Afterlife Department

"Pei Ru was called by Wu Deguang." Huo Ling spoke. "I can't talk to her alone again." He sighed. 

"It's fine. They are a couple, after all." Yi Bing spoke. "It'd be stranger if she'd stick with you." He told him. 

"That's not it." Huo Ling shook his head. 

Yi Bing looked at him. 

"I heard from a passing servant that they found something on lord Xu Hongkai's corpse." Huo Ling said. He has heard lord Xu's name from the servants he caught gossiping while cleaning the dishes. 

"They found something?" Yi Bing was surprised. "What is it?" he asked. 

They thought that Xu Hongkai's death was done by the ghost of Xiao Hualing and that he was just implicated, since Xiao Hualing seems to want to revenge not only on Pei Tinghe, but to the whole Pei family. 

But, right now, that doesn't seem to be the case? 

"They don't know yet. They only saw there was something moving inside his belly." Huo Ling answered. "They didn't dare touch the corpse for fear of damaging the corpse and losing an evidence. So, they called Pei Ru." He explained, then paused. "Also, they feared they'll be cursed. They thought it was done by witchcraft." He added. 

"'witchcraft'…" Yi Bing muttered. "Then, isn't it a specialty of…" he looked at Huo Ling and Huo Ling also looked at him before they teleported. 

They reappeared in a shed where the Pei family stored Xu Hongkai's corpse. As expected, they found Jiu Ye who was standing beside Ji Qiuxin and is also expecting the corpse. 

"Jiu Ye." Yi Bing called. 

Jiu Ye turned and was surprised to see them. "Senior Yi! Senior Huo!" he exclaimed and ran towards them. "What are you doing here?" he asked them. 

"I was about to approach Pei Ru when she was called by a servant, telling that she was called by her husband." Huo Ling answered. 

"Ah. Right. The female doctor is also here…" Jiu Ye glanced at Pei Ru dissecting Xu Hongkai's stomach. 

"How about you? Weren't you playing with Pei Li?" Huo Ling asked. 

Jiu Ye suddenly smiled, feeling embarrassed. "The nanny is looking at me weirdly, thinking that I have evil intentions towards Pei Li, having a weird fetish, a lolicon…" his voice trailed off as his expression turned blank. "So, I made an excuse and left Pei Li. Then, I went to find the priestess, only to see her following a servant. I felt something has happened, and I followed them. It seems I was right…" he explained and turned to look at Xu Hongkai's corpse. 

Yi Bing and Huo Ling turned and saw that the surface of Xu Hongkai's belly really is moving. Pei Ru's expression is grave as she carefully cut open the moving belly. The other people might not see it, but Yi Bing, Huo Ling and Jiu Ye could see that her hands are slightly trembling. It seems she's suppressing her fear. After all, the recent events are really fearful, and this incident is even more fearful. 

Who knows what's hiding in Xu Hongkai's stomach? It definitely isn't something good. That's why Pei Ru is very afraid. She has never encountered something like this before, after all. 

"Be careful." Both Wu Deguang and Ji Qiuxin spoke. 

They looked at each other before Wu Deguang looked away, frowning. He never liked this priestess whom his wife is worshipping. Not because he is a chauvinist and that only him should his wife be worshipping. It's because Pei Ru is very fanatical towards Ji Qiuxin, worshipping her almost as a god. 

Meanwhile, Ji Qiuxin's expression is calm as she looked at Pei Ru. "I sensed something malevolent inside his stomach." she told her. 

Pei Ru almost flung away the scalpel she is holding. Fortunately, she didn't, or someone would've been hurt. Instead, she dropped it and it made a loud clang when it hit the ground. Her face turned pale and she couldn't hide her fear anymore as her body trembled and she retreated towards Wu Deguang. 

Wu Deguang finally noticed his wife's strangeness and he immediately pulled her to his embrace. "Xiao Ru." He called. "It's alright. It's alright…" he whispered as he comforted her. 

Pei Tingming who has been silent the whole time sneered. 

Wu Deguang has sharp eyes and he saw it. "Pei Ru's been scared. She can't dissect lord Xu's stomach. Have someone dissect it." he told Pei Tingming. 

Pei Tingming's face flushed in anger. "She's a doctor. How can she not…" he said. 

Wu Deguang cut him off. "Don't you have other doctors here? And lots of them." He said and looked at the other people present. 

The Pei family doctors' faces immediately changed. 

Pei Tingming saw it and he is dissatisfied. But, he's more unresolved since he wants Pei Ru to be the one to dissect Xu Hongkai's stomach. One reason, though he hates to admit it, but she's greatly skilled. The other reason is that he knows she'll definitely be harmed, based from what Ji Qiuxin said. 

So, to say, he's more dissatisfied with this niece of his than the Pei family doctors. "She's better than them! And they only know how to treat illnesses!" he insisted. 

How can Wu Deguang not see Pei Tingming's intentions? He has already harmed Pei Ru once before they got married. Now, he's trying to harm her again. 

His face darkened. "All doctors have this basic skill of cutting one's stomach." he said, then paused when he thought of something. He smiled at Pei Tingming. "Or, uncle-in-law, you want to be the one to cut lord Xu's stomach?" he asked. "If you continue to insist so, then please do us the honor." He told him. 

Pei Tingming's expression immediately turned ugly. But, even if he's angered by Wu Deguang, but seeing Wu Deguang's smile, he felt a chill on his spine. It's as if he's telling him that he will cut his stomach if he continues to haggle this matter over with Pei Ru, and he definitely wouldn't hesitate to do so. 

Although Anhe is a small town, but Wu Dequan also has many connections. This is the reason why he wanted to marry Pei Ru before to Wu Deguang. And Wu Dequan wouldn't hesitate to protect Wu Deguang if Wu Deguang really would harm Pei Tingming. 

Pei Tingming felt stifled because of his anger. "You do it!" he said and pulled the nearest doctor to him, then pushed him to Xu Hongkai's corpse.

"AH!" the doctor exclaimed, feeling startled and he fell on the ground. But, he didn't expect for Pei Tingming's to push him hard. His face fell on Xu Hongkai's moving belly. Then, his 'AH!' turned into – "AAAAH!!" he screamed as he immediately pulled his body away from Xu Hongkai's corpse. 

"What happened?!" the people present asked. 

"BLOOD!" someone exclaimed and pointed to the doctor's face. 

The doctor raised his hand and touched his face, only to suddenly hiss in pain and then screamed again when he saw a chunk of flesh in his hand. "AAAAHHH!!!!" he screamed as he rolled in the ground in pain. He felt the pain late since he was startled first. Now, he felt he's going to scream himself hoarse because his face is now missing a chunk of flesh. 

The other people were shocked, and then scared. They immediately leapt away from Xu Hongkai's corpse that now has a tear on his belly. Whatever torn off that flesh from the doctor's face, it definitely passed through that tear. 

"Do… do we still have to cut open the belly?" one doctor asked. 

"Then, you do it!" another doctor said and they pushed and pulled each other. 

"Cowards." Ke Hanying, who was silently watching on the side, muttered in disdain. 

Yi Bing turned to glance at him. He saw gloating in Ke Hanying's eyes, mixed with schadenfreude after he looked at Xu Hongkai's corpse. "Huo Ling." He called. 

"Hm?" Huo Ling hummed in response as he ate popcorn while watching. 

The doctors are fighting. On the other hand, Pei Tingming's expression turned uglier by the second as he looked at them, with his face flushed both in anger and shame for showing this embarrassing sight to the guests. 

Meanwhile, Jiu Ye's trembling in fear on the side after he saw what happened to the doctor's face and looked at the tear on Xu Hongkai's belly with great apprehension. 

"… was Xu Hongkai really just implicated?" Yi Bing asked. 

With this question, Huo Ling and Jiu Ye turned, their attention was caught. Before, they thought that Xu Hongkai was implicated and is really unfortunate. He just attended a funeral out of good will but he died. Even now, his belly has something unclean inside it.

But, with Yi Bing suddenly asking it, they now think that this matter isn't so simple. Either Yi Bing has suddenly gained an insight, or that… he noticed something. 

Huo Ling and Jiu Ye turned to where Yi Bing was looking at, only to see Ke Hanying expressionlessly looking at Xu Hongkai's corpse. But, his eyes held malice.