PWE – Chapter 24 I know you’ve been wronged

The ghost child nodded and obediently did as instructed.

Xiao Wange bit her finger and used her blood to draw a talisman on the ghost child’s forehead. She watched the sigil, formed a hand seal—and the ghost child’s soul drifted toward the corpse, merging with it in the blink of an eye.

“All right, open your eyes.” Xiao Wange’s tone softened as she looked at the child in the coffin.

The child inside the coffin suddenly opened his eyes.

He sat up, glanced at his body, then reached out to touch his cheek, hardly daring to believe it. “Am I really… really alive?”

Zhao Guixiang was overwhelmed with emotion. She took the child out, feeling his quickly returning warmth, and smiled as she turned to Xiao Wange. “Comrade Xiao, he’s really alive—he actually came back to life!”

It felt miraculous, like a dream. She had never imagined the dead could be revived.

“This is only temporary.” Xiao Wange glanced at Zhao Guixiang and said lightly.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Guixiang’s joy instantly turned to gloom.

Right—Xiao had said the revival would last only a few hours. She could hold her grandson alive for only those hours. But she wished he could live on. She wanted him to grow up healthy and happy.

Sadness welled up in Zhao Guixiang; thinking the child might die again in a few hours, tears began to fall uncontrollably.

“Let’s go. We’re going to find someone now. After we find that person, we’ll look for the child’s father. If we find him, maybe the child can live longer,” Xiao Wange said, a lively smile at the corner of her mouth as she stepped out of the room.

Zhao Guixiang hesitated—finding the child’s father would let the child keep living? Could that be true?

Her hope returned. She hugged the child and hurried out.

Daoist Qu, seeing Zhao Guixiang carrying the child and noticing the child truly revived, widened his eyes in shock.

He stared at the child for a few moments, then, obsequiously, turned to Xiao Wange: “Immortal, will you take disciples? Please accept me as your disciple. If you accept me, I will serve you faithfully—I—”

“No.” Before Daoist Qu could finish, Xiao Wange cut him off with a cold look.

Disgust showed in her eyes as she said, “I will never accept someone who has done such evil as my disciple.”

Daoist Qu: “…” Heartbroken and stung.

Xiao Wange lifted Daoist Qu to his feet and tapped his shoulder; his legs could walk again.

She then led them to a woman in her forties. When the woman saw the revived child she too grew emotional—and after a moment, she accompanied Xiao Wange and the others to the Mu family in the county town.

…

The Mu family was a well-known wealthy household in the county.

They lived in a two-story Western-style villa, exquisitely built—somewhat like a 21st-century villa.

When Xiao Wange and Zhao Guixiang entered the courtyard, the child—whom Zhao Guixiang had named He Wentao, nicknamed Taotao—stood beside her and said, “This is where my father lives. His place is so pretty—much more beautiful than where they kept my corpse.”

Taotao’s eyes shone with envy. He had lived in that house when alive and had even died there; he had never lived in such a beautiful place. Living somewhere so lovely must make one happy every day.

Seeing Taotao’s longing face, Xiao Wange patted his head. “If you like it, then fight hard in the future and get yourself a house this beautiful.”

Taotao lowered his eyes—he was dead now. Could he still have the chance to strive?

A maid led them to the sitting room.

At that moment, Mu’s matriarch was praising her second grandson.

With a face full of benevolence, she said to Mu Yuncheng, “We can trust Yuncheng with the factory. We worried he might not manage it, but he’s not inferior to Yunhao in running things.”

Yunhao was Mu Yuncheng’s elder brother.

A few years ago, when the country introduced new policies, the Mu family opened a garment factory. Under Mu Yunhao’s management it prospered, becoming the county’s most thriving factory.

Yunhao should have continued to manage it, but he had been in a car accident some time ago that injured his leg and left him wheelchair-bound.

From a favored son to a cripple—the blow was huge, and he could no longer manage the factory. So the task of running it fell to his younger brother, Mu Yuncheng.

Yuncheng had been a teacher at a school—he loved students and teaching. Taking over the family factory forced him to give up his beloved profession, and the family all felt guilty about that. They believed they had robbed him of his dream.

Mu matriarch sighed. Fate can be cruel: the eldest son had ambitions for the business, but after the accident he could no longer work. Their father could have taken over, but he suddenly fell ill; not a fatal disease, but one that made heavy labor impossible.

So the burden could only fall on Yuncheng. Initially he refused, but after the family’s persuasion he reluctantly agreed.

After Mu matriarch finished, Yuncheng’s mother Gong Nianzhen said, “Yuncheng, we know you’re wronged, but we have no choice—if you don’t take over, the factory—”

“Madam Mu, I’m afraid your second son doesn’t feel wronged at all—he’s delighted,” a voice interrupted.

Everyone turned to see a fair-faced, cool-tempered young woman enter. Behind her were a Daoist, a woman, and a child of about a year old.

Seeing the child, Mu matriarch and Gong Nianzhen were stunned.

The child’s features—how could they be so similar to Yuncheng’s?

Taotao’s face resembled his mother, but his eyes and brows were strikingly like Mu Yuncheng’s. Anyone who knew Yuncheng could see the resemblance at a glance.

They gaped, unprepared for this.

Mu Yuncheng himself, looking at Taotao and Daoist Qu, couldn’t hold back surprise; his calm, steady face darkened.

“Madam, this comrade says there’s important business—she claims she’s found our family’s missing child.” The maid hurried over and told the matriarch.

“Missing child?” the matriarch chewed on the words.

“This is Mu Yuncheng’s son born out of wedlock. The child is already over a year old,” Xiao Wange said plainly as she pushed Taotao in front of the matriarch.

The matriarch looked at Taotao’s familiar brows and asked, “Is this really our child?”

“Grandma,” Mu Yuncheng stood from the sofa and shot Xiao Wange and the others a cold glance. “There are many frauds in society. Scammers are everywhere and very skilled. These people must be tricksters trying to use this child to cheat our family out of money!”

He glanced at Taotao. “Who knows where they found a child like this—though he does resemble me a bit.”

Xiao Wange smiled at Yun Cheng’s evasive reply.

One had to admit—Mu Yuncheng was a character. He wasn’t panicked at all; he could still lie calmly without turning a shade red. Most people would have been trembling with fear.

Suppressing a mocking smile, Xiao Wange said, “Mu Yuncheng, you killed this child and turned him into a little ghost—have you forgotten? If you have, I can help you remember.”

“A little ghost?” Mu matriarch and Gong Nianzhen were struck dumb, as if struck by thunder. Mu Yunhao in his wheelchair also widened his eyes in shock.

“That’s right—a little ghost. For his private desires, to seize the Mu family fortune, he refined this little ghost. You all thought he was some benevolent man, that he was content as an ordinary teacher? Ha—teaching was only his camouflage. Long ago he coveted the family wealth and schemed to seize it for himself.”

Xiao Wange’s words fell slowly, each one icy and weighty, striking the Mu family in the chest.

“Nonsense! There are no such things as ghosts! Who have you got a grudge against, to tell such lies to harm me? If you want to slander me, at least make it believable—who would believe such utter nonsense?” Mu Yuncheng retorted angrily, displeasure etched in his features.

Then he glanced at the maid: “What are you waiting for? Throw these people out!”

“Mu Yuncheng, do you know?” Xiao Wange said coldly, “evil deeds will bring retribution—and your retribution has come.” The moment she finished speaking, the bright room suddenly went dark. Even outside the courtyard it turned black.

It was as if the day itself had gone dark.