Chapter 48: Ghost De Rong
Little Fatty calmly removed his hands from the imperial tutor’s hands and said, “Actually, I do not know how to treat illnesses. You also did not fall ill. The reason why you felt discomfort was because you were shrouded in negative energy. What I just did was just to use my Qi to remove the negative energy and help replenish your vital energy.
“Ah, so that is the case!” The imperial tutor suddenly realised what happened he exclaimed, “I think, I have been harassed by the ghost. All thanks to the celestial elder for saving me, if not I will not be alive!”
“It seems that you have really been harassed by ghosts. It seems that the other party obviously wants you dead!” Little Fatty then suddenly asked, “Right, being an imperial tutor, why would you provoke a ghost for no reason?”
“This~” The imperial tutor was stunned. He then bitterly laughed and said, “I also do not know. This, how did this ghost come into my house? In the past, my place was alright, why would there suddenly be a ghost?”
“You’re also not sure?” Little Fatty frowned and said, “If that’s the case, then where were you when you first felt discomfort? How did you know that your house has ghosts?”
“It’s the study room. A few days ago, I was in the study room and met the shadow of a ghost. After which, I fell ill!” The imperial tutor hurriedly said.
“Study room? Alright, bring me to see it!” Little Fatty said directly.
“Celestial elder this way please!” The imperial tutor hurriedly said. He then personally led Little Fatty to his own study room. All his sons and daughter in laws then followed behind.
After a while, they all arrived at a plain bamboo building. The imperial tutor pointed at the bamboo building and said, “This is my study room, and also where the ghost is!” Seeing his appearance, he is really afraid of this place. He obviously did not intend to go over personally.
After hearing, Little Fatty smiled slightly and said, “There is a ghost inside? Then I have to go in and see.” Saying that, he boldly pushed the door open and walked straight into the hall.
The main hall could be considered immense, and was about 50 to 60 feet. There were shelves were neatly arranged on the two sides of the room. Various ancient texts were all neatly arranged on the top of it. On the sides of the walls were hung many ancient drawings, making the place remarkably refined.
Little Fatty channelled his Qi to his two eyes and swept the place once. His eyes finally landed on a famous painting, «Full Moon Spring River». He then said, “Come out, don’t tell me I have to take action?”
As Little Fatty said that, black smoke came out of the ancient drawing. It finally condensed into a vague figure, of a 40 plus year old wealthy merchant.
He now exists as a spirit body, and could naturally feel the large spiritual Qi from Little Fatty. Knowing that this was an expert which can destroy him with a flip of the palm, he did not dare delay and hurriedly kneeled on the floor as he pleaded, “Celestial elder, celestial elder, I know that you are an expert which the imperial tutor hired to capture me. I do not dare to ask the celestial elder to spare me, but I ask that celestial elder gives me a chance to hear my grievance! Even if I have to be a cow or horse in my next life, I will still repay you!”
“Ha~” Little Fatty was amused as he listened. He could not help but bitterly shake his head and said, “This brat, you tortured the imperial tutor til he is one foot into the grave and still has the face to talk about grievance?”
“Celestial elder, it is not that I want to make things difficult for him. It is just that he broke apart my family. A whole family of 28, from 80 years old to even an infant who wasn’t even born were all harmed and murdered by him. Being the head of the house, the resentment in my heart naturally can’t be settled. Thus I became a ghost, to seek him for revenge!”
“En?” Little Fatty heard and was immediately stunned. Although he had never seen a ghost, the writings in the sect also recorded things regarding it, thus he knew vaguely about it. Little Fatty could actually tell that his whole body was full of resentment. If not for the fact that he had a large grievance when he was alive, a mortal would definitely not become a ghost, unless he had the help of a ghost cultivator. But the way it seems, he was obviously naturally formed. This meant that he must have suffered a great grievance whilst he was alive.
However, Little Fatty could not understand why the imperial tutor would harm such a small fry. He thus said, “Talk to me about it, what exactly happened?”
“Celestial elder, it’s a long story. Actually, the origin of everything is because of this famous painting,«Full Moon Spring River»!” The ghost then knelt on the floor and began crying the Little Fatty about his grievance.
Actually, this guy was called Zhang De Rong and was a rice merchant in the Blue Moon City, which was a third-generation business. When it has been passed on to his generation, they were already considered to be quite wealthy. The 5 of the brothers were all married and had children. They were rather united and their lives could be considered rather fulfilling.
But it was a pity that the heavens do not follow human will. As the saying goes, ‘A person sits quietly at home, yet the heavens still brew misfortune to you’.* Zhang De Rong’s father purchased a famous drawing 10 years ago. It was the prime work of the imperial artist. The price of the art aside, this drawing was very famous and many scholars would trade their lives to have it.
*CCT: This phrase actually kinda refers to Murphy’s Law, “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” You can be nice and stay at home but trouble will still come knocking for you. Now beware when your doorbell rings at night from now on… :)
The fact that the Zhang family had this painting was actually a well-kept secret, as they were afraid of bringing trouble. But they did not expect that the imperial tutor managed to find out about the fact that they had the painting and sent their butler to retrieve it.
The imperial tutor was born from a family of scholars. To him, such a famous painting should be the collection of a scholar. Falling into the hands of a merchant was considered a desecration. But the imperial tutor did not think that Zhang De Rong could not bear to give up the painting. He thought that since this matter was extremely secretive and it was over decades, it was most likely just a rumour. The imperial tutor must definitely not be certain that it was definitely on his hands. Thus, he lied to the imperial tutor that he did not possess the painting.
In the end, this enraged the imperial tutor. The reason he sent someone to ask for it is because he found out from the descendant of the seller about this particular news. Only when he was certain of the source and the whereabouts of the painting did he go and demand it. But in the end, all he received was a blatant lie which naturally enraged him.
Being a high court official, the imperial tutor, he was actually ignored by a merchant. How could he accept it? As such, he let his son and daughter in law settle this matter.
The younger generation could not wait to please the imperial tutor. Now that they had the chance, of course, they put in all the effort. In the end, after collaborating with some of the smaller officials, the managed to land the Zhang family with a bunch of accusations. They were all executed, Zhang De Rong and his brothers, plus his mother and wife. All 28 of them were all executed in the public. As for the painting, it landed in the imperial tutor’s house after they were executed.
After his death, Zhang De Rong’s resentment rushed to the sky and thus became a ghost who possessed the painting. He then tortured the imperial tutor in the study room until Little Fatty reached.
After hearing the story, Little Fatty’s face turned ashen. The experiences in when he was young, resulted in him being in the position of a weakling. Being bullied by those with a background, made him deeply resent all those who bullied the weak. Thus, as he heard Zhang De Rong’s story, Little Fatty could immediately empathise with his plight. He immediately sternly said, “What an imperial tutor, is there really no law? Is there no justice?”
“Law? His words are considered as laws! As for justice, what is justice?” Zhang De Rong then began weeping pitifully.