Chapter 22: Drawing Skin and Drawing Tigers Are Hard to Draw Down to the Bone

However, Li Si was not distressed, because he felt that he had already obtained part of the information, and from this information, he could already guess what he wanted to know.

First of all, he had now confirmed that Madam Zhang Guo was precisely the ghost creature from Madam Zhang’s memories.

As for the Ghost Covers the Eyes among its abilities, Li Si had already experienced it. It was precisely to cover a person’s eyes, causing them to produce illusions, so they could only see what the ghost creature wanted them to see.

As for the ability Intangibility, the Decapitated Ghost had it as well. It was precisely a unique ability of ghost creatures. Ordinary swords and blades had no effect on them at all.

As for Human Skin, it should be an ability like Painted Skin in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, able to conceal a ghostly body and make it appear like that of an ordinary person.

And the Deception ability was also easy to understand. It should be to deceive these Human Stiffs, making them think they were still alive. This was an ability used to drive corpses.

From this, it seemed that this ghost creature was not impossible to subdue. However, aside from Ghost Covers the Eyes and Intangibility, whose effects he had already confirmed, the other abilities, Human Skin and Deception, were only guesses and could not yet be confirmed.

“Scholar Li, what are you thinking about?” Suddenly, a charming voice interrupted Li Si’s train of thought, and he immediately came back to himself.

“Oh, I was just thinking about what Uncle Zhang said earlier. I kept wondering whether I had encountered anything strange in Little Bamboo Courtyard, but no matter how much I thought, I still couldn’t remember encountering anything strange,” Li Si said somewhat distressfully.

“If Scholar Li cannot think of it, then don’t think about it.” Madam Zhang Guo gave a charming laugh, then said again, “I heard from the Master that yesterday, you wanted to go home?”

Li Si glanced toward Squire Zhang. Seeing that Squire Zhang was expressionlessly drinking tea, he immediately smiled and said, “That did indeed happen yesterday. Because yesterday, I felt I was not too used to staying here, so I wanted to go home.”

“Oh.” Madam Zhang Guo nodded, then smiled and said, “Since Scholar Li is not too used to staying here, then Scholar Li should go back. You may come again another day.”

“What do you think, Master?” Madam Zhang Guo looked toward Squire Zhang with those eyes like autumn waters.

“That is fine.” A trace of haziness appeared in Squire Zhang’s eyes, and he nodded in agreement.

“There is no need.” Li Si laughed, then said, “Yesterday, it was because I was not too used to sleeping here, but I slept very well yesterday. I like staying here very much.”

“Could it be that Uncle and Madam Zhang want to drive me out?” He looked toward Madam Zhang Guo and Squire Zhang and said somewhat hesitantly.

“That is not the case.” Madam Zhang Guo gave an awkward laugh, then looked toward Li Si with bright eyes carrying a trace of seductiveness and said in a sweet voice, “But doesn’t Scholar Li have matters to attend to? Why not go back earlier?”

Looking at Madam Zhang Guo’s bright eyes, Li Si’s mind became somewhat foggy, and he was just about to agree, but the cloth pouch at his chest flashed with light, and he instantly became clear-headed.

Ah!!! A cry of pain rang out.

Li Si was startled and looked toward the scream. He saw Madam Zhang Guo lying on the table, vomiting blood.

He immediately understood. Just now, Madam Zhang Guo must have used the Deception ability on him, only for it to be blocked by the Protective Talisman.

“Madam Zhang, are you all right?” Li Si rose and was about to walk toward Madam Zhang Guo, looking extremely concerned.

“Don’t come over!” When Madam Zhang Guo heard that Li Si was about to come over, she immediately shouted in terror.

“This... this...” Squire Zhang’s mind was still somewhat muddled at this moment. He looked at the two of them with a confused expression, not knowing what had happened.

“All right, I won’t go over. Madam Zhang, you must take care of yourself.” Li Si slowly stepped back, his face full of worry.

Immediately afterward, he sat on the stool, picked up a dumpling with his chopsticks, and said with an amused smile on his face, “This dumpling looks truly beautiful. Unfortunately, the meat inside does not look very beautiful.”

After speaking, Li Si used his chopsticks to cut open the dumpling skin, took out the meat, and ate it.

Hearing him say this, Madam Zhang Guo, who had stopped vomiting blood, seemed to understand something. A venomous look appeared in those bright autumn eyes, making her seem extremely terrifying.

“Oh. Dumpling meat needs to be wrapped in skin to look good in the first place. Otherwise, how would it be delicious?” At the side, Squire Zhang had also sobered up by now and smiled as he said to Li Si.

“Indeed.” Li Si smiled, then said again, “I have thought of a story. I wonder if the two of you are interested in hearing it.”

“This...” Squire Zhang was somewhat hesitant. How could he have any mood to listen to a story now? His own wife had vomited blood, so finding a doctor was the proper matter at this moment.

“Tell it.” A hoarse voice came from the side, suppressing Squire Zhang’s hesitation.

Seeing that they had agreed, Li Si nodded and smiled as he said, “I heard a story from someone else. There was a licentiate scholar who encountered a woman of unknown identity in a forest. This woman claimed to have fled from disaster, and the scholar, blinded by lust, brought her home to live with him.”

“However, after some time passed, this licentiate scholar’s health was far worse than before.”

“One day, a ghost catcher saw that the space between his brows had turned black, and told him that he had already been entangled by a ghost.” When Li Si reached this point, he poured a cup of tea and slowly sipped it.

“And what happened after that?” Squire Zhang had clearly become interested and asked with a curious expression. He completely failed to notice that Madam Zhang Guo beside him had already turned gloomy, staring venomously at the two people present.

After drinking a mouthful of tea, Li Si slowly said, “Afterward, the scholar was half-believing and half-doubting, so at night, he secretly peered at the woman from outside the window.”

“In the end,” he gave a soft laugh, “he saw that the woman was peeling off her own skin. After the skin was peeled open, a fierce ghost with a green face and protruding fangs crawled out from inside.”

“What terrified the licentiate scholar even more was that this fierce ghost was actually a male ghost.” Li Si shook his head somewhat and laughed despite himself.

”Hahahahaha... I have never heard anything so funny, haha...” When Squire Zhang heard Li Si’s story, he was first stunned, then clapped his hands and burst into loud laughter.

“This story is indeed quite funny.” Li Si drank a mouthful of tea and said calmly, “But if it happened to oneself, it would no longer be funny. For example, Madam Zhang is very beautiful, even several degrees more beautiful than the woman in that story. Squire Zhang, have you ever thought that Madam Zhang might actually be a fierce ghost?”

“Her?” Squire Zhang did not notice that Li Si’s way of addressing him had already changed. He pointed at Madam Zhang Guo, who still had a gloomy expression, then clapped his hands and laughed loudly. “How could that be possible? Guo Qian is my wife, properly married to me with a matchmaker and formal rites. How could she possibly be a ghost? Nephew, don’t joke around.”

“As the saying goes, it is hard to draw skin and hard to draw a tiger down to the bone. One may know a person’s face, but not their heart.” Li Si continued sipping tea and sneered indifferently, “You do not even know that you yourself are dead, so how could you know whether your wife is a ghost?”