Chapter 6: Do Not Cross the Threshold of the Deep Mansion

After persisting for the whole night, Yang Xiao only took a short nap when the sky began to brighten; he had set an alarm in advance and also asked the beautiful receptionist to remind him when the time came.

To be honest, this sleep was not very sound; Yang Xiao, as luck would have it, dreamed of that woman again. In the dream, Yang Xiao was standing in the bathroom washing his face; he was facing the mirror, and just as he bent down, he suddenly saw through the reflection in the mirror a woman with disheveled hair standing behind him, holding a knife in her hand.

Waking up in a start, he realized it was already 9:00 AM. Packing his backpack, Yang Xiao went out to grab a quick breakfast, then hurried toward the train station.

After waiting in the train station for over an hour, watching the people coming and going, Yang Xiao's nervous mood eased quite a bit. Feng Men, this small town, did not have a train station; Yang Xiao needed to get off at the nearest train station and then take a minibus to get there.

Because it had rained in the mountains over the past two days, the road was a bit muddy, and the minibus drove very slowly. By the time he actually arrived, it was already 3:00 PM. Yang Xiao was left dizzy and nauseated by the smell of gasoline inside the old-fashioned minibus; in his memory, he had only ridden in such a vehicle when he was very young.

Walking in the town, the surrounding desolation was obvious; the old storefronts along the street were just left open, some even had no people to be seen inside, and the signs hung outside were also extremely dated.

Unlike what Yang Xiao had imagined, there were almost no tourists here; occasionally, one or two elderly people selling vegetables while sitting on small wooden stools could be seen by the alleys.

Following the mobile phone navigation, Yang Xiao found the old site of the Jinfeng Flour Mill No. 2. He didn't see a sign; he figured that after so long, it had long since been demolished.

With the situation unclear, he did not rashly enter. Yang Xiao walked slowly along the surrounding wall, observing as he went.

The post was right; the geographical location of this factory was quite excellent, already close to the center of the town, yet apart from some low-rise buildings that had long been empty, the vicinity was just large tracts of wasteland. If there were no problems, it would never be like this.

Besides this, Yang Xiao also discovered a problem: the wall outside this factory was very high, and it appeared not to have been built in the same period. Some damaged parts showed clear traces of repairs; of course, this was also a matter from decades ago at the latest.

After wandering around for a circle, the sun slanted to the west. Yang Xiao knew he could not wait any longer; who knew what would happen tonight? Finding a lower gap, Yang Xiao used the surrounding rubble to pad his feet, took a running start, and climbed up.

Observing for a few seconds and finding no problems, he jumped down. Not far ahead inside was a factory building; the walls of the factory were pitch black, bearing traces left by a fire.

After walking closer, Yang Xiao discovered that there was almost nothing left in the factory; it seemed to have been cleared out. On the ground, one could still see the holes left from installing machinery, and in the corner of the wall, there were some rusted iron frames that one couldn't even tell what they were used for before.

Continuing to walk inside, a stone-paved path began to appear under his feet, and some dilapidated brick walls also appeared nearby. The bricks were very large, made of whole pieces of greenish mountain stone. After examining them, Yang Xiao finally understood: it turned out this flour mill was built on top of an old-fashioned mansion. Back then, in order to build this flour mill, those people had even torn down more than half of the mansion.

Involuntarily, Yang Xiao thought of the Feng Family Mansion mentioned in the Script; if nothing went wrong, this should be the place.

At the corner between two factory buildings, there was also a Head-shaped Stone Well surrounded by rubble. The mouth of the well looked very small, and a large stone was pressed on top of it.

Yang Xiao looked at it for a few moments and quickly realized something was wrong; this well might have some significance. The large stone pressing on the well mouth had clearly been simply carved, shaped like a human head—with a wide skull, protruding forehead, broad face, narrow eyes, and long eyebrows; this was a very characteristic Bodhisattva Statue.

Yang Xiao took out his phone and aimed it at the well mouth, intending to get closer to take a look, when suddenly, a sharp shout from behind interrupted him.

"Who's there?!"

A middle-aged man suddenly walked over from more than ten meters behind him. He had a sturdy build, leopard eyes, a thick beard, and was wearing a security guard uniform with a police baton tucked into his waist. He looked somewhat fierce. "I'm asking you, who are you, and what are you doing here?"

Seeing the phone in Yang Xiao's hand, the man became even angrier. "Here to film those kinds of videos again, right? You're young, don't you want to live? Are you crazy about wanting to be famous?"

Yang Xiao knew the other party had mistaken him for one of those spirit-hunting bloggers. "Don't be nervous, I'm just looking around."

Yang Xiao fished a red banknote out of his pocket and walked up with a smile, wanting to stuff it to the security guard brother. "Brother, do me a favor. You take me for a stroll, I'll take a few pictures and leave."

"Nonsense!" The security guard glared, not buying it at all. "Leave, leave right now! Otherwise, I'm calling the police!"

There was no other way, so Yang Xiao had to leave. He hadn't expected that this place would actually have a security guard watching it. Leaving the factory, he arrived in the town to wander around. Now that it was getting late, he couldn't go to the factory again, so he planned to ask around in the town to find out the situation.

On the way back, he opened his phone again to check the Tieba forum, but unfortunately, the person who posted the thread still hadn't replied.

Gradually, a light rain began to drift from the sky. Yang Xiao quickened his pace; there weren't many pedestrians left on the road. Most towns in the mountains were abandoned like this—the young people all flooded into big cities to work, leaving behind only the elderly who were reluctant to leave their homeland, and some children who were inconvenient to take along.

Turning a corner, Yang Xiao saw an elderly person hiding from the rain under the eaves, with a few cloth bags of vegetables in front of them.

The old person's hair was almost completely white, deep wrinkles were etched into their face, and they were wearing a piece of old clothing with quite a bit of ethnic flair; it seemed they had lived in the town for a long time.

Yang Xiao jogged over through the rain and stood under the eaves with the old person. The old person's gaze was profound, with a sense of clarity that came from having seen through the secular world after experiencing the vicissitudes of life; it was a flavor unique to the mountain folk in the great mountains.

"Elder?"

Facing Yang Xiao's greeting, the old person only moved their eyelids, then gently shook their head, as if they didn't want to concern themselves with secular matters.

"Elder, are you selling these vegetables?"

"Selling!" The old person turned their head instantly, and the look in their eyes when they looked at Yang Xiao also became gentle. "3 yuan per bag, take whichever one you like."

"I'll take all your vegetables, but could you please tell me about the Jinfeng Flour Mill No. 2? Was that place a big mansion before?" Yang Xiao got straight to the point.

Upon hearing the words "Jinfeng Flour Mill No. 2," the old person's eyes became strange, appearing somewhat wary, but all of this vanished instantly after Yang Xiao pulled out a 20-yuan banknote. The old person spoke in a heavy local accent, rambling on to Yang Xiao for over ten minutes, but unfortunately, they were all hearsay stories, not even as detailed as what he had learned on the post.

Fortunately, one point was confirmed: the location of the factory was indeed a big mansion before, but that mansion had long since fallen into ruin and had nothing to do with the building of the factory.

With no new gains, Yang Xiao planned to leave. The old person, having received the money, was in a very good mood; they even lit a bag of dry tobacco for themselves, sat cross-legged on the ground, and smacked their lips. "I say, what's going on? Why are you city folks all blindly asking about the factory lately?"

Hearing this, Yang Xiao's footsteps paused, somewhat surprised. "Besides me, has anyone else asked recently?"

"Just this noon." The old person puffed on the yellowed old cigarette holder and lifted their chin. "After asking, they headed toward the factory."

"But the factory has security guards watching it, and they don't let outsiders in."

After hearing Yang Xiao's words, the old person pursed their lips and chuckled. "You kid, don't talk nonsense. That factory hasn't been looked after for decades. We mountain folk all avoid walking by there. Security guards? How could there possibly be security guards?"

Yang Xiao's head buzzed. "No security guards? Are you sure?"

The old person shook their head, as if they didn't want to bother with Yang Xiao anymore. A moment later, Yang Xiao also figured something out: that security guard was indeed not quite right; the locals had heavy accents, but that security guard had no accent at all.

"Elder, what did that outsider who asked you about the flour mill look like?" Yang Xiao pulled a red banknote directly from his pocket.

The old person's leisurely gaze instantly focused, and they snatched the red banknote. "Hmm... let me think. I remember! A man, thick beard, flat face, leopard eyes, looked fierce, and the way he looked at people didn't seem like a good person."

"Damn..."

Yang Xiao took a deep breath; the person the old person described was exactly that fake security guard he had met in the old factory. Coming at this time was probably no coincidence. Yang Xiao guessed that the other party might have encountered something similar to himself, and it looked like they were clearly much more experienced than he was. "Elder, did that person say anything else?"

"Hmm... it seems they did, but my brain for a moment..." The old person touched the back of their head, putting on an expression of trying hard to think.

Yang Xiao pulled out another red banknote and shook it gently. "No rush, think slowly."

"Oh, oh, oh, I remember!" The old person's spirit was lifted. "That person asked me if there were any ancient sayings or old rules passed down in the town."

"What did you say?"

"I said I didn't know about ancient sayings or anything, but there is a nursery rhyme that has been passed down in our mountains for some years." The old person recalled it word by word: "Tou... Tou Nu Bu Wai Jia, the second son stays by the knees, shallow blessings and thin fate, do not cross the threshold of the deep mansion."