How To Polish A Pearl

Chapter 102 - Betraying (1)

Author's Notes:

Still hanging in there? This chapter will contain some references to ZZS's death and minor violence – get ready to meet the Queen of Hearts.

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It is the dead of night and Wen Ke Xing is wondering why some of the ghost are still here. Some of them have already left, after drunkenly blabbering their last condolences on their way out the door. Amongst those who have left are both his female devils. Having had all of them toast him or Zhou Xu multiple times, he had checked for both tattoos and beauty marks, yet found nothing. Though, some of the female ghosts had worn delicate gloves for some reason, maybe as part of their funeral robes. Others had worn fancy rings they had likely stolen somewhere. They were all covering up, one way or another.

Just as he is getting ready to kick them all out, a woman's laughter haunts the barren walls around them. It echoes in a whirl around them and then fade into the darkness outside. Wen Ke Xing is instantly alert and so is everyone else. A low murmur from the ghosts can be heard whilst their eyes peers around the vast space, seeing nothing except long shadows dancing from the fires that are still burning in their oil pits. When they find nothing suspicious, their eyes fall on their Guzhu.

Wen Ke Xing is sitting calmly on his throne, his back relaxed against the stone, his left leg up on the seat and his right arm flung over the armrest. This is what he has been waiting for. So you have finally decided to show yourself? Zhou Zi Shu where are you? Are you hearing this too?

Another laughter bounces around the room and when it fades, it leaves the hall eerily quiet and some of the top underlings even squirms in their seats. Cowards.

"Tell me, Guzhu—how sad are you?" The voice is but a whisper yet sharp at the same time. It's distorted and he can't make out who it is. It seems to be leaping off the walls in a way that is making it impossible for him to distinguish where it is coming from. It is from far away, yet he can hear it like she is whispering right into his ear. She has a strong core to be able to speak with such precision.

"Do you feel alone?"

"Why don't you come up here and keep me company?"

"When I sit down on that throne—it won't be next to you."

"So, you have finally decided to come out from the shadows? What took you so long?"

Another laughter rolls through the hall and bounces off the walls and columns. Wen Ke Xing still can't make out where it is coming from. He thought he knew every nook and cranny of this hall, yet this ghost seems to know it even better. How much time have you spent in here?

"I wanted you to be alone, with no family by your side."

"You think that monster was your family? Then you didn't know him very well, did you?" Wen Ke Xing laughs dismissively and continues, "That demon lost all his humanity and connection to the human world a long time ago, even before he came to this place. You would have been nothing to him if he had known about you. In fact, he would probably have had you killed. He might even have done it himself. Or maybe he knew about you all along and just didn't care. Is that why are so pissed off?"

The laughter stops and he thinks that he might have hit a nerve. He needs to keep pressing and hope that she makes a mistake or maybe gets angry enough to show herself. "If you want to rule Ghost Valley and be the first female Guigu Guzhu, you are going to have to be stronger than this. No one is going to follow someone as weak as you are—hiding in the shadow behind your assassins."

Upon hearing those words, the Devils stands up, drawing their weapons. Unsure as to where to aim them, they all wait by the tables—except for the elites who are already circling Wen Ke Xing in a protective formation. Wen Ke Xing motions for them to stay still, not wanting them to potentially scare her away. Though if she has chosen this setting, she probably wants them all to see her take the throne from him. Based on who was by Changing Ghost's side after that second attempt on Zhou Zi Shu's life, he suspects that the two Grimm Reapers are not going to be on his side in this showdown—should it come to that. Though both of them had already taken their leave.

"You know, your dad was a pathetic excuse of a Guigu Guzhu. He even begged me to spare him before I ripped his head off. I have been looking forward to finding out if you will do the same. Tell me Hongtao Huanghou—are you going to beg me for mercy when I cut your head off too?"

"SHUT UP!" The voice is loud and painful in his ears. Maybe he has finally hit a nerve. He smiles, that cold and detached smile he has perfected over the years. Pointing at the devils and ghosts by the tables, he asks, "Do you actually expect any of them to follow the daughter of a coward? A woman who hides in the shadows?"

The woman snaps, clearly irritated, "And you expect them to follow someone like you? Look at you sitting there in your funeral robe, all pathetic and sad—and for what? Watching your husband get stabbed in the heart? Are you sad that he died? Are you sad that you couldn't save him? Are you sad that you ran and he still fell off that cliff?"

The fear he has been fighting off for days grips his heart and he feels like he can't breathe. Stabbed in the heart? What is she talking about? He had a cut on the arm, and that was it wasn't it? Who stabbed him? Was he really injured when he fell? I just let him fall when he was dying?

"Why so quiet? Did the great Guigu Guzhu miss that his treasured husband got stabbed right through the chest before he fell off the cliff? Are you secretly hoping that he will come back? I watched him die alongside that pathetic woman."

Showing nothing on the surface of his internal turmoil, those voices getting louder and louder inside his head, Wen Ke Xing continues with a flat voice, "So what if he died? I'll just get myself a new husband if I want. The important thing is that I beat you then and I am still sitting on this throne. I will always win over some silly girl, no matter how many ghosts you throw at me and no matter who your father was."

Wen Ke Xing fights to suppress all those thoughts and fears that are prickling him from the inside. Instead hoping that Zhou Zi Shu is here and listening, because he is giving the performance of a lifetime. If it wasn't for the fact that he is terrified that something might have actually happened to his husband, he would probably enjoy this dramatic show.

The female voice pulls him out of his thoughts, each word so inflamed they almost smack him on the face, "Is that so?"

"You are going to have to fight me for it. Only the ghost who kills Guigu Guzhu can sit on this throne." To make his point, he opens up his arms and leans against the backrest, the sleeves unfolding like black wings to his sides.

"Of course I am going to fight you for it." Another laughter echoes through the hall and this time Wen Ke Xing can tell that it is coming from the ledge behind and above him. When he turns, he can see the two firepits igniting up on the plateau and a woman standing at the center— a woman who has decided to crash the funeral wearing nothing but red. Her white hair is almost golden under the light of the fires that are dancing beside her.

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