Chapter 80: The Same Face

“I’ve been waiting for you for a long time. You’ve finally come, Ji Li.”

On the beam of a house, two men sat side by side on the eaves, their feet on the tiles, speaking in low voices.

The long-haired man who had been sitting there for quite some time was Ji Li, the one who had escaped from the bridal sedan chair.

In truth, he hadn’t gained much from that encounter.

Even the danger had not been as intense as he expected.

Gradually, he began to suspect that the ghost in the sedan chair had not meant to kill him outright.

But for someone addicted to smoking, being unable to light up for hours was its own torment.

Ji Li didn’t talk much to Fang Shenyan. He quickly accepted the lighter offered to him, lit a cigarette, and inhaled deeply.

He smoked one cigarette in silence.

Then he lit another, finally letting out a long breath. Exhaling a smoke ring, he said slowly:

“Good thing you left those marks behind. Otherwise, I might not have found the Li Mansion—that was the key.”

Fang Shenyan gave no reply, only stroked the palm of his hand, now wrapped in bandages.

Back when they had just unloaded the coffin and realized Ji Li was missing, they knew something was wrong.

Fang Shenyan certainly didn’t believe Ji Li would die so easily.

So, to be safe, he rubbed his palm hard against the stone lion until the skin split, leaving a fresh trail of blood.

That was how Ji Li, after leaving the sedan chair and searching along the street, noticed the bloodstained lion.

It allowed him to enter the residence.

As for the method, that was hardly an issue for Ji Li.

Fang Shenyan lit a cigarette for himself and began to smoke. “Do you know who lives in this house?”

Ji Li shook his head honestly, then explained why he had been waiting there:

“After entering the Li Mansion, I found the old estate far larger than I had imagined, yet completely deserted.

Then I saw a familiar figure…

That young man on horseback.”

Fang Shenyan nodded, adding casually, “His name is Chen Fu.”

Ji Li gave him a glance, frowning. “I followed him here. Judging by his special status and the respect he showed toward whoever’s inside, I figured the person living here isn’t ordinary.”

Fang Shenyan thought to himself that Ji Li’s luck was indeed remarkable.

Just one clue had led him straight to the elderly woman’s doorstep.

“You smell of blood. Did you kill someone?”

Ji Li puffed on his cigarette and flicked his sleeve, though the faint scent clinging to Fang Shenyan still lingered.

“I killed two servants at the back door and learned a few things.”

“Oh? Let’s hear it.”

Fang Shenyan cleared his throat lightly, then began laying out a thorough account of the information he had gathered.

“This Li Mansion has always been a prominent household in town.

Li Chunyuan was once an official near the end of the Qing dynasty. Later, he resigned and went into business, gaining great standing in this town.

Unfortunately, he had no children. About half a month ago, the old lady’s nephew arrived from out of town, claiming he came to look after them.

But in truth, we both know what that meant.

He was here to inherit the estate.

Yet just a few days after his arrival, Li Chunyuan died under strange circumstances, and the old lady began behaving suspiciously.

Not long after, most of the dozens of servants in the residence scattered like startled monkeys.

At first, they said several people had gone missing for no reason, and rumors spread that the estate was haunted. Most ran away in fear.

Now the Li Mansion is nothing but an empty shell.

The main figures left are just two: the old lady and Chen Fu.

Then there are a few maids serving the old lady, plus some odd-job servants.”

Ji Li listened carefully. Fang Shenyan’s account was clearly well-organized, the timeline perfectly clear.

Taking a deep drag from his cigarette, Fang Shenyan continued:

“The turning point was Chen Fu’s arrival half a month ago.

Li Chunyuan died, and the whole town went into mourning. The funeral couplets and mourning arrangements we saw were all for him.

After all, aside from its wealth, the Li Mansion now has nothing left.

And every night, they seem to hold a funeral procession.

But that procession feels more like a mock burial.”

Chen Fu spent a large sum of money to hire townsfolk to carry the coffin.

The men in white robes we saw were basically temporary workers, of no real importance.

But the strange thing is that half a month ago, Li Chunyuan’s body had already been secretly buried in South Mountain.

Why it was done in secret, no one knows.

And the nightly funerals—what purpose they serve—still remains for us to uncover.”

Ji Li nodded silently, pulling another cigarette from his coat and holding it between his lips.

“But this story works even without a ghost.”

After their last mission, Ji Li had grown cautious of the hotel’s fabricated intelligence.

He weighed everything more carefully now.

Fang Shenyan, however, shook his head lightly.

“We still know too little. There are too many unanswered questions.

That elderly woman is strange. She claims to suffer from some kind of ageless condition.

Her voice and posture are undoubtedly those of an elderly woman, yet her face and skin are as fresh as a girl in her twenties.

And she seemed to know beforehand that we would be coming.

The so-called funeral procession was something she arranged to greet us.

Yet neither Chen Fu nor the elderly woman has said a word about the bridal sedan.”

Ji Li thought for a moment before speaking.

“I was pulled into the sedan, and inside it, there was a painting.

A portrait of a bride in red robes, ready for marriage.

I’m certain that was a ghost.

And I believe Chen Fu and the others knew of the sedan’s existence.

You can tell from the red mourning couplets, the red lanterns, and the white offerings throughout the town.

They must have known about the ghost beforehand—perhaps even its appearance.

As for why they staged such a spectacle, there must be another reason.

But this Li Mansion surely holds a great secret.

One tied to the clash of red and white mourning rites…”

“That’s our main task!”

Fang Shenyan crushed his cigarette and nodded firmly.

Now that both sides’ information had been pieced together, the early confusion and doubts were laid out clearly, making the situation far simpler.

Ji Li, meanwhile, had completely slipped free of the Li family’s schemes. He was now an outsider.

That convenient position was granted to him precisely because he had been drawn into the sedan.

Just then, from a narrow gap between the tiles, faint voices drifted through.

Ji Li’s eyes darkened as his gray-black pupils fixed on the opening.

Under dim lamplight, two figures stood facing each other. Judging from the cramped space, it wasn’t a reception hall.

It looked more like a secret chamber, where they were discussing something important.

And when Ji Li saw the figure leaning on a cane, slightly stooped, his gaze froze in shock.

The figure bore all the signs of age, yet the skin was smooth and tender.

It was none other than the mistress of the Li Mansion, the old matron herself.

But what truly left Ji Li reeling in disbelief was—

Her face was identical to the bride in the painting!