My Partner Always Wants to Dig My Grave - Chapter 11

A few meters from where the first tombstone was discovered, archaeologists unearthed a second one. However, when excavated, it was already missing a corner, and only half of the inscription remained faintly visible.

“The carving on this one is more crude than the intact one.” Guan Yue remarked casually while observing.

Hearing this, Si Wan carefully compared the two tombstones. Both were indeed made of the same material, and the inscriptions were clearly carved by the same hand, yet the characters on the damaged stone appeared slightly less refined.

Suddenly, as Si Wan gazed at the two tombstones, something seemed to surface in her mind. Her eyes instinctively searched for that familiar figure.

But the female ghost who had always been by her side was now nowhere to be found. She scanned her surroundings, yet the vivid red was still absent.

For a moment, a trace of loneliness flickered in Si Wan’s eyes, but it quickly vanished.

Water flowed over her fingertips, gently washing away the mud on the tombstone, revealing the fragmented inscription before her eyes. Her gloved hand unconsciously traced the marks as she spoke.

“She carved her own tombstone first, then the other one.”

Hearing Si Wan’s words, Guan Yue’s gaze shifted back and forth between the two tombstones before settling on Si Wan. A strange, indescribable feeling stirred within her.

She felt that Si Wan was grieving, yet she couldn’t detect any hint of emotion in the other’s calm expression, making her wonder if she was overthinking it.

“But how could someone know they were going to die and carve their own tombstone?”

“She didn’t know, but she had to die.” Si Wan spoke without thinking, almost instinctively.

Guan Yue paused, a flicker of confusion in her eyes as she looked at Si Wan.

“We haven’t even figured it out yet. Why are you saying things like this?”

Realizing she had spoken out of turn again, Si Wan’s eyes filled with apology as she said,

“Sorry…”

She trailed off, then removed her gloves, rubbing her temples before speaking again.

“Maybe my mind hasn’t been clear lately.”

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have encountered a ghost…

Thinking this, Si Wan sighed inwardly.

Guan Yue nudged her aside, saying,

“You should go rest. I can handle this.”

Si Wan brushed off her hand and replied,

“Let me take a look first. We haven’t even located the exact position of the tomb yet.”

Unable to persuade her, Guan Yue reluctantly let her stay.

The damaged tombstone was severely eroded, its characters nearly illegible. After a few glances, Si Wan asked,

“Do you have a pen?”

Guan Yue handed her a pen and paper, then watched as Si Wan stared at the damaged tombstone for a long time before finally starting to write.

“The name is carved here, but it’s hard to determine the identity. So far, we’ve only found some weapons. Clearly, we haven’t discovered any belongings of the other tomb occupant.”

“There are some.”

Si Wan spoke without looking up, having already written a few characters on the white paper.

“Sheng Zhen?” Guan Yue murmured the name softly, then shifted her gaze to the other two characters.

“Nan’an?”

There was no doubt about the name Sheng Zhen, as it was also carved on the other tombstone.

Upon hearing Guan Yue read out “Nan’an,” Si Wan’s hand abruptly stilled. For some reason, her heart gave a sudden jolt, and an indescribable emotion washed over her chest. By the time she tried to grasp what that emotion was, it had already faded into something she could no longer recall.

“This still looks like a joint burial site for a married couple. If only we could find the entrance, we wouldn’t have to keep stumbling around like headless flies here.”

Guan Yue nudged Si Wan’s shoulder, her face full of curiosity as she spoke.

“What’s going on with you? Did you secretly go off to study somewhere? Our team hasn’t even made a rubbing of this yet, and you already know what’s carved on it.”

Si Wan’s grip on her pen tightened, her face growing a shade paler. She bit her lip as if wanting to say something but ultimately shook her head and said, “I don’t know. It just feels familiar.”

Guan Yue didn’t pay it much mind, shrugging as she replied, “I know you’re skilled, but you don’t have to stay up all night memorizing ancient scripts.”

As for why Si Wan could decipher the text at a glance, Guan Yue simply assumed she had been studying late into the night.

“You’re looking a bit pale. Are you suffering from heatstroke?”

Guan Yue’s gaze seemed to be searching for something as she looked at Si Wan. Noticing her growing pallor, she spoke with concern.

“What are you looking for?”

“Looking for someone.” Si Wan replied.

But deep down, she knew she was looking for that ghost.

Puzzled, Guan Yue pointed toward Song Yan in the distance and said, “Isn’t your student right over there?”

“It’s not her.” Si Wan’s tone grew somewhat urgent as she spoke, and she stood up, ready to leave.

Guan Yue grew even more confused. Seeing Si Wan’s strange behavior, she recalled Si Wan asking her how to deal with “unclean things” and began to suspect that Si Wan was possessed by a ghost.

But just then, a wave of scorching heat swept over them, interrupting her thoughts and making her dismiss her earlier wild speculation.

As Si Wan was about to step away, a flash of red drifted before her like a phantom. Crimson eyes gazed at her with amusement as the figure spoke.

“Looking for someone?”

The sudden appearance of the female ghost left Si Wan frozen in place. It was only when Guan Yue noticed something was wrong and called out to her several times that she snapped back to reality.

“In a few days, I’ll ask someone to get you a few blessed talismans.”

Suspecting that Si Wan was possessed, Guan Yue said this to test the waters, only to hear Si Wan respond indifferently, “No need.”

Hearing this, Guan Yue’s suspicions grew stronger. Thinking it best not to alert whatever might be lurking, she forced a laugh and said, “Alright then.”

Si Wan glanced at her, sensing something off about her expression but unable to pinpoint what it was, so she let it go.

The female ghost drifted before Si Wan once more, the hem of her crimson skirt brushing against Si Wan’s leg, sending a bone-chilling cold through her.

Si Wan watched as the ghost floated over to the broken stele on her own, the smile on her face not fading but instead growing brighter, as if deliberately trying to conceal something.

The ghost’s slender, pale finger pointed at the broken stele as she feigned surprise and said, “It’s so worn down now. You can’t even make out the characters anymore.”

Her tone carried a hint of schadenfreude. As her gaze inadvertently fell on the notebook in Guan Yue’s hand and she saw the familiar handwriting along with her own name, her expression shifted abruptly, though she quickly regained her composure.

This time, Si Wan’s gaze remained fixed on the female ghost, and she noticed the unnatural shift in the other’s expression. She felt absolutely certain that this stele was intricately connected to the ghost.

Sheng Zhen saw Si Wan observing her and, perhaps out of guilt, averted her gaze.

Seeing her like this, Si Wan’s heart pounded like a drum in her chest. A sudden impulse surged within her, she wanted to ask, to know how the other had died and why she had willingly become a wandering spirit.

Si Wan opened her mouth, but the words she intended to speak left her throat dry and uncertain, unsure where to begin.

Just then, a voice pulled her back to reality.

“Professor Si, are you off work? We can go now.”

Liu Yaoyao and Song Yan approached, greeted Guan Yue politely, and then addressed Si Wan.

Si Wan snapped back to attention, only then noticing the blood-red glow of the setting sun in the distant sky, resembling a battlefield river of blood from ancient times.

Her gaze shifted away from Sheng Zhen, her expression returning to indifference as she spoke.

“I’ll go get a jacket.”

“No need, it’s quite warm out.” Guan Yue interjected as she walked over.

But as she drew closer to Si Wan, she once again felt that inexplicable chill, causing her to fall silent for a moment before changing her tune.

“Alright, go ahead. It is a bit cold.”

While Si Wan went to fetch her jacket, Guan Yue turned to Song Yan with a grave expression.

“Si Wan… she’s been possessed by a ghost.”

Song Yan and Liu Yaoyao: “…”

“Professor Guan, please don’t joke about Professor Si like that.” Song Yan said.

Seeing their disbelief, Guan Yue began earnestly listing evidence.

“Both of you must have been near Si Wan just now, didn’t you feel a chill? In the middle of summer, how could a normal person walk around like they’re carrying an air conditioner? And Si Wan, a workaholic, you have no idea how many times she’s zoned out today.”

After hearing Guan Yue out, the other two thought back and realized that Si Wan had indeed been acting strangely.

Guan Yue frowned, pondered for a moment, then shivered and spoke with a hint of lingering fear.

“Earlier, right in front of me, she said she was looking for someone, and it wasn’t one of her students. Clearly, she’s looking for her ghost companion.”

Song Yan hesitated before replying, “That doesn’t necessarily mean she’s… well, looking for a ghost. There are plenty of people here. But what you mentioned earlier does line up.”

Sheng Zhen, who hadn’t followed Si Wan, sat on the desk, somewhat impressed by Guan Yue’s imagination. A faint smile tugged at her lips as she idly played with a pen on the table, glancing down at the handwriting on the paper that belonged to Si Wan.

Guan Yue nodded thoughtfully and said, “We work in tombs all day; it’s inevitable we’d pick up some unclean things. What I find hardest to believe is that Si Wan was the first to fall victim.”

As she finished speaking, her peripheral vision caught sight of the pen floating in mid-air. Her expression instantly grew excited as she tugged at the other two to turn around, pointing in that direction.

“There really is a ghost!”

Hearing Guan Yue’s raised voice, Sheng Zhen snapped out of her focus on the notebook’s contents. She then saw over a dozen pairs of eyes staring in terror in her direction. Following their gaze, she realized it was the pen she had forgotten to put back.

Sheng Zhen curled her lips, then nonchalantly put the pen back, completely unfazed by the nearly bulging eyes of those around her. She drifted gracefully to Si Wan’s side just as Si Wan emerged with her coat.

“What’s going on?”

Si Wan subtly glanced at the female ghost who had once again appeared beside her, then noticed that everyone else had halted their work, their eyes fixed intently on one spot.

Suddenly, the heavy silence was shattered by a piercing scream that forcibly snapped everyone back to reality.

“There’s a ghost!”

Hearing the commotion, Si Wan raised an eyebrow slightly, initially assuming that the others had also caught sight of the ghost beside her.

Chaos quickly erupted among the people in the room. Guan Yue, noticing Si Wan’s return, looked at her with an indescribable expression, leaving Si Wan utterly baffled.

Due to the sudden disturbance, Si Wan and Guan Yue spent some time calming the others down, doing their best to convince them that what they had witnessed was merely a supernatural phenomenon, though whether they truly believed it remained uncertain.

Sheng Zhen, the instigator of it all, trailed confidently behind Si Wan, completely unrepentant and even contemplating further mischief to gauge the others’ reactions.

As if reading Sheng Zhen’s intentions, Si Wan shot her a stern look, effectively thwarting any further plans.

A charming smile curved Sheng Zhen’s crimson lips, devoid of any remorse. “It was an accident”, she said lightly.

Si Wan pressed her lips together, convinced that the other party had done it on purpose.

Most of the people present had seen ghost movies before, and after the initial shock, they grew oddly enthusiastic. A group of former atheists began whispering among themselves, discussing how to catch a ghost.

Seeing that everyone had settled down, Si Wan turned to Guan Yue. “I’ll take my leave now.”

Though dusk was gradually deepening, she had, after all, made a promise to someone.

…