Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 41: The Ghostly Encounter
This local man, in his fifties, called out to me breathlessly, looking quite flustered and anxious. Seeing him struggling to catch his breath, I told him not to rush and to take his time explaining what was going on.
After taking a deep breath, he introduced himself as Zhou Dafu from the neighboring village. He had heard this morning that a very capable gentleman had come to this area, so he hurried over. Upon entering the village and inquiring about me, he was told that I had just left, which prompted him to chase after me.
Noticing that he wasn't getting to the point, I remained silent, smiling slightly as I waited for him to continue.
He then explained that he had a daughter named Zhicheng. The night before last, she was forcibly taken away in a sedan chair by someone from another village named Er Dan. However, just yesterday morning, his daughter Zhicheng returned home crying and in a panic, claiming that she had encountered a ghost. She insisted that it wasn't Er Dan who had come for her but rather a Paper Figurine!
Upon hearing this, I was taken aback and quickly asked him if he was sure it was a Paper Figurine.
Yes, he confirmed. It was no wonder I was shocked; I had been pursuing that very Paper Figurine for the past few days. I thought I would never catch up with it again, yet here I was hearing news of it.
Although there are many Paper Craft shops in the world and countless Paper Figurines, those that cause such disturbances are rare. Especially since the Paper Figurine I was looking for had originally fled in this direction. Therefore, I was certain that the Paper Figurine he mentioned was the one I needed to find.
Zhou Dafu nodded emphatically, stating that it was definitely a Paper Figurine that had terrified his daughter, causing her to run home in tears.
Hearing this, I asked him to recount the entire story in detail. Zhou Dafu nodded and began to narrate everything...
It turned out that Zhou Dafu's daughter Zhicheng was in her twenties, beautiful and intelligent with a gentle personality. She was well-liked in the village and was the only female college student there, attracting many suitors.
With such a daughter, Zhou Dafu naturally had high standards and wouldn't consider ordinary families for her marriage. However, life is unpredictable; who could have known that such an outstanding girl like Zhicheng would fall for someone from the neighboring village—Er Dan?
Er Dan was generally regarded as honest and simple-minded; there wasn't much else to say about him. If anything needed further comment, it would be that he seemed a bit slow-witted. He worked diligently on his family's small plot of farmland every day and had a good heart without any ill intentions, but he wasn't particularly bright either. Zhicheng admired Er Dan's sincerity and simplicity, leading them to develop feelings for each other.
As time passed with their secret exchanges, they reached the stage of discussing marriage. One day, Zhicheng approached her father Zhou Dafu and announced her intention to marry Er Dan from the neighboring village. This nearly drove Zhou Dafu mad; without hesitation, he flatly refused to allow his daughter to marry someone like Er Dan.
No matter how Zhicheng argued or resisted, Zhou Dafu strongly opposed her decision. The reasoning was simple: Zhicheng was the only college graduate in the village—she had education and looks—and she even held a good white-collar job in the city. With such qualifications, how could she not find a suitable partner?
On the other hand, Er Dan exuded an air of rural simplicity. He lacked education beyond middle school and came from a family background that dragged down the village's reputation; his ancestors were all poor farmers. Although he wasn't unattractive, he couldn't be described as handsome either. Most importantly, Er Dan was too honest; frankly speaking, he seemed somewhat dull-witted. Given this situation, it seemed unlikely he would achieve anything significant in life. His straightforward nature made him easy to bully; marrying someone like him raised concerns about whether there would be any good days ahead.
So, anyway, Zhou Dafu completely disagreed.
Although Zhou Dafu opposed the marriage between the two, Zhicheng and Iron Erdan continued to secretly meet and were deeply in love, clearly unable to part from each other. They even entertained thoughts of eloping.
Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, half a month had gone by. Just the evening before last, Zhicheng once again brought up the marriage with Iron Erdan to Zhou Dafu, resulting in another argument. After the fight, Zhicheng locked herself in her room and didn’t come out for dinner.
That night, around midnight, a sudden sound of a "didi lala" suona (a traditional Chinese horn) came from outside Zhou Dafu's door. The sound grew closer, coming from the village entrance straight towards their home.
Zhou Dafu was puzzled; who would play the suona at such a late hour, and right outside his house? Curious, he got up to open the door and saw several people at his doorstep carrying a Big Red Flower sedan chair. Leading them was someone dressed in bright red clothing with a Big Red Flower tied to them. Upon closer inspection, it was none other than Iron Erdan from the Neighboring Village.
Seeing that it was Iron Erdan, Zhou Dafu became furious and scolded him, asking what he thought he was doing at this hour.
Iron Erdan, who was usually an honest person, was not afraid of Zhou Dafu's anger at this moment. He told Zhou Dafu that he had come to take Zhicheng home in a Flower Palanquin for their wedding.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Dafu was so enraged that he trembled all over. Not only had he not approved of this marriage, but even if he had, they should have chosen an auspicious day for the wedding—who would come to do this in the middle of the night? He immediately began arguing with Iron Erdan.
Meanwhile, hiding in her room and unable to sleep due to her anger, Zhicheng heard her father arguing with Iron Erdan. She hurriedly got up. When she saw her beloved had come to pick her up with a Flower Palanquin in the middle of the night, she was deeply moved by Iron Erdan's courage and tears filled her eyes.
Without thinking much about it—after all, she had already considered eloping—she decided to go back with him and get married right away. This way, her father would have no choice but to accept reality.
With that thought in mind, Zhicheng rushed out of her room and sat down in the Big Red Flower sedan chair. Despite Zhou Dafu’s attempts to pull her back, Iron Erdan forcefully carried the sedan chair out of the village while playing the "didi lala" suona that night as he took Zhicheng away...
At this point, Zhou Dafu was both angry and sad.
I asked what happened next? What about the Paper Figurine?
After a pause, Zhou Dafu continued. He said that yesterday morning, his daughter Zhicheng came home to tell him that she had been taken back by Iron Erdan from the neighboring village and they had gotten married.
That night at Iron Erdan's Home, many guests arrived and there were over ten tables set for a feast. During the toast, when Zhicheng looked around, she noticed that all the guests were unfamiliar faces—some men, some women; some old, some young—but none were villagers from Iron Erdan’s village. When she recognized a few familiar faces among them—people who had been dead for many years—she thought nothing of it at first, assuming they just resembled those long-gone villagers.
The celebration continued lively until late into the night when guests finally began to leave one by one. Only then did Zhicheng and others return to their rooms to sleep.
But until the next morning, when Zhicheng woke up and opened her eyes, she was immediately startled. In front of her was a terrifying Paper Figurine with a pale face, bright red lips, and wearing the big red wedding dress from last night, staring at her with a strange, cold smile. Zhicheng was so frightened that she trembled all over, unable to muster the strength to run away.
The Paper Figurine could even move. Seeing Zhicheng awake, it smiled and asked her if she was hungry, saying it would go get her something to eat.
Zhicheng was so scared that she couldn't even speak. The Paper Figurine didn't wait for her to respond and swayed out of the door. After a while, it returned with a plate containing incense and other items, urging Zhicheng to eat quickly.
Realizing she had encountered a ghost, Zhicheng began to cry and called out for Tie Er Dan. The Paper Figurine, seeing her disobedience, threw the incense on the ground and declared that it was Tie Er Dan, saying they had gotten married last night and that she would have to follow it from now on.
Seeing the Paper Figurine get angry, Zhicheng was too frightened to say anything more. As the Paper Figurine turned to leave, she suddenly jumped out of bed and ran towards the door...
Fortunately, the Paper Figurine did not chase after her but stood at the entrance calling out to Zhicheng that they were now husband and wife and that no matter where she ran, it would be able to find her.
Just as Zhicheng ran out of Tie Er Dan's home, she was stopped by some villagers who asked what had happened. She told them that Tie Er Dan had turned into a Paper Figurine. The villagers said it was impossible since Tie Er Dan had left days ago to borrow money from his uncle, apparently intending to propose to her family.
Hearing this from the villagers made Zhicheng realize even more that she was dealing with a ghost. So she didn’t dare say much and hurriedly ran back home in a panic.
Once home, she cried uncontrollably and recounted her experience to her family, scaring Zhou Dafu and his wife half to death. They thought their daughter had returned safely, but little did they know that last night the Paper Figurine had come knocking at their door, banging loudly on the Zhou family's entrance. The whole family huddled together in fear and couldn't sleep all night until dawn when the Paper Figurine finally left, threatening that it would return tonight to claim someone. If the Zhou family did not hand over the person, they would all suffer a terrible fate.
After explaining everything that had happened, Zhou Dafu knelt before me and bowed his head to the ground, pleading for me to save his daughter Zhicheng and help protect their family.
I quickly helped him up and told him not to worry; I would do my best in this matter. Then I asked him to take me to his home so I could see his daughter first before figuring out how to deal with this situation.
Comment 0 Comment Count