Chapter 14: 13. Visiting the Flower Garden

13. Touring the Garden

In the side room where Bai Xiue was temporarily staying, the furnishings were even more humble than those in the main house.

The wooden bed by the window was entirely constructed from planks and stones; against the wall stood a clumsy wooden table, but one of its legs was missing, propped up instead by bricks and stones.

Bai Xiue moved a high stool from the corner to the table, sat down, and looked visibly agitated.

The old man outside kept pressing her for the location of her home; several times she nearly blurted it out—but then she remembered the fate awaiting her if she returned, and was overcome with fear, leaving her trapped between retreat and advance, pretending to be shameless and ignoring Zhou Duan Gong’s questions.

Fortunately, that young man was willing to help her out…

But this couldn’t go on forever.

If Zhou Duan Gong paid closer attention and inquired around town for a few days, he would inevitably discover where she lived—then what would she do?

The girl’s eyes were filled with sorrow; she sighed softly, lifted her gaze slightly, and stared blankly at a mirror placed on the table.

The mirror had originally been covered with a black cloth, but somehow the cloth had slipped off at some point.

On the wall beside the mirror hung a string of bronze bells.

“Gaze at the mirror for three breaths, then ring the bell”—this is a folk taboo mentioned in the Qingjing Scripture of Qingyi Town.

The Qingjing Scripture lists over a hundred such folk taboos; if someone strictly observed them all, they could only lie in bed sleeping all day, so no one ever followed them completely—but people still avoided certain things based on its teachings.

For instance, the rule about “ringing the bell while gazing in the mirror.”

If one stares into a mirror for more than three breaths, they must ring the bell to remind themselves; failure to follow this rule might bring unpredictable consequences.

Bai Xiue’s home was near Qingyi Town, where people also observed the custom of rising at dawn to recite scriptures; she knew the rule about ringing the bell before the mirror, so when she saw the black cloth slip off and her own reflection appear, her first instinct was to rise and ring the bell—

But she was too slow.

Within three breaths, certain changes could already occur.

In the mirror, Bai Xiue’s right cheek rippled like water; from beneath that “surface” emerged half a beautiful, alluring face, smiling as it locked eyes with her.

“Shameless,” the alluring face—previously seen on the yellow paper—smiled and scolded Bai Xiue.

Bai Xiue turned pale with terror, staring at the “paper face” in the mirror, lips tightly clenched, silent.

The paper face’s eyes held no amusement; it merely curled its lips, making half its face come vividly alive, evoking the idiom “smiling like a blooming flower.” It gazed at Bai Xiue and continued softly: “You have no blood ties to the Zhou family, and you’re a woman barely betrothed—how can you dare to linger in someone else’s home?

Wouldn’t this bring shame upon your family if it became known?

Have you forgotten your elder sister? She was caught meeting a man outside her family, stripped naked, paraded through the streets, and finally drowned in a pig cage—yet here you are, living in a house with two men, and your conduct is even worse than hers…”

The paper face seemed to know Bai Xiue’s past intimately.

Its words stabbed like knives into Bai Xiue’s heart; she bit her lips white, tears welling in her eyes, her fear gradually turning to rage as she retorted: “I—I’ve been married twice already—my life, my life has been returned to my parents; I owe them nothing!

While alive, my father married me off as a concubine to a wealthy man in town.

I hanged myself, and the wealthy man sold my corpse to townsfolk as a bride substitute—I’ve repaid them everything they’re owed; why are they still chasing me?!”

Her angry retort earned only a sneering laugh from the paper face.

The paper face spoke in its usual ethereal tone: “What else could you expect? You died, but not completely—you came back to life.

You lived as someone else’s wife, you died as someone else’s ghost—that’s your fate… Even if you owe them nothing, don’t you owe the six young women who hanged themselves with you?

Before your wedding day, you promised them you’d all hang yourselves together at the ‘Bridal Pool’ and journey to ‘Tour the Garden.’

Yet all six of them died—you alone survived, clinging to life until now…

Can you still fulfill your promise to them?

They’re still waiting for you to join them in touring the garden…”

The soft voice echoed in Bai Xiue’s ears; she remembered her six hanged companions, and large tears rolled down her cheeks. Suddenly, her face felt unbearably itchy; she scratched at it, her nails tearing off large chunks of skin—

In the mirror, Bai Xiue’s face had been scraped away in large patches, revealing the underlying muscle tissue.

Between the vivid red facial muscles, there suddenly appeared hollows like lotus root pores, and strands of lotus fibers drifted out from those holes, transforming into numerous pale, slender arms that swayed before Bai Xiue's eyes: "Xiue, Xiue..."

“Come… come…”

“Let’s go tour the garden together…”

……

As dusk approached, Zhou Chang heard a loud braying of donkeys outside, followed by pounding on the courtyard gate, the gate opening, and voices calling out.

The noise outside gradually faded; Zhou Chang guessed that Zhou Sanji’s senior brother had arrived.

Leaning against the head of the bed, he used his mental threads to manipulate his arms, slowly adjusting his body into a more upright position.

Once properly seated, he fixed his gaze on the door, waiting for Zhou Sanji and his senior brother to enter.

Even though Bai Xiue’s presence now allowed his mental threads to grow stronger, granting him limited mobility, using them to control this body was never a permanent solution.

Zhou Chang still longed to be like a normal person.

Once restored to normalcy, he could travel freely and search for the whereabouts of Li Shan Niangniang.

Li Shan Niangniang, the Yinsheng Old Mother—she was the key to whether he could return home; perhaps there, too, he could unravel the mystery of why his life had become so identical to Zhou Chang’s.

His only hope of regaining normalcy now rested on Zhou Sanji’s senior brother.

Yet he stared at the door for a long time, but it never opened.

Outside the house.

In the corridor behind the courtyard gate.

A tall, gaunt old man, dressed in a garment patched all over, held a boy of eleven or twelve by one hand and extended the other toward Zhou Sanji; he wore round black glasses and grinned, palm open: “Ten copper coins for the ride!”

Zhou Sanji’s face darkened; he glared at the tall old man, but finally gritted his teeth and pulled out ten copper coins, tossing them into the old man’s palm.

The old man turned and tossed several coins to the donkey cart driver waiting outside the gate, pocketing one coin into his sleeve; he chuckled and said to the driver: “On this journey, I recited your family’s names one hundred and thirty times before the Holy Lord of Wan Tianchuan, so he’d remember and protect your entire household—so I’m charging you one copper coin as incense money. Isn’t that fair?”

“Fair, fair…” the driver muttered, forced to smile back at the old man.

After all, what could he say, now that the man had spoken like that?

“Then why don’t you thank me?” The old man removed his round glasses and stared hard at the driver.

The driver felt even more trapped, profusely thanking him as he hurriedly drove off.

At that moment, Zhou Sanji blocked the cart and gave the driver one more copper coin; after the driver bowed and thanked him repeatedly before leaving, Zhou Sanji turned back, glaring at his senior brother, and snapped: “Three copper coins can buy a large piece of tender tofu; one copper coin buys a pound of coarse rice—this driver carted you dozens of li here, constantly anxious and fearful the whole way—and you still steal from him!

We’re all common folk—we should help each other!

How can we possibly prey on one another?”