Pouring so water down his throat, the unconscious person slowly woke up. Though covered in blood, most of it wasn’t his; only his arm had marks from nails scratching.
Before Kou Yushan could ask questions, the three Green Forest n surrounded him, forcefully separating everyone. The burly leader with a bushy beard took the paper Sang Que had just handed to Kou Yushan and quickly scanned it.
Then, the burly bearded man grabbed the person off the ground and pulled him up before him.
"Speak, who are you, and what is going on here?"
A fierce deanor, aggressive attitude, as if interrogating a criminal.
The people from Black Mountain Village and Shihe Village feared these three n and retreated sowhat.
Qin Fangru holding He Shou’an beside the fire, and Liu Tianyou still leaned against the wall, clutching his bundle.
The old monk silently recited scripture with his prayer beads, showing indifference.
The man who had fainted, upon waking, felt disoriented montarily, slowly scanning the people around before settling his gaze on the face of the burly bearded man clutching his collar.
The disheveled-looking middle-aged man’s eyes welled with tears as he suddenly broke free, kneeling before the burly man, bowing repeatedly.
"Please, warrior, save my son! My son is taken by the evil spirits in this mansion, and I can’t find him no matter what, please, warriors, if you help find my son, I’ll offer all my family fortune!"
Saying this, the man took out a money bag from his chest, opened it, revealing a glittering gold ingot, two silver ingots, so scattered pieces of silver, and copper coins inside.
The burly bearded man glanced at his two companions, exchanged looks, and without touching the money bag, continued, "Explain clearly, did you encounter anyone inside before? Like the person who wrote this story?"
The paper was tossed in front of the man, who after taking a good look at it, was montarily stunned, then looked away and started telling his story.
"I am Su Liangyuan, running a small business in Dongyang County. My wife passed away early, leaving only one son who just turned fifteen this year. I usually take him with when I go out for business. Yesterday, passing Cuiyun Mountain, we were caught in a sudden downpour, with no choice but to take shelter here overnight."
"Originally, I had agreed with my son that he would keep watch for the first half of the night and I the latter half, taking turns to rest. But in the first half of the night, just as I fell asleep, I heard so noises, woke up to find my son missing, and went into the back mansion to search for him, and then..."
Su Liangyuan’s face turned pale, deeply disturbed, "It was all evil spirits, everywhere! That Ming Family freak! It must be the Ming Family freak still alive! It must be!"
Su Liangyuan started rambling incoherently, trembling all over.
Sang Que frowned upon hearing this, as there was no rain yesterday, and he had ventured deep into the mansion for a whole day without encountering dayti?
The burly bearded man spoke, "I ask you, how long did you stay in the back of the mansion?"
Su Liangyuan, trembling, raised two fingers then changed to three.
"Two... three hours? I don’t know, anyway, it was never daylight, always raining, no living people, all evil spirits! Save my son, please, help save my son!"
Su Liangyuan clutched the burly bearded man’s leg, pleading endlessly.
The burly bearded man picked up the paper again, exchanged glances with his two companions who nodded slightly, then snatched the money bag from Su Liangyuan’s hand.
"We’ll take the job, lead the way!"
Su Liangyuan, grateful, quickly wiped his tears and stood up, though instinctively recoiled upon seeing the dark doorway.
Ultimately, he grit his teeth, leading the three burly n across that door, soon disappearing into the corridor’s depths.
"Aren’t you afraid he’s a Chang Ghost, leading people inside to kill?" Mrs. Zhao from Shihe Village whispered.
The crowd exchanged glances, thinking they wouldn’t enter to help find people regardless of paynt.
He Baosheng looked towards the place those people left, saying, "They’re definitely not here to find people, they’re looking for the ’storyteller’ wanted by the Evil Suppression Bureau."
ntioning the storyteller, people naturally thought of that piece of paper. Many couldn’t read, so they asked those around them who could, exchanging information, eventually showing fearful expressions one after another.
Song Quancai and Song Quanfu, two brothers, approached Kou Yushan, "Captain, should we retreat outside the mansion?"
He Baosheng was also worried about He Shou’an’s condition, easily influenced by evil spirits, and silently asked Kou Yushan.
Others were terrified of the storyteller, even willing to risk staying outside on a rainy night rather than approaching where the storyteller was.
Kou Yushan looked troubled, but his thoughts were clear, analyzing for everyone.
"You heard what Su Liangyuan said just now; there wasn’t any rain yesterday, he went into the mansion last night and didn’t co out until tonight, yet claid he stayed only two or three hours. This indicates we’re already in the storyteller’s plot. Until this story ends, no one can leave."
Kou Yushan recalled the sudden rainstorm in the afternoon, not a misjudgnt by the old village head, but their entry into the story’s domain, soone among them triggering the story, leading to their entrapnt.
"In the storyteller’s tale, those not ntioned remain unaffected and unmanipulated, with the highest chance of surviving, as long as we do nothing and protect nearby people here, we’ll be fine."
Sang Que silently listened and observed on the side, without rushing to speak, realizing everyone had so understanding of the storyteller. After Kou Yushan finished speaking, most people cald down, except for Skinny, whose face grew increasingly uneasy.
"Right, right, none of us were returning guests in Dongyang County, and we have no ties with the Ming Family, so if we just stay here quietly, nothing will happen."
Everyone nodded, returning to the firepit, adding more wood to make the fire blaze brighter, dispelling the cold rain night’s chill.
Shi Yong and the Song Family brothers, acting bold, went to close that door leading to the back, reducing the sound of wind and rain.
In the center of the reception hall, only Kou Yushan, Skinny, and Sang Que remained.
Kou Yushan waited for everyone to sit back down before quietly saying to Skinny, "Say what’s on your mind."
Skinny hunched his body, swallowed his saliva, then hesitantly asked, "About the ’fleeing returning guest’ ntioned in the story earlier, could it be ? My ancestors were from Dongyang County, I’m escaping back to my hotown, seeking refuge with my uncle."
Sang Que softly asked, "Do you have any connection to the Ming Family here?"
Skinny suddenly nodded vigorously, surprising even Kou Yushan, who thought the returning guest in the story might be Skinny but hadn’t expected him to be connected to the Ming Family.
Skinny glanced towards the firepit before leaning closer to the two, lowering his voice, "My mother was a maid who escaped from the Ming Family."
Boom!
A clap of thunder accompanied by lightning cracked the night sky, silver light revealing slender shadows, the atmosphere eerie.
Making Sang Que feel as though in a horror story, with even the environnt serving the terrifying ambiance.
Skinny quickly recounted past events to the two, his expression tinged with desolation.
"My uncle’s funeral shop was inherited from my maternal grandfather, and the money he used to open the funeral shop ca from selling his two daughters to the Ming Family as maids!"
"That was fifty years ago, before the Ming Family was ruined by a mountain fire, it was one of the foremost households in Qinzhou, known far and wide through the Xuan Dynasty for their ’Ming’s Jade Juice’."
"But behind the glamorous Ming Family lay a curse they couldn’t break, each generation’s family head would give birth to a freak, and my mother, upon entering the Ming Mansion, was assigned to care for that freak..."
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