Chapter 14: He Family People

"Anything... are you sure?"

"Sure." Feng Yushu placed both hands on her chest. Under her snow-white collarbone were plump breasts. Her fair and delicate skin was even more beautiful than the white jade pendant hanging on her chest: "As long as I can leave here, you can let me do anything."

"Okay, then give me money." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe said immediately: "What valuable things do you have on you? Cash, jewelry, anything is fine, but let's make it clear first, I don't want things like jade pendants, pearls, and bodhi beads that are not easy to cash out. I only accept cash and gold, silver, and other precious metal payments."

Feng Yushu opened her mouth, seemingly wanting to say something, but in the end, she didn't say anything: "Okay..."

She raised her hand to take off the gold-inlaid jade phoenix hairpin inserted behind her head. Her jet-black long hair lost its restraint and fell like a waterfall of ink. Then she took out all the cash from her small handbag, took off the rose-carved diamond-set gold ring on her left ring finger, and handed all these things to Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe.

Feng Yushu didn't dislike Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's extortion behavior, but was even a bit happy, because money and such worldly possessions can only be useful in the real world where social order is normal. Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe asking her for gold, silver jewelry, and cash shows that he has sufficient confidence and enough grasp to be able to leave He Family Village and return to the real world.

As long as he can leave here, what do some jewelry and money count for? But Feng Yushu, who thought she had reached the second level, didn't know that Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe was at a higher level.

"This woman unexpectedly has some small cleverness, but I opened my mouth to ask for these treasures, which should be enough to make her start trusting me from her subconscious." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe was calm in his heart, stuffing Feng Yushu's hairpin, ring, and cash into the inner pocket of his jacket.

"Tell me, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe, what should we do next?" Feng Yushu asked while using the bodhi bead bracelet originally worn on her right hand to tie up her loose hair again.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe held Feng Yushu's hairpin in his fingers, examining the gold carving of 'Phoenix Perching on Wealth Wu Tong' at the top in detail, saying: "He Family Village has 2 rules."

"The first is the Serpent God. The Serpent God will inform us of the daily fortune through the almanac."

"The second is the bizarre. The ghost will impersonate others' identities in some way."

"He Family Village has 2 puzzles."

"The first is the Serpent God. It is known that the Serpent God is ill, ill regularly every month. I have already seen the symptoms of the illness, but the cause is unknown."

【Puzzle 1: Why is the Serpent God crazy?】

"The second is the ghost. It is known that the ghost doesn't have the ability to kill, but will impersonate others' identities to violate death taboos and kill with the Serpent God's knife."

【Puzzle 2: How does the ghost impersonate others' identities?】

"That ghost wandering in He Family Village cannot impersonate others' identities at will, otherwise we would have been wiped out long ago."

"Just like the Serpent God needs you to violate taboos to make your luck worse, and needs you to violate death taboos to kill you directly. That ghost wants to impersonate someone's identity, and also needs to satisfy some specific conditions, needs this person to violate some special 'rules', and its ability can be exerted."

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe held the Phoenix Perching on Wealth Wu Tong hairpin between his fingers, turning it lightly, and finally said: "I have two paths in my hands now—find the cause of the Serpent God's madness, or find out the rule-triggering conditions for that ghost to impersonate others... or simply solve both. In this way, perhaps we can uncover the true face of He Family Village and find the way out."

"Sounds very dangerous." Feng Yushu tied her soft and thick black hair into a convenient-to-act-in bun and asked: "Which side do you plan to start with?"

Serpent God? Or ghost?

"Neither." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe shook his head: "I'm sleepy now, I have to rest for a while, everything will wait until dawn."

"Eh?" Feng Yushu was stunned.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe smiled at her: "Thinking about things is very brain-consuming, so Lady, watch the night for me."

"Oh..."

Feng Yushu followed Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe out of the ancestral hall, climbed onto the roof from the small alley piled with firewood and tables and chairs next to it. The wet tiles carried a slippery chill. He just lay down on the roof of the ancestral hall, pulled a piece of silk from her small handbag to cover his face to block the moonlight, closed his eyes, and started sleeping directly. Encountering difficulties, sleep well.

"What kind of person is this?" Looking at Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe, who covered his face with a piece of silk and fell asleep as soon as he lay down, Feng Yushu felt a bit uneasy in her heart, and a bit dumbfounded.

She turned to look at the small alley they climbed up from earlier. The narrow alley was piled with a lot of firewood and disassembled old-fashioned folding round tables, leaning against the outer wall of the ancestral hall. The old wood grew spots of mold in the wet air.

"Why are there so many tables and chairs by the ancestral hall?" Feng Yushu felt suspicious and wanted to ask Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe, but found that he had actually fallen asleep.

Youth is good... unlike herself, who has to take sleeping pills to sleep well.

I don't know how Zhang Yangxu and Ye Miaozhu are doing now. Did they find the 'door' to get out?

I don't know how Zhi is doing now. Did she find that her mother is missing? Is she worried? And... and...

Perhaps because there were too many frights received earlier, and the emotional fluctuations were too frequent and intense in a short time, Feng Yushu's constantly tense nerves gradually relaxed with her exhausted mental state. The cold night breeze blew through the streets and alleys, wrapping her clothes tightly, and she also fell asleep in a daze.

The white, fat moon like a silkworm baby crawled toward the heart of the sky, and time came to dawn. A hot sun rose from the hills on the east side of the basin.

Feng Yushu opened her eyes dimly from her long sleep, subconsciously moving her limbs, but felt a bit stagnant, as if bound by something. The deep fear woke her up instantly. Sitting up and looking, she found that her body was covered with a large red piece of cloth at some point, used as a quilt, which looked very familiar.

"Looks familiar, right? This piece of cloth was originally covering Lin Zhiyuan." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe said indifferently, sitting beside her: "I agreed to let you watch the night for me, but you slept even more soundly than me, and your sleeping posture wasn't very good, squeezing onto me to keep warm... So I found you a quilt."

"Don't say thank you, just cooperate with my instructions obediently later."

"...... Sorry, wh, what instructions?" Feng Yushu rubbed her sleepy eyes with both hands and asked hurriedly.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe pointed down with his hand: "Well, look over there."

Feng Yushu looked in the direction he pointed. It was across the street, a small shop that was originally tightly closed, and it didn't know when it opened its door. From the door, a female head with a cloud hairpin on the back of her head and a square yellow paper stuck on her face slowly poked out, seemingly the landlady of this small shop.

Even across the street, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's eyesight could still clearly see the words written on the yellow paper stuck on the landlady's face, which were clearly:

【He Huifen】

This woman with her name written on her face walked out of the door and walked straight toward the ancestral hall. Her small feet kicked and stepped, walking very fast.

The people walking toward the ancestral hall were far more than just this one woman, and it wasn't just that small shop across the street that opened its door.

Feng Yushu had the table cloth covering her legs. She was shocked to see that as the moon set and the sun rose, this entire quiet street and even the entire He Family Village "woke up."

Residential houses, pharmacies, tea shops... doors that were tightly closed opened one after another, and figures covered with yellow paper on their faces walked toward the ancestral hall one after another.

They walked toward this side without saying a word, gathering into a huge crowd.

The paper on each of their faces had different names written on it: He Runsheng, He Quanyou, He Rongqiu... The names on each of their faces started with the character 'He'. The movements of each He family person were stiff, their limbs were raw, and their footsteps were stumbling like shadow puppets.

"The people of He Family Village are not decent people, but more like by-products of some rules. If possible, I really don't want to have much contact with this group of things."

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe shook his head, pulling Feng Yushu to lie back down, so as not to be discovered by the few villagers who were idle and looked up at the sky.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 15 =====