The Night Watcher of Great Jing - Chapter 10

The atmosphere in the rear hall had grown heavy.

Shen Yan sat rigidly upright, his brow deeply furrowed.

Zhao Li cautiously stole a glance at him.

Only after listening to Lu Zhao and the others had she learned what kind of status and background this young, domineering Lord Shen possessed in Great Jing.

The reigning emperor had many interests. He loved fine clothes, cats and dogs, amusement, and women.

In recent years, he had become obsessed with cultivating immortality and seeking the Dao. The only thing he did not enjoy was the actual work of being emperor.

The man who commanded the court in his stead was Shen Zhixing, the chief eunuch at his side.

Shen Zhixing was essentially Wei Zhongxian on steroids.

His adopted sons and grandsons filled the court and provinces, forming a Eunuch Faction that checked and balanced the Purist Faction among the officials.

If Shen Zhixing and Shen Yan stamped their feet, all Great Jing would shake.

With Lord Shen’s reputation and background, he would absolutely qualify as a film’s final villain.

Zhao Li paused and looked down at the fish-patterned uniform she wore.

Then again, there would be nothing incongruous about the Jingning Guard appearing as the villainous organization.

Shen Yan sat with his back stiff and straight. He knew Zhao Li was looking at him, but for once, he had no idea what to say.

Fortunately, Lu Zhao returned with the records and rescued them.

“My lord, I found it!” Lu Zhao hurried in excitedly with a dossier.

Shen Yan accepted the dust-covered roll and frowned.

He took out a handkerchief and meticulously wiped the dust from its edges. Without reading it himself, he handed it to Zhao Li first.

She accepted it instinctively, then realized something seemed wrong.

When she looked up, Shen Yan was frowning and had somehow produced a second handkerchief to wipe his hands.

Zhao Li did not know whether this was standard workplace etiquette in Great Jing, and she dared not ask. She opened the dossier herself.

There was no punctuation, and the writing followed Great Jing’s official document style. Zhao Li managed to struggle through it.

Fifteen years ago, a low-ranking official surnamed Lin had moved into the family quarters with his household.

The Lin family had one daughter. She was betrothed, their birth charts had been matched, and a wedding date chosen.

Then, without warning, festering sores erupted across the young woman’s face.

No physician could cure her. Her beauty was ruined.

People gossiped. Some even said Miss Lin had contracted a filthy disease like syphilis.

On the night her fiancé’s family broke the engagement, Miss Lin dressed in red wedding robes, covered her head with a bridal veil, and hanged herself from a roof beam.

Afterward, there were rumors of a woman singing or combing her hair at midnight, but most seemed to be hearsay.

The government quarters did not have permanent residents. Officials were reassigned, and their accommodations changed accordingly.

Many people came and went without anything truly happening.

Then, three years ago, a registrar and every member of his household died violently in Fragrant Orchid Courtyard.

Zhao Li lowered her head to think.

A cup of tea appeared beside her, and she accepted it without looking up.

Lu Zhao opened his mouth to warn her, but Shen Yan raised a hand and stopped him.

Shen Yan watched Zhao Li with a frown, unable to determine the source of his inexplicable feelings toward her.

Her strange abilities and present behavior did not fit together at all. Yet he instinctively believed every word she said and could not summon the slightest suspicion.

Zhao Li bit her lower lip, recalling how such situations should be handled.

The entity’s true body still could not leave the courtyard. As long as they kept their distance, the danger it posed would remain limited.

At last, she raised her head.

“This should not be difficult to resolve.”

Feeling as though she were in a job interview, Zhao Li adopted a more serious expression.

“When dealing with this type of supernatural anomaly, the best course is either to find the corpse or dispel its resentment.”

Shen Yan prompted with interest, “Oh?”

“No matter how carefree a person may have been, they will always possess some lingering attachment at the moment of death,” Zhao Li explained.

“A lingering obsession from life, together with the last breath of calamity trapped in the corpse’s throat, becomes the force sustaining a ghost’s existence.”

“The stronger the obsession in life, the stronger the entity after death.”

This world had only just entered a spiritual resurgence. Its understanding of such beings remained crude and confused.

It was nothing like Zhao Li’s former world, which had endured a century of such phenomena and developed a complete, reliable body of theory.

Beneath the lamplight, Zhao Li gave them a simple explanation of how supernatural anomalies came to exist.

“If that is the source of their existence…” Shen Yan repeated the words *lingering obsession* thoughtfully. “Then dispelling their resentment, or cutting off its source, would resolve the problem at its root?”

Even among students in the same lecture, there were differences in aptitude. Her prospective superior was clearly much quicker than Lu Zhao.

Zhao Li gave him an approving look and nodded.

“Lord Shen is correct. You have struck directly at the heart of the matter. Your perception is truly remarkable.”

She had a beautiful pair of eyes. When she looked directly at someone, even blatant flattery seemed exceptionally sincere.

Such straightforward praise caught Shen Yan off guard.

He lowered his head, lifted his tea, and took a shallow sip to hide the discomfort in his eyes.

After delivering her compliment, Zhao Li observed him in secret.

Shen Yan merely drank his tea without expression, showing no delight.

Her future superior was apparently immune to sweet words and flattery.

She resumed in a serious tone.

“In theory, no matter how vicious a supernatural anomaly becomes, resolving its obsession from life will instantly dissolve all its resentment and allow it to disperse.”

“A corpse also has the closest connection to the ghost. Properly handling it can be a great help in resolving this kind of supernatural case.”

Lu Zhao eagerly cut in.

“If that is true, the records say Miss Lin killed herself because of her broken engagement. Why don’t we arrange a ghost marriage for her and resolve her resentment?”

Zhao Li did not know whether to laugh or cry.

“Who would you marry her to?”

One could not choose just anyone for a ghost marriage. Ghosts had preferences too.

She had asked casually, but Lu Zhao answered as though it were obvious.

“Her former fiancé, of course!”

Zhao Li stared at him.

“Fifteen years is neither especially long nor short. Her former fiancé should still be alive—and married with children by now.”

If he had moved quickly enough, he might nearly have grandchildren. How were they supposed to arrange a ghost marriage?

Lu Zhao’s answer broadened her horizons.

“Bah! As long as he is not from some powerful official household, we drag him over and stuff him into the coffin. If it settles the matter, that’s good enough.”

Good lord.

Who would have imagined that a man with such honest, thick-browed looks could devise something so immoral?

Was this how the Jingning Guard operated?

She turned to ask whether Shen Yan knew his subordinate was this reckless, only to find him nodding darkly.

“As long as he is below the fifth rank, there is no need for concern. We can bear the consequences.”

Zhao Li abruptly felt that her moral integrity was so extraordinarily high that she had nothing in common with either man.

When Lu Zhao lifted a foot as if to carry out the plan immediately, she hurried to stop him.

“Wait! If you do that, how will we eliminate the former fiancé’s lingering obsession and resentment?”

A perfectly healthy man dragged into a ghost marriage and stuffed into a coffin would naturally die full of rage. Would that not create an entirely new problem?

“He abandoned his betrothed over her appearance and malicious rumors, driving Madam Lin to hang herself. He was already at fault. Paying with his life would not be unjust,” Shen Yan said leisurely as he raised his cup.

“If we keep his corpse in our possession, I imagine we could control him as well.”

He had even thought the matter through!

Zhao Li opened her mouth, then found herself utterly speechless.