A Daughter Named Nan Zhi

The eldest daughter of Nan the Butcher was no longer simple-minded.

Within just a few days, this news seemed to grow wings, spreading throughout all of Lingbai Alley.

This Nan the Butcher, whose real name was Nan Dazhuang, possessed an ancestral skill in butchering pigs, earning him some renown in Dingyuan County.

On the first and fifteenth of every lunar month, Nan Dazhuang would bring live pigs back and slaughter them in the alley.

He could handle an entire fat pig—slaughtering, draining the blood, portioning the meat, and chopping the bones—all within a single shichen, leaving everything neat and tidy.

Nan Dazhuang was kind and honest, never shortchanging his customers, so the local neighbors loved buying pork from him.

This had been the case for over twenty years, which was why everyone called him “Nan the Butcher.”

Perhaps Nan Dazhuang had accumulated too much killing karma, which truly offended the harmony of heaven.

He and his wife, Chen Jingui, had been married for over twenty years and had one son and two daughters. However, their firstborn, their eldest daughter Nan Zhi, was a simpleton who could not even speak.

But some said there was a reason why Nan Zhi was simple-minded.

They said that before Chen Jingui became pregnant with Nan Zhi, she had already given birth twice. Yet, whether boy or girl, not a single one survived; they all died right after birth.

After receiving advice, the couple went to the City God Temple to burn incense. Unexpectedly, they were caught in a sudden downpour and had to seek shelter inside the temple.

While sheltering from the rain, they encountered a tall, thin woman with red hair and a green face, looking utterly terrifying.

The woman made a face at Chen Jingui, then took off her own head to play with it in her hands, giggling, “I am a ghost.”

Terrified out of their wits, the couple hurriedly turned to leave, but they heard the woman say, “There is a Greater Ghost in your home. It wants to seize and eat the souls of the infants in your womb, which is why none of your children survive. Since we share a fateful connection, I shall tell you a method. On the day your wife gives birth, cover the floor with yellow mud and hide your slaughtering knife in the waste bucket. Watch for wherever the yellow mud gets wet—that is where the Greater Ghost has arrived. Take your slaughtering knife and slash fiercely at the wet spot, and you will surely kill that Greater Ghost.”

With that, the woman vanished.

Nan Dazhuang was skeptical, but this concerned his bloodline and descendants, after all.

He did as the woman said. On the day Chen Jingui gave birth, he covered the floor with yellow soil and hid his ancestral slaughtering knife in the waste bucket. Sure enough, he saw ring after ring of muddy footprints appearing in the main hall.

Obsessed with having children, Nan Dazhuang forgot his fear, drew the knife, and slashed—

With a loud thud, the slaughtering knife seemed to strike a piece of wood made of mud. A strange, angry shriek rang out, and in moments, a large pool of black water appeared before Nan Dazhuang, emitting an unbearable, foul stench.

It seemed the Greater Ghost was dead.

The first child Chen Jingui safely gave birth to was Nan Zhi.

But for some unknown reason, Nan Zhi was born simple-minded. She only knew how to open and close her eyes, drink water, and eat food.

Even when she grew to eighteen, she remained like a puppet, dull and foolish, unable to even call her mother.

Some said it was revenge from the deceased Greater Ghost, while others claimed that Nan Dazhuang using a slaughtering knife in the birthing room had allowed the baleful energy to clash with the baby's soul... In short, everyone had their own theory.

Later, Chen Jingui gave birth to their eldest son, Nan Yi, and their second daughter, Nan Ye.

Feeling guilty toward their eldest daughter, the couple raised Nan Zhi with the best food and drink, only hoping she would recover one day.

Everyone in Lingbai Alley knew about the Nan family's simple-minded eldest daughter. Occasionally, they would see her in the yard: a teenage girl sitting on a long bench, staring at the sky without a single smile on her face.

She would keep her eyes wide open, her pitch-black pupils unblinking. She wouldn't utter a word when spoken to, only turning her head to stare at you without wavering, which was rather creepy.

Consequently, every household warned their children not to provoke Nan Zhi to avoid trouble.

Yet, such a simple-minded girl had suddenly recovered overnight?!

Was it a divine manifestation or a demonic possession?

The families in Lingbai Alley were itching with curiosity, wishing they could immediately ask Chen Jingui for details.

Some busybodies even climbed onto the wall, eager to get a glimpse of the Nan family's recovered eldest daughter, only to be cursed back by Chen Jingui one by one.

...

“You bunch of black-hearted bastards! If you frighten my eldest daughter, I'll skin you rascals and render your fat for oil!”

“My eldest daughter is well-behaved and obedient! The Bodhisattva saw how pitiful and lovely she was, so he bestowed his blessings to open her mind. What is so strange about that?”

“Yet some filthy busybodies just have to wag their rotten tongues! To hell with your demonic possession! You hairless monkeys, you shell-less turtles! You are the ones who were born of demons!”

In the Nan family's small courtyard, the stout woman stood with her hands on her hips, cursing loudly, driving away quite a few of the nosey rascals.

She cursed until the rascals fled with flushed faces, and not a single dog inside or outside Lingbai Alley dared to bark loudly before she finally stopped.

“Mom, drink some water. Don't let your throat dry out.”

A pretty young girl holding a large bowl advised softly, “Besides, if you scare Eldest Sister and she reverts to how she was before... what will we do then?”

—This young girl was the Nan family's second daughter, Nan Ye. She was currently in the prime of her youth, and even her coarse cloth clothes could not hide her beauty.

Many in Lingbai Alley knew that when it came to character and appearance, this young lady, Nan Ye, was the most outstanding in the entire alley.

Chen Jingui gulped down the water in the bowl and only then realized. “My goodness, I forgot about that. Bodhisattva protect us, Bodhisattva protect us. Is Eldest Sister asleep?”

“She only slept for a quarter of an hour and just woke up.”

Nan Ye hesitated for a moment before answering, “Right after having a cup of tea, Eldest Sister went to... rummage through the cabinets again.”

Her eldest sister had suddenly snapped out of it three days ago.

At that time, Nan Ye was boiling water at the stove when she saw her eldest sister walk out of her room, smash the large water jar in the house, and babble mindlessly about something: “...Scene... NPC... opening boxes... items...”

Although she didn't understand what these strange words meant, Nan Ye was still thrilled by Nan Zhi's awakening. She quickly had someone run to the butcher shop to call her father and mother back.

To their surprise, after her eldest sister woke up, not only did she behave strangely, but she also couldn't speak the official language. She even had to be taught basic words like “Father” and “Mother.”

Rummaging through chests was naturally one of her strange behaviors.

“She's rummaging through the cabinets again?”

Chen Jingui didn't find her eldest daughter's behavior odd at all. Instead, she beamed with joy. “Rummaging is good! Rummaging is good! As long as she isn't standing there like a stiff block of wood anymore, thank the heavens!”

Chen Jingui and Nan Ye, mother and daughter, clung to the door, peeking inside like thieves.

Inside, they saw a young girl wandering around the room: tugging at the bed curtains when she saw them, tapping on the table against the wall when she touched it, and rummaging through the wooden cabinet by the wall after kicking it. Even the wild flowers Nan Ye had placed on the table suffered at her hands, torn to shreds. She was just like a newborn child, curious about everything.

Nan Zhi was tall, and her frame was not as delicate as ordinary women—Chen Jingui and Nan Dazhuang had never skimped on her food and drink.

Unfortunately, Nan Zhi took after her father. Although she rarely went outside, her skin was quite dark, making her look dark and sturdy.

If the eldest daughter, Nan Zhi, and the second daughter, Nan Ye, stood together, anyone who didn't know the truth would never believe they were biological sisters.

Seeing her eldest daughter recovered, Chen Jingui beamed with joy and instructed her younger daughter, “If your sister likes it, let her rummage. I gave your father thirty copper coins this morning and told him to buy a fat chicken to stew for her. Ah, your elder brother has been busy with his duties at the yamen these past few days and hasn't had any free time. Otherwise, if he knew your eldest sister had recovered, he would surely be overjoyed.”

The Nan family's eldest son, Nan Yi, was seventeen this year and worked at the Dingyuan County yamen. It wasn't any grand position.

But once he put on that black official uniform, in the eyes of many, he was an “official.”

“Eldest Brother has always been close to Eldest Sister. If he knows she has recovered, he will probably be overjoyed!”

Nan Ye added with a smile, though her gaze fell inside the room, her expression turning slightly helpless. Eldest Sister is like this, so she should be considered fully recovered... right? But I wonder, what on earth is an “NPC”?