Chapter 35

34. Tuesday Sheep

The bride burning paper money by the pond was none other than Bai Xiue.

The sky gradually darkened, and a cold wind whirled through the woods.

Zhou Chang stared at the flickering flame by the pond, its glow illuminating the blinding red of Bai Xiue’s bridal attire; he paused where he stood, then stepped forward and walked to her side.

Bai Xiue’s hair hung down, covering half her face.

She focused intently as she fed each sheet of paper money into the fire, humming a mournful, sorrowful song.

Unprepared for Zhou Chang’s sudden approach, she was startled—

Startled by someone approaching her, she hastily used the paper money in her hand to shield half her face, then looked up at the tall figure drawing near.

Seeing Zhou Chang’s face, a flash of light sparked in Bai Xiue’s eyes, then vanished instantly.

“Y-you—you came here?”

Bai Xiue spoke frantically, pressing the paper money harder against half her face.

Zhou Chang stared at her without blinking, making her so nervous she lowered her head; his voice was calm: “I came to take you home.”

He spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Who wants to go back with you… we’re not even related…” Bai Xiue’s head sank lower; she liked the feeling of this moment, but fear and worry kept her from staying.

She hurriedly rose and told Zhou Chang: “Go, go quickly… this isn’t a place for you.”

“What’s wrong?” Zhou Chang squatted by the pond, raising an eyebrow at her. “Is it cold beneath the water? Does your neck still hurt?”

“You…” Bai Xiue froze at the sound.

She looked as if she’d done something wrong, her eyes filled with shame as she slowly lowered her head: “I… I didn’t mean to harm you or Master Zhou… I’m… I’m sorry…”

“What fault do you have?”

Zhou Chang sighed; he hadn’t come to interrogate Bai Xiue.

But she had misunderstood his intent.

The bowed, humiliated Bai Xiue continued speaking softly, her voice now gentle, tender: “But, my lord, do you truly wish to know what lies beneath this pond?”

She slowly lifted her face: half her features were slender-eyed and alluring, the other half delicate and pale, but covered in dense, pinhole-like lotus root cavities.

Pale, translucent lotus root filaments slipped from those holes, transforming into pale, slender little hands that swayed like waterweeds before Zhou Chang’s eyes; from the filaments came the bright, youthful voices of many girls: “Come, come…”

The half of Bai Xiue’s face, riddled with lotus root cavities, gazed at Zhou Chang with shame and terror, silently urging him to flee.

She could not speak a sound.

The one now dominating her body was the “paper-face” who had once tied her hair with Zhou Chang.

Zhou Chang stared at Bai Xiue’s face, so ashamed she dared not meet his gaze; even though this half of her face now looked far more terrifying than the paper-face, he found it more endearing.

“Seeing the two of you like this, I’m even more curious about how you normally get along—

Sharing one body, how do you fight when you argue?” Zhou Chang asked the paper-face curiously. “Still, if you’re willing to tell me what lies beneath this pond, I’d be glad to listen.”

“No, no…

Go! She’ll kill you!” In that instant, Bai Xiue suddenly struggled, briefly regaining control; she gripped Zhou Chang’s arm and begged him to flee.

But the next moment, the paper-face surged back.

“She” still held Zhou Chang’s arm, smiling sweetly: “It’s said that since over two hundred years ago, when a woman named Bai Pandi drowned herself in this pond on her wedding journey, ghostly incidents here have grown ever more frequent.

Over those two hundred years, dozens of women have hanged or drowned themselves near this pond.

Most were unmarried girls or brides-to-be, all from a nearby place called ‘Bai Family Grave.’

Hence, this pond became known as Bride’s Pond.

But travelers, wishing to avoid dwelling on the tragedies here, renamed it Jade Maiden Pond—though the name Bride’s Pond stuck, occasionally mentioned by passersby… and it spread far more widely than Jade Maiden Pond.”

The paper-faced woman lowered her eyes to the still pond: “Some say Bride’s Pond draws so many young women to commit suicide here because the atmosphere at Bai Family Grave is foul.

The men of Bai Family Grave keep rat-tail braids, imitating Qing customs.

Their clan elders and patriarchs drive the men to flee and the women to suicide.

—Before Bai Pandi, the Bai family matriarch, drowned herself, there was first a man named ‘Zhou Er Yang,’ an outsider son-in-law, who was thrown into this pond and drowned in a pig cage.

That ‘Zhou Er Yang’ was drowned because the people of Bai Family Grave accused him of seducing the betrothed Bai Pandi, helping her carry water and cut grass…”

Hearing the name ‘Zhou Er Yang,’ Zhou Chang frowned and turned his gaze toward the dark, bottomless pond.

“Others say the Bride’s Pond itself holds a malevolent spirit.

They claim the corpses of Bai Pandi and her lover Zhou Er Yang sank into the pond’s mud and slowly grew into a piece of corpse-lotus root; with every woman who dies in the pond, the corpse-lotus root grows another segment…

Otherwise, where do so many lotus flowers come from on this pond’s surface?

Look—those vast stretches of dead lotus leaves are what remain after the summer blooms wither.” The paper-face spoke softly.

In one corner of the pond, vast patches of withered lotus leaves floated silently on the water.

Like countless corpses adrift on the surface.

“In my view…” At this moment, Zhou Chang turned his gaze to the hand gripping his arm and said suddenly, “Seeing is believing, hearsay is unreliable—nothing compares to seeing for yourself.

What do you think?”

The paper-face was momentarily stunned.

She stared into Zhou Chang’s eyes, unsure whether he was simply fearless or recklessly confident.

—Zhou Chang was neither.

He had guessed that the paper-face had no intention of killing him now; if she wanted him dead, she could have killed him at the mass grave, and certainly wouldn’t waste time telling him these stories.

So why not make good use of this opportunity?

Especially now that he had some means of self-defense, he didn’t want to go seeking a demon to test it on.

The paper-face, close to him and locked in struggle with Bai Xiue, was the perfect test subject; if anything changed, he could use it to gauge his own abilities.

“My lord is right…”

The paper-face gripped Zhou Chang’s arm and gently pulled him into the pond: “Then let my lord see for himself…

What lies beneath this pond?”