Luo Yu was stunned for two seconds, feeling a bit angry, but for some reason, he was quite intimidated by Si Xuanyang. It was best to stay silent around him; if he had to speak, it was mostly not pleasant words.

He didn’t dare directly refuse Si Xuanyang’s unreasonable and double-standard demands. It wasn’t because he was afraid of being physically attacked, but because that refined face, once it turned cold, seemed capable of tearing him apart with just a glance.

Really scary.

Luo Yu numbly took the hoe from Yu Sen and resignedly went to face the dirt and back to the sky.

Yu Sen happily returned to Si Nan’s side, brushing off the dirt from his hands.

Si Nan was very displeased with the whole operation, leaning in mysteriously to his ear with a hint of jealousy in his voice: “Why do I feel like Yang Yang is very partial to you? Clearly, I’m his older brother. Tell me! What kind of potion did you feed him?”

“What nonsense potion? Do you believe in science?” Yu Sen rolled his eyes, “Science dictates that he should side with me.”

“If we believed in science, we wouldn’t have ended up in places like this…”

At this moment, Luo Yu, who was digging, suddenly exclaimed.

“Ah! You all come and look!”

“What? Did you find something?” Si Nan ran over.

“Shit! A corpse! It looks exactly like Song Ningxiu.”

Yu Sen walked over and peered into the large pit. A woman who looked identical to Song Ningxiu but dressed in ancient clothing was emerging. Though she was somewhat dirty from the mud, it was still clear that there was a deep, fatal knife wound on her neck.

“Ugh, how tragic. Pull her out, but be careful not to pull her head off.” Yu Sen said.

At this point, they didn’t care about the creepy and frightening nature of the corpse. The few of them worked together to pull Song Ningxiu’s body out of the pit.

Fortunately, it wasn’t too heavy. It seemed she had bled out half of her blood.

Initially, Yu Sen thought she was wearing a red dress, but when they pulled her up, he realized that a bit of the fabric was a yellowed white. The blood that had flowed down had dyed most of the dress a dark red.

“Poor thing,” he sighed softly.

Si Xuanyang glanced at him without speaking, picked up the body, and placed it into a sack, handing it to Si Nan: “Hold this.”

Si Nan: “…Why do I have to carry it? Yang Yang, why don’t you side with me? I’m your real brother!”

Si Xuanyang shot him a fiery glare, and Si Nan immediately backed down, expressionless, lifting the sack and carrying it, saying as he walked: “Luo Yu, Lin Jianchuan, let’s take turns carrying this. I can’t bear all this weight alone…”

As for Si Xuanyang and Yu Sen, he just assumed they were as good as buried underground.

…

As they returned along the original path, the sky gradually darkened. The last rays of the setting sun disappeared on the horizon, and Yu Sen urged them to hurry: “We’d better move faster. If the moon rises and the corpses in the mass grave come to life, it’ll be terrifying.”

Whether it was his ominous words or something else, the corpses in the graveyard didn’t seem to have come back to life. However, when they entered the city, the moon had just risen to its highest point. The streets in the city no longer had the fog and mist from the first night, and the atmosphere and buildings were completely different from when they had come out at noon.

Everywhere was dark, ancient residential houses, with not a single lantern hanging.

Yu Sen glanced sideways and suddenly stiffened—by the dark window stood a person with a blank expression and a black face.

Though described as a black-faced man, it was actually just his face hidden in the darkness, only the general outline visible.

He stiffly looked around the nearby houses, which had no candlelight, but most windows or doorways had a shadowy figure standing silently, watching them.

The five of them were very quiet. Yu Sen tugged at Si Xuanyang’s sleeve. The latter turned to look at him and said softly: “I see it too. Don’t be afraid. I brought candles. If there’s any unusual movement, lighting them should help us get through this.”

Yu Sen tilted his head, curious about what kind of image he had in Si Xuanyang’s mind.

But it seemed this person was quite reliable, at least more so than Si Nan.

Despite the eerie scene, perhaps because they were carrying a similarly gloomy corpse or for some other reason, these ‘people’ remained still throughout.

Like a silent witness, they watched as the body of Song Ningxiu was carried into the Li residence.

---

As they entered the residence, they saw people moving back and forth in the main hall, preparing for the wedding.

Yu Sen and the others exchanged glances, unsure of what to do next.

After a moment’s hesitation, Si Xuanyang said: “First, take Song Ningxiu’s body out.”

Lin Jianchuan put down the sack and revealed the body, but there was no sign of it waking up.

“Is… is this it? Task completed?” Si Nan asked uncertainly.

“If the task is completed, why are you still here?”

The figures of the bride and groom appeared in the main hall. Yu Sen suddenly had a flash of inspiration and poked Si Xuanyang: “Yang Yang, did you bring the red veil?”

Si Xuanyang paused, then immediately pulled the red veil from his bag: “I did!”

Yu Sen pointed at the body of Song Ningxiu on the ground: “Cover her head with it.”

Without hesitation, Si Xuanyang spread out the red veil and carefully placed it over Song Ningxiu’s head.

In an instant, the situation changed dramatically.

A fierce wind suddenly swept across the ancient house of the Li residence. The clouds were blown away, and tiles, leaves, and branches were lifted, making a continuous crashing sound.

The commotion drew the attention of everyone in the house. The bride rushed out from the main hall and tore off the red veil. Zhao Yue’s face was contorted with a terrifying expression, like a vengeful spirit, and she pointed at Yu Sen with a sinister and ruthless look: “What did you do!?”

Suddenly, Song Ningxiu’s body shot into the air and hovered. Her black hair swirled, and her red clothes flapped, the red veil firmly covering her head, making her appear particularly eerie in the moonlight.

Perhaps familiar with this figure from serving her since childhood, even without seeing her face, Zhao Yue’s expression changed with fear. She took several steps back: “Song… Song Ningxiu…”

This was Yu Sen’s first encounter with a ghost fight. Perhaps after thousands of years, the ghost had long lost any sense of reason or clarity. Seeing Zhao Yue’s current state, there was nothing left to explain.

Song Ningxiu screamed in mid-air and, without a word, lunged straight at Zhao Yue, sinking her teeth into her neck.

“Ha—!” Yu Sen gasped in horror.

The piercing screams echoed through the city of Huai’an.

Zhao Yue struggled desperately, but after being trapped in the residence for so many years, she was no match for the vengeful ghost of Song Ningxiu. Within a minute, her soul was torn apart, unable to be pieced together again.

Si Nan expressed his sincere admiration: “Miss Song is ruthless and powerful!”

Mr. Li stood by, stunned, and called out, “Ning… Ningxiu? Is it really you?”

Then they saw Song Ningxiu’s body shudder violently, and the stubborn gray-black resentment that had filled the air seemed to dissipate like thin smoke, gradually drifting away with the howling wind.

Several blurred objects began to slowly appear, and Yu Sen saw their wall clock.

His head started to feel hazy again. The ancient mansion and Song Ningxiu seemed to retreat far away; he felt as though his body was being swept up into the sky by the storm. Everything he could see was a blur, with the dragon and phoenix candles’ bright red light at the center of the storm. It was no longer a chilling, eerie feeling but had turned warm and peaceful, gradually becoming a small red dot in his vision.

Yu Sen closed his eyes and let his consciousness descend into the storm.

---

When he opened his eyes again, the air was filled with a strong ginger milk aroma. Yu Sen rubbed his eyes, blew out the bedside scented candle, and decided never to buy such strongly scented items again, as he felt like he had taken a bath in ginger milk.

He opened the door and found the other three already seated at the dining table downstairs.

“Hurry up! Aunt Zhang bought a bunch of custard buns, crab buns, and shrimp dumplings. If you don’t eat them now, they’ll be gone,” Si Nan called out to him.

Yu Sen suddenly thought that these people seemed a bit strange. After a visit to the haunted mansion and mass grave, they could still eat breakfast without any trace of unease.

As he walked over, Si Nan suddenly leaned in with a look of surprise and sniffed him repeatedly. “Damn, Yu Ge, did you take a milk bath? You smell like milk!”

Si Xuanyang also glanced up at him.

Yu Sen said, “…Get your dog nose off me! Do you want to die or something?”

Yu Sen naturally sat next to Si Xuanyang, who was sitting with Luo Yu and Si Nan. The slight milky smell from his body wafted into Si Xuanyang’s nose. He paused for a moment, his grip on the spoon tightening slightly, and his ears turned subtly red.

He intentionally slowed his breathing and moved a little farther away.

But Yu Sen, oblivious to this, leaned closer and asked, “Hey, what filling is in these shrimp dumplings?”

Si Xuanyang, caught off guard, lowered his head to hide his slightly flustered expression. He took a deep breath and, suppressing his anger, said, “What kind of filling could shrimp dumplings have!? Maybe you should use your brain before asking.”

“I was still half-asleep and didn’t react,” Yu Sen said without a hint of embarrassment.

He glanced at the wall clock and remarked, “Everyone’s psychological resilience is impressive. It’s already hung up.”

“Aunt Zhang doesn’t know the situation and hung it up randomly,” Si Nan sighed. “Didn’t she notice the hands don’t match? She must be completely out of it from dancing square dances.”

Yu Sen looked over and saw that, despite it being 9 AM, the wall clock’s time was set to 4 o’clock.

^[1]Author’s Note:

Happy Qixi Festival, everyone~ Does this ginger milk smell somehow feel like pheromones? Yu Ge is in heat (just kidding).