TGCFNM -Chapter 237 It’s About Time to Go

The next day, early in the morning.

After breakfast, Chu Ling and the others set off for the abandoned vegetable garden to look for poisonous herbs. When they arrived, everyone came to an abrupt halt, staring in surprise at the scene before them.

The low wall had been completely torn down, and the remaining stones were scattered haphazardly across the ground. The vegetable garden was a total mess, filled with rubble.

At that moment, the courier approached quickly, and once he reached Chu Ling’s side, he hurriedly said, “Master Chu, early this morning Master Qi and Master Xu came and took the stones away.”

Chu Ling pointed at the garden. “They just left after leaving it like this?”

The courier smiled awkwardly. “Y-Yes, that’s right.”

“Did they pay?” Chu Ling frowned.

The courier immediately nodded, looking at Chu Ling with gratitude. “Thanks to your reminder, Master Qi left silver before leaving—more than enough.”

“That’s good,” Chu Ling said quietly, walking into the garden. Looking at the stones scattered everywhere, she suddenly turned to the courier with a smile. “Why not take this opportunity to clear the rubble and turn over the entire garden while we’re at it?”

The courier hurriedly asked, “Master, there’s no poisonous herb?”

Chu Ling shook her head. “None.”

The courier finally relaxed a bit. “Then I can have someone come in a few days to…”

“No!” Chu Ling shook her head. “Have them come now… Master Wan.”

Wan Sanjin smiled and handed over the silver. “Thank you for your trouble, courier.”

The courier hurriedly accepted it and said, “I’ll go find the people right away,” then turned and left promptly.

After handing over the silver, Wan Sanjin walked to Chu Ling’s side and asked, “Why turn over the soil if there’s no poisonous herb?”

Su He, who had been squatting and observing for some time, looked up and said, “There isn’t any.”

Chu Ling crossed her arms and looked at them. “Don’t you find it strange? Overnight, so many rabbits, chickens, and ducks died?”

“So, if there’s no poisonous herb, how did so many chickens and ducks die?” Su He slowly stood up, suspicion in his voice. “Could it be some other toxic substance?”

Chu Ling nodded. “We won’t know until we turn over the soil.”

Su He turned to Chu Ling. “Master, why are you suddenly meddling in this?”

Chu Ling lowered her gaze and thought for a long moment. She couldn’t honestly say she had the ability to see ghosts, otherwise people would either think she was a monster or constantly worry about her. So she had to bluff.

“Originally, last night, once we found the so-called crying ghost, it should have ended there. But ten or more rabbits died overnight—this kind of poison, I’ve never seen. So at first, I was curious what kind of poisonous herb it was. But looking now, since it isn’t a poisonous herb, it must be some other extremely toxic thing… Consider it a chance to expand my knowledge. Next time I encounter something like this, I’ll have a better idea.”

Su He listened carefully. “I see now.”

Chu Ling nodded solemnly and turned just in time to see the courier arriving with people.

“Master Chu, the men are here. We’ll start turning over the soil.” The courier said this while directing the workers to begin.

Chu Ling stepped aside and waited quietly.

The Ghost Scholar asked from the side, “Do you still remember where you buried it?”

Cheng Dian pointed in a direction. “Over there.”

Chu Ling looked in the direction Cheng Dian indicated. As luck would have it, someone had already begun digging there.

A quarter of an hour later, a scream rang out.

Chu Ling’s eyes lit up. She ran over instantly and shouted, “What happened? What’s going on?”

“My… my… hand…” The man collapsed to the ground, terrified, his face as pale as snow.

Chu Ling leaned over to see, then took the shovel from the man and dug a bit further. She unearthed an arm bone and a leg bone.

Strange… is that all?

Chu Ling dug a bit more beside it, but found nothing.

The Ghost Scholar asked in surprise, “Was only one arm and one leg buried here?”

Cheng Dian looked blank; he couldn’t remember.

“Coroner Su, come take a look,” Chu Ling called out.

Wan Sanjin arrived first. “Coroner Su went back to get the tools… just this? The rest of the body? Did you dig it up yourself, sir?”

Chu Ling handed him the iron spade. “Dig a little more and see.”

Wan Sanjin acknowledged and started digging deeper.

Chu Ling stepped back, letting go of the spade, her eyes glancing at Cheng Dian: How did you bury this… and you don’t even remember?

The Ghost Scholar looked at the bones in the pit and suddenly asked, “Why did you linger here because of just a severed arm and leg? Shouldn’t you have followed your body? Is there some lingering attachment?”

“Attachment?” Cheng Dian murmured softly, “My attachment?”

“Eh, what’s this?” Wan Sanjin had dug up a rotten cloth pouch, inside which was a jade hairpin broken into three pieces.

Chu Ling took the hairpin from Wan Sanjin, laid the pieces neatly in her palm, and spread them under the sunlight.

“It’s Sister Yu’s… Sister Yu’s hairpin,” Cheng Dian suddenly burst into tears, blood mingling with tears falling relentlessly.

The Ghost Scholar steadied him and asked, “Who is Sister Yu?”

“My Sister Yu… I said when I passed the exams and returned home, I would marry her,” Cheng Dian sobbed painfully. “I had written home early, asking Sister Yu and my mother to come to Yuchuan. I was the county magistrate, a fatherly official of the region. I could finally let them live a good life.”

Chu Ling’s hand slowly clenched, then she looked at the courier who had been dazed since earlier: “Has anyone ever died in this inn? Which official who stayed here passed away?”

The courier looked up blankly. “I haven’t seen anyone…”

Chu Ling rephrased the question: “Back then, over a single night, more than ten rabbits died here… no one ever dug here?”

The courier shook his head. “I only heard from the previous old courier that over one night, more than ten rabbits died. Later, gradually, no one came. And I never heard him mention anyone dying in the inn.”

Chu Ling frowned, wondering how to investigate this.

“Sir!” the courier suddenly shouted again, flustered, “Sir, how could anyone die in the inn? These are all traveling officials; who would dare?”

Seeing the courier’s nervousness, Chu Ling went along: “Perhaps it was just some passerby. We’ll be passing through Yuchuan anyway. We can find a place to bury the remains and offer three incense sticks.”

The courier wiped the sweat from his forehead, looking at Chu Ling with gratitude. “Sir Chu Ling… truly, I don’t know how to thank you.”

Chu Ling waved it off and instructed the courier to find a wooden box to store the bones, to be tied to the back of the carriage later.

At that moment, Su He walked over, eyes suspiciously fixed on Chu Ling. “Sir, you suddenly said last night to stop at Yuchuan?”

Chu Ling cleared her throat lightly. “Yes… yes. Yuchuan… Yuchuan, it…”

“On Yuchuan’s Purple Stone Mountain, there’s stone lotus,” Bai Su said.

“On Yuchuan’s Purple Stone Mountain, there’s stone lotus. My master mentioned it,” Chu Ling said.

Su He asked, “Stone lotus? I’ve seen many poisons, but never this.”

Bai Su recalled, “It may take ten years just to grow one flower. I’ve only seen it once. Its use… is to burn it in a porcelain dish; the fragrance is pleasant, favored by Buddhist practitioners. It’s valuable, yet a bit impractical.”

Chu Ling translated: “Stone lotus… may take ten years to grow one flower, extremely expensive, can be sold to Buddhist practitioners.”

Su He finally understood. “Ah, it’s for selling… then we should indeed go there.”

Chu Ling nodded. “Yes, we should make a trip.”