After Saving The Villain, He Had Sex With The Female Ghost. Chapter 5

Hua Mei was fourteen years old, working in a wealthy household. This family ran a comprador business. The mistress of the house appeared kind and amiable in public, but behind closed doors, she was extremely harsh. It was common practice for her to dock wages, verbally abuse, or even beat the servants.

Eating a few extra bites or being a few steps slow in her work were sufficient reasons to be thrown into the woodshed for severe discipline. Hua Mei lived under this kind of intense pressure, yet she wasn’t crazy or foolish; she remained cheerful because she had a friend.

Her name was Meizhi. Meizhi was the same age, and they had grown up together, but their personalities were polar opposites. Hua Mei was mild-mannered, always yielding first, and rarely got into arguments.

Meizhi was a firecracker—she exploded when lit, and sometimes spontaneously combusted when the weather was hot. This temperament caused her considerable suffering within the deep confines of the mansion.

“Meizhi! Hurry and eat some!” Hua Mei called to her through the woodshed door, holding half a bowl of meat dumplings. “We eat rice husks every meal, look at what the mistress eats compared to us! We are all human, how can this be so unfair? I won’t eat it, you go lick it up yourself.” Meizhi said, leaning against the woodshed door.

“Please, Meizhi, turn around and look!” Hua Mei urged, holding the half-bowl of meat dumplings as if it were a treasure, constantly pushing it through the gap.

Meizhi turned her face and actually saw the half-bowl of meat dumplings. Her eyes lit up, and she immediately took it, wolfing it down. Chewing, she asked, “Where did you get this?”

Hua Mei sat down by the door and smiled, “The mistress is hosting a banquet tonight. The kitchen threw out a lot of delicacies. I saw Aunt Wang was busy off her feet, so I secretly grabbed it. You eat it; I’ll go get more when you’re done.”

Hearing this, Meizhi’s eyes dimmed. She sighed and pushed the bowl away. “I’m not eating anymore.”

Hua Mei was confused. “Eat it, it’s clean. I picked it from the parts no one touched.”

“You don’t understand. Why do they get to hold banquets while we scavenge leftovers? We do all the work, and they have all the money. How utterly unfair!” Meizhi spoke passionately. Hua Mei was stunned and slowly took the bowl back.

“I… I don’t understand that. The mistresses’ money was passed down from their ancestors. We don’t have that foundation. It’s already good enough that we can endure some hardship now to earn a living. There is war outside; do you know how many people don’t even have rice husks to eat?”

Hearing this, Meizhi was furious. She slapped the door and cursed, “Get out, get out, get out! You wretched Hua Mei, I thought you were my sister, but you sympathize with the rich! They call you a pig, and you accept it. They beat you, and you accept it. If you don’t fight back yourself, you will suffer humiliation for the rest of your life!”

Even Hua Mei’s good temper couldn’t tolerate those words. Her face flushed with annoyance. “I bring you food, and you turn around and blame me for my faults. It’s true we should resist, but how can you resist when you’re starving and barely surviving? Be realistic! It serves you right that the mistress always beats you. You should act according to your station. You are always so impractical.”

Meizhi in the woodshed didn’t reply. A handful of firewood was hurled out through the gap in the door. Hua Mei jumped up to dodge it. Suppressing her anger, she carried the meat dumplings away, vowing never to speak to Meizhi again.

Meizhi was released after being locked up for a few days. The two young maids were the same age and worked together every day, so they eventually reconciled.

Hua Mei diligently served the mistress, hoping she might bestow some small favors upon her. Meizhi, however, didn’t focus on her work and was often nowhere to be found for periods each day. That night, the two lay in the cramped servants’ quarters.

Everyone around them was asleep, emitting loud snores.

“Hey, take this.” Meizhi slipped a small, hard object wrapped in wax paper into Hua Mei’s palm.

In the darkness, Hua Mei looked at Meizhi in confusion. Meizhi rolled her eyes, leaned over, peeled the wrapping for her, and slipped it into Hua Mei’s mouth. It was sweet and sour. Hua Mei’s hand instantly clenched tight.

The piece of candy, carrying the scent of Southeast Asia and the flavor of a tropical island, had traveled across the ocean only to be eaten in the stifling, hot servants’ quarters in the mainland.

Before the sweetness could spread, Hua Mei immediately spat it out, looking panicked. “Where did you get that? There’s a war on, the price of sugar is skyrocketing. If the mistress finds out, we’ll be beaten to death!”

Meizhi punched her lightly in annoyance, carefully picked up the damp piece of candy, and put it into her own mouth. “I got it from outside. This is Hong Kong merchandise, you don’t appreciate quality.”

Hua Mei licked her lips and couldn’t help but say, “What does it matter if it’s Hong Kong merchandise? We’ll never get to go there anyway. What good is appreciating quality?”

Meizhi crunched the candy, resting her head on her arm, gazing longingly at the dark rafters. “I heard there are relief centers in Hong Kong! If you go, they give you food and drink, and even help you find work!”

At this, she glanced around, making sure there were no eavesdroppers, before leaning close to Hua Mei’s ear and whispering, “I want to go to the docks and sneak onto a ship bound for Hong Kong.”

Meizhi’s eyes shone terrifyingly bright in the darkness. Hua Mei grabbed her hand, her heart pounding, unable to utter a single word.

“Eat this. Tomorrow there’s a ship heading to Hong Kong at the docks. I’m going to take a chance. If I manage to sneak out, forget ships—I’ll have all the delicacies in the world. When I make it big, I’ll come back for you.” Meizhi carefully pulled out a handful of candies from her pocket.

They were all wrapped in wax paper, printed with intricate patterns. Hua Mei took them, reluctant to eat them.

“You must be careful on the journey. I don’t ask for great wealth or status, only that you come back alive.” Hua Mei held Meizhi’s hand in the dark. Meizhi pressed her forehead against Hua Mei’s.

Hua Mei planned to eat one piece of candy every two months. She had counted: there were exactly twelve pieces, enough to last two years. If Meizhi hadn’t returned after two years, she would go look for her.

The following afternoon, a blood-soaked sack was thrown into the woodshed. Inside was Meizhi.

The candies hidden under the pillow, not a single one eaten, were confiscated by the Steward.

A servant attempting to escape—this incident, if investigated, could expose many disloyal elements. All the servants were called in and interrogated one by one, and the servants’ quarters were searched thoroughly. Hua Mei, from whose pillow the imported fruit candies were found, bore the brunt of the punishment. She was beaten until her head bled and was thrown into the woodshed next to Meizhi’s.

The mistress cursed so loudly in her room that it felt like the sky was falling. Even the obedient servants were affected by her anger. Because they had been implicated by Hua Mei and Meizhi, no one dared to bring them a single bite of food.

Fortunately, it was the plum rain season. Rainwater dripped down from the eaves, preventing them from dying of thirst.

Hua Mei drank her fill of water, then slid her thin hand through the gap in the woodshed door. She opened the sack. Meizhi lay inside, barely clinging to life, covered in blood. Her leg was broken, and she couldn’t walk, wriggling on the ground like an insect, leaving long bloodstains as she drank water from Hua Mei’s fingers.

Once she had drunk enough, she used her hoarse voice to curse the heavens, the earth, and the mistress.

That day, Meizhi had successfully snuck into the docks and scrambled onto the ship like a monkey. However, because she was dressed so shabbily, one of the wealthy ladies found her an eyesore and ordered men to carry her off the ship and throw her down. She fell to the ground and broke her leg, where she coincidentally ran into the Steward, who was out buying supplies for the mansion.

Fate can sometimes be altered by a single glance or a single word from another person, and they were powerless against it.

Fortunately, the mansion was short-staffed, so they were eventually released. Meizhi’s broken leg ironically made the mistress trust her more—what was there to fear from a sparrow with a broken wing? She was summoned to personally wait upon the mistress, who daily flaunted her power in front of Meizhi, displaying all the arrogance a family that profited by collaborating with the enemy during wartime could muster.

Meizhi hated her intensely.

Hua Mei did not let the previous incident create a rift between them. They relied on each other for survival. After this experience, Hua Mei no longer constantly urged Meizhi to stop dreaming and just work diligently in the mansion.

She had begun to see clearly: no matter how hard they worked, they were nothing more than vulgar swine in the mistress’s eyes. The mistress’s word was law. In this situation, how was it any different from handing their lives over to someone else?

The two of them continued to plot their second escape.

This plan had to be more meticulous than the first, with careful disguises prepared. Society was unstable then, with new developments every day, but the two young girls plotting their escape were undisturbed by it, immersed in weaving their own utopia.

Serving closely beside the mistress, Meizhi had plenty of opportunities to skim off the top. After Hua Mei had inquired about the ship schedules, Meizhi snuck into the mistress’s bedroom that night.

Pulling open the jewelry box, various gems glittered brightly. Meizhi didn’t dare take much, choosing a conch pearl necklace treasured inside the box. Everything was ready. Hua Mei was waiting for her at the docks, and the picture of the future was unfolding before her eyes. But as she ran out, she accidentally knocked over a vase.

Hua Mei waited downstairs until dawn, until the main gate was broken open, and the Nationalist Army’s bugles sounded the morning call. The mistress and the servants fled in all directions, clutching their valuables. It was only when the poor people marched in the streets, seizing rice and flour, occupying empty houses, and whipping the fleeing capitalists with their tattered cloth shoes, that Hua Mei finally realized what was happening.

Yu Mansion was empty, crowded everywhere with poor families scrambling to occupy the rooms.

The mistress’s expensive antique paintings were torn down to wipe bottoms, and the elaborate oak staircase was hacked and scarred. Hua Mei stepped upstairs, one step at a time. A woman carrying a child walked past her, cursing, “Damn it, there’s a dead person up there!”

In the study on the second floor, the curtains billowed in the wind. Meizhi’s corpse was hanging from the window. Her eyes were closed, and her expression was peaceful. In her hand, she still tightly clutched the conch pearl necklace.

Meizhi was dead, killed on the eve of freedom.