Anatomy of Flowers No. 28 Peony Lantern (1) Full Volume

  "A long, long time ago, there was a scholar named Qiao who lived alone and was bored. He didn't want to go out for a walk, so at midnight when everything was quiet, he leaned against the door and gazed up at the stars."

  "It was past midnight, when the scholar suddenly saw a maid carrying a peony lantern leading the way in front, followed by a stunning beauty, about 17 or 18 years old, wearing a red skirt and brocade sleeves, looking like a celestial being. The scholar gazed at her under the moonlight, becoming enchanted, and followed her from behind. To his surprise, the beauty turned around and smiled, captivating him completely. The scholar mustered up his courage and invited the beauty to return home with him, and she smiled and actually called out to the maid, who carried the peony lantern and followed the scholar back home!"

  "After going home, hehehe......"

  At this point, Lu Da Chun's smile was a bit meaningful, and Nie Qiuyuan furrowed his brow beside him. In front of us, a bonfire was burning fiercely, Mei Lan probably understood what he meant, her face as red as an apple, pretending not to hear, just constantly rotating the branches in her hands. The front end of the branch, the aroma of roasted mountain chicken had already spread out.

  Han Mei Lan's illness was cured, and it took a whole seven days. We are all children of the rivers and lakes, and we don't have so many taboos, so we packed up our luggage, saddled up our horses, and set off on the road.

  Apart from me, the other three are all martial arts masters. As soon as they make a move, rabbits and mountain chickens fall one after another. So this scene of barbecue in the mountains is just an ordinary meal. Ancient barbecue, everything is ready, only lacking a spark.

  Luo Da Chun started telling stories because we had just seen a peony lantern hanging from the trees in the mountains.

  The lantern is made of paper, light pink in color, with delicate peony patterns drawn on it, very small and exquisite. However, it was hung from the top of a tall tree, and I don't know how it got up there.

  "What a beautiful lamp!" I exclaimed.

  "Hmm, Peony Lanterns!" Lu Da Chun smacked his lips twice. "Haven't you guys heard the story of the Peony Lanterns?"

  At lunchtime, when we were having barbecue, I suggested that he tell us this story. Although I'm not good at humor, I love listening to stories. But I didn't expect Peony Lantern to be the only type of story I don't like - ghost stories.

  "You're all young ladies, I won't tell you what happened later!" Lao Da Chun leered with a smile and nudged Nie Qiuyuan with his elbow. The latter's face was expressionless, but her actions showed her contempt for him.

  "The woman said her name was Fu Liqing, the daughter of the late prefect. She is currently living with her maid Jinlian in Lake West. From then on, Miss Fu came to Qiao's house every night and left at dawn, and half a month passed unknowingly."

  Qiao Sheng's neighbor was a sinister old man, who felt strange seeing Qiao Sheng being so carefree every day. So, he secretly drilled a hole in the wall between their houses one night to take a peek. What he saw was shocking! Sitting across from Qiao Sheng under the lamp, chatting intimately, was a powdered skeleton!

  As I listened to this, I took a deep breath in and unconsciously moved closer to the person beside me. The warmth of their body transmitted over, subtly enveloping me, making me feel at ease.

  Autumn, did not refuse my approach.

  "The next day, the old man told Qiao Sheng that you and Gui Gong cohabited without knowing it, but now you're in big trouble! Qiao Sheng was frightened when he heard this, so he went to Huxi to investigate and asked everyone about Li Qing's whereabouts, but no one knew. At night, Qiao Sheng entered the Huixin Temple to rest for a while, but as he turned around, he discovered that there was a hidden room in the temple with coffins stored inside. On the white paper was written: The coffin of the late Judge Bao's daughter Li Qing. In front of the coffin hung a peony lantern, and under the lantern stood a paper-made maid with the words Jinlian written on her back!"

  It's really a ghost! Imagine the scene at that time, and I really felt a chill for Qiao Sheng. But more of it was curiosity, so I couldn't help but ask him:

  "What happened next? Did the female ghost come back to life?"

  "Resurrect?" Kong Da-chun sneered, "Qiao Sheng went to the Taoist priest and got a talisman, stuck it on the door, and the female ghost can't get in!"

  More than a month later, Qiao Sheng went out to visit friends, got drunk, forgot the monk's instructions, and took the road back home through Lake Heart Temple. When he arrived at the temple gate, Qiao Sheng was welcomed into the temple by Li Qing and Jin Lian. Li Qing severely scolded him for being heartless, although she hated him deeply, but couldn't bear to part with him.

  A few days later, people found that Qiao Sheng had disappeared. The old man from the neighboring family searched far and wide until he reached the temple, where he saw that Qiao Sheng was already dead beside Li Qing's corpse in a coffin. Li Qing looked as if she were still alive. The monks in the temple buried the two coffins outside the west gate of the city. From then on, every night when the moon was dark and the wind was strong, people often saw Qiao Sheng and the woman walking hand in hand, with a maid carrying a peony lantern walking ahead of them...

  That's the complete story of the Peony Lantern.

  It's a bit like Chat Quay. To be honest, I'm quite brave, but I'm afraid of ghosts. The stories in Chat Quay are also a bit too scary for me, so I never read them. Tonight will probably be another night of bad dreams.

  After listening to the story, I unknowingly stuck close to Nie Qiuyuan's body, and unintentionally wiped a hand of oil off the male god, which is the only comforting thing.

  "Hurry up and finish eating, or we won't make it to the next county town before dark, and then we'll have to spend the night in the wilderness!" Lu Da Chun said with a deliberate tone.

  When we arrived at the county town of Fengxian, it was already dark. Moreover, the sky began to rumble with thunder, and big raindrops pattered down. We chose the largest inn in the county town "Doulai Shun" and quickly settled the horses, shaking off the rain from our bodies, preparing to rest in our respective rooms.

  Just then, a flash of lightning illuminated the sky, dazzling our eyes. Immediately afterwards, a mournful cry came from the east wing of the house.

  "Ahh!!!!!!! Murder!!!!!!"

  We instinctively rushed to the east wing. At the entrance of the east wing, a young shop assistant from a cloth store was standing, holding a lamp that had fallen to the ground and was barely burning.

  Xiao Er's face was pale, staring fixedly at the large door of the east wing.

  What's going on? The door isn't even open.

  Nie Qiuyuan walked ahead, slowly stretched out his hand to push the door of the east wing, the door flashed inward and then bounced back, apparently locked from the inside.

  This was a common ancient door with two leaves that opened inward. Although it was bolted from the inside, if one pushed hard enough, they could still manage to push it open a crack. The shop assistant who had let out a blood-curdling scream earlier had done just that, and when he looked inside through the crack, a loud clap of thunder boomed, illuminating the pale face of the corpse on the ground.

  "It's because... it's time to deliver the meal, but... no matter how I knock on the door, nobody opens it... I..." The little servant was so scared that he couldn't speak smoothly.

  Actually, looking through the gap in the door, you can see the face of a dead body without thunder, because next to the corpse, a pink lantern with a swaying candle is hanging. The lantern was hung on the back of a chair with thin silk thread, and the delicate paper wall had a beautiful red peony pattern.

  I took a deep breath in surprise and stepped back two steps.

  Mom! Isn't this a peony lantern?

  The autumn around him stood still like a silent tree, his expression calm as water. Obviously, his attention was not on that strange lamp above his head.

  It was the two of us who arrived first, with Lu Da Chun still a few steps away. But Nie Qiuyuan still said something in a light tone, and I wasn't quite sure if it was directed at me or not.

  "The door has a lock on it and all the windows are closed."

  My heart skipped a beat. Ah, I see, the focus isn't on the peony lanterns, but on this!

  So it seems that this dead person's scene is likely a sealed room!