Chapter 63: Kicked Out

Deriving a conclusion from conditions may be inaccurate, but deducing the cause from the conclusion? That's just making things up as one pleases.

Even if the deduced conditions are insufficient, it can only show that one's heart is upright.

Gu Zhao gave himself a thumbs-up.

The woman's expression indeed softened slightly, yet she still gave them no good look. "Doing evil... demons and monsters... does that mean only demons and monsters can do evil?"

Before Gu Zhao could reply, the woman waved her sleeve. "If you wish to act righteously, do it yourselves. Do not disturb me. I know nothing."

The embroiderer couldn't help but ask, "Can you really bear to watch ordinary people be harmed by demons and monsters?"

The woman glanced at the embroiderer and said flatly, "Heaven and earth are unkind; human hearts are no longer ancient. Do you think ordinary people are harmed only by demons and monsters?"

"Ah?" The embroiderer was puzzled.

"In this life, suffering never ends. Many matters are not even handled by the imperial court; why should I meddle in idle affairs?" The woman waved her sleeve again, turned, and walked away. "Please, do as you wish. My humble residence is not fit for guests. If you insist on staying, do not blame me for driving you out."

As she spoke, she turned into the rear hall and vanished.

At the very moment the woman disappeared, the yin energy within the entire courtyard grew even more intense. Clearly, the woman was not joking; she truly did not welcome them.

"Young Master?" The embroiderer looked at Gu Zhao.

"Let us leave first." Gu Zhao nodded.

Since the woman's divine soul was pure, they naturally could not act against her. Thus, they left the main hall one by one and quickly departed the courtyard.

Just as they stepped out of the great mansion, "Bang!" The two large gates immediately closed automatically. Then a faint sound came from behind the doors, and even the door bolts locked themselves.

Standing at the mansion's entrance, the embroiderer was full of confusion. "Since this female ghost is not evil, why won't she tell us anything?"

Gu Zhao and Daoist Yan Song exchanged a glance. Daoist Yan Song stroked his beard and said, "It seems this female ghost has a story."

"What story?" The embroiderer asked curiously.

Gu Zhao shrugged. "She just explained it very clearly. She must have suffered grievous injustice and died wrongfully, so she refuses to meddle in idle affairs."

Bai Ke wagged her tail, equally curious. "I really want to know what her story is!"

Just then, footsteps sounded behind them. Turning at the noise, they saw an old woman peeking out from the doorway of a courtyard two houses away diagonally across. Seeing them standing at the haunted mansion's gate, she was startled.

"That mansion must not be entered!" The old woman waved to them repeatedly. After walking a short distance with hurried steps, she stopped, appearing to want to approach yet afraid to do so.

"Hmm?" Daoist Yan Song's eyes flashed. "May I ask, elder, why must that mansion not be entered?"

Seeing the group turn to ask, the old woman sighed in relief. She sized everyone up from head to toe. "Who are you people?"

Daoist Yan Song smoothly replied, "We are from out of town. Bandits robbed us on the road and took our money. With no funds for an inn, we saw this abandoned mansion and hoped to spend one night here."

"If you have nowhere to go, spend the night in my humble dwelling. If you do not mind, there are some leftover scraps. But this mansion truly must not be entered. Inside... inside... it is haunted!" When the old woman spoke those last few words, she stepped back several paces again.

Gu Zhao looked back at the deep mansion still radiating waves of chill, then at the courtyard the old woman had emerged from. Stepping forward, he smiled and said, "If this place is haunted, how dare you live so close?"

Since Gu Zhao had started, Daoist Yan Song followed up. "Is there a story behind this?"

The old woman's expression changed. Instead of answering, she sighed, turned her head, and walked back.

Yet as she walked, she said to the group, "If you have nowhere to go, you may come to my place tonight to spend the night. But this mansion must absolutely not be entered. If you are frightened during the night, do not blame me for not warning you."

Watching the old woman return, Bai Ke said excitedly, "It seems she knows the background of the female ghost in the courtyard."

The embroiderer felt both expectation and hesitation. "But this old lady seems unwilling to speak."

"Hmm..." The group exchanged smiles.

Although the old woman clearly did not wish to speak, drawing information from a sixty- or seventy-year-old lady was by no means difficult.

Thus, the three of them entered the small courtyard where the old woman lived.

That courtyard was not small, but only one household lived there. At this moment, the old woman's son and daughter-in-law had returned from work and were stoking the fire to cook.

"You have come!" Seeing Gu Zhao and the others enter, the old woman called her son to bring out several more flatbreads. "Traveling is not easy for anyone. The food is coarse; do not disdain it."

"Thank you, grandmother!" The embroiderer stepped forward, took the flatbreads, said thanks sweetly, then turned to share them with Gu Zhao and Daoist Yan Song.

Seeing children's items around the courtyard, the old woman and her son and daughter-in-law showed no sorrowful expressions. Only then did Daoist Yan Song ask about the old woman's grandchildren, learning they were apprenticing at a restaurant in the county town and were highly regarded.

From the children, they talked of the restaurant; from the restaurant, of the diners; from the diners, of the surroundings; and finally, from the surroundings, of their dwelling, returning to the deep mansion diagonally across.

"Since everyone knows the mansion across the way is haunted, why has no one reported it to the authorities?" the embroiderer asked.

"The government does not care about such things." The old woman's son complained. "Not to mention that ghosts have not harmed anyone; even if the Mo Family Town outside the county was raided by bandits, they still wouldn't care!"

The old woman's daughter-in-law shook her head. "Our place is still considered good. I heard there is another abandoned mansion in the western suburbs. Every night, lights and music can be heard there. Often, lost travelers wander in, and by the next morning, only a pile of dry bones remains."

Gu Zhao raised an eyebrow, exchanged a glance with Daoist Yan Song, and found yet another monster-spawning spot.

"Too terrifying!" The embroiderer pretended to be frightened, then asked the old woman, "In that case, how dare you still live here?"

"If not here, then where?" The woman said while eating the flatbread. "Because that mansion not far away is haunted, no one lives in the surrounding courtyards. That is why we can live here."

The man spoke up. "Mother knows that female ghost. That female ghost does not harm us."

The embroiderer's eyes lit up. She asked the old woman, "Grandmother, please tell us the story of that female ghost."

Seeing the embroiderer was cute, the woman smiled and asked, "Why does a little girl like to hear ghost stories?"

The embroiderer laughed. "Usually, I follow the Young Master to the teahouse to listen to storytelling. Slowly, I grew to like hearing stories."

The woman shook her head. "The stories in the teahouse are all pleasant. This story is not pleasant."

"Why?" the embroiderer asked.

The man replied, "Because in this story, the good people receive no good reward."

The old woman's son and daughter-in-law already knew this story. Gu Zhao asked, "Is it the female ghost in the mansion across the way?"

"It is her." The woman said. "If you wish to hear it, I will tell it to you."

Hearing this, the old woman hesitated, then sighed and did not stop her.