HLnovel Chapter 244 Corpse Sinking into the Pond
Chapter 244 Corpse Sinking into the Pond
Chapter 244 244 Corpse Sinking into the Pond
Two carriages left the Zhao residence one after the other, speeding towards the south gate. The carriage ahead carried Master Zhao and Wang Bao.
The wound on Zhao's back had not yet healed, so he could only lie face down on the soft cushion, feeling the jolting from beneath him. He cried out in pain.
"Ouch, ouch... Why aren't we there yet? It hurts so much!"
Wang Bao, who was driving the carriage outside, replied, "We're almost there, almost there! Please bear with us a little longer, sir!"
The carriage passed through the south gate and headed towards a secluded and quiet villa at the foot of an unnamed hill five miles away. When the carriage arrived at the villa, Wang Bao carefully carried Master Zhao down from the carriage. After confirming that no one was behind them, he went forward and knocked on the door of the villa.
The person who opened the door was an ordinary-looking old woman dressed in simple clothes. Upon seeing Master Zhao, her expressionless face immediately broke into a smile, and she said:
"Oh, Master Zhao is here! Come in quickly!"
Upon entering the courtyard, the old woman winked at Master Zhao and his entourage while saying in a very suggestive manner, "Master Zhao, you've come at just the right time. We just received a batch of fresh goods. I'll take you to see them now."
It turned out that this courtyard was a hidden place for prostitution, and the old woman was the so-called "matchmaker". She specially searched for young and beautiful women from respectable families in the capital, tricked them into coming here, and then played some "interesting" games for rich people or people with ulterior motives. This Master Zhao was a regular customer here.
Normally, upon hearing these words, Master Zhao would have beamed with joy and eager anticipation. However, today he acted completely out of character, as if he had seen a ghost, and waved his hands vigorously at the matchmaker, saying:
"No need, no need! Madam She, that's not why I came today!"
"Oh, Mr. Zhao, you're being so polite today. If not for that, then for something else?" the matchmaker said, nudging Mr. Zhao with her elbow. Mr. Zhao immediately let out a deafening scream, like a pig scalded by boiling water.
"Aaaaaah, get away from me! Don't come near me!"
The matchmaker was stunned by his shout, and it took her a while to come to her senses. She flicked her handkerchief, rolled her eyes, and said irritably:
"Speak, what brings you here, Master Zhao, with such an honor?"
Under Wang Bao's reassurance, Master Zhao gradually calmed down. He gasped for breath, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, looked around, and said in a low voice:
"Aunt She, do you still remember fifteen days ago when I received a white jade Guanyin pendant from you?"
The matchmaker said, "That's certainly true. What about the jade pendant? Is it fake?"
Master Zhao said with a solemn expression, "Mother She, may I speak to you in private?"
A moment later, the matchmaker led Master Zhao and Wang Bao into an empty room and asked, "What happened to the jade pendant?"
So, Master Zhao recounted what had happened to him in the past few days, as well as the bizarre and terrifying dream he had. Of course, he wouldn't tell anyone what he actually experienced in his dream.
The matchmaker's expression changed after hearing this, as if she were somewhat afraid: "Is that really true?"
Master Zhao said, "That's what the doctor sent by Mr. Green Ivy said. If it really is her ghost causing trouble and making me look like this, then Mother She, you probably won't escape it either."
It turns out that the reason why Master Zhao believed Ye Pianran's words so much, and thought that the "illusion" he experienced was caused by the Guanyin Jade Pendant, was because Xue Ling, the owner of the Guanyin Jade Pendant, was no longer a living person, but a dead person!
Upon hearing this, the matchmaker hurriedly asked, "What does Master Zhao mean?"
"The doctor said, 'The one who tied the knot must untie it.' The only way now is to try every means to get her forgiveness," said Master Zhao very seriously.
"But, given how we treated her back then, causing her to die with her eyes wide open in anger, can we easily gain her forgiveness?" the matchmaker asked hesitantly.
"Hmph, humans have their own way, and ghosts have their own way. It's none of her business!" Master Zhao snorted coldly and ordered Wang Bao, who was carrying him, to open the door and go out.
After leaving the house, the matchmaker summoned several guards, and together with Master Zhao and others, they walked towards the back gate of the villa, finally stopping in front of a pond on the back hill.
The weather wasn't great today. The sun was completely obscured by layers of clouds, making the sunlight seem very gloomy. A mountain breeze swept across the pond, making those standing on the bank feel a chill from the bottom of their hearts.
Looking at the rippling water in the middle of the pond, the matchmaker covered her nose and mouth with a handkerchief, and ordered the guards behind her, "Go, dig the person out."
With a series of splashes, the guards, shovels in hand, swam through the mud toward the center of the lake. Once they reached the middle, confirmed their location, and began digging.
As the silt in the pond was dredged away, a nauseating stench wafted from the center of the pond, carried directly to Master Zhao and the matchmaker by the mountain breeze.
The stench reminded Master Zhao of the scene in the illusion where he was devoured by a group of demons, and his stomach churned violently. He vomited with a "whoosh".
The guards in the pond reacted with a series of changes in expression upon smelling the stench, but they managed to hold back from vomiting until they dug the corpse buried in the silt out of the water. Seeing the swollen, greenish, and disfigured carcass, they finally couldn't help but vomit.
The matchmaker covered her eyes, unable to bear looking at the rotting corpse, and endured the nausea as she smelled it:
"What are your plans next, Master Zhao?"
After finally vomiting all over, Master Zhao pinched his nose and said weakly, "Find a quiet place to bury her properly, and invite a monk to perform a ritual. I don't believe we can't send her away."
The matchmaker said, "Then let's go up the mountain and find a place to bury the person."
The guards from the villa found a shroud, wrapped the rotting corpse tightly, and then carried it step by step up the mountain.
From a distance, this unnamed hill is lush with green trees and has a unique charm. But once you get up there, you'll find small graves scattered around in corners and at the foot of trees. The soil on these graves is still relatively fresh. There are no tombstones or incense sticks, so they were obviously dug and buried hastily. It's unknown who is buried there.
As the matchmaker led Master Zhao and the others through the burial mounds, she seemed to remember something and her expression turned tense and fearful. After finally finding a relatively good open space, she hurriedly said, "Alright, let's bury them here."
The guards were eager to bury the stinking corpse as soon as possible, so they immediately put down the rotting body they were carrying on their shoulders and began digging with shovels.
To show his sincerity, Master Zhao asked Wang Bao to put him down, and despite the excruciating pain in his back, he went forward and pretended to shovel some soil.
After the pit was dug, he walked to the decaying corpse, bowed three times, and muttered:
"You refused to submit to me back then and killed yourself by crashing your head against the wall. I can't say I killed you. I had no choice but to throw your body into the pond. Now I've found a good place to bury you properly. Go and be reborn in the afterlife. Don't bother me anymore!"