Otherwise, Zhou Hongsong wouldn't have been able to be a gang leader in his past life!
That sharp eye is something that ordinary people don't have!
Li Xiangdong glanced back at the five burly young men dressed in ordinary clothes, but didn't rush to explain.
Zhou Hongsong's pace quickened, and Li Xiangdong could barely keep up with him, taking large strides.
This was tough on Li Guoqing and Guo Yuxi. They hurried along, sweating profusely, just to keep up with the two people ahead of them.
When they arrived at their rented place, Chen Zaohua was already waiting at the door, dressed in thick clothes.
Zhou Hongsong shoved Li Xiangdong and the other two into the doorway, then turned around from behind the door and took out a large machete.
He stood imposingly at the door, his face stern, and shouted at the five men who had followed him at a distance:
"Were you sent by Boss Qian? This is a busy downtown area. With such a large entourage, aren't you afraid the police will arrest you?"
The five people stopped and looked behind Zhou Hongsong, exchanging bewildered glances.
Zhou Hongsong took a step forward, "What are you looking at!"
Li Xiangdong nudged Zhou Hongsong, "Fifth Brother!"
"Go inside! Otherwise, you'll get covered in blood if they use a knife!"
"No, Fifth Brother, you're talking about these five people!"
"Yeah, what's wrong? Aren't five people enough?"
Zhou Hongsong whispered in a voice the five men couldn't hear, "They're obviously trained fighters, I definitely can't handle them by myself! If we start fighting, you go to the police station on the corner right away and report it! You have to be quick, or you won't see Fifth Brother alive!"
Li Xiangdong was both amused and exasperated. "No, Fifth Brother..."
"What do you mean 'isn't'? Hurry up and hide!"
"Can you let me finish what I have to say?"
"Why did you have to say something at such a crucial moment?!"
————
Zhou Hongsong respectfully served the five elder brothers hot tea made with red dates and goji berries, and handed each of them a handful of melon seeds with a big smile on his face.
"Well, I've been a bit nervous these past few days, I'm really sorry! I've neglected you all!"
The five people sitting in the seats of honor were the same five who had been following behind Li Xiangdong and were being threatened by Zhou Hongsong with a large machete.
Li Xiangdong smiled and apologized, "It's all my fault, I didn't explain it to Fifth Brother beforehand."
The leader of the five was named Yu Shi, who looked to be in his early thirties. Although he was all muscle, he had a handsome and refined face and spoke very politely.
"Comrade Zhou, you're too kind. Please sit down!"
Zhou Hongsong was a little embarrassed and awkwardly sat down at the very bottom.
After exchanging pleasantries, Yu Shi got straight to the point.
"Comrade Zhou, is there a reason why you're so wary?"
Zhou Hongsong nodded. For so many days, he had been taking care of Chen Zaohua, this woman, and her two young boys. He dared not say anything about what was going on, for fear of scaring them. He could only silently bear it all himself.
“One night before the Lunar New Year, someone threw a dead chicken into the courtyard where we rented a place. It was covered in blood. I was afraid it would frighten them, so I cleaned it up without telling them.”
Besides throwing dead chickens, other things like knocking on doors in the middle of the night, throwing paper effigies, and throwing wreaths are all common occurrences that challenge the psychological limits of Chinese people.
The most terrifying time was when Zhou Hongsong was awakened in the middle of the night by incessant knocking. When he opened the door to check, he was horrified to find two bloody ghost handprints on the door!
The handprint was the size of a washbasin, and blood was flowing freely. Even Zhou Hongsong, with his strong heart, was terrified.
Zhou Hongsong was terrified, but instead, an endless rage welled up in his chest. He grabbed a large machete and searched the yard and streets several times.
I was so angry at the time that I figured if I caught anyone causing trouble, I would hack them to death immediately.
Zhou Hongsong still felt lingering fear when he spoke of this.
"I know that throwing wreaths is just someone playing tricks. But the bloody handprints on the door and the constant knocking are really hard for me to understand."
When he reached the door, he clearly heard a knock, but when he opened it, he didn't see anyone.
He couldn't believe that a person could run that fast when it was just a step away.
But if this isn't human, then it's something unspeakable.
Zhou Hongsong was under great mental stress because of this.
The other people in the room looked at each other, also finding it very strange.
Even Yu Shi and other well-informed people frowned.
Guo Yuxi shuddered. "My God, could there really be a ghost? I was wondering why I thought I saw a white shadow flash by the window that day!"
Li Guoqing glanced at him, "I think I saw it that day too..."
"Right, right! I wasn't lying, was I!"
Guo Yuxi felt as if she had found a kindred spirit, "If I were the only one who saw it, you would all think I was lying!"
All eyes turned to Chen Zaohua. After thinking for a moment, Chen Zaohua shook her head. "There's nothing unusual about me."
Seeing the atmosphere in the room gradually veer from business warfare to the supernatural, Li Xiangdong felt that if he didn't correct it soon, none of them would dare to sleep in the room tonight.
He cleared his throat twice. "I know why there's this bloody handprint."
"What?"
"You know, so is this, well, is it... cough cough, that thing?"
"Of course not, this is just one of those tricks used in swindling!"
Li Xiangdong drew a conclusion first.
The people inside were skeptical and urged him to continue.
Li Xiangdong didn't continue speaking, but instead asked Zhou Hongsong a question.
"Fifth Brother, when you saw that bloody handprint, did you smell anything?"
Zhou Hongsong rubbed his hands. "I didn't notice it at the time, but when I washed the gate with water, I felt a particularly strong fishy smell."
"That's right, doesn't it smell like pork?"
Zhou Hongsong thought carefully, "I can't quite remember, but it seems like it."
Li Xiangdong clapped his hands, "This is it! The bloody handprint on the door should be eel blood! Of course, it doesn't matter if it's pig blood, sheep blood, chicken blood, or duck blood."
"Even if that bloody handprint wasn't human blood, how do you explain the knocking?"
“The people who set up the scheme caught one or two crows beforehand. Crows love to eat blood. After they drew bloody handprints on the door, they released the crows, which would then keep pecking at the blood on the door and making a tinkling knocking sound.”
"And when you push open the door, the crows fly away at the slightest sound. It's dark, and the crows are dark too. Besides, you were under a lot of stress at the time, so you probably didn't notice the crows nearby."
"This is the Ghost Knocking on the Door in the Thousand Doors."
To put it bluntly, it's just to scare you. If you're brave enough, it'll make you not want to stay here any longer; if you're timid, it'll scare you to death!
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when Li Xiangdong exposed their scheme.
As long as it's a human being, that's fine.
Guo Yuxi scratched his head again, "Was that white shadow the other day just a plastic bag that the light blew up?"
Ring ring ring~
Chen Zaohua answered the phone, but after only a couple of sentences, her expression turned sour, and she quickly hung up.
She turned to Li Xiangdong and said, "Boss Qian knows you've arrived and wants to meet you this afternoon!"
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