Banquet of a Hundred Ghosts

Chapter 35

It was a suburban cemetery, quite far from the city. The three of them sat in the car, watching the scenery outside the window grow increasingly desolate, and no one spoke.

How could Changqing, who was supposed to be dead, suddenly appear alive in front of them? Was it a corpse that had come back to life, or was it someone else entirely? The sky outside was growing increasingly gloomy; another rainstorm seemed imminent.

By the time we arrived at our destination, the sky was incredibly overcast, and the rows of tombstones in the cemetery looked even more sinister and terrifying against the backdrop of the dark clouds.

"Let's leave after we're done watching!" Chen Kai wrapped his coat tighter, shivering from the cold and fright.

"Nonsense, why aren't we leaving? Staying here with the dead!" Professor Wang rolled his eyes at Chen Kai and hurried ahead, looking quite nervous as well.

"Number 68, number 68!" Professor Wang and Chen Kai looked around at the various tombstones. Those buried here must have been vibrant lives, yet a single gray marble tombstone marked the same end to their lives, whether joyful or sorrowful. Whether high-ranking officials or ordinary citizens, all were equal in the face of death. Even if they had experienced the best of life and enjoyed all the riches and honors, in the end, they were nothing more than a handful of dust, a few moments of heartache.

"We're here, this is it!" Professor Wang said, pointing to a gray tombstone.

The inscription on the tombstone was somewhat illegible due to wind and sun exposure, but the name "Changqing" was still clearly visible. Weeds grew all around the tombstone, suggesting that no one had visited it for a long time.

"How do we know if Changqing is inside?" Chen Kai stared blankly at the tombstone. Were they going to dig up the grave? Besides, cremation is the norm now, so even if they dug it up, it would just be an urn.

“There are photos here!” Feixiao pointed to the upper middle part of the tombstone.

Chen Kai then realized that there really seemed to be a photo there, but the dust on the tombstone was so thick that it almost completely obscured the small photo.

Feixiao stretched out her slender, white fingers and carefully wiped away the dust. Under the gray glass, a man's smiling face was revealed.

It was a man in his early twenties with a handsome face and expressive eyes. Through the dirty glass, he was giving the three people a smile that seemed to belong to another world.

Looking at the photo, Chen Kai's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, immediately settled down. It wasn't Chang Qing. This person was at least five or six years younger than Chang Qing, and his smile still had the innocence of a big boy, completely different from Chang Qing's aloofness and calmness.

"Great, it's not Chang Qing!" Chen Kai breathed a long sigh of relief.

"What's so good about it?" Fei Xiao sneered. "If it wasn't Chang Qing who died, then where did that Chang Qing go? Why would he take the place of a dead man?"

Yes, where is Chang Qing? Chen Kai and Professor Wang both know him, and he's familiar with incantations. Who exactly is the serene Chang Qing? And where did he go?

The sky grew increasingly gloomy, and a rainstorm seemed imminent. "Let's go, it'll be even more difficult if it rains!" Professor Wang said, turning and walking back.

"What do we do now?" Chen Kai asked Fei Xiao anxiously.

"Why don't we just find the living Chang Qing?" Fei Xiao said, winking at Chen Kai with a sly look in her eyes!

Seeing his expression, Chen Kai felt a surge of joy; it seemed Fei Xiao had some good ideas.

“You’ve forgotten someone!” Fei Xiao said to Chen Kai. “Finding that person will lead us to Chang Qing!”

"Who is it?" Chen Kai asked, puzzled.

"Changqing's older sister!"

"But we don't even know if this person exists, so where are we supposed to look for them?" This is simply making something out of nothing!

"Hehe!" Feixiao chuckled as she pulled a porcelain bottle from her pocket and held it in her hand. "Ximan will definitely know!"

Ximan indeed knew Changqing's older sister.

“She was a very beautiful woman!” Ximan’s voice came through the bottle. “She attended that family dinner about four or five years ago and made a wish!”

"What is your wish?" Chen Kai asked anxiously.

“Unlike others, what she wanted wasn’t money or power, but it was much harder to achieve!” Xi Man sighed deeply. “What she wanted was her younger brother’s happiness. It seems her brother Chang Qing became a vegetable after an accident, and she wanted him to stand up again and live a good life! But you know…” Xi Man’s words seemed to be directed at Fei Xiao: “Ordinary requests can be fulfilled by reducing one’s lifespan by a few years, but her wish is too difficult to grant! I did my best to make an exchange with those evil spirits; she wanted to exchange her entire life’s happiness for her brother’s soul!”

"Did it succeed?" Chen Kai couldn't help but ask again.

"It's impossible for it not to succeed!" Xi Man said confidently, "It's a contract that was reached through me!"

"I'm not Chang Qing!" Although he didn't want to discourage her, Chen Kai still answered dejectedly. They hadn't had time to tell Xi Man that he was an imposter.

"Then who are you? What happened to Chang Qing?"

“He’s Chen Kai! An ordinary college student!” Fei Xiao smiled and pointed to Chen Kai, who was standing next to her with his head down. Then her smile quickly disappeared. “We just went to the cemetery. The real Chang Qing has been dead for two years!”

"What?" Xi Man's voice was filled with panic. "How could this happen? It should have succeeded, it couldn't have failed!" After a moment, she added, "Unless—"

“That’s right, I just thought of that too!” Fei Xiao nodded: “Except for the fact that Fei Changqing’s sister found a way not to fulfill the contract, and she regretted it!”

Xi Man sighed, "Even if she doesn't fulfill her vow, Chang Qing won't die! Chang Chun is too clever and knows so much about curses. She might be playing a trick, trying to find souls from some animals and pass them off as hers!"

"It seems we've failed!" Fei Xiao shook her head. Things from the dark world aren't so easily controlled.

"So Changchun is Changqing's older sister?" Chen Kai asked her.

“Yes, if Changqing is really dead, go to the place where you can find people who are on the verge of death and not quite dead. I guess she’s there!” Ximan said with a sigh, “Too clever people are always outsmarted!” Then she stopped talking, as if she regretted the outcome of the matter.

Where can you find someone who is on the verge of death but not quite?

Fei Xiao and Chen Kai exchanged a glance, seemingly on the same wavelength, and simultaneously blurted out, "The hospital!"

Two days later, Chen Kai finally found the hospital where Chang Qing's sister was staying through Professor Wang.

"Feixiao, I found it!" Chen Kai was very excited as soon as he entered the house.

"Which hospital?" Feixiao asked anxiously.

“At the Municipal Affiliated Hospital!” Chen Kai replied.

"Let's go! We're leaving right away!" Feixiao said, grabbing her coat and heading out the door.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Chen Kai followed behind him, puzzled. Fei Xiao looked as if she were racing against time.

Feixiao turned and glanced at him. "I'm very worried!"

What are you worried about?

“It’s been almost forty-nine days since you gave him those coins!”

"Are you worried that the imposter Changqing will use that money for something bad?"

“That’s right!” Fei Xiao nodded. “Seven coins, forty-nine days in total, it’s hard not to think about it!” She then shook her head. “In any case, we need to act quickly, preferably before it happens!”

The two of them rushed out the door.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Changqing's sister was easily found. She was a thin woman with sunken cheeks and a pale face, barely clinging to life with intravenous fluids. However, her features revealed that she had once been a very beautiful woman.

The name card by the bed read "Chang Chun". Fei Xiao and Chen Kai exchanged a glance and nodded. That's right, that's the name.

"Why is no one taking care of her?" Chen Kai noticed that the ward was deserted, as if no one had come for a long time.

“Yes, that person went out!” Fei Xiao said, pointing to a bouquet of flowers on the windowsill. The bouquet was obviously newly changed, with fresh dew still clinging to the plump leaves.

Before he could finish speaking, the door behind him opened, and a man walked in carrying a boxed lunch. When he saw Chen Kai, he stared in astonishment, and the boxed lunch in his hand fell to the ground.

This man was the one who impersonated Chang Qing, the one who took the money, the one who cried in the snowy night. Chen Kai knew that calm face all too well and blurted out, "Chang Qing!"

"You, how did you get here?" He looked at Chen Kai as if he had seen a ghost, his face turning ashen with fear.

"Who exactly are you? Why are you impersonating Chang Qing?" This was the first time Fei Xiao had met this man. He seemed to be desperately trying to hide something; beneath his calm demeanor, there seemed to be a raging storm.

"You all know?" He was also taken aback when he saw Feixiao. He bent down to pick up the lunchbox, and when he looked up again, he had regained his usual composure.

"When I saw that fox, I should have guessed that Chen Kai was accompanied by someone extraordinary!" He glanced at Fei Xiao after saying that, "But I didn't expect it to be such an outstanding person!"

After saying that, he pulled up chairs for the two of them. "Sit down! You must have come here for something!"

Feixiao didn't stand on ceremony and sat down in a chair. "I came here to ask you, where are the seven coins? What do you want them for?"

Upon hearing this, the imposter Chang Qing's expression changed immediately. After a while, he slowly said, "Let me tell you slowly!" After saying that, he looked at the sky outside. The green willows had already sprouted, and it was another vibrant spring. How he wished that his beloved could see such a beautiful spring with him, but that was just a hopeless dream.

“My name is Zhang Ye, and Chang Qing is my wife’s younger brother’s name!” The man sighed and continued, “Two years ago, Chang Qing was in a car accident, lost consciousness, and became a vegetable. My happy life with Chang Qing ended that day!”

Chen Kai and Fei Xiao looked at the man named Zhang Ye. He was in his early thirties, and there were already faint wrinkles on his forehead. He did not have the vigor that a person of his age should have. His painful experiences seemed to have made him a little hunched over.

Zhang Ye continued, "Chang Chun and Chang Qing grew up together and had a very close relationship. Chang Qing was only 22 years old when the accident happened. 22 years old, what a wonderful age! Life is just beginning. How many people would be willing to trade their vast wealth for that age? But Chang Qing's life ended at 22, and he never moved forward again!"

"So Changchun tried to save his younger brother?" Feixiao asked him from the side.

“Yes, but we tried many methods without success. Chang Chun is skilled in curses, but most curses are harmful, and none of them can save people!” After saying that, he paused, as if recalling a painful memory, and tears welled up in his eyes. “Two years ago, during the Spring Festival, Chang Chun went back to his hometown and suddenly said he had a solution. Then the real nightmare began!”

Upon hearing this, Fei Xiao and Chen Kai exchanged glances. It seemed that Chang Chun, who had returned home, had gone to attend that family banquet, and that's when the deal with Xi Man was made.

"Do you know what Changchun went home to do?" Chen Kai still wanted to ask him.

"It's supposed to be a meal, but it's the banquet I asked you to attend for me last time!" Chen Kai couldn't hold back any longer. "Why did you make me go? Why didn't you go yourself? Don't you really know what that banquet is about?"

Zhang Ye was taken aback when he heard this, and looked at Chen Kai with a strange look, as if he did not understand what he was talking about: "That was an invitation to Chang Chun. It seems that no one there knows that Chang Chun is in trouble. I am old enough to be obviously an imposter, and I was afraid that his family would find out, so I asked you to go in my place!"

Chen Kai breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that he really didn't know the details of that banquet. This Zhang Ye wasn't as bad as he had imagined.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem with that banquet?" Zhang Ye asked Chen Kai curiously.

"It's nothing, please continue!" Fei Xiao quickly steered the conversation back to the main topic.

These words seemed to touch a nerve with Zhang Ye, pulling his thoughts back to what he didn't want to face, and he once again wore a pained and heartbroken expression.

"Chang Chun came back and immediately cast a spell. At that time, my understanding of curses was only superficial, and I didn't know what she was going to do. But, but less than a month later—" Zhang Ye's eyes reddened again as she spoke, "Chang Qing, who was hospitalized, suddenly died of suffocation, and Chang Chun, Chang Chun—"

"What happened to Changchun?" Chen Kai asked him anxiously.

Zhang Ye could no longer hold back and burst into tears: "Chang Chun then got into a car accident, just like, just like—"

"Like what?" Chen Kai looked at Chang Chun lying on the hospital bed next to him. His body was so thin that it seemed as if no one was under the thick quilt. His gaunt face had lost the vitality of life.

As Zhang Ye spoke, his eyes widened, his pupils gleaming with fear. "Just like Chang Qing, exactly the same as Chang Qing! The same car accident, the same loss of consciousness, the same living hell!"

Feixiao sighed upon hearing this: "A failed curse will transfer all the magic to the caster!"

Zhang Ye shook his head and sighed deeply, his mood seemingly calmer: "From now on, I will use the name Chang Qing and pretend to be Chang Chun's younger brother, which will make it easier for me to study sorcery. You all know what happens next!"

"What are you going to do with the curse?" Chen Kai was startled. This terrible curse had already killed one of the siblings and injured the other, and he still wanted to use the curse.

"What else can we do?" Fei Xiao sneered. "To save his wife, of course!"

"That's right, I'm willing to do anything so that Changchun can be as happy as before!" His face was resolute.

Feixiao sighed upon hearing this, and looked at Changchun lying on the bed. Such a beautiful woman, ending her life so young, was truly heartbreaking. She then looked at Zhang Ye, who looked haggard beside her, like a taut string, ready to give his life for his beloved wife. Wasn't his life also buried along with the happiness of the person he loved most?

"Feixiao, is there any other way?" Chen Kai asked him in a low voice.

Feixiao thought for a moment, then turned to Zhang Ye and said, "You want that half a tael of coins to cast a spell, right?"

Zhang Ye looked up at Fei Xiao and slowly nodded.

“All spells are dangerous. Let me see if I can think of a way to help you!” Fei Xiao smiled at him, as if she had a plan.

"Really?" Zhang Ye's brows relaxed upon hearing this, as if he had grasped a lifeline.

"Isn't your wife missing a person's soul? I can help you find that soul and restore your wife's consciousness!"

"But that's difficult. Can you do it?" Zhang Ye looked at Fei Xiao with a suspicious gaze.

"Hehehe, it'll be the forty-ninth day in two days, I'll come again then!" Fei Xiao didn't say anything more to him, and pulled Chen Kai out of the ward.