Chapter 48 - Ghost De Rong (2/2)
“Celestial elder, it is not that I want to make things difficult for him. It is just that he broke apart my family. A whole family of 28, from 80 years old to even an infant who wasn’t even born were all harmed and murdered by him. Being the head of the house, the resentment in my heart naturally can’t be settled. Thus I became a ghost, to seek him for revenge!”
“En?” Little Fatty heard and was immediately stunned. Although he had never seen a ghost, the writings in the sect also recorded things regarding it, thus he knew vaguely about it. Little Fatty could actually tell that his whole body was full of resentment. If not for the fact that he had a large grievance when he was alive, a mortal would definitely not become a ghost, unless he had the help of a ghost cultivator. But the way it seems, he was obviously naturally formed. This meant that he must have suffered a great grievance whilst he was alive.
However, Little Fatty could not understand why the imperial tutor would harm such a small fry. He thus said, “Talk to me about it, what exactly happened?”
“Celestial elder, it’s a long story. Actually, the origin of everything is because of this famous painting,«Full Moon Spring River»!” The ghost then knelt on the floor and began crying the Little Fatty about his grievance.
Actually, this guy was called Zhang De Rong and was a rice merchant in the Blue Moon City, which was a third-generation business. When it has been pa.s.sed on to his generation, they were already considered to be quite wealthy. The 5 of the brothers were all married and had children. They were rather united and their lives could be considered rather fulfilling.
But it was a pity that the heavens do not follow human will. As the saying goes, ‘A person sits quietly at home, yet the heavens still brew misfortune to you’.* Zhang De Rong’s father purchased a famous drawing 10 years ago. It was the prime work of the imperial artist. The price of the art aside, this drawing was very famous and many scholars would trade their lives to have it.
*CCT: This phrase actually kinda refers to Murphy’s Law, “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” You can be nice and stay at home but trouble will still come knocking for you. Now beware when your doorbell rings at night from now on… :)
The fact that the Zhang family had this painting was actually a well-kept secret, as they were afraid of bringing trouble. But they did not expect that the imperial tutor managed to find out about the fact that they had the painting and sent their butler to retrieve it.
The imperial tutor was born from a family of scholars. To him, such a famous painting should be the collection of a scholar. Falling into the hands of a merchant was considered a desecration. But the imperial tutor did not think that Zhang De Rong could not bear to give up the painting. He thought that since this matter was extremely secretive and it was over decades, it was most likely just a rumour. The imperial tutor must definitely not be certain that it was definitely on his hands. Thus, he lied to the imperial tutor that he did not possess the painting.
In the end, this enraged the imperial tutor. The reason he sent someone to ask for it is because he found out from the descendant of the seller about this particular news. Only when he was certain of the source and the whereabouts of the painting did he go and demand it. But in the end, all he received was a blatant lie which naturally enraged him.
Being a high court official, the imperial tutor, he was actually ignored by a merchant. How could he accept it? As such, he let his son and daughter in law settle this matter.
The younger generation could not wait to please the imperial tutor. Now that they had the chance, of course, they put in all the effort. In the end, after collaborating with some of the smaller officials, the managed to land the Zhang family with a bunch of accusations. They were all executed, Zhang De Rong and his brothers, plus his mother and wife. All 28 of them were all executed in the public. As for the painting, it landed in the imperial tutor’s house after they were executed.
After his death, Zhang De Rong’s resentment rushed to the sky and thus became a ghost who possessed the painting. He then tortured the imperial tutor in the study room until Little Fatty reached.
After hearing the story, Little Fatty’s face turned ashen. The experiences in when he was young, resulted in him being in the position of a weakling. Being bullied by those with a background, made him deeply resent all those who bullied the weak. Thus, as he heard Zhang De Rong’s story, Little Fatty could immediately empathise with his plight. He immediately sternly said, “What an imperial tutor, is there really no law? Is there no justice?”
“Law? His words are considered as laws! As for justice, what is justice?” Zhang De Rong then began weeping pitifully.
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