Chapter 19: 18.1

The aunt gripped Chi Yiyin’s hand tightly, as if afraid that he would disagree and ran away.

“Yuze, you are already at this age. If you don’t get married, others will gossip about what happened to you at school in Shanghai.”

The aunt persuaded him in earnest: “Believe in your aunt. I’m someone who has experienced it. Your aunt knows how bad others will gossip.”

Outsider? Gossip?

Chi Yiyin noticed the weirdness in the aunt’s words.

Why did the aunt persuade him like this? When most people persuaded others, they would choose things that the other party cared about the most as the starting point. In the eyes of the aunt, Ma Yuze was disgraceful, had shortcomings, and that marriage must be used to cover those shortcomings.

He quickly went through the layout of the boudoir in his mind, the conversation between the housekeeper and servants, the female ghost’s reaction, and the rumors he had heard in reality.

This was an era that was still harsh on women. Even talking to men outside the family would attract gossip and effect negatively on a woman’s reputation.

Chi Yiyin was sure that Ma Yuze had no child. The most likely gossip was that she had gotten in touch with a man, and the aunt also mentioned the school… Did the aunt think she had gotten in touch with the man at school?

But as soon as Ma Yuze came home, the aunt came to the door immediately. It was almost impossible for gossip to spread in Gushu Town.

The only explanation was that before Ma Yuze came home, there were already rumors, and she was likely called home in a hurry because of this incident.

“Auntie, what did those people say about me? I didn’t do anything, how could there be gossip?”

Even though he had roughly reached a conclusion in his heart, Chi Yiyin remained calm. He pretended to be wronged and held the aunt, saying: “I am so close to auntie. Is there anything auntie can’t say to me?”

But the aunt just shook her head and sighed: “Yuze, you are still young, you don’t understand. It doesn’t matter whether you have done it or not, rumors kill people…”

Seeing that the aunt was unmoved, Chi Yiyin added: “Auntie is right, but I also need to know how serious it is before I can consider marriage.”

The aunt was more enthusiastic about Ma Yuze’s marriage than the dead Madam Ma and Master Ma, who had never shown his face. This gave Chi Yiyin suspicion, he guessed that this marriage would affect the aunt as well. There must have been interest involved in it.

She may not care about the impact of the gossip on Ma Yuze, but she would definitely consider her own interests.

Sure enough, the aunt hesitated for a moment, then slowly opened her mouth.

Chi Yiyin’s guess was right. In recent months, the rumors about Ma Yuze had intensified in Gushu Town, and now it had reached a level that couldn’t be ignored.

At the beginning, it was the servants of the Ma family who were chatting with others when they were shopping for vegetables, saying that the young miss of the Ma family had a friend in school and that he was a rich young master.

The vegetable seller also told others that Miss Ma had married someone when she was studying outside. The people who heard this turned around and said that Miss Ma’s family was married and had a child, and she didn’t care about a small place like Gushu Town, and that she was very proud about it.

In an era when entertainment was scarce, rumors of people with status in the town were the most arousing source of entertainment.

But in the end, it turned into the eldest daughter of the Ma family gave birth to a child out of wedlock, was abandoned by the man, and became a dancer, so the Ma family was unwilling to let this daughter come back, and thought she was disgraceful.

There were also small businessmen who had been to Shanghai in order to show off, saying that they had seen with their own eyes that Miss Ma’s family was not only a dancer, but also did some scandalous business.

The rumor spread more and more widely, and finally got into the ears of the master of Ma family.

Feeling ashamed, he quarreled with his wife, accusing her of poor parenting, and asked Ma Yuze to go home immediately and stop embarrassing him!

The aunt sighed, and said: “Yuze, you are good, listen to your aunt, and get married, okay?”

The temperature in the entire courtyard dropped rapidly, and the female ghost’s angry roars and accusations suddenly came from the air.

Chi Yiyin even saw that the plants near the rockery withered rapidly, the lush vegetation turned into a black mass of rotten matter exuding a foul odor, the pool water became cloudy, the koi fishes floated up on their belly, and a foul odor filled the air.

In a short period of time, the Hui-style mansion, which was still prosperous just now, had become a stinking place of death.

The aunt didn’t respond to this, and was still talking about the benefits of this marriage, as if she couldn’t see the surrounding changes.

However, Chi Yiyin soon discovered that the current appearance of the mansion was even more familiar to him.

——This was clearly the haunted mansion he originally explored, it was almost exactly the same.

Chi Yiyin’s expression became solemn.

He originally thought that Carnival Game Field was a space isolated from reality. After all, he was a novelist, so he accepted it well. Only now did he suddenly realize that perhaps it was just his habitual thought.

The haunted mansion he saw in reality was also an instance in the game field. Does this mean that the game field was closely related to reality, and even the game field itself was a reality in another sense?

If so, it’s no accident that he was drawn into the game.

After all, he had guided the other players to talk about the reasons why they came to the game field, all of which were related to death.

But Chi Yiyin was sure that he did not die.

Even if part of his memory disappeared, and he couldn’t remember what happened after he met the ghost in the haunted mansion.

… There was nothing abnormal about the swift bird brooch, and his ability was still there.

T/N: 无脚鸟 = footless bird. I tried searching what bird is footless, and the result showed swift bird appeared footless while flying. So, I think it might be the swift bird that’s mentioned here.

He reached for the brooch pinned on his suit in thought.

[Survivor Z1001 obtained key clues and triggered the plot “Her Wedding Dress”]

The system’s broadcast interrupted Chi Yiyin’s thinking.

At once, translucent and blurred figures appeared in front of Chi Yiyin’s eyes.

Those figures wore the clothes of Ma family’s servants and walked straight past Chi Yiyin, their eyes dull as if they didn’t see his existence at all, and were doing their own things.

The courtyard also reappeared with a lush appearance, but it turned into a translucent shadow, suspended above the dilapidated courtyard, and when overlapping, it was like ghostly shadows, which infiltrated people strangely.

In a corner of the courtyard, several servants were muttering and chatting.

“Why are the master and madam so noisy today? I just saw the master instructing the people in the stable to prepare the horses, saying that he will not go home recently.”

“Now everyone in the town is saying that the eldest miss is undisciplined. It seems that because of this, the master failed to negotiate a business last month. The other party mocked the master, saying that he can’t even teach his daughter well, so how could he manage the business well.”

“Many people are gossiping, saying that the Ma’s family is a brothel, and it’s all due to the eldest miss!”

“What kind of new study is it! Women don’t obey the three virtues and only want to go to school, how can something not happen?”

“That’s right, it would be better if the young miss had never been born, and made us who work in the Ma house have no face. The neighbors envied me for working in the Ma’s house before, but now they all laugh at me for serving prostitutes!”

“If you want me to say, it has to be the second young miss that’s’s the respectable one of the family’s misses. Her needlework is exceptional, and knew to not speak too much.”

“Exactly!”

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The housekeeper appeared and kicked in anger, telling the servants to work quickly and stop chewing their tongues.

But there were still people who muttered angrily: “You’re being indiscreet, but won’t I let others talk about it?”

A middle-aged man roared angrily in the front yard: “Let Ma Yuze come back to see me! Let her mother see what she is! She has made me lose face and still want to ruin my Ma family’s business again!”

Chi Yiyin followed the sound and vaguely saw a short and fat figure on a horse. This should be the master of Ma family who had never shown his face.

As soon as the image changed, the Hui style mansion disappeared, and the appearance of the old-fashioned train station loomed.

The young miss got off the train wearing a new-style western dress, a straw hat and long skirt while carrying a suitcase.

But when the housekeeper called her out, the bustling train station was quiet for a moment, and all the people around stopped talking, looking at the eldest miss with malicious or curious eyes. They looked at her from head to toe, and let out a heh heh laugh.

Many people pointed at Ma Yuze, exchanging information they knew, and even talked about the price.

Ma Yuze didn’t know what happened, so she asked the housekeeper in a daze. The lovely and friendly town in her memory became malicious, and the simple and kind people turned into abominable appearance she didn’t recognize. Those sights that looked at her made her almost want to escape from the place.

But the housekeeper just snorted coldly and snatched the suitcase from Ma Yuze’s hand, telling her in anger to go home quickly.

The housekeeper locked the carriage and drove away.

Then he opened the suitcase, rummaged through the neatly folded clothes and books inside, and muttered fiercely, “Where is the letter with the man, where is the marriage certificate?”

He found Ma Yuze’s identity certificate and school documents, pulled them out roughly, and tore them to pieces.

Chi Yiyin saw that there were many certificates of honor among the scattered papers.

That was the result of Ma Yuze’s hard work, but it was denied just like that by the housekeeper.

And some close-fitting clothes in the box were also seen by the people who gathered around when they heard that Miss Ma’s family had returned. They laughed inexplicably, and their eyes fell on those clothes, as if imagining a bloody scene.

The housekeeper was furious, closed the suitcase and waved nervously at the passers-by, yelling at them and telling them to go away, who were they to dare to laugh at the matter of Ma family?

But the men around laughed even more happily, exchanging glances that only they understood.

Ma Yuze, who was locked in the carriage, was apprehensive and dazed, almost crying out of grievance, not knowing the reason.

Chi Yiyin frowned uncomfortably, his heart filled with disgust.

Not only did the Ma family not explain the rumors about their daughter, but even their servants did not restrain them. However, the people in Gushu Town only heard a few words on the street, and casually convicted people, and maliciously laughed at the innocent party for a crime in their fantasy.

Chi Yiyin realized that everything he sees now had happened a long time ago.

Time could not be rewound, the past can’t be changed, even if he was angry and disgusted, it would not be of any help. The grievances and stares that Ma Yuze had suffered could not be ignored and forgotten.

So, did you kill everyone? Those who talked about you, those who forced you to marry, those who slandered you… Is that why you are full of hatred and killed everyone on the night of your wedding?

They made you unable to live, and so you gave back the pain to them.

Chi Yiyin couldn’t help but think of the rumors about that haunted mansion. Even now, when talking about the “Top Ten Haunted Houses” on the internet, some people would scold the murderous bride in this haunted mansion for being too vicious.

But no one knew that behind her “viciousness” was the viciousness of the people around her.

If possible, Chi Yiyin would like to sit face to face with Ma Yuze from back then. He would not persuade her to not kill, he just hoped that the bride who was in pain and despair a century ago would survive after venting her anger and not commit suicide.

Don’t… ruin your originally bright life because of other people’s malice and faults.

With the harshness towards women in that era, Ma Yuze was still able to defeat others and gained a lot of honors in the difficult school environment.

Chi Yiyin couldn’t help but wonder if Ma Yuze could achieve greater cause in the rest of her life if she had escaped from Gushu Town.

It was as if he saw a star fall with his own eyes, unable to shine brightly.

“I heard that you want to reconcile the Ma family and give my father a home he likes.”

The female ghost’s cold voice came from behind: “Is this the home you want me to accept?”

The cold breath blew on the back of Chi Yiyin’s neck, and chill spread down his spine.

Chi Yiyin’s eyes darkened, he didn’t care how his muscles tensed instinctively as he sensed the danger, and said, “no.”

“This is a home you must never forgive.”

The female ghost didn’t expect Chi Yiyin to give such an answer. Caught off guard, she froze behind Chi Yiyin’s back, and the long hair that was already wrapped around his neck also stopped moving.

The audience before the live broadcast was stunned.

[What is he talking about? He’s crazy!]

[This instance’s custom clearance requirement is to fulfill Master Ma’s wish and bring the Ma family back together. Isn’t saying that equivalent to denying the instance?]

[At the beginning, I saw that he got the plot first, and admired him very much, but his operation is really too confusing. But now he actually had a heart-to-heart talk with a small NPC in the instance? He’s sick!]

[Sigh, it’s really hard to choose, one side is that you’ll die in the instance if you don’t pass the level, and the other side is an NPC with a bleak life experience. Thinking about it, if I was misunderstood by a group of people and had my reputation smeared, I would definitely not be able to bear it, and it was still in that era…it can really kill people.]

[It’s hard to choose, my ass! Where is the trash showing kindness here? This is a game that gambles with life itself, do you think the game field is playing house with you?]

[In fact, many NPCs in the game field’s instances are miserable, and I sympathize with them, but this is not a reason not to do the instance’s tasks. Players must distinguish between living for themselves or needlessly sympathizing with NPCs. If you are not cruel, others will be cruel to you.]

[It’s over. He’s going to die, don’t even think about it! He actually started talking with the female ghost? Shouldn’t he persuade the female ghost to accept it at this time? What’s wrong with the Ma family? At that time, how many people could not afford to eat! She doesn’t have to give birth, and the Ma family raises her with gold and jade, so what is she not satisfied with?]

Many players scolded Chi Yiyin angrily, wishing they could go in and persuade the female ghost by themselves.

This is money, money! As long as you passed the instance, you could get the Ma family’s wealth, as well as the fame and glory in the game field and system rewards. But if you couldn’t pass the level, you would die.

With such a big gap, everyone could see which one to choose. Why was this Chi Yiyin blind!

But there were also a few sporadic players who couldn’t bear it. A female player directly tipped 100 points angrily and left a message to support Chi Yiyin.

[No matter what his final outcome is, I am willing to support him just because of his kindness and help to the female ghost! Good people don’t deserve to die!]

Insulting was also traffic. Many people heard that there was a mysterious player who took the initiative to seek death with a good hand of cards. They ran over curiously and entered the live broadcast room.

Chi Yiyin’s ranking in the live broadcast room jumped up quickly, and he was in the central position with the best traffic in the live broadcast hall, and was added a “Highly Recommended” gold frame.

Many people were waiting to see Chi Yiyin’s death, and couldn’t wait to witness the misery of a good deck of cards being smashed.

And the almost noisy live broadcast room also attracted the attention of the system.

“……Huh?”

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