Chapter 18 Why must girls be considered a profitless thing?
[Banana: Again, my apologies for the late chapter. June is a busy month for Banana _(;3/ ]
30 years ago, the people in the capital wanted to build a water conservancy system and a bridge. When driving in the last bridge pile, it couldn’t stand stably. The people in the construction team tried everything, but it didn’t work. There is only the last section of the bridge left so how can they hand over the incomplete work? Back then, the people’s thinking is still relatively backward, so the contractor went and asked a feng shui master to have a look. It is said that moving the ground at that location has disturbed the land god and the river spirit. The feng shui master said that it is necessary to drive a live pile, and the sacrifice must be a living person. To drive a live pile is to drive the pile into the ground while the sacrifice is alive. Such a cruel way, where to find someone willing to do that? If they are not careful with the matter, they will get involved in a lawsuit for murder.
At this moment, someone suggested why not buy a person from a remote mountainous area. Hearing that, the person in charge of this project was immediately moved. If he bought someone back in the mountains to the capital which is so far away, no one knew about the live pile. Then, no one would notice that the sold person is missing. And so, they found a poor family with 5 children in the mountains.
The family was so poor that they couldn’t have 3 meals a day. When they heard that the money given was enough for the family to eat and drink for several years, and also allowed their 3 sons to go to school, the couple discussed it and decided to sell their unpopular second daughter. The eldest daughter will be able to get married 2 years later. After raising her for so many years and spending their money, the couple thinks that at least they could earn back from her dowry. The remaining 3 children are all sons. They are important to continue the family’s name and the couple’s treasures, so they cannot be sold. Hence, only the second child is left, who was 18 years old at the time. She has a mole on her forehead, has a dark complexion, and doesn’t like to talk. This kind of dull child is really not likable, and she doesn’t even have anyone asking for her hand in marriage. Looking at it like this, even if the second child managed to get married, they won’t get much dowry money. It’s better to sell this kind of profitless goods for some money now.
The contractor told the couple that he bought her as a wife for a fool. The couple didn’t even hesitate and agreed. After receiving the money, the daughter was sent out of the house. In this way, the 18-year-old girl got drowned in the concrete pillar alive by the unscrupulous contractor. The amazing thing is that this bridge pillar really stood stably this time.
However, it was at this time that strange things began to happen. First, some workers died one after another, and then people who walked on the bridge often had accidents. The contractor realized something was wrong, and went to find that feng shui master again only to find out that he was a liar! It was unsure where the fake master heard the rumors about live sacrifice, so he made up such a way. Unexpectedly, his advice really killed someone, and he was so scared that he ran away long ago. Within a few days, the contractor also died tragically at home. The few people who participated in the live burial died terribly as well.
Gradually, the topic of the evil nature of this bridge spread, and not many people dared to walk on it. Later, when the local area was rebuilt, the bridge, which had never been used by anyone, was filled in because it lost its value, and there has been no accident since then. As time passed, except for the local old people, the younger generation did not know that there used to be a bridge there.
The poor family used the money to support their 3 sons to go to school. They started a business and gradually became rich. Later, the 3 sons did well and even bought a house in the capital. Perhaps it was God’s will, because their new home was right next to the bridge. While the family is living happily, strange things suddenly started to happen at home.
First, the little grandson got pushed down the stairs, causing his head to bleed a lot. Not long after recovering from injury, he got locked inside a cabinet. That incident almost frightened the little grandson to becoming stupid. When asked, the child said it was done by an older sister. Judging from the description of her face, the whole family is shocked. Isn’t this the second child who was sold in the early years? Immediately afterward, more and more strange things happened. Flower pots fell from the sky, and someone laughing in the middle of the night. Then the gas stove started to fire by itself, and the chopping board is frequently covered with blood. The grandchildren all[1] insisted that they saw the girl described previously.
Now, the old man and the old lady are scared and suspected that something happened to the second daughter after she was sold. She might have died long ago and now came back for revenge. Terrified, they asked a master to come to their house to see. At last, the master told them that in order to appease the anger of the second daughter, they must give her a ghost marriage and let her live a good life in another world. Of course, the husband cannot be dead, he must be a living person, preferably a good-looking guy of the same age. And so, this is the reason why Zhao Pengyu picked up the bag at the roadside. In fact, at that time, someone was watching the whole process of him picking up the bag.
For a person like Yu Ze, knowing that someone almost killed his nephew, how could he sit idly by? Immediately he got someone to deal with this matter. The road is closed that day and the small bridge got swiftly dug up. Next, there is indeed a skeleton inside, and after inspection, it is a woman who was 18 years old when she died. The police quickly joined the investigation and uncovered a tragedy that had been buried for 30 years.
The contractors and workers who worked on this matter all died in the same year. It is said that the feng shui master died a few years after the bridge was built, so there is no way to let the criminals plead guilty. However, the master who gave the bad idea to find a living person for ghost marriage could not escape from this responsibility, and the girl’s parents are still alive. After all, it is illegal to sell their own daughter so the old man and the old lady are immediately invited to the police station for investigation.
The old man and the old lady have been making trouble for several days by relying on the fact they are elderly people. They pretended to be dizzy and got sent to the hospital, but got picked up back to the police station after they become better in the hospital. After doing this a few times, the couple couldn’t do it anymore. Lying in the ward, they are exhausted and out of breath.
The police came to the ward and handed over the investigation results of the incident that year to the old couple.
“Do you read about your daughter Liu Qiao’s death, or should I read it out to you?”
The old man and the old lady showed reluctance. The old lady stopped pretending to be dizzy and began to reason, “We gave birth to our daughter and raised her. How could we want her to die? But if we don’t sell her, my 3 sons will starve to death. Mr. Police, please judge this. Shouldn’t she contribute to the family? Now that we are all living a good life, that unfilial daughter came back to torment my little grandson. That is our old Liu family’s only grandson. Our single hope for the next generation.”
Hearing this nonsense, the policeman suppressed his anger and said, “Then you should identify the corpse first. Then, let your family members bring it back so that the deceased can be buried as soon as possible.”
“That won’t work,” the old man unhappy rebutted, “Our hometown has a rule that a dead daughter[2] can’t enter the ancestral grave. It’s unlucky. Just find her a husband for a ghost marriage. Since she has been dead for so many years, we don’t ask too much. The bride price of about 20,000 yuan should be enough.”
The policeman in charge of the case got so annoyed that he temporarily stopped the interrogation. After leaving the ward, he downed a bottle of cold water. No one saw that after the police went out, a pitch-black figure stuck expressionless in a dark corner of the wall, staring at the old couple quietly with a pair of grayish dead eyes. Gradually, 2 lines of bloody tears flowed from the corners of her eyes.
In the middle of class at school, Gu Ye’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. He nervously pinched his fingers to calculate something, and his expression instantly changed. After the class, Gu Ye stood up and rushed to the school phone booth, “Zhao Pengyu, give me your uncle’s phone number. Something bad is going to happen.”
Zhao Pengyu has already been discharged from the hospital and he has recovered completely after resting for several days. At that moment, he was about to pack his things and go to school so hearing Gu Ye’s tone, he ran to the window and shouted downstairs, “Uncle, Gu Ye is looking for you!”
Yu Ze had already taken a step into the car. Hearing this, he paused and actually turned back. Zhao Pengyu got taken aback, when did his uncle become so easy to talk with?
“I’m Yu Ze.”
As soon as Gu Ye heard Yu Ze’s voice, he quickly said, “Mr. Yu, the female ghost must have gotten stimulated by something. I noticed that she lost control of her emotions. She might want to kill innocent people. You have the purple aura on your body so she is afraid of you. Can you go to her house to see what happened?”
Yu Ze had a sullen face when he heard this. As Gu Ye is waiting expectantly, he answered lightly, “Okay.”
Gu Ye breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank you! You’ve worked hard! Ah! I’m going to class, see you later, Mr. Yu!”
Hearing the anxious voice hanging up, Yu Ze shook his head helplessly, and immediately made a call, “Find out where Liu Qiao’s parents are and what they did just now.”
At this moment, the only ones who can stimulate Liu Qiao are her unscrupulous parents. After his subordinates reported what Liu Qiao’s parents did, Yu Ze called his men again, “Find the little grandson of the Liu family, and bring his parents along to see me.”
Yu Ze’s actions were fast and accurate, and he understood Liu Qiao’s thoughts in no time. Hurt by her parents’ words, Liu Qiao couldn’t control her temperament and wanted to kill the little grandson her parents cared about most. But when she wanted to take action, she found that the child had already been picked up. She is afraid of Yu Ze’s purple aura, so she didn’t dare to go to Yu Ze. In resentment, she returned to the hospital. Staring resentfully at the parents lying on the hospital bed pretending to be sick, her pupils are bloodshot.
Why did her parents treat her like this? Because she’s a girl, born to waste the family’s money/profitless[3]? Why didn’t they even spare a glance at her since she was a child? Why can’t she get any good words from them no matter what she does? Why should she be sold in exchange for the happiness of the whole family? Do they know that it was terribly cold to be sealed in cement? That suffocating feeling was so uncomfortable. Do they know that she makes such a fuss just to make them regret it, to make them look at her distressedly? But why is it that she never gets what she wants?
Liu Qiao walked towards her parents step by step, and stood between their two beds. Stretched out her hands, she covered their mouths and noses, watching as their eyes almost popped out of their sockets, and their limbs thrashed around but couldn’t move away. That painful facial features are distorted, very much like her expression before death. The corner of Liu Qiao’s mouth gradually curled up into a strange arc. At this moment, she is very happy.
The next day, when the nurse made a ward round, they found the elderly couple dead on the hospital bed. After forensic examination, it was determined that they died of suffocation. Strangely, after checking the surveillance, it was found that no one had entered this ward. The good thing is that since the old couple died, Gu Ye has never sensed Liu Qiao’s ghostly aura again, and the master who came up with the bad idea of finding a living person to marry has also been sentenced. The following days are uneventful, and Gu Ye’s daily life began to sprint on the road to the college entrance examination with peace of mind.
…
When Yu Ze got involved in Zhao Pengyu’s case, the news quickly spread among wealthy people. This problem that many famous masters could not solve is actually solved by Gu Ye, a boy of 18-19 years old. The Old Third of the Gu family just went back to his hometown and healed his brain when he returned. Not only did he get first place in the exam, but he can also tell fortunes now.
Everyone in the wealthy circle felt that this news is too surreal; it’s impossible! It wasn’t until they heard rumors that Zhao Pengyu’s parents came to visit Gu Decheng in person that they believed the rumors and they were all shocked. Could it be that the Old Third of the Gu family had been hiding his real ability for 18 years? But he is just a child, how can he have such a deep scheming? What the hell did Mrs. Gu do to him to make him live like this? Unknowingly, the little stepmother took on the blame in full force.
On the other hand, Gu Decheng is worried about another thing. Many people say that Feng shui masters or fortune tellers have some shortcomings in their fortunes[4]. But Gu Ye has been doing this kind of thing for some time now, and the more he calculated, the more accurate he is. Will it have any impact on Gu Ye’s life in the future? No matter how Gu Decheng thinks about it, he feels uneasy.
“In the future, I can’t let him do this kind of thing anymore,” Gu Decheng worriedly said. “Choose a major for him, and it must not have anything to do with this aspect.”
As the stepmother, it is not good for Mrs. Gu to make decisions for Gu Ye, so she asked tentatively, “Why don’t you discuss it with the eldest and second child? Didn’t they say that they would come back and stay for 2 days when Old Third and Old Fourth is on vacation?”
Gu Decheng pondered for a while, “Alright. If it doesn’t work, let the eldest child take him to study abroad. Out there, no one will believe Gu Ye’s words.”
Thinking of Gu Ye’s difficult temper, Mrs. Gu secretly hid all the valuable ornaments at home. Gu Ye will definitely not listen to his father’s arrangement, and when the time comes, the eldest and second child will also come back. With Gu Ye’s dog temper, he dares to confront the three of them, and the family will definitely be in chaos again. Mrs. Gu pondered for a while and fearfully hid the things that could be used to hit people.
Raw word count: 3473
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[1] Not sure if the author confused herself/himself with the number of grandchildren because the story stated that they only has 1 grandchild. The raw was ‘孙子辈的都一口咬定…’
[2] Not sure how this logic goes because one HAS to be dead to be buried in the ancestral grave anyway. So, I think the unspoken words in this sentence is ‘Any daughters who died before getting married…’ (which doesn’t make sense as well because married daughter should be buried in the husband side’s burial ground, logically speaking) #BananaDontGetThis
[3] It’s kind hard to translate this to English but girls are considered a waste of money because after the parents spent so much money in raising her up, she will leave the family when she gets married. There, she will spend the rest of her life taking care of her husband’s parent instead of her own parents. Unlike the son, who is supposed to take care of them until they die.
[4] In Banana’s understanding about this, it means people who tells fortune are leaking the secret of Heavens so other people can change their fate. Hence, they will pay the price for reading the fortunes.