Chapter 24

Li Miao picked up the snake corpse with the branch and looked at it carefully.

The skin of a snake is dead and won't rot. External injuries on its body before death can be reflected on this skin.

Li Miao looked for a long time and found a small gap in the snake corpse's belly.

He observed the gap carefully, threw the snake corpse into the pond, and had a rough idea in his heart.

It was about four or five in the afternoon, and it was still early for the ghost haunting, so waiting here was meaningless.

Li Miao yawned, went back to find the trembling servant, and asked him to lead the way to eat and rest.

The sun set and the moon rose, and the time reached the third watch.

When Squire Wu moved out, he took away many servants, so many rooms in the Wu mansion were empty at this time.

The servants were also panicked by the haunting recently; usually, the rooms were full, and there was some comfort in having people around, but now it was too eerie, so they simply gathered in a few nearby houses to rest.

Most of them were already fast asleep.

A servant woke up, turned over, and got out of bed to go to the latrine, but didn't dare to open the door when he reached it.

After hesitating for a while, he went back and woke up a handyman he usually got along with.

"Hey, wake up."

"What for?"

"Accompany me to the latrine."

The person who was woken up was a bit dissatisfied, but thinking that he would need someone to accompany him when he needed to get up at night, he didn't say much, put on an outer garment, and walked toward the latrine with him.

Fortunately, the latrine was not near the haunted courtyard.

The two walked to the latrine, the one who needed to get up went in, and the handyman who accompanied him waited outside the door.

In late autumn, the weather was getting cold.

The wind blowing through the corridor picked up fallen leaves, rolling dry grass, rustling.

The servant who got up squatted for a while, felt cold in his heart, and knocked on the pillar.

"Are you there?"

"Yes, yes, hurry up, I'm freezing to death," came an impatient answer from outside the door.

He breathed a sigh of relief and continued: "Tell me, what kind of officials were those four people who came during the day?"

"They were quite kind, unlike Lord Wang who came to the mansion before."

"But officials usually ride in sedans, why were they leading their own horses?"

"Those two women were really beautiful, even more beautiful than the Third Lady."

"Sigh."

"If only I could marry such a beautiful wife in the future."

He rambled on, finished his business, pulled up his pants, and prepared to open the door and go out.

But he suddenly stopped.

He suddenly realized that the person outside the door hadn't spoken for a long time.

He asked in a trembling voice in a low voice: "Are... are you there?"

No one answered.

"You... don't scare me..."

"If you're there, say something... stop messing around..."

There was still silence outside the door.

"Stop messing around... I'm scared, is that not enough..."

He wanted to open the door to see, his hand placed on the door, but he was shaking like a sieve and didn't dare to push it open.

Drip.

The wind stopped for a moment, and he heard outside the door, right outside the door, the sound of liquid dripping.

Drip.

Drip.

One sound after another, as if knocking on his heart.

"It's here... it's over..."

Remembering what a handyman who had bumped into a ghost said a few days ago, he panicked.

"What to do, what to do, what to do!"

The latrine only had one door, and the person outside the door had no movement; most likely they had been harmed by the ghost!

The ghost might be right outside the door, waiting for him to open it!

"The window, right, the window!"

There was a small window left above the latrine for ventilation, not in the same direction as the door. He was thin and could crawl through!

He hurriedly ran under the window and jumped with all his might.

But his hands went limp from fear, and he couldn't grab it.

He was so anxious that tears flowed out; he smashed his hands on his legs twice and wiped off the sweat.

He jumped with all his might again, and this time he finally grabbed the window sill.

He kicked the wall twice in excitement, used his hands to pull himself up, and grabbed the outer wall.

"Quick, quick!"

He pressed his hands on the wall, wanting to crawl out, but couldn't, as if his clothes were caught.

He tried to exert some force, couldn't break free, sent his body back into the latrine, and reached out a hand to push away the corner of his clothes.

"Creak——"

Just at this moment, he heard the sound of the door being pushed open behind him.

His hands and feet went limp, he fell down, and sat on the ground.

Behind him came the sound of clothes being blown by the wind, reaching behind him.

He barely turned his head to look.

But he saw a blood-stained white garment floating in the air above him.

Further up was a face covered in blood, a pair of bleeding holes, facing him.

"！！！！"

He was terrified to the extreme at this time, opened his mouth to call for help, but his throat felt like it was being gripped, and he only let out a hoarse hiss.

That face paused in the air and pounced on him!

"Ah！！！！"

He let out a shrill scream as he wished and was finally scared unconscious.

That face pounced on him, but it made a dull sound, fell off his body, and rolled on the ground a few times.

That white garment also covered him lightly, empty inside.

After a while, the garment seemed to be pulled, sticking to the ground and exiting the latrine.

Li Miao leaned over to pick up the garment, pulled a silk thread from it with force.

"Heavenly silkworm silk, good stuff."

Li Miao turned to look at a roof: "You use it for this? Scaring people?"

A light sound came from the roof, and a person in night clothes jumped up, stepping on the eaves and fleeing outside without a word.

"Don't be in such a hurry to leave."

Li Miao wrapped the silk thread around his hand, turned to the servants who had run over to check after hearing the scream, and said: "There are two people by the latrine, one was drugged, one was scared unconscious."

"Carry them to the room and find a doctor to see them tomorrow."

After saying that, he also leaped up, stepping on the roof to chase the person who fled.

On the other side, Wang Hai, Li Xiaosi, and Mei Qinghe also heard the movement.

The three of them knew there would be a situation at night, so they had rested in the afternoon.

At this time, all three were in a small courtyard, Wang Hai in one room, Li Xiaosi and Mei Qinghe in another, and they were all awake now.

Hearing the scream, they knew that with Li Miao there, they didn't need to worry, just take care of themselves, so they didn't move.

Just in this small courtyard, a big cat suddenly jumped down.

This cat's steps were stiff, walking crookedly, covered in mud and grass, its fur damaged, only a pair of eyes emitting a green light.

It walked a few steps in the courtyard, first looking up at the two rooms with lights.

One room reflected two shadows, and one room had only one.

It hesitated for a moment and walked shakily toward the room with fewer people.

In the room, Wang Hai listened to the sound outside, took out a pair of gloves inlaid with iron pieces and sharp hooks on the fingers from his bag, and put them on.

"Choosing me?"

"Then you've really chosen well."

"Digging things out from under the skin and flesh is my best skill."

(End of chapter)