Chapter 19

At 07:00 in the morning, a bright yellow sun climbed into the sky, bathing the small village through which the river flowed in warm sunlight.

The fourth lunar month is the peak flowering season of midsummer. In the backyard of the He family mansion, flowers were competing in beauty. Soft, glutinous pinks bloomed on both sides of the pebble-paved path. The lotus flowers raised in the water vats woke up, their pink and white petals blooming into bright, charming smiles, and their bright yellow stamens emitting a faint, sweet fragrance.

Several graceful pomegranate trees stretched lazily at the intersection. Hidden within the emerald green canopy were fiery red buds, looking as if the whole tree were hung with red pomegranates. The fallen flower buds dropped into the small pond, splashing with a plop.

The surface of the pond was broken yet calm, reflecting a girl with disheveled long hair walking hurriedly from the shore. Her expression was urgent; she looked like she was in a rush.

Ye Miaozhu ran quickly under the pomegranate trees and confirmed the content on her phone screen once again. It was several text messages sent by the contact labeled "Yunqing":

【I crawled out of the river.】

【The river water is so cold.】

【Where are you?】

【I want to see you. Come find me; I am at...】

The reason Ye Miaozhu came here was precisely because of these text messages, like a fish hooked by bait.

Even if Gu Yunqing had died right in front of her, even if, as a medical student, she could be completely certain that Gu Yunqing's heartbeat had stopped and his body had lost its temperature, when she saw that familiar name appear on the screen, Ye Miaozhu still chose to irrationally believe in that slim possibility.

Even though she knew that a ghost capable of stealing identities and disguising itself as a human was wandering in this village, she was still willing to bet her life on that non-existent hope.

A woman who has fallen in love is never reasonable; this species is naturally incompatible with the term "seeking truth from facts."

Ye Miaozhu walked quickly across the round pebble path surrounded by pinks, her flying clothes brushing against the lotus flowers in the vats. Her steps were hurried as she bypassed the backyard and came to the west side of the He family's main building, then lowered her head once again to confirm the information received on her phone.

Following the guidance of the information, Ye Miaozhu soon found the unlocked warehouse. After taking a few deep breaths, she pushed open the door with trepidation.

The enclosed room had no lights on, and even the windows were sealed shut, making it pitch black even in the daytime. The morning sunlight spilled into the room from the opened door, slightly illuminating Ye Miaozhu's feet.

She pushed the door completely open and asked tentatively: "Yunqing? Are you inside!"

No response.

Ye Miaozhu walked closer with some doubt, looking around with the help of the sunlight.

This was an enclosed and dry warehouse. The floor made of bamboo strips was raised off the ground to separate it from moisture. Several shelves were placed against the walls in the room, on which were placed some things belonging to a young lady: a bolt of red waist-wrapping cloth embroidered with flying wings.

A white jade bracelet in a brocade box, with a touch of fresh red like blood; a pure gold hairpin in a sandalwood box, with a pair of lotus flowers carved on the end; a silver headpiece with complex carvings, depicting a hundred birds paying homage to the phoenix; a purple sandalwood dressing table, placed directly facing the warehouse entrance.

A copper mirror the size of a washbasin, embedded in the dressing table, also facing the door.

Several camphor wood chests filled with clothes, emitting the fragrance of camphor.

These were most of the things in this warehouse.

Ye Miaozhu hugged her chest with both hands, feeling a bit guilty, and called out tentatively again: "Yunqing? Are you here! Is it really you?"

At this moment, a low male voice came from the darkness.

"A few text messages were enough to trick you out?" A man in a suit and leather shoes walked out from behind the dressing table. The sunlight shone on his face; it was Zhang Yangxu: "I didn't expect you to be stupid to this extent."

"It's you?" Ye Miaozhu was immediately gnashing her teeth in hatred. Looking down, Zhang Yangxu was indeed holding two phones, one his own and one Gu Yunqing's: "You used Yunqing's phone to trick me?!"

"Rather than saying you were tricked, it's better to say that you were wishfully believing on your own that Gu Yunqing must still be alive," Zhang Yangxu shook his head: "Or rather, you wanted to believe it? As long as the person speaking is Gu Yunqing, you believe whatever he says?"

Ye Miaozhu was furious: "I'm willing to be tricked by him; it's none of your business!"

Ah, right, right, right... After a while, Ye Miaozhu's anger subsided slightly, and she continued: "Speak, what do you want to do by tricking me here with Yunqing's phone?"

Zhang Yangxu chuckled and raised his hand to point to the surroundings, to the shelves in the warehouse displaying the young lady's belongings: "I want to tell you that I have already found a way to leave He Family Village and return to the real world."

"You?" Ye Miaozhu showed a skeptical expression: "If Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe and Yunqing said this, I might believe it a little, but you? Forget it."

"Believe it or not, it's up to you. I'm just saying what I know," Zhang Yangxu said, walking to the shelf.

He gently lifted a bolt of red cloth embroidered with flying wings with one hand and said: "This is the material for a waist seal. According to the feudal customs of Qinzhou, when a young lady gets married, she has to wear very cumbersome ceremonial clothes, making her whole person look bloated, so she needs a piece of cloth wrapped around her waist to tighten it and highlight her figure. This is called a waist seal. Modern times don't pay attention to this anymore."

But He Family Village does.

"What exactly do you want to say?" Ye Miaozhu's expression became increasingly impatient.

Zhang Yangxu put down the cloth in his hand and continued with a smile: "Look at the other things again. Bracelets, hairpins, silver crowns... all kinds of jewelry. These things are dowry."

"Dowry?"

"Dowry," Zhang Yangxu nodded: "The owner of this mansion is about to marry off his daughter. I heard it from the servants in the mansion. They said Miss He is going to marry into another village. The groom's team will come to pick up the bride tomorrow. These things in the room are Miss He's dowry."

"So what? What significance does this have?" Ye Miaozhu frowned.

"Miss He is getting married. Haven't I made it clear enough?" Zhang Yangxu sighed helplessly: "Master He will also send some servants and maids to accompany his daughter. This group of people will set off tomorrow. As long as you find a way to mix in with them, you can leave He Family Village with the wedding procession."

"Really? Can I leave here by mixing into the wedding procession?" Ye Miaozhu's eyes were filled with even more doubt.

"Really," Zhang Yangxu nodded: "You can leave He Family Village by following the wedding procession."

"Is that so..." Ye Miaozhu's gaze dimmed. She didn't ask Zhang Yangxu where he got this information.

—If what Zhang Yangxu said was true, why didn't he hide himself to wait for tomorrow to leave with the wedding procession? Why did he specifically notify me? This was what puzzled Ye Miaozhu the most.

The more she thought, the stranger the current situation became. If the text messages from Gu Yunqing's phone had caused her to lose her reason and become gullible and blind, then now that the lie had been revealed, the calmed-down Ye Miaozhu could finally think about the current state from a more rational perspective.

Looking at Zhang Yangxu's gentle smile, an indescribable, eerie feeling couldn't help but well up in her heart.

Ye Miaozhu couldn't help but ask again: "Are you sure? Can I leave He Family Village and return to the real world by following the wedding procession?"

Zhang Yangxu nodded: "That's right, you can leave He Family Village by following the wedding procession."

"You..." Ye Miaozhu suddenly thought of something, and a bone-chilling coldness crawled up her spine from her tailbone: "I'll ask one more time, can I return to the real world by following the wedding procession?"

This time, Zhang Yangxu did not answer her question.

He still stood in place, wearing an approachable, gentle smile, the corners of his mouth slightly curled up, saying nothing.

Ye Miaozhu's fear in her heart came true.

At this moment, she suddenly recalled a sentence Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe had once said:

【The rules will be silent, but they will not lie.】

"Answer me, Zhang Yangxu, why are you silent?" Ye Miaozhu gritted her teeth and said word by word: "Or rather, are you not Zhang Yangxu at all? You are a ghost!"

(End of chapter)