47. The Mysterious Woman
The one who spoke must be the girl’s father.
Although Gong Yiling disliked judging other people’s family matters, the current situation was more than that. It was about seeking justice for a girl who could no longer speak for herself.
“Are you even a father!?”
Gong Yiling’s face darkened as she turned, but then she remembered.
She was just an observer here. The people here couldn’t hear her. Her anger was futile.
But when she saw the old father’s face, her heart skipped a beat.
She had seen this person not once, not twice, but three times.
The first time was on the street, the second was near the edge of town, and the third was now.
But that didn’t make sense.
Although she didn’t know how long ago this memory was, judging by the weathering of the stone walls, it wasn’t a recent event.
In other words…
This uncle’s appearance hadn’t changed at all in several years, or even decades?
Even if he had some cultivation, it wasn’t enough to prevent him from aging.
What was going on?
Gong Yiling couldn’t help but wonder.
And as she was pondering this, the old father began to clean up the mess.
“You few, go and tell Young Master Zhao that today’s wedding is canceled.” He said calmly. “And you few, throw this rebellious daughter’s body into the Hundred Ghosts Ridge. She’s not worthy of being buried in our Liu family’s ancestral grave.”
The guests murmured amongst themselves, but they also seemed to feel that such an incident on a joyous day was inauspicious.
This daughter had no regard for her family’s reputation. Even with her dead body here, they showed little sympathy. Some even started to point and gossip.
“Master!” The girl’s mother, after all, her own flesh and blood, seemed to want to say something. “Yao’er, she—”
“This is all your fault!” The old father interrupted her. “If you had taught her what to do and what not to do, she wouldn’t be so shameless.”
“Don’t you know what’s been happening in the town lately? What we should be doing?”
His words made the mother lower her head, unable to say another word.
“What are you looking at?” The old father, seeing this, immediately ordered the guards in festive attire to clear the tableware.
The crowd bustled, whispering, the atmosphere shifting from festive to shocked, to chaotic, to busy, and finally, to calm.
Gong Yiling followed the people carrying the girl’s body towards the Hundred Ghosts Ridge.
She watched as they carelessly tossed the girl, still in her wedding dress, into the ridge, then fled as if from a plague.
And just like that, a girl who should have been looking forward to a beautiful life was discarded like trash.
Although she knew this was just a memory, Gong Yiling couldn’t help but sigh.
She entered the Hundred Ghosts Ridge, carried the girl’s body out, and buried her outside, even setting up a tombstone.
Yes, although she couldn’t interfere with the story—and it wouldn’t have made a difference if she could—she could do this, a small, perhaps futile gesture, to bring some comfort to the soul here.
However, after setting up the unmarked tombstone, she turned and saw a woman in white standing beside her.
“Holy crap!” Miss Gong was startled. “Are you a ghost, lady? You don’t make a sound when you walk.”
Then she pouted.
“Oh, right, I forgot she can’t hear me.”
The woman indeed acted as if she couldn’t hear her. She walked a few steps forward and stood before the tombstone for a long time, then took out a bride’s phoenix veil from her sleeve and gently placed it on the tombstone.
She can see the tombstone but not me?
Miss Gong wondered what this scene looked like from the other person’s perspective.
Then, she heard her, as if speaking to herself, or seeking someone’s opinion.
“Tell me, how should I punish these people?”
“Punish them?” Since the other person couldn’t hear her, Gong Yiling stroked her chin and muttered, “At their happiest moment, tear apart what they cherish most, then repeat the scene a few hundred times, trapping them in it, never to be reincarnated.”
“That sounds like a good plan, doesn’t it?”
Thinking like this, I do have some potential to be a demonic sect leader, right?
Hahahahaha—
“That is indeed a good plan.”
“Right? Right? This plan—”
Gong Yiling froze mid-sentence.
Yes, she was stunned.
Weren’t they in different dimensions? If the other person couldn’t hear her, why would she suddenly comment on her suggestion?
This could only mean one thing: this person could see her.
“Can you see me, or hear me?” Gong Yiling raised an eyebrow, puzzled.
The woman in white just looked at her and retorted, “You’re not a ghost. Why wouldn’t I be able to see you?”
“Ahahaha… if you put it that way… hahaha.”
A ghost.
Although she didn’t know what was going on, why all the other villagers couldn’t see her, but this girl was certain of her existence…
This was too strange.
“So,” the woman in white said, “that plan you just mentioned, was that what you truly thought?”
At this point, Miss Gong had nothing to hide.
She immediately nodded. “Yes. To let this girl die like this, and without a shred of remorse, this father deserves such a punishment.”
“Not just him.” The woman paused, then lowered her gaze. “Everyone in this village must be punished.”
“Everyone!?” Gong Yiling was shocked by her extreme idea. “But the others just stood by and watched. Although they’re at fault, they don’t deserve such a fate, do they?”
The woman didn’t say anything, just looked at Gong Yiling, then said, “Follow me.”
