Chapter 15: Scholar, Vengeful Spirit, and Suffering

The teahouse worker was quite sharp-eyed. As soon as Chen Changsheng sat down, he came forward to ask his order. After getting an answer, he quickly brought Chen Changsheng the tea.

Old Man Zhang thought about the date and said, “Mr. Chen, you seem to have come a few days earlier this year.”

Hearing this, a smile flickered unconsciously across Chen Changsheng’s face. “Oh?” he asked.

Old Man Zhang nodded. “Over half a month earlier.”

Chen Changsheng had been wondering if his own sense of time was wrong. Getting Old Man Zhang’s clear answer now felt like a heavy stone dropping from his heart.

Immortal cultivation really did lessen the curse’s effect!

Seeing the smile on the master’s face, Old Man Zhang felt puzzled and asked, “You seem very happy, sir?”

Chen Changsheng nodded. “I am.”

Old Man Zhang, seeing Chen Changsheng answer like this, knew he shouldn’t probe any further.

He thought about starting another topic but didn’t know what to say. Honestly, even though he’d known Mr. Chen for many years, they were still a bit distant.

Chen Changsheng asked, “How is your leg? Any better?”

Old Man Zhang answered, “Not really. It gets worse every year. When the weather turns cold, it really aches badly.”

“I remember last time we met, it wasn’t this serious.”

“Last time… that was two or three years ago.”

Old Man Zhang chuckled wryly. “Old age brings many sicknesses. You, sir, stay young, so you don’t know this kind of trouble. These days, I just hope Xiaoliu can take over the tavern business soon, so I can rest peacefully.”

Chen Changsheng paused at this. “But I recall you were quite wary of him before.”

Old Man Zhang said, “After that last incident, I took Xiaoliu to the ancestral hall. He kowtowed three times and burned incense to our ancestors. Then he took my surname. Thinking it over, letting go just feels much easier to live with than holding on.”

Chen Changsheng felt genuinely pleased. “You’ve truly accepted things.”

Old Man Zhang smiled faintly. “I’m half in the grave already.”

His smile was bitter, yet seemed touched by a strange sort of peace.

Old Man Zhang paused, then continued, “Speaking of this, I actually wish to ask something of you, sir.”

“Ask me?”

Chen Changsheng was surprised. He said, “Tell me. If it’s something within my power.”

Old Man Zhang came straight out with it. “I’m seventy-three now. My health worsens each year, and more illnesses trouble me. So… I ask you, sir, to use your arts to tell me… how many years I have left.”

Chen Changsheng glanced at Old Man Zhang’s forehead.

Between his eyebrows, a faint, dim thread of vital energy remained. Already very weak, what was left was barely more than nothing. When it completely faded, Old Man Zhang’s time would come.

“Are you really that curious about your own death?” Chen Changsheng asked.

Old Man Zhang replied, “I’ve wanted to ask for a long time. I just never dared before.”

“The older you get, the bolder you become.”

Chen Changsheng shook his head with a sigh. “But asking me is pointless. I told you before, I don’t divine fate.”

He could actually see it. The vital energy at Old Man Zhang’s brow was so faint he likely wouldn’t last until Chen Changsheng returned again.

“Ah… Is that so.”

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Old Man Zhang didn’t push further and had the sense to fall silent.

Chen Changsheng turned his gaze to the Storyteller on the stage.

Thwack!

With a strike of his wooden block, the Storyteller slowly began to speak.

“So the daughter of the Wen family, after suffering grievous shame, was plotted against by scheming souls! Her entire family—old and young—was savagely beaten to death right in their own home courtyard…”

Chen Changsheng asked, “What story is this?”

Old Man Zhang explained, “An old tale. Back then, there was this young master Gao in the Gao mansion of Yonglv Quarter. Famous as a rich and spoiled bully. His sister married some big official up in Shangjing, so he ran wild locally. The magistrate of Anning County at the time, fearing trouble from his brother-in-law, just turned a blind eye to all of Young Master Gao’s actions…”

“This is a true story?” Chen Changsheng was taken aback.

Old Man Zhang said, “What the Storyteller tells… it’s not all literally true. Naturally, some parts are changed a bit.”

“What happened next?” Chen Changsheng pressed.

“Young Master Gao took a fancy to the daughter of Old Man Wen from our quarter. Now, Old Man Wen’s family made baked pancakes for a living, no strong background to lean on. Naturally, they were no match for Young Master Gao. The magistrate and the quarter administrator could do nothing. So of course, the Wen family daughter fell into Gao’s clutches. Who would have guessed? The very next day, unable to bear the shame, she escaped overnight and ran straight to the Yamen to report it.”

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“But it turned out Young Master Gao had already sent men ahead to bribe the entire Yamen staff and every neighbor near the Wen home who knew the truth. At the trial, everyone took Gao’s side. The magistrate, the quarter administrator, the neighbors—they all swore nothing happened.”

“Young Master Gao even turned the tables right there in court! He accused the Wen family daughter of slandering his reputation!”

“How could such a thing happen?”

Chen Changsheng paused. “Surely someone like him… he can’t still be alive?”

“He’s dead, of course.”

Old Man Zhang stated flatly. “He died horribly.”

“How did he die?”

“A vengeful spirit drained his Yang energy clean away.”

“Huh?”

Hearing this, Chen Changsheng was startled. “A ghost?”

“Yes.” Old Man Zhang confirmed. “This was over fifty years ago. That Wen family daughter, utterly shamed, smashed her own head open on a pillar during the trial. Someone dying on the court floor? Well, that blew the whole mess wide open. They say the bully’s father had to plead with his powerful son-in-law to even quash the matter afterward. And it might have ended there…”

“Except Young Master Gao’s temper hadn’t cooled. He went back looking for trouble with the Wens.”

“And besides Old Man Wen, there was someone else there that day—a scholar. This scholar and the Wen family daughter had formed a bond long before. That year, he should have been off to the capital to sit the imperial exams. But shattered by her death, he decided to bury her properly and then go to Shangjing to seek justice. That’s when he ran smack into Young Master Gao returning just to cause more pain.”

“Seeing his enemy flushed their eyes with hatred! But what hope had a mere scholar against Gao’s thugs? In the tussle, Old Man Wen tried to step in… Sadly, one of Gao’s thugs lost his grip, and his club landed right on Old Man Wen’s head. Killed him instantly.”

“Young Master Gao started to sweat then, seeing the dead body. Figuring he was already in deep, he might as well see it through. So he ordered his men to beat the scholar to death too, right there in the Wen’s courtyard.”

“So… the ghost was the scholar?” Chen Changsheng asked.

Old Man Zhang nodded gravely. “The scholar died, his resentment unending. He became a vengeful spirit. That very night, he consumed over ten lives from the Gao mansion. Afterward, as talk of this spread, Storytellers made special tales of it. People still tell it regularly now.”

Chen Changsheng nodded. “After wiping out the Gao family… what became of this scholar?”

Old Man Zhang smiled lightly. “The City God, of course, put an end to him.”

His last word hung in the air…

When the Storyteller’s voice boomed again:

“The City God drove the vengeful spirit scholar right back into the Wen family courtyard! A dazzling Golden Light erupted! A divine whip lashed down on the demonic scholar, tearing into it! It crashed into the courtyard pond!

Then the Yin Attendants formed a mighty circle! They called forth a magical stone! Suddenly, Golden Light flooded the scene! The City God chanted a profound incantation. A beam of that celestial light pierced the stone! Sealing that resentful demon beneath the water… forever bound!”

Chen Changsheng’s heart lurched.

His teacup froze halfway to his lips. A strange feeling washed over him. He felt…

somehow… that he had heard of this before.