All that shouting and cursing was nothing more than a bluster with no real bite — he did not dare do anything to Lang Jiuchuan. Wretched and penniless as he was, old as he was, having lived many years both as a man and as a ghost, he knew what was good for him. Whether or not this person was someone to be provoked, his heart was perfectly clear. Particularly after Lang Jiuchuan had struck him once, he felt his very soul weaken by a measure — he did not dare tangle with her. The most he could do was posture with his mouth.

Liang Jinfeng, however, was a different matter. He heard that chilling, ghostly wail too, and it frightened him so badly that his legs went as limp as noodles boiled far too long — completely boneless, utterly without strength. Pale-faced, he stared in the direction of the sound and asked with trembling voice: “Who — what ghost is this? I, Liang Jinfeng, have lived more than half my life without ever straying from the right path, and moreover I have been charitable and generous to others. I believe I have done nothing to wrong my conscience — so why come and haunt me?”

Lang Jiuchuan looked at the wretched old scholar ghost and said: “It is said that between enemies, reconciliation is always preferable to resentment. Whatever grievance you have with him — resolve it and be done. Why persist in clinging without moving on? To have lingered as a ghost for all these years without reincarnating, all for the sake of tormenting him — and yet you have never truly harmed him to his death. That suggests this is merely a small knot of grievance. Would it not be better to untangle it?”

“And what if I refuse?” the wretched scholar ghost said stubbornly, craning his neck.

“Then I will have no choice but to force you through the Gates of the Underworld,” Lang Jiuchuan replied.

“You — you dare!” He made a ghastly face. “I simply refuse to reincarnate. Not even other ghosts can do anything to me — what makes you think you can?”

“To obstruct another’s path and ruin their prospects — what you have done has already brought harm to the fortune of others.” Lang Jiuchuan shook her head gently. “Should he pass the metropolitan examination and become an official, he will speak on behalf of the people and be a good official. When a region has a good official, that region prospers and the people live in peace. For you to keep him from advancing means you are harming the welfare of the common people. That karmic debt falls on you — and with it, you will never be able to reincarnate into a good life.”

At those words from Lang Jiuchuan, Liang Jinfeng was taken aback. He hadn’t even become an official yet, and this young proprietor already held him in such regard? If he failed to live up to it, wouldn’t that mean she had spoken wrongly?

“What makes you think he is capable of being a good official?” The wretched scholar ghost was clearly unconvinced, his white whiskers puffing outward.

Lang Jiuchuan replied evenly: “You have followed him not for one day or half a day, but for more than ten years. Whatever his character — openly or in secret — I imagine you know it better than anyone.”

The wretched scholar ghost choked on a retort. He could not argue against that, and indeed it was true. Some people presented one face in public and another in private, wearing a false mask through life — but Liang Jinfeng, though he had his share of small faults, was fundamentally upright as a person; he was no hypocrite, and he would help the weak and the elderly.

Seeing that he offered no rebuttal, Lang Jiuchuan pressed further: “Then in your experienced judgment, is such a person capable of being a good official?”

The scholar ghost opened and closed his mouth several times, and at last squeezed out a grudging reply: “Who can say — some people may be perfectly decent individuals and still not make good officials.”

“A person who carries the common people in his heart will always manage to accomplish something of worth — it is only a matter of how much.” Lang Jiuchuan saw his tone soften and asked: “So then, what is the knot of grievance between the two of you?”

An expression of wistful sorrow crossed the scholar ghost’s face. He shot a resentful glare at Liang Jinfeng, then sighed and said: “In truth, it is nothing much. I was surnamed Sun, given name Gui — a Sun Scholar in every sense of the word, and a fellow townsman of his. But I had none of his good fortune. I only passed the preliminary examination at twenty, and after that I fell short of the autumn examinations time and again — truly, a lifetime of failure to pass. When I died, I was still a thoroughly unsuccessful, low-ranking scholar.”

Scholar Sun seemed to deflate somewhat. “But there were many like me. Some fared even worse — they sat for examinations until death and never rose above the rank of a basic student candidate; they could not even pass the preliminary examination. I suppose that was simply the extent of our talent — left with nothing but unwilling hearts. But this man — the moment he found success, he grew insufferable. After passing the juren examination and getting drunk on a bit of glory, he laughed and mocked those of us who had been failing our whole lives, like myself. He and I were sitting for the same examination at the time, and I could not stomach it in that moment. The more I thought on it, the more grievously I felt it, until the bitterness and indignation built up so much that I worked myself into a rage and died. That resentment and anguish refused to scatter, so I never went to reincarnate — I just stayed and followed him. I was going to make him taste the pain of repeated failure too, and see if he still dared to be so insufferable.”

Lang Jiuchuan was at a loss for words. “So simply because he spoke words that offended you, you spent every one of his spring examination sittings causing him trouble?”

Scholar Sun looked a little guilty. “It was only a small punishment — just letting him know the pain of failing the examinations.”

“But have you considered,” Lang Jiuchuan said flatly, “that it is not that he could not pass — it is because of your meddling that he could not pass. It is not that his literary talent and foundational skill are lacking; he has merely been held back. If it were you — if you had this level of literary ability, if by rights you ought to be donning the apricot blossoms and parading through the streets in triumph, and yet because someone was interfering with you, you missed the chance again and again — what would you feel?”

Scholar Sun’s ghostly face went pale and then gray, growing more and more at a loss.

If it were him, that person would be no different from a mortal enemy.

“I — I had been thinking of making this the last time,” he muttered, no longer able to meet Liang Jinfeng’s gaze. “Who told him to look down on those who repeatedly failed? We were already suffering enough, and yet they had to plant their feet on our pain and parade their triumph — that invites hatred.”

Liang Jinfeng could not hear Scholar Sun’s words, but from what Lang Jiuchuan had said, he was able to piece things together. His repeated failures were truly because there had been a ghost at work against him!

What an injustice!

He rose indignantly to his feet. He wanted to unleash a torrent of curses himself — but he held back. This spirit had followed him for over ten years; the root of it was some wrong he himself had committed. The person was already gone — it was best not to add fuel to the fire.

He took a deep breath, straightened his clothing, and cupped his hands in a bow toward the direction from which the voice had come. “I am unaware of where I have given offense to my fellow scholar. Would you grant me the clarity of knowing?”

Lang Jiuchuan then relayed the story of Sun Gui and the reason for his haunting.

Liang Jinfeng was taken aback. “Is this the old Scholar Sun from Yangliu Village?”

Scholar Sun let out a humph.

The memory surged back to Liang Jinfeng all at once. There had indeed been such a matter. He was immediately filled with remorse and bowed once more: “I was young and ignorant in those days, full of youthful arrogance — drunk on my first success and insufferably brash. The fault was mine for offending you, Elder Scholar. I will make no excuses for what I did in the past. I offer you my sincere apology here today and vow to take it as a lifelong lesson — to never again look down upon those sitting the same examination. I hope we may let go of this grievance and part without enmity.”

As he spoke, he knelt down.

Scholar Sun stood dazedly in place. A sudden weariness seemed to settle over him, a loss of spirit and purpose. At last he said: “So be it. To be honest, the lack of ability was mine to begin with. I have tormented him for enough years — that is sufficient. So long as he truly becomes a good official hereafter, I am ready to go.”

Lang Jiuchuan relayed those words to Liang Jinfeng.

Liang Jinfeng immediately raised his hand and swore an oath: once he took office, he would speak on behalf of the people and seek their welfare; he would never be one of those officials who occupied a post while doing nothing of worth. Should he ever betray this oath, he would deserve to be struck by lightning and cast down into the path of beasts.

With that, the matter was resolved.

Lang Jiuchuan then had Liang Jinfeng’s servant go and procure fine food and drink, and purchase incense, candles, and spirit money to be burned as an offering to Sun Gui. She herself carefully folded several gold ingots of exceptional quality to burn as well.

She then drew a Knot-Dissolving talisman, inscribed the names of both men into it, and burned it — and with that, the knot of grievance was considered dissolved.

After seeing Scholar Sun off, she accepted the divination fee from Liang Jinfeng, offered him a few parting words, and added: “Should Candidate Liang one day become an official and happen to think of me, simply have a small longevity tablet made and burn a stick of incense for me.”

Liang Jinfeng agreed to all of it and departed with a joyful spring in his step.

Only then did Lang Jiuchuan turn her gaze toward Madam Song, who had been watching the entire proceedings from the side.

Before she could even open her mouth, Madam Song dropped to her knees and knocked her head against the floor with a series of resounding thuds. “I beg the young immortal lady to save my child!”

Lang Jiuchuan: “!”