Chapter 14 He Family

Chapter 14 He Family

Chapter 14 He Family

"Anything...Are you sure?"

"Sure." Feng Yushuo put her hands on her chest. Her chest was full under her snow-white collarbone. Her fair and soft skin was even more beautiful than the white jade pendant hanging on her chest. "As long as we can leave here, you can ask me to do anything you want."

"Okay, then give me the money." Ning Zhe said immediately, "Do you have any valuables on you? Cash, jewelry, anything is fine, but let me make it clear first, I don't want things like jade pendants, pearls, and bodhi seeds that are not easy to cash in. I only accept cash and precious metals such as gold and silver."

Feng Yushu opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she said nothing: "Okay..."

She raised her hand and took off the gold and jade-inlaid paulownia wood hairpin that was inserted behind her head. Her long black hair was freed and fell down like a waterfall of ink. Then she took out all the cash from her small leather bag, took off the rose-carved diamond-inlaid gold ring on her left ring finger, and handed all these things to Ning Zhe.

Feng Yusu was not disgusted by Ning Zhe's blackmail. On the contrary, she was somewhat happy about it, because money, an external thing, can only be used in the real world with normal social order. The fact that Ning Zhe asked her for gold and silver jewelry and cash showed that he had enough confidence and certainty to leave Hejia Village and return to the real world.

As long as I can leave here, what does some jewelry and money matter?
But what Feng Yusu, who thought he had figured out the second level, didn't know was that Ning Zhe was at a higher level.

"This woman is unexpectedly clever, but the fact that I asked for these valuables should be enough to make her subconsciously trust me." Ning Zhe was calm and stuffed Feng Yusu's hairpin, ring and cash into the inside pocket of his coat.

"Tell me, Ningzhe, what should we do next?" Feng Yusu asked as she tied up her long hair with the Bodhi bracelet that was originally worn on her right hand.

Ning Zhe held Feng Yusu's hairpin in one hand, carefully examining the golden carving of 'Phoenix Perched on the Wutong Tree' on the top, and said:
"There are two rules in Hejia Village."

"One is the snake god, who tells us good and bad luck every day through the almanac."

"The second reason is that it's weird. Ghosts will take over other people's identities in some way."

"There are two puzzles in Hejia Village."

"One is the snake god. It is known that the snake god has madness and has attacks every month. I have seen the symptoms, but the cause is unknown."

[Puzzle 1: Why did the snake god go crazy? ]

"The second is ghosts. It is known that ghosts do not have the ability to kill people, but they will violate death taboos by impersonating others and use the snake god's knife to kill people."

[Puzzle 2: How does a ghost impersonate someone else? ]

"The ghost wandering around Hejia Village cannot just take over someone else's identity at will, otherwise we would have been wiped out long ago."

"Just like the snake god needs you to violate a taboo before your luck will turn bad, and needs you to violate a death taboo before it can kill you directly. If the ghost wants to impersonate someone, it also needs to meet certain specific conditions and the person needs to violate certain special 'rules' before its ability can be exerted."

Ning Zhe held the Fengqi Wutong hairpin between his fingers, turning it gently, and finally said: "I now have two options - find the cause of the snake god's madness, or find out the triggering conditions of the rules that the ghost replaced someone else's identity... or simply solve both. In this way, we may be able to uncover the true face of Hejia Village and find a way out."

"It sounds dangerous." Feng Yushu tied her soft and thick black hair into a bun for easy movement and asked, "Where do you plan to start first?"

A snake? Or a ghost?

"Nowhere." Ning Zhe shook his head and said, "I'm sleepy now. I need to rest for a while. We can talk about everything after daybreak."

"Huh?" Feng Yusu was confused.

Ning Zhe smiled at her: "Thinking is very time-consuming, so Auntie, keep watch for me."

"Oh…"

Feng Yushu followed Ning Zhe out of the ancestral hall in confusion, and climbed up to the roof from the alley next to the pile of firewood and tables and chairs. The wet tiles were slippery and cool, so he just turned over and lay down on the roof of the ancestral hall, took out a piece of silk from her small leather bag and covered his face to block the moonlight, closed his eyes and fell asleep. When encountering difficulties, sleep well.

"Who is this?" Looking at Ning Zhe who fell asleep with a piece of silk covering his face, Feng Yusu felt a little uneasy and at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

She turned around and looked at the alleyway that the two had climbed up before. In the narrow alley, there were a lot of firewood piled up and a disassembled old-fashioned folding round table leaning against the outer wall of the ancestral hall. The old wood had spots of mold growing on it in the humid air.

"Why are there so many tables and chairs next to the ancestral hall?" Feng Yusu was puzzled and wanted to ask Ning Zhe, but found that he had actually fallen asleep.

It’s so good to be young, you can fall asleep as soon as you touch the pillow... Unlike me, I have to take sleeping pills if I want to have a good sleep.

I wonder how Zhang Yangxu and Ye Miaozhu are doing now. Have they found the door to get out?

I wonder how Ah Zhi is doing now. Has she noticed that her mother is missing? Is she worried?
And… and…

Perhaps it was because she had been frightened too much before, and her emotions fluctuated too frequently and violently in a short period of time, Feng Yusu's tense nerves gradually relaxed as she became exhausted. The cool evening breeze blew through the streets and alleys, and she wrapped her clothes tightly around her body and fell into a deep sleep.

The plump, white moon cricket, like a silkworm pupa, twisted its body and crawled slowly across the night sky. When it was early morning, a scorching sun rose from the hills on the east side of the basin.

Feng Yusu opened her eyes hazily from her long sleep and subconsciously moved her limbs, but felt a little sluggish, as if she was restrained by something. The deep fear woke her up suddenly. She sat up and saw that she had been covered with a large red cloth, which she regarded as a quilt. It looked very familiar.

"Look familiar, right? This piece of cloth was originally covering Lin Zhiyuan." Ning Zhe, who was sitting next to him, said nonchalantly, "I agreed that you would keep watch for me, but you slept even more soundly than I did, and your sleeping posture was not very good. You kept squeezing on me to keep warm... so I found you a blanket."

"Don't thank me, just follow my instructions."

"...I'm sorry, what, what instructions?" Feng Yusu rubbed his sleepy eyes with both hands and asked hurriedly.

Ning Zhe raised his hand and pointed downwards: "Look over there."

Feng Yushu looked in the direction he pointed. A small shop with closed doors and windows across the street had opened its door at some point. A female head with a hairpin and a square yellow paper on her face slowly poked out from the door. She seemed to be the proprietress of the small shop.

Even though they were separated by a street, Ning Zhe could still see clearly with his eyesight that the words written on the yellow paper pasted on the boss lady's face were clearly:

【He Huifen】

The woman with the name written on her face walked out of the door and headed straight towards the ancestral hall, walking hurriedly with the clatter of her small feet.

There were many people walking towards the ancestral hall who were not just this woman, and there were more than just the small shop across the street that opened its door.

Feng Yusu's legs were covered with the tablecloth of the altar. She was amazed to see that as the moon set and the sun rose, the entire quiet street and even the entire Hejia Village "woken up".

Residential houses, pharmacies, tea shops... the tightly closed doors opened one after another, and people with yellow paper pasted on their faces walked towards the ancestral hall at the same time.

They walked towards this side without saying a word, forming a huge flow of people.

There was a different name written on the paper on each of their faces: He Runsheng, He Quanyou, He Rongqiu... The name on each of their faces began with the word "He". Each member of the He family moved stiffly, their limbs were awkward, and their steps were unsteady like puppets.

"The people in Hejia Village are not serious people. They are more like the byproducts of some kind of rules. If possible, I really don't want to have any more contact with this group of people."

Ning Zhe shook his head and pulled Feng Yuxu to lie down backwards to avoid being discovered by a few villagers who were too bored to look up at the sky.

(End of this chapter)