Although Jiang Cheng was filled with resentment, he could only take a deep breath and suppress all his anger after hearing the woman's instructions.
This woman was clearly just a messenger; getting angry with her wouldn't do any good and would only bring him endless trouble. He should first find out who this "Miss Jiaxian" she mentioned was.
sound……
It seems to be a pretty important role?
Otherwise, how could such an arrogant woman have the mind to call someone "Miss"?
He slowly took a deep breath, then exhaled all the stale air from his lungs, and then opened his eyes.
When Jiang Cheng opened his eyes again, all the irritability and gloom in his eyes had vanished, replaced by calm. One could even say that his eyes were like a stagnant pool, unlikely to be stirred.
He got up and followed the woman outside, passing through lush bushes and wildflowers. The maid and Jiang Cheng arrived at the wooden fence gate one after the other.
The view suddenly opened up. The path was paved with washed sand and gravel, and the Japanese garden landscape, composed of neatly stacked rocks, also included moss and greenery. In this completely different environment from the private courtyard in Jiangcheng, a wooden palanquin was quietly parked by the roadside.
The sedan chair that appeared before Jiang Cheng was not as ornate and conspicuous as ordinary sedan chairs; instead, it was remarkably simple. Supported by ordinary boxwood strips from top to bottom, it lacked any carvings or patterns, and even the curtains were just plain white cotton and linen cloth. However, bells and pure black tassels hung from the roof and the four corners, weaving through the lush greenery, which gave Jiang Cheng a creepy feeling.
It was strange, but Jiang Cheng couldn't quite put his finger on what was strange about it. He pondered for a long time and could only conclude that it was due to the disharmony between the image and the colors.
The maid in red climbed directly into the wooden sedan chair, completely disregarding Jiang Cheng behind her.
Jiang Cheng didn't rush to get into the sedan chair; instead, he carefully observed the four sedan chair bearers around it.
Actually, Jiang Cheng was more interested in the masked sedan chair bearers than the plain, uncolored sedan chair itself.
These four people were all just over two meters tall, but they had slender limbs that were completely disproportionate to their bodies. Even the joints at their wrists and ankles were extremely distinct, covered only by a layer of pale, paper-like skin.
The leader of the group wore a mask resembling that of a Namahage, with a red face, raised eyebrows, exposed fangs, and disheveled hair covering the mask. His nose was sharp like a hook, and he wore a full-length straw raincoat and dirty wooden clogs. Jiang Cheng vaguely remembered that a Namahage was a demon-like creature that would go from house to house begging for food and drink, but its intentions were actually quite kind; skinning was only to punish lazy men who had developed rashes.
The other three, wearing masks resembling those of "weak sorcerers" from Japanese Noh plays, stood behind the leader, "Namahagi." The weak sorcerers on the masks had eyes filled with weakness and powerlessness; their mouths were barely open, a few strands of hair drooped from their foreheads, and their arched eyebrows were barely visible. Jiang Cheng guessed that they had been weakened considerably by the passage of time.
The masks worn by these four people were completely mismatched with their body shapes.
Jiang Cheng had seen several traditional Japanese Noh plays before, and one character left a particularly deep impression on him. "Hoshoji monk Toshihiro" was a character who was exiled to Onikai Island for plotting a rebellion against his family. Disappointment and malnutrition in his eyes made him extremely frail, and the image on his mask was also extremely thin, with prominent facial bones, sunken skin, and eyes filled with resentment, insatiable desire, and endless despondency.
It seems that only this mask is a good match for their body shape.
But Jiang Cheng suddenly noticed something strange.
According to the conventions of Japanese Noh plays, the masks worn by these four people should all have their mouths turned downwards. However, the masks of the four people in front of him were clearly made to look like they were smiling but not smiling, which, combined with the palanquin behind them, made the scene even more eerie.
Before Jiang Cheng could think any further, he suddenly heard a thunderclap erupt from inside the wooden sedan chair.
"Minglingye! Are you leaving or not! How dare you keep Miss Jiaxian waiting for you!"
The maid in red angrily lifted the sedan curtain, her long, bright red fingernails digging into the wooden door frame. Jiang Cheng also noticed that she had not only applied pale foundation to her face, but even the backs of her hands were covered, making her red lips and red dress appear even more striking.
She glared at Jiang Cheng with bloodshot eyes and continued to roar, "I'll give you three last seconds! Otherwise, I'll have them tie you to the back of the sedan chair and you can run up the mountain with me!"
"Up the mountain?"
Upon hearing the maid in red say that they were going up the mountain, and remembering that he had seen the only hill in the southeast direction when he came out of the dark room, Jiang Cheng realized that it was at least a dozen kilometers from the dark room to that mountain. Moreover, Minglingye's body was extremely weak, and if he were to run there, he would probably die within half a day.
He dared not waste any more time and braced himself to climb into the sedan chair.
While the main color was white, the cushions on both sides featured patterns sewn with gold thread. Jiang Cheng didn't stand on ceremony and sat down, meeting the red-clad maid's murderous gaze.
As Jiang Cheng climbed into the sedan chair, the maid in red reached out and lifted the small blackout curtain on the side of her head, facing forward. She then spoke to the four sedan chair bearers outside in an extremely eerie tone, giving them a command that Jiang Cheng couldn't understand.
The next second, before Jiang Cheng could even settle into his seat, he felt a tremendous force coming from in front of the sedan chair, almost causing him to fall in front of the red-clad maid.
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