[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world":3,"chapter-survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-82":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Survival Guide in a Mysterious World",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2299051,4497,"Chapter 82: Hide and Seek","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-82",82,"\u003Cp>“God of Wealth?” Ning Zhe’s gaze sharpened as he recalled the couplet pasted on the front gate of the stilt house.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Welcome fortune through spring, summer, autumn, winter】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Admit wealth from east, south, west, north】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Eternal longevity】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Did your father write that couplet himself?” Ning Zhe asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shi Yurou nodded: “Yes, my father wrote it himself this past Dragon Boat Festival. My brother and I put it up together.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I see…” Ning Zhe’s gaze shifted from the childlike statue of the God of Wealth before him, taking in the study’s furnishings:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A writing desk with brush, ink, paper, and inkstone; a raw-wood tea table; wooden shelves displaying various curios; calligraphy and paintings on the walls; a bookshelf neatly lined with bound volumes; and five wicker chairs woven from supple, slender branches of some plant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A perfectly ordinary study—nothing strange about it. If anything was missing, it was a computer. Most modern people’s studies were essentially computer rooms, but Old Ji Baichang was clearly not an ordinary modern man.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe walked to the writing desk, pulled out the unfinished calligraphy from beneath the paperweight, and read its content:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【I’d rather go without meat than live without】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Without bamboo,” Ning Zhe recited the missing second half of the verse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Scholars invoked bamboo to symbolize integrity; Su Shi’s “On the Green Bamboo Pavilion of the Monk of Yucun” was a classic example: Without meat, one grows thin; without bamboo, one grows vulgar. Thinness can be remedied, but vulgarity cannot be cured.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Have you figured something out?” Shi Yurou stepped before Ning Zhe and asked softly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji Baichang’s will stated that anyone on the list—Ye Yao and the others—who came to the study and heard the will would naturally know what to do. Shi Yurou had seen this Ye Yao, masked as a demon, enter uninvited in the dead of night, and since entering, he had repeatedly fallen into deep thought. He might know something about the strange events following her father’s death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe lightly traced his fingers over the paper, then crouched to examine the wicker chair leaning against the desk. Suddenly, he said without warning: “Interesting…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What?” Shi Yurou was instantly confused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your father is hinting that I should go find his corpse… preferably with you or your brother.” Ning Zhe shook his head and placed the unfinished calligraphy back under the paperweight: “It’s late. I’ll come back tomorrow during daylight. Better visibility.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A hint left by her father? Shi Yurou was even more baffled—how had she missed any hint at all?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, out of politeness, she softly called out to Ning Zhe as he turned to leave: “Mr. Ye Yao, if you don’t mind, please sit and have a cup of tea before you go.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, it’s bitter.” Ning Zhe turned and walked down the stairs without looking back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shi Yurou froze, then immediately realized—she rushed back to the tea table and saw the tea leaves she’d put in the pot had been boiling nonstop since her conversation with Ye Yao, over five minutes without being removed from the heat. The dark brown brew looked like herbal medicine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It probably tasted like herbal medicine too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh no… so embarrassing…” Shi Yurou covered her eyes with both hands, her cheeks and ears flushed crimson.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sis, what are you doing?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Shi Yurou was mortified, a familiar voice came from the doorway. She opened her eyes to see a slender young man standing there—her twin brother, Ji Yunying.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beside Ji Yunying stood a refined young man, about twenty-five or twenty-six, with pale skin, soft features, and a perfectly tailored black Zhongshan suit. High-powered gold-rimmed glasses rested on his nose. “Yunying, you’re back. Who’s this?” Shi Yurou paused, then remembered—he was on her father’s list. “Mr. Lan Shiwen, correct? You look nothing like your photo. I didn’t recognize you at first—my apologies.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The man called Lan Shiwen glanced at Shi Yurou for a moment, then smiled gently: “I’ve never been photogenic. In girls’ terms, I guess that’s ‘doesn’t photograph well’? No need to apologize.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The three exchanged polite small talk. Ji Yunying noticed the freshly brewed tea on the table and asked curiously: “Did we have guests?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huh?” Shi Yurou frowned: “Didn’t you two see Mr. Ye Yao on your way up? He just left the study—he should’ve passed you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lan Shiwen frowned and exchanged a glance with Ji Yunying. Both shook their heads: “No. We didn’t see anyone on our way up.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was strange… Shi Yurou was certain Ning Zhe had just left the study, yet Ji Yunying and Lan Shiwen both claimed they hadn’t seen him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…Had he never left?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A chilling dread crept up Shi Yurou’s spine. She quickly pulled up the surveillance footage from Yunyun Mountain Villa—and saw a man in a long overcoat, wearing a demon mask, strolling calmly along the villa’s winding path, heading toward the main gate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But… Mr. Ye Yao did leave the study…” The chill in Shi Yurou’s chest eased slightly, yet an inexplicable confusion still clung to her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Tell me about Ji Baichang’s will,” Lan Shiwen said, clearly unwilling to dwell on the matter. He sat down on one of the wicker chairs by the tea table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji Yunying poured him a fresh cup of fragrant tea and said: “Our father’s will was strange. He told us to…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>=9+ Shu _ Ba\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Pfft—” Lan Shiwen nearly spat out his tea.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s wrong?” Ji Yunying stared at him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lan Shiwen glanced at his teacup, then at Shi Yurou, who stood nearby with both hands hidden behind her back and eyes darting away. He understood at once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Nothing… Ji Old Master always treated me well. His sudden death came like thunder from a clear sky—I just can’t accept it.” Lan Shiwen frowned and drained the rest of his tea, forcing a smile: “Good tea.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the siblings recounted Ji Baichang’s final will to Lan Shiwen, Ning Zhe climbed over the wall of Yunyun Mountain Villa and wandered through the forest, searching for something.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his left hand, Ning Zhe held a flashlight; in his right, he plucked a broad leaf, examined it closely, took a few steps forward, then plucked another leaf from a different tree, comparing the two.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After circling nearly the entire Yunyun Mountain Villa, Ning Zhe confirmed his suspicion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ji Baichang hid his corpse—and the ghost he controlled… He wants other Ascended Ones to find him.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Preferably, with Shi Yurou and Ji Yunying.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Old fox,” Ning Zhe sighed, unconcerned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had no interest in resolving the strange events after Ji Baichang’s death. Whether he died, whether his son lived, whether the entire Yun Capital perished—it meant nothing to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe cared about only one thing—how much did Ji Baichang know about the ghost Yu Zi possessed, the one that could imprint thoughts?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1136,"2026-06-20T06:29:21.893Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","cf3ef5c6ddc958afbe3d71f2ceb9e1f40ee022083754e5ce81982eedaa5c5542","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-83","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-81",353,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fsurvival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-cover.jpg"]