TGCFNM -Chapter 236 Looking for the Ghost

Chu Ling deliberately raised her voice, and soon someone from the next room opened the door and looked at her. “You’re going to look for a ghost?”

Chu Ling nodded. “Want to come along?”

The person hesitated for a moment, then nodded firmly. After throwing on an outer robe, he went to knock on the other doors.

Chu Ling also returned to her own room and silently told the few ghosts: Go find that Crybaby Ghost.

Ghost Scholar and the others immediately followed.

When everyone had tidied up and gathered on the first floor, the post station attendant came over as well. After hearing the reason, he looked at Chu Ling with admiration. “Lord Chu, in all these years, only you have had the courage to seek out the truth.”

Chu Ling waved her hand dismissively. “There’s strength in numbers. With so many living people full of yang energy here, how could we be afraid of one Crybaby Ghost?”

The official who had first agreed to come along, Xu Mou, chimed in, “Exactly. With so many of us, how could we be scared of a single ghost? Besides, once Lord Chu gave it the name ‘Crybaby Ghost,’ I suddenly felt much braver.”

Qi Zheng nodded. The name “Crybaby Ghost” really did make it sound far less frightening.

Brimming with confidence, Chu Ling reminded everyone to hold their lanterns properly, then had the attendant open the main gate.

The moment the gate opened, a gust of icy wind rushed in. Everyone instinctively clutched their collars and shrank their necks.

At the same time, a wailing sound drifted in. Without the door blocking it, the sound was as if it were screaming right beside their ears, clearer and more piercing than before.

The attendant couldn’t help but say fearfully, “L–Lord Chu… how about… how about we give up?”

Chu Ling turned around and earnestly lectured them, “Think about it. If there really is one ghost, it can only deal with one person at a time. So with so many of us, wouldn’t we easily catch it?”

The attendant replied uncertainly, “I… I suppose so?”

“Of course so!” Chu Ling said firmly. “So do we, with this many people, need to be afraid of a Crybaby Ghost? No, we don’t.”

Encouraged, the attendant gained a bit of confidence and lifted his lantern, preparing to follow them out.

Chu Ling raised her hand and called out, “Let’s go! Ghost hunting!” With that, she took the lead and strode forward.

After walking some distance, she lowered her voice. “Master, I’m your only student now. If we run into a ghost, you must tell me immediately.”

“Aunt Su, I’m your precious only disciple. If a ghost tries to harm your disciple, remember to stab it to death with your silver needles.”

Ghost Scholar and Bai Su: “……”

Cui Xi said, “Don’t worry, my lord. Wangcai says he’ll howl ‘awoo awoo’ to warn us.”

Chu Ling shot a glance at Wangcai, who was busy chasing his own tail. She didn’t believe a word from that dog. It had run all over the post station earlier and hadn’t even spotted Cheng Dian—just kept playing with its tail.

Just then, another cold gust of wind swept over them, and Chu Ling instinctively hunched her shoulders.

Sure enough, in the next instant, the eerie ghostly wail sounded again.

Following the direction of the sound, Chu Ling lifted her lantern and carefully walked forward, passing the stables and gradually making her way to the back of the post station.

Behind the station was a small slope. Not far away, trees swayed wildly in the night wind, their rustling leaves hardly less unsettling than the ghostly cries.

The lantern in Chu Ling’s hand swayed with the wind, the candlelight flickering on and off, adding an extra layer of eeriness.

She turned back to say something, only to see Wan Sanjin pulling Xiao Hua in front of him, with Zhang Dong on his left and Su He on his right. He was completely shielded in the middle. Yet his pale face had gone even whiter, his eyes darting nervously from side to side, as if he were on the verge of suffocating from fear.

At that moment, another blast of cold wind came, and the ghostly crying rang out once more.

Wan Sanjin whimpered and buried his head outright.

Following the increasingly closer sound, Chu Ling’s gaze suddenly sharpened. She fixed her eyes on a certain spot and strode toward it.

Ghost Scholar also sensed something unusual and floated over with the other ghosts.

Zhang Dong whispered, “It seems the master has discovered something. Let’s all go over.”

Everyone nodded in unison but still advanced slowly, keeping a distance of three or four steps from Chu Ling, who was leading the way.

Finally, Chu Ling’s steps stopped. She lifted the lantern slowly, illuminating a short wall ahead.

Behind the wall was a long-abandoned vegetable plot, pitch black, and it was impossible to tell whether what was growing there were vegetables or weeds.

But Chu Ling wasn’t looking at the wall or the garden; her gaze was fixed on a large hole in the wall.

The Ghost Scholar stepped forward and asked, “Is it this hole?”

Chu Ling bent slightly to peer through the opening and murmured, “The wall collapsed there, so the wind blew through.”

The Ghost Scholar couldn’t help but chuckle, saying, “So that’s it.”

Chu Ling straightened and beckoned the others to come over. Then, pointing at the short wall with the hole, she tapped it with his fingers.

To everyone’s surprise, what appeared to be just dark stones emitted a beautiful, musical sound.

Qi Zheng stepped forward curiously and tapped the stone as well. Astonished, he said, “How can this stone make such a sound?”

Chu Ling then tapped a few nearby stones, and they all resonated.

Qi Zheng tried some more and his eyes lit up. “This… we must bring it back to the capital.”

After a glance at him, Chu Ling turned to the others and explained, “These stones produce a crisp, musical sound when struck. But one stone is missing in the sequence, so…”

She pulled Qi Zheng back.

At that moment, a cold wind blew through the night, and the whistling seemed eerily like a ghostly wail echoing in their ears.

Qi Zheng’s eyes widened in realization. “So the wind blowing through this hole creates a vortex, which causes the ghostly sound!”

The courier stepped forward. “These stones have been here for a long time. They were just dug up to build the wall. Later, when this vegetable plot was abandoned, no one tended it, and the short wall opposite had already collapsed… Who would have thought the stones themselves were responsible?”

Chu Ling’s eyes flickered with curiosity. “Why was this vegetable plot abandoned? It’s nearby—growing vegetables here would have been convenient.”

The courier looked at Chu Ling somewhat regretfully. “I heard from the previous courier that one year, a dozen rabbits suddenly died in this vegetable plot. At the time, he was puzzled, so he bought some ducks and geese—yet they too died in a single night. He suspected poisonous plants in the plot but couldn’t identify them, so he abandoned it. No one has come here since.”

Xu Mou chuckled helplessly. “No wonder it took until today for Master Chu to uncover the secret behind the ghostly wails.”

Chu Ling pointed to Su He and said to the courier, “This subordinate of mine is skilled in identifying poisonous plants. Tomorrow, have him come take a look—it’s an easy task anyway.”

The courier’s face lit with gratitude. “Thank you, Master Chu.”

Chu Ling smiled. “Otherwise, it’s a pity to waste this vegetable plot.”

Qi Zheng added, “I’ll come tomorrow as well. I’ll take these musical stones back to the capital.”

Chu Ling teased, “Then Master Qi will have to pay the courier some silver to rebuild the short wall, since you’ll be taking all the stones from it.”

Qi Zheng laughed heartily. “Of course.”

The courier gave Chu Ling a grateful glance and then stepped aside.

Chu Ling waved his hand. “Since the crying ghost has been caught, let’s head back. It’s dark and cold tonight.”

Xu Mou laughed. “Yes, let’s return. Once we’re back in the capital, I’ll have to properly recount this to my friends.”

Qi Zheng laughed out loud at this.

The others also laughed, thinking how amusing it was that such a funny thing could happen to them.

Chu Ling walked over and patted Wan Sanjin on the shoulder. “What’s there to fear about ghosts? Living people are far more frightening.”

Wan Sanjin relaxed as well. “That’s true.”