Secret message T-T please read at inuekohouse.wordpress.com
“Xiao Jiu, you’re awesome!”
Chen Caixing praised, and the child was happy and satisfied. He told Chen Caixing everything he knew: “They said that to perform the Holy Maiden Ceremony, the spirit must first be invited by praying. Their parents wouldn’t let them watch, but I gave them two candies, and then they told me.”
The Holy Maiden Ceremony couldn’t be completed in one day. It needed three days. This was a very crucial period of time. If the players believed what Jia Di originally said of ten days and thought there was plenty of time, then the ending that awaited them would be very tragic.
The Holy Maiden Ceremony began three days before the Hungry Ghost Festival. On the first day, the village chose girls of suitable age. In the evening, when the sun set, the ritual would begin. According to Xiao Jiu, one of the boys’ original words were ‘cut the sisters’ hands, smear the blood on the leaves, and send them to the ancestral hall for a night.’ At this stage, the place was usually cleared out so that no children were allowed to watch, but a boy had peeked out of curiosity before, thus he was able to talk about it and earned more candy than others.
On the second day, the ancestral hall opened. Only one girl’s palm would be healed. This was the symbol of ‘innocence and purity.’ She would become the Holy Maiden recognized by the ‘spirit.’ On this day, the Holy Maiden would dress up and fast for the whole day. In the evening, the whole village would kneel and send the Holy Maiden into the ancestral hall.
‘At night, I can hear the sister’s cries from inside. Grandma said that she is accompanying the ancestors.’
When the rooster crows in the morning, the ancestral hall will open, and there will be a new lantern on the beam. Other than a little blood stain, the Holy Maiden completely disappears.
The Holy Maiden Ceremony will then come to an end.
On the third day, a large banquet would be set up, and people would feast from morning to night.
“Then there are only six days left.” Chen Caixing frowned slightly.
Fortunately, the flow of time here was normal.
On the way back, the two met the old woman with small feet. She looked at Chen Caixing and walked past him as if she was avoiding bad luck. Her small feet moved quickly. When Chen Caixing saw her, he took Xiao Jiu’s hand and quickened his pace.
He followed behind the old woman with small feet by two or three steps.
The old woman with small feet walked faster, but she couldn’t avoid Chen Caixing. They walked one behind the other as if they were in a race. Chen Caixing had long legs, and he was still young and energetic, so he didn’t get tired from jumping around. On the other hand, the old woman with small feet walked faster and faster until she was panting and chased to the door of her house. When she hid inside the door, she tripped and fell to the ground with a cry.
“Why are you walking so fast? Look, now you have fallen.” Chen Caixing spoke with a kind face, “Come, let me help you up.” But his feet didn’t even move.
“You unlucky thing, don’t come into my house.” The old woman with small feet got up, limped back and angrily shouted at her daughter-in-law: “I’m going to die, hurry up and close the door!”
Chen Caixing clicked his tongue, stood at the door and said pitifully: “I kindly wanted to help her, but she scolded me. Xiao Jiu, it’s too difficult for sister. It’s not easy to be a good person.”
It’s obviously because he was being childish and deliberately chasing people for fun. However, Yuan Jiuwan thought that he quite liked the childish and righteous Xingxing.
After hearing that Xiao Ya was hanged, Chen Caixing chased and caused the old woman to fall as a small way to vent his anger.
Back at Jia Di’s house, the little old woman next door was screaming in pain like a pig being slaughtered. Chen Caixing was in a good mood and sat on a chair to eat fried melon seeds with Yuan Jiuwan; he cracked the skin of the melon seeds and listened to the drama next door. However, this interest didn’t last long. Lu Zhou stumbled back and shouted as soon as he entered the door: “People are dead, people are dead.”
“Who died?” Chen Caixing’s hand stopped bringing melon seeds to his mouth.
Lu Zhou replied, “I don’t know. It’s not one of us. It’s someone from the village.”
Chen Caixing nodded when he heard that it was someone from the village. He continued to eat and said: “Do you want to eat melon seeds? Calm down and speak slowly.”
Lu Zhou shook his head, but he slowly calmed down after listening to the sound of them eating melon seeds.
“After breakfast in the morning, you guys left early. Li Xuan, who lives next door, came over and said that he heard something. Hu Zi’s father said that there were water ghosts in the river. Once, when he was walking by the river, he had fallen in. The river was shallow, but he was caught by something and dragged down. Because there are water ghosts in the river, he told them not to get close. Li Xuan felt that there was something wrong with the river and wanted to take a look. I-I was afraid and didn’t want to go, but they said that if we don’t find clues, even if we survive, it’ll be more dangerous in the next game.”
Those three veterans weren’t bad and also seemed quite clever.
Once the stakes were clear, the newcomers would take the initiative to find clues quickly.
“What happened after that?” Chen Caixing saw that Lu Zhou didn’t speak and reminded him to continue.
“We arrived. The river was calm, and there wasn’t anything, so everyone split up and searched. When we reached the narrow area downstream, we found a corpse.” Lu Zhou shuddered. “He was lying in the water. The water was shallow, but he had still drowned. There are ghosts, there must be ghosts.”
Chen Caixing’s mouth was dry. He drank some water and said, “It’s normal for there to be ghosts here.” Otherwise, why else would they be playing this game?
After a while, Li Xuan and the others came back. The three new girls were trembling in fear with pale faces, feet covered in mud, and clothes that were wet and dirty. Seeing Chen Caixing sitting at the table while eating melon seeds and drinking tea, the girl named Zhou Zihan was very unhappy. She pointed at Chen Caixing and said: “We were busy early in the morning, and you’re just sitting here drinking tea? So what if you’re pregnant. In a place like this, even pregnant women and children have to work. Why are you just here enjoying yourself?”
Chen Caixing: ???
“This little sister-“
“Don’t call me little sister. I’m not familiar with women like you.” Zhou Zihan said sharply.
Chen Caixing: What kind of woman was he???
“Don’t think I can’t tell. I knew you were a scheming green tea bitch from the first day. You’re pregnant and still want to seduce Brother Xuan. Women know women the best. You’re pregnant at such a young age, who knows how messy your private life is.” Zho Zihan said loudly.
Chen Caixing, who had been single since birth, shed tears of grievance.
He wanted to have a private life, but he couldn’t have a private life at all.
And sister, with which eye of yours did you see me seduce Li Xuan? It was clearly Li Xuan who was seducing me. They were both women, but why was she so malicious towards him!?
“Alright, stop talking nonsense.” Li Xuan spoke up to stop the scene.
Chen Caixing glanced at Li Xuan. Zhou Zihan had already finished speaking, and now you speak up. From the moment they had entered the game until now, Li Xuan had automatically become the leader of the entire team. Now, the crowd was complaining about this poor pregnant woman. Anyway, the big-bellied waste had made no contribution, so it didn’t matter if he was criticized a few times.
Ying. (T/N: Crying sound)
“Sister is a kind and good girl. Don’t talk nonsense.” Yuan Jiuwan retorted angrily.
‘Good girl’ Chen Caixing: Good Xiao Jiu, you can say so, but it’s not necessary. Truly.
However, Chen Caixing still didn’t want to suffer a wrong after being scolded for no reason. He asked in return, “You’ve been running around all morning. Did you find any clues?”
Zhou Zihan felt that Chen Caixing was targeting her and said angrily: “We found that there’s a ghost in the river, what about it?”
“Isn’t it obvious that there’s a ghost in the river? Didn’t Hu Zi’s father say this? Is this still considered a clue you found?”
“You!” Zhou Zihan stomped her feet.
Xia Ting said coldly: “Yuan Xing, if you didn’t do anything, don’t make sarcastic remarks. We confirmed that there’s a ghost in the river this morning. Everyone worked hard to find this.”
“What am I sarcastic about? Aren’t I speaking the objective truth?” Chen Caixing was too lazy to argue with these people and said directly: “My brother and I found out what’s going on with the Holy Maiden Ceremony.”
Everyone present was stunned, especially Zhou Zihan. Her face flushed red as she said angrily: “I don’t believe it. You’re talking nonsense.”
However, no one helped her this time. From the first day, Jia Di mentioned the Holy Maiden Ceremony. This term was the most important part of the game. All of them tried to ask the villagers about it, but they couldn’t get a word out of them.
“Yuan Xing, I’m sorry. Can you tell us the clues? We’ll share with you any clues we find later.” Xia Ting apologized directly.
Li Xuan stood there and said to Zhou Zihan: “If you’re feeling uncomfortable, you can go back first.”
“You guys!” Zhou Zihan stomped her feet again and said angrily: “Fine, I’ll leave.”
Li Xuan looked at Chen Caixing with an attitude of ‘I’ll vent your anger for you, so don’t be angry.’
Chen Caixing: Thank you very much.
However, he wasn’t in the mood to chat idly with them. He quickly told them the information he found in the morning. Regardless of whether they believed him or not, he chased them away. “I’m hungry and want to eat. You guys should go back now.”
Li Xuan and the others soon left.
Lu Zhou and Mei Qing sat at the square table. Mei Qing secretly looked at Chen Caixing. Chen Caixing noticed it but didn’t care. He said to Xiao Jiu: “Don’t eat too much candy. Wash your hands before eating.”
“Okay, Sister.”
Chen Caixing took Yuan Jiuwan to wash his hands.
Jia Di and his son also came back. They were carrying wild animals and dried goods in the bamboo basket. The eldest son carried a plump fish in his hand and said to his younger brother in the kitchen: “Let’s drink fish soup tonight.”
“Okay, Brother.”
The siblings seemed to have a good relationship.
Lunch was placed on the table. As usual, it was meat and vegetables with four dishes and one soup. Chen Caixing loved the wild animals and firewood rice here. He ate very happily and gave Xiao Jiu some food from time to time. Lu Zhou and Mei Qing didn’t have much of an appetite. They just saw a corpse in the morning, and it had been swollen from soaking in the river water.
They couldn’t think about it without feeling sick.
After eating, everything was cleaned up.
There was a series of footsteps outside the courtyard, and a person next door was making a lot of noise: “Everyone is neighbors. My family’s Sang Ba is gone. Let Zha Le help. His soul is lost outside…”
“Don’t go, don’t go. Zha Le, if you dare to go, I’ll hang myself on the tree. You’re not allowed to go.” The old woman with small feet shouted.
The noise next door was too loud. The old woman with small feet was howling at the top of her lungs, so naturally, they heard it. Chen Caixing noticed that Jia Di and his sons stopped what they were doing. Su Le and his brother suppressed their emotions.
“Go, go, go. Don’t look for Zha Le. Sang Ba is gone. Get out.” The old woman with small feet chased the people away.
The two families were neighbors, so those people quickly came over to them.
It was an auntie and a young woman. The woman was supporting the auntie. As soon as they entered, the auntie cried: “Jia Di, you must help Sang Ba. I beg you to help him borrow a lantern. Otherwise, how can his soul come back?”
“I beg you.”
Plop. The auntie knelt down directly, kowtowing and crying. The young woman beside her also knelt down, but her face was numb.
“Su Da, Su Le, you and Sang Ba grew up together. You are good brothers. You can’t watch him die outside. His soul is trapped in the river and can’t reincarnate. I beg you to help him. Go to the ancestral hall and get a lantern to guide his soul back…”
The river trapped the soul, and the lantern needed to be taken out to guide the soul back.
Chen Caixing thought of the corpse that had been found in the river during the morning. That corpse must be Sang Ba.
Secret message T-T please read at inuekohouse.wordpress.com
(*ˊᗜˋ*)/ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ*
inueko's house 
So glad to see that you’re translating this, thanks for the chapters!
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Thank you for reading! I read this a long time ago and am enjoying rereading. Hope you enjoy!!! ^^
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