Nightmare Master – CH 004

Chapter 4. Return

Any normal person, upon suddenly encountering a stunningly beautiful woman adorned in jewels and finery in a desolate grove, would be terrified, their souls trembling, wondering if they’d stumbled upon a monster. Even if the beauty was truly human, how could this situation be explained when two mangled orange trees stood beside her?

However, Yun Chuan was clearly not a normal person; she did not consider any of the things a normal person would think of.

“Looking at the moon,” she answered honestly.

The clear moonlight streamed down the side of the beauty’s face. She curled her lips into a sneer, asking, “Looking at the moon? And before that?”

“Planting orange trees.”

The beauty turned to look at the two corpses fused with the orange trees beside her. After a long silence, she sneered, “Planting orange trees… You want to die even faster, do you not?”

She showed no surprise at Yun Chuan’s absurd answer and even engaged in a back-and-forth with her, clearly not an ordinary person. Yun Chuan stared at the unfamiliar face and asked, “Do you know me? Who are you?”

The beautiful woman’s fingers, which were twirling the red coral in Yun Chuan’s hair, froze instantly. Her eyes darkened, a surge of anger rising within them, wave after wave. It was as if these words were sharp blades, flying from Yun Chuan’s mouth but slicing through her throat.

Yun Chuan saw the other woman stand up, her features and expression becoming blurred, only her voice remaining clear.

“I do not know you.”

This time, Yun Chuan heard clearly; it was indeed a man’s voice. The man’s voice was clear and melodious, like the sound of a wind chime on the eaves of a wooden house on Mount Kunwu when the wind blows.

Yun Chuan stretched out her hand with difficulty: “Pull me up.”

The beautiful woman looked down at her, lost in thought. After a long silence, she let out a cold laugh.

“You might as well fall and die!”

With that, the beauty turned and left, her layered dress billowing in the air, brushing against the moonlight, disappearing from Yun Chuan’s sight.

Yun Chuan’s hand hung suspended in the air for a long time, until the golden ring on her wrist rapidly closed and contracted, concealing the blue stone, turning back into an ordinary gold bracelet. Only then did she seem to awaken.

Just moments before, she had been unable to move, but now, with a strength she did not know she possessed, she suddenly sat up from the ground, grass clippings falling in a flurry from her body.

Yun Chuan looked around. The moonlight was bright and the trees lush, but the beauty was long gone.

“She knows me.”

Yun Chuan muttered to herself, her head covered in grass clippings, her tone certain, her eyes bright as moonlight.

At that moment, her bracelet made a snapping sound; something had gone wrong, and two rings suddenly fell off, hanging on her wrist as an armlet.

Yun Chuan raised her wrist to her eyes, frowned, and sighed, “It’s bad again.”

The night was far from peaceful. Just as the sun peeked over the horizon, Xie Yuzhu paced back and forth in her room. One of her windows was missing, letting in a blast of cold air. Uncle Zhuang, pale and sweating profusely, followed her, saying, “Tonight was incredibly dangerous. Luckily, the thieves kidnapped Yun Chuan. If they had kidnapped you, Young Lady, how could I explain it to the Master?”

The effect of the illusion spell used by the two black-clad men was not permanent; it dissipated shortly after they left. The guards patrolling downstairs, seeing that a window in the young lady’s room was missing, rushed upstairs. Finding the room in disarray and empty, they were alarmed and reported to Uncle Zhuang. Chaos erupted throughout the entire Zhaiyue Tower. After a long search, they finally found Xie Yuzhu mingling in the crowd, watching the Nightmare Master’s dream manipulation.

Xie Yuzhu was also completely bewildered. Comparing the two situations, she realized that thieves had tried to kidnap her, and coincidentally, they had abducted Yun Chuan, who was impersonating her.

“What do you mean, ‘luckily’? Yun Chuan, she… ” Xie Yuzhu pointed at Uncle Zhuang, about to unleash a torrent of curses, when out of the corner of her eye, she saw a dusty, grass-covered hand suddenly reach out from the broken window frame, a broken bracelet hanging from its wrist.

Xie Yuzhu’s words trailed off. She slowly turned her head and saw the hand desperately clinging to the window frame. Then, a similarly dusty face rose from below the window.

Yun Chuan clung to the window frame, looking at the large group of people inside. A group of them stared at her silently.

She calmly stretched out her hand: “Is there anyone who can help me?”

This question broke the silence. A commotion erupted, and servants immediately rushed over, pulling and tugging at Yun Chuan from outside the window and pulling her inside. Yun Chuan was covered in grass clippings and dust, her clothes stained with blood, looking utterly disheveled.

The timing and manner of Yun Chuan’s appearance were completely unexpected. Uncle Zhuang looked her up and down, shocked. “This… Zhaiyue Tower’s gates were tightly closed, and there were many guards. How did you get in without anyone announcing your arrival?”

Yun Chuan brushed the dust off her clothes and pointed behind her. “There were termites in the backyard wall. It was already eaten away. I hit it a couple of times with a stone, and it collapsed.”

Her words caused the atmosphere in the room to freeze again. Uncle Zhuang’s face turned ashen, and he almost trembled as he said, “Termites… termites?”

He immediately ordered his men to repair the courtyard wall and thoroughly inspect the building walls for termite nests. A thousand-li dike could be destroyed by an anthill; this was a matter of great importance, and the termites had to be completely eradicated. After giving his instructions, he turned to Yun Chuan and angrily said, “You knew there were termites in the wall; why did you not report it?”

“Why should I report it?” Yun Chuan asked sincerely.

“You… you dared to smash the courtyard wall and climb into the Young Lady’s room through the window?”

Yun Chuan pointed to the door: “Xie Yuzhu told me not to go out. There was a shadow on the door… oh, there’s no shadow now. If I cannot go through the door, I can only go through the window.”

“Yun Chuan! How dare you call the young lady by her name? You are so disrespectful to the young lady, even exchanging clothes and dressing with her without permission. With so many people around, if something were to happen to the young lady while she’s out alone… ” Uncle Zhuang was furious, his eyes widening.

“Yun Chuan! You are utterly useless, more trouble than you are worth! All I asked you to do was pretend to be me sitting in the room, such a simple thing, and you still managed to make a fuss!”

Xie Yuzhu suddenly intervened, standing between Uncle Zhuang and Yun Chuan, hands on her hips, her voice even louder than Uncle Zhuang’s.

“Tell me, how did you escape? Did they realize they’d kidnapped the wrong person?”

Yun Chuan nodded. “They knew.”

Xie Yuzhu frantically tried to signal to Yun Chuan with her eyes, hoping he would play along and stage a scene to get her out of Uncle Zhuang’s punishment.

“Then they will definitely come looking for me! You… “

“No, they are dead.”

Everyone in the room was shocked. Xie Yuzhu’s signals faltered. Uncle Zhuang asked in surprise, “Those thugs are dead? How did they die?”

Under everyone’s gaze, Yun Chuan gestured in the air: “They died hanging from an orange tree. After they died, I fell to the ground; my head ached so badly I could not get up. I was looking at the moon when a beautiful woman came and talked to me.”

Her story was disjointed and incoherent, leaving everyone confused and increasingly bewildered. Xie Yuzhu asked, puzzled, “So it was that… beauty who saved you?”

“No, she said, I’d rather have fallen and died.”

A silence fell over the room. Everyone looked at each other, their expressions filled with pity.

The waiter, A-Wang, whispered to Uncle Zhuang, “Yun Chuan already has some mental issues. This shock and the fall might have caused her to hallucinate.”

Uncle Zhuang nodded in agreement.

Xie Yuzhu continued her performance, reluctantly taking on the role of the victim: “Yun Chuan, what nonsense are you spouting? Do you think you can get away with this? Kneel! Do not get up without my permission!”

After scolding Yun Chuan, she turned to Uncle Zhuang and said, “What are you doing surrounding me? Anyone can enter my room now. What are you for? Go investigate!”

An hour later, seven servants stood guard outside Xie Yuzhu’s room. Guards paced back and forth outside the windows, their expressions tense and vigilant. Two talismans hung on the door, protective spells sent by Fu Guangzong. A slender figure knelt by the window, hands raised, upright and dignified.

The servants passing by Xie Yuzhu’s room whispered among themselves, saying that Yun Chuan was still kneeling. She had been forced to change her clothes by her mistress and had been kidnapped by thieves, barely escaping with her life. She had done her mistress a favor, yet her mistress treated her so cruelly.

Yun Chuan was so pitiful.

Behind a screen in the next room, Yun Chuan sat upright on a stool, while Xie Yuzhu picked grass clippings off of her.

And by a cabinet in the distance, a crooked and comical mannequin made of stool, pillow, broom, and clothes, yet complete with a head, arms, and legs, cast a remarkably lifelike shadow on the window—Xie Yuzhu, a veteran of many battles, always had a talent for such things.

Xie Yuzhu finished removing the grass from Yun Chuan’s hair, clapped her hands, and sighed, “It’s good you are back. Thank goodness you are alright. I did not even need to guess; these people were definitely after the money. With me in hand, my parents would pay any exorbitant price. I told them long ago that I would not reveal my identity when I went out to make my way in the world. Even if I got caught by thieves, I’d kill myself if I could not escape within three days, so they would not give me any money.”

“And then, did they let you go out?”

“No, they watched me even more closely.”

Xie Yuzhu sat on the bed, spread her arms wide, and sighed. “Now that Uncle Zhuang has discovered I sneaked into the building, and with this kidnapping incident, I guess I will be locked up in this room. It seems the Alliance’s plans are ruined; there’s no escape now.”

A powerless verdict came from her body lying on the bed: “Eight failed attempts to escape.”

The room fell silent.

The girl lying on the bed was bound by countless threads, connected to her parents, siblings, the household servants, and the Xie family’s vast wealth. Even the slightest misalignment would pull her back down with the others. She was suffocating, suffering terribly.

The girl sitting, on the other hand, was completely unattached, excessively free. It was as if, once she lost herself, no one in the world could pull her back.

Yun Chuan, resting her chin on her hand, watched the figures passing by the window and suddenly said, “I want to find someone.”

“Find someone?” The person slumped on the bed raised their head. Xie Yuzhu, used to Yun Chuan’s whimsical ideas, asked, “Who are you looking for?”

“I do not know their name.”

“…They must have some distinguishing features, right?”

“Very fair-skinned, very tall, and very beautiful.”

“Fair-skinned, tall, and beautiful… “

Xie Yuzhu pondered for a moment, seemingly remembering someone who fit the description. She pointed out the window: “Are you talking about Wen Ci?”