Blind and Delicate Husband

Due to the birth of the ghost king, the imperial capital was surging. And Dingtian Mansion, far away in Youzhou, had fallen into calm again after the night’s accident.

However, in the deathly-silent night, no one saw the strands of black mist emerging from the ground, quietly brushing across the faces of the sleeping people, and rushing to the sky above Dingtian Mansion.

They hovered around; as long as anyone who knew some profound arts was here, they would find that the entirety of Dingtian Mansion had been shrouded in black mist.

The middle of the night, in the master bedroom.

Cong Zhu, who was the maid who had been watching all night, was already asleep on the couch. She didn’t notice the abnormality of the woman on that huge bed that was carved in decorative patterns.

The woman seemed to be caught in the middle of a nightmare. She was in a cold sweat, her face as pale as paper, her bloodless nails gradually turning into scarlet blood.

The faint light of the flame on the candle fragment flickered a few times, then completely went out; the last drop of wax fell, as if shedding a tear.

In Bi Cen’s dream, there was a scene of a festive celebration going on.

“Bow to heaven and earth*—” 

[TLN: In an old-fashioned Chinese wedding ceremony, the bride and groom bow as part of a ritual.]

The young man wore blazing red clothes, his dull eyes hanging down. The smile on his lips was somewhat embarrassed.

“Bow to the parents—”

She took his warm hand and faced the memorial tablet of Daoist Master Wan.

“The husband and wife bow to each other—”

She stood opposite him, smiling and about to bow, when there was suddenly a scream from outside.

“Not good—the demons have come in!”

It was like some kind of terrible curse. For a while, everyone fled in different directions, and she led the young man through the messy hall. To comfort him, she sent the slightly-flustered young man to the bridal chamber and said, “Wait for my return, Lou Jing. Don’t be afraid.” 

But when she came back, all she saw were the corpses of the people of the mansion.

The demons had broken in and killed everyone inside.

She couldn’t find Lou Jing, couldn’t find him at all—everyone’s faces seemed to have become Lou Jing’s face—she turned over their bodies one by one, but it wasn’t him… It wasn’t him…

In the end, she found him on the small road not far from the new house. Dressed in a large red robe, he had fallen lifelessly at the side of the road. A red lantern had fallen to the ground. It was trampled and crushed beyond recognition.

She had left for too long, and he had died on his way to find her.

No… No!

“Lou Jing!”

She hugged his corpse, her tears falling on his pale face. Gradually, they turned into a bright red bloodstain as she took a blade and slit her own neck.

She killed herself in despair, became an evil spirit because of her resentment, and shuffled through the dead souls in the city, all day long.

In the end, even the remnant of his soul dissipated in her arms…

But in this life, boundless resentment and unwillingness surged into her heart.

It would have been fine if she hadn’t left at that point in time… It would have been fine if Lou Jing hadn’t waited for her by himself…

She was a lone star. Not only had she killed people in the city, but she’d also killed Lou Jing.

If the gods could give her another chance, even if she gambled everything, she wouldn’t let this happen ever again—

At the end of the scene, it stopped at Lou Jing’s soul remnant, which had fulfilled his lifetime’s obsession and dissipated from heaven and earth.

He stroked her hair and whispered softly, “Bi Cen, don’t be sad. I can finally see you.”
“Don’t go!”

Bi Cen suddenly woke up. The black veins on her pale face quickly faded away as she panting heavily, stared listlessly at the cyan muslin curtain for a while, and unconsciously whispered one person’s name under her breath. 

“Lou Jing…”

Cong Zhu, who was sleeping, was startled. She cautiously lifted the muslin curtain and looked at Bi Cen with a frightened expression, saying, “Mansion lord, you—are you okay?”

Their mansion lord wouldn’t lose her mind… and become a fool, right?

Bi Cen only reacted after Cong Zhu called her name several times. She turned her head slightly, her pale green eyes covered with visible red veins. “When is now?”

“Ah? What… Ouch!”

Cong Zhu was pushed aside by Bi Cen, who suddenly lifted off the quilt and got out of bed; her force was not light as she bumped into the side of the cabinet, couldn’t help crying out in pain, held onto her waist, and slowly turned her head.

Bi Cen grasped the mirror so hard that her fingertips turned white—she stared fixedly at herself in the mirror and pinched herself hard. The pain went from shallow to deep, her expression appearing to be a mixture of extreme anguish and joy, her eyes bloodshot and strange. “I am reborn? Haha… hahaha?”

Then, her Lou Jing…

“Mansion lord, where are you going?!”

Cong Zhu lifted her skirt and chased after her; however, their mansion lord’s figure was no longer at the door.

Today, the people waking up in the morning were surprised to see that a horse was sweeping through the street like crazy, dust flying everywhere, and it disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Everyone pointed at that person’s back, sighing that the situation was getting worse—some people were actually riding horses so violently in the streets! How presumptuous.

At this time, the presumptuous person they were talking about had already moved quickly from the eastern city to the western city, reining the horse in a place where the incense in front of the Daoist temple still burned vigorously.

With disheveled hair, Bi Cen sat on the horse, hungrily looking at the owner of a small stall in the Daoist temple. 

The stall owner was a handsome young man, his black hair neatly tied behind him with a cyan headband. Wearing old, thin clothes, his figure was slightly slim.

In autumn, the weather had already grown a bit denser, and thin clothes could not withstand the cold. He sat behind the stall, dipping a brush in cinnabar to draw ghost-expelling talismans; probably because he felt cold, he rubbed his hands from time to time, breathing warmth into the palms.

He was actually alive.

Bi Cen seemed as if she had lost her soul. She got down from the horse, her whole body almost floating off.

…She did float off.

The kind of floating with both feet off the ground while moving forward.

Upon seeing such a weird scene, the men and women who were buying ghost-expelling talismans in front of the young man’s stall, the believers walking out of the Daoist temple, and the people surrounding the streets started screaming, fainting, and fleeing; for a while, with Bi Cen at the center, the few hundred meters around her were already empty.

Only the young man sat blankly on the spot, looking around with a pair of dull, dark brown eyes. “What happened? Auntie Wang, where are you?”

Bi Cen floated to his stall and gazed greedily at his face.

The young man was blind; he did not seem to realize that she had already arrived in front of him. His pale, red lips were slightly pursed as he helplessly looked around, his soulless eyes falling into the void.

Bi Cen opened her mouth—her eyes turned red, but couldn’t cry; the tip of her nose was sour as she cautiously called his name: “Lou Jing…”

She called as if she were afraid of breaking a rare dream.

“Miss, how do you know my name?” Suspicious, Lou Jing pinched the edge of a ghost-expelling talisman and found that it was getting hot. He didn’t care. He tilted his head and asked politely, “Young lady, do you know what just happened? Why does it seem like everyone is gone?”

Bi Cen hadn’t spoken for a long time—she was immersed in this dream, her fingers hanging in front of his forehead and tracing his outline, reluctant to touch.

“Miss?”

Lou Jing was confused, very confused.

He suspected that the girl had left as well, and he couldn’t help reaching out, feeling helplessly in the dark. “Is anybody there?”

A cold hand suddenly grasped his hand. Lou Jing was startled and wanted to pull it back, but he couldn’t.

Lou Jing: “???” Had he met a female hooligan?

She asked expectantly, her two eyes terrifyingly red and bloodshot, “Lou Jing, don’t you remember? I’m Bi Cen!” She held his hand tightly, the black vein patterns of evil spirits gradually appearing on the backs of her hands and face.

“No—miss, if you have something to say, don’t move your hands or feet…” Lou Jingqiang forcefully suppressed the panic in his heart and pressed the person’s cold hand with his other hand, trying to pull back.

Once Bi Cen grabbed his hand, she definitely wouldn’t let go. Naturally, he couldn’t withdraw his hand and couldn’t help growing anxious as he entreated, “Don’t be like this. Miss Bi, I don’t know you. I’m afraid you have the wrong person…”

Bi Cen wasn’t listening. She asked him in a choked voice, “I’m Bi Cen. Don’t you know me?”    

Dark energy began to entangle all over her body, a faint susceptibility to completely becoming a demon.

Just now, the ghost-expelling talismans that Lou Jing had painted had sensed strong ghost energy and spontaneously began to ignite. The simple wooden booth was also turned into fine dust by the energy, and she asked again, “Don’t you remember me?”

Lou Jing felt a biting chill in the hand that he was holding. He took a step back in surprise, but in the next second, he was forcibly pulled into the arms of the female hooligan named Bi Cen, and a strong smell of blood lingered at the tip of his nose.

“Let go!” Lou’s cheeks were flushed red, and he looked more vigorous.

Bi Cen hugged him tightly, buried her face in his neck, and bitterly cried, “Won’t let go!”

Lou Jing’s eyes were red. Someone should have read him the almanac when he went out today. How could he be so unlucky that he met such an unreasonable female hooligan!

Lou Jing’s family lived in the backyard of the Daoist temple and lived by selling ghost-expelling talismans; because of his good-looking appearance, he was occasionally harassed by lustful women.

In the past, if he could hide, then he would hide at once, but he’d encountered a strange predicament today. At the same time, he was annoyed, but also a little panicked.

The streets were full of people—why hadn’t anyone come to stop her?

Was this woman some big shot?

He searched his memory for a while, but did not find someone with the name “Bi Cen.”

The arms around him were getting tighter and tighter, as if wanting him to merge into their flesh. Lou Jing frowned. His mind worked faster, and his body weakened slightly. “You’re hurting me!”

Bi Cen instantly woke up. She released him quickly and lowered her head to check his wrist. “Sorry, Lou Jing, I am not…”

Lou Jing quickly stepped back and shouted towards the Daoist temple, “Thunderbolt! Come!”

A black, long-haired Tibetan mastiff wrinkled its nose viciously and, with a bark, ran out of the Daoist temple with fangs bared.

Bi Cen didn’t expect that her sweetheart would have a dog bite her. She was stunned for a while, pushed to the ground by Thunderbolt.

Lou Jing was familiar with the way home. He groped around while running away and did not forget to call his pet dog back: “Thunderbolt, quickly run!”

Thunderbolt threatened Bi Cen for a while, then turned his head to catch up with Lou Jing.

Bi Cen looked at Thunderbolt’s back, the ghost’s whole being feeling completely wronged. “Thunderbolt, it’s me! You don’t even recognize me?”

Thunderbolt and Lou Jing ran without turning their heads.

Bi Cen: “…”

She sat up and saw a few ghost-expelling talismans remaining on the ground. She felt sad. 

The cruel facts lay before her eyes—because she’d been too excited, she’d scared Lou Jing away.

Bi Cen finally calmed down a bit and withdrew the ghost power that overflowed from her body; carefully picking up the remaining charms, she held them in her arms, hesitated for a moment, and went to Lou Jing’s house.

She knew where Lou Jing’s home was. In her last life, after she’d rescued Lou Jing and helped him move his things to her mansion, she knew that his home had been in the Daoist temple’s backyard.

He couldn’t escape.