After the ghost-hunting master descended the mountain, his fame spread throughout the capital.

Xie Jinchen glanced at Yi Che, who was slumped in a chair and fast asleep, and suddenly said, "Wait."

He raised his chin and pointed at Yi Che, "Wake him up first."

Jiang Shuangjiang and Jiang Dusheng both looked at him at the same time.

Xie Jinchen remained calm, his reason simple and clear: "I don't want to wait for him to wake up and then waste my breath explaining the whole story."

He paused, then said, "Troublesome."

Jiang Dusheng thought for a moment and nodded, "That makes sense." She had no patience to be a storyteller.

Jiang Shuangjiang hesitated for a moment, her gaze towards Yi Che somewhat complicated, but she finally nodded.

She took two steps closer, and gently blew a breath towards Yi Che's face again. This time, the breath was pale white and slightly cool.

"Hmm..." Yi Che groaned, his eyelids trembled, and he slowly opened his eyes.

After the initial confusion, memories returned.

He sat bolt upright, his first instinct being to look at Jiang Shuangjiang. He reached out to grab her wrist, his face a mixture of worry and concern. "Shuang'er! What you just did...you..."

Jiang Shuangjiang pulled down his hand, no longer avoiding his gaze. Her eyes, which were once full of warmth, were now filled with only cold ghostly energy and apology.

"A-Che," she spoke, her voice clear and no longer feigning gentleness, "I'm sorry, I lied to you. I'm not Jiang Shuangjiang, some orphan girl from a small southern town. I'm not even... a human being."

She looked into Yi Che's wide-eyed eyes and spoke each word like an ice pick, "I am just a ghost who wanders the human world with resentment, thinking only of revenge."

Upon hearing this, Yi Che was struck dumb, his face turned deathly pale, and his lips trembled, but he couldn't utter a complete sentence.

Jiang Shuangjiang stopped looking at him and turned to Jiang Dusheng and Xie Jinchen, beginning to tell her story: "In my previous life, I was a maid in the household of a merchant named Chen in Changling City."

"The Chen family may not be considered top-tier powerful families, but they are quite wealthy, owning several shops in the east of the city, and their house is also quite impressive."

She curled her lips into a mocking smile. "You should know that if you're born into a wealthy and powerful family, beauty might be the icing on the cake, bringing you a better future."

"But if one is born into a poor family, or like me, a slave who has signed a death contract and whose life is not even in one's own hands, then beauty is the beginning of disaster, a sharp blade hanging over one's head."

"Master Chen Youcai, who is nearly fifty years old, appears amiable on the surface, but is actually extremely lecherous and greedy on the inside."

"After I came of age, he repeatedly approached me under various pretexts, making suggestive remarks and touching me inappropriately."

"I knew that once I gave in to him, I would be doomed. Not only would I lose my innocence, but in this deep mansion, the mistress was jealous, and I would have no way to survive. Therefore, I avoided him in every way and was extremely cautious."

"But he wouldn't give up." Jiang Shuangjiang's ghostly aura turned chilling as she recalled the past. "He found a distant relative, a groom who raised his horses, named Wang Laizi. He was over forty years old, ugly, violent, and had a terrible reputation."

"Chen Youcai said he felt sorry for my loneliness and arranged for me to marry Wang Laizi."

Upon hearing this, Yi Che clenched his fists, his face turning ashen.

"It was called a betrothal, but it was just giving him a marriage certificate and sending me to live with that scoundrel Wang in a dilapidated storeroom next to the stables."

"You think that's all?" Jiang Shuangjiang's laughter was laced with hatred. "That Wang Laizi has long been fed up with money by Chen Youcai!"

"On the surface, I am Wang Laizi's wife, but secretly, that old scoundrel Chen Youcai often uses the excuse of checking the horses to sneak into the storeroom and force me to do those filthy things with him! Wang Laizi keeps watch outside the door!"

"I cried, I begged, I resisted, and I even threatened to kill myself. But Chen Youcai said that my indenture was in his hands, and if I died, he would sell my young brother to some desolate place!"

"Wang Laizi would beat and scold me at the drop of a hat, saying that I didn't know what was good for me and that it was my good fortune to be favored by the master!" Jiang Shuangjiang's ghost tears finally slid down, dripping onto the ground and turning into specks of cold black mist.

"That dark and damp storage room became my living hell. By day I had to endure the humiliation of that old thief, and by night I had to face that beast Wang Laizi... I lived like that for a full six months."

Jiang Shuangjiang's voice trembled, "Until one day, I heard that my younger brother was seriously ill and we had no money for treatment."

"I went to Chen Youcai, knelt on the ground and kowtowed, begging him to lend me some silver, or at least let me go out to see my brother. Guess what he said?"

She looked at Jiang Dusheng and Xie Jinchen, her eyes filled with endless sorrow and mockery: "He said, 'Shuang'er, what's more important than your brother's life than serving me? If you serve me well, perhaps I'll be happy and reward you with a few strings of cash to buy your brother a simple coffin.'"

"At that moment, my last hope was extinguished." Jiang Shuangjiang closed her eyes, then opened them again, revealing only a chilling stillness and hatred within.

"That night, while Wang Laizi was drunk, I used the horsewhip he had used to whip me to hang myself from the roof beam... I hanged myself in that storage room where they had wantonly humiliated me."

"When I died, I had only one thought in my mind—"

"Even as a ghost, I will not let them go! Chen Youcai! Wang Laizi! I will make you pay for your crimes in blood!"

The hall was deathly silent, save for Jiang Shuangjiang's suppressed slurping and the uncontrollable resentment emanating from her.

Yi Che's eyes were already bloodshot, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked, and his gaze toward Jiang Shuangjiang was filled with heartache and anger.

The fear and unease I had felt about being deceived seemed to have been shattered by the harsh reality.

The golden flames at Jiang Dusheng's fingertips had been extinguished at some point.

Jiang Shuangjiang took a deep breath and continued her narration, her voice even colder and emptier than before:

"After I died, filled with resentment and unwillingness, I turned a deaf ear to the bells of the underworld messengers, and my soul lingered near that dirty storeroom."

"I hate it! I wish I could transform into the most ferocious demon on the spot and devour Chen Youcai and Wang Laizi alive, chewing their bones to pieces!"

"Perhaps at the time of his death, besides hatred, he was also burdened by his concern for his younger brother and the desolation of his laughable life; or perhaps, the place where he hanged himself wasn't a truly auspicious place that gathers evil spirits..."

"Though my resentment is strong, I can never become a vengeful ghost."

She gave a bitter smile, tears streaming down her face. "In short, I've become something that's neither here nor there."

Tears streamed from her eyes, and a profound sense of powerlessness permeated her ghostly aura: "I watched helplessly as Chen Youcai continued to live a life of luxury. He even hired a feng shui master to assess the feng shui of his mansion and hung talismans to ward off evil. I felt a burning pain even when I approached the main courtyard of the Chen mansion!"

"Wang Laizi took the reward money, left the Chen residence, and actually started a small inn in the south of the city, got married, had children, and lived a respectable life!"

"I hate him! I want to kill him every night, but his mansion gates are decorated with statues of door gods and Buddhas blessed by the Huguo Temple, so I... can't get in at all."

"And my younger brother, less than half a month after my death, also died because we couldn't afford medical treatment. I don't even know where his soul went..."