El misterio del periódico K

Capítulo 34

After returning home from Huanxiu Villa, Zhang Feifan couldn't stop thinking about the scene he had just witnessed. So he picked up his brush and wrote down the image of the woman and the vast expanse of moonlight in his mind. After finishing the painting, Zhang Feifan held it and looked at it for a long time. He then ordered someone to frame the painting and hang it opposite his bed, staring at it all night, unable to fall asleep.

The next day, Zhang Feifan rushed to Huanxiu Villa early in the morning, disregarding all etiquette, and went straight to Qian Qingqing's "Fragrant Garden." The servants below secretly laughed at him and ran ahead of him to inform the young lady. Qian Qingqing hurriedly got up to do her makeup. After everything was in place, she still hadn't seen Zhang Feifan. She sent her maid to check, but the maid told her with an embarrassed expression that Zhang Feifan was staring at Fu Yi under the moonlight in front of her door, talking about something.

Enraged, Qian Qingqing got up and pushed open the door. She saw Zhang Feifan, with a dazed expression, taking Fu Yi's hand and wiping the dirt from her palm. Fu Yi's face was flushed, and she turned her head away, avoiding eye contact; even her fingers were trembling. Qian Qingqing suppressed her anger, put on a smile, greeted Zhang Feifan, and told Fu Yi to do his errands, but in her heart, she was already plotting how to kick her out of Huanxiu Manor.

Upon hearing Miss Zhang order her to do something else, Fu Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief and ran away as if fleeing. It turned out that she had been turning over mud when Mr. Zhang suddenly appeared, grabbed her hand, and told her he had fallen in love with her at first sight. Fu Yi had spent quite some time at the villa and naturally knew about Miss Zhang.

The next day, Zhang Feifan rushed to Huanxiu Villa early in the morning, disregarding all etiquette, and went straight to Qian Qingqing's "Fragrant Garden." The servants below secretly laughed at him and ran ahead of him to inform the young lady. Qian Qingqing hurriedly got up to do her makeup. After everything was in place, she still hadn't seen Zhang Feifan. She sent her maid to check, but the maid told her with an embarrassed expression that Zhang Feifan was staring at Fu Yi under the moonlight in front of her door, talking about something.

Enraged, Qian Qingqing got up and pushed open the door. She saw Zhang Feifan, with a dazed expression, taking Fu Yi's hand and wiping the dirt from her palm. Fu Yi's face was flushed, and she turned her head away, avoiding eye contact; even her fingers were trembling. Qian Qingqing suppressed her anger, put on a smile, greeted Zhang Feifan, and told Fu Yi to do his errands, but in her heart, she was already plotting how to kick her out of Huanxiu Manor.

Upon hearing Miss Biao order her to do something else, Fu Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief and ran away as if fleeing. It turned out that she had been turning over mud when Mr. Zhang inexplicably came over, grabbed her hand, and told her he had fallen in love with her at first sight. Fu Yi had been at the manor for quite some time and naturally knew that Miss Biao had long admired Mr. Zhang. Mr. Zhang was usually very proper; had he suddenly gone mad today, not only overstepping social norms by holding a young woman's hand but also helping her smear mud? She was caught off guard, not knowing what to do, her face flushed with embarrassment.

Not long after, someone came to summon Fu Yi, saying that the young lady had ordered her to come over. Fu Yi knew it wasn't good news, but she had no choice but to follow the servant to "Xiangyuan". Who knew that when she arrived at the young lady's room, the young lady was looking at her with a smile and told her that from now on she would be her personal maid, and she would be well treated and provided with good food and lodging, and she would no longer have to do the dirty work of looking after the flowers and plants.

Fu Yi stared at Qian Qingqing in surprise, wondering how this could be. Qian Qingqing, as if reading her mind, smiled and said her maid was too clumsy. Actually, she had taken a liking to her a few days ago, and today she had sent the original maid away to serve her instead. Fu Yi heard her words, but she felt afraid because Qian Qingqing's smile didn't reach her eyes; it was a cold smile, so cold it sent chills down her spine…

Ever since Fu Yi became Qian Qingqing's personal maid, Zhang Feifan came every day without fail, sometimes with poems, sometimes with paintings, and when there were no poems or paintings to bring, he would bring some snacks, saying that the family had a new cook and wanted the young lady to try them. After a while, a silly servant who didn't understand the situation asked him in confusion, "Mr. Zhang, why do you change your cooks so often?"

Zhang Feifan was extremely embarrassed and just laughed it off.

Qian Qingqing knew what he was thinking, but instead of stopping him, she deliberately set aside time for him to be alone with Fu Yi. Zhang Feifan was undoubtedly talented, and Fu Yi also came from a prominent family. Initially, one would talk incessantly while the other remained silent, but eventually, they would engage in lively conversation, discussing everything under the sun. Zhang Feifan enjoyed studying magic, and Fu Yi was very interested in this area, so he taught her everything he knew. Zhang Feifan was handsome and dashing, and as Fu Yi spent more time with him, she gradually developed feelings for him and no longer resisted his affections.

One day, Fu Yi felt unwell and vomited repeatedly. Qian Qingqing called a doctor to examine him. The doctor took his pulse, shook his head, and looked quite troubled. He said that he would talk to the young lady in detail in the outer room. Qian Qingqing smiled meaningfully and said, "Please speak frankly, sir."

The doctor then announced that Fu Yi was pregnant. The servants in the room stared wide-eyed. Fu Yi was unmarried yet pregnant. Immediately, everyone pointed and whispered about her. Qian Qingqing understood, but demanded that she reveal the father's identity. Fu Yi was kind-hearted and in love with Zhang Feifan; how could she dare reveal his name? If she did, Zhang Feifan's reputation would surely be damaged.

The next day, in a side hall of Huanxiu Villa, Fu Yi was bound and kneeling on the ground. The steward stood behind his master and the young lady with a look of sympathy, watching her. Despite repeated questioning, Fu Yi still refused to say who the child's father was. The young lady snorted coldly, "I gave you a chance but you didn't cherish it. Actually, I have already found out who it was. Steward, bring Sanfu up."

The butler nodded and left. A moment later, a man followed behind him, with crooked eyes and a slanted mouth, only able to chuckle foolishly. Everyone recognized him as the idiot who cleaned the latrines; everyone usually called him Third Idiot. As soon as Third Idiot appeared, everyone's expressions changed. They secretly cursed Fu Yi as a harlot, how could someone so beautiful be having an affair with an idiot, and who knows if she was having an affair with other men too.

Upon seeing the bruises, Fu Yi stared at Qian Qingqing in shock and shouted, "Miss, you can't wrong me!"

Qian Qingqing twitched the corners of her mouth into a strange smile. "Injustice? Butler, please invite Mr. Zhang over."

The housekeeper walked away with his head down, but Fu Yi's heart skipped a beat. He didn't understand why Qian Qingqing had called Zhang Feifan over. She was absolutely certain that the child in her belly belonged to that idiot...

Footsteps gradually approached, and as Zhang Feifan, dressed in white, passed by Fu Yi, her hands began to tremble uncontrollably.

Qian Qingqing smiled and nodded at Zhang Feifan, saying, "Didn't you say I wronged you? Mr. Zhang, may I ask what you saw on the fifteenth two months ago?"

Zhang Feifan stepped forward, looked ahead, and said loudly, "That day, I took a wrong turn and saw the servants kneeling below doing illicit things with Sanfu behind the artificial hill."

The crowd gasped again. Qian Qingqing nodded and asked, "Sir, take another closer look. Is it really that person kneeling?"

Zhang Feifan's gaze fell on Fu Yi, cold as if they were strangers. All the previous tenderness seemed like an illusion. Fu Yi felt as if he were in an ice cellar, all his strength gone, and he collapsed to the ground.

Zhang Feifan said, "It is indeed this person. I know that this person is Miss Biao's personal maid. I wanted to tell Miss Biao back then, but I thought that I was just an outsider and it was not appropriate to interfere in other people's affairs. But now that things have come to this, Feifan has no choice but to stand up and tell the truth."

Qian Qingqing nodded without speaking. The host, who had been silent for a long time, waved his hand and said, "Such a thing has happened in the manor. Men, take these two out and give them two hundred strokes of the cane each. Then drive them out of the manor."

At a command, someone dragged the fool and Fu Yi out. The fool, oblivious to what was happening, laughed, while Fu Yi stared intently at Zhang Feifan, his gaze filled with despair and resentment. Soon, the fool's wailing and howling filled the air, but Fu Yi remained silent. Everyone understood what two hundred lashes meant; normally, fifty lashes would be enough to kill a strong young man, let alone a pregnant woman.

Soon after, the mentally challenged man also fell silent. Qian Qingqing ordered the steward to check on him. When the steward arrived at the backyard and saw the scene, he gasped. The mentally challenged man was covered in blood and lifeless. Fu Yi, besides the blood on her back, had even more blood flowing down her thighs, staining the ground red. Most terrifyingly, although she was lifeless, her eyes were wide open, staring intently in one direction, as if they could burn a hole through a person—direction directly towards the side hall where the interrogation had taken place. The people around whispered in the steward's ear, "That girl is terrifying. She didn't utter a sound after being beaten for so long. The mentally challenged man was dead, but she's still alive. She only died after being beaten a full two hundred times. What do you say we do now?"

The steward knew the maids and servants of the manor very well, and he knew what kind of person Fu Yi was. She never complained about any task assigned to her, and always completed it diligently, no matter how dirty or tiring. He never expected her to die like this. The steward shook his head, unable to bear looking any longer. He took some loose silver from his pocket and gave it to a servant, instructing them to bury the body and not to tell anyone. From that moment on, Fu Yi was no longer a part of Huanxiu Manor…

"Why did Zhang Feifan frame Fu Yi?" Gu Ming asked softly from above my head.

"He didn't want to either, but Qian Qingqing found him and threatened him, saying that if he didn't do as she said, not only would his reputation be ruined, but Huanxiu Manor would also use every means to destroy his family..."

"That Qian Qingqing is too vicious, and Zhang Feifan is no good either. If he truly loved Fu Yi, he wouldn't have agreed to Qian Qingqing's request."

"When people are pushed to a certain point, love is not even worth a blade of grass."

Gu Ming gave me a deep look and said, "You'll understand what true love is like sooner or later."

"The story isn't over yet."

He smiled and said, "No rush to tell, it's getting dark. Aren't you hungry?"

Gu Ming's stomach rumbled obediently, and he laughed heartily. "Uncle and Xiaobai's flight was today, so they must be at 'Moonlight' by now. Shall we go back to 'Moonlight' for some millet porridge, or go out for a big meal?"

"..."

"kindness?"

"Stop talking nonsense and drive! You know perfectly well I'll choose to go out for a fancy meal..."

After dinner, I returned to "Moonlight." Sure enough, Xia's father and Xiaobai were there, and Gao Tian was also with Xia Canyue. They didn't ask me anything, just nodded. I had tea with Xia's father and the others, then went back inside. Gu Ming helped outside until I was almost asleep when he came in. I looked at my watch; it was almost midnight…

May 8, 2005 - Cloudy, no stars.

"Shall we continue?" Gu Ming asked, sitting next to me. "Aren't we supposed to go to the lab at dawn?"

"There's not much more to the story, let's start now." I smiled.

Leaning back on the sofa, she continued the story, "After Fu Yi died, she encountered Li and became a wandering spirit. Unaware that the child within her corpse was slowly turning into a dead spirit due to her resentment before her death, the Blood Spirit found Fu Yi. Every day, it could only survive by consuming rotting flesh and its own resentment. Fu Yi felt excruciating pain looking at that mass of resentful flesh. She thought that if she could give her child a normal body, she would pay any price. So she wandered around, searching for a way."

"Usually, when people who die unjustly become wandering spirits, their first instinct is to seek revenge. Why didn't Fu Yi go after Zhang Feifan and Qian Qingqing, but instead took the Blood Spirit to find a way to change bodies?"

"Because of one person."

"who?"

"The housekeeper of Huanxiu Manor. After her death, Qian Qingqing married Zhang Feifan. She hated them, but the housekeeper sent people to bury her, burning her clothes and other belongings at her grave, and buying a lot of paper money and ingots. The housekeeper told her to rest in peace and not to cause herself any more trouble, harming others and herself. Life is but a hundred years, and the past is but fleeting clouds. All those loves and hates, life and death, are nothing but a dream..."

“Fu Yi remembers the kindness of the steward who buried her, and she understands that what he said is right. More importantly, she still loves Zhang Feifan. She simply can't bring herself to do it, and she can't bear to kill Qian Qingqing and leave Zhang Feifan to suffer loneliness,” Gu Ming continued.

"Yes, I don't know whether to say she was too naive or too kind. Fu Yi had learned some magic from Zhang Feifan before her death, and given her own intelligence, she understood these things very thoroughly. While wandering the world with her blood spirit in search of a solution, she heard about the 'Ten Thousand Ghosts Gathering Evil' spell. At that moment, she happened to encounter a Soul Eater who had escaped from the gates of hell during the Qingming Festival. Fu Yi saw that it possessed extremely strong aura of malevolence and thought that if she used this aura to activate 'Ten Thousand Ghosts Gathering Evil,' she could help her child rebuild its body, freeing the blood spirit from living in resentment. So she found the location of Er Gou Manor and used the concave shape of the ground..." The method that Shi and Xia's father had guessed a few days earlier allowed the Soul Eater to evade the pursuit of the ghost messengers. That method, however, claimed the lives of thousands. Even Zhang Feifan was spared by Fu Yi; the deaths of these thousands of unrelated people filled her with remorse and self-reproach. She had been too eager to find a body for her child, completely disregarding everything else. Only after the Soul Eater escaped death and Fu Yi saw the mountains littered with corpses did she realize the enormity of her mistake. It was too late to undo the damage, but Fu Yi was unaware that allowing the Soul Eater to use its wailing energy to unleash the "Gathering of Ten Thousand Ghosts" would trigger an even greater error, one that had numbed even her remorse.

"Blood Spirit? It was Blood Spirit who killed Zhang Feifan and Qian Qingqing's reincarnations, as well as all those associated with them, a thousand years ago!" Gu Ming said in a sudden realization.

"Yes, that Blood Spirit harbored resentment towards Zhang Feifan and Qian Qingqing. Previously, Fu Yi was watching over him, preventing him from seeking revenge. However, after obtaining a body using the 'Ten Thousand Ghosts Gathering Evil' technique, Fu Yi could no longer control the Blood Spirit. When he caught up with him, he saw rivers of blood. The Blood Spirit, due to excessive killing, was filled with screeching energy and had gone mad, killing anyone in sight. At this time, Dharma King Dima and Master Yichen arrived and used all their magical powers to injure its body, thus averting a catastrophe. Although the two high monks injured its body, the Blood Spirit did not die; instead, it transformed back into the bloody mess it had been before." A lump of flesh. Just as the high monks were struggling to destroy the blood spirit's soul, the Fox King Siyan passed by. Master Yichen and Dharma King Dima, on the verge of death, begged the Fox King to subdue the blood spirit, and the Fox King agreed. However, things did not develop as expected. When Fuyi, holding the blood spirit, knelt before the Fox King and recounted her past, pleading for him to spare her only child, the Fox King, faced with a mother, could no longer bring himself to harm her. Thus, the two high monks transformed into a spirit body, and the Fox King used their blood to form a red crystal, casting a spell on it, which became the key to unlock the spirit body.

"So that's how it is. The things recorded in the book were indeed wrong."

"Later, by chance, Si Yan met the heir of the Gu family, who instructed him in immortal arts, gave him a purple jade to wish him peace, and entrusted him with the task of protecting the spirit. As the Fox King, he should have eliminated the Blood Spirit to prevent future troubles, but because of Fu Yi's love for his son, he could not act rationally. He told the heir of the Gu family not to tell his descendants what he had done."

"No wonder." Gu Ming nodded.

"Gu Ming, do you know why there's a spirit in my forehead?"

"Because you are the reincarnation of a spirit."

"So, what criteria do you think spirits use to choose their reincarnated bodies?"

Gu Ming looked at me for a long while, then his eyes suddenly flashed, and he slowly said, "Because you are the reincarnation of that butler..."

"Yes, that Fox King is so clever. The steward was kind to Fu Yi back then, and the Blood Spirit itself wouldn't attack the steward's reincarnation. So the spirit has always been residing in the body of each of the steward's reincarnations. If the Blood Spirit dares to act recklessly again, remembering the kindness of collecting the corpse a thousand years ago, the spirit's chances of winning will be greater. The Fox King himself is unwilling to take action, so he has pushed this mess all onto us."

"Xiao Mo, how do you explain the battle at West Lake? What about the relationship between the white-clad female ghost and Fu Yi? What about the attacks you've recently suffered, Aunt Gao's death, and the deaths of those five children? If Fu Yi is truly as kind as you say, then these things become unclear."

"The Fox King told me that the white-clad female ghost and Xiao Bi were actually the spirits of the Food Souls, and the battle at West Lake was just a decoy to make everyone mistakenly believe that Xiao Bi was Fu Yi, as well as Deng Fei and Jia Yanchang. They were just a small part of the Food Soul's shrill energy possessing them to hide their true identities. Although we injured a piece of the Food Soul possessing Xiao Bi, we didn't pay any attention to the real mastermind until Aunt Gao accidentally discovered the white bones on the mountain."

"Is their purpose in doing this... to divert our attention and avoid a direct confrontation with the spirits?" Gu Mingzhou frowned and said uncertainly.

I looked at him and nodded heavily. "Because Fu Yi can no longer control the Blood Spirit. The Blood Spirit is about to activate the Ten Thousand Ghosts Gathering Evil again!"

I didn't sleep a wink all night, and when I woke up in the morning, I looked at my dark circles and realized I had the potential to become a panda. I grabbed a piece of bread from the kitchen and took the bus to school. My graduation experiment has been being done by Xiao Bi and that fake stand-in for me lately. Although I understand the process and the operation, I'm always a little uneasy since I'm not doing it myself.

When I went to the lab, I met Xiao Bi, Deng Fei, and Jia Yanyu. I didn't tell them the truth to save them the trouble and to avoid worrying them. We laughed and joked like before. I think I'm very lucky to have met these good friends. Without them, life would be so boring.

I went to the cafeteria for lunch and found that there was far more chicken than potatoes on my plate. I guess it was because the lady serving the food felt sorry for me after seeing my dark circles. If I had known this, I should have started applying black eyeshadow to my eyes before meals from my freshman year...

I suddenly received a notification in the afternoon that because I had agreed to be reassigned during the postgraduate entrance examination, a university in another city wanted me to have an interview, scheduled for May 9th, which is tomorrow. Deng Fei said this school is good; it seems they didn't have enough places and that's why they reassigned me there—it's like a windfall! I stared at the notification for a long time, realizing I hadn't prepared for the interview at all. I rushed back to my dorm to study and then packed my essentials.

I called my mom that night to tell her about it, and she said it was a windfall.

Lying in bed at night, I still couldn't sleep. My mind was filled with thoughts of the exam subjects, names like Fu Yi, Xue Ling, Shi Hun, and Ling Ti flashing through my head. If I had to choose, I would make the same decision as the Fox King. Fu Yi, that woman, has suffered too much. Why should we destroy even her only child? But yesterday, five mothers lost their children because of him. They are mothers too. To save one mother, we've hurt so many more. This cannot be allowed…

Light rain on May 9, 2005

In the morning, Gu Ming went to buy breakfast. Shortly after he left, I sneaked into his room and found the red crystal in the drawer. The crystal was still lying quietly in the small black box, with what seemed like flowing water inside. But at that moment, it seemed so dazzling to me.

The train was at 8:30. I walked into the station with two books and some materials. Gu Ming bought a lot of food. I was speechless and told him that the journey was only two hours, but this stuff was enough for me to eat for two days.

He patted my head with a smile, his eyes full of doting affection, as if they could drown me. I was very uncomfortable with this expression on his face, so I pinched his cheek and pulled hard. "Please stop pretending to be a love saint. Have you ever heard of Dong Shi imitating Xi Shi? A charlatan should act like a charlatan."

What kind of person is a charlatan?

"You used to be like that."

What was I like before?

"It's just...it's just...it's just..."

Gu Ming looked at me and smiled like a scoundrel, and that's when I realized he was just teasing me.

"You give me a wait."

"Xiao Mo, your English is really good."

"Of course."

No wonder my postgraduate entrance exam score wasn't high enough.

"..."

After arguing for a while, Gu Ming suddenly pulled me into a tight hug, a hug that felt like it could strangle me.