Chapter 37: Bishuiwan Manor

The hotel where Bai Fugui, Feng Yusu and their family of three stayed was located outside Gubei Town. It was a leisure estate built in the clear bay downstream of Xuanhu Waterfall. It covered an area of about one hectare, which was about the same size as a regular primary school.

The design concept of Bishuiwan Manor is very novel, and its layout and decoration are also the European style that has been popular in recent years. The style is quite inconsistent with the quaint Jiangnan water town like Gubei Town, as if it was cut out and photoshopped from somewhere else.

In fact, this is true. The Bishuiwan Manor is not an old building with a long history, but a new industry that was just built and completed a few months ago. It is said that the investor of the manor got the inside information that Gubei Town was going to build a large-scale project from certain channels, so he spent a lot of money to buy this land in advance downstream of Xuanhu Waterfall.

Bai Fugui's family were the first guests to stay in this manor. Zhang Yangxu did not book a room here simply because he did not want to bring bad luck.

Then, under the bright moonlight, a magpie spread its wings and landed on the hair of a human statue in the side yard of the manor in the cool evening breeze. The statue was in the shape of a white girl holding a pottery jar in both hands, with clear water pouring out of it. It was an artificial fountain.

Under the gurgling fountain, a young woman in gorgeous purple dress sat on a rattan chair, her eyes frequently looking toward a winding path leading out of the manor. She seemed to be anxiously waiting for something.

Seeing that there was no one around, the magpie standing on the statue landed lightly beside her and transformed into a tall and handsome young man. His slender, white hand like a woman's gently patted Feng Yusu's shoulder.

"who!--"

Feng Yushu called out subconsciously, until Ning Zhe's palm covered her mouth again, her tense body finally relaxed: "Ning Zhe?!... When did you come here?"

"I flew here." Ning Zhe said half-jokingly, and turned into a black and white magpie again, standing on Feng Yusu's shoulder: "Although Hejia Village was destroyed, the rules of that ghost did not seem to be annihilated, but transferred to me."

In other words, Ning Zhe now has the ability to "steal other people's identities through false perceptions."

"Surely..." Feng Yushu turned his head and looked at the small bird standing on his shoulder in surprise: "I thought the only people whose identities could be stolen were humans."

"I used to think so." Ning Zhe turned back into a human, stood in front of Feng Yusu and raised his hand: "Let's find a secluded place to talk."

"it is good."

Feng Yusu brought Ning Zhe to a small pavilion surrounded by flower beds and ornamental trees. It was remote and hidden enough. Before the Gubei Town scenic area was actually built and the Bishuiwan Manor officially opened to the public, no one was interested in this place. Only gardeners and other maintenance personnel would come here during the day.

The two sat face to face in the pavilion, and Feng Yushu first asked his most pressing question: "What exactly happened in Hejia Village? In the last few seconds before returning to the real world, I heard two different screams and cries, and then everything was over. How did you... do it?"

"I told you, I killed the snake god and the ghost." Ning Zhe spread his hands: "As for how I killed them, don't worry about it. You just need to know that I have fulfilled my promise."

As it was a matter concerning himself, he did not want to reveal too many details to Feng Yushu, but instead asked, "What about you? During the time you were separated from me, what did you experience in Hejia Village?"

Feng Yusu nodded and told his story truthfully.

——After 'Zhang Yangxu' was unlucky enough to be hit to death by tiles, the ghost did not disappear, but reappeared in front of her in the image of Ye Miaozhu, and tried to persuade Feng Yusu to listen to his explanation.

But Feng Yusu's mental state was on the verge of collapse at that time. In a frenzy, she first poked out her own eyes, and then pierced her eardrum with two chopsticks. After becoming completely blind and deaf, Feng Yusu completely lost the ability to obtain information from the outside world, and the ghost was finally helpless.

"I said your mental state is not very good." Ning Zhe said with some surprise: "But if the ear canal is severely damaged and you don't get professional treatment in time, you won't live long. You are committing suicide."

"I... I don't know." Feng Yushu shook her head in a daze: "I really had no choice at that time. After Zhang Yangxu died, it was Ye Miaozhu, and after Ye Miaozhu died, it was Xie Sining... The ghost kept changing into different people to induce me, I... I really had no choice..." "It's over, it's okay, auntie." Seeing that she was about to go crazy again, Ning Zhelian had to stop her and took out a napkin from his pocket and handed it to her to wipe her tears: "Your makeup is ruined. If you go back like this, your husband will find out."

"Well..." Feng Yushu took the napkin and wiped her tears while saying, "He won't find out. We have slept in separate rooms for many years."

"I'm not interested in your married life. There's no point in telling me this." Ning Zhe shook his head: "Where's your daughter Bai Zhi? I want to know something about her."

It would be even better if I could get her computer and read the original diary directly.

"Ah! Yes, yes...Azhi." Speaking of her daughter, Feng Yushu's subjective initiative immediately rose. She took out an iPad Mini from her purse, unlocked it and handed it to Ning Zhe: "I can't bring her computer, but I have backed up her diary. Please take a look... I really want to know, what happened to Azhi?"

Why did Baizhi dream about the scenes in Hejia Village repeatedly?
She had obviously never been to Ancient Monument Town...

"Okay, let me see, the private diary of a troubled girl... Why is it like a gal game?"

Ning Zhe opened the text, and the first sentence that caught his eye was 'This world is hopeless'. Ning Zhe couldn't help but hold his forehead and close his eyes: "Fuck, so immature."

Bai Zhi's diary gives people a very strong impact. The first diary was written 5 years ago. At that time, she was just 14 years old and was in the first grade of junior high school. The middle school Bai Zhi attended was a famous aristocratic school in Yongzhou. The relationship between new classmates could be said to be friendly or distant.

Some boys showed their kindness to her because of her beautiful appearance, and some girls took the initiative to get close to her because of her wealthy family background, but Baizhi turned everyone away and did not have even the most basic interaction with anyone.

In her diary, she described her classmates as childish.

"Oh my god..." Ning Zhe quickly finished reading Bai Zhi's diary of three years in junior high school, and felt as if he had read "Bai Zhi (Blackened)": "Auntie, do you know that your daughter has a severe case of chuunibyou?"

"What is chuunibyou?" Feng Yuxu looked anxious.

"Well, people of aunties' generation really don't know much about the two-dimensional world." Ning Zhe was not surprised by her reaction.

As he swiped the tablet screen and was about to start speed-reading Bai Zhi's diary from high school, the sky above suddenly darkened.

"What's going on?" Ning Zhe looked sideways and saw that the bright moon that was originally hanging in the sky had disappeared at some point, just like a light bulb that suddenly went out without power. The whole world fell into darkness and not even a star could be seen.

In the pitch-black darkness, only the iPad in Ning Zhe's hand emitted a beige light. The manor in the distance was still dark and silent, and the sound of flowing water could be heard.

But the next second, the pitch-black manor suddenly lit up, and every lamp in every room was lit at the same moment. The bright light penetrated the pointed-roof castle-like building, as if a huge light bulb was lit in the dark, dazzling and eye-catching.

Then, a shrill scream was heard from the manor.

"Dead!"

Ning Zhe lowered his head and saw that the first sentence in Bai Zhi’s high school diary was: “Ghosts are everywhere.”

(End of this chapter)

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