The more Li Jinghuai listened, the paler her face became. The symptoms Shen Cuiyu described were exactly what she had been experiencing these days!
She had previously thought it was because her body was too weak and that her pregnancy symptoms were more intense than others. She never expected... it was such a vicious sorcery!
Looking at the half - embroidered tiger - head pillow on the bedside, Li Jinghuai felt extremely bitter. After a long while, she finally spoke, her voice hoarse as if there was a fishbone stuck in her throat.
"... Is the red - dressed ghost in my dream the one who wants to use my fetus to return to life?"
Shen Cuiyu nodded. "This sorcery is extremely vicious. It has almost strict requirements for both the mother and the lonely soul. Not only do their birth dates need to highly match, but their looks are also likely to be somewhat similar. In the dream, the ghost was connected to the ghost fetus in your womb, which means you are both involved in this. However," she paused, recalling the blood - stained handprints on the wall, and said softly, "it seems to have been trapped in the Wen Mansion for a very long time, perhaps even before you married into the Wen family. Whether it did this voluntarily remains uncertain."
After saying that, Shen Cuiyu held Li Jinghuai's cold and trembling hand and comforted her,
"I'm not deliberately targeting Wen Zimo. But thinking it over, the encounter between you two back then was just too coincidental."
"No... This can't be true! Zimo must not know about the ghost fetus!" Li Jinghuai retorted instinctively. "After he knew I was pregnant, he was overjoyed and took it very seriously. He often invited doctors to check my pulse. If there was really something wrong, Zimo would have told me. How could he..."
Li Jinghuai's voice suddenly stopped. She suddenly noticed something amiss and looked at Shen Cuiyu in disbelief.
Meeting her gaze, Shen Cuiyu slowly said, "The biggest difference between this ghost fetus and an ordinary one is that it has no fetal heartbeat."
Shen Cuiyu didn't say the rest, but the meaning was obvious...
Wen Zimo had known for a long time!
He had known that the fetus in her womb was not a normal one!
But instead of telling her, he kept inviting "doctors" and lying to her that the pulse was normal!
For a moment, Li Jinghuai felt a chill from the bottom of her heart. She couldn't stop shivering and hardly dared to think further!
The closest and yet the most distant relationship is that of husband and wife... What terrible truth had the man she trusted the most been hiding from her?
The room fell into complete silence.
After a long while, as if making up her mind, Li Jinghuai raised her pale face and forced a sad smile.
"I shouldn't have told you, a young unmarried girl, these things. But now, I have nothing to hide."
"Wen Zimo has indeed behaved very strangely," she took a deep breath, her voice trembling with humiliation and fear. "Since our marriage, Wen Zimo... has never consummated our marriage with me. Even on our wedding night, he said he was drunk and just slept in his clothes with me. I... I was so unwilling, thinking that I was not to his liking. Later... later, I was so stupid that I got some aphrodisiacs, and only then... did we have marital relations."
"That night, he was delirious and kept murmuring 'Xiaohuai'. I was so happy because I knew he had me in his heart. But the next morning, he quarreled with me. I had never seen him so angry, so... disgusted and furious."
Li Jinghuai closed her eyes, as if still able to feel the embarrassment and heartbreak at that time. "But strangely enough, a few days later, he suddenly came to apologize to me, saying that he was just worried about me and lost his temper. After that, our relationship finally became like that of ordinary couples..."
"Pfft, what a fool." A sneering laugh with a hint of pity suddenly came from the corner. Shen Cuiyu frowned and looked over, only to see Song Yanling with a bloody face quietly entering the room at some point. She was casually leaning against the table and looking at Li Jinghuai with a complicated expression.
"Why haven't you left yet?" Shen Cuiyu averted her gaze. Her tone was calm but with a warning. "You've been dead for three years and no longer belong to the world of the living. If you force yourself to stay and interfere with the balance between yin and yang, it won't do you any good for your reincarnation."
Song Yanling drifted over to Shen Cuiyu carelessly. She wanted to pick up the delicate pastries on the table, but her hand passed through them without any resistance. "She's been stupid since childhood. I used to protect her. Now that I'm gone, look at what a mess she's made of herself."
Shen Cuiyu was silent for a moment. The girl with a blood - filled hole in her head in front of her didn't seem to realize that she was the real ghost - like appearance now...
Noticing Song Yanling's attempt to pick up the pastries, Shen Cuiyu silently took out a small piece of white wax from her purse. She lit it with a flick of her finger and placed it in a corner of the table.
The cold candle flame flickered, emitting a faint, soothing aura for souls, which was a silent memorial and a small gift.
"You've been wandering in the world since the Ghost Festival when the gates of hell opened. Aren't you tired?" Shen Cuiyu asked.
Song Yanling was slightly startled. She obediently approached the candle flame and inhaled the fragrance that was like nectar to her. Her tone softened a bit.
"You... are really different from those other celestial masters who only chant scriptures and draw talismans."
Shen Cuiyu glanced at her. "Can't you just wipe the blood off your face? No wonder Li Jinghuai was so scared when you entered her dream before."
Hearing this, Song Yanling instead let out a heh - heh laugh and proudly tossed her flowing hair.
"I think it's pretty good. It has a special charm! How can I scare away those with bad intentions if I'm not fierce enough?"
Shen Cuiyu: ...
However, without the dream as a medium, Li Jinghuai beside them couldn't see or hear Song Yanling at all.
From her perspective, Shen Cuiyu was frowning and talking to thin air, and even lighting a white candle... The scene was really eerie.
Could it be... that Celestial Master Shen had gone crazy because of her troublesome matter? It couldn't be...
She asked nervously and tentatively in a low voice, "C - Celestial Master... Who are you talking to?"
"Song Yanling." Shen Cuiyu was concise.
Li Jinghuai was suddenly stunned. She looked around blankly and expectantly. "You mean Yanling is here now?"
"That's right," Shen Cuiyu nodded. "If you have anything to say, I can convey it for you."
Li Jinghuai was overjoyed, but then a strong sense of guilt welled up in her heart.
Yanling was her best friend. She died for her, and even entered her dreams to warn her after death. Yet she had suspected that Yanling was coming to claim her life...
She had been so stupid before!
She endured it for a long time, but finally, warm tears slid down from the corners of her eyes. She wiped them, but more and more came.
She seemed to have returned to the days right after Song Yanling's death. The heavy sadness surrounded Li Jinghuai and almost crushed her.
"Yanling, I'm sorry... I misunderstood you..."
Song Yanling's expression froze. She completely forgot that Li Jinghuai couldn't see her. Subconsciously, she put her hands on her hips and shouted angrily, "Now you know how to cry? Crying won't help!" She angrily tried to wipe Li Jinghuai's tears. When she realized that she couldn't touch Li Jinghuai at all, Song Yanling paused. Her voice unconsciously softened a bit, with a hint of inaudible sobbing and eagerness.
"Just cry. After that, pull yourself together for me! You must dig out the truth of this matter! Do you hear me!"