Chapter 3: The Woman’s Corpse

Pi Sansha’s expression remained as blank as ever. He didn’t answer my question, only continued speaking to himself, “Your grandfather arranged a marriage for you on the ‘Fortune’—if you want to know about what happened to them, you must marry into the Bai family and become their son-in-law.”

“Wha—what?” Hearing Pi Sansha tell me to marry into the Bai family, I thought I must have misheard. Me, a grown man, going to the Bai family as a live-in son-in-law? I couldn’t accept it, not even for a moment.

Pi Sansha didn’t give me a chance to confirm or question him. He simply continued, “Xiao Xizi, you must listen to your grandfather. I no longer remember what happened on the boat; only the young lady of the Bai family knows about the ‘Fortune.’ That’s all I recall. Now, I have a personal favor to ask you…”

The fact that the Bai family’s young lady knew about the Fortune was etched deeply into my mind by Pi Sansha’s words.

Though countless doubts still churned within me, I knew Pi Sansha did not have much time left, so I did not question him further. Instead, I looked at him and said, “Uncle, just say it. If there’s anything I, Xiao Xizi, can do, I’ll do my utmost.”

“Your sister Lin’er has depended on me since she was little. After I’m gone, please take care of her for me.”

Pi Lin’er was said to have been adopted by Pi Sansha during a trip to the Kunlun Mountains, and she was thirteen years old this year. Strangely, although Pi Sansha had been insane for over a decade, he never forgot to care for Lin’er, and she never resented having a fool for a father.

I understood what Pi Sansha meant by his words—his time was almost up. I blurted out, “Uncle Pi, don’t worry. Even if I have to marry into the Bai family, I’ll definitely bring Lin’er with me.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized how odd they sounded. It was one thing for me to become a live-in son-in-law, but to bring a little sister along as well—how would I ever live down the embarrassment?

Only after hearing my promise did Pi Sansha turn and walk back in the direction of Pi Family Village.

“Uncle Pi, wait! River Crossing City is huge. Which Bai family is my grandfather sending me to?” There weren’t many people surnamed Bai in River Crossing City, and by coincidence, the city’s richest man was also named Bai. But it couldn’t be that much of a coincidence—surely he wasn’t asking me to marry into the home of the city’s wealthiest family?

But no matter how I shouted after him, Pi Sansha never looked back. He walked on until he disappeared into the bleak yellow moonlight.

Once again, I found myself alone at the mouth of the Yellow River. If not for the ghost-whip now in my hand, I would have thought everything that had just happened was a hallucination. A man who’d been mad for ten years suddenly regaining his senses—it was difficult to believe.

Imitating the way my grandfather used to do, I wrapped the ghost-whip around my waist. Not long after Pi Sansha left, the pocket watch in my arms chimed—midnight.

As the watch’s chime faded, a fierce wind rose suddenly along the riverbank. In an instant, the river’s waves slammed against the little wooden bridge at the river’s mouth, and I felt a surge of danger rising from the river beneath the bridge. I leaned over and looked down.

It was hair—a woman’s hair. Beneath the wooden bridge floated a corpse, standing upright in the water!

Everyone who lives by the Yellow River knows that a corpse standing upright in the water is a soul that died with extreme resentment. It will stop at nothing to find a substitute to take its place.

Not good—I’d been set up!

Only then did I realize the phone call earlier that day had been a trap—someone wanted me dead.

I turned to run toward the shore, but the woman’s corpse in the water suddenly opened her eyes.

With a thunderous crash, the floating corpse surged up and attacked me, battering the wooden bridge madly. The bridge began to shake violently.

The old bridge was long in disrepair. Before I could think, the corpse’s assault brought the bridge crashing down, and I fell into the Yellow River together with the shattered planks.

The female corpse in the water saw me fall and swam toward me.

Sinking into the river, I suddenly felt calm. I knew this stretch of the Yellow River by Pi Family Village like the back of my hand—in other words, the water was my domain. This corpse might not even outswim me.

Watching the corpse swim my way, I let out a cold laugh. With a powerful surge, I leapt from the water like a carp vaulting the dragon’s gate, and as I came down, I swung the ghost-whip in my hand, bringing it down fiercely on the corpse’s head.

A wrenching howl of agony burst from the female corpse. Where the whip struck, a long crack split her head, and black blood sprayed out.

In the same instant as I landed in the water, the corpse’s head split in two. Amid the unbearable wailing, her form dissolved into ashes.

It’s no exaggeration to say that as long as I’m in the water, I have countless ways to deal with such a corpse. Yet I chose the most direct, and the most punishing, of them all. This whip lashed at her very soul—she would never have another chance at reincarnation. I even felt a pang of pity for her.

“Damn!” I burst to the surface, suddenly realizing—I’d forgotten to leave her alive. If I’d kept the corpse, I could have found out who was behind the attempt on my life. Now there was no way.

I cursed myself for my impulsiveness, but what was done was done. There was no use regretting it now—I still had many things to do. And the first of them was to go to Pi Sansha’s home.

Climbing up from the Yellow River, I ran toward Pi Sansha’s house.