Chapter 539

"Dead Pangzi, you go die for me!" Four eyes locked, Han Duo's eyes narrowed, Han Duo pulled out the whip, and I, fallen to the ground, spun again like a top.

"You... what do you want to do?" Pangzi stared wide-eyed, stammering, Han Duo's fierceness frightened him so he couldn't recover.

Han Duo stepped forward, cracking her finger bones, and fiercely said to Pangzi: "I want to kill you, then commit suicide."

"Don't, miss, you still have a beautiful youth, flower-like years. It's not worth it for me, an ugly and clumsy fatty, to commit suicide." Pangzi curled his lip, after being cowed he actually pointed at me: "Him, yes, that's Hai Sheng; if you kill yourself, Hai Sheng will surely follow you in death—this is one whip, three lives, miss!"

Seeing Pangzi shift the blame onto me, I silently thought "uh-oh", then hurriedly explained to Han Duo: "Little millet, calm down first, your clothes weren't taken off by me, it was Pangzi who had someone strip you, a woman. Putting you in that pot of herbal soup was to dispel your cold poison."

I gave an embarrassed laugh while explaining the situation; fortunately, Han Duo's anger was just talk. Mainly, after waking up I found myself lying in a pot of filthy soup—who wouldn't be angry? Besides, Han Duo had been stripped naked.

"Alright, stop dragging this useless nonsense, Hai Sheng, pick up your gear and follow me." Han Duo put away her whip and waved at me.

I rubbed my head, curious: "Where are we going?" My wounds had just healed, how could I not resist running around everywhere so soon?

"Naturally to find the culprit." Han Duo crossed her arms, recalling carefully: "When I was unconscious last night, I thought it over—although we don't know the origin of that corpse, I know that to raise a corpse you need a feng shui site of the corpse-raising evil burial pattern. The ground before the door is paved with lime glass, and all around nothing grows."

"Don't you think this is a great clue for us?" Han Duo stared at us, word by word: "Moreover, controlling corpses is done by souls; the other party's location must be within this suburban range, not exceeding ten li. Coincidentally, I know there's a house in the suburbs that fits this corpse-raising pattern..."

"You couldn't mean that haunted house!" Han Duo hadn't finished speaking when Pangzi exclaimed first.

The haunted house they spoke of lies in the suburbs north of the city; before the Qing dynasty, that place was an execution ground for criminals, and during the Republican war period it became a burial mound. Corpses littered the ground, and strange things often happened there.

However, such a place where strangers should not approach still has several houses left. Of course, no one lives in those houses; the owners keep them there mainly hoping the government will one day develop the area and requisition their houses. That way the owners will surely receive a considerable demolition compensation.

Among these houses, the most famous is a villa left behind by a civilian official. At night, passersby often hear ghostly wailing from inside the house; many feng shui masters say the house's layout is a yin-yang reversal pattern in feng shui, suitable for ghosts to dwell, not for humans.

By ill fate, that civilian official's concubine loved cats, so she had long pillars built on the morning and evening sides of the gate, their tops featuring two claws holding up a chubby beckoning cat. Though it seemed meant to invite wealth, it actually blocked the sunlight. Moreover, the cat is western yin metal, which easily attracts yin energy in feng shui; over time the mansion became a place of excessive yin and deficient yang.

After Han Duo's reminder, we all recalled that haunted house. What Han Duo said seemed reasonable; the classics record that the conditions for controlling corpses are extremely strict, with limits on distance from the moving corpse, and besides, the haunted house's layout is indeed very suitable for raising corpses.

"I think we should wait for QingSongShu and Seventh Lord to return before discussing this." I recalled Seventh Lord's parting instructions to us, and couldn't help feeling worried.

"I can't wait; you go wait slowly yourself!" Han Duo is impatient; just thinking of the tragic deaths of those siblings in Tongyuan Bay makes her unable to stay calm.

Pangzi also chimed in: "What's there to fear? I'm here! Lord Wang, I've painstakingly cultivated the Huaguang Dao method for twenty years; that fire technique isn't just for show."

Can I say it's precisely because of your uncertain factor that I'm so worried?

Pangzi also went to get his gear; seeing this, I couldn't stop them. So I had no choice but to risk my life to accompany them, joining them to explore that haunted house.

Everyone's gear was ready; just in case, Pangzi drew a few more corpse-suppressing talismans. As we picked up our things and had just reached the gate of Chan Yi Tang, an old man suddenly blocked me.

"May I ask, are you Mr. Chen Hai Sheng?" the old man wearing white gloves asked me.

I thought it over many times, but I had no impression of this person in my mind, so I asked him: "I am Chen Hai Sheng; may I ask who you are, and what business do you have with me?"

The old man calmly said: "I am a servant of the Yao family; our young lady wishes to see you!"

The Yao family's servant must be Yao Yirong. I couldn't think of what Yao Yirong wanted from me, and I didn't take it to heart, so I told the old man, "Whatever it is, let's talk after I return."

But the old man refused, seizing me and insisting I must see Yao Yirong. His anxious tone let me sense something off. Since he wouldn't say what was going on even if he died, I could only give him a helpless look toward Pangzi and Han Duo.

Go to Yirong's place; I and Han Duo will be enough here. Pangzi patted my shoulder and said.

Mm, you all be careful; if you spot anything odd, turn back right away. As long as we keep the green hills, we need not fear lack of firewood.

After saying that, I followed the old man and got into his car.

Why is Yao Yirong looking for me so urgently? The old man can't even wait a moment.

Full of doubt, I followed the old man to the Yao residence. Upon entering, I saw Yao Wenju sitting in the living room, his face gaunt; the sight nearly gave me a heart attack.

In my impression, Yao Wenju has always been concerned with his appearance. Yet today he is utterly disheveled, resembling my missing master. Approaching him, a strong smoky stench immediately assailed my nostrils.

"Wen bro, what's wrong with you? And Yirong, he summoned me so urgently—what's going on?" As soon as I finished speaking, Yao Wenju weakly covered his face.

"Yirong is upstairs; go up and see her." Yao Wenju's words were choked with tears, expressing unspeakable heartache.

Startled, I rushed up to the second floor; Yao Wenju's whole presence gave me a deep sense of foreboding, telling me that Yao Yirong had met with misfortune!

I practically charged up to the second floor in one breath; even pushing open Yao Yirong's door required great effort.

I pushed the door open, and the sight before me startled me. Yao Yirong lay exhausted on the bed, her face completely bloodless, deathly pale. Seeing me, she struggled to sit up, but any movement triggered a violent coughing fit.

"What's wrong with you, are you sick?" I nervously rushed over and helped her sit up. At that moment, a servant entered carrying a bowl of bright red herbal medicine.

"Aunt Zhang, why are you bringing the medicine in again? I told you I hate the taste, I don't want to drink it, cough cough." As Yao Yirong spoke, she burst into a fit of violent coughing.

"If you're ill, how can you not take the medicine? Stop acting like a child, come, drink it." I picked up the spoon, without hesitation scooped a spoonful of the herbal broth, and fed it to Yao Yirong's mouth.

This time Yao Yirong was obedient, surprisingly so; she merely gave a soft hum and swallowed the herbal broth in one gulp.

Although called a soup, the broth was more like a thick gruel—red all over, sticky, resembling sesame paste, with a hint of coptis flavor, yet its color resembled blood swallow and saffron.

Spoonful by spoonful, after feeding Yao Yirong the medicine, I handed the bowl to the servant, who took it away.

I gently took Yao Yirong's small hand; it felt icy cold. Unconsciously checking her pulse, what I felt startled me.

Her pulse was extremely weak, almost unbelievable; since pulse connects to heartbeat, this indicated her heart beat slower than normal.

I was hesitating whether to ask her, when she suddenly said to me: "Chen Hai Sheng, I want to ask you, in your impression, what kind of person am I really?"

What kind? Tsundere, likes to throw childish tantrums, sometimes unreasonable. After a moment's thought, I forced a very kind smile: "You're a little angel, gentle, cute, kind-hearted."

I admit what I said was nonsense, but Pangzi is right—when facing women, you must learn to spout lies. When a woman asks you what kind of person she is, you must answer honestly, just as if she sincerely asked you: "Tell me about your ex-girlfriend, I won't get angry."

If you describe your ex-girlfriend as perfect, she may seem fine on the surface, but in reality her hands could be pinching each other behind her back, nails digging into flesh.

A blush blossomed on Yao Yirong's face, revealing two small dimples as she shyly thanked me.

At this moment Yao Yirong was truly strange—she neither teased nor harmed me, but instead became, well, a lovely little beauty. This abnormal behavior didn't make me happy; rather, it made me more worried.

She talked with me about many past events, such as when I first barged into her room, the laughable kiss at the Anhui ancient castle, and also the little things from our time in Aomen.

"Do you still remember? That night in Aomen, I smashed a northeastern tiger's head with a glass bottle. You were the weakest fighter among us, yet when those thugs surrounded me, you still stepped forward without hesitation."

Saying this, Yao Yirong broke into a smile and said: "Chen Hai Sheng, you are a good person."