Cheng Shuang and Du Jun walked to the painting. The little girl stood on tiptoe and reached out her arm to touch the lush green rapeseed field in the painting. The uneven texture on her fingertips proved that the solidified paint could be reused.
Du Jun slowly scraped off the wax dripping from the red candle with scissors, and while it was still hot, he smeared the wax onto the gray coarse cloth clothes of the man in the painting, little by little, until it was completely evenly coated.
Cheng Shuang found an inconspicuous corner in the painting, scraped off some of the green paint that had protruded from the vegetable patch, placed it diagonally on a corner of the tray, poured a drop of water on it, and slowly dissolved the paint flakes again. To prevent the cold air from affecting the fluidity of the liquid, the little girl specially tore off a heat pack.
She applied green paint to the gray clothes of the woman in the painting.
Working together, the two quickly transformed into a man and a woman, their faces beaming with smiles in the sunlight.
The painting made a clicking sound and slowly moved downwards, revealing a small wooden compartment containing a tattered booklet with four characters written on the cover: Hu Family Genealogy.
Because the paper was thin and crisp, Du Jun took it out with extra care, lowering his arm so that Cheng Shuang could look at it together.
The first page contains the preface and clan rules, the second page details the origins of the surname, and the following pages are the lineage charts. The content of the genealogy is no different from other genealogies, and there are no particularly noteworthy legendary events in the Hu family.
But when you turn to the last page, a crumpled receipt floats down.
The writing on the receipt had become blurred with the passage of time. Cheng Shuang picked it up and examined it closely by the candlelight.
The inscription on it reads: "Today, Hu Songshi owes ten taels of silver, which shall be repaid by his youngest daughter, Hu Cuicui. The date is January 11, 1951 (New Calendar)."
Many of the words were blurred, such as the creditor's name and how to repay.
Overall, this is an ordinary IOU. But an IOU appearing in a family genealogy is inherently strange.
Cheng Shuang closed her eyes and thought about the details of the wedding. Suddenly, she looked up at the low table with offerings. Was the bride looking at her with her head turned to the side, or was she looking at the scroll of Tibetan genealogy?
Now that I think about it, why should the bride turn around and remind her what to do?
If these outsiders who have entered the instance make a 'mistake' at the wedding, the bride and the master of ceremonies will not suffer any loss.
Therefore, there must be something that has been overlooked.
She was just about to move closer to the candlelight to get a better look...
"ah!"
Another piercing scream suddenly rang out from not too far away.
The little girl's hand trembled, and the wax almost dripped onto the fragile paper. She hurriedly moved the paper away, but Du Jun's eyes narrowed, and he grabbed her wrist. "Don't move."
Cheng Shuang cooperated without moving.
The candlelight shone through the strip of paper onto the wall, and the indistinct words formed a peculiar shape.
The two exchanged a glance, then Du Jun withdrew his hand and quickly traced the shape. The little girl eagerly said, "Put the words, the clear words, on them."
Following the distribution of words on the receipt, Du Jun clearly marked the dots around the shape. He slowly frowned. "This is... a numbers game?"
After saying that, he pulled out a blank sheet of paper and started drawing quickly against the wall.
Cheng Shuang wasn't very good at number games; she mostly played match-3 games. To avoid distracting the young man, she put the IOU back into the family tree and took an inconspicuous canvas bag from her storage compartment, putting the family tree inside first.
Then, he quietly walked to the double doors and looked out through the cracks. Under the starlight, he saw many figures in the courtyard, each with a happy smile on their face, as if the bride was still standing at the door waiting for their blessings, or as if they could look at her through the door.
The little girl shuddered.
He quietly stepped back, not wanting to disturb these strange people.
She turned and walked to the small door with a combination lock, entered the password, and the lock clicked open. She immediately caught the lock in her small hand and put it into her canvas bag.
The door was pushed open, and a gust of wind rushed in.
Upon seeing the scene inside the room, Cheng Shuang's eyes widened, and she turned to look at Du Jun.
Du Jun looked up and saw the little girl standing in front of the open door. Her thin figure was stretched extremely long, and the room in front of her was like a black abyss, as if an unknown monster would swallow her whole at any moment.
Du Jun quickly grabbed the number game he had solved and rushed to Cheng Shuang's side. He was about to ask her a question when he glanced at her and shut his mouth.
In the dimly lit room, white silk hung in the four corners, and in the center was a table that resembled an altar for ancestral tablets. In front of the table was a low table with offerings, and in front of the low table knelt a woman dressed in white mourning clothes.
The woman had two long braids, her head bowed, revealing only a patch of pale skin.
Behind her stood two paper figures, a boy and a girl, or more precisely, two paper figures dressed in the corresponding clothing of a boy and a girl. The girl paper figure had peach blossom eyes and cherry lips, while the boy paper figure was slightly taller and had droopy eyelids, appearing extremely indifferent.
Cheng Shuang and Du Jun exchanged a glance, and tacitly and quickly took off their thick, warm cotton-padded coats and put on down jackets from their spatial storage.
Du Jun silently gave Cheng Shuang a wink, and the little girl understood and ran to the wall where the painting was, putting the painting back in its place and placing the red candle back next to the incense burner.
After she cleaned up the mess, Du Jun had already stepped into another room that was like a mirror image but with a chilling wind, and slowly approached the kneeling bride.
The footsteps were light, but not entirely silent. The bride remained motionless, her pale, bloodless skin exposed on the back of her neck, her head bowed low, as if she had lost consciousness, or even her life.
Du Jun tentatively reached out and gently pushed the bride backward. Her eyes were closed, but a sweet smile remained on her lips. The moment she landed, her head came off her neck and, to Du Jun's surprise, rolled all the way to the double doors behind her, with the force of the fall, and continued to roll.
Even if you tried to stop it, it would be too late. At the speed at which that head was rolling, even if the door wasn't pushed open, it would be knocked on...
Just as Du Jun's pupils contracted slightly and he turned to grab Cheng Shuang and run away, his head, which was covered in blood, was caught by a cloak pressed tightly against the door panel.
Seeing that the monster had silently stopped the head from knocking on the door, Du Jun gave it a thumbs up. The monster bowed in return, but the head it had caught fell to the ground with a thud.
Her head slowly turned, and as her sweet smile faded, her eyes slowly opened, her bloodshot pupils darting around, tears welling in her eyes, and she opened her mouth to let out a shrill scream...
We absolutely must not let her scream!
Under immense pressure, the sullen monster instinctively shoved the hem of his disheveled cloak directly into the gaping mouth of his head, choking back all his screams.
Then, the eyes in the head changed from pain and anger to shock, and tears of discomfort slid down, accompanied by gagging and vomiting sounds.
Du Jun silently turned his head away, refusing to look at the strange, mud-stained, and dust-covered cloak.
Even the oblivious little girl gave a thumbs up to her gloomy monster!
Sorrowful Monster: Haha, I'm the best!
Brain: Ugh!
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