Otherworldly Merchant

Senior Shu rudely wiped his nose. “Stop being emotional, that woman doesn’t look less beautiful than Chu Chu does. I think she looks even sexier. I’m afraid you won’t be able to hold yourself together.”

I smiled. “Guys, don’t worry. If Li Mazi has the guts to cheat on Chu Chu, I’ll turn him into Dongfang Bubai.[1] ”

Mu Wan’s current husband was hospitalized. His medical record in the hospital stated, ‘spleen and stomach deficiency’” It wasn’t a big disease. He just didn’t feel like eating, which made him feeble. This was a typical symptom of high-Yin and low-Yang.

Mu Wan was an orphan since she was fairly young. Her uncle had raised her. Later on, she became a child bride when her uncle sold her to her first husband.

She had been married five times. Her four previous husbands, unfortunately, passed away. This created rumors about Mu Wan dooming her previous husbands, which had spread…

Since Mu Wan’s current husband was sick, his family blamed Mu Wan for everything. They assumed that she had pushed her husband to this situation. They didn’t allow her to visit him in the hospital.

Our mission right now was to go to the hospital. We needed to see how her husband was doing and how long he could put up with it.

However, as soon as we arrived at the hospital, we heard someone shouting and screaming. It sounded like an old woman was scoffing her daughter-in-law.

Senior Shu was amused. “Oh yeah, there’s some good drama!”

The noise led us to them.

In the hospital corridor, we saw an old woman slumped in a patient’s room. She held a staff and was crying like the sky was about to fall. At the same time, she continuously insulted a woman that stood in front of her.

That woman must be Mu Wan...

When I first saw her, my heart began to beat quickly. She had porcelain-like skin with generous curves. Her eyes were charming and alluring, which inadvertently made me intoxicated. Her mouth was small, and her nose was exquisite, which gave her the look of a beautiful doll.

If Senior Shu hadn’t told me that she was around thirty years old, I would have guessed that she was only in her twenties.

No wonder Senior Shu had insisted that she didn’t look any less attractive than Chu Chu. It seemed they could compete as rivals. However, her body’s movements were much more seductive than Chu Chu’s. Although she was wearing decent and formal clothes, she couldn’t restrain her deadly, magical attraction!

Chuyi told me that her strange behaviors were because of the otherworldly item.

From what the old woman’s words, I understood she was Mu Wan’s mother-in-law. I also learned that Mu Wan’s husband had just passed away. Since Mu Wan happened to visit her husband at this moment, the old woman immediately blamed everything on Mu Wan.

Although Mu Wan was resentful, she didn’t fight back. She blankly looked at her dead husband in the room and said nothing.

Perhaps her heart was dead already; she didn't cry. However, her sorrowful face made people pity and sympathize with her.

I said to Li Mazi, “Now is your chance. Go!”

However, before Li Mazi made a move, Chuyi said, “Get me some lime. Hurry, or else it will be too late…”

I nodded and ran to fetch some lime.

When I returned, Chuyi and Li Mazi were waiting for me at the hospital. After seeing me, they quietly motioned me toward the back door of the hospital.

The back door of the hospital was designed for authorized staff. The door was narrow, which only allowed two people at a time.

Chuyi asked me to sprinkle the lime onto the ground. Then, he signaled us to hide and count the number of people that walked through the lime powder.

I immediately nodded. My eyes were glued to the back door.

After several hospital staff members walked through the back door, I saw Mu Wan. Her face showed that she was still grieving. Unable to hold her tears any longer, she silently wept. Her lonely, crying figure made my heart race.

“Now is a good chance to talk to her. Should Li Mazi approach her?” I asked Chuyi.

Chuyi shook his head. “I’m afraid it’s not that simple. We will decide after she comes over.”

I didn’t know what he meant by that. What isn’t ‘that simple’? Is there something else we don’t know...?

We had to suppress our curiosity and carefully watched Mu Wan.

After she walked to the back door, Mu Wan was a little confused as she saw the lime powder. She looked around, so we had to hide ourselves.

After she left, Chuyi brought us over to check.

After looking at the lime powder for a while, Chuyi couldn’t help but take a deep breath. “As expected.”

“What is it?” I asked Chuyi.

He pointed at the lime powder on the ground. “Count and tell me how many people have left footprints there.”

I counted and found the footprints of ten people!

It made no sense. Including Mu Wan, only five people had walked over the lime powder. Why were there five more people?

“What’s happening?”

“Something is following her!” answered Chuyi.

I immediately understood. The five footprints belonged to Mu Wan’s five deceased husbands, didn’t they? 

Are the ghosts of her five husbands pestering her? 

I told Chuyi about my doubts. He confirmed with a nod.

“Why are they pestering Mu Wan? Is it because they couldn’t find peace even in death and want to kill Mu Wan?”

“Wait a minute. It’s not just the footprints of five men,” said Chuyi as he arched his brows.

Then, he asked Li Mazi to go the security room to borrow a broom to clean up the lime powder.

A strange thing happened! As soon as Li Mazi cleared the lime powder on the ground, we found six more black footprints. Also, all six footprints were close to the door. They didn’t overlap with the previous ones we had seen!

These black footprints were very shallow. If we didn’t pay attention, we wouldn’t have been able to see them. We only saw them because they looked slightly dark and had the shape of footprints.

That was weird. When I sprinkled the lime, I didn’t see any footprints on the ground.

“What does this mean?” I asked Chuyi.

The corner of Chuyi’s mouth twitched. “She had eleven ghosts with her…”

“What the heck?" We shuddered in fright.

A normal person would go crazy with a ghost pestering her. Now Chuyi told us that Mu Wan had eleven ghosts following her. It didn’t make sense! With eleven ghosts pestering her, how could she still be alive?

I couldn’t believe it and looked at Chuyi.

Chuyi turned to talk to Senior Shu. “Senior Shu, please take a sample and check these series of footprints.”

Senior Shu nodded. He used a small shovel to carefully pick up the black footprints. He kept them sealed in a plastic bag.

“Oh, we can actually check those black footprints? What do we need to check exactly?”

“We need Senior Shu to check the age and the degree of resentment of these ghost footprints.”

I was taken aback. I had never thought that ghost footprints could be checked like this. Was there some sort of ghost DNA?

The situation had reached a point that surpassed what I had originally imagined. “What should we do now? Do we still need Li Mazi to pursue Mu Wan?”

Chuyi said coldly, “Wait until we have the results.”

Senior Shu parted with us. We drove back to the hospital.

On the way back I asked Chuyi, “How could you tell that Mu Wan was abnormal?”

“It’s simple. Mu Wan’s Yang energy was rich, but what she exuded was pure Yin energy, and she had endless alluring power towards men. That’s why I knew she had something evil around her. However, I didn’t expect to see that many ghosts.”

"There are so many ghosts following her, but they didn’t seem to affect her at all. Are they… Well, are those ghosts her pets? Maybe she knows what she’s doing and personally doomed her husbands to death?” My head was now open to many possibilities.

The man was quiet for a while. Eventually, he nodded. “It’s possible, but we’re not sure yet. I think that Mu Wan has a lot of secrets, but she doesn’t look like a bad woman.”

Li Mazi said, “How about I just stalk Mu Wan and see if I find something.”

Chuyi hesitated for a while. In the end, he took out a small peach wood sword and asked Li Mazi to be cautious. As soon as Li Mazi encountered danger, he’d need to break the sword. Chuyi would come to save him shortly after.

Li Mazi nodded. He got out of the car and rode a taxi. He was going to follow Mu Wan.

Chuyi and I returned to the hospital. Chu Chu was awake. She smiled at us and asked, “Where’s Li Mazi?”

I answered, “Li Mazi went out to buy some stuff. He’ll come back shortly.”

Chu Chu nodded then closed her eyes. She drifted off into slumber.

I stayed with Chuyi by her bed and watched over her.

However, Li Mazi didn’t come back or call us. It was late at night, and I couldn’t stay idle anymore.

At the same time, I didn’t dare to call Li Mazi. If he was stalking the woman and his phone rang, it would cause big trouble, wouldn’t it?

At night, Senior Shu called. He told us the footprints we obtained were likely from the Song dynasty. That was two thousand years ago.

I took a deep breath. How could the souls from the Song dynasty pester a woman in modern times?

I kept asking Senior Shu how that was possible. He became annoyed and cursed, “If you want to believe it or not, it’s up to you.” Then, he hung up.

I was astonished and turned to look at Chuyi. He looked absent-minded, lost in his thoughts.

I knew that he had something on his mind so I didn’t disturb him.

Several minutes later, Chuyi shot up and said, “Danger!”

“What danger?” I was taken aback by Chuyi’s sudden move.

He glanced at Chu Chu then signaled me to go out and talk.

I didn’t hesitate and followed him out of the room.

He ordered and said, “Call Li Mazi right now.”

My heart sank. I knew that Li Mazi was in danger. I took my phone out and called Li Mazi.

Li Mazi’s phone rang but no one picked up.

“What’s going on?” filled with worry, I asked Chuyi.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongfang_Bubai