Chapter 552: Jian Yixin's House is Haunted

The rest of the journey went smoothly; the group transferred from the cruise ship to the high-speed train and arrived in Jiangzhou without incident.

Everyone headed home.

Shi Yucheng took Shi Liu back to the nursing home, but before leaving, he patted his son-in-law on the shoulder, a rare gesture: "It hasn't been easy for you either; live your life well."

"Huh? Oh, right, please take care on your way."

Over the many years, this was the first time Shi Yucheng had spoken to Sheng Hanyu like this.

Calm and collected, without any trace of emotion.

Was this a proactive gesture of goodwill?

Ice three feet thick is not formed by a single day's cold.

After so many things had happened over the years, Shi Yucheng's impression of Sheng Hanyu was poor to the extreme.

Even though he had later reluctantly accepted him as his son-in-law again, it was only for the sake of his second daughter, Shi Youxuan, and his granddaughter, Shi Ran.

Accepting him was one thing, but he still didn't like him.

But this time at sea, he had seen with his own eyes that when the Pirates arrived, Sheng Hanyu hadn't hesitated for a second to rush out, pulling his daughter into his arms to protect her.

And when Shi Youxuan proposed going to meet the Pirates, everyone opposed it, but he was the only one who didn't, and he even accompanied her!

And so, he was moved, and he accepted him—he accepted him from the heart.

……

Jian Yixin's family of three arrived home.

They saw the servants gathered outside the courtyard, and she was a bit puzzled: "Why are you all standing outside?"

Seeing their employers had returned, every servant's face showed an expression of relief: "You're back, that's great."

"This is my resignation letter; please approve it immediately."

"This is mine."

"Mine."

"This is mine."

Every single servant in the house had handed in a resignation letter, demanding to leave at once.

Jian Yixin held the thick stack in her hand; she wasn't angry, but calmly said to everyone: "You can leave if you want, but you have to give me a reason; I want the truth."

She didn't believe the so-called reasons in the resignation letters, such as "family matters" or "illness making it unsuitable to continue working"; they were clearly excuses and didn't count.

Sheng Zerong prepared to carry the child into the house.

This was a small matter that his wife could resolve quickly; there was no need for him to step in.

The servants had been hesitating about whether to tell the truth, and even if they did, would they be believed?

But seeing Sheng Zerong holding the young master and preparing to enter the house, the expressions of several people changed immediately.

"Sir, you cannot go in."

"There is a ghost in the house!"

A ghost?

Was this their reason for resigning?

Yes.

Sheng Zerong certainly didn't believe there was a ghost in his house; he took the lead in carrying the child inside, and after going in for a moment and coming back out, he said to Jian Yixin: "Come in, it's fine."

Jian Yixin said to the servants: "It's daytime now; even if there were a 'ghost,' it would be at night, right? Let's go inside and talk."

The group looked at each other, but Jian Yixin ignored them, stepping inside in her high heels while saying: "You don't want to leave without even taking your wages, do you? That would be too generous."

The servants: ……

Everyone followed her into the Villa.

There was a thin layer of dust in the living room; it looked like it hadn't been cleaned for at least two days.

Jian Yixin and Sheng Zerong sat on the sofa, while the servants stood in a row opposite them.

"Speak, you go first," Jian Yixin pointed at the oldest servant in the house, Huang Ma.

Huang Ma had worked in the house the longest and was usually eloquent; Jian Yixin had originally planned to promote her to housekeeper, but it seemed that wouldn't be necessary now.

Even if she were to stay, she couldn't be used!

Unable to take responsibility, running away when things happened, lacking a sense of duty—such a person could not be promoted.

"Ma'am, A Qin discovered this matter; it's better to let her speak first," Huang Ma declined.

A Qin was the servant who handled the cleaning; she was diligent and honest, timid and quiet, but meticulous and hardworking, and she kept the place very clean.

Jian Yixin frowned slightly, but she didn't scold Huang Ma, turning instead to ask A Qin: "A Qin, you speak."

"Ma'am, it's like this."

A Qin began to stammer; because she was nervous, her speech was a bit disjointed, but she managed to express the meaning.

On the third day after they had left home, A Qin went to the children's room early in the morning to clean as usual, only to find the small quilt on Moli's bed torn to shreds, and the clothes in the closet also ripped into strips.

There were claw marks everywhere on the windows and the floor.

But the windows were closed tight, and there were no small animals kept in the house; how could there be claw marks?

She called the gardener, Lao Zhang, and asked him if he had heard any noise during the night.

Lao Zhang hadn't heard a thing, and no one else in the house had noticed anything amiss!

Huang Ma told her to clean the room and not to make a fuss.

She said it was probably just a stray cat that had gotten in, and told the person on night watch to be more alert and not let any wild cats or the like get in again.

The matter was considered over; during the day, everyone carefully checked every corner of the house, going through the front and back yards, but there was no sign of a wild cat, not even any claw marks.

That night, before going to sleep, everyone checked all the doors and windows in the house, closing them tightly.

Lao Zhang kept watch until midnight before drifting off into a hazy sleep.

However, early the next morning.

Those strange claw marks appeared again; this time it wasn't in the children's room, but in the master bedroom.

Not only were there claw marks, but the neatly made quilt had also been disturbed.

It was as if something had slept on the bed, and it was quite large... the impression on the bedding was as big as two people, yet the claws were very small!

The red wine in the wine cellar had also been stolen and drunk.

The wine bottles weren't broken, but the corks had been opened; six or seven bottles were already empty when discovered.

They called Jian Yixin and Sheng Zerong, but because the signal at sea was poor, they couldn't get through several times.

Everyone didn't dare to continue living there, so they all left the Villa.

They knew the owners would be back in two days, so they waited outside the Villa for these two days, just waiting for them to return to hand in their resignation letters.

Everyone works to earn money; if they had to risk their lives to earn a little money, no one would be willing.

Jian Yixin asked Sheng Zerong in a low voice: "Husband, did you notice anything unusual when you went upstairs to check just now?"

Sheng Zerong shook his head slightly, indicating there was nothing.

Jian Yixin asked everyone: "Did you call the police?"

"No."

Several people shook their heads in unison.

Jian Yixin: "Why didn't you call the police?"

Then everyone's gaze turned to Huang Ma; although no one spoke, she understood—Huang Ma wouldn't let them call the police!

Jian Yixin originally had a housekeeper at home who managed the household in perfect order, but later the housekeeper had some family issues and couldn't stay, so the housekeeper resigned and went home.

After the housekeeper left, because Huang Ma had the most seniority here, she was usually held in higher regard.

Although she wasn't promoted, everyone assumed she would be the next housekeeper, so naturally, they followed Huang Ma's lead; when the owners weren't home, she was the one in charge.

Seeing everyone looking at her, Huang Ma couldn't push the responsibility away.

She forced a smile onto her face and explained: "Sir, Madam, I didn't let them call the police out of good intentions. If the police were called, the news that the house is haunted would spread outside. By then, if you didn't want to live here anymore, the house wouldn't even be sellable."

"Oh?"

Jian Yixin drew out the sound, stood up from the sofa, and paced smilingly in front of her: "Huang Ma, you really went to great lengths for our sake, didn't you? You've already reached a conclusion without even investigating the cause?"

"So, you were also the one who incited everyone to resign..."

She denied it: "No, Madam, you are wronging me by saying that. I have never thought that way, and I didn't incite anyone to resign; they didn't want to work here anymore on their own."