Chapter 93: Embroidered Shoes

Seeing the scene before him, Cui Yue could not help feeling deeply uneasy.

“Hey, did you notice? Why is there not a single person in the funeral hall?”

Zhang Hao turned in confusion, then froze as well.

“Huh? That’s strange. Everyone was clearly here just a moment ago.”

“Shh. Keep your voice down, Zhang Hao. Haven’t you noticed something off ever since we entered this village? In the daytime it’s one thing, but as soon as night falls, not a soul can be seen. Every household shuts its doors, and the whole village is so silent you can’t even hear a dog bark.”

Zhang Hao thought back carefully, then suddenly slapped his thigh.

“Now that you mention it, you’re right. The whole village is quiet in a way that’s far too unnatural.”

“So all these strange things in this village are definitely hiding a problem.”

Zhang Hao suddenly thought of something. Looking mysterious, he leaned close to Cui Yue’s ear and whispered a few words.

“What? How is that possible!”

Cui Yue’s expression changed in shock, his eyes widening.

“Bro, keep it down. Why would I lie to you? If you don’t believe me, go take a look yourself. There—it’s right over there.”

Following the direction Zhang Hao pointed, Cui Yue saw an unremarkable side room in the southwest corner of the courtyard. It was badly neglected, with broken doors and windows. On the crude wooden door hung a chain of rusted iron locks. Anyone not paying close attention would never have noticed it.

Zhang Hao quietly went closer, glancing around left and right, then signaled for Cui Yue to come over and look.

As soon as Cui Yue approached the door, a pungent stench of earth and decay rushed out at him. Peering through the crack in the door—

“This, this is...”

Cui Yue’s head buzzed, as if struck by lightning, and cold sweat instantly broke out over his body.

A pair of embroidered shoes.

It was that pair of red-and-pink mandarin-duck embroidered shoes.

The room was not large, nor did it contain much else. Against the south wall stood a small square table. On it were an incense burner, candles, and a few moldy, spoiled offerings. It looked as though no one had tended it for a very long time.

Most absurd of all was that in the center of the altar there actually stood a single embroidered shoe.

Even more eerie was the fact that, though the room was old and dim, that shoe remained vividly colored, as if it had only just been placed there.

Cui Yue saw it clearly: the shoe placed on the altar was the very same red-and-pink embroidered shoe worn by the green-clad ghostly figure earlier. It was absolutely identical.

It was like a ghost had stepped out of the grave. He could not make sense of it no matter how hard he thought. Under heaven, people worship gods and make offerings to spirits, but what he had just seen utterly overturned Cui Yue’s understanding of the world. Someone actually kept a pair of embroidered shoes in their home as an object of veneration.

The more Cui Yue thought about it, the stranger everything seemed. That green-clad ghostly figure and this entire village were certainly connected by some hidden link. This was not at all the same as raising a child spirit or keeping a minor household specter. At their core, the two were entirely different.

Cui Yue told Zhang Hao where the embroidered shoe had come from, and Zhang Hao was shocked all over again.

“You mean they’re worshiping a ghost? No—wait, a ghost’s worn-out shoe?”

Cui Yue shrugged. Don’t look at me like that; I can’t figure it out either.

“Oh, right!”

Cui Yue hurriedly pulled Zhang Hao back to the funeral hall. They knelt before the mourning altar, offered three sticks of incense, and while burning paper money, carefully questioned Xiao Feng.

“Xiao Feng, where is your mother?”

Xiao Feng had already cried herself into a tear-streaked mess. Between sobs she answered,

“My mother... she fainted a little while ago and is resting in the side room now.”

Cui Yue had originally hoped to get some useful clues from Xiao Feng’s mother. Since that was no longer possible, he continued questioning Xiao Feng instead.

“Oh, then Auntie must just be overcome with grief. She’ll be fine after a rest. Don’t worry too much.”

“Mm, Brother Cui, I know. Thank you.”

Cui Yue asked casually, pretending not to care.

“Xiao Feng, there were quite a lot of people here earlier. Why has everyone left already? It’s still early.”

“Brother Cui, our village has customs that are a little different from other places. Everyone disperses before midnight, and there’s no keeping watch through the second half of the night.”

“What kind of custom is that? I’ve never even heard of it.”

Zhang Hao found it odd and cut in.

Xiao Feng shook her head; she did not seem to understand it very well either.

“Xiao Feng, when I passed by that little side room just now, I happened to see the altar inside. It looks like your family has the same kind of custom as ours back home, worshiping spirit masters.”

When Xiao Feng heard Cui Yue point toward the side room, her expression suddenly became very strange, and she hesitated without speaking.

“Xiao Feng, did I say something wrong? Is there some taboo about it? I was just speaking casually—don’t take it to heart.”

Seeing Xiao Feng’s reaction, Cui Yue said this on purpose.

Xiao Feng wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, as if troubled by something. She glanced toward the side room, fear flickering in her gaze, and at last she finally spoke.

In truth, whether one worships a wandering spirit or keeps a minor ghost, such things are usually never told to outsiders. After all, they are hardly honorable matters. When others deal with you, they will inevitably feel some fear, and so people keep silent about such things.

“Brother Cui, you’re right. That side room really does house an offering to a spirit.”

Cui Yue and Zhang Hao exchanged glances.

So there really was something here. At least from Xiao Feng’s own mouth, they learned that her family truly was venerating that green-clad ghost.

Xiao Feng felt that Cui Yue and Zhang Hao were both close friends of Da Zhuang. They had traveled all the way here to see their father laid to rest in peace, and she sincerely regarded them as elder brothers. Because of that, she held no reservations and told them about the spirit worship in her home.

“Oh, Xiao Feng, is it like the spirit offerings at our home village? Are they worshiping a minor ghost spirit?”

Zhang Hao asked eagerly.

“I, I’m not too sure. My father never allowed us to enter that side room, not even to linger at the door. Every time, he went in alone and came out alone. I remember, I remember once—”

Xiao Feng sank into deep recollection, murmuring softly to herself.

Cui Yue pointed at the little side room and asked in a low voice,

“Xiao Feng, don’t you know what’s being offered in that room?”

Xiao Feng’s face changed slightly, and she said with a trembling voice,

“It—it’s an embroidered shoe! I was still young then, and I couldn’t resist my curiosity. I wanted to know what was inside, so I secretly ran in and saw that a single embroidered shoe was placed on the table. I was terrified and rushed out at once. But who knew that as soon as I got out, I ran straight into my father. He was furious when he found out I had gone in—he beat me so hard my bottom was split open. After that, I never went into that side room again.”

“So the embroidered shoe being offered there has been around for a very long time.”

Xiao Feng nodded thoughtfully.

“It’s been there for as long as I can remember. My father mentioned it once or twice in passing—he said that even when he was little, the offering was already there in the house.”

Cui Yue was utterly astonished. At the very least, that strange thing had been around for decades, perhaps even longer. In that case, its connection to the great stone mill must run very deep indeed. No wonder that thing, after becoming a spirit, had been dressed in such a manner.

Before Cui Yue could think it through any further, he heard yet another, even more bizarre secret.