The wine was indeed good wine, rich and fragrant, with an intoxicating aroma.
Wang Guan raised his glass, scanned the silent Mahavira Hall, and said loudly, "I heard a joke in Nanjing. There was a landlord's son who was illiterate. Others advised the wealthy man to hire a teacher. The teacher first taught him the character '一' (one), which is one stroke; the character '二' (two) is two strokes; the character '三' (three) is three strokes. Afterward, the landlord's foolish son triumphantly threw away his brush and told the wealthy man that he had mastered the meaning of the characters and didn't need a teacher anymore. The wealthy man was very happy and dismissed the teacher. One day, the wealthy man wanted to invite a friend surnamed Wan to drink, so he told his son to get up early and write an invitation. But by noon, it still wasn't finished, so he went to ask his son. His son complained, 'There are so many surnames in the world, why does that guest have to be surnamed Wan? I've only written over five hundred strokes since morning!'"
Hearing this dry and tasteless joke, the demons looked at each other in dismay, speechless. After two or three seconds, they belatedly burst into laughter.
Awkward but polite laughter filled the entire hall. Taoist Wang Guan happily raised his glass and said to the guests, "Let us drink together!"
"Drink together!"
The demons cheerfully raised their glasses and drank them dry.
The members of the task force watched the demons gulp down the strong wine and also raised their glasses, pretending to drink.
The wine, infused with spiritual energy, was indeed extraordinary. After drinking a cup, every demon's face turned red, and they became confused and disoriented. The demons began to tell old, worn-out jokes, making the other ghosts laugh heartily.
Those demons and ghosts who had no jokes to tell also began to talk about recent stories of eating people: when, where, and what kind of people.
"The day before yesterday, I robbed a group of merchants in the mountains. The tastiest one was a fat man, and the tastiest part of him was his liver—oily, fatty, and smooth."
"Wrong, the best parts of a fat man are his brain and intestines. 'Brain full, intestines fat,' you know."
"I think thin people taste better. They're more chewy."
"Tsk, tsk, I really want to eat two more young boys and girls..."
The drunken demons completely tore off their harmless disguises and talked freely about their eating experiences.
The members of the task force, sitting in a small corner, looked somber. In the eyes of the demons, they were evil cultivators who had returned to the Central Plains from overseas.
As long as they dared to show even a hint of righteous indignation, they would be immediately attacked and killed by the demons.
Endure.
The mountain spirit Taoist in the seat of honor looked around the Mahavira Hall and said with a smile, "The banquet is a good banquet, and the wine is good wine. How can we not have good meat?"
With a wave of his hand, a white-clothed vengeful spirit floated back to the sedan chair and carried out a beautiful woman wearing a red dress and a bulging stomach.
The woman had been unconscious, but when she was carried into the hall and exposed to the demonic energy, she woke up instantly. She looked around and saw only hideous and terrifying demons and ghosts. She screamed and almost fainted.
Hahahaha! The demons laughed wildly at the pregnant woman's terrified state, their狂妄 laughter threatening to tear open the entire Mahavira Hall.
"Hong Niang, don't be afraid. Come to your husband."
The Taoist Wang Guan in the seat of honor waved his hand and said kindly to the woman.
"Husband, save me!" When the woman saw Wang Guan, she grabbed him like a lifeline, ran to him in a panic, and hid behind him. "Where is this...?"
"This is Guhan Temple. This is the Hall of Demons." Wang Guan stroked the pregnant woman's hair with his scrawny hand and said gently, "Hong Niang, how long have you been with me?"
"Three, three years." Hong Niang said with chattering teeth, "My husband redeemed me from the pleasure house three years ago."
"Three years, ah."
Wang Guan said with emotion, reaching out to touch Hong Niang's bulging belly, "You finally conceived."
Hong Niang seemed to realize something, covered her belly, and said with a pale face, "Hu, husband?"
"People say, 'Sour for a son, spicy for a daughter.' Hong Niang, have you been craving sour or spicy food lately?"
"...Sour."
"So it's a son?"
Wang Guan clapped his hands and said to the demons, "It's good to have a son. A son has more meat than a daughter, by one or two liang."
?
The demons and ghosts were stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized what he meant and laughed wildly.
"Yes, yes, Taoist Wang Guan is right. A male infant has more meat than a female infant."
The demons' flattery sounded like whispers from hell to Hong Niang. She trembled all over, not daring to move at all.
"Hong Niang, haven't you always been curious?"
The more frightened the woman was, the gentler Wang Guan's voice became. "My family is not prominent, my stores are not doing well, and I have no interest in buying farmland. How did I accumulate so much wealth in such a short period of time?"
"...Husband, husband can refine pills."
"That's right, refining pills. But what kind of pills am I refining?"
"I don't know, I don't know..."
"No, you know." Wang Guan smiled. "You know what kind of pills I'm refining, so you insist on living in the small courtyard in the southern suburbs and refuse to move into the Wang residence."
"..." Hong Niang's face was pale, and she didn't say a word.
"Stupid woman, pitiful, sad, and lamentable." Wang Guan smiled, stroking Hong Niang's belly. "Recently, haven't you been secretly collecting evidence for Wang Kuang Wang Cunyue, the vice minister of the Ministry of Justice who returned after mourning his mother for three years, planning to report me, throw me into the dungeon, and rescue your sisters from the Wang residence?"
Hong Niang's face was bloodless, and she trembled like a sieve, her teeth chattering.
In the Mahavira Hall, the demons whispered to each other. For these demons and ghosts, what was a vice minister of the Ministry of Justice, what was Wang Kuang Wang Cunyue—they were all trivial matters of the mortal world. They didn't understand, and they didn't want to understand, what all this had to do with today's banquet.
"So that's how it is."
Li Ang sighed leisurely, turned to his teammates, and said softly, "Jiajing thirteen years, Guhan Temple, Wang Guan, the secondary capital, Nanjing... I understood too late."
Xing Hechou lowered his voice and said anxiously, "What did you understand?"
"From the beginning, the system has been secretly hinting at everything behind this mission. All the clues were in front of us, but we didn't notice them."
Li Ang smiled wryly and hammered his head with his knuckles. "Have you guys ever read a book from the mid-Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, compiled by Jiao Hong Jiao Ruohou, a compiler of the Hanlin Academy, a biographical record of Ming Dynasty figures, *Guochao Xianzheng Lu*?"
???
What's that? Can you eat it?
"*Guochao Xianzheng Lu* collected original historical materials such as records, local chronicles, unofficial histories, and epitaphs from the Hongwu to Jiajing twelve dynasties, classified by imperial family, meritorious officials, cabinet, filial sons, and righteous people. The collection is extensive, the content is detailed, and the credibility is extremely high. It is a credible history along with the *History of Ming*."
Li Ang explained in a very fast tone, "But in such a credible history, there is a shocking and sensational 怪谈 (guaitan, strange tale)."