The Ghost Insists on Giving Me a Beautiful and Powerful Wife! - Chapter 46.2

“Kang Shuying.”

An old name was called out. It was the name Yingzhu used back in the Kang family—the name of the first person Zhuang Huaishu had ever known, and the source of her hatred for the Painted Witches.

Yingzhu barely realized Zhuang Huaishu was calling her name. It was only when Zhuang Huaishu maneuvered her wheelchair directly in front of her, staring into her eyes, that the question hit home: “Kang Shuying, look at this face. Do you still remember what kind of person I was when I was young?”

Memories flickered like a dying candle—memories of a name she once used, and a sweet, soft voice that was worlds apart from the one she heard now.

Yingzhu raised her hands to cover her eyes, stumbling back a few steps. She bumped right into Yu Ruoyin, who steadied her and asked, “Lord Yingzhu, what was Grandma Zhuang like when she was young?”

Whether Yu Ruoyin asked out of genuine curiosity or as a subtle probe, her words acted as a fresh trigger for Yingzhu.

She bit her lip hard. “How… how should I remember? This is so annoying! I’m leaving!”

Yingzhu practically fled the scene. This time, she was truly gone.

Anyone could see something was wrong with her, let alone an old friend like Jiang Huaining. However, no one dared to touch upon Zhuang Huaishu’s taboos again. Jiang Huaining was the first to redirect everyone’s attention, pointing toward the Red Jade Fruit hanging from Yu Ruoyin’s neck. “A-Yin, let them out.”

Originally, Yu Ruoyin had encountered five ghosts. The female ghost He Meijie had already dissipated after her wish was fulfilled, and the twin sisters had merged into Nan He. Now, only the elderly Yan Xihong and a pair of mother-daughter ghosts remained in the Red Jade Fruit. Yan Xihong maintained her usual attitude—avoiding her turn to make a wish by pushing the mother and daughter to the front.

More accurately, they might not have been “ghosts” at all.

As Jiang Huaining had noted before, spiritual energy primarily attracts spirits and demons, not ghosts. He Meijie was present because of her guardian spirit, and Nan He was a pure spiritual entity formed from two souls merging for self-protection.

This mother and daughter were even stranger. While they possessed spiritual energy, they were shrouded in an even thicker layer of ghostly qi. The density of this ghostly aura was even heavier than that of Lu Qingzhen, making it difficult for Yu Ruoyin to discern the logic behind their appearance.

Driven by a desire to see more clearly, Yu Ruoyin moved toward the pair. The mother clutched her child, her eyes filled with wary defensiveness. Sensing Yu Ruoyin’s approach, threads of blood-red silk erupted from the infant’s forehead, lashing onto the mother’s limbs. A crimson liquid began to flow from the mother into the infant’s body through these threads.

She… she seemed to be absorbing nutrients from the mother’s body.

Without hesitation, Jiang Huaining severed the threads. The moment they snapped, both mother and child let out a piercing wail. The sharp, grating sound forced the weaker Yu Ruoyin and Zhuang Ciyue to cover their ears. Jiang Huaining quickly shielded Yu Ruoyin behind her, while Zhuang Huaishu flicked her Bone Pen, sending a blood seal flying toward the pair.

Sensing danger, the infant writhed in her mother’s arms. Suddenly, she reached out, grabbed the blood seal, and swallowed it whole with terrifying speed. Her arm was covered in dense, mottled corpse spots, and her pale, bluish skin looked incredibly eerie.

After swallowing the seal, the female infant’s body suddenly swelled. In the blink of an eye, she grew from a baby into a toddler of two or three years. A jagged, intermittent voice rasped from her throat: “Kill… Kill!”

As she screamed for blood, her eyes turned a solid, gory red. The scent of spiritual energy faded, replaced by a thick, suffocating aura of death. She didn’t look like a spirit anymore; she looked like an evil ghost—a bloodthirsty one.

The mother seemed more lucid than the child. Realizing that the people in the shop were not to be trifled with, she covered the girl’s mouth and shook her head anxiously at her. Under the mother’s soothing touch, the girl’s rage subsided, and the unique scent of spiritual energy reappeared.

Even someone as experienced as Jiang Huaining felt a moment of confusion. She couldn’t quite see through the secret hidden within this pair: the flickering spiritual energy and the bloodthirsty infant ghost.

Since communicating with the irrational girl was impossible, Yu Ruoyin turned to the mother: “What is your name?”

The question caused a flash of trance-like confusion in the mother’s eyes. She shared a similarity with Nan He’s initial state—a lack of clear consciousness. Just as Yu Ruoyin began to suspect a hidden spiritual contract, the woman suddenly spoke: “Kou… My name is Kou Yingyun. Save… save my child. She… she is Kou Tongtong.”

“Kou Yingyun, you—”

Before Yu Ruoyin could ask a follow-up, the woman suddenly changed her story: “Luan Xiangtong, my name is Luan Xiangtong! Please… save my child! Save her!”

“Wei Xianglian, save… save the child.”

In just a few minutes, she cycled through dozens of names.

Yu Ruoyin grew increasingly bewildered. From the corner where she had been silently mourning Lu Qichun, Nan He suddenly looked up: “She… they are crying.”

They.

Jiang Huaining finally grasped the key. She thrust both palms forward, forming a complex ancient seal. Threads of gold light shot from her palms into the mother’s body, instantly multiplying into thousands of strands. These golden threads seemed to be hooked onto something incredibly heavy, pulling downward into the woman’s body. Jiang Huaining’s expression grew strained, as if she were engaged in a violent tug-of-war.

Yu Ruoyin placed a hand on Jiang Huaining’s shoulder, extending the Red Jade Fruit toward her to offer whatever stored power she could provide. Jiang Huaining frowned, severed half of the gold threads in her palm, and concentrated all her strength into the remaining half.

Finally, she pulled the threads upward. At the other end was a cluster of afterimages—thousands of faces squeezed together. The sight made Yu Ruoyin’s skin crawl. They were all women, mostly older, and every single one of them bore gruesome, twisted wounds on their faces.

The horrific imagery of their deaths flooded Yu Ruoyin’s mind, causing her physical pain.

Jiang Huaining released the threads, and the afterimages crowded back into the mother’s body. Considering Jiang Huaining had to cut half the threads just to pull out a portion of the ghosts, the number of shadows Yu Ruoyin saw was only half the total. With half already exceeding a thousand, it was hard to imagine how many fragments were hidden in that single body.

If these afterimages were the remnants of dead souls… then just how many people had died?

Zhuang Ciyue had the same thought and asked directly, “How many people died for this?”

“Looks like quite a lot,” Xia Yu replied with a coldness that felt unbecoming of a Guardian.

In contrast, Zhuang Huaishu and Nan He were far more compassionate. Setting aside their own grief, they moved toward the mother and daughter. Staring at the girl with the distorted face, pity filled their eyes. “This child must be a vessel as well.”

They were formed from scattered remnant souls gathering yin, absorbing the essence of moonlight and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. The vessel was a spiritual object, but inside was a consciousness of remnant souls—making them both ghost and spirit. When resentment took over, the ghostly qi deepened, masking the spiritual shell.

This explained why the spiritual energy had vanished earlier. As for why it was so faint, it was likely because there were too many remnant souls inside the shell. It wasn’t that the mother was constantly changing her name; it was that she possessed more than one consciousness.

This was undoubtedly grim news. A multitude of consciousnesses meant they were rarely lucid, unable to explain their history or clearly state their wishes.

Wait—they had stated their wish.

The child. Save the child!

But the child…

Yu Ruoyin’s gaze fell on the girl with the bluish skin and corpse spots. She was definitely no longer among the living. If the child was like her mother, as Zhuang Huaishu suggested, she was also a vessel for many merged children’s souls. How many children’s remnants were hidden beneath that skin?

Thinking of children that age always made one’s heart soften. Even the girl’s terrifying appearance seemed less scary. But before Yu Ruoyin’s pity could linger, Nan He suddenly pushed Zhuang Huaishu back: “Don’t go near. There is an evil ghost in her.”

An evil ghost? Inside that child?

As soon as Nan He spoke, the girl’s eyes turned completely blood-red and began to roll back. From a distance, they no longer looked like eyes, but like two blurred pieces of raw meat.

From their first meeting, Yu Ruoyin had felt the infant was stronger than her mother. It was true; her aura was terrifying, especially when fully unleashed. Jiang Huaining and the others had captured them last time before the infant could react, but now she was on guard, she had grown, and she was far more difficult to handle.

Moreover, many people present were reluctant to strike a child. Xia Yu, however, was perfectly willing: “Since there’s an evil ghost, let’s just kill her.”

With a smile on her face, she lunged at the girl.

Before she could reach her, the mother embraced the frantic girl. The girl’s emotions were quickly soothed; even the corpse spots on her body began to fade until she looked almost like a normal child again.

Xia Yu didn’t stop, but Jiang Huaining leaped forward and pulled her back. “Xia Yu! There isn’t just an evil ghost inside; we can’t kill her before we understand the situation.”

Xia Yu curled her lip disdainfully. “Since when did redressing the grievances of ghosts become the business of the Four Spirits Shop?”

Zhuang Huaishu was deeply dissatisfied with Xia Yu’s attitude. In her eyes, this was not how a Guardian Spirit should behave—especially during summer, when these entities should be under Xia Yu’s protection. Yet, Xia Yu showed no mercy. “I am an Underworld Painter. This is within my jurisdiction. If the Four Spirits Shop doesn’t want to manage it, they shouldn’t stop us from doing so.”

“Suit yourself,” Xia Yu shrugged indifferently. “I wouldn’t dare provoke you. What if your old flame comes looking for trouble with me again? Just don’t blame me if she turns on you. With so many remnant souls in her body, do you really think there’s only one evil ghost?”

She was intentionally provoking Zhuang Huaishu, and she succeeded.

Zhuang Huaishu managed a thin, strained smile. “Lord Xia, you are truly quite unpleasant.”

“Thank you,” Xia Yu replied lazily as she walked back to the counter. “If you liked me, you’d probably just bring me more trouble. This is for the best.”

Zhuang Ciyue leaned in and whispered to Yu Ruoyin, “Xiao Yu, I really want to hit her.”

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