After My Cross-dressing Cover Was Blown, the Movie Star Became My Accomplice - Chapter 21

Chapter 21

◎ Perhaps he should go take a look at the Village Chief’s house ◎

The moment the main door slammed shut, the interior fell into pitch-black darkness. Mu Yao was instantly plunged into the void, the laughter of a child ringing in his ears.

Despite the dark and terrifying setting, tension rose in Mu Yao’s heart, yet he quirked the corner of his mouth in the shadows, wearing a silent smile.

“Heh, it’s easier to deal with things once the door is closed.”

He raised his left hand, softly chanting an incantation under his breath.

“The path to the Yellow Springs is long; borrow a spark from the traces of fire!”

The moment the words left his lips, a plume of cyan flame emerged from his palm. The flame flickered and swayed without any wind, appearing as though it might extinguish at any second.

This spark of light dispelled the darkness in the room, while simultaneously causing the female ghost inside to shriek in terror.

“Ah! Damn it, what kind of flame is this?”

The immature voice carried both dread and hatred. she hid her form in the shadows, evading the glow of the fire.

“The Netherworld Fire, capable of suppressing aggrieved ghosts and evil spirits—the very thing you fear most!”

Seeing the female ghost’s fearful, cowering posture, the tension in Mu Yao’s heart gradually dissipated. He raised his other hand to shield the flickering flame, walking step by step toward the hanging Auntie Zhou.

Auntie Zhou was still struggling instinctively. Her legs swung and kicked in the air, her hands clawing at the strands of hair coiled around her neck.

“Nan… Nan, I was wrong…”

Suspended as she was, her eyes rolled upward, and her voice was extremely hoarse.

If the door hadn’t been closed and sunlight were streaming in, he could have easily used the sun and the cyan flame to disperse the ghost and save Auntie Zhou.

But now it was deathly dark; sunlight couldn’t reach inside, and the range of the cyan flame was limited—it couldn’t drive away the hair left by the ghost on Auntie Zhou’s neck. Furthermore, his Soul-Hooking Chain was restricted during the day and couldn’t be used.

Auntie Zhou was at her last gasp hanging from the beam. He had to adopt a non-violent method to save her.

“Female ghost, I know you are being controlled by someone to harm people, but out of everyone, you shouldn’t harm Auntie Zhou. Open your eyes and look closely at exactly who is hanging from that beam!”

“Who? Who is she?”

In the darkness, the child-like voice of the ghost carried confusion. The hair coiling around Auntie Zhou loosened slightly.

“Yes, look closely at that face. See who she is. Before you became this ghostly creature, who was it that gently held your hand and took you out to play? Who smiled and called you ‘Nannan,’ and gave you delicious, sweet candies?”

Mu Yao didn’t know exactly how Auntie Zhou had raised her daughter, but judging by how she had gone mad after the daughter’s disappearance, she clearly loved her child very much.

“…Mama. It was Mama who took me out to play, called me Nannan, gave me candy… Ah! She… she is Mama! Ugh!”

Auntie Zhou’s struggling weakened; she was about to lose her strength. Simultaneously, the ghost’s hair loosened further, but didn’t let go completely.

Mu Yao knew the ghost was fighting against the mastermind behind the scenes. He pressed on, taking the hairpin from his pocket that he had originally intended to return to Auntie Zhou.

“Yes, she is your mother. In all these years that you’ve been missing, your mother has been looking for you. She even kept your hairpin with her. This little bunny hairpin was bought for you by your mother, wasn’t it?”

“Bunny… little bunny…”

In the darkness, the ghost seemed to fix her gaze on Mu Yao’s palm, looking at the little bunny hairpin lying quietly there.

“Yes, a bunny. A cute white bunny hairpin. Did you ask your mother for it? Or did she buy it for you herself?”

The ghost had died when she was just an ignorant child. He wasn’t sure if the little girl understood hate, but he was certain she understood love.

In her limited memories of being alive, her mother’s love had surrounded her. She would surely remember.

Whether it was the ghost relaxing her grip that gave Auntie Zhou a chance to breathe, or a sudden burst of survival instinct, Auntie Zhou actually managed to speak hoarsely at that moment.

“Nannan, Mama… is sorry. I should have taken you with me to buy the candy…”

Auntie Zhou’s broken words startled Mu Yao, and startled the ghost even more.

So, Auntie Zhou’s daughter went missing while she was out buying candy.

“Mama… Ah!”

The ghost seemed to finally regain her reason, recognizing the person before her as her mother. She frantically retracted her hair. Mu Yao seized the opportunity to rush forward and rescue Auntie Zhou.

Auntie Zhou seemed to have exhausted all her strength; the moment he placed her on the ground, she fainted.

Seeing Auntie Zhou’s chest rising and falling normally, Mu Yao finally breathed a sigh of relief once he was sure she wasn’t in danger.

However, he did not relax completely. Shielding the flickering flame in his hand, he looked up at the ghost hiding in the darkness.

Just as he was about to take the opportunity to ask a few questions, the tightly shut door was suddenly pushed open.

Sunlight flooded the room. Realizing someone had entered, Mu Yao instinctively glanced toward the door and quickly clenched his fist to extinguish the flame. At the same time, the ethereal voice of the ghost whispered in his ear.

“Protect Mama. He is very dangerous!”

He? Who is ‘he’?

Mu Yao’s pupils constricted. He knew that was a clue provided by the ghost, but before he could clarify, she vanished without a trace.

“Mu Yao! Are you alright?! Did Auntie Zhou hurt you?”

The person who pushed the door open was Cheng Zeyue, who had left the production team’s filming and rushed over. Seeing Auntie Zhou collapsed on the floor, his first instinct was actually to ask about Mu Yao’s condition.

“Cheng… Movie King Cheng? Aren’t you still filming in the peach orchard?”

Mu Yao hadn’t expected the newcomer to be Cheng Zeyue. He watched the man approach and asked in a daze.

“I went to ask the director; he said you came to Auntie Zhou’s to return something. It just so happened that Kong Yanfei and Qu Fu both said they were missing a lock of hair. I was worried about your safety, so I came to check.”

Once Cheng Zeyue saw that Mu Yao was fine, he finally turned his gaze to the unconscious Auntie Zhou.

“Why is she fainted here? And her neck…”

“Right, Auntie Zhou! You came at the perfect time. Go find someone—get the Village Chief. I just came to return the hairpin, and as soon as I pushed the door open, I saw her trying to hang herself. I rushed in to save her, and the wind happened to blow the door shut. I was fumbling in the dark and just managed to save her. Quickly, take her to the clinic!”

Hearing Cheng Zeyue ask about Auntie Zhou, Mu Yao hurriedly spoke. He didn’t mention the ghost, only saying the wind shut the door.

Whether it was natural wind or wind driven by a ghost, it was wind that shut the door nonetheless; he wasn’t technically lying.

“Suicide by hanging? I’ll go find people to help right away.”

Cheng Zeyue’s expression turned solemn instantly. He scanned the room to ensure it was safe before turning to call for help.

Luckily he didn’t suspect anything or ask too much. Otherwise, the more I say, the more mistakes I make, and I wouldn’t be able to patch up the lies.

Mu Yao watched Cheng Zeyue’s retreating figure and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

To prevent the mastermind from controlling the ghost for a second attempt, Mu Yao didn’t plan to stay in the house.

He moved a table into the courtyard, spread some bedding over it, and then carried Auntie Zhou out, laying her on the table and tucking her in properly.

The spring breeze was still a bit chilly, so the bedding provided good insulation, while the natural sunlight served as a great protective umbrella to stop the ghost from returning to harm Auntie Zhou.

The Village Chief and the production crew arrived quickly. The Village Chief rushed toward the unconscious Auntie Zhou with a face full of worry, while the crew members gathered around Mu Yao to ask about the situation.

The team doctor accompanying the crew gave Auntie Zhou a quick check-up. Once they confirmed she was in no life-threatening danger, everyone relaxed.

The director patted Mu Yao on the shoulder and sighed, offering a few words of advice.

“Sigh, your luck is just too bad. You come to return something and run into a suicide. We’ll have to cut down on your shots for this afternoon’s filming.”

“It doesn’t matter. At least a life was saved.”

Mu Yao shook his head. He looked at the unconscious Auntie Zhou and the Village Chief who remained by her side, unable to help but wonder about the relationship between the two.

The ghost just warned me to watch out for ‘him.’ Who is that? Could it be the Village Chief who has been taking care of Auntie Zhou?

He remembered the Village Chief promising to send someone to look after her so she wouldn’t wander off. Yet, when he arrived, he saw no one. Where was the person the Village Chief sent?

No one appeared when he entered the courtyard. No one appeared when he entered the room. No one appeared even when he was locked in the room facing a ghost.

This contradicted the Village Chief’s promise. Did the Village Chief actually arrange for someone to look after her at all?

The Village Chief doesn’t seem to care about Auntie Zhou as much as the rumors say. Is the person the ghost warned me about the Village Chief? Or… him?

Mu Yao’s gaze inadvertently drifted toward Cheng Zeyue beside him. He wasn’t sure if the ghost had fled quickly because of the sunlight or because of Cheng Zeyue himself.

Coupled with Cheng Zeyue’s tall, oppressive stature and that sense of being a “heavenly soldier” descending—just like when the Rakshasa appeared last night—Mu Yao couldn’t help but feel suspicious. A seed of doubt was quietly planted.

A short while later, the doctor from the village clinic and the police arrived.

Auntie Zhou was taken to the clinic for treatment. The police came to Mu Yao to understand the situation, and he repeated his previous explanation.

“Officer, we are from the ‘Journey of the Four Seasons’ production team. we’ve been filming in the village for the past few days. Before the incident, Mu Yao was with us at the peach orchard. We don’t know Auntie Zhou and have had no conflicts or grudges. It definitely wasn’t our guest who hurt her,” the director told the police. Meanwhile, the other guests also gathered around.

“Yes, Mr. Policeman, Sister Mu Yao wouldn’t hurt anyone. She only left the filming site a short while ago.”

“There was no reason for Mu Yao to hurt her.”

“Hehe, it’s our first time here. It definitely wasn’t Little Mu.”

“When I arrived, Mu Yao was saving her.”

Kong Yanfei, Qu Fu, Bi Tu, and Cheng Zeyue all chimed in, all of them helping to explain on Mu Yao’s behalf.

“Everyone, please be quiet. I’m just here to understand the situation. I am not treating this Ms. Mu… Mu as a criminal. Please rest assured.”

The officer smiled to appease them, recorded the statements from Mu Yao and the others, and after taking the production team’s contact info, told them they could leave. He then turned to inspect the house.

Seeing that Mu Yao wasn’t being detained, the director quickly led them away.

“Sigh, doing a good deed is hard. It keeps you on edge.”

Back at the peach orchard, the director patted Mu Yao’s shoulder and sighed.

Mu Yao shook his head and offered a sincere apology.

“I’m sorry for causing you trouble.”

“It’s fine. Who could have predicted this? I feel like we keep running into trouble during this shoot. I’ll have to go to a temple and pray properly when I get back.”

The director waved it off and told the guests to get back into character to continue the filming tasks in the orchard. No matter what happened, the work had to go on.

By evening, the production team received word from the Village Chief and the police. Auntie Zhou had regained consciousness, though she remained muddled and crazed.

While the director was worried Mu Yao would be called away by the police again, the officer stated that Mu Yao was no longer a suspect.

“Although Auntie Zhou is still mad, she managed to say a few things about the situation when questioned. Don’t worry, we won’t wrong an innocent person.”

News couldn’t be kept quiet in a small village. An afternoon was enough for the story of Auntie Zhou’s suicide to spread. On the way back to the inn, the production crew heard a lot about Auntie Zhou and the Village Chief.

“Sigh, I knew Little Zhou would end up like this sooner or later.”

“Yeah, a perfectly good person driven mad for so many years. It’s a pity. Do you think it would be a relief if she really passed away?”

“Who can say? Living in a daze vs. a clean death… Sigh!”

The aunties by the roadside gossiped, their words tinged with pity for Auntie Zhou.

“Why couldn’t she see past it? Her husband died young and her daughter is missing; it was the perfect time to rekindle things with the Village Chief. They would have lived a good life together.”

“Exactly. Her daughter has been gone for so many years, she’s definitely dead. Just a girl, anyway. It would have been better to stay with the Village Chief and have a son. It’s a shame the Village Chief stayed single for her all these years. Someone as outstanding as him should have a child to carry on the family name.”

“True! The Village Chief’s child would definitely be smart! He’s a rare top student who made it out of our village.”

“Yes, yes!”

The old men huddled together whispering, focusing more on the Village Chief, their words suggesting it was a waste of his potential.

Mu Yao listened to the idle gossip along the way, finally piecing together the entanglement between Auntie Zhou and the Village Chief from these fragments.

The two were once recognized by the village as childhood sweethearts likely to end up together. During high school, they agreed to go to university and leave the village together. However, during the college entrance exams, Auntie Zhou’s parents locked her in a room, forcing her to miss the exams and ending her education.

Auntie Zhou’s protests were fruitless. She had to give up her pact with the Village Chief, telling him he must go and study hard on her behalf.

The Village Chief left the village with Auntie Zhou’s dreams. Before leaving, he promised her he would return to marry her.

Three years later, the villagers expected him to return and marry her, only to find a letter saying he was continuing his studies further.

In the letter, the Village Chief still promised he would come back for her and asked her to wait a little longer.

At the time, Auntie Zhou believed him. But her parents did not.

That year, Auntie Zhou’s household was in total chaos.

Her parents became obsessed with arranging blind dates for her, pressuring her to marry.

The first year she resisted. The second year her attitude softened, and she attended dates at her parents’ request, though she just went through the motions. In the third year, after her parents took turns attempting suicide to pressure her once more, she finally gave in completely. Not long after a certain blind date, she married.

A year into the marriage, she and her husband had a daughter. Life was bumpy, but her husband was a decent man, and her life finally settled into peace.

But that peace was short-lived. Auntie Zhou’s husband died in an accident, leaving her a single mother. Shortly after, the Village Chief returned to the village, still expecting to marry her.

But when he arrived with gifts, he found she was already a single mother.

Auntie Zhou’s parents were delighted to see him return as a high-achieving student appointed directly as the Village Chief. They pushed Auntie Zhou toward him, hoping for a new son-in-law.

But this time, Auntie Zhou was adamant about not marrying—even if he was the one she had been waiting for.

Her parents had a complete falling out with her over this and stopped looking after her. She lived a difficult life with her daughter in the house her husband left her.

Though shocked that she had married another, the Village Chief provided extra care for the mother and daughter. Until the daughter went missing, Auntie Zhou’s life was somewhat manageable.

Once the daughter disappeared, Auntie Zhou’s world completely collapsed. She fell into madness, living a tragic, muddled existence, while the Village Chief continued to look after her in silence.

As Mu Yao pieced together their history, he gradually sensed something was off.

If the Village Chief truly loved her so deeply, why didn’t he return after three years of study to marry her instead of asking her to keep waiting?

Did he really never consider what she would face alone in the village?

Auntie Zhou couldn’t withstand the family pressure and married out of despair; would the Village Chief truly accept her again without any resentment?

Did Auntie Zhou’s husband really die in an accident? And why exactly did her daughter become a vengeful spirit driven by others to kill innocent children in the village?

Question after question swirled in Mu Yao’s mind. He stood before the inn, looking toward the direction of the Village Chief’s residence.

Perhaps he should go take a look at the Village Chief’s house—to see the true face of this man who was connected to both Auntie Zhou and the female ghost.