Chapter 683: Extra Chapter 2: A Letter to My Lover, Zhao Zixun

I am a malevolent ghost, my name is Fu Wan.

I am an evil corpse, my name is Zhao Zixun.

I am an actor ghost, my name is Mei Lin Shuang.

We died during the Republic of China.

We have come back……

·

I am a malevolent ghost.

A blood‑clad malevolent ghost that died in the Republic of China war‑torn, fish‑and‑dragon‑mixed era, unknown how many times it has been suppressed, with memory growing worse.

The people of Wufu Town fear me greatly; they regard me as a curse.

Every flood season, with heavy rain and massive flooding, the whole town falls into a deathly silence.

I can no longer remember how many times I have crawled ashore from the water, nor do I understand why the townsfolk fear me so much.

The only thing I can still remember is that I need to go mail a letter.

To be mailed to my beloved, Zhao Zixun.

This year, another heavy rainstorm has arrived.

When I came ashore, my blood‑soaked clothes had turned into a Republic of China‑era student uniform; I held a book in one hand and a letter in the other.

I braved the rain, stepping on the rising river water beneath my feet, running through that familiar alley.

The downpour was torrential, drenching everything, yet it had no effect on me whatsoever.

As dusk approached, I grew anxious; within my sight stood only the green mailbox at the entrance of the Dang Pu.

I ran over and shoved the letter in my hand into the mailbox.

As I performed this action, I froze slightly, feeling as if I had done this letter‑stuffing countless times before.

Just as I was about to think it over more carefully, an invisible force seized me, and the next moment I found myself back in that sunless river.

This is the Pearl Plate River, a body of water west of Wufu Town, where the yin energy is strong and continually nourishes the coffin nail embedded in my forehead.

The more yin and evil energy the coffin nail absorbs, the less it strengthens my soul body; instead, it exerts a powerful suppressive effect on me.

I lay still underwater, surrounded by utter darkness, eerily silent; my consciousness gradually fell into chaos, finally plunging into nothingness.

The rain persisted, and at dusk the next day I opened my eyes once more.

I mechanically crawled ashore from the water, returning to the neat‑haired female student in a clean Republic of China school uniform.

I ran down that alley again, clutching a book in one hand and an envelope in the other, repeating the action I had performed yesterday.

But today I could not find that green mailbox.

The mailbox has disappeared…

No! It's gone!

The string that had been tugging at my nerves, with the disappearance of the mailbox… snapped!

My mind was instantly flooded with countless memories that felt both strange and familiar, each fragment tormenting me cruelly.

My student uniform began to turn ragged and stained with blood, and both of my calves bore mottled, dried‑black bloodstains.

I lowered my gaze to see a pair of long, black nails on hands that were otherwise empty… Letter? Where is my letter?

I began to panic; I had clearly come to mail a letter—where is my letter?

The next moment I suddenly sensed the letter's presence and whirled to stare at the tightly shut doors of the Dang Pu.

My letter is inside.

Without hesitation I stepped onto the stairs and strode toward the Dang Pu's entrance.

I pounded on the door desperately, shouting, "Letter! Give back my letter!"

I sensed a living person's breath inside, and I felt her fear; I did not want to hurt her, but I could not control myself.

That letter, which could never be sent, became an obsession I could never let go of even in death.

Obsession turned into resentful qi, transforming me into a malevolent ghost.

The girl inside the door frantically pasted talisman papers on it; I waved my hand, and the papers ignited without flame, turning to ash.

I flung open the small eastern door, and just as I was about to rush in following the letter's aura, a blast of silver‑white light shot out and blocked me.

Immediately after came a giant rat, and… the Dou family?

They launched successive attacks, forcing me back.

I feared neither the giant rat nor the Dou family, but the burst of silver‑white dragon‑scale true qi from the girl dealt me heavy damage; the coffin nail in my forehead loosened slightly, and my soul body grew fainter.

I again felt that invisible force pulling at me; perhaps because the coffin nail had loosened, this time I was not immediately dragged back.

But I know that whether I return or not, for me it will ultimately be a dead end.

If I do not return to the Pearl Plate River, my soul body will fade until it vanishes; if I return, the coffin nail's suppression will be reinforced, and I will never escape this cyclical ghostly existence.

I cannot fade away, for I have not yet found my beloved—the man who made me feel an eternity at a glance.

Night had fallen; I curled up in the darkness as countless memories surged forward, driving my recollection ever backward.

Back to the very beginning.

My memory returned to a summer several years ago.

Those years were filled with war and chaos everywhere; my family had a little money, so they sent me to the county town to study at the girls' school (Fu Wan's side‑story timeline and plot will be slightly altered for the sake of completeness), and I often heard classmates chatting that the fighting would soon reach our county.

That day came quickly; my classmates dragged me to the street to watch the spectacle, and far off I saw the youthful military officer at the front of the procession, riding a tall horse, dressed in uniform, with a side‑sword at his waist.

Just one glance, and I could no longer look away from him.

He appeared to be barely twenty, full of heroic spirit, and up close one could even sense the lethal aura about him.

I heard people say he was the marshal's right‑hand man, the most promising young officer.

Moreover, they said he graduated from a famous military academy, had fought many battles beside the marshal, and was a brave and strategic young general.

In the crowd, cheers rose, everyone chattered, most topics revolving around this young officer.

I pricked up my ears, wanting to hear more, learn more, get a little closer to him.

But I was pushed farther and farther by the crowd; in the end, my view was filled with bobbing heads, and the boy on the tall horse had already ridden away, out of sight.

That day, returning to the girls' school, my roommates chattered nonstop about him.

I sat silently aside, applying medicine to my bruised foot while listening to their conversation.

I learned the boy's name; he was Zhao Zixun.

Zhao Zixun... what a pleasant name.

That night, I had a dream that made my face flush and my heart race.

I dreamed the boy on his tall horse came galloping toward me from afar, reached out and pulled me onto the saddle, we embraced as we rode off into the distance.

Waking from the dream in the middle of the night, I clutched my blanket and felt for the first time the stirrings of first love.

I became anxious and distracted, my mind in a haze.

A few days later, the situation became turbulent, the girls' school was forced to close, and just as I was preparing to return to Wufu Town, I received news from home saying that Wufu Town had been taken over by Marshal Chen, who had newly established the Marshal's Mansion.

The Marshal's Mansion wanted to set up a private school in Wufu Town, was recruiting a teacher, and urged me to hurry back and give it a try……