Xu Xiaoxiao's Immortal Cultivation Life (Transmigration)

Chapter 5 The Strange Encounter in the City of Origin 2

Li Changchun stepped forward, took his pulse, and examined his eyes.

Hearing the sound, the innkeeper, who was lying on the bed, opened his eyes with difficulty. He wanted to ask the stranger something, but his voice was hoarse and he couldn't make a sound.

The waiter quickly stepped forward to reassure him, "Manager Liu, we've met a master! This time, he'll definitely be able to resolve this haunting incident, allowing everyone to get a good night's sleep, and your illness will also be cured."

After pondering for a moment, Li Changchun said to the waiter, "Prepare some glutinous rice, red thread, black dog blood, and some stones. I need to search around this inn to find the place where the feng shui was broken and the traces of the female ghost." After saying that, he and Xu Xiaoxiao began to carefully investigate the inn.

They discovered that the innkeeper's room was located in the backyard of the inn, which was extremely yin in nature, hence they were the first to fall ill.

It turns out that a wrongful case many years ago led to the wrongful death of a woman, who was then sealed here, but the feng shui has recently changed and the seal has been loosened.

Li Changchun decided to first reset the feng shui formation to stabilize the energy field. He and Xu Xiaoxiao buried specially made feng shui stones in the four corners of the inn and connected them with red lines. They chanted incantations to guide the flow of energy. A woman in white appeared in a decades-old osmanthus tree in the backyard. Although there was no spiritual energy in this mortal world, it was still under the rule of the Heavenly Dao, and the rules still existed.

When everyone saw the figure appear out of nowhere, they all hid, peeking through the crack in the door without daring to breathe. Xu Xiaoxiao was also scared and wanted to hide, but her legs wouldn't obey her, and she was trembling. She tried to calm herself down, telling herself that with her master there, everything would be alright. It turned out that ghosts really did exist in the world.

Next, they set out to deal with the female ghost. Li Changchun set a trap where the female ghost appeared, using glutinous rice as bait and black dog blood as a barrier. When the female ghost appeared and was trapped in the trap, Li Changchun did not rush to subdue her. Instead, he talked to the female ghost and learned about her grievances. It turned out that she had been framed by villains and was suppressed here.

Originally, this female ghost was an ordinary woman named Axiu from the town where Hefu Inn was located. Her parents died early, and she made a living by doing handicrafts for some shops in the town. She had been locked up in this inn for almost three years.

The female ghost, Ah Xiu, tearfully told Li Changchun that a wealthy merchant in town, coveting her beauty, wanted to take her as a concubine, but she resolutely refused. Enraged, the merchant secretly bribed local thugs to falsely accuse her of stealing valuables from his shop. Unable to defend herself, she was arrested. In prison, she suffered various forms of torture and abuse, but refused to confess. Finally, she was tortured into confessing and died unjustly. The inn had originally belonged to that wealthy merchant; after the incident, he sold it and bought a restaurant across the street to continue his business. This merchant owned many properties in Licheng…

After the female ghost Ah Xiu died, her resentment remained, and her soul was trapped near the He Fu Inn. She watched helplessly as the wealthy merchant continued his evil deeds, and her resentment grew deeper and deeper. She tried to tell her grievances to some passersby, but they all thought she was an evil spirit and no one believed her.

The female ghost Ah Xiu expressed her hope that Li Changchun and the others could help her get the rich businessman punished as he deserved, otherwise she would die with regrets.

After listening to the ghost Ah Xiu's story, Xu Xiaoxiao pieced together the events. The wealthy merchant, powerful and influential in town, had resorted to any means to satisfy his own desires and possess Ah Xiu. When Ah Xiu rejected him, he devised a plan to frame her. He had his men secretly hide some so-called "stolen goods" in the shop at Ah Xiu's residence, then led the government officials to search the place, easily "finding" the evidence.

The local officials, having accepted bribes from the wealthy merchant, did not seriously investigate Ah Xiu's case. They only believed the so-called "evidence" provided by the merchant and completely ignored Ah Xiu's defense. During the interrogation, they used various cruel tortures to force Ah Xiu to confess. Under both physical and mental torment, Ah Xiu was ultimately forced to admit to crimes she had not committed.

Most of the townspeople were afraid of the wealthy merchant's power and dared not speak up for Ah Xiu. Moreover, due to the merchant's deliberate smear campaign, everyone believed that Ah Xiu was a thief and was filled with contempt and disgust towards her. Even if a few people felt that there might be something fishy about the matter, they did not dare to stand up for her and seek justice.

The female ghost Ah Xiu told Li Changchun that the wealthy businessman was named Zhao Youcai. In this town, Zhao Youcai, relying on his wealth and connections, acted arrogantly and no one dared to mess with him.

Zhao Youcai had a very successful shop located on the central street of the town. It was a large silk shop called "Jinxiufang".

Located in a prime location with high foot traffic, the shop is decorated in a very luxurious style, with a large sign hanging at the entrance that can be seen from afar. Xu Xiaoxiao also saw this shop when she came to the city, but since she didn't have any money, she could only look at it from the outside and leave.

The thug who framed her was named Wang San. He was short but stocky, with a face full of flesh and a fierce, cunning look in his eyes. He had a long scar on his left cheek, supposedly from a fight when he was young. Wang San always dressed slovenly, wearing a tattered black short jacket and loose gray trousers, with a coarse cloth belt around his waist, from which a dagger was tucked. He didn't look like a good person. He had a group of thugs who often followed him around town, committing crimes and bullying the people.

The reason why Wang San was willing to help the wealthy businessman Zhao Youcai frame A Xiu was partly because he had received money from Zhao Youcai, and partly because he wanted to take this opportunity to gain some benefits from Zhao Youcai so that he could continue to live a life of luxury with Zhao Youcai in the future.

After hearing her story, Li Changchun originally intended to convert her directly. However, when he turned around and saw that Xu Xiaoxiao was no longer afraid, and was walking to his side with an expression that looked like she wanted to tear Zhao Youcai to pieces, he said indulgently, "Since we know about your experience, and to prevent more innocent people from being framed, we'll go all the way and help you find out the truth. You can stay here and calm down your resentment. You've already affected other people's lives. After I've investigated this matter, I'll convert you." The female ghost, Ah Xiu, quickly agreed. If ghosts had tears, she would have been in tears by now, finally finding someone willing to help her.

Li Changchun and his apprentice Xu Xiaoxiao secretly sneaked into the local government archives at night. The soldiers at the gate were not doing their job properly and were sleeping, so they didn't notice anyone coming in. This made it easy for the master and apprentice to search for records about the female ghost case from back then.

Although it has been a long time, we may be able to find some clues, such as the case interrogation records and witness testimonies. Xu Xiaoxiao does not recognize many traditional Chinese characters, so Li Changchun is the one who checks most of them. They found many loopholes and doubts in the files, which further strengthened their determination to clear the female ghost's name.

In order to get rid of the female ghost in the backyard as soon as possible, the waiter and his companions discussed going to investigate together. They visited some elderly people in the town, who might still have some memory of what happened back then. After some inquiries, they finally found an old man who had witnessed the process of the female ghost being captured. The old man recalled the scene at that time, confirmed that the female ghost was wronged, and provided some other information about the rich merchant and the local ruffians.

During the investigation, Li Changchun and Xu Xiaoxiao accidentally discovered some old items in an abandoned house. Among them was a piece of clothing embroidered with the name of the female ghost, Axiu. This clothing was one of the items that the wealthy merchant had falsely accused of possessing as "stolen goods." This discovery became important physical evidence to prove Axiu's innocence. Finally, the key evidence was found. But how to get the government to reopen the case was a major headache.