Chapter 78: The Shadow Ghost – Conclusion (Part II) part 1
Fu Rui and Shi Danhang had met during the decline of her family’s fortune. The Shi family had originally been a scholarly household; his parents were both teachers, and Shi Danhang had a younger sister. Later, his parents and sister all perished in a massive earthquake. Shi Danhang was the only one who miraculously survived.
He was barely sixteen that year. Fu Rui was two years his senior. Having joined her family’s company after reaching adulthood, she had accompanied a convoy to the disaster site to deliver donations and supplies.
Fu Rui still remembered the scene. When she first arrived, she was paralyzed with terror by the sight of a living purgatory. Two figures crawled out from a heap of broken walls and ruins: a slightly older boy carrying a girl covered in blood.
Both were coated in black ash and filth, their bodies riddled with injuries, yet their eyes were startlingly bright.
Fu Rui later learned they were siblings. The brother had survived, but the sister had already passed away from excessive blood loss.
The second time she saw Shi Danhang, he was kneeling on the ground with a white cloth wrapped around his head. A spread of food was laid out beside him, and people were constantly urging him to eat. Driven by curiosity, Fu Rui went over to ask what had happened.
That was how she found out that following the sister’s death, the boy’s parents had passed away as well—without even leaving bodies behind. Their students had witnessed the two teachers being swallowed by a massive fissure that opened in the earth while they were running to save others. The crack had squeezed shut immediately after, sealing them within.
There was no hope of ever digging them out.
Out of sympathy, Fu Rui had instructed her people to pay special attention to the boy. Her family provided full tuition and living assistance to over a thousand displaced children, including Shi Danhang.
At the time, she was young and assumed Shi Danhang had simply been lucky to survive the earthquake. It wasn’t until after they were married that a drunken Shi Danhang finally confessed the hidden truth of the past.
Every time Fu Rui recalled that night, she couldn’t help but feel her skin crawl. “He said that before the earthquake, he saw a massive green snake, over ten meters long, coiled around a tree trunk on the mountain, staring at him hungrily.”
Shi Danhang had never seen anything like it and fled in terror. However, as the sky grew dark, he lost his way in his panic and wandered deep into the forest.
Just as he was paralyzed with fear, the rustling of branches behind him caught his attention. He turned his head and saw that massive green snake again, less than three meters away, staring straight at him. Its tongue flicked in and out, and its hot, bloody breath brushed against his face.
Shi Danhang fainted on the spot. When he opened his eyes again, he was somehow back at his own front door. Coiled beside him was a tiny snake, only about the thickness of a finger.
Realizing the giant snake had brought him home, Shi Danhang was both terrified and ecstatic. Terrified because he had encountered such a monster, but ecstatic because he now had something incredible to brag about. He hid the small snake in his bedroom, keeping it from his parents, and even brought it to school to prove his story to his classmates.
One meddlesome classmate connected his encounter to the legend of the Marquis of Sui from thousands of years ago, joking, “Maybe this snake is here to repay a kindness. You’re about to get a treasure!”
“Really?” Shi Danhang pinched the sleeping snake, curious. “Is that true? Is it really that magical?”
“Why don’t you cut it open and see? It’s probably inside its body.”
“Yeah, cut it open! It’s just a snake, not a person.”
Several others joined in the jeering. Shi Danhang was tempted, but he didn’t have the right tools on hand. He promised to try it at home and give them an update the next day.
That evening, he carefully selected a sharp knife and sliced the snake open from tail to head, splitting it in two. Shi Danhang rummaged through the bloody mass of flesh until he finally found a small, white bead, not even the thickness of a pinky finger.
It was a mystical object. He tentatively swallowed it, but felt no different.
He planned to share the news with his friends at school the next day, but as soon as class began, a catastrophe that shook the heavens and earth descended.
Aside from him, not a single person who had seen the snake or participated in that discussion survived.
Shi Danhang didn’t know if the earthquake was related to the snake, but from that day on, he remained tight-lipped. Unless he was heavily intoxicated, he would never utter a word about the Suihou Pearl.
Fu Rui had spoken a great deal, and her throat finally gave out. It felt as though sand was lodged in her windpipe; before she could catch her breath, a fit of dry coughing seized her. Her face turned bright red as she covered her mouth.
Jiang Si deftly handed her a bottle of water. Once she had calmed down, he asked, “Rongcheng isn’t in an earthquake zone. Where was Shi Danhang’s hometown?”
“S Province. He was from S Province,” Fu Rui whispered.
“One last question. Have you seen Shi Danhang’s mistress? Where is she now?”
The air suddenly turned still. Fu Rui toyed with her fingers, remaining silent.
“Is she dead?” Jiang Si had a bad feeling.
“Mr. Jiang, do you believe in resurrection?” Fu Rui asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean Shi Danhang’s little mistress was supposed to be dead. Later, she came back to life, gave him a child, and then vanished. Her affairs have nothing to do with me, and I didn’t want to get involved. But since you’re asking, I’ll tell you.” Fu Rui took a sip of water. “A month ago, I saw that woman get hit by a car with my own eyes. The driver was drunk, speeding at over 190 kilometers per hour. She was sent flying over twenty meters. She wasn’t exactly in pieces, but there was absolutely no chance of survival. But guess what?”
“Not even three days later, I saw Shi Danhang out with her again. She was even pregnant. I wasn’t as panicked when I first caught him cheating as I was when I saw that woman. She even turned around and gave me a provocative smile.”
Fu Rui maintained her upbringing and refrained from making any overly harsh comments about the woman who had destroyed her family. She simply added, “She’s very beautiful, but she has no aura of a living person. I could never understand it. Every time I saw her, I felt physically ill, yet Shi Danhang was completely obsessed with her.”
Jiang Si remembered clearly that Sun Yu had said he personally found someone to study Shi Danhang’s preferences to approach him. If the woman wasn’t human, Sun Yu should have noticed.
Looking at Fu Rui’s slightly reddened eyes, Jiang Si found it difficult to judge who was lying.
“Alright.” He prepared to leave after finishing his questions. Fu Rui propped herself up and called out to him, “Mr. Jiang, please be careful. I feel that since they didn’t succeed, they’ll definitely have another move.”
“Thank you, don’t worry.” Jiang Si smiled. “Get some rest.”
After he closed the door and left, Wang Zhao asked, “How did it go?”
“Not bad.” Jiang Si lowered his head and sent the photos to Shen Hu, asking him to investigate Master Wei’s true identity. The bodyguards followed them out of the ward, and one handed Jiang Si a paper bag. “Hello, this is a gift from my employer.”
Surprised, Jiang Si took it and thanked him before leaving with Wang Zhao.
Once they were in the car, Wang Zhao urged him to see what it was. Inside was an exquisite piece of jade, looking both beautiful and antique.
“Darn, I thought it would be a check.” Wang Zhao was a bit disappointed. Jiang Si shot him a fleeting glance. “And you call yourself a screenwriter? Can’t you see the symbolism?”
“Who gives a check as a gift? This is jade. Think about what that means.”
Wang Zhao thought for a moment and curled his lip. “Are these people speaking in riddles? That’s too much trouble. Using jade as a token so you’ll go to them if you need something.”
“Forget it.” Jiang Si packed the gift away. “It’ll look nice in the shop. I’ll keep it.”
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