IBGSW Chapter 83
Recording the Ghost Case
A plaque hung above the Demon-Suppression Bureau, but when Zhao Fusheng was first reborn, the board seemed to be covered in a layer of dust, its characters blurred and hard to read.
Now, as she returned, the dust on the plaque seemed to have been wiped off, and the gold-leaf characters were much clearer than before.
“My lord...” Seeing her look up, Fan Bisi’s face changed slightly, and Zhao Fusheng sharply realized that in that moment his gaze passed over her body and looked at something behind her.
She turned and saw Zhang Chuanshi, lips pressed together, also looking upward.
Her sudden turn startled him. He was a beat late pulling back his gaze and instinctively flashed a fawning grin.
“Have you noticed something wrong, my lord?”
Fan Bisi stepped forward and asked.
Zhao Fusheng frowned slightly, then smiled. “No.” She said as if offhand, “You’ve done well. The bureau’s plaque looks much cleaner than before.”
Fan Bisi breathed a sigh of relief, and was about to speak, but Zhao Fusheng had already walked into the yamen as if nothing had happened.
Though she’d been gone only two days and a night, her room had been tidied. The Office’s menial workers dared not slack, and while she was talking with Fan Bisi and Zhang Chuanshi, the water for washing and all necessities had been prepared.
She soaked in the hot water, and the nerves that had been tight since meeting the ghost slowly relaxed in its comfort.
Her gaze fell on her arms soaking in the water. Her skin was smooth and white, yet she seemed to see through to the bloody flesh beneath.
The Goutou Village ghost was truly formidable.
From the miserable state of Zhang Chuanshi and the village survivors, one could see that the ghost’s killing method was flaying skin and stripping bone.
If she hadn’t been lucky enough to find a joined human-skin quilt in Wu Liren’s room and pulled the skin around herself at the critical moment, then even with the merit of the Investiture of the Gods she might not have recovered fully.
Wu Liren’s human-skin quilt had been with a ghost for years. Who knew whether it had mutated in some way?
But in that situation Zhao Fusheng had had no choice. Even if there were aftereffects, with the Investiture of the Gods in hand and a reserve of merit, she had nothing to worry about for the moment.
...
When she finished bathing and came out of the bath, Fan Bisi had already prepared food for her.
In the main hall were not only the Fan brothers and Zhang Chuanshi, but also Magistrate Pang and a whole group of the county’s gentry.
At present, the only publicly known ghost-controller in Wan’an County was Zhao Fusheng. As ghost fog invaded the county and ghost cases multiplied, the safety of the entire county rested on her alone, so her movements drew close attention.
Barely had she stepped into the bureau when the news spread.
Magistrate Pang, without even changing clothes, had had a sedan chair carry him to the bureau.
When he arrived, he found nearly all the county gentry already gathered.
While she washed, they had questioned Zhang Chuanshi, the survivor of this ghost case, about its cause and effect.
Though he had gone through this ghost case himself and nearly been killed by the ghost, Zhang Chuanshi didn’t actually understand it well.
He had followed Zhao Fusheng in a daze, been badly frightened along the way, and never once saw the ghost’s shadow.
But that didn’t stop him from boasting.
He told it as a heart-stopping tale, and when he mentioned Wu Datong, he called him an old man “carrying” a curse.
He recounted how Wu Dajing, bearing the ghost’s mark, had come to the bureau that day and talked with Zhao Fusheng the whole way, and how after returning to the village, not long after, he was killed by the ghost.
Then everyone’s memories were erased.
The old man was timid and sly, but he was a merchant to the core, with a very slick tongue. Even though he’d never seen the ghost from start to finish, he spun the case into one full of ups and downs, and the people in the hall shivered as they listened.
“...Our lord, wise and mighty, guessed that Wu Liyou’s house had a ghost, and out of concern for me, afraid I’d be in danger staying there, she told me to hurry out of his house and go to Wu Lifu’s.”
Zhang Chuanshi embellished. “Because she was afraid the ghost would harm me, she took me along everywhere on the road and treated me with every kindness...”
Fan Wujiu had listened to him brag for ages and finally couldn’t bear it. “Stop spouting nonsense. How could the lord possibly show you every kindness...”
“Why couldn’t she?” Hearing this, Zhang Chuanshi grew anxious.
He stood up hugging the Soul-Life Register, the eyeball with its missing eyelid bulging wide, blood vessels and tendons clearly visible, and as he turned it the flesh looked ready to tear, the eyeball seeming to want to pop out of its socket.
Seeing this, Fan Wujiu cowered. “Old Zhang, don’t look at me like that. It’s creepy.”
He pulled at his own eyelids and pointed at his eyeball. “Don’t get too excited. I’m afraid your eyeball will fall out1.”
“Hmph.” Zhang Chuanshi snorted and wanted to touch his eye.
The sight gave everyone the creeps. When his fingers touched the bare flesh, he sucked in a hissing breath. “The lord was kind to me. How else would I have come back safe from this ghost case?”
At that, the others stopped arguing.
“As everyone knows, your Demon-Suppression bureau...”
Before he finished, he saw Fan Bisi give him a cold smile, and woke up in time. “...Our bureau has always had heavy casualties among order envoys. However many envoys follow a commanding officer out to handle cases, there’s never one that doesn’t lose people.”
“But now I’m back, still alive. Doesn’t that prove the lord looked after me?”
Everyone was speechless.
Though Fan Wujiu didn’t quite believe Zhao Fusheng would take extra care of him, it was a fact that Zhang Chuanshi had gone through a ghost case without dying.
He said stubbornly, “That’s because the lord’s strength is extraordinary. You just got lucky.”
“Ha, you’re jealous!”
Zhang Chuanshi didn’t bother arguing. Magistrate Pang and the others, who had listened to the two for a while, hurriedly cut in. “Elder Zhang, go on, go on.”
Lifted by Magistrate Pang, Zhang Chuanshi raised his chin, one corner of his mouth lifting in a smile of unrivaled arrogance. “All right, continuing.”
“When we left Wu Liyou’s house, the lord discussed the ghost case with me, saying she suspected something had happened to Wu Dajing. The carriage was parked at Wu Lifu’s, so we went there together to investigate the ghost case.”
He said not a word of his own fear and reluctance at the time. Fan Wujiu had known him for two years and understood him somewhat, and he curled his lip, not believing he’d been so brave.
But the mention of the ghost case also made him curious, so he didn’t contradict.
Zhang Chuanshi went on, “After we got up in the carriage, sure enough we found bloodstains, and I guessed then that Wu Dajing had really met with trouble. But then something strange happened!!!”
“What strange thing?” everyone hurriedly asked.
Zhang Chuanshi slapped his thigh. “The instant we said Wu Dajing had met with trouble, the bloodstains vanished, and then we heard knocking outside, and the missing Wu Dajing came back at that very moment!”
“...”
Though everyone had prepared themselves when he mentioned something strange, hearing it still broke them out in a cold sweat.
Think of the scene: wild mountain village, the dead of night, pitch dark, a person who may have died suddenly returning in the night. Just imagining it made Fan Bisi tremble.
“I...”
Zhang Chuanshi was about to continue, but his gaze seemed to catch something from the corner of his eye. He jumped in fright, stood up, and shouted, “My lord!”
As he said it, the others, who had been listening raptly to his bragging, trembled too.
Fan Bisi turned first and saw Zhao Fusheng, and hurriedly rose. The others turned in turn and saw that Zhao Fusheng had at some point come out and was now leaning against one side of the Office door, listening to them.
“My lord.”
“My lord...”
Magistrate Pang and the others hurriedly saluted, and the gentry rose and gave up seats.
Zhao Fusheng nodded. “It was well told.”
Zhang Chuanshi, so pleased with himself a moment before, wilted like a frost-bitten eggplant2, embarrassment in his eyes. “Why did you suddenly appear without a word, my lord?”
“If I’d said anything, I wouldn’t have heard such a wonderful speech,” Zhao Fusheng said. “Everyone sit.”
Tables had been set in the hall, with some dishes brought by Magistrate Pang and the gentry when they came, barely making up two tables.
The crowd flanked Zhao Fusheng to her seat, and Magistrate Pang raised a cup of wine. “Our Wan’an County is truly blessed. With Lord Zhao turning the tide, I congratulate you here on handling another ghost case.”
At his words, everyone else raised their cups.
This old magistrate had no grudge against Zhao Fusheng, had treated her with great respect since she took over the bureau, and she gave him face and clinked cups.
She hadn’t eaten or drunk well in Goutou Village, and now back at the bureau she finally felt a bit more at ease.
After a couple of pleasantries, she picked up her chopsticks and ate.
Magistrate Pang and the others were only keeping her company, barely touching their chopsticks. When she finished eating and put down her chopsticks, Fan Bisi quickly had the remains of the banquet cleared.
When the small talk was done, they got down to business.
The gentry exchanged looks and finally looked to Magistrate Pang.
He hesitated for a moment and asked carefully, “From what Elder Zhang says, you handled this ghost case smoothly, my lord?”
Zhao Fusheng held her teacup.
Tea fragrance rose along with the steam. The bureau’s hall was lit with candles, far removed from Wu Liyou’s poor farmhouse courtyard.
The Great Han was poor, backward and dangerous, but since she’d been reborn, the power of a whole county was in her hands. Everyone served her, obeyed her words, and even the county magistrate3 and its gentry were deferential to her.
Zhao Fusheng’s expression went distant for a moment, until Magistrate Pang’s voice interrupted her thoughts. She sipped her tea, savored the lingering fragrance on her lips and teeth, and nodded. “Fairly smooth.”
“Please take care of your health, my lord,” Magistrate Pang said, cupping his hands. “The safety of our whole county now rests on you...”
The old man in blue brocade beside him nudged him lightly with an elbow, and he steeled himself and said, “It’s good that the ghost case is solved, but dealing with ghosts is dangerous after all, and it’s not wise to use too much of your power...”
Ghost-controllers had violent, odd tempers.
Magistrate Pang had been in Wan’an County for years and had dealt with several chief commanding officers of the bureau. Apart from Zhao Fusheng, in his memory the last commanding officer, Zhao Qiming, had a fairly good temper at first, but as he used the malignant ghost’s power more, he changed completely.
Later, speaking with him, one could feel a chill rush at one’s face, as if talking to a malignant ghost, and no one dared meet his eyes.
Zhao Fusheng was an exception as commanding officer. When she took the chief commanding officer’s seat, nobody had expected her to really handle ghost cases.
On her first case she had taken on the malignant ghost of Beggars’ Alley alone and torn it apart. On the second, she had solved the case even faster, and Zhang Chuanshi was now claiming she had sealed the malignant ghost.
She was just an ordinary girl of Wan’an County who had never dealt with ghosts before. She held no great malevolent object, and the ghost she controlled, by rights already used twice, should have been on the edge of reviving. How had she sealed this ghost?
Zhang Chuanshi had told the Goutou Village case vividly, but the actual process was murky.
The county’s safety was at stake, and everyone wanted to know whether Zhao Fusheng had used her malignant ghost’s power in this Goutou Village case.
Most important of all, how much time was left before the ghost in her revived?
“This time I didn’t use the malignant ghost’s power in me,” Zhao Fusheng shook her head.
She knew exactly what these people were thinking.
But she wasn’t angry at their probing. Everything she had now she’d earned with her own strength, and if she wanted these people to submit and restore Wan’an County to its former prosperity, she had to show her power when needed so they’d be convinced and stay put in Wan’an County.
“You...”
Magistrate Pang, hearing this, was delighted at first and was about to speak again, but Zhao Fusheng raised a hand and stopped him.
“Since you’re all here, the Goutou Village case file hasn’t been recorded yet. I’ll dictate, and you can write it down for me.”
The county had no secretary yet, she wasn’t used to the brush and her handwriting wasn’t good. Since Magistrate Pang and the others wanted to know the case’s origin, they could record it for her.
Hearing her order, Magistrate Pang saluted at once. “I’d be glad to be of service, my lord.”
Fan Bisi hurriedly had the case scroll, brush and ink prepared, and when all was ready, Zhao Fusheng thought for a moment.
She turned it over in her mind and soon had what she wanted to say ready.
“This time’s malignant ghost, let’s tentatively name it...” She thought and said, “The Unspeakable.”4
“The Unspeakable?” Magistrate Pang, brush poised, froze.
Zhao Fusheng knew he’d misunderstood and explained patiently, “This ghost is an existence that must not be mentioned. It’s not that I can’t say it...”
She shook her head and changed the wording. “Call it the Substitute Ghost.”
Magistrate Pang’s old face flushed red. He realized he’d misunderstood her meaning and hastily answered meekly, then wrote the three characters “Substitute Ghost” on the sheepskin scroll.
Having made a fool of himself in front of Zhao Fusheng, and afraid she’d look down on him, he wanted to show his usefulness and wrote with great concentration.
“Goutou Village has few people, mostly surnamed Wu. The man who reported the case, Wu Dajing, mentioned a person: Wu Datong.”
She gave a rough account of how Wu Datong abducted a young woman, raped her and got her pregnant, and caused the girl to die in a difficult labor and give birth to a ghost fetus.
Zhao Fusheng’s telling wasn’t as vivid as Zhang Chuanshi’s, but her logic was clear and her words precise, and having lived through the ghost case herself, in a few sentences she made the origin of Goutou Village’s trouble perfectly clear.
“The ghost’s trait is that it is unspeakable. Because of how it was born, anyone who mentions it or hears of its existence is marked by the ghost.”
The moment she said this, she made the whole hall of old and young shudder hard.
