Chapter 4 Haunted Houses in the Republic of China (Part 4)
The Xia Mansion is a large house with six courtyards. The eldest daughter lives in the fifth courtyard. There are rockery and a small pond here. The big one is like a small park. Ning Hanqi walked around the rockery and pond, and then stopped by the pond. If you look closely, you can find that the ground under her feet has been turned over.
"Uncle!"
Before Ning Hanqi's fingers touched the ground, a voice without any emotion came from behind her.
She silently withdrew her hand, stood up, and looked at the "person" next to her who was dressed like a servant.
Even without the bonus of the night buff, the "people" in the yard look like human beings.
The servant bowed respectfully to Ning Hanqi and said, "Sir, the master and mistress invite you to the hall."
"I understand." Ning Hanqi nodded, then asked, "Have you seen the young lady?"
The servant with a somewhat stiff expression stared at Ning Hanqi blankly, probably because he had never seen a "son-in-law" looking for the eldest lady on the first day of her wedding.
“No, I didn’t see it.”
Ning Hanqi frowned slightly and seemed to sigh softly, "Take me to see the master and the mistress."
"yes."
The servant took her to the front hall, where Ning Hanqi met the other five players.
Brother Li is not here. Judging from the punctual game broadcast at 6:00 in the morning, he should be the one who died last night.
The players' faces were solemn, especially Xiaolu, who looked almost scared silly, with her arms and legs trembling and tears still lingering on her face. Chang Yue blocked her behind her, trying her best not to let the master and mistress notice her abnormality.
"The son-in-law is here." The lady who was originally lecturing with a sullen face immediately changed into a different person when she saw Ning Hanqi, revealing a not-so-nice smile.
Mr. Xia, who had always had a blank expression on his face, also turned his gaze over.
The pressure from other players shifted to Ning Hanqi.
Like the servant, Mr. Xia and Mrs. Xia did not look as eerie and scary as they did at night, but no one dared to ignore their true identities.
Ning Hanqi received eye contact from Chang Yue and the other two veteran players. She stepped forward slowly, called out "Father" and "Mom," then picked up the teacup and served tea to everyone one by one. Her manners were so perfect that no one could find any fault with her. She was as elegant as a lady from a noble family living in this era.
No one noticed that when Chang Yue quietly looked up at Ning Hanqi who was serving tea to Madam Xia, her pupils suddenly shrank for a moment, and she lowered her head almost the next second, not daring to look again. Even when she was looking at the ground, the corners of her eyes twitched uncontrollably, as if she had seen something unbelievable.
The lady held Ning Hanqi's hand with an attitude of a mother-in-law looking at her son-in-law and liking him more and more. During this time, she also called her son-in-law's accompanying medicine boy Wu Er to ask him some questions. Her son-in-law was frail and sickly, so the lady naturally asked him a few questions. Wu Er's calves were shaking so badly that he barely made up a story to fool the lady.
After showing concern for the "new son-in-law", the lady also scolded the servants brought by the "son-in-law", especially warning them to keep their hands and feet clean and not to steal anything from the master's house, even a needle, thread or candle, otherwise the master would have the right to beat them to death.
Madam Xia swept her arrogant and scrutinizing gaze over the other players. Seeing their trembling expressions, she mercifully let them go.
"Sir, don't worry too much about them. Mrs. Wang will take care of their food, clothing, housing and transportation. You and Yingnuan are newlyweds, so cultivating your relationship is the most important thing..."
The lady was all smiles. Although they were both players, she had the word "double standard" written all over her face. She was harsh to the other players and very kind to Ning Hanqi.
Even when Ning Hanqi left, she personally saw him out the door.
But the moment the lady closed the door of the room, the smile on her face immediately became ugly.
At some point, a figure in a red dress appeared beside Mr. Xia.
Mr. Xia's hands on the table trembled slightly uncontrollably.
"Father, Mother."
A voice with a hint of laughter sounded in the reception room.
Neither of the two old ghosts spoke.
"Huh? Why aren't you two talking?" Her tone rose slightly.
"Ying, Yingnuan..." Madam Xia forced out a flattering smile, "Do you like this new son-in-law?"
Xia Yingnuan covered her lips with her hands and chuckled softly. Even her charming makeup couldn't hide the coldness in her eyes. "She's quite cute."
This was the first time they heard their daughter speak positively of her "son-in-law." Madam Xia was stunned for a moment before revealing a slightly cold expression. "If Yingnuan likes her, then keep her."
"Stay?" Xia Yingnuan repeated these two words softly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
Seeing this, Mrs. Xia hesitated and dared not speak anymore.
"I didn't expect that my mother cared so much about her daughter." A figure in a red dress suddenly appeared behind Mrs. Xia, and her cold words rang in her mother's ears.
Madam Xia's smile was uglier than crying. She said in a trembling voice, "Of course, I'm your mother, so of course I care about you."
Xia Yingnuan laughed. The already gloomy weather suddenly became windy and the temperature in the air dropped sharply.
"Really? I'm really... touched. But I don't know how much of this concern will remain in front of my brother and sister?" Xia Yingnuan put her hand on her mother's trembling shoulders, like a poisonous snake spitting into Mrs. Xia's ear.
“Boom!”
Suddenly, a flash of lightning streaked across the sky, and the roar of thunder exploded in the silent crowd.
The deer screamed. The thunder was like the last straw that broke the camel's back, and she burst into tears.
Ning Hanqi seemed to have sensed something and looked back at the reception room she had just left. Then the person next to her who had a breakdown hugged her arm and cried loudly, forcing her to return her attention to Xiaolu.
"Brother Li is dead, I stepped on him...he was completely chewed to pieces..." The deer spoke incoherently and seemed to be on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Ning Hanqi barely pieced together what she had experienced from the fragmented words.
Last night, after they were taken away by the housekeeper, they were assigned to the servants' quarters at the entrance of the courtyard. Since men and women lived separately, the place where she and Chang Yue lived was a little far away from the men's side.
Although theoretically the room they lived in was a safe place, Chang Yue lit candles in the room out of caution. To ensure that the candles would not go out, one of them kept watch in the first half of the night and the other in the second half. However, Xiaolu was so scared that she could not fall asleep. All night long, she could hear a rustling sound outside, like a mouse running around. In the middle of the night, she seemed to hear a faint scream.
Soon after that, in addition to the rustling sounds outside, there was also a kind of crunching sound. Perhaps it was the mice gnawing on the wood to grind their teeth. The little deer shivered in the quilt until 6:00 in the morning. After this time, ghosts would not attack people. She went out to take a breath of fresh air with a sense of relief, but she did not lower her head when she went out, and she stepped on something soft without any preparation.
She looked down and found that she had stepped on a gnawed corpse.
Xiaolu was just a young girl who had just graduated from college. She had never seen such a scene before and was scared to death at the time. But Mrs. Wang wanted to take them to see Madam Xia, so Xiaolu could only endure it until now when she finally couldn't hold it anymore.
"...Why does he go out at night?" Ning Hanqi lowered his eyes and thought for a while before asking several other old players.
This is the crux of the matter, and also the reason why the other veteran players look so unhappy.
Why would he go out when he knew that ghosts would come out at night? Brother Li was not the kind of person who would be arrogant and disobey advice. Especially since he had a wife and children at home, he valued his life very much and did not dare to do anything reckless.
"We were all asleep last night, but that old lady Wang suddenly came knocking on our door and said that the front hall was too busy and the master asked him to help, so she took him away directly." Old Zhang's face was no longer as honest as before, and looked a little gloomy.
[Note 2: Servants may not refuse orders from the Master of the Xia Mansion...]
He didn't even have the chance to find a reason to refuse.
"Did he bring a candle and an umbrella?"
"I did bring it. He didn't react because it happened so suddenly. I had to give him the umbrella." Lao Zhang sighed. "But I don't know what happened last night. He still didn't make it back alive."
"I only had time to take a look at his body before Mrs. Wang called someone to dispose of it. Mrs. Wang is the housekeeper's wife. She usually yells and shouts in the backyard and no one cares. She's even more troublesome than the housekeeper." Guessing that Ning Hanqi didn't know who Mrs. Wang was, Lao Zhang explained, "His body had been gnawed by something. I suspect it was a rat."
The players were all silent. Their original plan of searching for clues during the day and hiding in their rooms at night was indeed a fantasy. The previous rumors about this dungeon were not exaggerated.
They probably won't be able to have peace at night from now on.
"What are you guys doing here? You just got here and you want to slack off?!" Before they could say a few words, that old woman Wang came over with her hands on her waist. She and the housekeeper were indeed a couple, and they looked like a couple, both with broad shoulders and waist and rat-like faces.
The sarcastic and mean Mrs. Wang walked over. She glanced around with her small eyes, and her eyelids trembled slightly when she saw Ning Hanqi.
"Oh, isn't this my son-in-law?" Her smile became somewhat flattering and somewhat sinister, like a mouse lurking in the corner waiting for them.
"Don't bother worrying about these people. I will arrange their work."
"I understand." Ning Hanqi's voice sounded soft and powerless, with a hint of gentleness between his eyebrows. It seemed that he was completely unable to intimidate this stubborn slave. "But I need to explain something to them first. You can go and take care of your own things first, okay?"
The deer's heart almost skipped a beat. How could these ghosts possibly obey him?
Unexpectedly, this Wang Po, who was relying on the power of others to bully others, froze all over. She actually slowly lowered her head and said, "...Yes."
After Mrs. Wang walked away, the new player Wu Er finally remembered that he could breathe. He said tremblingly, "...are you so obedient?"
"Because of Note 2, they are also restricted." Chang Yue didn't look surprised.
The servants of the Xia Mansion are not allowed to disobey the orders of their master. As the "son-in-law" of the Xia Mansion, Ning Hanqi is almost half the master here, so Wang Po cannot say "no" to Ning Hanqi's request.
"So good?" Wu Er blurted out.
The veteran players looked at him somewhat like a fool.
Realizing that he had said the wrong thing, Wu Er quickly shut his mouth, fearing that the game would judge that he and Ning Hanqi had exchanged identities.
Veteran players would rather battle wits and courage with these little devils than face the moody game boss head-on. Anyone who thinks carefully can figure it out.
"Well, what do you think? If Xiao Ning arranges us to do something, can we avoid those guys from causing trouble for us?" Wu Er thought he had found a loophole and was a little excited.
But Brother Zhao quickly poured cold water on him, "If you don't want to be personally trained by Master Xia and Madam Xia, I advise you not to try. This isn't a loophole, it's a trap."
Countless people have paid the price for their own cleverness and were ruined here.
"Just work honestly. These little devils may be troublesome, but they are also easy to avoid danger."
Wu Er praised it repeatedly, and at the same time did not forget to flatter Brother Zhao.
"...How was the situation over there last night?" Chang Yue had been looking worried since coming out of the front hall, and seemed to be keeping a distance from Ning Hanqi intentionally or unintentionally, but for the information about the ghost bride, she bit the bullet and walked over.
"Very good." Ning Hanqi nodded, and a smile that was difficult to understand appeared on the corner of his mouth.
“…” Chang Yue didn’t know whether she should show a horrified expression or stay away from Ning Hanqi.
It's good? What's good about it? It's good to sleep in the same room with ghosts?
The other two veteran players nearby were also stuck in their throats with questions they wanted to ask. Perhaps they were trying to guess what she meant, or perhaps they were doubting her mental state.
Only Xiaolu, whose brain had stopped working, did not notice the strange atmosphere. Seeing Ning Hanqi walking forward, she subconsciously followed. However, her legs were so weak that she could not walk steadily and staggered forward a few steps. Ning Hanqi, who was closest to her, reached out and pulled Xiaolu.
In an instant, the weather that was about to return to normal suddenly had another violent gust of wind. The strange whistling wind seemed to be mixed with someone's murmur. Ning Hanqi was stunned and let go of the hand that was holding the deer.
The little deer, who had already lost his balance, was blown by the wind and fell face first to the ground.
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