IBGSW Chapter 84
Showing Her Strength
“Damn that Wu Dajing.”
Magistrate Pang’s hand shook, and the brush tip jabbed onto the scroll, leaving a heavy black blot that ruined the neat page.
“My lord...”
“My lord, that day we also heard him say it, and we...”
...
Inside the Magistrate Office, the white-bearded gentry and Magistrate Pang paled at once. The room erupted like a boiling pot, and Magistrate Pang could hardly keep hold of his brush and said in a tearful voice, “My lord, this, this, what are we to do?”
Magistrate Pang had only worried before that Zhao Fusheng wouldn’t take the ghost case, and when he learned someone from Wu’an Town had reported one, he’d immediately brought the man to the bureau. Now that he knew the truth, he was thoroughly shaken.
“Don’t worry. I’ve sealed the malignant ghost,” Zhao Fusheng said calmly.
Zhang Chuanshi had mentioned earlier that she’d sealed the ghost, but when he said it, people had only half believed. Now that Zhao Fusheng herself said it, the hall, until then in an uproar, fell silent for a moment.
Fan Bisi and his brother exchanged a look, and Magistrate Pang exchanged glances with the gentry beside him.
The wounded Zhang Chuanshi looked pleased with himself.
Zhao Fusheng didn’t pay attention to the others’ reactions and fell into thought.
The substitute ghost was sealed by her. Mentioning its existence was no longer taboo, and there was no need to worry about being marked and killed.
But when Wu Dajing had come into the bureau, he had indeed come bearing the ghost’s “curse.”
According to the substitute ghost’s killing rule, anyone who mentioned or heard of it would be marked. The strongest proof was that when she heard Wu Dajing mention Wu Datong’s eldest son and spoke of the man herself, she’d felt an itch behind her ear and couldn’t help scratching it.
And after scratching, she’d torn a scab from under her ear.
Torn off, the spot had burned with pain, and Zhao Fusheng, not yet understanding the substitute ghost, had taken it as an injury from her fight with the Beggar Ghost.
Only afterward, on reflection, did she realize she’d triggered the rule at that time and a piece of her flesh had been torn off by the ghost.
And if she herself had triggered the ghost’s rule, there was no reason the others had been untouched.
Even if she, having mentioned the existence of Wu Datong’s eldest son, had had the most severe case, Fan Bisi and the others should have more or less carried marks of being harmed by the ghost...
Thinking this, Zhao Fusheng looked up at everyone.
Magistrate Pang looked frightened in hindsight, but didn’t look injured.
How strange. Why were these people, who should have been marked, completely unharmed?
She thought about the difference between herself and Fan Bisi and the others, and the only thing they didn’t share was that she had left the bureau for Goutou Village while Fan Bisi and his brother hadn’t left Wan’an County.
Did that mean the city of Wan’an County had some kind of protection?
As if by some strange impulse, Zhao Fusheng suddenly thought of the plaque hanging at the Bureau’s door.
On her return, the bureau’s plaque had seemed brighter than before, and when she’d looked at the plaque, Fan Bisi’s and Zhang Chuanshi’s eyes had seemed off.
She was suspicious by nature, and the thought arose: could this plaque have some story behind it?
She noted this in her mind and didn’t point it out for now, but went on, “Back to the matter. Keep recording.”
Magistrate Pang, still shaken, felt his scalp itch after hearing the substitute ghost’s killing rule and couldn’t help wanting to scratch.
But when his eye fell on Zhang Chuanshi’s wounds, he was stunned and dared not move.
“All of Goutou Village was marked. As far as I know, the first victim to die was Wu Dajing’s mother, who delivered Wu Datong’s eldest son and died on the seventeenth of the ninth month that same year...”
People had died one after another in between, but Zhao Fusheng hadn’t looked into the list. Officials in Wu’an Town would compile the statistics afterward.
“Wu Datong died in the seventh month of year 215 of the Great Han, but the villagers’ memories were disturbed, and they mistakenly thought Wu Datong had died only this July.”
“His son Wu Liren, after he grew up, married and had sons, all of whom were killed, but in the villagers’ eyes he was blessed with many sons.”
These truths made not only Magistrate Pang and the others’ scalps crawl, but even Zhang Chuanshi’s gaze go vacant.
He had gone to Goutou Village too.
What Zhao Fusheng said now he had also been present for, and had heard Wu Dajing and the villagers mention, but at the time he’d only felt impatient and hadn’t thought any of it was a clue to the ghost case.
“In Wu Liren’s side rooms I found signs of no one having lived there for a long time, with furniture moldy and fungus-grown and flakes of skin, so at the time I suspected the ghost’s rule was memory manipulation.”
What followed was much the same as Zhang Chuanshi had told it, and she passed over it quickly.
From her suspicion that Wu Dajing had died, to her search for evidence, to Wu Dajing suddenly appearing, she’d guessed then that the ghost was right beside her, which meant she, the person pursuing this old case most closely, was the ghost’s next target.
“I pieced together the human skin I collected into a paper figurine and used it as bait to lure the ghost out.”
She described the process calmly, but everyone shivered at the thought of her keeping company with a ghost and piecing a figurine from human skin.
“Afterward I used a great malevolent object to catch it and finally sealed it.”
Zhao Fusheng hadn’t told the whole truth of how she’d handled the case.
She left out finding the human-skin quilt in Wu Liren’s house and didn’t mention the ghost arm.
Even so, it was enough to astonish everyone.
The hall was so quiet one could hear a pin drop.
The others didn’t dare make a sound. Only Zhao Fusheng narrated, and Magistrate Pang wrote furiously.
This ghost case had been handled beautifully. Zhao Fusheng’s methods were unique, careful yet bold, and she had sealed the malignant ghost, solving the calamity once and for all rather than driving it off.
Such a method was unprecedented in Wan’an County’s history. Fan Bisi drifted for a moment: if Wan’an County hadn’t been shrouded in ghost fog, then on the strength of Zhao Fusheng’s two successful ghost cases in a month she would have received an immediate commendation from the court.
She would of course be conferred a general’s rank, and she might even be transferred and promoted at once to the prefectural Capital.
Back then he and his brother had wanted to defect to Deputy Commander Zheng of Baozhi County. Looking now at Zhao Fusheng, courageous and resourceful, steady in temperament while controlling a ghost, Deputy Commander Zheng wasn’t even fit to carry her shoes.
But however good she was, she still controlled a ghost, and that was a hidden danger.
She had used the malignant ghost’s power twice already, for her parents and for the Beggars’ Alley calamity. If she handled another ghost case and used the ghost’s power again, even someone as strong as Zhao Fusheng, how long could she live?
Fan Bisi’s gaze flickered, and finally he sighed silently and lowered his head.
“All right, the case ends here.”
When she finished narrating the case, Zhao Fusheng set her teacup on the table.
Magistrate Pang wrote the last character, laid his brush on the inkstone, and only then realized his arm was sore and his whole body soaked with sweat.
“Please look it over, my lord.”
He didn’t dare rub his hand now, but blew the scroll dry, stood, walked over, and presented it to Zhao Fusheng. “There’s a stain in the middle. After you’ve looked, I’ll copy it out fresh.”
She took the scroll, glanced it over, and nodded. “It’ll do.”
Having told the case, she raised another matter. “On this trip to Goutou Village I also noticed a problem.”
As she said this, her gaze fell on Magistrate Pang.
Magistrate Pang shuddered under her look.
“Please speak, my lord.”
“Traced to its root, Goutou Village’s ghost calamity began with Wu Datong abducting a decent woman.”
She frowned. “Wu Shaochun’s mother mentioned that these abducted people were hidden in Beggars’ Alley in Wan’an County, then shipped to villages and towns to be sold to villagers.”
Since being reborn in the Great Han, the two ghost cases she’d handled had, by coincidence, intersected.
From these two ghost cases she vaguely sensed a rule: poverty breeds crime, and crime easily breeds ghost calamity.
But that was only her initial judgment. She hadn’t been solving ghost cases long, and her proof was insufficient, so it was only a hazy thought.
Whether it was so, there would be time to verify later.
She shook her head. “Investigate Beggars’ Alley strictly. Don’t let a crowd of homeless people gather there.”
Magistrate Pang nodded without hesitation. “If any more rogues commit crimes, we’ll drive them out at once.”
Zhao Fusheng was silent for a while, then added, “Paperman Zhang is not a simple man. Send extra people to Beggars’ Alley and watch his movements. If there’s anyone suspicious, have them report to me at once.”
“Yes,” Magistrate Pang nodded again.
Having finished that matter, she raised another. “The Goutou Village ghost case had many victims. I promised the villagers half a year’s tax relief. Big Brother Fan, you handle it.”
On this trip to Goutou Village, Zhao Fusheng had realized how heavy the people’s taxes were in the Great Han.
The Bureau’s tax was like a mountain pressing on the heads of Wan’an County’s people. She wanted to move that mountain, but now was not the time.
The bureau’s work was dealing with ghosts, and it had few order envoys at present.
Luckily no one died in the Goutou Village case this time, but by past experience order envoy mortality was extremely high, and when one died, the Office paid out sizable pensions.
With no support from the court for the time being, that money still had to come from taxes.
Hearing his name, Fan Bisi quickly stood and agreed.
“On this case I recruited an order envoy named Wu Shaochun. He’s badly hurt and can’t be moved right now, but when he’s a bit better he should come into the county, and then you can arrange things as you see fit.”
The others all nodded.
With the business done, the other gentry finally found a chance to speak. “You worked hard on this case, my lord. You’ve labored hard for Wan’an County, and we can’t repay you, so we discussed it among ourselves and gathered some gifts for you.”
At the word “gifts,” Zhao Fusheng’s face brightened. An old man holding an ebony cane said, “Just some vulgar gold and silver, I’m afraid. Please don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind.” Zhao Fusheng smiled. “Gentry elders like you are most welcome in our Wan’an County. Now that I’m in charge here, if any of you have relatives or friends, you can all bring them to live in Wan’an County.”
Watching the people carrying in chests file in from outside, she said with a smile, “As long as I’m in Wan’an County, I’ll keep you all from the suffering of ghost calamities.”
Seeing her pleased, everyone smiled too.
For a while everyone flattered Zhao Fusheng, and Zhang Chuanshi tried several times to speak but couldn’t get in a word.
“The lord is naturally a divine being come down from heaven. She handles ghost cases wisely and decisively, and it’s thanks to her protection that we now live peaceful days.”
“Yes, yes.”
“Speaking of which, I do have an old friend, quite wealthy. He saw a ghost calamity with his own eyes in his early years and survived by luck, but it scared him witless. Now he’s staying in Baozhi County, paying large amounts of taxes every year just to be sheltered by the bureau.”
The old man with the ebony cane was the most eager in his flattery. Zhang Chuanshi had wanted to speak and tried several times, but each time he’d barely opened his mouth, the old man, seeing him from the corner of his eye, suddenly raised his voice to drown him out.
“...”
Zhang Chuanshi glared at him, sure the old fellow was deliberately cutting him off.
He was thinking how to interrupt him when the old man suddenly turned and mentioned an old friend.
And that friend happened to live in “Baozhi County.”
At the mention of Baozhi County, the conversation on the carriage on the way back surfaced in Zhang Chuanshi’s mind, and he shrank at once and didn’t dare speak.
“Have you heard? The bureau in Baozhi County has a Deputy Commander Zheng, an extraordinary figure, said to control a Baleful-tier malignant ghost, who has handled a few ghost cases and is especially imposing.”
“...”
“...”
Now not only Zhang Chuanshi wanted to curse. Even Fan Bisi began to squirm.
Fan Wujiu glared at the old man twice and said, “Yu Weide, what nonsense are you spouting in front of the lord...”
He stood up guiltily, pointing at the old man. “What does Deputy Commander Zheng of Baozhi County have to compare with our lord?”
“Sit down.”
Zhao Fusheng looked with interest at the embarrassed Fan brothers, and Zhang Chuanshi’s eyeball kept darting.
At her words, Fan Wujiu sat down, sweating profusely.
Yu Weide, scolded by him, grinned, showing a gap where a big tooth was missing on his left side. “Envoy Fan, that’s right. I said the same to my old friend.”
The old man, taking advantage of his age and pretending to be muddled, ignored the ugly looks on the faces of the Fan brothers and Zhang Chuanshi. “But my old friend didn’t dare gamble.”
He shook his head. “Alas, in our youth we hit it off at first meeting and once even promised a marriage between our children. If we could live in the same place, nothing would be better, but my old friend has misgivings...”
As he spoke, he lifted his eyelid and looked at Zhao Fusheng.
Zhao Fusheng knew what these people were thinking: they were just playing dumb, trying to feel out her strength.
She meant to display some of her strength to cow the people in the county, so she followed Yu Weide’s words and asked, “What misgivings does your old friend have about moving to Wan’an County?”
“You know, my lord, ghost fog has appeared in our county, and the court has stopped caring,” the old man said, tapping his cane against the ground with a thump.
Zhao Fusheng was neither angry nor annoyed and said calmly, “Get to the point.”
Yu Weide glanced at Magistrate Pang, and the other gentry nodded to him unobtrusively.
He gritted his teeth and lowered his voice. “My old friend says Wan’an County’s strength should at least not be too much weaker than Baozhi County’s...”
A county Demon-Suppression Bureau’s strength lay not in the number of order envoys and menial workers but in the strength of the commanding officer who headed it.
“That is, I can’t be weaker than Deputy Commander Zheng?” Zhao Fusheng asked.
She was so direct that the others felt awkward for a moment and didn’t dare speak.
After a while, Yu Weide, who had started the topic, afraid she’d be angry, forced himself to say, “It should be about equal, I suppose...”
“You say Deputy Commander Zheng controls a Baleful-tier ghost? How many cases has he handled?” Zhao Fusheng asked again.
The hall fell silent.
When her question was out, everyone felt a strange pressure, and for a moment nobody dared speak.
“Speak!”
Zhao Fusheng said in a low voice.
Magistrate Pang looked left and right, and the others retreated one after another under his gaze.
He cursed inwardly, and had no choice but to cup his hands. “I heard Deputy Commander Zheng of Baozhi County does control a Baleful-tier ghost, and as for cases, he’s handled three...” Afraid his speech would offend Zhao Fusheng, he hurriedly added, “But he only drove the ghosts away, not as capable as you, my lord, who truly solved the ghost calamities.”
A small part of this was flattery, but most came from Magistrate Pang’s honest heart. “Besides, you’re young and strong, my lord, far more capable than Deputy Commander Zheng.”
“What you say is right,” Zhao Fusheng said, not the least bit modest after his flattery, accepting his praise calmly. “I am far more capable than Deputy Commander Zheng.”
Then she added offhandedly, “As for Baleful-tier malignant ghosts, I have one too.”
At this, it was like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky, and everyone in the hall who heard it froze.
