Chapter 266: The Truth About Bai Lu’s Difficult Labor
Since he had already said it out loud, Shao Dong didn’t hide it from him. He told him about the knot in his and Shao Xi’s heart. Shao Nan listened for a while and didn’t say anything. Then, he suddenly said, “There’s nothing to feel conflicted about. Let’s find out while she’s still alive.” This way, they wouldn’t need to keep bottling it up inside of them and let it become a thorn that could never be removed.
“How? She won’t admit it,” Shao Xi said.
“Then find a way to make her say the truth. We can test her.”
“How?” Shao Xi was curious.
“Find something she’s afraid of…” Shao Nan was thinking when he heard Shao Dong say in a deep voice, “Just dress up as a ghost and act all mysterious.” Zhao Lan was terrified of ghosts.
Shao Xi was still processing it when Shao Nan reacted. “Good idea. Let’s do it.”
In the middle of the night, Mu Jingzhe was shaken awake by Shao Xi and the others. In a daze, she quickly asked them what was going on. When she finished listening, she was even more confused. However, when she looked at Shao Dong and the rest, she didn’t refuse in the end.
It was past five in the morning, but Zhao Lan was still awake. When she finally closed her eyes, she suddenly heard a faint sound outside the door. Creak… Creak…
It seemed like something was scratching the door, but when Zhao Lan listened carefully, there was nothing. Zhao Lan heaved a sigh of relief. Just as she was about to doze off again, the creaking sound of something scratching the door was heard again.
Zhao Lan abruptly opened her eyes. “Who is it?” she shouted. The creaking sound outside the door immediately disappeared.
However, when she lay down again, the creaking sound was heard again. Zhao Lan couldn’t take it anymore and got up to open the door, wanting to see who exactly was scratching it.
However, when she opened the door, there was no one in front of it. Instead, there seemed to be something in the courtyard. When she raised her head, it seemed like a white shadow had just run out of the courtyard.
Under the moonlight, the trees swayed, making Zhao Lan s.h.i.+ver. “Who is this?”
She shouted and turned on the flashlight, but the battery of the flashlight had long been used up, and she couldn’t afford to change it. All that was left was a yellow light, and nothing could be illuminated by it. It wasn’t even as bright as the moon.
Zhao Lan couldn’t see what was ahead and shrank back when she heard the wind. Just as she was about to go back, she heard the intermittent scratching sound on the door.
However, this time, it was echoing outside the front door, as if someone was scratching the front door. Sounds came one after another, creaking in the night. For a moment, the sound seemed anxious, but the next moment, it slowed down. There was no pattern.
Zhao Lan’s hair stood on end. She felt that this sound was a little familiar.
She was a bit afraid and wanted to go back, but the thing outside seemed to sense her intentions and suddenly started scratching again. There also seemed to be a faint sound.
Zhao Lan called Eldest Brother Shao and Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao a few times, but it was late at night, and the two of them were sleeping soundly.
Seeing that they weren’t moving, Zhao Lan felt even more afraid. Just as she was about to retreat to her room, the door behind her suddenly closed with a bang. As she heard the creaking sound of the door being closed, she also heard intermittent, indistinct sounds.
“Mom… I’ve been waiting for you… Why aren’t you here yet…
“If you don’t come, I’ll come to you…”
Zhao Lan’s expression changed. She searched around but couldn’t find anyone anywhere. Her mentality immediately collapsed. She screamed and ran out. “Don’t come over!”
In her panic, she couldn’t care less about the scratching sound on the door and ran over to it.
She was about to shout when she walked out the front door, but when she looked up, she saw a person in white clothes with disheveled hair floating in the air. When that person saw Zhao Lan open the door and come out, she reached out. “I’m… here…”
The voice was drifting and sounded dragged out. Zhao Lan was scared out of her wits when she saw this. She fell on the ground and only shouted after a long time, “Ghost!”
Zhao Lan came back to her senses and wanted to run back, but the door had silently closed behind her at some point. Zhao Lan couldn’t push it open at all. She could only face the ghost in front of her again.
The ghost in midair reached out again and said faintly, “Let’s go… I’ve… come to fetch you… It’s over. You killed me. I’ve been following you and watching you…”
As if she had now gotten used to speaking, her voice slowly became smooth, but she spoke in a high-pitched voice. “I was never reincarnated. I was just waiting to personally take you to the 18th level of h.e.l.l… Come on, I’ve waited so many years for this day…”
“No, I’m not going. I’m not going! Don’t take my life…”
Zhao Lan was so frightened that her mind had already collapsed. She could no longer tell if this was a dream or reality. She only wanted to escape this calamity and not be taken away. She knelt on the ground and kowtowed, begging for mercy.
“I was wrong. Bai Lu, I was wrong. I know I shouldn’t have caused your death. I was wrong. Please spare me. I shouldn’t have deliberately not taken you to the hospital. I just couldn’t stand you looking down on me and wanted to teach you a lesson so that you would give in and beg me. You just had to relent. I really didn’t expect you to die.
“Although I’d thought of letting you die so that you won’t keep hogging Qihai’s allowance, I didn’t do anything. You died giving birth. It had nothing to do with me. Stop looking for me…”
Zhao Lan hadn’t expected Bai Lu to come looking for her on her death anniversary. “Bai Lu, I beg you not to take me away. I wouldn’t dare harm anyone again. Please spare me…
“I didn’t stop Shao Dong and the others from paying their respects to you. Even though you’re dead, there are incense offerings. Don’t be angry…”
Zhao Lan was still crying and begging for mercy on the ground, so she didn’t notice the additional people around her.
Zhao Lan wasn’t afraid of anything, but she was terrified of ghosts. She believed in ghosts very much. Therefore, the day before and the day of Bai Lu’s death anniversary, she would always have nightmares and suffer from insomnia due to her guilty conscience. This night happened to be the second night she hadn’t slept well. She was in a daze. Now that she had been frightened like this, the truth that had been hidden in her heart for a few years, which she had never intended to tell anyone, was revealed just like that.
Even though Mu Jingzhe had been mentally prepared, her heart still sank when she heard Zhao Lan say that.
“So, I was right. You really killed Mommy. I remember her crying and begging you…”
Shao Dong’s voice finally made Zhao Lan, who was almost scared out of her wits and was still begging for mercy, snap back to her senses.
She looked up in a daze and wiped her bruised forehead. She followed the voice and looked over. “Shao Dong? Why are you here?”
She had a bad premonition. She raised her head in disbelief and saw the ghost slowly landing on the ground as a figure suddenly appeared beside it. It looked like Shao Nan and Xiao Wu.
“You… You…” Zhao Lan’s mind exploded. “You’re not ghosts. You’re humans. Who asked you to scare me? How dare you…”
“If we hadn’t scared you, how would we have found out the truth?”
Little Bei and Shao Xi walked out of the door behind Zhao Lan. The flashlights in their hands lit up the dark s.p.a.ce. Only then did Zhao Lan realize that the ‘ghost’ was Mu Jingzhe.
Not far behind Mu Jingzhe stood Shao Qihai, who was like a statue. Zhao Lan shuddered as she wondered how much he had heard.
Little Bei and Shao Xi walked up to Mu Jingzhe with flashlights. Eldest Brother Shao and Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao looked at Zhao Lan at the door with inexplicable fear in their eyes. Behind them were Fu, Lu, and Shou, who were rubbing their eyes in confusion.
Zhao Lan took a look around and felt her mind explode.