IBGSW Chapter 67
Inspecting the Wu Residence
With that in mind, Zhao Fusheng called out, “Old Zhang.”
Zhang Chuanshi shuddered and shrank into the crowd, playing dead.
Zhao Fusheng warned, “Zhang Chuanshi!”
Old Zhang came forward with a bitter face, and she shoved the stack of skin shavings in her hand into his. “Hold these. Don’t lose them. I’ll have great use for them.”
Seeing she wasn’t sending him to fight a ghost, Zhang Chuanshi was hugely relieved.
“Why would you collect this stuff, my lord...”
The things were pretty disgusting. On reflection, it was a pile of human skin, possibly the skin of people who had died in the ghost calamity, and he found it ill-omened.
But the moment he touched the stack of shavings, a bad premonition rose in him.
Wait! This was human skin!
And Zhao Fusheng had just torn a piece of skin from his own face!
!!!
Zhang Chuanshi’s eyes snapped wide.
Having lived next door to the bureau for years, Zhang Chuanshi was no fool.
Zhao Fusheng was sharp and never did useless things. Since she had torn a flake of skin off his face and told him to keep it safe, there had to be a reason.
At the time he’d thought she’d gone muddled from a day on the road and had thought the skin useless, so he’d thrown it on the ground.
And fearing she’d notice, he’d ground it hard into the mud with his foot.
Now that Zhao Fusheng had found so much human skin at the scene of the earlier case, perhaps this very skin was one of the ghost’s killing rules.
“...”
Did that mean that all the way here, praying to heaven for protection and dodging at every turn, he’d already been marked by the ghost without knowing when?
“My lord, I, I...”
Zhang Chuanshi wanted to slap himself twice.
His face turned pale, then green. Terrified, he stammered, wondering whether it was still possible to go pick that scrap back up.
Zhao Fusheng ignored him. Steadying herself, she pushed the door open.
Before she pushed it, the villagers of Goutou Village, who had been chattering a moment before, seemed to sense the tension and all fell silent.
The crowd held their breath, uneasy.
Though Zhao Fusheng had said there was no ghost in Wu Liren’s house now, and the way here had been uneventful with no ghost sighted, Wu Liren’s family’s disappearance was still a fact.
It might also have been that Wu Liren’s long-standing authority weighed on them as they stood at his door, leaving them somewhat oppressed.
But as the door swung open with a creak, no ghost appeared.
Instead, an eerie night wind whooshed through the open door into the room, sending up a sky full of silver-white shavings.
In Wu Liren’s room it looked as if goose-feather snow were falling, blinding everyone.
Seeing this, the villagers cried out in panic.
Countless shavings flew everywhere, and some drifted onto people’s faces, hands, and necks.
Then everyone began scratching, a harsh, dense sound of scratching.
Zhao Fusheng’s own body began to itch to the bone. She scratched a couple of times and tore off another big chunk of skin.
Though she had lost a section of memory, what she’d gathered on the way had made her aware of the scab’s strangeness.
This time she didn’t simply hand it to Zhang Chuanshi, but gripped it firmly in her own hand and stepped into Wu Liren’s room.
“Don’t shout, don’t shout!”
Zhang Chuanshi had nearly wet himself with fright at first, but he reacted fastest, and seeing Zhao Fusheng had gone into the room, he hurried after her.
He had realized what set her way of handling cases apart.
She seemed reckless but was actually careful beneath it, decisive in action, and staying with her was the safest option for now.
The others were still shouting and in chaos.
If Zhao Fusheng hadn’t promised tax relief first, they’d probably have scattered like birds and beasts. Even though they hadn’t run, they didn’t dare enter and only huddled outside, legs trembling.
Compared with the other side rooms, Wu Liren’s room was fairly new. Setting aside the shavings flying everywhere, everything inside matched the timeline of Wu Liren’s family having “disappeared” about half a month ago.
Following her earlier routine for the side chambers, Zhao Fusheng checked the tables, chairs, cabinets, and bed legs and found no mold.
But oddly, the wardrobe held only one or two changes of ready-made clothes, and was otherwise empty. That didn’t match Wu Liren’s image as a man of great wealth.
She felt the clothes. They were sticky with age, as if a bit more pressure would make the cloth crumble to powder, like clothes that hadn’t been worn in years.
Zhao Fusheng then lifted the bedding.
The bed looked as if people often slept in it, yet there was no trace of sweat or body odor. Instead a faint, half-vanishing ghost's breath lingered.
She sensed the ghost’s breath and followed her feel for it, soon finding in the quilt’s lining a piece of fine, soft skin.
It was smooth and supple, unusually large, and slightly cool.
Zhao Fusheng felt her way along the soft skin. It had been pieced together, and as she ran her hand over it, it seemed to have no edge.
A wild idea rose in her. “Could this entire layer be one joined sheet of human skin?”
The more she touched it, the surer she was, and she called out, “Old Zhang!”
This time Zhang Chuanshi hesitated for a long moment before answering and stepping up. “My lord?”
The few times she had called him casually before, it hadn’t gotten him killed by a ghost, and she had even seemed to quietly guide him.
When he came forward, Zhao Fusheng instructed, “Find a pair of scissors and cut the stitches on this quilt.”
She added, “Be careful. Don’t damage what’s inside.”
Quilts of the time were generally sewn tightly with a large needle, and the thread had to be picked out in order to separate the upper and lower layers intact and reveal the human skin inside.
Zhang Chuanshi agreed. The others looked embarrassed, and Wu Liyou said, “My lord, at Wu Liren’s house there’s probably not a single chopstick left.”
The people of Goutou Village were poor. After Wu Liren’s family disappeared, the front door had stood wide open, and even ghosts couldn’t stop the villagers’ greed. Apart from large items nobody had dared openly carry off yet, almost everything of any value had been snatched up.
And that was with Zhao Fusheng arriving promptly! A few more months and even the quilts and cabinets would have vanished.
Zhao Fusheng pressed a hand to her forehead.
Wu Liyou said carefully, “My lord, it’s very late. You’ve been traveling all day. Why not come back to my house, wash your face and eat, and look again tomorrow?”
At night, Wu Liren’s mansion was eerie and chilling.
As soon as he finished, the others chimed in, “Yes, my lord.”
“If you want the quilt, I could carry it for you, and at Uncle Liyou’s house you can look at it slowly by lamplight,” Wu Shaochun said eagerly.
Zhao Fusheng nodded. “Fine.”
“Come to my house. My father earlier...”
At this Wu Liyou suddenly stopped.
Confusion crossed his face. “Strange, why am I mentioning my father? My father...” He thought for a long while, but his memory was a muddle. “My father, he, he left a few days ago on some business, said he was going to the town to report a case.”
Then he instinctively scratched his face.
In the firelight, the skin flakes on his face flew like a handful of coarse salt scattered in the air, and he himself was completely unaware.
“Never mind. My lord, please come to my house first. My mother and wife are cooking already and have lit a lamp.”
Zhao Fusheng had no objection.
The group left Wu Liren’s mansion and headed in a great procession to Wu Liyou’s house.
Wu Liyou’s house in the village naturally couldn’t match Wu Liren’s for grandeur, but it was a neat, orderly farmhouse courtyard kept spotless by his family.
When they came in, several women with children stood uneasily in a corner, and Wu Liyou’s brothers waited at the front gate, so excited they didn’t know what to do.
“My lord, should we have the villagers go to town tonight and have the town send more men to help with the case?” Zhang Chuanshi moved close to Zhao Fusheng’s ear and whispered, “I see this house is shabby with nothing decent. Why not have them bring some food and drink back too? I doubt they’d dare refuse.”
This was the usual pomp of the bureau’s case-handling: attendants fussing everywhere they went, and even the poorest backwater could be squeezed for a feast with a little management.
“No need.”
Zhao Fusheng could see that besides being greedy, Zhang Chuanshi also hoped to bring people from Wu’an Town to serve as stand-ins to die in his place.
She chuckled. “We’re here to handle a case. Those people aren’t order envoys and couldn’t help.”
Zhang Chuanshi couldn’t help peeking at her, thinking to himself: what a strange person.
This trip was unlucky.
He hadn’t enjoyed any of the bureau’s usual pomp, and had instead been marked by a ghost, his life or death uncertain.
But though he grumbled inwardly, he didn’t dare contradict her, so he vented his bad mood on Wu Liyou’s family, shouting with a stony face, “Hurry up and kill chickens and ducks to serve the guests. Children, stay out of the way. Women, come attend to the lord. Men, tomorrow go gather people to slaughter pigs and hold a banquet.”
Wu Liyou meekly agreed, but thinking of the tax relief, swallowed his reluctance and answered.
Zhao Fusheng glanced at Zhang Chuanshi, who worried she’d stop him, but she only said, “Don’t make such a production. If anyone's hungry, a chicken will do. We can’t eat that much.”
Zhang Chuanshi was an order envoy of the bureau and did take a certain risk to his life handling ghost cases outside. Eating a chicken or two to throw his weight around wasn’t too much.
Besides, if she kept refusing, Wu Liyou’s family would probably feel uneasy.
With the bureau’s taxes waived, Wu Liyou’s family would probably do well next year and wouldn’t miss two chickens.
Zhang Chuanshi had feared a scolding at first, but seeing her tacit permission, he was overjoyed.
Having been bested by Zhao Fusheng several times, being indulged now made the feeling of being treated kindly grow many times over. A long-absent sense of grievance welled up in his heart, his blood surged, and he was even a little grateful. “My lord...”
In his excitement he almost said something he shouldn’t have.
He shut his mouth in time, and Zhao Fusheng gave him a long look and smiled.
“Prepare a clean room, and everyone else may disperse,” Zhao Fusheng told the villagers who’d followed them. “Everyone who went with me to Wu Liren’s house tonight gets three months off their taxes.”
At her words the others were thrilled, but seeing them, she added, “On the condition that I finish this ghost case. If anyone obstructs me and the case comes to nothing, all promises made before are void.”
The crowd’s expressions sobered.
Wu Jiu’s father said anxiously, “Rest assured, my lord. The whole village will help with this case. Whoever doesn’t give their all is a son of a dog!”
“Right, right!”
“Or let’s go back to Wu Liren’s house right now.”
...
They shouted over each other, and Zhao Fusheng shook her head. “Tomorrow.”
She was simply worried that the villagers were short-sighted, greedy for petty gain, and afraid of trouble.
And from the scraps she had picked up from them, she realized Goutou Village had few people, most of them related, with feuds among themselves but united against outsiders.
Take Wu Datong, who forty-some years ago had abducted a rich family’s daughter. Before that, the villagers had looked down on him, and many had even bullied him.
But after Wu Datong had done wrong and the girl’s family came to the village, everyone had, as if by unspoken agreement, kept silent and shut out the outsiders together, sending the girl’s family home disappointed.
All of it showed Goutou Village’s character: backward, unruly, and clannish.
They weren’t enthusiastic about ghost cases. If Zhao Fusheng didn’t tie them down with heavy promises, she couldn’t control them, and if she promised too early and too easily, then should the case end up involving villagers, they’d probably all band together and refuse to provide clues.
The best way was to dangle tax relief as bait and hook them so they wouldn’t dare hold back.
People were creatures that chased profit.
After she finished, the others left reluctantly.
A few villagers friendly with Wu Liyou’s family didn’t want to leave, and lingered, smelling the food in the house and hoping for a free meal.
In these times grain was precious in most households, and Wu Liyou had Zhao Fusheng and Zhang Chuanshi to host, so he hurried them off. “Go, go. The lord needs rest so she can handle the case tomorrow. Don’t disturb her.”
The rest left one after another. Only Wu Shaochun, holding the quilt, didn’t go. “Aunt, the lord wants this bedding, which room should I put it in?”
“The east main room has been cleaned out. The lord will stay there tonight,” a woman said, a little stiffly.
Wu Liyou explained, “My lord, the main room is where my father and mother live and is the biggest in the house. The bedding and covers are newly changed. Please don’t mind.”
Zhao Fusheng was there to handle a ghost case and didn’t care about her lodgings.
Besides, Wu Liyou’s house couldn’t be worse than the house in Beggars’ Alley where she’d stayed on her first case. She nodded. “Put it in.”
But after thinking, she asked casually, “Your father went to report the case. Did he go alone or with someone? How long has he been gone? Where is he now?”
Wu Liyou didn’t think much of it. “Three days ago, before dawn, he went to the town alone to report the case. He said if all went well he’d be back in three to five days.”
Zhao Fusheng felt a flicker of doubt.
Goutou Village was not close to Wan’an County. She and Zhang Chuanshi had driven the carriage without stopping and had still taken nearly a whole day to get here.
If no one had reported a ghost case in such a remote town, she would never have known.
But since she had come, it proved Wu Dajing’s report had gone through. So where was Wu Dajing now?
