messenger of the organization? The ink-black robes that resemble the darkness of night. Except for the nine Zhīzhùs everyone was strictly ordered to wear the uniform of their section. Section uniforms were divided by colours like black, white, red, blue, green and many more. Each of the uniforms had a unique pattern embroidered on the back symbolising the organization. Only the messenger group didn't have them since except for sending messages they were used in spying, going undercover or some other dangerous jobs that consisted of them to hide their identity. So their clothes were plain pitch black.
He from the very beginning thought that the name 'Jīn Mèi' actually sounded quite familiar. Sadly he had a bad memory when it was about remembering someone's name. He could barely remember the names of his colleagues. But now when he could see the person standing in front, he could be sure that he was not wrong.
As stated before, there were many sections the employees of Diǎn zhēn zhī zhú were divided into. One of them and to be precise, the lowest ranked section was that of a messenger. Their rank was low but their values were not. Be it in a mission or any other matter, they were one of the fastest and most efficient ways of delivering messages safely. This section also had the most employees in number. The senior, most trusted and strong among them was Jīn mèi. He was also very popular among the members.
But this was not why he remembered him. The fact was that when he got chosen as the ninth Zhīzhù, he and the seventh Zhīzhù, Léi Yún[1], got on bad terms. The seventh Zhīzhù hated his guts. Why? There was no particular reason to fight with a junior who just got accepted, right? Well to see from that perspective, a junior who just got selected should not also have any particular reasons to slap the senior in the face in front of everyone including the head lords, right? Who? Hóng Bǎoshí? Yes, he slapped him on the face and changed its geography with his five fingers, leaving a bloody red mark behind. That was very insulting. Everyone was shocked witless over that act. After being insulted in front of every junior and senior and even the head lords, he expected at least the head lords would take his side and punish the brat but who would have thought that they would turn a blind eye to this, stating that he was just a little kid. Now, he can be hated for being mean and that brat, he can't be punished for slapping a senior? what kind of justice was that? Now there should be a reason. Why would someone want to have beef with someone ranked higher in position on the very first day of the job? There should be a reason right? He wouldn't just slap a senior because he was bored, now would he? There sure was a reason for this rude behaviour to take place but that is another story.
Continuing to the story, Actually Back in those years when he had just joined and was still juvenile and playful, this person was appointed as his messenger.
Just like tonight an emergency invitation letter for an important meeting was sent to every member of the organization that night. So the members from every region had to arrive on time without being late. That night the night sky was cloudy and it was thundering from time to time. The heavy breeze outside that blew dust and leaves with it indicated rainy and stormy weather. People outside came inside of their houses in case they got wet in the rain. So outside it was quiet and peaceful. No one was seen outside except for eight strong men. They were carrying a majestic and beautiful sedan on their back. Golden designs were carved in it and it had blue silk curtains. Inside sat no royalty or noble, inside was the high and lofty seventh Zhīzhù of Diǎn zhēn zhī zhú.
When other members used horses, teleportation talismans or random spells, this man was on his way to the Organization in a Sedan. After all, he was all high, lofty and crazy rich. It would be such a shame if he didn't show off his wealth to his colleagues. It was way too high profile but he didn't care to shamelessly go to the organization in a Sedan carved with gold. It was just him being himself.
Not just that, this person either had a problem in his head or he just trained himself to be the typical antagonist in those dramatic novels where the antagonists swear to make the protagonists' lives hell because before setting out, he made sure that the invitation letter meant to reach the nameless brat, never reaches him.
This nameless brat was actually Hóng Bǎoshí. Huh!? He had such a nice name. Then why a…nameless brat!? The simple reason was that every member of the organization had to give up on their family and their real names given by them. In short, they had to cut ties with their past and accept a code name given by the organization. After the code name was given, it was their official name for the rest of their life. But getting a code name wasn't easy. The holder of the name needed to prove their value to the Organization. But since it had only been a week since he had joined, of course, he couldn't attend a mission that quickly. So he needed to wait and till that period people could refer to him however they wanted. Like the juniors called him Little lord or Ninth Zhīzhù. People closer to him called him Xiao Hóng as he always wore red. Only this man was an exception. He called him a nameless brat.
He burned the original letter and turned it to ashes, making sure that not even the burned piece of paper reached him. So now he would be the one reaching there and what about him? Maybe the meeting would end by the time he realises something is wrong. His face, his helplessness at that moment, only imagining it gave him joy and excitement. After all, he could be excused for slapping him but would it ever be the same for being negligent towards his duties? He for sure would be punished.
The sedan kept moving slowly towards its destination. There was still a long way to go and not much time was left in hand. So the route and the plan both changed eventually. The sedan that was going straight turned towards the forest. It was the fastest way to get there.
The locals strongly believed that the forest was cursed. At night whoever crossed this forest was never to be found. The locals were all extremely scared of this forest and tried every means to avoid going through the route. They even warned wanderers who were new to it with their scary stories.
Just like when Léi Yún passed through the village and stopped at an inn for rest, the inn master acted all weird around him. After showing him his room, he ran out of the inn and when he came back, there was a whole bunch of people with him. Turned out he went to inform the village chief about his visit here. It was already evening and in a spacious room he was surrounded by everyone with their piercing stares. In the middle sat him and the village chief. He kind of agreed to listen to their scary stories, that kept wanderers away from wandering inside the forest, as he had a lot of time to kill.
The room was indeed dark to make the atmosphere chilling. Only a wax candle was lit in the centre where he and the chief were sitting. Everyone around them was silent, they only focused on both of them. The village chief picked up the candle and held it close to his face. The light portrayed on his face made his old and wrinkled face look scary.
Then the old chief started in a hoarse voice. The audience sitting in the background either tried to sit comfortably, cleared their throat or tried to listen to the old man with a serious face. But about Léi Yún, who thought that this whole process of trying to scare him was quite interesting, sat smiling with his arms crossed.
"A long time ago, there was a very beautiful orphan girl named Mèng Yīn[2] who was married to a merchant's son in this village. She was a lovely and faithful wife who loved her husband more than anything. One night, she found out about her husband's affair with another woman. She was hurt and upon confessing to her husband, he made a rash decision. He killed her and buried her in the forest. Not even a week later, he married the one he loved. Whenever anyone asked about his first wife who was never seen again, he didn't even hesitate to lie and humiliate her saying she was a sl*t who ran away with another man.
But a person who sinned can't avoid their punishment. The soul of his first wife was but a young soul who had a lot of years before she could have died. But an early death and that also with a heart full of hatred turned her into a resentful ghost. Soon many sinister things started happening to them. Weird black shadows, the sound of crying and odd things started happening. One day we found a very horrifying setting in the forest...do you know what we found?"
The villagers who were trying to act brave were shaking after this one and the ones that were shaking at the beginning looked like they would die if they heard anymore. But still, no one made a sound or moved. The village chief then brought the candle even closer to his face. With a forehead shadow and rather funny sinister smile, he said the later half in a low voice:
" We found the bloody, stiff and cold dead body of the merchant's son and his second wife, hanging on a tree with a tree vine."
But even after saying that the expression of Léi Yún remained the same as before. Not only that, he just yawned and looked at him with a tired and bored expression. This was not a good sign. Not knowing what to do, the chief looked around and found the villagers scared stiff. He then left Léi Yún for a moment and tried to scare them even more, in case he could manage to scare the real deal.
"Their eyes were bulging out of their skull." He said loudly in his scary voice as he suddenly appeared in front of the group of men with his widened eyes. The crowd screeched and held each other in fear.
He then made the women his target and suddenly appeared again with his tongue out and said"Their tongue out wide and red like a hungry ghost." The side of the women screamed a little as well hugging each other in fear with their eyes closed.
After getting a satisfactory reaction from the fellow villagers he sat down with a smile and looked at the person in front weirdly for a second. This was found odd by Léi Yún. But soon the old chief started again with a neutral expression on his face knowing that he failed to scare him, while his eyes shut close.
"Their bodies were already blue and rotting and evil energy was all around them. We couldn't even get them down even in the daylight and after the old merchant and his wife requested us. They even offered to pay a huge sum of money but we refused. The bodies rotted there until there was nothing left."He said looking at the man in front. He was still not scared and very undisturbed. The candle which he used as his scaring tool was also near the process of extinguishing. So he just admitted defeat and before he left he tried to warn him for the very last time.
" Young master, wherever you go just don't go inside the forest. Many wanderers turned a deaf ear to what we said but none of them returned unharmed from there after dark. For god's sake if something bad happens then no one will be willing to help... *Sigh* Anyways have a good night."After this, he left with the village folk and soon he was the only one left in the dark spacious room.
But was he scared by any of this? Bet? Not even a little bit. After all his job consisted of dealing with supernatural things as well. In his life, he had faced many malicious ghosts, dangerous unknown things and demons and he had skillfully exorcised them. If not a hundred then a thousand. So how could a low-level ghost and its story scare him?
That night he slept peacefully and the next morning before setting out, he saw the villagers and their chief standing in front of the inn door. They came to visit him again but not to scare him, they came to give him some gifts this time. With a face full of smiles they greeted him and handed the gifts. But the reason he couldn't utter a single thank you was because they were handing him written talismans, good luck charms, peach wood sword and even some pictures to drive away ghosts. He stood there like a clueless statue while they all handed him those. When both his hands were full, they thought what should be done with the rest. Suddenly they saw the large and beautiful sedan and before Léi Yún could understand their intent, they stuffed the sedan with those unnecessary things and left a very little space where only one can barely sit. But that was not it. They even called a shaman to purify his body. At this rate, he did not know whether he should laugh or cry.
He was just too cruel to accept them and too kind to throw them. So since they did it with good intentions, he couldn't say no and until now he had to carry them in his sedan as they claimed more place and he had to adjust. On top of that, he forgot to bring his Qiánkūn dài[3] with him. What trouble he brought upon himself by staying there for a night.
But sadly their warnings or scary stories didn't work. Léi Yún was the kind of person to do the things told not to do even more. He really wanted to see the female ghost that they were so afraid of. He could just take the normal route but he chose the forest. On top of that it was a shortcut, so why hesitate?
Just as the sedan carriers walked inside the forest, it started pouring. Inside the forest, there was an eerie silence. Only the rustling sound of the wind, the sound of rain dropping on tree leaves and land sounded. While walking there even their own footsteps scared them. The route was narrow and as they walked forward they saw thick fog everywhere. Was it too late to turn back? But since they were being paid highly, they had to walk no matter what. After a while, the fog finally dispersed but what they saw in front made their hearts drop in their stomach.
In front stood a lady in red Bēizi [4] draped with silver jewels all over holding a red bamboo umbrella, covering her face.
They suddenly remembered what they heard the old chief telling their master before leaving.
" If you really go there or ever find yourself inside that forest because there is a high chance that she might confuse you in her trap to enter there to feed on you, then always remember that you will be able to see thick fog and if it disappears then you will find yourself standing in front of a lady in red. Don't ever try running away from there. Just hold your breath and relax, act like a statue. For some reason, she can't see but her hearing skills are sharp. Wait there until she passes from the spot and then after checking with light footsteps get out of there as soon as possible."
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[1] Léi Yún( 雷云) translates to thunder cloud.
[2] Mèng Yīn(梦姻) her name translates to dream marriage.
[3] Qiánkūn dài (乾坤袋) translates to Qiánkūn bag or pouch. It is a spiritual bag that can contain more things than it seems. You will know if you watched or read Grand Master of Demonic Cultivation(Mo Dao Zhu Shi) or The Untamed series.
[4] Bēizi(背子) translates to the person behind, was a clothing common to both men and women in the Song dynasty.
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GuanHua
GuanHua hope you like it~ I am writing this while going through exams TwT.
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