Hu Yiwei glanced at Tan Wenbin.
Tan Wenbin could tell that he had chickened out again.
"Alright, let’s just stay for now and discuss it tomorrow," Tan Wenbin thought he had achieved his initial goal, so there was no need to rush.
"Okay, okay," Hu Yiwei hastily nodded in agreent.
Zeng Yinyin pointed to a room opposite on the first floor: "Sleep in that room, there’s bedding. You are not allowed to go upstairs."
"Alright."
Zeng Yinyin returned to her own room.
Hu Yiwei and Tan Wenbin walked to the door of that room, pushed it open, and found it quite clean inside; an old-fashioned bed with mosquito netting—big enough to squeeze two n.
"Binbin, let’s sleep, you really worked hard today, traveling so far for my sake. Once we are back in Jinling, I’ll treat you to a good al."
"Between brothers, there’s no need for such talk. I’m going to wash my feet at the well."
"I’ll co too."
The two of them left the room and headed towards the well in the courtyard. This house had a small courtyard and a small hall on the first floor because two rooms had been made by taking up space.
Tan Wenbin bent over to remove the well cover but found it had been welded shut with a tal sheet; the well couldn’t be used at all.
"Brother Hu, go check in the kitchen to see if there’s sothing like a hot water bottle."
"That wouldn’t be appropriate, would it..."
"What’s inappropriate about it? We are all brothers here."
"I..."
"Alright then, you go back to the room, and I will look for it. Two grown n have traveled all day, if we don’t wash our feet we’ll stink ourselves to death at night."
Hu Yiwei nodded and returned to the room.
Tan Wenbin crossed the hall to the kitchen and got startled by a black coffin placed there.
"Whoa!"
In the kitchen, where the traditional stove for the Kitchen God was, normal households wouldn’t place a coffin there even if required for funeral purposes.
Tan Wenbin took a closer look and noticed that this coffin was rather old and hadn’t been nailed shut. Furthermore, there were clear scratches where the lid t the coffin, and no dust.
This ant that the coffin lid was frequently opened.
He sniffed but detected no sll of a corpse, and saw so rice bran on the ground around the coffin which suggested that the family used the coffin as a grain storage.
Nonetheless, Tan Wenbin didn’t go so far as to open the coffin to check inside.
Because, following Brother Xiao Yuan’s logic of reverse deduction combined with his own situation, it was impossible for him to truly beco friends with soone like Hu Yiwei, at least not in the short term.
Thus, the only thing capable of "stirring" him would properly be Fan Shulin. And the precondition for Fan Shulin to "stir" him would be that sothing happens to the original Hu Yiwei when he cos here a month later.
The problem may not necessarily lie within this house, but there’s a probability that sothing could happen here.
After taking a hot water bottle, Tan Wenbin walked back, glancing up at the stairs that led to the second floor.
There was a door at the position where the staircase led to the second floor, and that door was now closed.
What a strange design.
The grandmother and her divorced granddaughter slept on the second floor, and the eldest granddaughter slept alone downstairs, with a door in between.
Forget it, he would report it to Brother Xiao Yuan tomorrow.
Tan Wenbin returned to the room and bolted the door.
The water in the hot water bottle was warm, and after washing their feet, they lay down on the bed to sleep.
Hu Yiwei had driven all day and fell asleep first, grinding his teeth.
Tan Wenbin didn’t find it noisy; after all, he used to snore competitively with Run Sheng when they slept at Mr. Li’s house on the first floor.
Gradually, Zhuangzhuang also fell asleep.
As he was dozing off, Zhuangzhuang felt his eyes itching as if layers of spider webs were sticking to them, very clingy.
He raised his hand to scratch.
At that mont, footsteps ca from outside.
Tan Wenbin imdiately stopped moving, frozen.
The footsteps went from distant to near. To Tan Wenbin’s surprise, the person sounded like they were outside at first but now were approaching the bedside. Yet, the room door was closed, and he had bolted it.
Could he be slipping into the Underworld?
Wasn’t it supposed to be at least a month in advance? Was the trouble starting already?
Tan Wenbin was a bit panicked inside. Recently, everyone had undergone special training, but unlike the other two, his training was conducted verbally.
If there was a physical Corpse, he could have fought it off with the Yellow River Shovel, but with this kind of mysterious being, he really had no way to deal with it. He had seen so clumsy thods in books involving setting up altars which weren’t practical at all.
So, he could only rely on the life-saving thod Brother Xiao Yuan had taught him in encounters with evil spirits: I can’t see you, I can’t see you...
Soon, there was movent at the foot of the bed as if soone was climbing onto it.
Tan Wenbin felt a cool sensation moving from his right foot, up to his calf, thigh, lower abdon, and up to his chest...
If the sensation were to move next to his neck, Tan Wenbin would surely stop pretending to be asleep and open his eyes as he had an Evil-breaking Talisman in his pocket. If it’s unavoidable, then so be it!
But the other person did not go for his neck; instead, they placed a hand on his right shoulder.
The right shoulder was cold; it seed like the other person wanted him to get up.
But he wouldn’t, continuing to "sleep".
However, while he didn’t move, Hu Yiwei lying beside him did, indicating from the movent that he sat up, got out of bed, then walked out barefoot without shoes.
"Click..." The sound of the door bolt being opened.
"Hmm?" Tan Wenbin’s consciousness swirled montarily, and then he experienced the sensation of "rising quickly".
He suddenly opened his eyes, feeling like he had just had a dream.
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