Extracting a key, Du San stepped forward to unlock the copper padlock on the wardrobe. The mont he slid the wardrobe doors open, Cheng Cha, hiding under the bed, suddenly felt a gust of cold wind sweep over him, his head beca groggy, and a flood of negative emotions, akin to pain and despair, stord into his mind.
Right now, Cheng Cha wanted nothing more than to scream out loud to vent all these emotions, but he didn’t dare. He knew all too well that any slight movent would lead to his discovery by Du San and the others, and that would an a grisly death—likely being pinned to the ground and beheaded.
His vision blurring, Cheng Cha bit his tongue, and with the sharp taste of blood, that sense of confusion gradually dissipated. He held his breath and watched intently as Du San opened the wardrobe to reveal not the expected corpses but several pieces of clothing, all emitting a foul stench and covered in dried blood.
The outermost garnt was a bridal outfit, including a Red Bridal Veil and a red dress, the blood on it appearing to have clotted only recently, still vivid in color.
At the sa ti, Du San pulled out from the basket a blood-soaked cloth garnt and a large, tattered cloth skirt, both covered in fresh blood. Those clothes looked familiar to Cheng Cha; they were worn by the one executing the task tonight.
Cheng Cha could now be certain soone had died tonight. As for the identity of the victim, it was still unclear, but the most likely candidate was Hu Yanming.
After hanging the clothes and stuffing them back into the wardrobe, Du San quickly closed the doors and put the screen back in its place. Once he had made sure that no traces were left behind, he led the others away.
Only when the footsteps faded away did Cheng Cha, still hiding under the bed, breathe a sigh of relief. But before he could even attempt to crawl out, those legs reappeared beside the bed, the sudden sight paralyzing Cheng Cha with fear.
Breath held, Cheng Cha curled up, not daring even to breathe too loudly. As the minutes ticked by, a shadowy figure suddenly stood up outside the eerily silent door. The sight of the upper half of the body reflected on the door-paper made Cheng Cha’s heartbeat stop for a mont. The figure was deford, with an exaggerated bulge on its back due to carrying a basket—it was Du San, hiding outside.
After a few seconds of hesitation, the figure quickly moved toward the courtyard gate. Cheng Cha collapsed to the ground, unable to describe his feelings with words. In just this brief period, what he had experienced surpassed any novel in its thrills and dangers; one wrong step would have spelled doom.
By now, the Red-dressed Fierce Ghost that had been guarding the bedside had also vanished without a trace. After catching his breath, Cheng Cha finally started moving his numb hands and feet and crawled out from under the bed.
Looking around, with no sign of the Red-dressed Fierce Ghost in the room, Cheng Cha naturally understood that if it hadn’t been for the Red Bridal Veil Ghost, he might have already been dead.
The first ti he had fallen into a trap and was targeted by the ghost behind the screen, it was the Red Bridal Veil Ghost that saved him; the second ti, too, it was she who instructed him to hide under the bed, presumably knowing that the people from Du Family Village would return soon and that once encountered, he would have no chance of escaping.
Not finding the figure of the Red Bridal Veil Ghost, Cheng Cha "thumped" to his knees in front of the dressing table, "Benefactor, I don’t know if you are Sister Liu Haiping or soone else. Today’s life-saving grace cannot be repaid. I promise you, I will thoroughly investigate this matter and avenge you!"
"I also hope your noble spirit will continue to protect . You know, I get scared easily, so please hold back a little when trouble arises next ti."
After his prayer, Cheng Cha didn’t dare to go out the door and instead left through the window. Before leaving, he ticulously restored the window to its original state to avoid leaving any flaws.
That Du San was not easy to deal with. He seed to have sensed sothing, and that’s why he was staking out outside the door. Fortunately, the benefactor had helped.
But once Cheng Cha ca out, he couldn’t find Yang Xiao anywhere. Looking up at the high courtyard wall, he fell into despair like never before, and what was crucial was that the courtyard gate was also locked.
anwhile, Yang Xiao quietly followed Du San and his group. As his observations deepened, he recognized the one with the basket—it was Du San himself.
Yet he did not understand what Du San was doing in the bridal chamber so late at night, nor why Du San’s current direction was off. It wasn’t the way out of the Du Family Ancestral Ho but seed to point toward the temple.
Du San didn’t reside in the ancestral ho. What was he doing at the temple so late at night?
Yang Xiao followed the three n all the way and saw them arrive at the gate of the courtyard where the Buddha hall was located. At the mont, the gate was tightly closed. As soon as the three n got to the gate, it squeaked open, and they imdiately slipped through the partially opened crack, obviously with soone inside ready to receive them.
Hiding near the courtyard, Yang Xiao observed for a while and made an astonishing discovery: every so often, people would sneak over to the courtyard of the Buddha hall. They ca in groups of three or five, without torches or lanterns, acting very stealthy, and each person was either carrying firewood on their back or toting a basket. In any case, no one ca empty-handed.
Normally, no more than twenty to thirty people lived inside the Du Family Ancestral Ho, but in just a short while, over twenty people had arrived. Including those Yang Xiao hadn’t seen, he suspected that half the village was inside.
In order to figure out what these people were up to, Yang Xiao took a risk and circled the Buddha hall’s courtyard. Eventually, he found a misshapen tree growing close to the courtyard wall. He climbed up the tree, which provided just the right vantage point to see inside the courtyard.
Inside the courtyard, there was no light. The Buddha hall’s door was tightly shut, but the light of fire seeping through the gaps in the door and windows revealed that they were burning a fire inside, and it was very fierce, as if they were boiling sothing.
Unconsciously sniffing, he slled a strong scent of herbs. Yang Xiao imdiately realized that it was the sa scent on the villagers, the sa strange herbs they would sotis stuff into their mouths to chew.
"They’re boiling water to brew herbal dicine?" Yang Xiao was sowhat surprised.
Beyond that, Yang Xiao also detected a faint stench in the thick herbal scent, like sothing had rotted.
Outside the Buddha hall, a lot of firewood was piled up, and from ti to ti, people would walk out of the hall, hastily grab a big bundle of firewood, and hurry back inside. Each new group would add the firewood they brought to the pile. The whole process happened without any verbal communication; everyone was busy with their tasks, with clear divisions of labor and strict organization. It was obvious this was not their first ti; they were well-practiced.
Yang Xiao had chosen a good hiding spot, at a corner of the Buddha hall’s courtyard wall, a very secluded location that hardly anyone would notice.
Rustling...
As Yang Xiao was focused on observing, suddenly, a slight noise ca from below. Startled, he quickly looked down only to see a sturdy figure had reached the base of the tree.
"Chu, is... is that you?" The person was none other than Sui Chengguo, whose wet clothes he had not had ti to change and were still crumpled.
"How did you get here?" Yang Xiao whispered, his heart pounding with alarm, quickly scouting the surroundings. There were no others nearby, and the villagers in the courtyard had not noticed anything unusual.
Sui Chengguo approached the base of the tree, looking up, "I had changed my hiding spot earlier, and just happened to see a group of people hurrying along carrying sothing. They weren’t using lanterns, and their footsteps were light and fast, very secretive. Curiosity got the better of , and I followed them all the way here."
"You found a good hiding place. I wanted to co here to observe too but didn’t expect you to be up in the tree," Sui Chengguo sighed, "You gave quite a scare."
"It’s not safe down there, I’ll pull you up." Yang Xiao climbed down a little and reached out his hand to Sui Chengguo, who had good strength, and grabbed Yang Xiao’s hand. Using the trunk for leverage, he climbed up in just a couple of moves and crouched on another thick branch to observe.
The crooked-neck tree wasn’t withered, but lush with foliage. Hidden in the tree, the two were virtually undetectable from a distance unless soone ca as close to the base of the tree as Sui Chengguo had.
The two watched quietly, and soon they saw the Buddha hall’s door open, and Patriarch Du ca out. He directed the villagers to speed up and move the firewood inside quickly. Now, with the Buddha hall’s door opened wider, Yang Xiao squinted and saw that inside the hall was misty, like a celestial realm on earth.
Just then, a branch that Yang Xiao had parted suddenly broke off for no apparent reason, making a "snap" sound. Although the noise was not loud, in the silent night, it seed completely out of place. At the sa ti, a villager not far away suddenly looked up and stared at the crooked-neck tree.
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