Chapter 58

When Qu Zhiwen suddenly mentioned the mysterious ‘Chen’Jiang Bo’s expression drastically changed: “How do you know him?”

When Su Jingmo saw that Jiang Bo was on guard, he chuckled: “When Zhen heard Qin Cheng talk about you, Zhen thought that you were a brave and promising man. But after seeing you, Zhen found that you’re not a transparent man, even after death. Do you even know that your hard work in life was simply to make wedding clothes for others ¹ ?”

Jiang Bo, who has become a ghost, was naturally able to tell whether the two men in front of him were a living human or a ghost. The handsome young man who just spoke, although he was smiling, the ghostly qi surrounding him made Jiang Bo feel scared, making him tremble the same way he would if he were facing an endless abyss. However, did that fierce ghost mention QIn Cheng? He knows Qin Cheng?

“What…. What wedding clothes? You know Qin Cheng?”

“Jiang Bo, I’m afraid you’ve been taken advantage of.” As he indicated Su Jingmo to not speak hurriedly, Qu Zhiwen gazed at Jiang Bo’s eyes, and said: “You know, ever since you died, two of your colleagues died too…..”

‘ Two more died too? ’

“What happened? And how exactly did I die?!” Jiang Bo’s already gray face seemed even more frightening. In a hurry, he reached out to grab Qu Zhiwen, only to find that his hands were empty.

Jiang Bo’s soul passed through his body, and when Qu Zhiwen looked at Jiang Bo, who was staring at his hands in a daze, he said: “You’re like a ghost who just had died, so you don’t have much ghostly qi on you. You’re not a living person anymore, you can’t touch me….” Speaking of this, Qu Zhiwen paused, and then said: “Jiang Bo, didn’t you ask me why I know ‘Chen’?”

Jiang Bo put his hands down dejectedly as he snorted coldly: “I… the only time I’ve mentioned him was in my diary…. so you must’ve read it from there.”

“Yes, this man was recorded in the diary that was in your home. The police in charge of the case suspects that this is the person who should’ve indirectly killed you….”

“Killer?!” As if hearing something funny, Jiang Bo laughed out loud, and his face became ferocious: “Do you know how I died?! No one, no one choked me to death, but I felt as if I was being suffocated! Something was dragging me into the tunnel! But I couldn’t see what was eating my Yang qi!”

Jiang Bo complained and roared loudly. His facial features became twisted and horrible.

For most people, death was a dark and unknown area, full of despair, mystery, pain and sadness. It’s where life ends, where the will ends, and where all hope ends, filling people’s hearts with unwillingness. Almost everyone feels panic and fear when facing death.

Naturally, Jiang Bo would be the same. Knowing that he lost the possibility of staying in the living world, that kind of despair was like a tide falling down, making him unable to stand. This despair made him hate the injustice of life, and he could hardly listen to what Qu Zhiwen said. He thought about the moment before he died, how he was unable to see anything, and yet, he felt countless invisible hands dragging him desperately, dragging him into the depths of the tunnel. He was unwilling as he desperately struggled to get away to the point where his own fingernails were broken and his bones hurt. But he wanted to escape, he wanted to live!

But… what happened in the end? He still died! Still died!!

When Su Jingmo looked at Jiang Bo like this, he waved his hand impatiently. Jiang Bo, who was emotionally unstable and was being consumed by the resentment again, suddenly lost his strength and fell to the ground after being hit by a strong wave of power…..

“You’re not the only one who failed to achieve what you wanted in life and ended up dead.” Su Jingmo said faintly as he glanced at Jiang Bo, who was still on the ground: “You can’t change the fact that you died, so why should you resent it?”

The paralyzed Jiang Bo didn’t reply. In the end, the only thing Su Jingmo cared about was to know what happened to Great Xu after his death. As for the Taowu bone, and this case, he wasn’t interested. Even if the Taowu bone really had the ability of making people immortal, it was all meaningless to him, because he had already died more than a thousand years ago. As for this murder case, whether it was done by ghosts or a human being, as long as it didn’t hurt himself, he really didn’t care….

As for the information that Qu Zhiwen wanted to get from Jiang Bo, that was a matter that concerned Qu Zhiwen alone.

Too lazy to care about Jiang Bo, Su Jingmo walked towards the stone table at the other end of the coffin chamber, and sat down. He then took one of the books Qin Cheng brought for him, and opened it slowly.

Qu Zhiwen glanced at Su Jingmo, and then turned around towards Jiang Bo.

“Jiang Bo, do you know what month we’re in right now?”

“…. What month?”

“We’re in October. It’s been five months since you died…..” At this point, Qu Zhiwen squatted down and sat on the ground. “This murder case hasn’t been solved yet, and it had almost become an unsolved case, because the murderer can’t be found. Almost everyone thinks that it was made by a ghost. Very few people don’t think that way.”

“……”

“I think that you can guess by now that among those people who don’t believe in the ghost theory, are your parents…. As far as I know, many people have died one after another, and the police have long since refused to take care of them. However, your parents firmly believe that you were killed by someone, that your death wasn’t an accident.”

“….. Have you seen them?”

Seeing how Jiang Bo’s frown loosened, he didn’t reply to his question, but continued to say: “You know? When your mother found the notebook that you were hiding, she cried and called the police officer who had been secretly investigating the case. She said that she had found the evidence that proved that you were killed by someone…..”

These words made Jiang Bo’s eyes suddenly turn red: “…. Are they…. are they all right now?” The voice of a ghost already sounded with a trace of grievance and mystery, but the choking words of Jiang Bo added a trace of sadness.

“What do you think?”

Jiang Bo lost his voice. When he heard the situation of his parents, his thoughts had already become a tangled net. The more tighter the net was, the more tangled he was. As he covered his face with his hands, he sobbed in a low voice: “How can… how can they be alright….. I’m so sorry for them, I wish I could apologize to them, ah!”

Looking at the soul filled with sorrow in front of him, and even if he had already sensed that the people who came after him had arrived at this big tomb’s tunnel, Qu Zhiwen waited until Jiang Bo stopped crying before asking what we wanted to know.

“Now, it’s too late to say these things. But, do you know who this ‘Chen’ actually is? His full name? Facial features?”

When Jiang Bo heard these questions, he carefully thought for a long time. But his originally stretched brow slowly wrinkled again, and his eyes slowly became flustered.

Noticing Jiang Bo’s strange appearance, Qu Zhiwen hurriedly asked: “What’s wrong?”

“Why, why can’t I remember what ‘Chen’ looks like? What’s going on?” Jiang Bo suddenly scratched his hair nervously. “No, no, no! Why can’t I remember anything?! Even what he said to me, the way he looks, his height! I can’t remember at all? His appearance was still in my mind just now!”

When Jiang Bo said this, how could Qu Zhiwen not know what was going on? He was placed under the ‘suggestion ² ’ in life, and it wasn’t untied even after death.

After reading two pages of the book, Su Jingmo saw that Jiang Bo was acting like a maniac because he couldn’t remember that ‘Chen’ guy. As he slowly walked towards Qu Zhiwen, he lowered his eyes and looked at Jiang Bo.

“Is this a ‘suggestion’ spell? Can you undo it?”

“Those who are able to use the ‘suggestion’ spell and affect the soul, are people with powerful skills. Each spell has the same source, but this one is different. It’s hard to undo it.”

“Oh? Does that mean that you can’t do it?” Su Jingmo hooked his lips in a smile as he said: “If you can’t do it, then why don’t we ask those people outside to solve this spell together?”

Qu Zhiwen’s face was even more ugly when he heard Su Jingmo’s words: “…. Those people have better skills than I do. But Jiang Bo’s soul can’t leave this tomb. On the other hand, those people can’t use their skills once they step foot inside this tomb. So, just like me, they’ll be useless.”

However, It wasn’t easy to find Jiang Bo’s ghost, and it’ll be a waste to not ask him anything.

Thinking of this, Qu Zhiwen asked. “Jiang Bo, think about it. Before you died, have you ever felt that anyone had a problem with you? Or can you think of something strange?”

“….. Something strange?”

“Yes, was there anyone or anything that made you feel that something was wrong?”

“There’s….. one person….. But I don’t think he has anything to do with it.”

“Who?!”

Jiang Bo knew that the man in front of him should be familiar with the police. But when he thought of that person, Jiang Bo didn’t know what was so strange about him, nor did he know if he should say it or not.

Knowing that Jiang Bo was hesitating, Qu Zhiwen calmed down: “It’s alright. All you have to do is say it, I’ll listen to it….”

Jiang Bo stared at Qu Zhiwen for a long time before saying: “Tang Jiaming. He has always been as conservative as Professor Li about the issue of whether the tomb in Ninghua Village should be excavated by taking shortcuts. But…. Before meeting ‘Chen’, Tang Jiaming and I had discussed the issue. From his words, I could see that he was very supportive of my idea….”

“No…. let me see….” Jiang Bo covered his confused mind, and carefully sorted out things: “It seems that I came to know ‘Chen’…. Because Tang Jiaming introduced him to me?”

“So, you think there’s something wrong with him?”

“Tang Jiaming?” Su Jingmo smiled. “It seems that this man is hiding a lot of things.”

Thinking of the time when Qin Cheng said that the person who could see him that day was called Tang Jiaming, Su Jingmo’s eyebrows curved even more. “For example, he was able to see Zhen….”

…

The mountains near the Fen River in Pingyao County have long been soaked by a torrential rain not seen in months. The rain was getting heavier and heavier, as if a gray curtain was blocking the view, covering the trees and houses with a gray and hazy mist, until nothing could be seen from a distance…..

“How long have they been in there?” A man wearing a raincoat and a black umbrella looking at the hole made by grave robbers, asked Tang Jie, who was at his side.

“It’s been more than half a day. I don’t know if they died or not inside.”

The man with the umbrella took off his raincoat, which was dripping with water. By looking at his appearance, how could one not recognize that he was Tang Jiaming, who should’ve been in the research lab of Xi’an in X University at this moment?

The difference was that his face no longer looked as healthy as it used to be. Instead, it showed a yellowish tone…..

“Just wait here. They…. won’t die so easily.”

✨Extra Chapter thanks to Ko-fi✨ [3/4]

Ahhh I knew something was wrong with TJM ???

Poor JB, he was used as a stepping stone o(ㄒoㄒ)

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ψ(๑’ڡ’๑)ψ

Footnotes

<ol><b>为他人做嫁衣裳</b> <b>wèi tā rén zuò jià yī shang</b> ; The literal translation is making wedding clothes for others, to watch other people get happily married. The deeper meaning refers to a person who is so busy that they don’t get any benefit for themselves, and instead, they contributes to the good fortune of others. From <b>《贫女》</b> ( <b>pín nǚ</b> ), “Poor Woman”, by ( <b>秦韬玉</b> <b>qín tāo yù</b> ) Qin Taoyu. a poet from the Tang Dynasty [618-907]. <b>暗示</b> <b>àn shì</b> ; It’s a kind of message that people send out in an implicit and indirect way through words, gestures, expressions, or actions to induce people to act in a certain way or to accept certain beliefs and opinions. In the case of this story, I think that this can be considered as a spell of some sorts, that makes people forget everything about a mysterious individual.</ol>