Chapter 106: As Ugly and Evil as Ghosts

The old woman gave Su Ruoqing and the other a deep look. Seeing that they remained silent, she released her hand and her face turned stern. She grabbed the door panel, and just as she was about to close the door, Pan Yueqing stepped forward and propped her hand against the wooden door. The barbs on the unpainted side of the door sank directly into Pan Yueqing's hand. She took a sharp intake of breath but managed to stop the old woman from shutting them out.

"There are dead people in your house," Pan Yueqing said slowly. "If you don't bury them soon, it might lead to a plague."

"No!" The old woman's eyes widened, and her face contorted with anger as she raised her voice. "It's a dog that died! The dog..." The more she met Pan Yueqing's calm and unwavering gaze, the more flustered she became. Acting unreasonably, she raised her walking stick and tried to strike at them with all her might. "What do you know! There's no one here! Here... Here..."

"They're all ghosts in human skin..." The old woman lost her strength and leaned against the side. Pan Yueqing quickly stepped forward to support her to prevent her from falling and getting hurt. She took out a rice ball from her waist that she had brought with her when she left. It was no longer in one piece, and the rice grains were scattered. She held it in front of the old woman and softened her voice, saying, "I understand. Eat this. I'll help you... We're here to help you."

The old woman stuffed several mouthfuls of rice into her mouth and then took the water that Pan Yueqing handed her. She let out a long sigh of relief, and it was as if she had satisfied all her attachments to the world as she smiled and said, "It's so good. I won't turn into a starving ghost."

Pan Yueqing let out a sigh. "Why did you deny that there are dead people in your house?"

Her words woke the old woman up from her moment of contentment. She looked up at Pan Yueqing with a guarded expression. "You're talking nonsense. There are no dead people in my house." After saying that, she struggled to stand up.

"I'm from the capital," Pan Yueqing knew that the old woman didn't trust her at all. "I'm someone close to His Majesty. If you don't trust those corrupt officials, you should at least trust His Majesty, right?"

Surprisingly, the name of the Emperor of the Northern Qi was very effective. It was as if the emperor was known for loving the people like his own children and had won the hearts of the people. The old woman seemed to gain strength instantly. She grabbed Pan Yueqing's sandalwood-colored round-collar robe with great force, as if she had grasped a life-saving straw. "Are you really someone close to His Majesty? Will you punish those corrupt officials?!"

"Yes," Pan Yueqing nodded sincerely under Su Ruoqing's shocked gaze. Then she was politely invited in by the old woman. The old woman introduced herself as Grandma Sun. There were only her and her little grandson left in her family. When Pan Yueqing and Su Ruoqing led their horses in, the old woman closed the door nervously and bolted it tightly.

The stench was coming from the main room. Even Su Ruoqing couldn't help but crouch down and couldn't hold back his nausea as he vomited. Pan Yueqing followed Grandma Sun's footsteps step by step. As soon as she lifted the curtain, she saw a swarm of flies everywhere. She turned her hand to protect her face and looked around. Inside the quilt was a corpse covered with maggots.

She closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, turned around, and retched up everything in her throat onto the ground. Grandma Sun looked at their reactions with a bit of helplessness. "I also wanted to give him a proper burial, but when he just died, if others knew about it, they would come and take him away to make soup... If people eat other people, are they still human? Aren't they just like ghosts? I could only wait until he became something that others wouldn't want to eat before I could call someone to bury him."

"I gave birth to him after carrying him for ten months. How could I not love him..." Grandma Sun seemed to suddenly lose her support and fell to the ground, covering her mouth and crying silently. The crows on the withered tree in front of the courtyard cawed a few times, as if on cue. Grandma Sun was extremely panicked and picked up a stone to throw at the crows in the tree. "Go away! Go away!"

"Grandma Sun of the Sun family." After a while, a young voice knocked on the door in an orderly manner. Grandma Sun froze, composed herself, and angrily shouted towards the door, "What do you want?!"

"The crows are already crying for the dead. Didn't we all agree? Once a person dies, the relationship is over. That's no longer your son," another voice came from outside the door. It sounded very calm, and there was a hint of a chuckle in his voice. Grandma Sun spat and looked at the loosening door bolt nervously, scolding the person outside the door, "Get lost! You bunch of evil spirits!"

"I saw that you have guests in your courtyard," a head popped out from the top of the wall. It was a middle-aged man with a sunken face. Whether it was because of the backlight or something else, his face looked a bit greenish. At a casual glance, he really looked like an evil spirit crawling out of hell. "If you're reluctant to part with your son, then hand over these two tender-skinned people!" After saying that, he licked his lips, looking truly salivating.

"Get out of here!" Grandma Sun let out a strange scream, picked up a thin wooden pole beside her, and was about to hit that person.

"Do you want to eat me?" Pan Yueqing looked up at the three or four people who emerged on the wall. They were looking at her as if she were a piece of delicious beef or mutton. She smiled and half-turned, looking at them sideways. She reached out and pulled the firework tube at her waist.

"This is really interesting. You're setting off fireworks to celebrate your own death," the middle-aged man with his arm resting on his head looked at Pan Yueqing and tilted his head like he was coaxing a child. "Anyway, you'll starve to death. You might as well sacrifice yourself to the villagers."

"Okay. Which part of me do you want?" Pan Yueqing lowered her eyes, and the smile on her lips remained.

When the others saw that Pan Yueqing answered so straightforwardly, they burst into laughter. But the laughter didn't last long. Then they started arguing about "The thigh meat is more tender, I want it" and "We didn't get the thigh meat last time, it's our turn this time!"

Another quarter of an hour passed, and the sounds of scolding and fighting outside the door gradually faded away.

Pan Yueqing said lazily, "Have you decided?"

"We've decided. Open the door first. We've decided..." An old man's voice came through the door.

"No need to decide. I want your lives," Pan Yueqing stared at the door panel with a terrifyingly cold gaze. Su Ruoqing couldn't stand it any longer. He raised the crossbow at his waist and fired three consecutive arrows at the people on the wall who were waiting leisurely. The arrows hit their arms, and they fell down due to the great impact of the crossbow. The remaining people were astonished and were about to scatter when the infantry guards at the two ends of the alley just arrived.

Pan Yueqing removed the door bolt and pulled the door open. With a stern face, she looked at the people who were surrounded by the infantry's long spears about ten steps away. In the front was an old man with a grizzled beard, dressed like a Confucian scholar. He pointed at the soldiers holding the long spears at him, his face turning red with anger as he shouted, "Do you know who I am? How dare you treat me like this?!"

"I don't know," Pan Yueqing said coldly. When she looked up and saw this old thing who was furious with embarrassment, she couldn't help but let out a contemptuous laugh. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Don't you know you should respect the elderly? Let us go quickly! We're direct descendants of the Sun family!" A fat man beside the old man shouted at Pan Yueqing. "You're setting up a private punishment! You'll end up in prison!"

"Shut up," Pan Yueqing dug her ears and stared straight at him with her eyes. "You said I'll end up in prison?"

The man was intimidated by Pan Yueqing's terrifyingly cold gaze and instinctively didn't dare to speak. Pan Yueqing sneered. "Knowing it's evil but still doing it is unforgivable. Pull out his tongue!"