100 Ghost Collection by Jiu Lu Fei Xiang
《百鬼集》 作者: 九鹭非香
Ch 02 ~ Ghost Wizard
Editor & Translator: Sonrisa t.n.t
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“Yuan Bao.”
*Yuan Bao – her name means silver/ gold ingot
There was an unpleasant voice calling her name, Yuan Bao frowned and unwillingly opened her eyes. She saw a plain and humble roof, a simple and crude wooden bed, and a cold and damp quilt covering her body. She carefully sniffed the quilt and was immediately assaulted by a pungent, moldy smell that made her want to retch.
She touched her neck, it was swollen all around. As she strenuously turned her body over to get off the bed, she noticed that there was still dried mud on her clothes. When she stood up, she nearly fell down from the fatigue all over her body, but the most uncomfortable pain was still her neck.
She unhurriedly inhaled a few breaths to slowly calm down and blinked her eyes to examine the dimly lit little room. With one glance, she took in the simple and ordinary furnishings around the room. It was just that on the table there was a dark purple bundle that appeared out of place. She curiously stepped forward, untied a small opening in the bundle to look inside, and she was dumbfounded.
There was a pile of gold ingots arranged inside and the golden glare dazzled the eyes.
“Ten pieces.” The rough voice came from outside the door. Yuan Bao heard the voice and she became rigid from head to toe. She touched her neck with some lingering fear but could not contain her curiosity and went to the door. She quietly cracked a small opening to peep outside.
Outside the yard, there were two men standing opposite each other. She glanced and recognized the black silhouette was the man that had looped the rope around her neck. At this moment, he had wrapped himself up in a black cloak that even his eyes were barely showing. The man in blue clothes standing opposite handed over a golden box to the man in black. The man in black weighed the box’s weight, and then extended his hand to give something to the man in blue clothes. She did not know what item was given to that man but it made him shudder from head to toe. Then finally, he clutched his hands close and frantically ran away.
Yuan Bao watched in a trance. When the man in black turned around, Yuan Bao happened to catch sight of his eyes reflecting the sun’s brilliant rays inside his big cloak. The sunshine projected the blue veins on his bumpy and uneven face even more stereoscopically dreadful.
Yuan Bao covered her mouth to suppress the shriek in her throat and with a “bang,” she closed the door.
At that time, she was in a life or death situation, so she did not pay attention to these things. Now she had paid attention to them and only felt a burst of vicious chill at the bottom of her heart. Just a moment ago, she saw the worms wiggling beneath the skin on his face. She roughly understood that this person, who lived in the Dense Foggy Forest, who had the frightening appearance, and who sold Gu for money, was the Ghost Wizard that she was seeking.
*Gu – legendary venomous insect/ worm
So, she had to make a deal with this kind of person…
As the footsteps outside the door gradually approached, Yuan Bao felt nervous and hurriedly hid behind the table. She guardedly and terrifyingly watched the man push the door open to come inside.
Qi Tian’s eyes temporarily stopped on her chubby cheeks. After he waited and saw Yuan Bao’s spine started to tremble, he lowered his eyes, went to the table to sit down on one end, poured himself water, and then quietly gazed at her. As Yuan Bao was dripping in cold sweat, the room was silent for a very long time. Then she nervously twisted her index fingers and asked: “Are you… Still selling Gu?”
Qi Tian restrained the emotions in his eyes and gently nodded.
Li Yuan Bao clenched her teeth and for once struggled with her thoughts. Finally, she threw caution to the wind and said: “I want to buy two.”
“Twenty ingots.”
Li Yuan Bao touched the gold and silver jewelry hidden between her bosoms: “I only have some jewelry… Is that okay?”
“No.” He had his rules. He did not like gold and silver; he only liked ingots because that thing had a fairly smooth and round surface.
Li Yuan Bao was somewhat anxious. Her older sister and the Shen family’s noble son’s wedding day was set for next month; she did not have time to delay: “But I really need the Gu, can you… Can you be a little flexible?”
Qi Tian was aloof and indifferent while his fingertips followed the lip of the circular teacup, around and around. He was really fond of this kind of smooth and round surface.
Yuan Bao, who was being ignored, only felt both disappointment and sadness inside her heart, and her round mouth unconsciously pouted.
The water in the teacup reflected the form of her pouty lips. Qi Tian’s finger could not help itself and plunged into the water but only received a damp finger in the end. He lifted his head and his eyes fixed upon Yuan Bao’s mouth: “Come here.” He beckoned Yuan Bao over with a crook of his finger.
Yuan Bao was afraid and took a step back. She touched her neck, somewhat scared and alert: “If, if, if you really can’t be flexible, then don’t be flexible, I accept…”
Qi Tian stood up, went around the table, and walked straight to Yuan Bao.
Once again, Yuan Bao saw the Gu crawling beneath the skin of his face but this man appeared to feel absolutely nothing at all. He simply approached her indifferently. Yuan Bao was panic-stricken, she retreated backward again and again, and finally with nowhere else to retreat, she knocked against the wall. Qi Tian stretched his hand towards her and Yuan Bao’s eyes became really round. She saw a black Gu under the skin on the backside of his hand jumping around like a fish jumping in the water, and then sank back into the skin covered in blue veins. Yuan Bao got scared and her face turned white.
Closer and closer, Qi Tian’s hand approached her face. Yuan Bao closed her eyes tightly and only had two words, accept misfortune, left in her heart.
After a moment of silence, the fingers that carried a normal body temperature lightly touched her lips. The index finger and thumb twirled her lips like fiddling with a round piece of meat.
“Round.” Qi Tian concluded.
His extremely unpleasant voice resonated in her ear. Yuan Bao was startled and opened her eyes. His other hand twirled on her ear, while Yuan Bao was dumbfounded, he said: “Round.” Then finally, he pinched Yuan Bao’s face, kneading and pinching back and forth, very much like he was enjoying the feel of it, “Very round and very soft.”
Yuan Bao thought this “Ghost Wizard” must be crazy: “Is it possible that… Yours is both hard and square?”
The ugly face slowly approached and with one bite, he nipped Yuan Bao’s lips, sometimes he nibbled and sometimes he licked. Yuan Bao was thoroughly struck dumb; she could even feel the tip of this person’s tongue occasionally have Gu roaming through it.
When he left, Yuan Bao only felt a burst of nauseating sourness in her stomach that made her want to vomit.
Qi Tian enjoyed it very much and narrowed his eyes: “Stay with me for twenty days.” He said, “I will give you two Gu.”
Yuan Bao only felt chills in her stomach. When she finally awakened from the fear, she shook her head repeatedly. Then she panicked and pressed herself against the wall moving sideways: “No, no, I don’t want the Gu anymore.”
Qi Tian narrowed his eyes in dissatisfaction: “You want them.”
“I don’t want them anymore!” The fear at the bottom of Yuan Bao’s heart had finally reached its climax. She trembled and moved to the side as far away from Qi Tian as possible. She rubbed hard at the places he had just touched, “I don’t want them anymore. I just want to live better. I just want to live as good as my older sister. I just don’t want to be neglected… But if I stay with you for twenty days, even if I have the Gu, I still won’t live well anymore.”
He saw her moving farther and farther away. The fear and disgust on her face became more and more apparent; Qi Tian’s appearance became colder.
In his memory, the outsiders always had such a face, ice-cold and pointed-sharp that made people disgusted. He reached his hand out to Yuan Bao: “If you want to go, then leave the flesh on your face.”
Yuan Bao was intimidated by these words, she saw Qi Tian approach her with a single step, and she started to run away.
Qi Tian coldly snorted, waved his arm, and a Gu flew out from the palm of his hand. It stuck to the nape of Yuan Bao’s neck. Yuan Bao let out a melancholic groan as the Gu sank into her flesh and disappeared under her skin. The light in her eyes gradually faded away.
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Enjoy your reading pleasure!
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Sonrisa t.n.t 