The bridge was shrouded in yellow mist, giving off an ominous aura.
When Qin Yihe heard Lin Zhushui say that he wanted to enter the bridge, there was fear in her gaze, and she said, “But living people can’t get on… once they get on, they can’t come down.”
Lin Zhushui ignored her and said to Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong, “Shen Yiqiong, wait here. Zhou Jiayu, come with me.”
Shen Yiqiong said, “Sir, I want to go too!”
Lin Zhushui said, “This bridge is not meant for living people to step onto. Zhou Jiayu has an extreme yin constitution, so he won’t be affected, but whether you can come down after you’ve gone up is unknown.”
Shen Yiqiong was a little disappointed. The whole reason he came with Lin Zhushui was to encounter these kinds of things, so stepping onto the bridge to get up close would naturally be best. However, since Lin Zhushui said so, he couldn’t insist. He agreed and waited with Qin Yihe at the head of the bridge.
“Let’s go.” As Lin Zhushui spoke to Zhou Jiayu, he walked towards the bridge.
Zhou Jiayu followed behind, expression slightly nervous.
Jiba said, “Don’t be afraid, Lin Zhushui’s here. Since he’s telling you to tag along, he must be confident that he’s able to protect you…”
But before it could finish, Zhou Jiayu said, slightly embarrassed, “No no, I’m not afraid. It’s just, that… don’t you think that this will seem a little bit like we’re on a date?”
Jiba fell silent. It looked through Zhou Jiayu’s field of vision and saw the rich yellow mist, as well as the twisting spirits inside the mist. It felt some admiration for Zhou Jiayu and had reason to suspect that even if Lin Zhushui invited Zhou Jiayu to dig a grave, Zhou Jiayu would feel that the activity was really quite romantic.
In the end, Jiba said with a heavy tone, “…As long as you’re happy.”
As they approached the middle of the bridge, those strangely shaped spirits around Zhou Jiayu began to increase in number. Most of the bodies of those spirits were mutilated, either with broken arms or legs, and some were completely severed in half from the waist, wriggling on the ground. They all seemed to have lost their sanity, only able to follow their instincts and move towards the center of the bridge. Surrounded by their painful groans, the entire bridge was like a purgatory.
Zhou Jiayu didn’t dare to observe his surroundings further. He kept his eyes on his feet, stopped when Lin Zhushui stopped, and moved when Lin Zhushui moved.
The bloodstains on the bridge also began to increase, and the scenes of the car accidents that had originally been repaired were now all reappearing on the bridge. Zhou Jiayu roughly counted and found that at least a dozen wrecked cars on the bridge, some of which even carried three or four people.
The road was a little dark, and the further in one went, the fewer spots there were to place their feet.
Zhou Jiayu accidentally stepped on a soft object and was startled by the sensation. He looked towards the ground, only to realize that he had stepped on a pale, tender hand.
That hand belonged to a four or five-year-old little girl. Her face was covered in blood, head cut in half, and her eyes had no pupils, a horrifying white. After being stepped on by Zhou Jiayu, she slowly raised her head, and the two of their gazes met in midair.
Zhou Jiayu silently removed his foot and whispered, “I’m sorry, friend, you continue what you were doing.”
The child slowly drooped her head and resumed crawling forward.
Seeing this situation, Zhou Jiayu’s back broke out into a layer of cold sweat. It was only then that he clearly realized that the bridge he had walked onto was really terrifying.
Lin Zhushui heard the movement behind him and asked softly, “Are you afraid?”
Zhou Jiayu forced a smile and said, “Not at all, haha. With Sir here, I’m not afraid.”
Lin Zhushui’s footsteps suddenly stopped, and Zhou Jiayu thought he had something to say. Unexpectedly, he stretched out his hand. “Come.”
Those hands were white as jade and as slender as bamboo, fingertips slightly raised, making an inviting gesture.
Zhou Jiayu: “!!!”
“Zhou Jiayu?” Lin Zhushui called out to him again.
Zhou Jiayu took a deep breath and tremblingly put his hand into Lin Zhushui’s. As soon as he did so he regretted it, regretted that he hadn’t wiped the cold sweat from his hand first.
“Still not afraid?” Lin Zhushui held Zhou Jiayu’s hand and felt the sweat all over his hand. “Your hand’s nearly melted with fear.”
Zhou Jiayu was unable to refute.
When the two of them had made contact before, Lin Zhushui’s hands had been icy, but now his hands were burning hot. The heat was transmitted from his palms to Zhou Jiayu, easing the panic in his heart. Although Zhou Jiayu’s mind was a bit jumbled, he sensed that Lin Zhushui’s actions were not ambiguous in the least, and it seemed that he only acted like this because he was worried about Zhou Jiayu.
However, even so, Zhou Jiayu was also quite happy. He thought, Shen Yiqiong was lucky that he didn’t follow them, otherwise Lin Zhushui would’ve been holding both their hands like he was leading kindergarten children. As Zhou Jiayu thought this to himself, even the scariness of the surrounding atmosphere subsided quite a bit.
The eight hundred meter long bridge was soon to come to an end. By the time they reached the second half of the bridge, the wreckage of broken vehicles could be seen everywhere, as well as flesh and blood scattered across the ground.
“Almost there,” Lin Zhushui said.
Almost where? Zhou Jiayu raised his head and vaguely saw something at the end of the bridge. It seemed to be a huge stone monument that stood up starkly at that end, and all of the dead were crawling towards that monument.
Zhou Jiayu walked near the stone monument, but there was a sudden ghastly wind, which, along with the cries of the dead, blew head-on at the two of them.
Lin Zhushui raised his left hand and slashed down heavily into the air. The wind was broken just like that, and Zhou Jiayu even heard the cries pause briefly.
“Scram!” Lin Zhushui scolded coldly.
It was the first time that Zhou Jiayu had heard such a cold tone from Lin Zhushui. Normally, although Lin Zhushui treated people coldly, he was still calm, but at this moment, Zhou Jiayu could only hear an intense disgust in his tone.
The stone monument was before them. The ground around it was filled with pieces of the wailing dead. They brushed their blood onto the stone monument, and then disappeared into the dense fog behind it.
Only after walking closer did Zhou Jiayu realize that on top of this stone monument, there were countless names densely engraved in bright red script.
Lin Zhushui said, “What is engraved on it?”
Zhou Jiayu hurriedly replied, “Some names.” He roughly scanned over the names engraved on the stone monument, but the more he looked at them, the stranger he found the situation. “It’s, it’s strange.”
Lin Zhushui said, “Strange?”
Zhou Jiayu said, “Yes, some of these names are people’s names, but some of them look like… online names or something.” Most of the names were normal, but a few, however, were out of place with the others. For example, Zhou Jiayu saw one that was somewhat similar to an online name: Orange Eating Rabbit— how could a normal person have such a name?
Lin Zhushui didn’t say anything about it, but simply said, “Look for Qin Yihe’s name.”
Zhou Jiayu froze. “Qin Yihe? Why her?” Shouldn’t they look for Tang Xiaochuan?
Lin Zhushui didn’t explain. “You’ll understand when you find it.”
When Zhou Jiayu heard this, he turned his gaze back to the stone monument, which was nearly two meters high. The light was dim, so it was really not an easy task to find a name. After searching for a while, Zhou Jiayu still found his target, and when he saw the name Qin Yihe on top of the stone monument, he finally understood why Lin Zhushui said that just now.
Because Qin Yihe’s name wasn’t carved on the stone monument alone. Her name was preceded by three words: the lover of.
The lover of Qin Yihe. The cursed person carved onto the stone monument was actually Qin Yihe’s lover?
Zhou Jiayu was dumbfounded, and he immediately thought of a certain crucial point: “Tang Xiaochuan thought that Qin Yihe was going abroad to get married, and she didn’t know who exactly Qin Yihe was going to marry, so she wrote this name on that website?”
Lin Zhushui nodded.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Zhou Jiayu was speechless. Perhaps Tang Xiaochuan would never have imagined in all her life that her curse would be fulfilled in her own body. Qin Yihe hadn’t changed her heart. She still loved Tang Xiaochuan and treated her as the love of her life, her only lover.
Itbe Aljse’r ygjlc kjr j ilaaif mbcoerfv: ”Dea Vlg, vlvc’a sbe rjs atja atf kfyrlaf kjr rtea vbkc j sfjg jub? Ccv ktja vbfr atja kfyrlaf tjnf ab vb klat atf jmmlvfcar bc atf yglvuf…”
Olc Itertel rjlv, “Pc beg ilcf bo kbgx, atfgf jgf jikjsr qfbqif ktb kjca ab gfnfgrf slc jcv sjcu. Ktfgf lr j ifufcv atja lo j vfjv qfgrbc ujatfgr fcbeut gfrfcawfca, atfs mjc agjcrobgw lcab j hbwylf.”
Zhou Jiayu said, “A zombie?”
Lin Zhushui nodded. “Then, if the zombie is nourished with the blood of children for a few decades, it will be able to regain its spirit. For those who are desperate, this is a method of resurrection.”
Zhou Jiayu caught the point of Lin Zhushui’s words, “So… that website collects resentment?”
Lin Zhushui asked without answering, “If you clicked into this website, is there any name you would want to fill in?”
Zhou Jiayu said, “Not really…” He was already very satisfied with his current life.
Lin Zhushui said, “Then, when a person fills in a name on this website, what do you think is going through their mind?”
Zhou Jiayu didn’t need to think about it to know that it must have been endless resentment and hatred, so much that even in the face of an almost ludicrous method, they would still have a twisted expression and full-heartedly strike down those keys on the keyboard.
Tang Xiaochuan was one such person.
She hated Qin Yihe’s ruthlessness, hated Qin Yihe’s cruelty, hated Qin Yihe’s abandonment. But in the end, love was stronger than hate, and she didn’t fill in Qin Yihe’s name but instead shifted her hatred to the nonexistent object of Qin Yihe’s affection.
“If that person dies, Qin Yihe will return to me, right?” Tang Xiaochuan thought, tapping her fingers on her keyboard and typing in the five words that pulled her into the abyss beneath the pitch-black website.
A year later, all the names that were given in resentment were carved onto a stone monument and placed onto the bridge, and the resentment began to gradually gather and even materialize.
Tang Xiaochuan happened to live near this newly completed bridge, so her curse became real.
“When constructing a bridge, construction starts from both ends at the same time.” Lin Zhushui let go of Zhou Jiayu’s hand. “When it is finally completed, the last bridge slab will be erected between the two ends in a step called ‘merging the dragons.’”
He reached out and slowly removed the string of jade beads from his wrist.
In a flash, Zhou Jiayu felt a cluster of flames ignite in front of him, and the air around Lin Zhushui became extremely hot, so hot that it caused him to involuntarily take a few steps back.
“Merging the dragons is a very important step,” Lin Zhushui said. “It’s just a pity that the bridge slab that completes that step has been tampered with.” He slowly stepped forward, and all the groaning dead near him revealed a look of fear, as if they had encountered the shadow of the sun, and began to dodge towards the side.
The stone monument was right before him. Lin Zhushui raised his hand and slapped it with his palm.
“AHHHHHH!!!” In the next moment, the stone monument let out a mournful wail. Those blood-colored names on it began to fall down in rows and rows like rotting pieces of meat, while the stone monument itself began to melt.
Lin Zhushui didn’t say a word and slapped again. His movements didn’t seem forceful, but the stone monument seemed to be completely ruined. Its original height of two meters began to rapidly shrink and flow towards the ground.
Zhou Jiayu looked down, only to realize that the stone monument had actually turned into fishy blood after melting.
“Want to make innocent people suffer for your cause?” Lin Zhushui said coldly, his thin lips lightly opening, throwing out words and phrases tinged with disgust. “It’s a pity that you’ve approached the wrong people.”
As he finished saying this, the monument’s wailing stopped, as if it had completely lost its vitality.
And after the monument disappeared, the yellow mist also began to gradually fade, and the souls of the dead that originally surrounded it looked as if they had lost their targets, staring blankly at their surroundings.
Zhou Jiayu felt that the Lin Zhushui at this time must’ve been handsome as hell. Why did he think that? Because Lin Zhushui became incomparably dazzling after he took off the beads on his wrist. Zhou Jiayu persisted for a while with tears in his eyes, but felt that if he continued to watch, he might not be able to see Lin Zhushui for the rest of his life, so he reluctantly closed his eyes, ears still listening carefully for Lin Zhushui’s voice.
“Open your eyes.” He didn’t know how long it had been, but Zhou Jiayu felt Lin Zhushui speak softly in his ear.
Zhou Jiayu opened his eyes and realized that his vision was still very blurry, but he could just barely manage to see. He said, “Sir, is it over?”
“Not yet,” Lin Zhushui said. “Let’s head back.”
Zhou Jiayu obediently followed Lin Zhushui back. At this time, the yellow mist almost dispersed, but the horror of the surrounding scene remained. After Zhou Jiayu asked what they would do now, Lin Zhushui said that he couldn’t manage these things and that they had to invite a few enlightened monks to come and release those souls from purgatory.
Zhou Jiayu said excitedly, “Sir, you really are knowledgeable.”
Lin Zhushui didn’t respond.
The two stepped off the bridge. Zhou Jiayu discovered a very cruel fact. His originally 5.0 eyesight hadn’t yet been restored. His surroundings seemed to be covered with a layer of gauze, and, at most, he could only see things within fifty meters. Only after walking very close did Zhou Jiayu see Shen Yiqiong and Qin Yihe waving at them.
“You’ve finally returned,” Qin Yihe said, “I almost thought that would be the last I saw of you.”
“Zhou Jiayu, what’s wrong with you? I’ve been waving at you for half a day, but you didn’t even react,” Shen Yiqiong said. “Why’re you crying?”
Zhou Jiayu’s eyes pricked with pain, but he still gritted his teeth and said, “Sir has inspired me.”
Shen Yiqiong’s expression was complex. He patted Zhou Jiayu’s shoulder and mouthed: you’re a master at flattery.
Zhou Jiayu: “…” That wasn’t his intention! Could Shen Yiqiong, this bastard, not change the topic?
Lin Zhushui obviously wasn’t so easily swayed by Shen Yiqiong. He raised his eyebrows and said, “Tears? Zhou Jiayu, what’s wrong with your eyes?”
Zhou Jiayu mumbled a few words, but Lin Zhushui instantly understood what was going on. In the end, he sighed helplessly at Zhou Jiayu and said, “Really, you… your eyes probably won’t be able to recover for a few days.”
Zhou Jiayu felt very embarrassed.
However, other things were attracting everyone’s attention, so they didn’t continue to dwell on the situation with Zhou Jiayu’s eyes. After the yellow mist dispersed, the dead on the bridge began to leave one by one. The scene was still quite terrifying to watch.
Qin Yihe also saw Tang Xiaochuan.
Tang Xiaochuan, who returned from the bridge, had no wounds and had returned to her usual pale, but at least intact face. She walked up to them with a dull expression and ignored Qin Yihe, who was trying to speak to her.
Zhou Jiayu, however, noticed a slight difference, and after thinking for a moment, he said in surprise, “Oh? How come Tang Xiaochuan’s shadow is gone?” Before, her shadow was irregular, but at least it was still there. Now, although the dim streetlight cast on her body, it failed to leave any traces on the ground.
“The hair that burned off earlier was her shadow,” Lin Zhushui said. “Someone made it on purpose.” Spirit bodies didn’t have shadows in the first place, and someone had deliberately helped Tang Xiaochuan patch up this flaw. Of course, her shadow probably didn’t look any different to normal people, but Zhou Jiayu was very sensitive in this aspect, so he should’ve been able to see the difference in the shadow as well.
Zhou Jiayu came to a realization. He remembered the hair that Lin Zhushui had grabbed from him. It seemed those long hairs were related to Tang Xiaochuan’s shadow.
“Let’s go,” Lin Zhushui said. “We’ll head back first.”
Although Zhou Jiayu felt that they hadn’t stayed on the bridge for long, in truth, it was already the early hours of the morning. The dark sky had already begun to faintly lighten, so it was likely that in a little while, they would be able to see the sun climb up from the horizon.
The group got into the car and prepared to leave the bridge.
Zhou Jiayu gave one last glance towards the bridge. The mist on the bridge had gradually dispersed, the bloody, strange scene melting like a mirage. The ordinary bridge appeared once again. There were even vehicles that were coming and going on it, as if what he had just experienced was nothing more than a terrifying dream.
But Zhou Jiayu thought secretly, this dream had Lin Zhushui in it, so it wasn’t unbearably terrifying at all.
Qin Yihe drove the car to her residence, and just as she stopped, Tang Xiaochuan got out of the car herself and went into the building. Looking at her back, Qin Yihe said with a complicated expression, “Great master, what… should I do next?”
Lin Zhushui asked, “Who told you that Tang Xiaochuan needs to find a replacement to feel at ease?”
Qin Yihe said, “The admin of a group chat. Quite a lot of people in the group have encountered this kind of thing. He occasionally gives some advice. By the way, the supernatural forum that wrote a lot about this topic was also created by him.” She then took out her phone to search through that group.
But unexpectedly, after opening QQ, she saw the system prompting that the xx group had been disbanded. Qin Yihe froze, “Disbanded?” She went to a search browser and typed in the URL of that forum, but found that the forum couldn’t be entered either.
“What’s going on?” Qin Yihe frowned. “…How come it’s suddenly disappeared?”
Lin Zhushui wasn’t surprised and said, “This matter should be resolved. In a few days, I will call someone over to transcend Tang Xiaochuan’s soul, so that she can enter reincarnation sooner.”
Qin Yihe wanted to speak but stopped. She bit her lower lip, but still managed to get the words out of her mouth. “Great master, I, I want to ask, can Xiaochuan still regain her sanity?”
After she knew that Tang Xiaochuan had been in a car accident, she hurried back to the country and was in a daze throughout Tang Xiaochuan’s funeral. After the funeral, Qin Yihe didn’t want to live anymore, but when she went to the bridge where Tang Xiaochuan had her accident one night, ready to jump from the bridge to accompany Tang Xiaochuan, she saw a familiar figure— Tang Xiaochuan. However, there seemed to be something wrong with her memory and sanity. As soon as she heard the name Qin Yihe, she would scream frantically, as if the name caused her extreme pain.
In desperation, Qin Yihe borrowed the identity of Tang Xiaochuan’s cousin and led her home.
And at this point, Qin Yihe was unsurprised to find that the Tang Xiaochuan who had reappeared was no longer human. Although she looked no different from a human, and was even able to eat and talk, on some special nights, she would drive alone towards that bridge, only to return the next morning.
On top of that, Tang Xiaochuan’s memories were from a year ago, to the time when they had just broken up. She even logged onto a forum that should’ve disappeared and wrote a certain post again.
After that, there was the chance encounter between Tang Xiaochuan and Zhou Jiayu.
At first, Qin Yihe didn’t take this matter to heart, until the group admin casually mentioned that if she could find someone who could open the website and bring them to the bridge, a trapped soul could escape from the cycle of death. It was only then that Qin Yihe moved on to something she shouldn’t have.
Fortunately, she met Zhou Jiayu and Lin Zhushui, who was protecting Zhou Jiayu, which prevented her from causing a major disaster.
While Qin Yihe was saying this, Lin Zhushui was deep in thought. He finally asked, “You said before that you had seen a living person step onto the bridge. What happened to them?”
Qin Yihe’s eyes showed fear. “It seemed to be a couple in a similar situation to me and Xiaochuan. The wife died in a car accident, so the husband accompanied his wife onto the bridge. I saw with my own eyes that as soon as he stepped onto the bridge, his entire body melted into dark blood.”
Zhou Jiayu heard this and immediately remembered the stone monument. The stone monument melted after being touched by Lin Zhushui and also turned into dark blood. Some associations immediately arose in his mind, and he blurted out, “Could it be that the stone monument…”
Lin Zhushui roughly knew what he wanted to say next and nodded. “A lot of people have already died.”
Zhou Jiayu shivered as he remembered the black melted liquid beneath his feet.
Zhou Jiayu said, “Sir, that… that website, why was it that only I could open it?”
Upon hearing this, Lin Zhushui smiled faintly. He said, “Who said only you can open it? Hasn’t Tang Xiaochuan also opened it?”
Zhou Jiayu was speechless.
Lin Zhushui said, “That person is just trying to find people with extreme yin constitutions. The net has already been cast, but whether or not fish can be caught is another matter.”
Zhou Jiayu: “…” He heard the double meaning behind Lin Zhushui’s words. Indeed, he was the foolish fish that had been caught.
As they spoke, the sun slowly rose from the horizon. The warm sunlight enveloped the earth, dispelling the darkness and gloom.
Qin Yihe looked a little tired as she leaned against her car seat and said, “Great master, Xiaochuan can be reincarnated now, yes?”
Lin Zhushui nodded.
Qin Yihe said, “Then, then before she reincarnates, will she be able to think of me?” She seemed to be speaking with difficulty. “I had something to do with Xiaochuan’s death. If I had been braver in the beginning…” She choked up, no longer able to speak.
Lin Zhushui took out a talisman paper from his pocket. “This talisman can be used to calm the spirit, and can also be used on yin creatures, but listening to your previous narration, I’m afraid that it’s Tang Xiaochuan herself who doesn’t want to think about you.”
Qin Yihe’s expression was a bit dumbfounded, and only after a short pause did she take the talisman from Lin Zhushui’s hand.
Most of the situation was resolved, it was just that the key culprit behind the scenes was yet to be found. However, Lin Zhushui said that there was no hurry and told them to go back to the hotel to rest. They would talk about other things in the afternoon.
After such a busy night, Zhou Jiayu was also a bit tired, and after arriving at the hotel, he fell asleep and slept until two o’clock in the afternoon before being woken up by Shen Yiqiong’s knock at the door.
Shen Yiqiong said, “Zhou Jiayu, are you awake?”
Zhou Jiayu wiltingly looked at Shen Yiqiong’s radiant appearance, and sighed in his heart that it was good to be young. When he was eighteen years old, he could stay up all night and still be alive the next day, but now, he felt that his body couldn’t hold up and his entire whole brain was wooden. He said, “En… I’m awake, what’s the matter? “
Shen Yiqiong said, “Sir asked me to call you up to head to the bridge together.”
Zhou Jiayu said, “Alright! I’ll be there right away!”
Shen Yiqiong said, “Are your eyes better?”
Zhou Jiayu said, “Better, a little better…” Before Shen Yiqiong mentioned it, he was fine, but as soon as it was brought up, Zhou Jiayu immediately felt that his vision was still a little blurry. However, he didn’t say anything and muddled through.
After freshening up, Zhou Jiayu casually ate something before following Shen Yiqiong to the bridge. Lin Zhushui and Jiang Shijiu had gone over first, and it seemed that the bridge was closed or something, the specifics of which Zhou Jiayu wasn’t sure about.
When they arrived at the side of the bridge, the road to and from the bridge had indeed been closed, and pedestrians were not allowed to pass through. Although the reason given to the public was that the bridge needed to be repaired, the actual situation was only clear to them.
Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong walked to the center of the bridge and saw Lin Zhushui, Jiang Shiliu, and construction workers. They had broken open a slab of the bridge and seemed to be looking for something.
“You’ve arrived?” Lin Zhushui asked.
Zhou Jiayu said, “En, we’re here. Sir, what are they looking for?”
Lin Zhushui said, “You’ll know soon enough.”
Jiang Shijiu also looked like he hadn’t slept well. His complexion wasn’t too good, and even when Zhou Jiayu and the others arrived, he only casually greeted them, and then continued to let the workers work away.
“There’s something!” Someone suddenly let out a startled cry.
Jiang Shijiu rushed straight over and said, “What?!”
The worker didn’t dare to touch it, pointing to a black stone monument that had actually appeared in the bridge deck that should’ve been made purely of cement. This monument was only a meter tall, with various names densely engraved on it. Zhou Jiayu also went over to take a look, and found that there were some differences between this monument and the one he saw yesterday. Yesterday’s was bigger and taller, with more names on it, as if it had grown by absorbing blood and flesh.
“Fuck!” Jiang Shijiu cursed. “Are they trying to mess with our Jiang family?”
Lin Zhushui said, “Move the stone monument away, there’s something underneath.”
The workers pried the stone monument away and realized that there really was something underneath it. It was a small wooden tablet, vermilion in color, with a few words written upon it in golden script. It looked very beautiful, but after Zhou Jiayu examined it, he could only recognize one word, “red.” When this object was revealed, it was accompanied by an almost choking stench of blood, and everyone around covered their noses.
Lin Zhushui bent down and picked up the wooden tablet. He casually weighed it and said, “Six taels and three coins.”
Jiang Shijiu seemed to understand, and said with a greenish face, “Six taels and three…? Sixty-three?”
Lin Zhushui said, “En.”
Jiang Shijiu didn’t say anything, just took out his cell phone and began a call. Listening to his greeting, it should’ve been to his brother, Jiang Shiliu.
Lin Zhushui said to Shen Yiqiong and Zhou Jiayu, “This is a life tablet, used to gather souls. A soul weighs a coin, so six taels and three coins is sixty-three dead.”
Zhou Jiayu exclaimed, “Sixty-three? So many?” The number of people who died in the car accidents shouldn’t have been more than thirty in total. If there weren’t even bodies for the remaining thirty-something, could they have all been swallowed by this bridge?
Lin Zhushui took out a black cloth bag and put the wooden tablet in it.
Jiang Shijiu finished the call and said with a bitter smile, “Mr. Lin, this matter is still my fault. If I had personally come when the dragons were merged, this wouldn’t have happened…”
An ordinary person would have comforted him with a few sentences, but Lin Zhushui wasn’t polite at all and said, “It’s good that you know.”
Jiang Shijiu looked embarrassed.
Although Jiang Shijiu wasn’t the culprit, he wasn’t unrelated to this matter. Lin Zhushui said, “This matter must have been planned for a long time. You’d better remember carefully who told you to do what that day.”
Jiang Shijiu said, “I, I don’t remember.” Looking at his red-faced appearance, it was obvious it wasn’t that he didn’t remember, but that had some unspeakable secret.
He added, “Then, Mr. Lin, how are we going to find the person who did this?”
Lin Zhushui laughed coldly, “Find? Why would I find them? Right now, they should be in a hurry trying to find me.”
Jiang Shijiu was about to say something, but Lin Zhushui made a gesture for him to stop. “That’s enough. Let your brother talk to me.”
Jiang Shijiu didn’t dare retort.
Jiang Shijiu’s brother Jiang Shiliu came very quickly. About ten minutes later, he ran onto the bridge panting for breath, but when he arrived, he didn’t say a word and instead raised his hand to Jiang Shijiu to slap him.
After being hit, the corner of Jiang Shijiu’s mouth tore. He hung his head to be lectured.
“Jiang Shijiu, you sure are capable, aren’t you?” Jiang Shiliu scolded. “I gave you this project, and this is how you supervise it for me? Such a big monument! I’d fucking love to open your brain to see if it’s all water inside!” He was still dressed in a suit and looked like he’d rushed over from some formal occasion.
Jiang Shijiu kept repeating that it was his fault.
Lin Zhushui was annoyed. “That’s enough. Fight when you get home, who are you putting on a show for?”
Jiang Shiliu’s intentions were revealed. He said embarrassedly, “Mr. Lin, our Jiang family’s lack of strict discipline is at fault.”
“Indeed, it is your lack of discipline,” Lin Zhushui said. “He might’ve not caught it, but how come you didn’t realize it either?”
Jiang Shiliu sighed. “I was injured some time ago. I still haven’t recovered and am still suffering some side effects.”
Lin Zhushui said, “Injured?”
Jiang Shiliu said, “Yes, there was an accident…”
Lin Zhushui raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think there are such coincidences in the world.”
Jiang Shiliu froze. “What you mean is…”
Lin Zhushui said, “What I mean is, you’d better investigate the people in your household. Oh, also, do you know someone called Yan Hongxiu?”
Jiang Shiliu was puzzled. “Yan Hongxiu? I don’t recognize it. It’s such a strange name, I’d surely have some impression if I’d heard it before.”
Lin Zhushui said, “Alright.” He didn’t ask any more questions, and didn’t even tell Jiang Shiliu that that was the name on top of the soul tablet.
After the stone monument was dug out, it had to be destroyed in a special way, and after that the bridge still couldn’t be opened to traffic, according to Lin Zhushui. An enlightened monk had to recite the Kṣitigarbhasūtra Sutra at this site for half a month to oversee those who died in vain because of this.
When Jiang Shiliu heard the need to invite a monk, his smile turned a little forced. Zhou Jiayu was quite curious, and when they left, he asked, “Is it particularly difficult to find an enlightened monk? Why was Jiang Shiliu’s expression so unpleasant?”
Lin Zhushui said, “They’re not hard to find, but they’re difficult to invite.”
Zhou Jiayu was still a bit confused, but seeing that Lin Zhushui had no intention of continuing to explain, he could only let it go.
After the matter was settled, Zhou Jiayu originally thought that they would have to return the next day, but unexpectedly, Lin Zhushui said that there was no rush, and let them play around for a few days.
Shen Yiqiong’s eyes widened in surprise when he heard Lin Zhushui words, and after waiting for Lin Zhushui to leave, he slapped Zhou Jiayu’s shoulder and said, ‘Not bad! Zhou Jiayu! You’re simply a lucky star!”
Zhou Jiayu was slapped painfully: “Can’t you be a little less forceful?”
Shen Yiqiong said, “I didn’t use much strength at all.”
But after a while, a neat slap mark appeared on Zhou Jiayu’s arm. He gritted his teeth and said, “Shen Yiqiong, is this what you mean by not using much strength?”
Shen Yiqiong said, “Wow, are you the princess from the Princess and the Pea? Come on, come on, I’ll let you slap me! If you make a red mark, I’ll admit defeat!”
Zhou Jiayu said, “Go away! You’re so tan, I won’t be able to make a red mark even if my hand turns swollen from slapping!”
Anything else was fine, but when it came to his own skin color, Shen Yiqiong couldn’t hold back. He complained, “Why do you hate my skin color so much? Tanner skin means I’m healthier.”
Zhou Jiayu said, “That’s true. If you strip naked at night, you’ll nearly be invisible.”
Shen Yiqiong: “Little urn, if you continue being like this, I might leave you.”
Zhou Jiayu rubbed his hands and said angrily, “Like I care.”
Shen Yiqiong: “…”
The author has something to say:
Zhou Jiayu: Sir, don’t, don’t… don’t…
Lin Zhushui: …
Zhou Jiayu: Don’t stop…
Lin Zhushui: I’m just rubbing your eyes, why are you talking so much?
Zhou Jiayu: _(:з」∠)_
The best ending 😂
Thank you for your translation 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛
Thanks for translating 😊