Chapter 39: Ghostly Wails at Midnight

2022-05-20

Brother Wei Two and his crew left in such a rush they didn’t even bother with San’s body, just left it—coffin and all—tossed in the courtyard. The corpse outside? Brother Wei Two didn’t so much as glance at it. From the way he acted, this must be huge for him. They’re clearly scrambling to deal with something serious.

So, will there be another victim?

Someone wants all six of them dead. But who could it be?

“Wanna help me get to the bottom of this?”

Zhao Mingkun was walking ahead and didn’t look back at me, but the question just slipped out all of a sudden.

I was honestly a little caught off guard. Just running into Zhao Mingkun at all was pure dumb luck, like a blind cat finding a dead mouse. I’d been wracking my brain for a reason to keep her around, and now, she was the one asking.

I couldn’t tell what Zhao Mingkun was up to. I said, “This is a huge case. Won’t the higher-ups send people to investigate? If we’re exposed, we’re finished.”

Zhao Mingkun chuckled. “So what, you’re scared?”

I smirked. “Who said I’m scared? If you’re in, I’m in.”

“So, where are we going now?” Guan Zengbin cast a glance at Zhao Mingkun.

Zhao Mingkun pressed the car keys in her hand—a lock clicked in the quiet. “I’m taking you somewhere to stay.”

“Like a cunning rabbit with three burrows”—that saying fit Zhao Mingkun perfectly.

We were holed up in a tiny inn. Strangely enough, besides the three of us, there wasn’t a soul in sight. Even the innkeeper had vanished. From the looks of it, Zhao Mingkun had set all this up way ahead of time.

She hadn’t done a thing on the way over either. Which just proved it—this inn was part of her plan from the start. No wonder she kept slipping through every dragnet. Anything important, she handled where no one could see her.

Calling it an inn was generous—it was basically another courtyard. The place sat in a secluded part of Jiazi County. Without a guide, finding it would’ve been a long shot.

“Queen, there’s something I want to ask. But if you can’t talk about it, that’s fine too.”

At that moment, Zhao Mingkun was soaking her feet in the courtyard. She kept toweling off as she spoke. “I know what you’re about to ask. You want to know why I’m here, right? You seem like a smart one. But here’s the thing—the smarter you are, the less you should know. Knowing too much just makes people angry, sad, or robs them of their happiness.”

“Heh,” I chuckled sheepishly.

“Wu Meng!” Guan Zengbin stormed out of the house and yelled, “It’s late! Get your butt in here or else!”

I shrugged and followed Guan Zengbin inside. The second I stepped in, she nabbed my ear and whispered, “Wu Meng, don’t tell me you really don’t get why you’re here? If I hadn’t interrupted, would the two of you have just gone wild? What a fox!”

I wriggled free from her grip and whispered back, “Catching Zhao Mingkun would be great, but aren’t you dying to know who she’s after? For her to come in person—it must be a big fish. If we stick around, maybe she’ll let something slip. Unless you mess it up!”

Guan Zengbin glanced outside through the window. Zhao Mingkun was in the courtyard, her head tilted up, gazing at the stars.

“I know you too well,” Guan Zengbin muttered. “Don’t let the job get to your head. Just look at her, stargazing out there. Don’t let her charm fool you!”

I turned to look at Zhao Mingkun, at her silhouette in the night. This scene felt oddly familiar, like something I couldn’t quite recall. There was something magnetic about her that made it hard to focus. Honestly, it felt like we’d known each other forever—that’s one reason I’d agreed to Team Leader Shao’s request.

I remembered when I was a kid, standing alone on the empty field staring up at the stars.

Maybe, just maybe, her childhood was the same.

“Still staring, huh?” Guan Zengbin waved her hand in front of my face.

I snapped out of it. “So, did you report to Team Leader Shao? If he were here, he’d probably do the same. Sometimes, hauling someone in is easy; what really matters is figuring out why they killed. That’s the hard part.”

“You’re right,” Guan Zengbin said, stretched out on the bed. “Team Leader Shao wants us to keep an eye on her and find out why she’s really here.”

I turned off the light and laughed. “That’s more like it.”

But the moment I flopped onto the bed, a foot landed right on my stomach. Before I knew what happened, Guan Zengbin kicked me clean off.

“Beat it! Trying to take advantage of me?” she hissed. “You can sleep on the floor with Wang Ergou!”

At three in the morning, I watched Guan Zengbin snoring like a pig and could only shake my head. She was way too trusting—didn’t she worry I might crawl into her bed? I nudged Wang Ergou to keep quiet and tiptoed out of the room, straight to the next door.

Picking locks was child’s play for me. Old habits from childhood die hard.

I slipped the door open and found Zhao Mingkun sitting cross-legged on the bed, eyes closed.

First time I’d ever seen anyone sleep sitting up. Being on guard was second nature to her, the complete opposite of Guan Zengbin who always wore her heart on her sleeve. With someone as guarded as Zhao Mingkun, life couldn’t be easy.

Sure enough, as soon as I closed the door, she stirred.

“It’s just me, Queen,” I raised both hands.

Zhao Mingkun patted the bed, motioning for me to sit. No way I was passing up that chance—I leapt on up.

But right then, a blood-chilling scream tore through the night. It was so loud I nearly jumped out of my skin, echoing right from our courtyard. Sometimes it was wailing, sometimes wild laughter, and sometimes a weird clucking. Every time before, the sounds were faint, but now it was horrible and clear.

The infamous Chu Mei.

I dove off the bed and yanked back the curtain to peek outside.

A woman in a bright red robe stood in the center of the courtyard. My heart skipped—I’d seen that dress before, the very same blood-red gown from the ghost marriage, the one worn by the corpse bride. Now she faced the window, hair loose and wild, the eerie noises pouring from her mouth.

“Go!” I whispered. But when I looked back, Zhao Mingkun was already at the door.

She was the first to dash into the courtyard. I stayed pressed to the window, watching. If that was really a ghost, I wanted to see how she’d leave. If not—if it was a living person—Zhao Mingkun was more than capable of handling her.

But as Zhao Mingkun ran outside, the supposed ghost shot straight into the air, clearing the roof in a blink and vanishing into the night. Even though I’d braced myself, my heart pounded in my chest. Was that really a ghost? The same corpse from the bridal sedan?

Why did she come to us? Did we have some vendetta with her?

Suddenly the lights snapped on and Guan Zengbin appeared, shivering in the middle of the yard. If she hadn’t been gripping Wang Ergou’s hand, she probably would’ve screamed.

I dashed out of Zhao Mingkun’s room. Guan Zengbin jabbed a finger at me, clearly about to speak but nothing came out.

Zhao Mingkun barely seemed fazed. “Looks like someone wants us gone. I’ll get dressed and be right back—check the scene for anything unusual.”

With that, she slipped into her room.

Guan Zengbin tugged Wang Ergou over. “You tried creeping into her bed in the middle of the night, didn’t you?”

Wish I could’ve, but the ghost crashed the party.

I put up with Guan Zengbin’s endless nagging—swear she managed to squeeze every insult she knew into that rant.

While she went off, I scanned the ground where the ghost stood. There, a hole as wide as a pinky had been drilled into the dirt. The ghost had just stood there, howling, never moving an inch.

But if it really was a ghost, why didn’t she come into the house? Why bolt the moment she saw someone? Why just stand there and not walk around—maybe she couldn’t move?

“No footprints!” Guan Zengbin finally finished, voice shaky. “This is loose dirt, a single step should’ve left a mark, but there’s nothing! Is she for real… a ghost?”

I glanced at the roof. The north wall was three meters high, topped with a flat roof. If someone climbed up, they wouldn’t leave any prints in the yard. And that hole in the ground? It was as thick as the steel rod used to skewer the corpses before. Maybe this was all by design.

But why go through all this trouble?

Is Zhao Mingkun connected to any of it?