TYE Chapter 2

Throughout her life, Xue Ming had no faith. When she encountered difficulties, she would randomly chant “Amitabha,” “Queen Mother of the West,” “Supreme Lord Laozi,” and the like. Previously, a new colleague had joined the office, hailing from the southern coastal region and a devout worshipper of Mazu.

Xue Ming couldn’t resist joining in for a while, believing that the more gods she worshipped, the better. When she pushed open the temple door and stepped inside, she was muttering the titles of various deities. Peeking in, she saw that the courtyard was more spacious than she had imagined. The surrounding towers and halls were as grand and magnificent as they appeared from the outside. However, the weeds in the courtyard were overgrown, making it seem uninhabited. The moonlight was clear and desolate as if the place had been abandoned for years. The houses on the east and west sides were neatly arranged, with two rooms in the middle lit up. Light seeped through the door cracks and windows, casting long shadows.

Xue Ming observed carefully and saw figures moving inside, presumably Ning Caichen. On the surface, this place didn’t seem so sinister, just a more luxurious temple. But to Xue Ming, everything appeared eerie.

As she was thinking this, she saw someone open the lit room door.

Ning Caichen’s servant came out with a basin of water. When he saw Xue Ming, he looked delighted and called out, “Young Master Yan, you’ve returned again?” His words alerted the people inside, and Ning Caichen soon came out. He had changed his clothes, looking like he was about to rest. Seeing Xue Ming return, he was pretty surprised and walked over to ask, “Brother Chixia, what made you change your mind and come back to stay?”

Xue Ming had left resolutely earlier, so returning now was a bit awkward. She pretended to walk in confidently and said, “Brother Ning was right. There are many mosquitoes outside. I’ve been bitten a few times, and the itching is unbearable, so I had to come inside to take shelter.”

Ning Caichen laughed heartily upon hearing this and put his arm around her shoulder, leading her inside. He said, “No one lives in the temple, and plenty of empty rooms are left. I’ll have Chun Ye and Qiu Sheng prepare one for you.” As he spoke, he instructed the two servants to prepare a room next door for Xue Ming to rest.

Ning Caichen then pulled her to sit under the corridor, where he had set up a table with a pot of wine, two plates of meat, and something like peanuts.

Xue Ming was astonished at the sight, thinking that Ning Caichen indeed had the demeanor of a wealthy young master. Carrying such things with him on his travels, no wonder the two servants had bulging bags.

Ning Caichen, unaware of her inner thoughts, explained that taking these things out while traveling during the day was troublesome, so they had eaten dry food instead. He then poured a cup of wine and pushed it in front of Xue Ming, intending to have a few drinks with her.

However, Xue Ming didn’t drink alcohol. During company team-building events, she always had a soft drink in front of her, and she didn’t have much of a social life, let alone friends to drink with. She looked at the brimming cup of wine in front of her with difficulty, and seeing Ning Caichen’s hearty nature, she feared that refusing to drink might upset him. His two servants were still busy preparing her room, and it wouldn’t be good to offend Ning Caichen now. After some internal deliberation, Xue Ming raised the cup to toast him and, gritting her teeth, drank half of it.

The wine was so awful that Xue Ming almost vomited on the spot. It burned her tongue and throat like a knife scraping along. She quickly grabbed some pieces of meat with her chopsticks and stuffed them into her mouth. Fortunately, the braised meat was fragrant and flavorful, and after a few bites, the pain in her mouth subsided significantly.

Seeing her face turn red from the wine, Ning Caichen laughed heartily and asked her age. Xue Ming had no idea how old this body was, and she hadn’t seen her face in a mirror, so she couldn’t answer. She jokingly replied, “Brother Ning, how old do you think I am?”

Ning Caichen scrutinized her face and said, “You look about seventeen or eighteen, at least five years younger than me.”

Xue Ming laughed and said, “Wise brother.”

Ning Caichen was pleased and said he considered her like a younger brother. He mentioned that his family lived in Jinling and invited her to visit, expressing a desire to become sworn brothers and share life and death together.

She smiled and played along, reluctantly drinking two more cups of wine. She felt like she was burning up and couldn’t hold on any longer. She grabbed a water pouch and ate and drank to ease the discomfort in her stomach. The alcohol quickly went to her head, and Xue Ming felt dizzy. Seeing that the two servants had finished preparing her room, she stopped chatting with Ning Caichen and got up to bid farewell.

Before entering the room, Ning Caichen had the servant Qiu Sheng bring her a mirror. It was a small handheld bronze mirror with a delicately carved snake pattern on the back, inlaid with two small red gemstones. It looked like a rare item. Xue Ming accepted it, slurring her thanks, and muttered something about “don’t drink and drive” as she pushed the door open and went inside.

The room was spotless, in stark contrast to the desolate courtyard. A candlestick on the table cast a warm glow over the room.

Once the door closed, the surroundings became quiet. Since ancient times, humans have liked to build fortresses to protect themselves, as if it were in their nature. So even though Xue Ming knew this place wasn’t safe, she still felt a moment of relaxation. She walked to the table and sat down, placing the box and bundle on her left and the bronze mirror on her right. The two cups of wine earlier had made her a bit dizzy, and she sat there holding her head for a while before she felt better.

Xue Ming opened the small box she always carried and started rummaging through it. The box contained a little, only a tiny black gourd the size of a palm, a string of copper coins, and a piece of bright yellow canvas. Besides these, there was also an item about seven or eight centimeters long, wrapped tightly in gray cloth with a red incantation on it.

Xue Ming thought momentarily and unwrapped the cloth, revealing a small, jade-like white sword. She immediately felt reassured because, in the original story, Yan Chixia used this mighty sword to drive away the monsters in the temple. She rewrapped the small sword in the cloth and placed the box by the window.

Chun Ye and Qiu Sheng brought in two large buckets of water for her to wash up. She locked the door from the inside, checked the windows to ensure they wouldn’t open, and then opened her bundle to take out clean clothes. She had sweated a lot today, crawled on the ground, and even fell into a blood pool earlier in the evening. Although she knew it was an illusion, she still felt something sticky on her skin, which was uncomfortable and irritating.

Xue Ming looked in the mirror and found that this body’s face was about eighty percent similar to hers but was prettier and younger. As Ning Caichen had said, she looked about seventeen or eighteen. The difference was that this face had a small mole on the bridge of the nose, which made her features more delicate. Compared to her previous dull and stiff appearance, she now looked more lively. She was completely different from the Yan Chixia she knew. She put down the mirror and untied her robe, discovering that the original body had wrapped several layers of chest bindings to disguise herself as a man. No wonder she had felt short of breath while traveling today; she had thought it was because she hadn’t adapted to this body after transmigrating.

Xue Ming untied the chest bindings and immediately felt much more comfortable breathing. The future was uncertain, and monsters definitely haunted this temple, but she was too tired to think about it. The alcohol made her body hot and dizzy, so she stripped naked and squatted by the wooden tub to wash. After washing, she wrapped herself in clean clothes and collapsed onto the hard bed, falling asleep immediately.

She didn’t know how long she had slept, but Xue Ming felt she had rested briefly before waking up with a full bladder. She had drunk too much water before bed, and as soon as she was fully awake, she felt like her bladder was going to explode. She hurriedly got out of bed.

The lamp in the room had gone out at some point, and the moonlight couldn’t penetrate, leaving the surroundings pitch black. Xue Ming felt around with her feet, put on her shoes, and wobbled to the door. Perhaps the alcohol hadn’t completely worn off, and in her urgency, she didn’t think much about it. She quickly unlatched the door and stepped outside.

The courtyard was bathed in bright moonlight, casting a silvery glow everywhere. Xue Ming didn’t notice anything unusual and hurried to the toilet. She had visited the toilet earlier when drinking with Ning Caichen. Although it was a dry toilet, it was relatively clean and private and not far away. Fortunately, she made it there without any issues, relieved herself, and felt much more awake. Belatedly, she realized this place was unsafe and hurried back to her room. However, after walking for a while, she still hadn’t returned to the original corridor and began to sense something was wrong. She thought she hadn’t walked such a long distance earlier.

Just as she started to feel uneasy, she suddenly heard someone talking.

The voice was faint and unclear, seemingly coming from behind the north wall.

Xue Ming broke out in a cold sweat and looked ahead, seeing a carved stone window on the north wall a few steps away. She had rushed to the toilet twice and couldn’t remember if there had been a stone window on the wall before. The window didn’t seem particularly special, but Xue Ming paused, and the voices grew louder as if they were getting closer.

Any normal person would be scared in such a situation, especially Xue Ming, who was timid. She immediately decided to run back. After taking a couple of steps, she reached the stone window. Whether it was because she couldn’t control her eyes or was under some spell, she turned to look at the window. As soon as she looked, her steps halted, and she was rooted to the spot, unable to move an inch.

At the same time, the previously indistinct voices became clear.

“Why hasn’t that girl Xiaoqian come yet?”

“She should be here soon.”

In the bright moonlight, Xue Ming saw two women standing behind the stone window. One was dressed in luxurious attire, with a jeweled hairpin and a silk robe, her makeup exquisite. Despite appearing in her thirties or forties, she still retained her charm. The other was an older woman with a simple silver hairpin in her hair, dressed plainly, her face full of wrinkles, and looking like a neighborly old lady.

The woman raised her hand, leisurely admiring her blood-red nails, and said, “Lately, she hasn’t been very attentive to her tasks. Something seems off. Could she be holding a grudge against Grandmother?”

“I haven’t heard her complain,” the older woman replied.

“Among all the girls under Grandmother’s care, Xiaoqian is the most capable,” the woman said. “But she has ambitious eyes, not easy to control. Grandmother should be careful.”

Listening to their conversation, Xue Ming quickly understood their identities. She mentally cursed, wishing these two scene-playing people would stop. It should have been Ning Caichen who stumbled upon this scene, not her.

Xue Ming wanted to escape, but her body wouldn’t obey, and her feet felt numb. Looking down, she saw that her feet had turned to stone without her noticing. This scared her terribly, but fearing the two ghosts in front of her, she didn’t dare make a sound, sweating in anxiety. Suddenly, a cold wind blew, chilling her sweat, and she saw a girl of about seventeen or eighteen walking gracefully like a lotus.

The older woman smiled and said, “We were just talking about you, and here you are.”

The girl approached, dressed in a red gown. Her face was pale as if she had been dead for many years. Her eyes and eyebrows were like distant mountains and autumn waters. She was gorgeous.

Xue Ming’s heart pounded, and her scalp tingled. This girl was undoubtedly Nie Xiaoqian. Her beauty was aggressive and dazzling, and her eyes seemed able to captivate souls. She exuded charm and a sinister coldness, far from the film’s pitiful image. At first glance, it was clear that this person was either a deity or a demon; no mortal could possess such looks.

The moment Xue Ming saw Nie Xiaoqian, she regained feeling in her body, and her feet turning to stone seemed like an illusion. She didn’t dare stay any longer and covered her mouth, slowly bending down and pressing against the wall as she moved forward. She only started running when the voices completely disappeared. Perhaps she had passed through the area haunted by demons, as this time, she quickly found her way back to her room. She rushed in, bolted the door, kicked off her shoes, and crawled under the thin blanket, curling up into a ball and covering her head. After a moment, she still felt uneasy. She got out of bed, went to the window, grabbed the small box, and returned to bed, holding it tightly. This finally made her feel safe.

Xue Ming curled up in the corner of the bed, wrapped in the blanket, sweating but not daring to uncover herself. She usually had no trouble sleeping, falling asleep as soon as she closed her eyes. Now, she silently prayed to fall asleep quickly. After all, Nie Xiaoqian would go to find Ning Caichen, not her. As long as she slept, she would be safe. However, perhaps because she had been so frightened, she was now wide awake. Even after closing her eyes for a long time, her mind remained clear, and any slight noise startled her. Because of this, she immediately noticed when she heard very light footsteps in her room.

Xue Ming hugged the box tightly, not daring to open her eyes, believing this powerful treasure would keep the evil spirits away. As she was thinking this, she suddenly felt a cold breath on her face, carrying a floral scent.

Xue Ming was so scared that she went limp. Although her eyes were closed, she was sure someone was very close next to her face. She didn’t dare open her eyes, fearing she would see a terrifying ghost face, so she pretended to be asleep.

After a moment, a soft voice whispered in her ear, “Young master, since you are awake, why not open your eyes and look at me?”

Xue Ming had just thought she would never open her eyes, but the words she heard seemed like a spell drilled into her ears, and her eyes opened wide uncontrollably. The room was pitch black, and she couldn’t see anything.

Xue Ming breathed a sigh of relief, thinking she could handle it if it stayed this way. But then the person beside her suddenly blew a breath, and the lamp on the table lit up by itself, filling the room with light. Her vision cleared, and she found herself face-to-face with the person beside her.

It was Nie Xiaoqian. She had changed into a snow-white dress, her hair styled in an intricate bun, and her makeup was quite heavy, with striking red lips. At such a close distance, Xue Ming could see her face clearly, even more beautiful than she had seen through the stone window earlier. Her powdered face now had a rosy hue, no longer looking like she had been dead for a long time. She smiled at Xue Ming as if waiting for her praise. At this point, fear became secondary; if her brain didn’t start working, her life would be in danger.

Xue Ming thought inwardly, Brother Ning, I’m sorry. Then she pointed a finger towards Brother Ning’s room next door and whispered, “Miss, you’ve got the wrong person. Ning Caichen is next door.”

Translator Question: Have you guys ever read/watched A Chinese Ghost Story?