My Partner Always Wants to Dig My Grave - Chapter 23

Si Wan’s gaze fell upon the ghost who was clearly displeased, her lips parting slightly before she decided it was better to remain silent.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the overturned wine vessel on the floor. The red silk tied around it, illuminated by the interplay of cold white and warm yellow candlelight, was too conspicuous to ignore.

She stared at it for a long while, her brow furrowing slightly. For some reason, when she looked back at Sheng Zhen, there was a hint of guilt in her eyes.

Sheng Zhen remained with her arms crossed, her expression indicating she had no intention of engaging. Si Wan, meanwhile, failed to notice the ghost’s sidelong glances, which seemed to be waiting for someone to coax her with a few comforting words.

Unfortunately, Si Wan didn’t catch on. Instead, she averted her gaze, unable to meet Sheng Zhen’s eyes.

The tense atmosphere lingered for what felt like an eternity, so long that Si Wan’s legs began to feel numb. Yet, Sheng Zhen remained frozen in the same posture.

Helpless, Si Wan sighed quietly. Just then, the crackling sound of her walkie-talkie broke the heavy silence.

[Si Wan, why has it gone quiet again over there?! Are you alright?]

Guan Yue’s anxious voice came through, inquiring about Si Wan’s situation.

Si Wan tightened her grip on the walkie-talkie, glanced at Sheng Zhen, and spoke into the device to reassure the other end.

“I’m really fine. There’s no need to worry.”

As her words faded, another burst of static followed, accompanied by a few indistinct voices.

Before Si Wan could make out what was being said, Sheng Zhen, who had drifted to her side unnoticed, bit her lower lip and let out a deliberate, cold snort.

Hearing the sound, Si Wan’s attention snapped toward the ghost beside her.

Ignoring whatever else was being transmitted through the walkie-talkie, Si Wan put it away and bent down to pick up the overturned vessel.

The spilled wine had soaked into the red silk, leaving it damp in her hands.

With careful precision, Si Wan rearranged everything exactly as it had been before.

Yet, as she tidied up, she could feel an intense, unavoidable gaze fixed upon her.

There were no other living beings here, even the only companion she had was a ghost, an entity of death.

Under that piercing stare, Si Wan’s heartbeat quickened. She lifted her eyes and found herself locked into a pair of pupils that reflected her own image. The crimson irises, like dazzling rubies, seemed to pull her into their depths.

Her breath hitched. Realizing she had been staring, she felt a wave of embarrassment and raised a hand to her lips, coughing twice to mask her unease.

But Si Wan’s cough sparked a flicker of delight in Sheng Zhen’s eyes. Just as the ghost thought Si Wan was about to speak words of comfort, having already turned slightly to assume a receptive posture, she was met with a request that instantly darkened her expression.

Without looking at Sheng Zhen, Si Wan fixed her gaze on a jar of wine in front of her. After a long pause, she finally spoke, her tone earnest.

“Could you please clear the path ahead?”

Sheng Zhen: “…”

Sheng Zhen frowned, shooting Si Wan a sharp glare. She seemed to tremble with frustration at the other’s obliviousness but restrained herself, replying stiffly:

“This palace does not know.”

This entire tomb belongs to her, so it goes without saying that Sheng Zhen’s claim of not knowing was deliberately said for Si Wan to hear.

Surprisingly, Si Wan detected a hint of concealed anticipation in the other’s expression, followed by a trace of disappointment when she saw Si Wan taking so long to respond.

“Please.” Si Wan said, her tone somewhat stiff, sounding less like a plea and more like a command.

Hearing this, Sheng Zhen seemed even more inclined to ignore her.

Si Wan became aware of her own harsh tone and lowered her gaze slightly in reflection. But when she tried to soften her tone, she gave up after uttering just one sound.

Frowning, Si Wan seemed lost in thought.

While she was still pondering what words to use to coax a sulking ghost, Sheng Zhen shot her an angry glare from across the room and then walked over to a specific spot.

In the southeastern corner, under Si Wan’s watchful gaze, Sheng Zhen’s foot, hidden beneath her skirt, seemed to stomp down forcefully.

Sheng Zhen stomped with such intensity that when Si Wan looked down, she saw the floor tile in that spot had already cracked under the pressure.

Si Wan stared, her mouth slightly agape, wanting to tell the other not to damage the cultural relics. But when Sheng Zhen turned her head and glanced at her, Si Wan swallowed the words before they could escape.

This was Sheng Zhen’s domain. As an outsider, even if Si Wan felt distressed about the damage to the relics, she had no right to intervene.

“Does it pain you?” Sheng Zhen asked, observing Si Wan’s expression and effortlessly picking up on the faint, almost imperceptible emotion hidden beneath her indifferent facade.

“Yes.” Si Wan admitted without denial.

Upon hearing this, Sheng Zhen lowered her head in silence and stomped a couple more times, creating an unsightly pit in the floor.

Then, she lifted her gaze to Si Wan again, her expression shadowed. The light from the pearl lantern she held cast a glow on her, accentuating her pale complexion with a touch of morbid beauty.

Sheng Zhen carried herself with arrogance, her tone deliberately distant as she spoke.

“The path ahead is clear. Take your time, and I won’t see you out.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Si Wan felt the ground beneath her tremble. Moments later, a hidden door rose from the spot where Sheng Zhen stood, revealing a pitch-black passage.

Si Wan stared into the darkness. Compared to where she stood now, the passage was so dark she couldn’t see her own hand in front of her face. Even the light from Sheng Zhen’s lantern barely illuminated half a meter into the path.

“Thank you.” Si Wan said to Sheng Zhen, then took out a flashlight and prepared to step inside.

She walked straight past Sheng Zhen and was soon enveloped by the darkness, failing to notice the flicker of panic in Sheng Zhen’s eyes as she stepped into the passage.

Just as Si Wan’s figure was about to be completely swallowed by the darkness, Sheng Zhen instinctively reached out to pull her back. However, before she could touch Si Wan, her wrist was suddenly grasped by Si Wan’s backward-reaching hand.

The warmth of Si Wan’s hand seemed to startle at the chill of Sheng Zhen’s, yet it did not let go.

Sheng Zhen froze for a moment, and before she could react, she was forcibly pulled into the passage by Si Wan. By the faint light of the pearl lantern in her hand, she could just barely make out the surroundings.

Staring at the figure in front of her, Sheng Zhen seemed to recall something and forgot to struggle free from the other’s grasp. A faint smile tugged at the corners of her lips, and she let out a soft laugh.

Hearing Sheng Zhen’s laughter, Si Wan, who had been highly tense, pressed her lips together but still did not release the other’s hand. Slowly, she spoke.

“You said you would come in with me.”

Earlier, Sheng Zhen had only said she wouldn’t guide Si Wan, but the latter part of her statement made it clear she would indeed stay by Si Wan’s side.

However, Sheng Zhen hadn’t expected that, even knowing she was already upset, Si Wan would still pull her along. That was why she had laughed just moments before.

But Si Wan misunderstood Sheng Zhen’s laughter, thinking it was meant to mock her. Under the faint glow of light, the tips of her ears, hidden beneath her hair, flushed slightly red. Still, she opened her mouth, wanting to defend herself further.

“As far as I know, royal families throughout history have always valued keeping their word.”

Hearing Si Wan’s earnest argument, Sheng Zhen suddenly stopped walking, forcing Si Wan to halt as well.

Si Wan turned to look and met Sheng Zhen’s scrutinizing gaze.

Sheng Zhen let out a derisive laugh, raised her hand, and rested it on Si Wan’s shoulder, saying, “You’re still as shameless as ever.”

Si Wan fell silent. Through the dim light, she could clearly see the other’s smiling face, and her mind inexplicably flashed back to that day in the rain and mist when she had caught a glimpse of Sheng Zhen.

Recalling it carefully now, Sheng Zhen at that time had been adorned with hairpins and jewels, except for one particular hairpin.

That hairpin…

Si Wan’s hand instinctively reached toward her pocket, but just then, she saw Sheng Zhen suddenly lean in. She instinctively stepped back, and as she noticed the deepening amusement in Sheng Zhen’s eyes, her foot sank into a depression, startling her.

But it was too late. The sound of mechanisms turning echoed through the long, dark corridor, and the unknown danger sent Si Wan’s nerves into high alert once again.

Forcing herself to stay calm, she turned to look at the deliberate culprit, only to find her still smiling.

A bitter taste rose in Si Wan’s throat, and a chill spread through her entire body.

“You…”

Before she could finish her sentence, a cold hand covered her mouth and nose, and another hand wrapped around her waist with an unyielding force, pulling her close.

The gauze lantern fell to the ground, its luminous pearl rolling out unnoticed. At that moment, candles around them suddenly ignited, their flickering flames casting their silhouettes. The hem of a crimson skirt swayed as if moved by an unseen breeze, its graceful arc impossible to ignore.

As a ghost, Sheng Zhen’s attempt to cover Si Wan’s mouth and nose did little to block anything. An unknown gas, carrying a bitter scent, was inhaled. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it made Si Wan’s head grow heavy and her vision blur. Sheng Zhen’s figure multiplied before her eyes, yet that flash of red remained the most familiar.

Sheng Zhen leaned close to Si Wan’s ear and spoke with a smile, “My apologies. There are too many mechanisms, and my memory isn’t the best.”

Though she said this, there was not a trace of remorse in her eyes. Instead, her deepening smile was etched into Si Wan’s vision.

In the final moment of clarity before her consciousness faded, Si Wan managed to catch a glimpse of their surroundings, a dilapidated swing, entwined with withered flowers.

She had seen a swing like this before. As she lost consciousness, she inadvertently recalled the rain-soaked scene where Sheng Zhen had been sitting on just such a swing.

Sheng Zhen brushed the withered petals from the swing and laid the unconscious Si Wan upon it, her head resting against Sheng Zhen’s side.

The gentle rocking of the swing caused more of the long-dried flowers, nearly a thousand years old, to fall, their original beauty long gone.

Sheng Zhen’s hand gently stroked the face of the person beside her. She let out a soft sigh and murmured to herself.

“From the moment I saw you again, I’ve held a selfish desire. I kept telling you I was a vengeful spirit of a thousand years, perhaps I truly am such a selfish ghost.”

She tilted her head slightly, her crimson pupils softening with tenderness, yet tinged with an uncontrollable madness.

Guan Yue’s anxious voice crackled from the walkie-talkie that had fallen to the ground. Listening to the chaotic human noises from the device, Sheng Zhen furrowed her brows slightly and said,

“What should we do? They’ve come looking for you, but I want you to stay here with me.”

As her words faded, Sheng Zhen lifted her gaze toward the distance, where countless faint shadows flickered indistinctly.

The surrounding candle flames trembled more violently, as if they might be extinguished at any moment.

The millennium-old swing, long corroded from within, emitted faint creaks with every slight movement, echoing the flickering candles like countless demons emerging from the abyss, wildly clamoring to devour everything in their path.

…