I reached out to touch the baby's hand on Lin Xue's belly, but suddenly a terrifying wail burst out: "Wah! Wah! Wah! Wah!"
The sound was like a cat's cry, sending chills down our spines. Zhang Xiaoman and Lin Xue turned deathly pale with fear.
"Little ghost, don't get cocky—someone's coming to deal with you soon," I said to Lin Xue's swollen belly.
The ghost infant inside seemed to understand me, wailing even louder. Lin Xue's expression contorted with increasing pain, her clothes soaking through with sweat as she nearly fainted.
"Linyuan, think of something! She might not hold on until they arrive," Zhang Xiaoman pleaded anxiously.
Frowning, I thought for a few seconds, then took out my last yellow talisman, bit my finger, and wrote the character "stabilize" on it.
"Hope this works!" I muttered, pressing the talisman onto Lin Xue's belly.
After a shrill "Wah!" her abdomen crackled with tiny sparks. I steadied Lin Xue, ready to tear off the talisman—terrified it might backfire, unsure if the charm could subdue the ghost infant or cause worse consequences.
But after the sparks faded, the ghost infant fell silent. Lin Xue gasped: "Oh! The pain's gone! The thing in my belly seems calm now."
Hearing this, I exhaled deeply, nearly scaring the shit out of myself.
About ten minutes later, a knock sounded. Opening the door, I saw the fat man standing outside with an old woman.
The old woman was dressed in black clothes and shoes, with a black veil wrapped around her head, revealing only half of her face. That half of her face looked as if it had been burned by fire, with the skin melted and some flesh clumped together. There was not a single intact part on the half face, making her look extremely terrifying. When I first saw her, I was taken aback, thinking I had seen a ghost again.
I quickly pulled the fat man aside and said, "Hey, you dead fatso, are you sure the one standing next to you isn't a ghost?"
The fat man glanced at the old woman in black, then lowered his voice to a whisper: "This granny's face was burned when she was a kid, which is why it's like this. What does it matter what she looks like? As long as she can solve your problem. Besides, who with a normal face would want to be a Ghost Midwife, delivering babies for ghosts?"
There was some truth in what the fat man said, but I still had a question. I quickly asked him, "You said her face was burned, so why doesn't she cover it with a black veil? Why does she expose half of it while covering the other half?"
The fat man stole another glance at the Ghost Midwife, swallowed hard, and his face turned pale, as if recalling something extremely terrifying.
"To be honest, the other side of Granny's face is even more terrifying!" The fat man lowered his voice to the minimum, but his trembling tone couldn't be hidden.
Hearing the fat man's words, I was shocked. The half of the face that was exposed was already terrifying enough. How horrifying must the other half be? Just imagining it made my back shiver. I decided it was better to never see it in my life.
Although the female ghost in the house had been injured by me, she hadn't fled far. For the safety of Lin Xue and Zhang Xiaoman, I didn't dare to waste more time outside. I directly led the fat man and the Ghost Midwife to Lin Xue's side.
When Lin Xue and Zhang Xiaoman saw the Ghost Midwife's face, they were also startled. Fortunately, I calmed them down in time, or they might have run away in fear.
The Ghost Midwife seemed to have gotten used to people's reactions and didn't blame us. She only smiled, just like a kind grandmother.
"Child, luckily you're still a virgin, or your mind would have been controlled by that ghost fetus, which would have caused big troubles," the Ghost Midwife said with a smile as she touched Lin Xue's belly.
I had heard before that virgin blood can dispel evil, but I thought it was nonsense. Listening to the Ghost Midwife, it seemed to be true.
"I've delivered babies for people and for 'unclean things,' but this is the first time I've helped someone abort a ghost fetus. Whether it works depends on your luck," the Ghost Midwife said as she prepared a bowl of water and held it to Lin Xue's mouth.
The ingredients of this bowl of water were a bit disgusting: a mixture of chicken blood, black dog blood, incense ash, yellow talismans, dew, and amniotic fluid. The Ghost Midwife said that amniotic fluid, as something from new life, contains the strongest yang energy and can kill many "unclean things."
The Ghost Midwife never directly said "ghost," always referring to them as "unclean things."
Lin Xue looked at Zhang Xiaoman and then at me before pinching her nose and forcing herself to drink the bowl of mixture.
Ten seconds after drinking, Lin Xue's belly began to emit eerie cries: "Wah! Wah! Wah!"
The sound was extremely creepy, like cat claws scratching at your head, making your scalp tingle.
But as her belly got smaller, the sound grew weaker and finally stopped completely. Lin Xue no longer showed any signs of pain, but she tightly clamped her beautiful legs. I saw a lot of water flowing from below, wetting the floor.
Zhang Xiaoman was confused and quickly asked Lin Xue what was wrong.
Lin Xue bit her lip, her face slightly red, and after a long while, she whispered a word: "Itchy..."
The fat man leered at Lin Xue's beautiful legs and said, "Bro, your girl is amazing, able to flow so much water, hehe."
I gave him a disapproving look, signaling him to put away those dirty thoughts.
The Ghost Midwife also knocked on the fat man's head and scolded, "This is filthy water, transformed from the ghost fetus. What were you thinking?"
The fat man then touched his head embarrassedly and said, "Hehe, so that's what it is. I thought... hehehe."
No matter what he said, he only got looks of disapproval from us, especially from Lin Xue and Zhang Xiaoman, who almost popped their eyes out.
After Lin Xue's belly returned to normal, the Ghost Midwife knelt down, lit three incense sticks, and piously bowed three times to the puddle of water, as if showing respect for a life.
"May you be reborn into a good family in the next life and not suffer," the Ghost Midwife murmured as she bowed. We also joined our hands and piously chanted along with her.
Just then, a gust of cold wind blew down from the ceiling. We looked up and saw a woman with disheveled hair lying upside down on the ceiling like a gecko, her eyes filled with resentment. This woman was the female ghost.
Although this woman was full of grievances and was indeed a terrifying fierce ghost, dying during premature childbirth was considered a form of normal death. Therefore, she wasn't as powerful as I had imagined. Only fierce ghosts who died an abnormal death or had been dead for an extremely long time were the most terrifying.
The female ghost hung upside down from the ceiling, glaring at us with resentment without descending. It was unclear if she feared me or our numbers, but as she stared at the puddle on the floor, her gaze turned more vindictive, contorting her entire face. A chilly wind swirled around her, tossing her clothes and hair wildly.
Just then, the Ghost Midwife stood up and addressed the ghost: "Child, every grievance has its source. This girl has no quarrel with you. Why harm her? Is that fair?"
The female ghost bared her teeth at the midwife and snarled: "I gave everything for that man! I carried his child, I turned into a haggard woman for him! In the end, he cheated with other women, getting both me and our baby killed! Is that fair? My wrath won't subside! I want to kill that bitch and make that bastard man suffer worse than death! What's wrong with wanting my child to be born?"
The Ghost Midwife sighed: "Past causes bear present fruits. Forcing your child to be born like this only burdens it with karmic debt. You're harming it!"
The ghost flinched at her words, her resentful eyes clouding with confusion. "Harming it? I'd harm my own child? No... I already caused its death. I can't harm it more... Baby, Mama can't hurt you anymore." A maternal tenderness suddenly softened her features, the chilly wind dissipating as her hair and clothes settled. The malevolence faded from her face.
At that moment, the Ghost Midwife took out a paper-bound doll, set it ablaze, and let it crumble to ash.
Seconds later, a baby's cry rang out. The ghost now held a chubby, adorable infant in her arms, gazing at it with the tender smile of a mother. "Thank you all... thank you, Granny... thank you!" Tears streamed down her smiling face as she knelt, knocked her head three times, and vanished in a gust of wind.
"Granny, where did she go? Why did she disappear?" Zhang Xiaoman and Lin Xue asked curiously.
The Ghost Midwife smiled and said, "She went where she ought to be."
"Don't worry, ladies. If she dares to come after you again, just let your Fatty Grandpa know—I'll take care of her. Fatty Grandpa loves female ghosts the most. 'Seven Times a Night Lang' isn't just a empty title. Whether she's human or ghost, I'll make sure she can't get out of bed." The fat man winked at Lin Xue and Zhang Xiaoman, wearing a sleazy grin.
Lin Xue and Zhang Xiaoman both flipped him the middle finger, scornfully motioning for him to leave. I'd long since grown used to this blabbermouth.
But this Ghost Midwife truly impressed me. Despite her terrifying appearance, she had a kind heart—persuading the violent to reform, guiding evil toward goodness. Her cultivation was definitely no joke; she wasn't your average Ghost Midwife. She even made me recall a line from Maoshan Ghost Taoism: "Ghostly malice pales beside human hearts; slaying ghosts is worse than redeeming them."
This means even the most vicious ghost is less wicked than human nature, and redeeming a ghost is better than destroying it. Tonight's events gave me a profound understanding of this.
But redeeming a ghost isn't easy—it requires substantial cultivation. If I were stronger, maybe He Wei's ending would have been different. It's my fault for failing to redeem him. Currently, my cultivation can barely keep me alive.
Once things were perfectly resolved, the Ghost Midwife left alone, instructing the fat man to deliver payment tomorrow. Lin Xue and Zhang Xiaoman practically fled the house, leaving only me and the fat man.
After everyone else departed, the fat man suddenly asked me a strange question.