Chapter 63 A Night of Horror

Night fell quietly, and Mr. and Mrs. Zhang tiptoed into Chen Ergou's courtyard.

There was no movement in the courtyard. The two exchanged a glance, then tiptoed to Chen Ergou's window and began to call out softly, "Chen Ergou! Chen Ergou!"

He called for a long time, but there was no response from inside. Zhang the butcher frowned, tugged at his wife, and said, "Hey! Honey! Let's go in! That guy might have been knocked silly!"

Zhang nodded, and the two quietly pushed open Chen Ergou's door. A foul, fishy smell immediately wafted out. Zhang frowned, sniffed hard, and said to Zhang the butcher, "Hey! Can you smell anything?"

"I smell it! What is this? Why does it smell so fishy?"

The room was dimly lit, and the two could barely see what was inside. Butcher Zhang took out a tinderbox from his pocket, lit it, and blew on it. By the faint light, they finally made out the room. What they saw nearly scared them out of their wits; Zhang almost screamed.

The dried bloodstains in the room had congealed on the floor, table, and walls! Everywhere his eyes could see, there were mottled bloodstains. Zhang the butcher felt his hand holding the tinderbox trembling, and the hairs on his body stood on end.

"What...what's going on?"

"You...you're asking me? I...who am I supposed to ask?"

As the two stood trembling at the door, they suddenly noticed something moving in the direction of the bed. Zhang almost reflexively jumped up and screamed, but thankfully, Zhang the butcher retained his composure and quickly covered his wife's mouth, whispering, "Shh! Shh! Don't scream! If you scream, the Fan family will know we're here!"

Zhang was panting heavily, goosebumps rising all over her body. Her eyes widened in terror as she pointed towards the bed, her voice trembling as she asked, "What...what is that?!"

Just then, a low curse came from the other side of the bed.

"Damn it! My head..."

The Zhang couple were both startled when they heard the voice; it was clearly Chen Ergou's voice!

Once the two realized it was a person, not a ghost, their hearts returned to normal. Forgetting all about the strange red marks around them, they hurried to the bedside. Zhang the Butcher shone his tinderbox forward, and sure enough, there lay Chen Ergou, rubbing his head on the bed!

"Hey! Chen Ergou!"

"ah!!"

A startled cry escaped Chen Ergou's lips; he clearly hadn't noticed anyone else beside him. The shove from Zhang the Butcher had obviously given him quite a fright. However, once he recognized the people as the Zhang couple, he breathed a sigh of relief and his fear subsided. Relaxing, he glared at the Zhang couple and said irritably, "What are you doing! Trying to call back your soul?!"

"Tsk! How dare you talk like that! You went to their room this afternoon to look for something! Did you find it or not?!"

Hearing this, Chen Ergou was furious. He glared at Zhang the butcher and said, "What are you looking for! There were some dried-out silks in that room! That's all! Hey Zhang the butcher! You've been tricked! Where did you get the recipe from?!"

"What do you mean, 'where to'! We saw that girl waving it in front of us with our own eyes!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Ergou looked at Zhang Shi as if she were a fool: "Did you see the words 'secret recipe' on that paper?"

Upon hearing Chen Ergou's question, Zhang's expression changed: "What do you mean? Could it be that the girl is trying to trick me?!"

Before Chen Ergou could even speak, Zhang's expression visibly changed after she finished speaking. She thought to herself, "Yes!" She hadn't even seen what was written on that piece of paper! Even if that girl waved a blank piece of paper in front of her, she might not know whether it was a secret recipe or not!

Thinking this, Zhang's face grew even more unpleasant. Seeing that she had figured it out, Chen Ergou snorted coldly, stretched out a hand in front of them, and glanced at them sideways: "Alright! I don't care about all that! You two pay up! It's agreed to be one tael of silver!"

Upon hearing Chen Ergou ask her for money, Zhang immediately jumped up and shouted, "What money! You didn't bring the goods back to me! Why should I give you money!"

Seeing that Zhang was about to deny everything, Chen Ergou's expression immediately darkened. He looked at Zhang with a sinister expression and sneered twice: "Ha, Zhang family! Don't try that with me! You know very well who I, Chen Ergou, am!"

Seeing Chen Ergou's hostile expression, Butcher Zhang immediately stood in front of Zhang Shi and cursed at Chen Ergou fiercely, "Chen Ergou! Don't try to scare us! My Zhang family isn't someone to be trifled with!"

"Heh heh, you? Oh, you mean your concubine's daughter! Alright, Zhang the Butcher! Others may not know, but do you really think I, Chen Ergou, don't know? Your daughter is nothing more than Huang Yuan's plaything! That Huang Yuan only listens to the First Madam! What is your daughter? Let me tell you! If you don't give me the money today, I'll go and accuse you of stealing from the Fan family tomorrow!"

Butcher Zhang was astonished by Chen Ergou's shamelessness, and his face turned ashen. He glared at Chen Ergou. Before he could utter the words, "You try it!", a strange moaning sound suddenly came from the courtyard outside.

What was that sound?

Chen Ergou's expression changed instantly, and he jumped out of bed and slammed his door shut. Zhang the butcher and his companion were puzzled by his actions and were about to ask him when they saw Chen Ergou, pale-faced, hiding behind the door, trembling uncontrollably.

"Chen Ergou, what are you doing..."

"Ka"

Before Zhang the butcher could finish speaking, a slight creak seemed to come from the roof. Chen Ergou froze, practically scrambling under the table, muttering something under his breath.

"It's coming...it's coming..."

The Zhang couple felt a chill run down their spines from his rambling manner. Mrs. Zhang shrank back, only then remembering the blood-stained walls around them.

"Master... I... I feel like something's not right here!?"

"Hey! Chen... Chen Ergou! What... what's wrong with you!? I... I'm warning you! Don't play tricks! I'm not afraid of you!"

"Ka"

There was another soft creak from the roof, and the faces of the people inside changed drastically. Zhang the Butcher, forgetting all his curses, and he and Zhang Shi shakily raised their heads to look towards the roof. Upon seeing what was there, the color drained completely from their faces. A tile had vanished, replaced by a paper face painted bright red and green!

"Aa ...

The door to Chen Ergou's house was kicked open from the inside, and the three of them scrambled out of the house. Just as they were about to push open the courtyard gate, the gate, which should have opened easily, inexplicably wouldn't open!

Zhang was clearly on the verge of tears. She slumped down by the door, trembling, her voice filled with terror: "Husband! What do we do?!"

Zhang the butcher was sweating profusely with anxiety, but Chen Ergou's eyes swept across the area and spotted the tightly covered well cover. The well cover in his yard was very close to Old Zhao's yard wall; if he stepped on it, he could easily climb over to the neighbor's house. Almost without hesitation, he immediately ran towards the well.

Zhang the butcher had obviously seen the well too. He quickly helped his wife up and was about to fight with Chen Ergou for the well, but he couldn't catch up with Chen Ergou. Just as Chen Ergou stepped onto the well cover, there was a loud "bang" and the well cover couldn't support Chen Ergou's weight and broke!

Chen Ergou, who was standing on the manhole cover, was about to fall into the manhole due to a sudden loss of strength.

At the critical moment, Chen Ergou reacted quickly and grabbed the edge of the well, thus saving his life.

"Help, help me!"

Zhang the butcher and his companion were so frightened by the turn of events that they dared not move an inch, let alone go forward to save him! Fortunately, because Chen Ergou had been lazy, the well in his house was not very smooth. In his confusion, he somehow stepped on something and managed to flip himself up.

As he lay panting by the well, he instinctively glanced back. That one glance nearly made him drop back into the well—the thing he had just stepped on! It was clearly a bare, white bone!

"Aa ...

(End of this chapter)