Once upon a time, a man nearing the age of 20, who never took part in the disgusting practices of this village, existed. He was handsome and had a very warm smile that could charm thousands of girls. With his appearance alone which was above even some of the most popular male idols, he would not have to force an outsider to wed herself to him. Many would have volunteered to send themselves to him, ignoring the fact that he was from a remote place... if he had managed to show himself to the world. Unfortunately, this did not happen. He died young and without a wife.
The reason he did not take part in their stupid and wicked ways of getting a wife was... well… not really because he was n.o.ble or what. It was simply because he was not right in the head. Right. the crazy, mentally lacking kind.
It was a sad fact but unfortunately, people like him do exist. He was one of those who could barely function and was always staring blankly ahead or sporting expressionless face all day long. He was not close to anyone. The only member of his family was his aged grandmother. Given his condition, why would anyone care about brainwas.h.i.+ng him? His grandmother too did not have much money, as it was a time when the village was very rarely interacting with the outside world. She couldn"t purchase his poor grandson a wife even if she wanted to.
His condition coupled with his poor background made him destine for a sad life. But it was also because of this that he could maintain his humanity.
One time he tried to help a woman escape. However, he ended up being killed by one of the men, his body thrown in the forest for wild beasts to feed on.
Since then, the autistic guy who had been the shame of the village ceased into being. Very few people mourned for his death as he was hated for his illness and face by the men, while the women who were supposed to adore him were long brainwashed to be indifferent to everything apart from their husbands and children.
On how he ended up a soul chained in a dark place somewhere in the spiritual realm, Jiang Li did not know. The remnant feelings of his soul-client only brought him here due to some nostalgic memories. His Original wanted to check on his grandmother.
"So many years pa.s.sed. Is that old woman still alive?"
Jiang Li entered the rundown house that seemed abandoned for years. Sure enough, when he ventured further in, the furniture and other decors inside were covered in a thick layer of dust. There was no trace of human activities there for years. He suspected the old lady, a poor woman also trafficked from outside, had already died. Sadness overwhelmed him as he thought the old lady was very pitiful to pa.s.s away without her family sending her off.
The feeling stayed with him for several minutes.
After that, the soul-client seemed to be in agreement with him that he should now let go. The strong desire to explore finally vanished after Jiang Li put his palms together for a brief prayer.
Only moments later did he realize how odd his action was just now.
Was it really okay for a ghost to pray for another ghost?
"I"m suddenly embarra.s.sed." The guy couldn"t help but scratch the back of his head before chuckling.
Jiang Li exited from the house and then went back to the temple. He planned to wait outside. He had no desire to tour around since there was nothing much to see in a poor village like this. The ghosts here were not good bunch too so he also had no plan to socialize with them.
Arriving under a tall Chinese Pine tree, he looked in the direction of the temple and then found several youths at the entrance. He finally managed to take a glimpse of the beautiful heroine, Zhao Ai, the daughter of the village.
Decades since the death of Xu Heni, Jiang Li"s Original, Zhao Ai became the sole humane person in the village who had never accepted nor taken pride in her fellow villagers" practice.
In front, the girl snubbed Fan Zheng"s handsome smiling face and his hand that was extended for a handshake.
"I don"t make friends with egotistical foreigners." Zhao Ai said icily to the group without forgetting to make a disdainful face while looking at them from head to toe.
Somewhere nearby, Jiang Li, this thousand-year-old ghost, was having fun imitating her, from the angle of her mouth to her body posture and hand gestures. If the system was around, it would have gave him an odd look already, wondering if this ghost was also possessed or swapped away or if he had received the wrong memories of his soul-client.
By the way, Zhao Guo was present too. He had just come back from the shop of their local healer, the herbs he purchased were for the injured students.
Seeing his daughter"s behavior, his face turned dark. He quickened his footsteps while roaring in anger, "Ai! Stop being rude to our guests! Take back your words!"
Zhao Ai was surprised by her father"s arrival and instinctively looked at him, wiping off the arrogant expression on her face. "Dad," she timidly called out.
The man scowled at her. Afterward, he turned to Fan Zheng and the others with embarra.s.sment. Bowing his head lightly, he then said, "I"m sorry, I will talk to my child and give you an account after this. Ai, come home with me!"
The latter was said in a stern tone.
But the female lead seemed to be angered by her father"s humble att.i.tude towards the outsiders so her rebelliousness emerged again. She glared at Fan Zheng before protesting, "Dad, why do we need to be so polite with these people? I have a reason for saying I don"t want to befriend them! They"re haunted by the malicious beings of the forest, I"m sure there"s something wrong with them. They might have even brought those dirty things inside our village! They are endangering us!"
"Oh! Clever!" Jiang Li exclaimed in surprise hearing what she just said.
Her father did not like her words though, climbing the stairs faster than before. "Shut up! I"ve had enough of your nonsense!"
Jiang Li stared curiously at the female lead who stepped back a few steps seeing the rage on the village head"s face. She was still acting stubborn though. Apart from her mother, she had another reason to act wary and awful towards them. He found it intriguing.
Out of curiosity, he watched her the most after Fan Zheng. The latter took quite a while to accept the fact that the girl he had a crush on was pretty domineering and mean. As for the father, he appeared fidgety and nervous. However, since the girl did not mention the real secret of their community, it was apparent that he was just acting. Both the father and daughter were fascinating actors.
When Zhao Ai became so annoyed, she chose silence, although her eyes spoke volumes of her hate towards the outsiders.
A couple of moments later she opened her mouth again.
"Fine. I won"t speak anymore. I still need to clean the temple!" She declared before rudely b.u.mping her shoulders against Fan Lan and Zhan Rong who were standing together before she walked in between them.
"Ouch," the sister of the male lead cried in pain before turning to Zhao Ai. Her face warped in both pain and anger, she shouted, "Miss, stop!"
Zhan Rong did not say anything but even she frowned at the female lead"s behavior, especially since Zhao Ai did pause only to narrow her eyes at them.
Fan Lan had a fiery temper. She said between gritted teeth, "Hey, you! We never did anything bad to you so what"s with your att.i.tude? Aren"t you going to say sorry for what you did? What if I fell down the stairs and fractured a bone or two?"
The most agitated one was the village head who tried to grab his daughter and make her bow in apology. The urge intensified when Zhao Ai coldly laughed and replied, "So what if you fell down? It"s your fault for not making way! Better if you get injured the severely worse kind so you won"t have any choice but leave this village for a big hospital outside!"
It was a truly spiteful response.
No wonder those who heard her, even Fan Zheng, was in a state of disbelief, having difficulty accepting such words came out from the mouth of someone with a very lovely face. A couple of seconds later, while Fan Zheng was still dumbfounded, the rest began to tremble in fury.
"Take back what you said, you witch!" An Ming, the eldest who also had an explosive temper, yelled with unmasked anger.
"You"re not being funny when you wished for someone to be hospitalized! You"re so wicked!" added another boy.
Zhao Guo"s face was already like boiled shrimp in redness when he caught his daughter"s hand and forced her to bend her waist. As he was a person lacking in the glib of the tongue, he only managed to say one thing, "Apologize! Now!"
However, as she was intent on being a disobedient girl, Zhao Ai escaped from his grasp by violently flinging her father"s hand away and then replied, "Forgive your daughter for being unfilial. But Father, no! Never to people like them!"
Her red eyes that spoke extreme hostility started to turn watery which truly earned Jiang Li"s respect.
The father and the male lead were taken aback.
The girls and the other boys were still fighting verbally with Zhao Ai.
"Great actress! d.a.m.n!" Jiang Li couldn"t help but exclaim. "Everyone believed her performance and no one is suspecting her real motive. The female lead was simply the type all the directors would fight for!"
The ridiculous and childish fight continued. The female lead even raised the tools in her basket, in an internal battle whether to throw them at the group or not.
When Jiang Li whistled from his spot, perhaps due to his overflowing emotion, the sound created became audible to the living. Yet because the people nearby were focused on what was on Zhao Ai"s hands, n.o.body noticed him.
He chuckled when he realized this. Looking at the stupid bunch who were misled into hating her or thinking that she had some deep story to tell, he began to clap. She was really impressive... impressively naive and stubborn.
When Zhao Ai gave her last piece and then huffed before marching towards the temple, Jiang Li took off his imaginary hat, performing a standard gentleman bow as his salute to her.
And then after giving her all the due recognition that she should receive… he threw a stone to trip her.
"A small payback for bullying my girl and stealing my role." The ghost with no concept of gender inequality laughingly told himself.