The Ghost Insists on Giving Me a Beautiful and Powerful Wife! - Chapter 48.1

The Four Spirits Shop and the Underworld have a cooperative relationship, and since the shop is located on the boundary between Yin and Yang, Shan Rong occasionally drops by to sit for a while, using the shop as a vantage point to observe the demons and humans of the mortal realm.

Jiang Huaining and Shan Rong could be considered friends. Since they both have long lifespans, they often lose track of the passage of time.

If Zhuang Huaishu hadn’t reminded her that it was impossible for the King of Hades to be unaware of an Underworld deity entering the mortal realm, Jiang Huaining might not have realized that Shan Rong hadn’t shown her face yet.

There was no reason for Shan Rong not to come.

Whether it was the commotion she caused in the Ghost Market last time, or Ying Zhu being summoned to the mortal realm this time, Shan Rong should have appeared—either to question her about the Ghost Market incident or to provide an explanation regarding Ying Zhu.

It certainly shouldn’t be this quiet.

After calculating carefully, Jiang Huaining realized that she hadn’t seen Shan Rong for eighteen years. This forced her to speculate on Shan Rong’s attitude toward the Ying Zhu situation. Ying Zhu had said that the soul was taken by the kid from the Kang family…

Jiang Huaining felt the information she held was a bit messy, yet she had no way to find someone to help analyze it.

They boarded the car bound for Mingshan Village. Jiang Huaining drove, Yu Ruoyin sat in the passenger seat, and Zhuang Huaishu and Nan He sat in the back. The mother and daughter from earlier had already been taken back into the Red Jade Fruit by Yu Ruoyin.

Zhuang Huaishu happened to be sitting between the two, and the rearview mirror clearly showed her aged, weathered face. This involuntarily reminded Jiang Huaining of that overly young and beautiful countenance: “Zhuang Huaishu, what year did you meet Ying Zhu?”

In the past, Zhuang Huaishu’s attitude toward Jiang Huaining was one of awe; now, knowing she was Ying Zhu’s friend, an uncontrollable annoyance had taken hold. She closed her eyes, unwilling to say a word.

Zhuang Ciyue felt things would get awkward if this continued. She gently nudged Zhuang Huaishu’s arm: “Great-aunt, I want to know too. Just tell us.”

Acting spoiled wouldn’t work. Zhuang Huaishu was about to scold her for siding with outsiders when she suddenly thought of something. She snapped her eyes open, staring at Jiang Huaining: “I’ll tell you about Ying Zhu, and you tell me about Mingshan Village.”

Jiang Huaining didn’t agree immediately, which Zhuang Huaishu had expected. If it were something easily spoken of, she would have pried it out of Ying Zhu years ago.

“Boss Jiang, with something happening in Ming-shan Village now, what if tragedy is repeating itself?”

Jiang Huaining stepped on the brakes, her gaze narrowing: “Impossible.”

She had the right to deny it, and Zhuang Huaishu had the right to keep guessing.

Before Zhuang Huaishu could continue, Yu Ruoyin suddenly spoke: “Auntie Ning, if Mingshan Village is very dangerous, wouldn’t knowing a bit more help us be better prepared?”

The word “no” stuck in Jiang Huaining’s throat. What if… She had a thousand reasons to convince herself that the buried truth wouldn’t help their strength, yet she held a faint hope. If they could glean something she hadn’t thought of, perhaps Yu Ruoyin’s path to survival would be wider.

Jiang Huaining eventually nodded: “Zhuang Huaishu, you go first.”

Zhuang Huaishu stopped looking at Jiang Huaining. She pulled out the bone pen belonging to Ying Zhu, her fingertips tracing the dark red markings on it.

“I met her when I was eighteen. Back then she was called Kang Shuying, two years older than me. She wasn’t the Reincarnation King then, but a member of the Painting Shaman clan. At that time, I had never even seen a ghost. You could say she changed my destiny.”

“I met her while traveling in Feng City. I’m sure Boss Jiang knows that the Kang family’s foundation is mainly in Feng City. One night, I got separated from my friends and wandered to a crossroads where I ran into her catching a ghost. Her technique happened to land on me, and that was the first time I saw a ghost. Actually, Ciyue and I have the same fate—we are born ‘Lucky Stars.’ We shouldn’t see ghosts our whole lives. If it weren’t for her, I should have lived a peaceful life.”

“…”

Jiang Huaining fell silent. Although she hadn’t met Kang Shuying, an Underworld deity’s reincarnation wouldn’t lack talent. Whether it was “Yin Painting” or “Shaman Painting,” the methods used against ghosts and humans were vastly different. Unless Kang Shuying had done it on purpose, it was impossible for Zhuang Huaishu to have “accidentally” been hit by the spell and gained ghost-sight.

Jiang Huaining realized it, and so did Yu Ruoyin.

Yu Ruoyin hadn’t expected the reincarnated Kang Shuying to be so bored. She turned to look at Zhuang Huaishu, only to find that her face held more nostalgia than hatred.

Zhuang Huaishu’s story continued. She didn’t hate Kang Shuying because of the ghost-sight incident. To the brave and fearless girl she was back then, seeing ghosts was exciting, not a disaster. Furthermore, Kang Shuying’s apology was sincere, and she promised to take responsibility for Zhuang Huaishu. So, Zhuang Huaishu forgave her.

However, after seeing a fierce ghost, Zhuang Huaishu’s “Ghost Eyes” stayed open. Constant exposure to ghosts caused her health to deteriorate. The problem could have been solved by simply sealing the Ghost Eyes, but the person who repeatedly claimed she would take responsibility “messed up” the sealing ritual time and time again. Not only were the eyes not sealed, they became even more powerful.

A person with no background in the occult suddenly possessed eyes that could see through all spectral entities; not only would their health fail, but they would be coveted by both humans and ghosts.

An eighteen-year-old girl had wandered into a completely foreign world, constantly hunted and harmed, her body growing weaker. At such a time, there was one person willing to protect her, willing to fight against colleagues and ghosts for her, and who was frequently injured while doing so. It was hard for Zhuang Huaishu not to fall in love with Kang Shuying. She made Kang Shuying her everything, willingly giving herself to her.

If Kang Shuying’s malice had ended there, then given how much Zhuang Huaishu loved her, she might not have blamed her even if the truth came out one day.

Unfortunately, Kang Shuying’s malice had no bottom.

Zhuang Huaishu’s health showed no signs of improvement, and her progress in Yin-Yang arts was stagnant. Kang Shuying searched through the Shaman Painting clan’s archives and finally found a way: let her become a “Yin Painter.” This way, a lack of talent didn’t matter because she could rely on the power of ghosts to practice. As long as the ghost was powerful enough, all problems would be solved.

However, a ghost strong enough to suppress top-tier Ghost Eyes was hard to find. Every day, Zhuang Huaishu watched Kang Shuying work herself to exhaustion and suffer injuries for her sake, feeling anxious and helpless. She desperately wanted to be useful.

That was when the Reincarnation King, Ying Zhu, appeared.

Ying Zhu was willing to lend her power, on the condition that Zhuang Huaishu become her “Ghost Bride.”

Of course, Zhuang Huaishu wouldn’t agree. She would rather endure the cold of Yin energy seeping into her bones—would rather have her bones snap from the chill—than betray her feelings for Kang Shuying.

But Kang Shuying begged her to agree to Ying Zhu’s terms. She said: “Huaishu, I just want you to live.”

At the time, Zhuang Huaishu only saw deep affection and felt she could never repay it. Forget enduring pain—she would have been willing to cut her own flesh for her.

Still, Zhuang Huaishu didn’t agree to Ying Zhu. But Ying Zhu didn’t let her go; she would constantly harass her, tempting her to sign the contract.

She had been tempted, because the pain was too much. Without Yin-Yang power to suppress it, the Yin energy from the Ghost Eyes would permeate the marrow and spread to every organ. Her breath would come out as white frost, and her limbs would shatter at the slightest bump. That kind of pain and torture was beyond what ordinary people could imagine. Ying Zhu had enough power to suppress that agony.

She went from loathing Ying Zhu’s visits to anticipating them.

Zhuang Huaishu thought about suicide, but she couldn’t let go of Kang Shuying’s whispers in her ear, her eyes full of tenderness, and she couldn’t refuse those repeated pleas: “Huaishu, you must stay alive.”

She endured this for three years.

It was the fourth year since she met Kang Shuying. Kang Shuying had a little niece named Kang Shuming; the name was chosen by Kang Shuying because she thought the character Shu was beautiful. It was hard for Zhuang Huaishu not to like the child.

That day, hearing that the child was being haunted by a Ghost King, Zhuang Huaishu dragged her extremely weak body to the bedroom door. She was near death, her breath so faint that Kang Shuying, who was focused on suppressing the Ghost King, didn’t notice her.

Through the crack in the door, she saw two overlapping figures. The physical body was Kang Shuying, but the soul was Ying Zhu.

In front of them knelt a trembling Ghost King: “Lord Reincarnation King, had I known it was you, I would never have dared…”

Zhuang Huaishu couldn’t hear the rest. That was the day she realized Ying Zhu and Kang Shuying’s faces were at least seventy percent similar, and they shared the same aura.

They were the same person.

Except Kang Shuying was a living person, and Ying Zhu was a soul. One was warm, one was cold.

No—they were both cold. Cold-hearted, using her for amusement. One coerced her, one comforted her, and in the end, they were the same person.

Zhuang Huaishu thought she would become hysterical, thought she would burst in. In the end, she just turned away in silence. She no longer wanted to visit the niece, because she no longer liked the child, and she loathed the aunt even more.

Unfortunately, she was discovered. Ying Zhu ran out in a hurry, her face showing conflict, anxiety, and the collapse of a torn mask—but very little guilt.

Zhuang Huaishu didn’t wait for an apology. To keep from looking too pathetic, she asked Ying Zhu first: “Is it fun?”

“It is.” Ying Zhu, inhabiting Kang Shuying’s body, suddenly became somewhat candid: “Huaishu, you proved to me that you love me very much.”

Ying Zhu told her she had lived too long and didn’t really believe in true feelings, but Zhuang Huaishu had passed her test. Ying Zhu gave her a promise, saying that after she passed away, they would reunite in the Underworld and never be apart.

She was implying that Zhuang Huaishu should feel honored. Zhuang Huaishu only wanted to kill her.

Of course, she didn’t have the power. Zhuang Huaishu forced a smile: “Sorry, I don’t love you anymore.”

Regrettably, her wishes were irrelevant. Zhuang Huaishu was forced to sign the contract with Ying Zhu. Her appearance was permanently frozen at twenty-two, and she received a bone pen that would make any Yin Painter jealous.

Everyone thought she had no master, no guide, and that her path as a Yin Painter was difficult. In reality, with the power of the Reincarnation King, it was hard for Zhuang Huaishu not to become a powerful Yin Painter. The Yin energy on her grew heavier, and she became less and less like a human.

Zhuang Huaishu and Ying Zhu lived as a “resentful couple” in the mortal realm for twenty years, until Ying Zhu’s mortal body suddenly died eighteen years ago.

Since the Reincarnation King cannot appear in the mortal realm at will, Zhuang Huaishu unilaterally declared their grievances over and used Yin Painting techniques to mask her overly young face.

Everlasting youth was not a blessing to her; it was a curse. Every time she saw that young face, she remembered Ying Zhu. Because of Ying Zhu’s protective power, it was hard for Zhuang Huaishu even to scatter her own soul. So she had been very lonely these years, not wanting to live, but not daring to die.

After all, Ying Zhu has the final say in the world after death.

That was the full story of Ying Zhu and Zhuang Huaishu. Zhuang Huaishu loathed Shaman Painters and hated the Kang family because Kang Shuying came from there. Now, she disliked Jiang Huaining because she sided with Ying Zhu. Without a doubt, she still hated Ying Zhu, and she felt her resentment was entirely justified.

If someone else had experienced this, they might hate even deeper. Yu Ruoyin agreed with this.

Yu Ruoyin finally understood why Zhuang Huaishu said it was easy for the long-lived to bully the short-lived; she had experienced it firsthand. She understood Zhuang Huaishu’s attitude toward Jiang Huaining now, though she still didn’t like it.

Yu Ruoyin could respect Zhuang Huaishu, provided Zhuang Huaishu was willing to respect Jiang Huaining.

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