018. Imprisonment
They both wanted to escape, and finally returned to the starting point together. Qing Congnan pushed open the door of the carriage and happened to meet Qing Conglan. They saw the horror on each other's faces at the same time.
Qing Congnan gritted his teeth, pushed the coachman aside and sat in front of the carriage, muttering to himself, "It's okay, it's okay, it's just a trick of the ghost. I have the jade pendant passed down from my ancestors. All evil spirits will retreat. I will come in person... I will definitely be able to get out."
In the thick fog, two carriages were traveling in opposite directions.
About an incense stick of time later, carriages heading in the opposite direction met in front of the ancestral hall.
Qing Congnan clutched the reins in a panic. No matter how glorious the Qing family was, that was all thousands of years ago. When he was young, he only saw his grandfather use magic to make profits for the family's business. For example, a rival would be dead in the streets within a few days, or there would be windfalls coming into the house. When it came to his father, he didn't have much ability, and as for himself, he had never even seen what a ghost looked like!
He was confident before because of the zombies hiding under the ancestral hall. In his eyes, such mysterious things were already great magical powers.
But his father always says every year that he will succeed soon. It has been eighteen years, but he has not achieved immortality. Instead, he has been turned into a skeleton that cannot be more dead!
After all, he had been the head of the family for so many years. Qing Congnan gritted his teeth and turned his car around again. He had to go back to the Qing residence first and then offer a reward. As long as there was money, someone would come to get rid of the evildoers. As for the Yanhua Temple where the second wife and her husband were going, he already knew the details of those wine-drinking monks. None of them had real skills! It’s all to cheat the money from incense offerings!
After running for a long time in the thick fog, Qing Congnan finally returned to the gate of the ancestral hall. This time, the second wife's carriage was parked there. The couple had already got off the carriage. Seeing Qing Congnan coming back, Qing Conglan said with a pale face: "We can't get out. It's useless to rush around. Don't waste your energy. It's better to take a long-term view and think about what to do!"
Qing Congnan was silent for a long while before he gritted his teeth and said to the two people inside: "Get off the car and go back to the ancestral hall."
The group of people retreated back to the ancestral hall in shame. The thick fog covered the outside of the hall but not the inside, as if the fog was deliberately intended to trap them in this small space.
Qing Ling watched this farce coldly. As soon as he entered the main house, the Qing Congnan brothers started arguing again. It was nothing more than the same old clichés. Qing Ling was too lazy to listen. Just as he was about to leave, he found a calculating look on him. He raised his eyes and saw the weak second wife Zhao Yunrou.
"Alright, Master." Zhao Yunrou interrupted their quarrel softly, "Although we are trapped here, we are still alive. I don't think she can kill us all in one day. Moreover, the deaths occurred in the middle of the night. We still have time. Besides... in one night, she can only kill two people at most. The question now is why she trapped us all in the ancestral hall?"
Qing Wenlin also nodded quickly, "Yes, yes, there is still time, let's think of a way and start from here first."
Having said that, if they really had any solution, why would they just stare at each other in bewilderment? The main room filled with memorial tablets was dimly lit under the cover of fog, creating a suffocating atmosphere.
Qing Congnan was very confused.
Since waking up this morning, he has been able to feel a vague gaze, as if someone was always watching him. He thought he was overthinking, but now strange things are happening frequently, and the feeling of being watched is getting stronger and stronger, as if somewhere, there is a pair of scarlet eyes staring at him with resentment and viciousness, staring at him intently.
So he couldn't help but look back and forth.
"Brother." Zhao Yunrou spoke again, "What sister-in-law said that day was right. Our family has been peaceful for so many years, all since... Qingling came back. Now so many people have died, and we are trapped here. It seems that Qingling has always been here. Maybe that thing did follow him. Is it possible... that thing can only be with him?"
Qing Congnan's gaze happened to fall on Qing Ling.
Everyone looked over and realized that Qing Ling had been very calm. He was watching their panic like an outsider. Even though he was being stared at by everyone, he looked calm and fearless.
Qing Ling had no intention of hiding it, and he was not at all panicked when being stared at by several people with different expressions. Whoever has the knife behind his neck should be afraid, but he could clearly feel the malice emerging from these people's eyes.
Qing Conglan did not hide his hatred. He said fiercely: "If that's the case, just throw him here."
Zhao Yunrou shook her head. "He can always find his way back to the mansion. If the evil thing can only follow him, then... as long as he can't move, that thing will also be trapped here?"
This is quite vicious. How can a person not move? I can only die here.
"That's right." Qing Conglan clapped his hands, "Otherwise why did that bitch not come back earlier or later, but chase us at this time?"
Qing Congnan was also shaken and felt that what he said made more and more sense.
Qing Ling soon noticed that the looks of these people were becoming increasingly unfriendly, but he did not panic. He stood there calmly without saying a word. He was as thin and frail as an orchid, but with a sense of provocation as if to say "What can you do to me?"
"Father." Qing Wenlin whispered, "Second Uncle and Second Aunt are right. If we leave him here, we will definitely be able to leave."
Qing Wenlin also had his own calculations. On the one hand, he also felt that everything was caused by Qingling. In addition, now that the eldest son of the first wife was dead, if Qingling was also gone, wouldn’t he be the only son of the first wife?
After exchanging glances with each other, the few people with their own ulterior motives looked at Qing Ling with murderous eyes.
"Come here," Qing Congnan ordered coldly, "tie him up."
There was no movement outside the door.
No one came in at all.
Qing Ling couldn't help but sneered. He said softly and slowly: "Instead of wasting time on me, you should think about how to survive tonight."
Qing Congnan's expression changed drastically, "Did you really do it?"
Qing Ling's eyes were extremely cold, as if these lives were nothing in his eyes. After looking at Qing Congnan for a while, he said meaningfully: "She is looking at you."
Qing Congnan's already pale face became even uglier. His lips trembled for a long time, and he was so frightened that he couldn't speak.
When you feel some things yourself, you may wonder if they are illusions, but once they are spoken by others, they are absolutely creepy.
Qingling swaggered past a few people and walked towards the backyard. He didn't want to stand there stupidly, so he decided to go back and rest.
Qing Conglan reached out to grab him in desperation, but before he touched the corner of Qing Ling's sleeve, he felt his palm was as cold as if it was dipped into water mixed with ice chips. He immediately screamed and withdrew his hand, his face full of alertness.
Qing Ling glanced over lightly, which made Qing Conglan feel goosebumps all over.
With Qing Ling's curse just now, "Someone is watching you", even if it was just said to Qing Congnan, it is now like a gloomy cloud hanging over everyone's heart.
Even if nothing happened, people could be paranoid and suspicious based on their imagination, not to mention that they were in such a strange situation.
Qing Ling didn't know how scared the people in front of him were. He had already returned to his previous hut and collapsed comfortably on the couch.
He got up very early and was jolted by the carriage for a long time. Shang Changheng had been pestering him last night. Qingling had been unable to sit still due to back and leg pain, so he rubbed his waist silently.
"Spoiled." Shang Changheng sat down beside the couch without anyone noticing.
Qing Ling really couldn't bring himself to tell the reason why he felt uncomfortable, but he couldn't hold back his anger. He held it in for a long while before getting up again and asking, "Who is it because of?"
After the words came out, Qingling's ears felt even hotter.
He was still very ignorant about this kind of thing, let alone love, but he also felt that there was something strange after he said this.
Shang Changheng couldn't help laughing.
This young man is always contradictory. Sometimes he looks cold and unkind, and sometimes he looks innocent and lovable. He is like a quiet and elegant orchid that blooms with fragrant flowers. The only difference is that this flower looks innocent, but it actually hides a knife.
"Just now outside, wasn't you very arrogant by relying on the power of others?" Shang Changheng leaned against the bed railing with his arms around his shoulders.
Qing Ling kicked off his shoes, rubbed his body inside, hugged his knees against the wall, and spoke after a long while: "It feels good."
He was in low spirits.
In his early years in the mountains, he was ordered not to leave the yard, but Qingling endured it. Even if he had to waste his whole life in the mountains, it was better than a paradise away from troubles. He didn't like making friends and even felt that talking was a waste of time. But his birth might have been a conspiracy, and the Qing family still wanted to suck blood from him. What was the difference between his life, Qingling's, and grass in the eyes of these people?
Qing Ling thought for a moment and asked, "They have harmed a lot of people, why don't they come for revenge?"
The children who were sacrificed were also lives, but the only ones who have been haunting Qing until now are the miserable female ghost and the ghost that crawled out of the ancient tomb beside him.
Shang Changheng was not surprised. "If everyone could turn into a ghost, wouldn't the world be in chaos? It's all a coincidence, but -"
Qingling thought that was right. If one could take revenge by turning into a fierce ghost, then the officials in the world would have nothing to do. When he changed the subject, he couldn't help but look up at the evil spirit.
"This is a good place." Shang Changheng also looked at Qingling's dark eyes. "The corpse-raising formation gathers evil spirits. It is extremely dangerous for living people to be here. Your cheap father still thinks this place is a place to save his life. It's ridiculous."
Qingling looked at him. It wasn't to the point where they would suffer if the lips and teeth were gone, but he was indeed worried about his own survival.
"Then..." Qing Ling asked in a low voice, "After this matter is over, what do you want to do?"
At that moment, Qingling couldn't understand Shang Changheng's eyes again. There were too many things mixed in that complicated expression.
After a long while, Shang Changheng said slowly: "It's still a long way from being over."
Qing Ling felt a little more at ease. He thought again, even though the surname Shang is rare, there have been many noble families with the surname Shang since ancient times.
He remembered that the history books he had read recorded that there was once a dynasty that unified the world and integrated several countries. The country was called Zhou and the royal surname was Shang.
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