Chapter 412: Chapter 405: I’m Just Obsessed With Good Looks 47
Xiao Yuan ranked as the top scorer, and his confidence grew stronger.
Once Mr. Xiao in the Capital had purchased a house, the family packed up and moved to the Capital early.
Mr. Xiao stayed in the Capital awaiting the arrival of his family.
After waiting for about ten days, the family finally reunited.
Of course, at that time, Mr. Xiao was not living in the newly purchased house but in a club house.
After he received Anning and the others, his expression became a bit complex.
After dinner, Mr. Xiao spoke to Anning, "You told me to buy that house in the east of the city, the haunted house that no one has bought for years because of its low price, but how can one dare to live there?"
Anning laughed, "Father, have you forgotten my skills? Others find the haunted house terrifying, but for me, it’s nothing. Just wait until I’ve cleaned up the house, then our family can move in."
Anning didn’t wait any longer, and went to the house the next day.
The house belonged to a family of a Minister Liu, and it was a large five-section mansion. Unfortunately, the house had a deadly history.
While Minister Liu’s family was living there, the house became haunted and someone died, causing the Minister’s wife to go insane. Eventually, the turmoil forced the family to move, and Minister Liu fell ill and had to retire hurriedly to his hometown.
After Minister Liu’s family left, the house went through another owner.
But that family couldn’t stand to stay for more than a few days and also moved out hastily, and since then no one has dared to buy it.
When Mr. Xiao talked about buying a house, the broker introduced this house with a try-and-see attitude. Normally, a house of that size in that area would cost at least ten thousand taels of silver, but this mansion cost only 2,000 taels, truly a bargain.
If it weren’t for Anning, Mr. Xiao would not have dared to buy it.
Even now, having bought it, he still dared not live there.
Anning took a tour around the house and had a plan in mind.
That night, she went there again.
She went to the pond in the back garden and stood there for a while, everything was quiet and still.
Anning grew impatient and stomped her foot loudly, shouting, "Come out now! Must I beg you four times before you show yourself?"
Soon, a wailing wind rose, and a female ghost, dripping with water, emerged from the pond.
The female ghost, with red eyes and long hair flowing, stepped ashore, dampening a large area with her watery presence.
She glared at Anning hatefully, "I didn’t provoke you, yet you choose to provoke me, so..."
She stretched out her hands with long nails, but before she could finish her words, Anning had already charged at her, kicking the ghost far away.
Anning leaped forward, grabbed the ghost by her hair, and pummeled her face with punch after punch.
"Arrogant, I’ll show you arrogant! Keep acting tough, come on! What, you think you can take revenge on me? You wish, but you better have the skills!"
The female ghost cried pitifully under Anning’s blows.
"Stop hitting me, please stop."
Anning threw another punch, flattening the ghost.
Crying like she was dying all over again, the female ghost pleaded, "I’ve already begged for mercy, what more do you want? You’re bullying me too. My life is so bitter, even as a ghost I can’t find peace."
Anning raised her fist again, "Cry again, and I’ll beat you into a ball, steam you in a pot, and turn you into a ghost meat bun!"
Terrified, the ghost dared not cry anymore. She looked up, her eyes pitifully gazing at Anning.
Anning threw the ghost down, "Tell me, how many lives have you harmed?"
The ghost shivered and hesitantly held up one finger, "Just, just one. The rest I only scared, who knew they would be so frightful."
At this point, the ghost again cried in a low voice, feeling wronged, "They owed me a life, I was only seeking justice for myself. I didn’t do any other bad things, why did you beat me?"
It turned out that this female ghost was Minister Liu’s concubine daughter.
Her mother was a dancer from a lowly background. Initially, Minister Liu was quite fond of her for a couple of days, but then he ignored her. After the female ghost was born, her mother became even more disliked.
The mother and daughter depended on each other for survival. When she grew up to be twelve or thirteen, blooming like a flower, she outshone the other girls in Minister Liu’s Mansion, which made her the target of envy.
Her mother was deliberately targeted by the Minister’s Wife and was punished to wash clothes outside in the cold weather, and eventually died from getting chilled.
The female ghost, however, was drowned in the pond by Minister Liu’s legitimate daughter and a concubine.
It was Minister Liu’s legitimate daughter that the female ghost killed in return.
The concubine was frightened into insanity.
Minister Liu’s wife was also driven insane by the female ghost.
After hearing the female ghost’s story, Anning asked her, "Do you want to be reincarnated?"
The female ghost nodded eagerly: "Yes, who would want to stay in the cold water all the time?"
Anning smiled, "Then be obedient from now on. If you’re not, even if you enter hell, you won’t find peace. Do you know about the Eighteen Layers of Hell? I can make you suffer a hundred years on each layer."
Clearly frightened by Anning, the female ghost shrunk into herself: "I will behave. I won’t scare anyone anymore. I have gotten my revenge, so I’ll be good."
Anning then slapped a talisman on the female ghost: "Alright, that’s settled then. You don’t have to return to the pond anymore. Find a place to stay, and watch over my house for me later. Work for me for ten years without pay, and I’ll find a good family for you to be reborn into. How does that sound?"
Hearing this, the female ghost’s eyes were no longer red but sparkled as she looked at Anning: "Really? But you have to find me a good family where I can be the legitimate daughter, and I want to be smart and beautiful..."
"Such many demands."
Anning slapped her hand: "If I can find you a good family, naturally I will make sure you become the legitimate daughter. Consider it a good deed. I will find you a family with a clean backyard so you won’t suffer again."
The female ghost was finally reassured: "Thank you, Miss. Then, I will guard and protect your house."
As soon as she finished speaking, Anning threw a cleaning rag at her: "Alright, then start cleaning right away and remember to keep this mansion spotless."
The female ghost: ...
Anning subdued the female ghost, Liu Yue, and the next day she had the entire mansion renovated and, together with Xiao Yuan, purchased a lot of furniture.
In just over a month, the five-section mansion was transformed into something exceptionally bright and beautiful.
After the Xiao Mansion’s sign was hung up, the family moved in from the guild hall to their new home.
Since Anning moved to the Capital, more than a year had swiftly passed.
It was soon time for the Imperial Examination.
Anning was also pregnant.
She suffered severe morning sickness and had no time to attend to Xiao Yuan.
However, Xiao Yuan, worried about Anning, did not indulge in distractions.
Anning, suffering from cravings, often desired one food or another.
This day, she craved tender spinach.
Unfortunately, there was none at home, and it was too cold to find any around. Luckily, the manor outside the Capital owned by the Xiao family had a greenhouse growing spinach.
Seeing Anning in discomfort, Xiao Yuan personally rode to the manor to pick the spinach.
However, on his way, he met with some delays.
When he returned, he unknowingly entered an Array left behind by someone else and couldn’t find his way out until the day of the Imperial Examination was upon him.
Xiao Yuan finally got out in the evening, but the examination began early the next morning, and usually, scholars would be waiting outside the exam hall around two or three o’clock in the morning.
Xiao Yuan, seeing the urgency of the situation, hurried back riding his horse.
However, by the time he returned, the city gates were closed, which would only open at dawn.
If that were the case, everything would be too late.