A Good-for-Nothing

4. Running for His Life

Translator: DragonRider

After Qiao Peiyu made this remark, a wave of horror swept over He Zheng. He lowered his voice and swore “Fuck!” then quickly ran towards the outside of the backyard. Qiao Peiyu didn’t pursue him. She merely watched his receding figure from the distance, but the spooky smile on her face remained unchanged.

He Zheng found that each of his paces was getting more strenuous than the last, as if he would never be able to make it out of this place. His heart was pounding frenetically at such an alarming rate that he felt as if it was going to jump out of his throat at any second.

After running a long distance, He Zheng felt stabbing pains in his whole chest due to the breath he had been holding behind his throat. He paused gasping for air, glanced over his shoulder and found that Qiao Peiyu wasn’t pursuing him.

The sudden relief gave him dizziness. He was a young master of a rich family, and there were a lot of servants who had been taking care of almost all aspects of his life. He had never done this kind of strenuous exercise before. Too tired to run any further, he leaned against the trunk of a big tree, panting for breath with his eyes closed.

He Zheng limply shook his head in an effort to ease the headache he was feeling and make the buzzing sound in his ears stop. It was not until he collected himself that he realized the tree behind him was a little strange — it was not at all coarse but soft. Instead of coarse bark, it felt like…

“He Zheng.” A female voice came from behind him. He Zheng was taken aback, and all the hairs on his back and the back of his neck prickled with fear.

“Turn your head back and take a look at me.” It was Qiao Peiyu’s voice.

Teeth chattering, legs somewhat limp, He Zheng stiffly twisted his head back —

He hadn’t left the courtyard but had been leaning against Qiao Peiyu all along!

He Zheng nearly blacked out. He angrily shouted a four-letter word “Fuck!” and then shot out his arm and threw a punch at Qiao Peiyu, which instantly sent her head turning aside. However, as if unable to feel any pains, she twisted her head back in a rather stiff manner, the eerie smile on her face unchanged, and there were even dirt and some inexplicable traces on the corners of her mouth.

He Zheng turned around with the intention to flee only to find that he was unable to move any part of his body no matter how hard he tried, as if somebody had filled his body with concrete. He could do nothing but watch Qiao Peiyu close in on him step by step.

“Ulnae are my favorites. I’ll strip all meat off them, not leaving a single bit. Then I’ll bury them underground. After a certain amount of time, when the bones become somewhat soft and putrid, they taste the best.”

While making these remarks, she stared fixedly at He Zheng’s arms, the expression on her face seemingly suggesting that she was reliving a previous experience of enjoying something delicious. A wave of nausea swept over He Zheng and he suffered another fleeting twitch of blackout, feeling nauseous.

Qiao Peiyu raised her head and licked her lips, as if enjoying the lingering taste of the bone she had just eaten. “He Zheng, you must taste pretty good, don’t you?”

“You–You…” He Zheng wanted to say something but it had just come to his knowledge that when in extreme horror, people are unable to say anything. He felt as if there was a wad of loose cotton blocking his throat. His forehead covered in beads of cold sweat, he just watched Qiao Peiyu gaining ground on him.

In a tender voice, Qiao Peiyu said, “Originally, I had no intention to eliminate you. But since you’ve discovered my secret, you leave me no choice.”

Upon making this remark, Qiao Peiyu stretched out her hands to grab He Zheng. Utmost horror instantly clutched at his heart. He was unable to move, eyes dilated with fear, throat miserably dry. ‘Crap. I’m going to die by this venomous woman’s hands,’ he thought.

He Zheng wanted to swear. Qiao Peiyu had already raised his hand. Eyes red, He Zheng watched Qiao Peiyu as she drew his hand towards her disgusting mouth. He swore another four-letter word in his mind.

‘I would rather kill myself than let you have a single bite of my flesh.’ He Zheng bitterly cursed in his mind. Then he began rebuking his father who had been stupid enough to let her appearance cloud his judgement and marry a monster.

Smiling at him, Qiao Peiyu opened her mouth and moved closer to him…

He Zheng gave a deep gasp of horror and abruptly sat up bolt upright from his seat. He held his chest where his heart was hammering frantically. It was not until his palm touched himself that he realized what was going on.

“Shit.” With an extremely horrified look on his face, He Zheng wiped his forehead which was covered in cold sweat. It turned out that he had had a nightmare.

The man sitting in the seat beside him was still sleeping with his head tilted. The seat on his right side was still empty. And passengers around him were still asleep.

He Zheng lowered his head to look at the cinerary casket in his arms only to find that the cinerary casket was gone. Startled, He Zheng abruptly stood up from the seat and started looking for it.

“Is this what you are looking for?” A female voice came from nearby. He Zheng felt a cold shiver of fear, since the voice was so familiar. It was Qiao Peiyu’s voice.

A chill of apprehension swept over He Zheng. His neck stiff, he slowly twisted his head back. The scene he saw in the next second was one he would never forget for the rest of his life. The lacquered wooden casket had been opened. Qiao Peiyu was holding the white cinerary urn in her arms. The smile on her face was very charming, but there was a ghost of venomousness in it.

Eyes rounded with rage, He Zheng had a sudden urge to snatch the urn from her right away, but he still had part of his senses left and forbore to do so. With a sullen look in his eyes, he stared at Qiao Peiyu and snapped, “What do you want to do? Give it back to me!”

“This woman was no match for me when she was alive.” Qiao Peiyu seemed to be mumbling to herself. With her head down, she turned the white porcelain urn. Then she raised her head to look at He Zheng, and gave a smile as bright as spring flowers. “I don’t want to do anything. I just want to make sure that this woman cannot rest in peace after death.”

He Zheng’s eyes rounded with horror as Qiao Peiyu raised the cinerary urn and abruptly threw it to the ground.

“No!” He Zheng roared hysterically, his voice manifestly tinged with tearfulness.