The putrefactive odor of dead bodies made one sick with nausea. The flies and maggots were all over the pit. At the bottom of the pit, there was a man, sitting on a pile of rotting corpses, covered in blood and with strangely bent legs. He was completely incapable of moving.

The nails of his hands were broken, and the blood mixed with the mud from the wall of the pit, making them more like the hands of a fiend.

His long hair was soiled and knotted, and his forehead was covered by the fringe of his brow. But these could not hide the sad and painful eyes, which were brighter than any star in the sky. These bright eyes burned with the flames of anguish and despair, and the blood gushed from them.

“Ha-ha-ha”

“Look at his eyes. Ouch, I’m scared!”

“But you are such a rubbish who are doomed to die, and dare to look at me with such eyes. Bah!”

Above the pit came the harsh mockery and the indifferent laughter of those inhuman people with twisted nature liked a devil.

The person under the pit stared at them as if he were going to carve their faces in his mind and turn to ghost to seek revenge.

He grinned and looked at the people above the pit.

“What are you laughing at?”

“That look is disgusting. Kill him!”

That smile stopped the laughter of the men, and they began to look frightened, to hide their fear in anger, and to lift up the stones and smash them down.

When the stones were down, the loud thud had come. It sounded like a watermelon had been broken, echoing dully in the deep hole. This thud tore into those peoples’ ears, and chilled them out in a cold sweat.

The flies at the bottom of the pit whirled suddenly and swarmed to the corpse, whose voice had died, and whose head had been broken. However, his eyes were still wide open with a creepy grin at the corner of his mouth.

“Shit! Tough luck! Let’s get the hell out of here and report on our finished mission.”

“Pooh, pooh! I’ll have to let my woman prepare bath water for me to wash away the bad luck. ”

“Ha ha ha…. ”

The evil spirits circling over the pit went away, but the sun did not shine into the bottom of the pit, and the darkness grew cold.

If there were ghosts in the world, the man at the bottom of the pit would be the most terrible and demanding ghost, that, no doubt, would haunt all his enemies.

Then a dark-green jade pendant suddenly slipped out from the clothes of the corpse. It had absorbed the blood of its master and turned bloody red as if a revenge-storm had been brewing to claim lives.

***

“Grandpa! Second uncle!”

“Don’t die!”

“We don’t collude with bandits! This has nothing to do with our Ling family!”

“I’m Ling Zhang, upright and righteous. I’m not such one of those villains!”

“Your demons are just trying to take over my Ling family’s property. You set us up and mutilated and killed dozens of my family, and I’ll crawl back to take revenge!”

“Ah, ah, ah… My leg! My leg!”

“Ridiculous! What marshal fiancé! Don’t you know how influential the Imperial Yuwen family is! You even want to combine with this great family by marriage!”

“See? This is the divorce paper from Yuwen family. Take a good look at yourself. Who do you think you are? You really think your family can rely on Yuwen family to turn the tide? In your dreams!”

“No, I didn’t overrate myself. That’s what the Yuwen’s promised Grandpa. I don’t want… I didn’t, I didn’t, I didn’t do it. They wronged me… I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die, I want revenge, I want revenge!” Murmurs full of anguish and despair came from Ling Zhang’s mouth, and finally the cry of despair woke him from his nightmare.

Suddenly sitting up straight, Ling Zhang was perspiring. Then he stared blankly at everything around him, which looked both familiar and strange to him.

This was a pavilion. There was a fence. Beside the pavilion was a pathway that meandered towards the corner door on the wall, and the corner door was open…

“Where am I?”

He remembered that it was the beginning of his nightmare.

Getting through that corner door, he would be framed with filthy crimes that could never be washed clean; from then on, his life was in a state of agony and despair.

But he was dead, wasn’t he? He dreamt when he was dead?

The headache was splitting. Ling Zhang was very confused, and could not tell whether this was the dream or the reality. He held the tabletop of the stone table and staggered to stand up.

Catching sight of what he was wearing, he was shocked as if he was struck by lightning. The clothes on him was that he had on that day!

It was so real! How could this happen?

And his legs. He stomped his feet. His legs were in perfect condition.

Taking a deep breath to stabilize the mess in his mind, he gave his legs a good thump.

“Whew, that hurts.”

“This pain is too real, not a dream!”

Outside the pavilion, the cold wind suddenly blew in. It made him shiver. Ling Zhang stood up hard. He was alive. He was alive now!

He was shaking all over, and he checked himself from top to bottom. He looked at his unscarred hands, he pinched his own bones, felt his waist and face, and began to tremble. It was real. He was back! Back to when he was 17 years old!

After confirming this fact, Ling Zhang forced himself to calm down.

If all were true, then Ling family was fine now. He was still the young master of noble birth in Tan Yang, not the one with filth that couldn’t be washed clean. He and Yuwen family’s engagement had not been known. Grandpa was still alive, uncle was still alive, and the rest of Ling family are still alive!

This was the wish he had prayed for so many times that God had really made it possible for him?

After about 10 minutes, the cold wind calmed him down completely. Slowly he turned to the corner door, his excited eyes gradually cooling down as the corner of his mouth revealed a silent and cold grin. He lifted his feet and walked through the door.

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Author's Dictionary:

Putrefactive- relating to or causing decay.

Maggots- a soft-bodied legless larva, especially that of a fly found in decaying matter.

Fiend- a wicked or cruel person.

Perspiring- give out sweat through the pores of the skin as a result of heat, physical exertion, or stress.

Meandered- (of a speaker or text) proceed aimlessly or with little purpose.

(of a person) wander at random.

(of a river or road) follow a winding course.

Staggered- walk or move unsteadily, as if about to fall.

As soon as Ling Zhang passed through the corner door, he ceased his grin, the coldness in his disappeared, replaced by gentleness and clarity.

His indifferent expression gradually turned into the weary face of a heavy drinking. And his footsteps moved or acted in a shaky unsteady way.

He pretended like a person who was completely undefended.

“Here he is, Mr. Ling!” There was a shout from somewhere ahead.

This shout broke the silence in the corner and soon two men came to support Ling Zhang, “Mr. Ling! Where did you go just now? Our young master is very worried about you.”

Ling Zhang leant all the weight of his upper body on the one supporting him and lifted his one hand to smoothly rub his frontal eminence. His voice was full of weariness, “I just went to take a rest at the pavilion over there, but I fell asleep by accident.”

“Damn it! We didn’t find Mr. Ling asleep there. If you caught a cold, our young master will skin us. You’d better come with us to the house and get warm,” said by these two subordinates in a tone of consternation.

Ling Zhang waved his hand and told them that it was all right. The next moment he hissed softly, his eyes half-closed, “I have a terrible headache.”

While apologizing, the servants, in an unfriendly manner, dragged Ling Zhang to the main hall of the courtyard with force and fast speed.

Along the way, Ling Zhang pretended to rub his frontal eminence, but his eyes swept around at full speed. All the scene here was too familiar.

Because he had taken the person who owned this place as a true friend and often called on this house and also praised the inviting scenery. But in the end, the beautiful scenery in his eyes became a nightmare which had the power of terror to wake him up in the middle of the night, drenched in cold sweat.

The two servants walked quickly, not caring Ling Zhang was comfortable or not. They quickly rushed to the main hall and helped Ling Zhang in.

When Ling Zhang entered the main hall, there was a strong smell of alcohol mixed with different kinds of food and wine, which made Ling Zhang queasy. In the middle of the hall stood a large table, around which sat five people, one of the empty seats was where Ling Zhang sat before.

A voice of concern came from a person, “Brother Zhang, you’ve come back. Where have you been?” And then he also personally came to support Ling Zhang. His appearance was handsome, and his manner was appropriate and polite.

However, for a moment, Ling Zhang almost couldn’t bear the touch to even kick off the one supporting him. His half-drop eyelids concealed his uncontrollable cold eyes and his anger.

As the man didn’t get any reply, he grabbed Ling Zhang’s hand and called in a low voice, “Brother Zang?”

Ling Zhang shook his head and made a look that expressed him tired of answering.

“Why, Ling Zhang? You’re a terrible drinker, aren’t you? You’ve only had a few drinks and you’re already drunk?”

“Oh, you damn need Yuanling to hold you now. I don’t mean to look down upon you. But you can’t hold your liquor.”

The people at the table laughed loudly. In the past, Ling Zhang would only feel that it was merely joking between friends, and would not believe that their sarcastic tone carried so much ill-will.

“Stop it! Zhang has just reached manhood and he can’t get enough alcohol. Getting drunk fast is only natural. Brother Zhang, come and sit down here. I’ll let the maid prepare a bowl of hangover soup for you. Just drink it and go to the wing room to sleep for a while and everything will be all right.”

When Ling Zhang was helped to sit down in the empty seat and heard the words “hangover soup” and “sleep for a while”, he clenched his fist tightly under the table and tried desperately to suppress the raging fury and murderous intent.

There was a light “knock” on the table, and a bowl of jet-black hangover soup was placed in front of him, which gave off an unpleasant smell.

Ling Zhang gently lifted his eyelids, looking at this bowl of hangover soup and then looking around at the people around him.

“What’s wrong, Zhang? Drink up and take a sleep. It will make you feel better.” The man sitting opposite towards him showed a gentle and handsome smile and his tone was indulgent.

The other four stared icily at Ling Zhang, their eyes carrying something which the former Ling Zhang could not see through, but now Ling Zhang could easily see the malicious intents in their eyes.

Ling Zhang gently curled the corner of his mouth with a hint of sarcasm. Then he slowly lifted the bowl of hangover soup, touched the edge of the bowl with his lips, and drank it down.

Ling Zhang fixed his eyes on the five people around the table without a blink. As opposed to the confused state he had been in for the last life, this time he clearly saw their exultant sigh of relief.

Their behavior was disgusting.

“Come and help Zhang to his room.”

On the way to the room, Ling Zhang quietly took out the dark-green jade pendant hanging from his neck. The moment he put it in his mouth, the faint smell of antidote spread in his mouth and dispelled the drowsiness.

A great show was about to begin, only this time he would no longer be at the mercy of these people. He had a control over the game.

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Author's Dictionary:

Exultant- triumphantly happy.

Indulgent- having or indicating a tendency to be overly generous to or lenient with someone.

Clarity- the quality of being coherent and intelligible.

Consternation- feelings of anxiety or dismay, typically at something unexpected.

Two servants, when passing the corner, took Ling Zhang to another direction, not really to the room for a rest.

They took Ling Zhang to the garden behind the main hall and threw Ling Zhang to the ground rudely. The floor was covered with rough stones and his left arm was scratched to bleed when hitting the ground.

“Oops! Didn’t wake up at such a bad situation. He is really unconscious.”

“Mr. Ling! Mr. Ling!”

“Stop shouting and take his coat off.”

The two men roughly took off Ling Zhang’s coat, loosened his collar, and unbuckled his belt. Then they took his hand and laid it on a slippery, warm thing.

Ling Zhang’s finger twitched slightly, and the touch of this thing reminded him of a very bad memory. The nausea was almost uncontrollable, but his anger and resentment had kept his physical response in check under his strong will power.

“All right, get back to report to our young master.”

The two men walked away quickly. Although Ling Zhang closed his eyes, his hearing was very sharp.

After the sound of the footsteps had disappeared, he opened his eyes. He quickly pulled his hand back and sat up. Then, desperately, he rubbed his hand against the grass by the side of the road to clean it up. His cold eyes swept around and landed on the woman in a coma beside him.

Her face was ruddy, and her body was covered with the traces and the awful filth after sex. Her clothes were stripped to the ground and the ***** body was exposed.

Ling Zhang had a look and quickly took his eyes away. There was an almost suffocating rage in his heart.

The woman was Jia Yuanling’s stepmother, a young dancer. Because she was so beautiful that Jia Yuanling’s father, Jia Yin, bought her freedom from the brothel and doted on her.

In the last life, he had visited the Jia’s family after the coming-of-age ceremony. He had drunk a lot in the feast and went out to take a breath. But he accidentally fell asleep in that pavilion. He could not remember how long he had slept. When he woke up, he returned to Jia Yuanling’s yard in a daze and was fed a bowl of soup to kill the hangover and lost consciousness.

Later he was wakened by a basin of cold water on the face, and with this woman lying beside him. Her screams and the curses of those around her punctured his eardrum. It was such a mess and also a nightmare to think of now.

No one believed that he was innocent, and the only woman who could testify for him had chosen silence. Then Jia family took her away. Then he heard that she was dead, but so what, he had become the target of taunts and curses in Tanyang, and the dirty crime poured on him could not be washed away.

Because of this, Ling family was also implicated. His uncle who was about to be promoted was degraded and his grandpa was humiliated. Ling family became the laughingstock of the whole Tanyang overnight.

Since then Ling family had suffered a series of blows: his uncle was removed from office shortly after his promotion was ruined; the books and paintings his grandfather had identified suddenly became fakes, rendering a plummet of his fame.

The worst was that Ling family was accused of colluding with bandits.

The whole Lu family was killed overnight without any survivor. All the property had been looted. The authorities found his uncle’s pendant on the crime scene and asserted that Ling family colluded with bandits to murder Lu family.

When the crisis came, his grandfather disclosed his engagement with Yuwen family from the imperial city and revealed the marriage contract.

This marriage contract intimidated everyone and gave Ling family a time to breathe.

Although Ling Zhang himself was shocked by the marriage contract, the circumstances of that time did not allow him to think much. They must take this opportunity to find out the truth about the murder of Lu family.

But one step ahead of them in finding out the truth was a divorce paper from the imperial city. This letter of divorce became the last stone to crush the family.

The authorities had no scruples. Ling family was wrongly convicted of the crime.

Dozens of his family were tied to the open space outside the city and scorched to death under the blazing sun.

He resisted but was thrown into a mass grave outside the city after they broke his legs.

Up to now, Ling Zhang still remembered his uncle shouting, “The heaven is unfair!”

His uncle had said that Ling family was brought down because they were in the way of some people.

His uncle was right. When he was thrown into a mass grave, he heard the executioners above the pit say that Ling family’s property had been plundered by other families, and his uncle’s position had been usurped by Jia Yuanling’s second uncle, Jia Zhong.

At the thought of this past memory, Ling Zhang held back all the emotions in his heart. He then got up, adjusted his clothes, and looked down at the dancer, trying to find a clue to uncover the real adulterer. But there was nothing else and the place was handled very cleanly.

However, Ling Zhang spread a cold smile and took out a jade pendant, which was very valuable with a “Ling” carved on the front. He put it into the dancer’s hand.

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Author's Dictionary:

Plummet- fall or drop straight down at high speed.

Punctured- cause a sudden collapse of (mood or feeling).

Implicated- show (someone) to be involved in a crime.

Rendering- a performance of a piece of music or drama.

Scruples- a feeling of doubt or hesitation with regard to the morality or propriety of a course of action.

Plundered- steal goods from (a place or person), typically using force and in a time of war or civil disorder.

Usurped- take (a position of power or importance) illegally or by force.

Scorched- burned by flames or heat.