Chapter 90: The Seventh Disappearing Door
"What does this mean?" Ruan Meng looked at it for a long time, and felt the same as the last time his daughter excitedly dragged him to play turtle soup. The information he got was completely incomprehensible, and he didn't even know how to ask questions.
Ying Zhiwei slumped back, leaning against the sofa with a sleepy look on his face. "My life is about to end. I won't be able to use the Eight Immortals Pagoda again anytime soon. Did you guys take note of the information? It should be showing the place where the soul has been in recent days. I can sense it's not far from here, but as for the specific location, it's hard to tell."
That house and that river, just talking about the city of Shu, there must be at least thousands of similar places. Ying Zhiwei remembered that when he took the cable car down from Qingcheng Mountain, he saw many similar rivers and streams from afar.
"I remember that house," Wang Fengxu suddenly said, his face uncertain as he hesitated. "It's my nephew's hometown."
Meng Caiyun raised an eyebrow, grabbed a grape from the fruit bowl on the table, stuffed a grape into his mouth, and asked vaguely, "You mean Xiao Fuzi? Isn't he a member of the Wang family?"
Wang Fengxu snorted and leaned back on the sofa, folding his arms and complaining, "Master's wife boasted to everyone that I was the reincarnation of a boy who served Grandpa Daozu, but wasn't I just picked up by her when she was out square dancing? Xiao Fuzi and I both changed our surnames later. I'm an orphan, but he used to have a family."
Meng Caiyun paused while eating grapes and said apologetically, "This is the first time I've heard of this."
Among the Bai, Meng, Song and Wang families of Xuanmen, the Wang family has the longest and most extensive heritage. Unfortunately, this generation has few descendants, and Wang Suqing has no children. He only gave birth to a few young people through branches, and they were all arranged to work in the Abnormal Management Bureau.
The only two descendants with the surname Wang at Qingcheng Temple actually changed their surnames later. However, Wang Suqing didn't mind. She didn't care much about blood ties and felt that as long as someone passed the things on, it didn't matter who it was.
I thought it was outrageous enough that Meng Caiyun, the only descendant of the Meng family, was called a walking incense stick, but I didn't expect that the Wang family had an even better trick up their sleeve.
By the way, why Meng Zhao is not counted is because Meng Zhao’s father, her uncle Meng Chengchun, was actually the adopted child of her grandfather Meng Xian, which means her father Meng Chengyin is also the only child in the Meng family.
The Wang and Meng families were both prominent and prestigious families within the Xuan Sect, commanding immense prestige. Their young descendants, simply by bearing their surnames, commanded respect from the wider community. This was a blessing from their ancestors. The Zhao family, with its longstanding ties to the Three Death Sects, dared not mention their lineage in public, fearing scorn. This was why Zhao Xin devoted his life to laundering illicit funds, hoping to escape the Xuan Sect and establish a clean, legitimate identity for his family.
"How could my grandmother's soul go to your nephew's hometown?" Ruan Meng still couldn't find the connection. When he thought of his daughter complaining that he had a poor imagination and that playing puzzle games was boring, he felt very innocent: What a mess, what does it have to do with anything? Who could have guessed it?
His indifferent mood is exactly the same as it is now.
Wang Fengxu thought of Wang Tianfu, who was injured in the woods last time and is now recuperating in the temple, and he couldn't help but put away a slightly playful expression: "He has been without a father since he was a child, and his mother also died when he was six. I was only eighteen at the time, and I came across this incident when I passed by Hulu Town on my way down the mountain. I thought my senior brother was in need of a disciple, so I just brought him back to the temple."
Long Zhu asked him curiously, "Why did he seek revenge on that abacus guy in the woods that day?"
Wang Fengxu unconsciously put his hands in his sleeves and let out a bitter laugh: "Hey! Look, his mother was killed by Wen Caishen."
Everyone looked surprised.
Wang Fengxu sighed, "His mother made a deal with the Three Death Gates. As you know, in the end, they all died at the hands of the God of Wealth."
The Three Death Sect was deeply hated by the righteous sects of the Xuanmen because they engaged in transactions with no restrictions, including both monks and countless ordinary people. Such practices, which undermined public order, were naturally intolerable and despised. Yet, even such a well-known evil sect still attracted numerous supporters.
As a human being, you have desires, and there are things that you want to achieve at all costs.
Just like Chu Youde’s wife in Changfeng Town before, in order to avenge her daughter, she voluntarily made a deal with the Three Death Gates. Although she got what she wanted, the God of Wealth also took her life and soul.
"What kind of deal is this?" Ruan Meng asked curiously.
Wang Fengxu said softly, "I heard that his biological father is a piece of shit."
He stopped there and everyone present understood and did not ask any further questions.
"Then we can only go and take a look," Meng Caiyun pondered for a moment. "This place is not far from Hulu Town, only a half-hour drive away. But the house has been sold to someone else, right? Should we try to contact the owner first?"
If the Abnormal Control Bureau did not intervene, they would not be able to break into private homes at will.
Long Zhu was sitting cross-legged on the sofa when he suddenly heard a ding-dong sound coming from his pocket.
She took out her phone, glanced at the screen with her eyelashes, and said calmly: "No need."
A familiar push notification from Quanneng Housekeeping suddenly popped up on the screen.
New job posting: Dismantling old furniture, cleaning fee 80, address: Room 501, Cuihu Community, Luhua Street, Hulu Town, Shucheng District.
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Ying Zhiwei's school announced an early start, forcing her to say goodbye and return to Hecheng with Ying Zhixu. Hu Aqing, housed in the hotel suite next door, remained in a state of disorientation and confusion. Ruan Mengxiu, unsure of her care and unable to rely on anyone else for meals, naturally assigned the task of traveling to Hulu Town to his eldest grandson, Ruan Meng.
Ruan Meng rented a white Buick GL8 locally, sat in the driver's seat conscientiously, turned on the rearview mirror, and saw several people in the back seat dozing off peacefully. He cursed in his heart: Damn, I've become a driver.
It would have been fine if my cousin, Wang Fengxu and Meng Caiyun were in the car, but sitting in the passenger seat was the little Taoist boy who was said to be recuperating, with a mature and serious expression on his face.
Wang Tianfu heard about this from somewhere, so he pulled out the IV needle and went down the mountain to go with them. Ruan Meng saw that the other party was a little older than her daughter, and felt a little sympathetic, so she didn't object.
At the end of the holiday, traffic was heavy on the way back, but the way there was was smooth. Ruan Meng was always a safe driver; after all, he only drove to pick up his daughter from school and never showed off his skills. But for some reason, he always had a lot of people jabbing him. One time, someone was particularly aggressive. He was so angry that he pulled over, rolled up his sleeves, got out, and pulled the man's upper body out of the driver's window. He cursed him out, saying, "Can't you see there's a baby in the car with a sticker on the back of my car?"
The male driver immediately lost his arrogance and his previous attitude of bullying the weak and fearing the strong, and he kept apologizing timidly.
Thinking of this, Ruan Meng sighed: This kind of road with less traffic is still the best, without all those monsters, it is quiet.
After driving for more than 20 minutes, we entered the Hulu Town toll gate.
On the left are rows of low buildings, on the right is the ancient riverside street, and to the right further are continuous mountains, with a winding Luhua River in the middle.
It was already past three in the afternoon when we arrived at Cuihu Community. The whole building was in the shape of a U, with stairwells on all four corners. There were five or six households in a row, and the yard in the middle of the courtyard was filled with scrap metal. There were also several twisted and unrecognizable cars. Judging from the dust on the hoods, they had probably been completely forgotten by their owners.
The neighborhood was eerily quiet.
"No one lives here," Ruan Meng scratched his arm, feeling a little cold. "They're probably betting on demolition. There aren't many old houses like this left."
Hulu Town has a large area. Although it is a town, it is not much different from county towns in other places. In addition, with the development of tourism in recent years, the overall scene is thriving.
But Cuihu Community, like those zombie cars, has been abandoned in a corner by the times, like a moldy spot on a bright and beautiful embroidered cloth.
Several people climbed up to the fifth floor. Wang Tianfu walked in front. Guided by his memory, he came to a door. When he was about to knock on the door, he suddenly found 502 written on the door frame.
"Xiao Fuzi, what's wrong?" Wang Fengxu asked.
Wang Tianfu was a little confused. He took two steps back to look, then walked back again, eyes wide open in disbelief: "Uncle Master, my house seems to be gone?"
"What the hell?"
When everyone took a closer look, they found that it was not Wang Tianfu's illusion. The beginning of this layer was 502 and 503, and there was no 501 at all.
Without hesitation, Meng Caiyun knocked on the door of room 502. After a while, there was no response, figuring it was empty. She went to the front and knocked on room 503. After a while, she heard the rustling of slippers from inside, but it sounded reluctant and lingering. So, she cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted, "Is anyone here? The community is giving away free eggs!"
"Bang!" The door opened quickly.
A sixty-year-old man poked his head out suspiciously. Perhaps he hadn't expected so many people to be outside the door, so he muttered, "What are you doing? Where are the eggs?"
"The eggs haven't been laid yet," Meng Caiyun asked with a smile, "Uncle, do you know where the residents of 501 have gone?"
When the old man heard there were no eggs, his disappointment was palpable. He instinctively tried to close the door, but Meng Caiyun quickly grabbed it. Unable to pry it open, he shouted, "Where's 501? You're not here to have fun, are you? Hurry up, get out! The police across the street are watching."
"Police?" Wang Fengxu walked over and asked him in dialect, "Don't you see any police officers across the street? What happened? Is there a case?"
"It's just that..." The old man was halfway through his sentence when a look of confusion suddenly appeared in his eyes. He scratched his face, speechless and stamped his feet: "Anyway, I can't continue talking to you guys any more."
While no one was paying attention, the old man slammed the door.
Meng Caiyun quickly pulled his hand away, staring at the iron gate in front of him, and hissed, "You have quite a bad temper."
Wang Tianfu ran back and forth in the corridor for a few laps, mumbling, "That shouldn't be the case. My house is 501, the first room. How could it be gone?"
At this moment, Long Zhu was standing by the wall between the stairwell and 502, with one hand on the wall and the other holding a mobile phone.
A sweet voice prompt sounded at the perfect moment: "The Merit Map is guiding you! ... There are signs of resentful activity in room %1@. We've identified one living person, one &%... person, currently in %#... condition and unable to arrive on time!"
Everyone opened their eyes wide: ...Huh? ?
The wall is just an ordinary wall. Most of the green paint skirting has peeled off and is covered with cobwebs. It is difficult to see any trace of a "door" here.
After a moment of silence, Ruan Meng made a bold guess: "Could it be that 501... is hidden inside the wall?"
Long Zhu: "This possibility cannot be ruled out."
She leaned on the folding mop she had brought up specially, first lowered her head and clicked "Arrived" on the All-in-One Housekeeping App, then raised the mop and smashed it against the wall without mercy.
That was close. I almost got late.
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