IBGSW Chapter 100
Meeting Zheng He
The road to Baozhi County was, as an official road should be, flat and wide, far easier going than the road Zhao Fusheng had taken to Goutou Village.
And because Wan'an County was now sealed off by ghost fog, the road was unobstructed and not a single traveler was in sight.
The party reached the Baozhi County border earlier than expected.
Unlike half-abandoned Wan'an County, Baozhi County had soldiers guarding its city gate, and a dozen or so commoners waiting in line to enter beneath the walls.
"Baozhi County really is prosperous."
Zhao Fusheng had kept her eyes closed to rest the whole way, and showed no sign of travel fatigue upon arrival. She pulled back the carriage curtain, looked out at the people lining up to enter, and sighed.
"..."
Order Envoy Gu Jiansheng, huddled in the corner, moved his lips as if wanting to speak but too timid, and a gulp sounded in his throat.
Fan Wujiu, who'd also been peering out, turned at the sound. Pinching his nose, brows slanting fiercely, he demanded:
"You dare fart in front of my lord?!"
"N-no!"
Terrified, Gu Jiansheng recovered and waved his hands frantically:
"I just wanted to talk, so I cleared my throat."
"..." Fan Bisi's eyelid twitched, and Zhao Fusheng looked back at him:
"What did you want to say?"
Her eyes were bright, her lips faintly curved, with a dashing air about her brows, not at all a sinister, spectral sort; there was nothing of a ghost-controller's oppressive presence about her. But Gu Jiansheng remembered how she'd held a ghost hand and nearly taken his life, and when their eyes met he felt as if pricked by needles and shifted his numb legs uneasily.
Hearing her ask, Gu Jiansheng took a deep breath and said, forcing down his fear:
"There are fewer people than usual just now."
Compared with its neighbor, Baozhi County had been very lucky; for the past two years there had been almost no ghost calamities.
In a world like this, keeping a county peaceful for two years was, to people who had suffered malignant ghosts, a true haven.
Many wealthy households in particular did everything they could to come live in Baozhi County.
Once merchants gathered, the county's economy flourished.
"If not for the ghost calamity, the line to get into the city would stretch out like a long dragon every day."
Gu Jiansheng said with some pride.
After the Baozhi ghost calamity began, Zheng He had taken quick measures, but because the Sun family had been wiped out, the news couldn't be fully suppressed, and many wealthy gentry in the city were already watching and preparing to flee.
The once-bustling county now showed a hint of decline.
The orange-red setting sun lit the foot of the city wall, and those entering the city were listless and silent.
Before Zhao Fusheng's rebirth, Baozhi County had been the Fan brothers' dream refuge.
If the scheme of "diverting the disaster eastward" hadn't taken an unexpected turn, the brothers might long since have arrived in Baozhi County and become Deputy Commander Zheng's order envoys.
Though they hadn't gotten their wish in the end, the two had come here after all, only this time to handle a ghost case.
Perhaps because Baozhi County had also met a ghost calamity, the county wasn't as lively as the brothers had imagined.
There were people at the gate, but the commoners entering were gaunt and ragged, their expressions numb, a lifeless lot.
The soldiers guarding the gate, meanwhile, were fierce and foul-mouthed to those entering, with a bamboo basket set to the side holding some copper coins and odds and ends.
Looking at this, Baozhi County seemed somewhat more populated than Wan'an County, but it still wasn't the haven the Fans had imagined. Both were sorely disappointed and lost interest in looking further.
"My lord, let's drive the carriage straight in."
People from the Demon-Suppression Bureau held lofty rank and naturally didn't need to line up honestly like ordinary folk.
What's more, Zhao Fusheng had come to handle a case for Baozhi County; Fan Bisi felt that even if Zheng He came out in person to welcome them it would be only proper, and he wasn't willing to waste time at this moment.
Zhao Fusheng gave a slight nod to his suggestion:
"We'll go straight in."
Gu Jiansheng had said the Baozhi ghost appeared at night, often without any prior sign, leaving the authorities unable to guard against it.
Often it was only the next day that neighbors discovered a case had occurred.
It wasn't late yet. Zhao Fusheng wanted to reach the city, look at the sites of the incidents, and search for clues about the case and the ghost's killing rule to see if she could find a thread.
Seeing her agree, Fan Bisi gave the driver an order.
The driver flicked the reins and shouted:
"Hyah!"
"Hey! Hey, hey, hey!"
The carriage had barely moved when the two soldiers at the gate noticed it and began hollering.
They'd spotted the carriage earlier and had already exchanged several ill-intentioned looks.
Wan'an County might be poor, but Zhao Fusheng was master of the Demon-Suppression Bureau, and Magistrate Pang and the gentry supported her, furnishing every part of her food, clothing, lodging, and travel as best they could.
The carriage wasn't especially luxurious, but among the crowd of poor folk it stood out, and to the gate guards it was clearly a fat sheep walking in. How could they let it pass easily?
The two stopped the carriage, hurriedly dragged over a wooden spiked barricade to block the gate, drove the commoners aside viciously, and then shouted toward the carriage:
"Get out, get out!"
One of them hitched up his belt and swaggered forward:
"To enter the city, pay the toll: three coins for a man, two for a woman, one for a child. If you don't have coins, jewelry or cloth will do—"
Before he could finish, Fan Wujiu, who couldn't stand him, jumped from the carriage and delivered two pap-pap slaps straight to his face:
"Are you blind, you dog? How dare you stop our lord's carriage!"
Fan Wujiu had swallowed his anger in front of Zhao Fusheng for a long time, and now he finally had a chance to vent.
Two slaps, and the gate guard had teeth knocked out and blood flowing; he dropped on the spot, dizzy, clutching his face, not daring to make a sound for a long while.
"Look at our carriage's mark. The Demon-Suppression Bureau, you blind dog!"
Fan Wujiu cursed as he kicked the man, who had been so fierce a moment ago and now curled up in a ball, groaning.
"..."
The change terrified the other runner.
Deputy Commander Zheng's name carried great weight in Baozhi County, and many people had come to throw in with him in recent years.
Deputy Commander Zheng had said publicly that anyone who wanted to enter his county and enjoy his protection had to keep his rules and do things by his law.
So whether merchants or the powerful, people entering the city had to give him some face, and when they ran into the toll collectors at the gate, most swallowed their anger and paid up to settle it.
Most of the toll money went up the chain layer by layer, and a small portion was shared among the men at the bottom.
Guarding the gate should have been a fat job, one people without connections couldn't even squeeze into. These men were used to throwing their weight around and never expected to hit an iron plate today.
Seeing his comrade beaten, the other man was both afraid and furious, and was about to shout when Gu Jiansheng quickly stuck his head out of the carriage, pulled a token from his robe, and cursed:
"You yellow-eyed dogs1 who don't know their master! Look who I am. These are guests invited by Deputy Commander Zheng. You dare block the road and spoil things?"
Deputy Commander Zheng had run Baozhi County for years and had developed his own close-knit core of men, who had it all set up quite respectably.
The county's Demon-Suppression Bureau had a token that proved identity.
At the sight of it, the runner who'd just wanted to swagger nearly wet himself in fear, and the beaten man didn't dare utter a sound; they fell to their knees and begged.
Fan Wujiu wanted to kick the man a couple more times, but Zhao Fusheng stopped him:
"Forget it. Don't waste time here."
Seeing her calm and not angry at the pair's behavior, Fan Bisi told his brother:
"Wujiu, just have them move it out of the way."
Fan Wujiu gave a snort:
"You're lucky. Our lord has a good temper and won't trouble herself with you. Hurry and move the spiked barricade!"
At his shout the two scrambled and crawled to shift it, and Fan Wujiu got back in the carriage.
Now no one dared stop them. The carriage entered the city without trouble.
After that small incident, Zhao Fusheng lost interest in Baozhi County's prosperity.
The thriving surface hid the truth: from the men at the bottom, one could glimpse that Baozhi County's Deputy Commander Zheng was not a ghost-controller who cared for the people, but more a greedy man skilled in power games and money.
She stopped looking at the vendors along the street and sat in the carriage, silent.
Gu Jiansheng was uneasy, afraid of angering this commanding officer.
Fortunately, after the carriage entered the city it galloped along unimpeded, and about an hour later, it stopped before the gate of Baozhi County's Demon-Suppression Bureau.
"My lord—"
As soon as the carriage stopped, Gu Jiansheng, who'd been tense all the way, instinctively relaxed.
He looked carefully at Zhao Fusheng:
"We've arrived."
The Fans jumped down first, Zhao Fusheng last. She stretched her arms, saw from the corner of her eye several people hurrying out of the bureau, but didn't look at them; instead, instinctively, she raised her head to look at Baozhi County's bureau plaque.
Compared with Wan'an County's, the two plaques hung before the bureau gates were almost the same in size and appearance, black lacquer with gold lettering.
But Wan'an County's plaque was blurred on the surface as if shrouded in shadow, its gold lettering either flaking or covered, the characters indistinct.
By contrast, Baozhi County's plaque was clear. Though it looked dusty gray too, its gold paint was intact, and it looked newer and brighter than Wan'an County's plaque.
While she looked, seven or eight people came quickly out of the bureau.
The first was about to speak when Gu Jiansheng, fearing these men would say something offensive, slipped out from beside Fan Bisi and called:
"It's me, I'm back. Quick, go tell Lord Zheng that the chief commanding officer of Wan'an County, Lord Zhao, has come in person."
The men were startled to hear this.
But they recognized Gu Jiansheng's voice, their faces lost their menace, and after exchanging glances they urged someone to go fetch Zheng He at once.
Though Zheng He was still nominally master of the Baozhi County Demon-Suppression Bureau, he'd long since opened a separate residence outside the bureau, and by the time someone brought him over, a quarter of an hour had passed.
Zhao Fusheng sat in the yamen of Baozhi County's bureau, with Gu Jiansheng attending beside her.
She hadn't brought a Soul-Life Register to prove her identity, but the Fan brothers accompanying her were the best proof, and with Gu Jiansheng's word added, the Baozhi County order envoys and menial workers dared not slight her. They'd already served her fragrant tea and stood waiting at her side.
When footsteps sounded outside, the people in the quiet hall held their breath, nervousness plain on their faces.
Zheng He had controlled a ghost for a long time, was deeply affected by it, and was sour and cruel by temperament; his subordinates trembled when they met him, afraid of angering him.
As he arrived, he seized a menial worker and asked:
"Where are the people from Wan'an County?"
"Here."
Hearing the question, Zhao Fusheng answered.
She set down her teacup, stood, and walked out.
Everyone followed behind her, making Zheng He, who'd just come from outside, seem rather an "outsider."
Zhao Fusheng hadn't been reborn long, but she'd set this Baozhi County commanding officer up more than once.
In a sense, as neighbors, the two had already secretly "dealt with each other," a kind of fate, but this was their first actual meeting.
Zheng He looked about forty and didn't seem old.
He wore a lake-green brocade robe with a gold belt at his waist; by his dress he bore a faint resemblance to the green-robed big man Zhao Fusheng had seen last night on the Ghost Carriage.
But that wasn't what surprised her.
Zheng He looked human, but there wasn't an ounce of human warmth in his face.
His complexion was an eerie blend of blue and yellow, the skin of his face stretched taut and oily-bright, so that at a glance it looked like polished bronze.
His gaze was cold, his lips bluish, and when he looked at people his expression was stiff, like a walking corpse.
As Zhao Fusheng sized him up, he sized her up too, with a look entirely devoid of feeling, and a malignant ghost's baleful aura rushed at her, making anyone he looked at feel as if they'd stepped into a ghost domain.
He'd been badly eroded by his ghost; he had turned half into a ghost entity himself!
Back then, Deputy Commander Zheng's name had struck the Fan brothers like thunder. Now, seeing the commanding officer of Baozhi County in the flesh, they felt a stab of dread at first sight and instinctively moved behind Zhao Fusheng.
Dealing with ghosts gradually turns a person ghostlike.
Seeing Zheng He reminded the brothers of how they'd lived with Zhao Qiming in his late period: moods swinging without warning, no normal human needs left, a single look from him like being marked by a malignant ghost, scalp-tingling and heart-chilling.
After Zhao Fusheng replaced him as Wan'an County's commanding officer, though she controlled a ghost, her mood stayed steady.
The Fans had been wary of her, but around her they lacked the trembling dread of living with a malignant ghost day and night, and over time got used to it. Only now, seeing Zheng He, did they remember that not every commanding officer was like Zhao Fusheng.
"You're Wan'an County's commanding officer?"
Zheng He looked at Zhao Fusheng calmly and asked coldly.
He seemed devoid of emotion, but in fact acted without any pattern.
One moment he might be talking with someone, the next he might kill.
The Baozhi County order envoys around him instantly held their breath. Zhao Fusheng sensed that from the moment Zheng He appeared, everyone seemed to be on edge.
That people near Zheng He reacted this way showed that Baozhi County's Deputy Commander Zheng was no one easy to deal with.
At the thought, Zhao Fusheng shook her arm.
The ghost arm silently fell out of her sleeve into her hand.
She nodded: "I'm Wan'an County's commanding officer. And you're Zheng He?"
"Good."
Zheng He stepped forward and reached out to seize Zhao Fusheng by the collar.
His palm was icy, his nails blue-gray and glinting coldly; it wasn't a human hand but more like several steel spikes.
Zhao Fusheng wasn't going to put up with that. She swung the raised ghost palm at his hand:
"I ask the questions; you just answer."
Thunk. At the sound, the scalps of Gu Jiansheng and the Baozhi County people tingled.
The Baozhi order envoys were afraid because Zheng He represented the supreme authority here, holding everyone's life and death in his hands.
Gu Jiansheng was frightened because he'd already suffered at the ghost hand.
"Everyone, calm—"
He started to speak but was a step too late.
Zhao Fusheng had never intended to persuade a ghost-controller with words.
The ghost arm struck, the rule activated, and the fist unfolded, immediately locking fingers with Zheng He's palm.
This unexpected turn caught Zheng He off guard.
But eroded by his ghost, he seemed no longer able to show fear, though the instant the ghost arm gripped him he knew something was wrong.
The malignant ghost's aura rushed out, and the trouble began: the ghost he controlled was already on the verge of reviving, and the aura of the other ghost set it stirring.
Rustle, rustle.
A strange sound came, and Zheng He's flat chest began heaving violently, as if some living thing hidden in his chest were moving.
But everyone who knew the inside story knew it wasn't a living thing; it was plainly a malignant ghost.
"Let go! Let go."
He called out coldly, twice.
We made it to Chapter 100! Yippiee!!
(WARNING: Very long T/N!)
A little story first: I found this novel while browsing NovelUpdates. It was my first time reading an "Investiture of the Gods" type of web novel, and the previous translator was going too slow for my liking, so I got impatient and ran the raws through Google Translate. Classic af. Then I binged the entire thing in basically one sitting, and my only regret is that it ends. Even through the clunky and sometimes unreadable MTL, the worldbuilding and everything still blew me away.
