Ghost Diary

Chapter 29

"It's probably a dog..." Gu Ming said in a low voice.

“Chen Si didn’t have many friends during her time at Er Gou Manor. Her favorite thing to do was to take a walk alone in the nearby mountains every day. After she went missing, many people searched the mountains, but found nothing.” Gao Tian continued, “Her other actions were all normal, with no suspicious points.”

On the nearby mountains?

Then I thought of the skeletons all around me. Could it be that Chen Si's walk in the nearby mountains was just an excuse, and that she was actually there to kill someone?

No, how could a girl like her kill so many people? Besides, those skeletons have been identified as having died hundreds or even thousands of years ago. But Aunt Gao's case suggests that she must be connected to those skeletons. I also have a strange feeling in my heart, but I can't quite put my finger on it...

After reviewing these materials, Gao Tian took out an incredibly thick document, which he said contained information about Huanxiu Villa.

Huanxiu Villa is located in Shenyaqian, Jingde Road, Suzhou City. Covering an area of only 3 mu, it was originally the site of "Jingu Garden" of Qian Yuanyao, the King of Guangling of Wuyue during the Five Dynasties period. During the Song Dynasty, it was Jingde Temple, and later Xuedao Academy. During the Ming Dynasty, it was the residence of Grand Secretary Shen Shixing. Since the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the Jiang (Ji), Hua (Yuan), and Sun (Shiyi) families have lived here in succession, digging ponds, stacking stones to form hills, and building houses and pavilions in the area. In the 29th year of Daoguang, it became part of the Wang Clan Ancestral Hall "Gengyun Villa" and was renamed "Huanxiu Villa", also known as "Yi Garden".

The garden's landscape is dominated by mountains, complemented by ponds. Upon entering the main gate, one is greeted by the "Yougu Hall." Walking north from the hall leads to the main hall of Huanxiu Villa, also known as the Four-Sided Hall, hence the name "Huanxiu Villa." The hall is surrounded by pine, cypress, crape myrtle, and magnolia trees, reflecting the villa's surrounding beauty. To the northeast of the artificial hill, beneath an ancient maple tree, stands a pavilion, nestled against the mountain and overlooking the water, named "Half a Pool of Autumn Water, One Room of Mountain." Below the pavilion flows a stream. Descending the stone steps from the north, one reaches the "Buqiu Boat," a boat-shaped structure with windows on all four sides. Peonies are planted in front of the "Buqiu Boat," blooming in late spring, including a pure white variety called "Moonlight White," which is particularly precious…

"Moonlight Serenade..." I stopped reading here. "It sounds familiar..."

"On Aunt Gao's body," Deng Fei suddenly interjected. "Didn't we find out last time that the flower that burned on Aunt Gao's body was the Moonlit Silk?"

"It seems that Er Gou Manor not only resembles Huanxiu Manor in architecture, but even the flowers are probably not just a coincidence." I murmured to myself, looking at the pictures in the documents, in surprise.

"Qian Yuanyao, the King of Guangling of Wuyue during the Five Dynasties? More than a thousand years ago, right?" Gu Ming asked.

Gao Tian flipped through a few pages and read aloud, “According to historical records, Qian Yuanyou (887-942), originally named Chuanyou, courtesy name Dehui, was a native of Lin'an (present-day Linhang County, Zhejiang Province). He was the sixth son, or according to another account, the fourth son of Qian Liu, the King of Wuyue. During the Five Dynasties period, the world was in chaos, and warlords carved up the country. Qian Liu, the King of Wuyue, commanded troops in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, controlled thirteen prefectures, and established his capital in Hangzhou. Yuanyou was described as having ‘a magnificent appearance and a handsome demeanor; he was frugal, respectful, and skilled in archery and horsemanship.’ In the second year of the Qianhua era, he was promoted to Prefect of Suzhou for his merits, and was later promoted to Military Governor of Jianwu Army of Zhongwu, leading troops to garrison Suzhou. He was later granted the titles of Grand Commandant, Chancellor, and Prince of Guangling. During his thirty years of governance in Suzhou, he promoted the development of agriculture and handicrafts at that time. Qian Yuanyou died in the seventh year of the Tianfu era of the Later Jin Dynasty (942) at the age of fifty-six. After his death, his son Wenfeng succeeded him.”

“887-942, that’s really over a thousand years.” Gu Ming nodded and then asked, “Is this all the information we have about Huanxiu Manor? We can probably find these things in the library. What we need now is the personnel information from that time.”

Gao Tian sighed, "It's been over a thousand years, and countless people have lived in the manor. Not to mention the large number of people, there are very few things that have survived over the years. I spent so many days and used a lot of connections to get some personnel information, but when I looked at it, it was all in ancient Chinese... I made copies and sent them to someone to translate them, but it will take a few days."

Do you have any photocopies?

Yes, here.

Gao Tian handed over a folder, which indeed contained ancient Chinese characters written in calligraphy. Perhaps due to its age and photocopying, some characters were already difficult to read. Gu Ming and I spent a long time reading it but still couldn't understand what those more complex words, even more so than classical Chinese, were saying. Xiao Bi grinned and looked around at everyone, "Is there anyone good at Chinese? Or who has studied classical literature?"

Cang Yue said, "I can fix the ancient demons."

Cang Yu said, "I majored in polymer materials science."

Cang Zhenzhen shook her head shyly, while Xiao Bi looked at Cang Lang with gleaming eyes, "Don't you read books all day? You must know a little bit, right?"

Cang Lang said, "I watch Saint Seiya and Chibi Maruko-chan..."

Xiao Bi's eyebrows twitched, and he turned to Xia Canyue, "Weren't you a ghost before? Don't you ever study classical Chinese literature to cultivate your mind?"

Xia Canyue rolled her eyes and said, "Is it easy to be a ghost these days? To avoid scaring you, I devoted myself to the beauty industry back then. I didn't have time to read any classical Chinese texts."

Little White quickly interjected, "I'm just a fox."

Xiao Bi then looked at Deng Fei and Jia Yanji, who looked back innocently. After the three of them stared at each other for a long time, I said, "Stop looking, the four of us are all biology students..."

Xiao Bi concludes: As a Chinese person, it is pathetic not to understand classical Chinese!

When we got up and went to school in the morning, Xiao Bi and I had dark circles under our eyes like pandas. When we met Cuihua in the lab, she asked us, "Has smoky eye makeup become this popular this year?"

While preparing the medicine, Xiao Bi lazily replied, "Yes, whoever is fumigated with it will feel more energetic..."

At noon, we got our food and went back to the dorm. After quickly eating, Lima lay down on the bed to catch up on sleep. Xiao Bi, lying on his back, sighed, "We who run around like this die young. Life is about stillness."

"Why?"

"Thousand-year-old tortoises and ten-thousand-year-old turtles all survive by remaining still like this..."

"..."

I worked for another five hours in the afternoon, and all the solutions needed for the experiment were prepared. I didn't go to "Moonlight" that night; I went back to the dormitory with Xiao Bi to sleep.

Gu Ming asked curiously on the phone, "You actually gave up a day's wages?"

I told him that I just missed the scallion egg custard that was only available for breakfast in the cafeteria.

Gu Ming despises me...

April 29, 2005 - Springtime warmth, flowers in bloom, people weary.

I woke up at 7:30 and was able to have scallion egg custard, a sugar pancake, and a plate of cold dishes as scheduled. Bliss...

While scolding me for eating too much, Xiao Bi quickly devoured four small sweet potato pancakes, three steamed buns, two tea eggs, a bowl of black rice porridge, and some pickled vegetables...

The experiment went well in the morning. We picked out the colonies and put them in liquid culture medium on a shaker. We won't get the results until the next day. After recording everything in the lab log, we realized we had nothing to do.

After lunch, I went back to my dorm and turned on my computer to go online. I found my inbox was full of spam emails, such as: Falun Gong's mentally ill patients vehemently advocating that Falun Dafa is good; a document forgery company claiming they would sincerely make any kind of certificate or diploma for me, which I could have in one day; and a recruitment company saying I had been hired and asking me to transfer 1,000 yuan to an account for training fees...

Besides a few messages from my high school classmates, there was also a strange message on QQ. The person said, "You are very close to death."

I thought to myself, "Why should I die when I'm perfectly fine?" I was just about to reply to the message and ask who the person was when I suddenly remembered a strange message I received a few days after I returned to school that said, "You're back, let the game begin."

When I told Xiao Bi about this, she sat down and said, "Check if these two messages were sent by the same person?"

To my surprise, the computer automatically restarted as soon as I moved the mouse. When I turned it back on, I couldn't find the person who sent the message, let alone the two strange messages.

After thinking about it, I decided to tell Gu Ming. He told me not to worry, and I really wasn't that worried...

In the afternoon, when I went to the lab, the teacher came over to inform us that we would have a holiday starting tomorrow, a ten-day May Day holiday. However, it was recommended that graduating students stay to continue their experiments, as they would be responsible if they were unable to complete their graduation projects.

Xiao Bi smirked, "It's like we weren't even notified..."

That evening, we went to "Moonlight." Cang Zhenzhen cooked a lot of dishes, which were delicious and beautifully presented. Gu Ming whispered to me, "Look, look, this is the model for women comrades. I guess you'll never reach this level in your life."

I said, "I realized this a long, long time ago."

Gu Ming said, "I've come to realize it too..."

It would be wonderful if some bacteria fell from the sky on April 30, 2005.

I went to the lab this morning, humming a little tune as I took my culture flask from the shaker. I held it up and stared at it for a while, wondering why the liquid was so clear, and it seemed like no bacteria had grown at all. Looking down, I saw that the shaker was running at twice the speed I had set yesterday. I was instantly furious. All the effort I had put into growing the bacteria had been shaken to death by them.

He roared at Xiao Bi, Deng Fei, Jia Yanchang, and Cuihua in the lab, "Who changed the settings?"

Xiao Bi raised his hand readily and said cheerfully, "Luckily I was careful and doubled the amount, otherwise my bacteria would have taken forever to grow."

"Xiao Bi..." My back teeth are so itchy.

"What are you doing?"

"Give me back my bacteria..."

In the afternoon, most of the teachers and graduate students in the lab went home for the holiday, while we had long waiting periods during our experimental procedures. So, we all gathered together to gossip. Cuihua said, "I heard that XX from our lab has a father who is a sponsor of the college. His family owns several companies and factories. He got into graduate school through connections. The teacher let him skip some questions from his major courses."

Deng Fei said, "Isn't his dad the mayor?"

Jia Yan said, "No, I heard it's the provincial governor."

Xiao Bi said, "How could that be? If the governor could take the entrance exam for our school, we would have sent him to Harvard long ago."

I said, "You're all wrong. According to reliable sources, his father was actually our dean's first love."

Cuihua said, "Oh, that XX is very likely the dean's illegitimate son."

"ah!"

"ah!"

"ah!"

"ah!"

Everyone suddenly realized...

That evening, when we went to "Moonlight," Gu Ming said that the materials Gao Tian had found had been translated and would probably be brought over soon.

By the way, Xiaobai's attitude towards me has improved these past two days. It seems that sticking to the principle of "I won't mess with a fox if a fox doesn't mess with me" was the right thing to do...

May 1, 2005 - The working people are the most glorious.

Gao Tian didn't show up last night, saying he was handling a case. This morning, he came in with bloodshot eyes, handed us the documents, and then fell asleep.

I think being an official these days is not easy. Xiao Bi said that only a foolish official like Gao Tian, who is one in a hundred years, would act like this.

Gu Ming flipped through the few pages of paper, looking down at them again and again. Finally, he pulled out a sheet and handed it to us. It recorded some miscellaneous matters when Huanxiu Manor was first built, as well as some money allocation. It didn't look like an account book, but rather like a memo written by the manor's manager, or perhaps a diary.

"It looks like a diary to me. Look, it says something about the young lady from the manor having a bad temper and often punishing her maids." Cang Yue pointed to a spot and said, "Why would an account book or some kind of memo record this?"

"Let's not worry about what it is for now; having some information is already good enough," Gu Ming said.

"Is that all? What's written on the other papers?" I asked.

"The others are from other dynasties; only this piece of paper can help us understand things."

"Why?"

"Look here." Gu Ming pointed to a line of text, "The young lady's maid had an affair and got pregnant. She even falsely accused the young lady's sweetheart, Young Master Tang, of being the father. Later, when everyone found out, the young lady ordered her to be beaten and thrown out of the manor... Fu Yi, this girl, seems so well-behaved, how could she do such a shameful thing..."

"Fu Yi!" I exclaimed in surprise. "Fu Yi, Fu Yi, it says Fu Yi..."

Everyone was quite shocked.

"After a thousand years, I never expected to find the name Fu Yi on such an ancient artifact. Perhaps it is truly fate that this inscription has been preserved," Gu Ming said. "We finally understand why Er Gou Manor and Huan Xiu Manor are so similar."

“But Er Gou Manor was built with money from that white-clothed female ghost, and Fu Yi was possessed by Xiao Bi. When Er Gou Manor was built in 1994, Xiao Bi was only 11 years old. We hadn’t even graduated from elementary school yet. Xiao Bi couldn’t personally tell them how to build the building, let alone have so much money to give Chen Si to build Er Gou Manor…” I felt that nothing was right.