The dawn had just broken when a terrifying scream shattered the tranquility of Qin Manor.
Liu Chun, the chief steward, was washing his face when the commotion outside made him frown. Just as he was about to demand an explanation, the door was flung open. His personal attendant, He Xing, rushed in with a panicked expression. "Master, it's terrible! Ninth Miss has returned from the dead!"
Liu Chun frowned, wondering if he had misheard. "What did Ninth Miss do?"
He Xing hurriedly replied, "She returned! Ninth Miss has returned from the dead! The mourning attendant, Mama Yang, ran to the front courtyard like a madwoman, screaming the whole way that Ninth Miss had come back to life. She even said Ninth Miss stood up and spoke! Right now, everyone in the manor is heading toward the western rear courtyard..."
Liu Chun, a man in his thirties with broad experience, found it hard to believe that a dead person could return.
He Xing gasped for breath before adding, "Also, Mama Yang said Fuling hanged herself!"
Liu Chun's eyelids twitched. He wiped his face and hurried outside. "Where is Mama Yang now?"
"She screamed all the way and seemed to have lost her mind from fright. She’s been restrained now. The main courtyard and Old Madam must have already heard the news. Master, what should we do?"
Liu Chun strode forward decisively. "You go to the western rear courtyard. I’ll head to the main courtyard."
He Xing nodded briskly and dashed out toward the northwest.
"Ninth Miss has returned from the dead! And it’s not even been seven days yet!"
"Exactly! Could she have been possessed by some evil spirit? Several people checked her pulse when she was pulled from the lake—they all confirmed she was dead. And her eyes were still open when she died..."
"Could her resentment have been so strong that she turned into a vengeful ghost?"
The path to the western rear courtyard was crowded with Qin Manor’s servants. Though tales of the dead returning were common, few had ever witnessed it firsthand. The servants, gathered in small groups, weren’t frightened—instead, they treated it as a bizarre spectacle.
He Xing sprinted the whole way, but when he reached the western rear courtyard, his jaw dropped in shock.
The usually desolate and overgrown western courtyard was now surrounded by layers of people—so many had gathered!
Frowning, He Xing pushed past the crowd, shoving aside those blocking his way. When he finally broke through the last row of onlookers, a chill ran down his spine.
The mourning lantern at the courtyard gate stood out starkly. There, clad in pristine white funeral garments, her face deathly pale and her ink-black hair cascading over her shoulders, was Qin Guan. She walked with an ethereal grace along the path leading to the western rear courtyard. From a distance, her figure seemed both eerie and indistinct—was she human or ghost?
He Xing’s eyes widened. He had personally witnessed her being pulled lifeless from the lake!
"N-Ninth Miss, spare me! This lowly servant deserves death for speaking disrespectfully of you! Ninth Miss, please be merciful! I’ll copy the scriptures ninety-nine times for you and offer ten bright lamps in your name..."
Mama Zhao trembled as she walked ahead, her voice quivering with fear. While Mama Yang had fled screaming, Mama Zhao had collapsed in terror. She had assumed Ninth Miss’s reanimated corpse had come to claim lives—but instead, she had only asked to be led to Fuling.
Did she know Fuling was dead? Did she intend to take Fuling with her into the afterlife?
Qin Guan’s expression remained impassive as she gazed at the small courtyard ahead, her brow slightly furrowed.
The western rear courtyard was less than twenty zhang from the ancestral hall. Its gate was narrow, its walls low, and the surrounding area was overgrown with weeds—desolate and silent. Was this where Qin Manor’s Ninth Miss had lived?
The thought flickered through her mind, but right now, only one word echoed in Qin Guan’s heart: Fuling.
Whether it was her instincts as a former physician or the fragmented whispers she had heard in her dazed state, she couldn’t abandon this loyal servant who had chosen to follow her master in death. With this resolve, Qin Guan stepped up to the gate of the western rear courtyard."Open the door." Qin Guan's voice was hoarse, carrying an inexplicably chilling undertone in the cool dawn air.
Mama Zhao shuddered and hurried forward to push open the half-closed gate.
Once the door was open, anyone outside the courtyard could see straight through the central courtyard to the figure hanging from the rafters inside the house.
Qin Guan's gaze darkened as she swiftly stepped past Mama Zhao and strode inside.
From a distance, He Xing gasped—Mama Yang had been telling the truth! Fuling had hanged herself!
"That's Fuling! Fuling really hanged herself!"
The onlookers only dared to watch from afar, not daring to approach Qin Guan. It wasn’t until she entered the courtyard that they cautiously moved closer. The nearer they got, the clearer the scene inside the house became.
"Is Ninth Miss human or a ghost?"
"It's broad daylight—if she were a ghost, how could she face so many of us?"
"Right! Did you see? There’s Ninth Miss’s shadow on the ground!"
"So you’re saying Ninth Miss… is a resurrected corpse? She’s alive?"
The murmurs erupted like an explosion. This once-in-a-century spectacle was unfolding before their eyes, and everyone stared wide-eyed at Qin Guan’s every move.
But Qin Guan paid no attention to the chatter. Returning from the dead was already an unbelievable tale—even she hadn’t fully processed it. Her focus remained solely on Fuling as she stepped into the house without hesitation and wrapped her arms around Fuling’s dangling legs.
Fuling was dressed in mourning clothes, her neck suspended by a cloth rope, her body already stiff.
Qin Guan tried to lift her but couldn’t. She turned to Mama Zhao, still standing at the courtyard gate. "Help me!"
Mama Zhao trembled, then obeyed like a puppet, quickly entering the house.
Seizing the moment, Qin Guan swept her gaze over the room. The furnishings were simple, the belongings neatly arranged. The stool beneath Fuling’s feet had toppled backward—there were no signs of struggle or a fight.
Once Mama Zhao was inside, Qin Guan spoke again. "Slowly."
Qin Guan spoke sparingly, but every word carried an oppressive weight. Mama Zhao, terrified and disoriented, obeyed without question. Carefully, she helped Qin Guan lower Fuling to the ground.
Qin Guan immediately pressed a hand to Fuling’s chest, while Mama Zhao, as if compelled by some unseen force, checked Fuling’s breath.
The moment she did, Mama Zhao let out a wail and scrambled backward on her hands and knees.
"She’s dead! Fuling is dead—"
The crowd outside showed little reaction—it was expected. Fuling must have hanged herself in the middle of the night. By now, with dawn breaking, how could she still be alive? Besides, Fuling was just a maidservant—what did her death matter?
All attention remained fixed on Qin Guan.
She had drowned in the lake, her breath confirmed to have stopped. The ancestral hall had been prepared, funeral garments dressed her, and the ritual performed—she was moments away from being buried when she came back to life?
"Look! What is she doing?"
Someone shouted, and the crowd turned to see Qin Guan crouched beside Fuling, lifting her arm. She briskly rubbed Fuling’s limbs, then moved to her throat, chest, abdomen, and legs.
The sight was utterly bizarre. The onlookers stared in bewilderment.
"Is she trying to save her? She’s already dead—how can she be revived?"
No sooner had the words been spoken than Qin Guan suddenly stood, planting her feet on Fuling’s shoulders. In the next moment, she yanked Fuling’s hair upward. Then, crouching again, she pressed down on Fuling’s chest…
Though they knew it was hopeless, Qin Guan’s grave intensity inexplicably held everyone’s breath.
Just then, a man’s voice suddenly rang out.“Make way, the Old Madam is here, the Mistress is here—”
Liu Chun’s loud shout snapped the gathered servants out of their daze, and they hastily cleared a path.
On the small path outside the western rear courtyard stood Jiang Shi, the Old Madam of the third branch of Qin Manor, clad in a deep black jacket and skirt, gripping a silver cane. Her hair was white, her face deeply lined, and her entire demeanor was solemn and stern, her eyes unfathomably somber.
Behind her was Lin Shi, the matriarch of Qin Manor in Jinzhou. Lin Shi was dressed elegantly, her expression gentle and meek, though the only flaw was her pronounced aging at nearly forty. Standing behind Jiang Shi, her presence was entirely overshadowed.
The two arrived with a retinue of attendants but seemed hesitant to approach any closer.
At the very end followed seven or eight monks clad in gray robes.
“Greetings to the Old Madam, greetings to the Mistress—”
The gathered servants knelt in unison to pay their respects, even Mama Zhao in the courtyard hurriedly dropping to her knees.
Jiang Shi remained unmoved, and Lin Shi stayed silent, leaving Liu Chun to step forward.
His gaze immediately fell on Qin Guan inside the room. His narrow eyes flickered violently before he quickly returned to Jiang Shi and Lin Shi’s side. “Reporting to the Old Madam and Mistress, Ninth Miss has truly returned from the dead. Her maidservant lies inside the room, seemingly already deceased.”
A flash of horror crossed Lin Shi’s eyes. “Mother, this matter—”
Jiang Shi’s murky, profound gaze darkened with disgust. “I’ve lived long enough to see everything. A mere return from death is nothing. Fortunately, the masters have not yet left Qin Manor. Whatever the truth, the masters will determine it!”
With that, Jiang Shi turned to Liu Chun. “You—”
“Cough! Cough, cough, cough!”
Before Jiang Shi could continue, a fit of coughing abruptly rang out.
Before Jiang Shi could react, the servants at the courtyard entrance all turned their gazes inward—and what they saw made their eyes widen in shock.
Fuling, who had been stiff in death, had actually sat up!
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