Chapter 309: Chapter 308: Hall Officer Family
The aggressive Black Robed Mage was dissuaded by just a few words from Seventh Aunt, retreating without even trying.
Seeing him react as if facing a dire threat and respectfully backing away, neither his subordinates nor the noble’s servants dared to utter a word.
Even the workers around Hu Ma were baffled, unable to understand what was going on. Like the old servant of the noble, they couldn’t see the present Seventh Aunt nor hear her words, only vaguely hearing the ethereal sound of a suona playing faintly.
Previously, Seventh Aunt was just a spirit and needed to possess someone to speak.
But now that her cultivation had increased and her status changed, she could converse directly with people, although not everyone could see her.
So, in the eyes of most, they only saw the Black Robed Mage intending to use Blood Food to set up an altar. Suddenly, an unexpected gust of eerie wind swept through, drastically changing the situation. He spoke to the air for a while before quickly deciding to retreat.
The dim night air was filled with a mysterious and solemn atmosphere, sending a chill down one’s spine.
"First, send the Blood Food back to the Manor."
Seeing the situation resolved, Hu Ma nodded in Seventh Aunt’s direction. Without explaining the situation in detail to the workers, he hastily moved the two large urns from the carriage into storage, finally feeling relieved.
The next day, instead of rushing to make the delivery, Hu Ma first went to Yellow Dog Village to make some inquiries.
As expected, he saw that the well where he had once gone down to retrieve Li was now filled with stones, its opening sealed with a Demon Suppression Stone.
Numerous yellow talismans were plastered on it, sealing it tightly.
It was evident the villagers were highly dissatisfied, spitting from a distance.
Yellow Dog Village was on high terrain, making it difficult to draw water. Every well was extremely precious. Now that one was sealed, it was hard to imagine how troublesome fetching water would become.
This was why the villagers of Yellow Dog Village had been extremely grateful after Hu Ma helped clear the evil spirit from this well. But their relief didn’t last long. Then, a few unknown people had come and sealed the well without a word of notice. Who wouldn’t be furious?
Perhaps because of this, when those people came to fill the well, some villagers guessed the reason but didn’t intervene. That master, however, wasn’t aware that the skeletal remains in the well had already been removed.
Furthermore, even that master was ashamed of the past and wished to cover it up, not wanting to stir up old troubles after so many years. He remained tight-lipped.
The people who came had merely checked if there was anything in the well and sealed it regardless, unaware of the local situation.
After inspecting the well, Hu Ma went to the side of the official road to look at the small grave mound he had once built.
The grave was now completely silent.
After a person’s death, the Guardian Soul would only guard their own remains, eventually dispersing with time. But before dissipating, she found the unfaithful man and possessed him, thus bringing peace to the grave.
Seeking retribution from a vindictive soul is only natural, Hu Ma mused. Yet, who exactly was the unfaithful man she sought vengeance upon? Who had such influence to call upon the people from plum blossom lane? Those in plum blossom lane pride themselves on their status and usually don’t even deign to interact with the Store Manager of the Blood Food Gang...
Hu Ma pondered for a while and then returned to Yellow Dog Village to inquire further. Fortunately, he was now a familiar face in the surrounding villages and held some prestige. Upon asking, several toothless old women gathered around to tell him about this sinful affair.
It turned out that the unfaithful man was named Zheng. His ancestral home, now dilapidated, was at the west end of Yellow Dog Village.
In the past, this family had been moderately wealthy and had raised a child bride. Unfortunately, a plague claimed the lives of Zheng’s parents early. This left the child bride to toil—farming, weaving, fetching water, and cooking—all while raising the Zheng family’s child.
Deeply remembering her in-laws’ instructions while they were alive, she didn’t let him do any work. She merely served him, enabling him to study, and saved money for him to take the imperial examinations.
The Zheng boy was intelligent and studied diligently for many years. He managed to participate in the last imperial examination twenty years ago and even became a Scholar, which meant he was qualified for official posts. However, the court soon fell into chaos, and he had to return to the village, waiting for a court appointment.
This wait lasted for several years. The world grew increasingly chaotic, evil spirits became rampant, and mere survival became difficult, let alone taking up an official post.
At the urging of the villagers, and seeing that the woman was aging and that further delay in marriage would lead to gossip, he finally agreed.
With the help of neighbors, a wedding dress was sewn, and two modest tables of food were prepared for a feast. A wooden cart, with its wheels removed, was fashioned into a makeshift sedan chair. It circled the village before carrying her to his home.
For the sake of appearance, she finally wore the only bracelet left by her late mother-in-law. She had kept it through all their hardships, never selling it, and only put it on for her wedding.
With this bracelet, and the neighbors as witnesses, the marriage fulfilled the requirements of parental consent and a matchmaker’s arrangement. There was no status more legitimate than hers.
The villagers all said she was blessed with good fortune; after waiting for twenty years, she had finally achieved her rightful union.
Yet that very night, two people with backpacks arrived on horseback, claiming to be from Huai’an. Young Master Zheng hurriedly came out to receive them. However, when the two men saw the festive wedding decorations in his home, they shook their heads repeatedly, lamenting that they had arrived a step too late and what a pity it was.
No one knew what was said thereafter.
All that was known was that Young Master Zheng packed his belongings that very night and left with the two men.
The new bride ran out crying, chasing after them, but her cries were ultimately silenced by the well water.
After that, Young Master Zheng was gone for twenty or thirty years without a trace or any news. The well was initially sealed by the villagers. Because she had no official standing and they sensed a heavy resentment from the well, they didn’t dare retrieve her body, instead fetching water from other places.
Later, the stream often ran dry, and the village’s other two wells also frequently dried up. The village elders, left with no alternative, had to reopen this particular well.
They had thought that after so many years, things would have settled, but instead, the resentment that billowed out was overwhelming.
It wasn’t until the Manor’s young manager came, sealed this well again, and had the skeletal remains removed that the matter was finally considered closed.
Does this mean that if she hadn’t been persuaded to move, she might have been sealed in there forever? Hu Ma thought to himself. The retribution was indeed fitting.
After noting these events, he returned to the Manor, loaded the two large urns onto the cart, and transported them to Zhu Men Town.
The job was only considered complete after the incense master in charge of Blood Food had inspected the urns and they were stored in the warehouse. Hu Ma then promptly went to inform Incense Master Xu.
He requested that for the time being, no further assignments be directed towards Green Stone Town.
After all, in recent months, he and his workers had made numerous trips back and forth without a single mishap. His contributions were already substantial, surely enough for him to take over the Blood Food Mine at Blind Ridge in the latter half of the year.
"It should be enough," Incense Master Xu readily agreed to all of Hu Ma’s requests, merely smiling as he asked, "but you originally thought of running a few more trips to feel more at ease. Why the sudden change of heart?"
"Last night, something almost went wrong," Hu Ma said quietly. "We encountered people from plum blossom lane. They came up and wanted to forcibly ’borrow’ Blood Food!"
Upon hearing about the previous night’s events, Incense Master Xu was visibly startled and immediately lowered his voice, asking, "The one who demanded to borrow Blood Food, was his surname Yan?"
"The Old Master from plum blossom lane is a decent person. Every year, the Blood Food our Red Lantern Society offers as tribute must be recorded through him. He’s a man of principle: he’ll record what’s due as tribute, but he doesn’t accept everyday offerings or bribes."
"He has taught several disciples. They usually don’t stay in the Prefecture city but travel between various prefectures and counties. Their reputations are generally not bad, with the sole exception of his third disciple, whose reputation is atrocious."
"It’s not as if there haven’t been instances of them ’borrowing’ Blood Food or seeking our Blood Food Pills for ’jianghu emergencies’ before."
"But he talks a good game; once he ’borrows’ something, it’s never returned."
"Of course, even though his reputation is bad, you shouldn’t offend him. He’s very petty. Just do it for the sake of plum blossom lane’s reputation!"
"..."
"That didn’t happen," Hu Ma laughed. "But I’m curious, who was that noble they were talking about? What’s his background?"
"If they dare to be called a ’noble,’ they must indeed be a master from an aristocratic family," Incense Master Xu sneered and then sighed. "This term ’noble,’ well, there are many ways to interpret it..."
"You’re part of our Blood Food Gang. If you go to the villages below, the people there would also consider you a ’noble.’ They’d have to lay out a proper feast and serve you well."
"But once you’re in the city, that doesn’t count. Those truly qualified to be called ’nobles’ must, at the very least, come from an aristocratic family."
"What is an aristocratic family?"
"Great and influential clans, with hereditary official status—that’s what makes an aristocratic family!"
"Look at our Red Lantern Society. We also have good relations with many prominent households. But those we deal with are wealthy gentry, landlords, and traveling or sedentary merchants. Masters from aristocratic families, however, are different. They reside in the city and only interact with the Hall Officers; they don’t concern themselves with us."
"To put it bluntly, we belong to the jianghu, but they do not."
"Why did our Red Lantern Lady build her temple outside the city? That was also to avoid suspicion!"
"Before, everyone was in the city. But one group operates in the jianghu, calling each other ’brothers,’ while the other observes hierarchies of status behind closed doors. Each minds their own business. However, once the temple was built, it would have been inappropriate for the Red Lantern Lady to remain in the city."
"..."
Listening to Incense Master Xu’s explanation, Hu Ma began to understand.
Aristocratic families, Hall Officers.
Previously, Miss Red Wine had said that the greater one’s abilities and the wider one’s experience of the world, the more one would see the mysterious and rigidly hierarchical side of this world. It seemed her words were now coming true.
Being in the Blood Food Gang, one wouldn’t encounter those high-status, important figures. It turned out they weren’t under the Blood Food Gang’s protection at all. They dealt directly with the Hall Officers and were protected by them.
In these chaotic times, when ordinary people were troubled by evil spirits, they could only seek help from the Blood Food Gang. The Hall Officers rarely made an appearance.
But if a noble master from an aristocratic family was troubled, those Hall Officers wouldn’t dare to remain idle.
No wonder plum blossom lane acted so quickly when that son-in-law of the Wei family had an incident.
Cursing inwardly, Hu Ma felt an instinctive revulsion and hostility towards these people. Damn privileged class, those wealthy dogs... They deserve to be haunted by Vengeful Ghosts!