Chapter 24: There’s Something Unclean!
The Fan family mansion was built in the style of a Jiangnan water-town residence. After passing through the main gate, what greeted everyone were pavilions, terraces, waterside galleries, whitewashed walls, and black-tiled roofs.
One exquisite, elegant courtyard after another stretched out in succession, arranged with perfect balance, exuding a beauty that followed nature itself, like a landscape painting splashed into being by the brush of a master.
Standing within it, everyone seemed to have become figures in the painting as well, touched by ancient charm and refinement.
“It’s so pretty!”
Looking at the strange rocks and artificial hills by the Fish-Dragon Pond, and at the plump koi swimming through the stream, even Tang Lei, whose aesthetic sense was sorely lacking, felt that this place was truly beautiful.
“The ancients really knew how to enjoy themselves!”
Xu Shaowei sighed.
“Mm!”
The baby-faced girl nodded, agreeing with that view.
“The correct way to put it should be: the high officials and nobles of ancient times really knew how to enjoy themselves!”
Xu Shuo, walking in front, had been paying attention to what was happening behind him. When he heard Xu Shaowei’s words, he immediately cut in. “Do you know whose residence this was?”
“Do you know how much silver was spent on this mansion?”
“If I say this was all built with wealth squeezed from the common people, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that!”
Xu Shuo put on an air of being both learned and compassionate toward the suffering of mankind.
“What a buzzkill!”
Xu Shaowei rolled her eyes.
Everyone was talking about the artistic value of the garden, but Xu Shuo insisted on criticizing the mansion. Wasn’t he just trying to show off in front of Jiang Shan, flaunting his supposedly superior perspective and his empathy for the lower classes?
All one could say was that he was overdoing the act.
Xu Shuo glanced back at Jiang Shan. Seeing that she had no reaction at all made him feel a little anxious.
Was his approach wrong?
Didn’t Jiang Shan usually like small animals and have a lot of sympathy?
“Xu Shuo is seriously annoying!”
Tang Lei looked disgusted and muttered under his breath, “I really want to beat him in academics one day, just to see that furious, flustered face of his!”
Lu Jiuling admired the surrounding garden scenery.
After entering the Fan family mansion, the group gradually spread out, and various little cliques began moving around on their own.
The baby-faced Li Jiayao had a crush on Lu Jiuling. She probably also knew that after graduating from high school, there would not be many chances for them to meet again, so she slowed her pace and stayed about ten meters away from him.
She would just treat it as their final outing together.
As her best friend, Jiang Shan naturally stayed with her.
Xu Shuo, with his buddy Jia Mingqiao in tow, stuck to them again like two flies, looking for chances to strike up conversation with Jiang Shan from time to time.
“From this way, we can get to Yuhua Hall. I checked the guide; there’s a sea of peonies there. It’s really beautiful.”
Standing in a covered corridor, Xu Shuo stopped.
There was a fork in the path ahead, and Xu Shuo was not sure which way Jiang Shan would go.
“It’s free activity time now. You can go wherever you want, can’t you?”
Xu Shaowei found Xu Shuo incredibly irritating.
Xu Shuo’s eyes shifted, glancing at Xu Shaowei’s ample chest. He chuckled. If not for maintaining his gentlemanly bearing in front of Jiang Shan, he really wanted to curse at Xu Shaowei, “What the hell does it have to do with you?”
When he thought about how this girl had once chased after Lu Jiuling, he became even more displeased.
Instead of chasing after me, the second-ranked student in the whole school, a future Shangjing resident with limitless prospects, she went after a weakling like Lu Jiuling, introverted and self-abasing. She has no taste at all.
Wasn’t that 690 kid just a little more handsome and a little taller?
What else did he have besides that?
Xu Shuo cast Lu Jiuling a contemptuous glance. Meat delivered right to his mouth, and he still didn’t dare eat it. Deep down, he was a loser, his whole body reeking of the feeling that he didn’t deserve anything.
But after the contempt passed, Xu Shuo felt somewhat puzzled.
What had been going on with Lu Jiuling this morning?
He had actually dared to talk back to him?
Was this still the same introverted, self-abasing, sensitive boy as usual?
“Let’s go this way?”
The baby-faced girl pulled Jiang Shan along and headed toward the corridor of Jinxiu Hall. She wanted to separate from Xu Shuo.
But Xu Shuo and Jia Mingqiao immediately followed. They could not be shaken off at all.
Night fell, and the evening wind blew.
A wave of white mist suddenly surged over like rippling lake water, quickly submerging the Fan family mansion.
“Why is there fog?”
Xu Shaowei was holding her phone and filming the night scenery.
After the lights were lit, this old-style mansion had become even more atmospheric. But now that it was covered by white fog, she could not film it clearly.
“Don’t tell me it’s going to be haunted?”
Xu Shuo burst out laughing. “An ancient mansion, withered trees, bloody handprints on the wall…”
“Tsk. It’s starting to have that feel!”
Xu Shuo deliberately tried to scare everyone.
“Something’s not right. This fog is too thick, and just now the moon was bright and the stars were clear. Why would fog suddenly form?”
Jiang Shan frowned. With the current weather, there was no way such dense fog could form.
“Jiang Shan, you’re overthinking it. It’s just an ordinary weather change.”
Xu Shuo thought to himself, It’s just a fog. What’s there to worry about?
If they were hiking in the wilderness, it might cause safety issues, but they were in an ancient town now. Even if they wanted to get lost, they wouldn’t be able to.
But very soon, Xu Shuo could no longer stay calm.
Because the fog was truly too thick. In merely five minutes, visibility had dropped to just over ten meters, and even the lights were obscured.
“Good thing it isn’t a downpour!”
Feng Xiu looked around, then turned to ask her best friend, “What do we do now? Should we go back?”
“With fog this thick, how are we supposed to keep playing?”
Xu Shaowei sighed. “Let’s go back!”
“This damned weather!”
Xu Shuo was full of complaints. He had originally planned to find a chance to confess to Jiang Shan. Although the chances of success were not high, persistence was what mattered. What if Jiang Shan was moved by his perseverance?
Tang Lei nudged Lu Jiuling with his arm and advised quietly, “Are you really not going to consider Xu Shaowei?”
A night tour of the Fan family mansion together with Jiang Shan and Xu Shaowei would have made for a pretty good high school memory. Tang Lei had even planned to take a few group photos.
“Something big may have happened.”
Lu Jiuling’s brows were tightly furrowed.
Because the fog was so thick, everyone had subconsciously drawn closer together. Lu Jiuling had not deliberately lowered his voice, so they all heard what he said.
“What big thing could happen?”
Xu Shuo was still thinking about the grudge from that morning. Seeing an opportunity, he immediately started attacking him. “It’s just a fog, not a flood or an earthquake. Don’t tell me you want to call 119 and have the firefighters come rescue us?”
“Haha, 690, aren’t you way too timid?”
Jia Mingqiao chimed in, mocking Lu Jiuling.
Jiang Shan, Xu Shaowei, and Feng Xiu did not take the fog seriously. Only the baby-faced Li Jiayao, who usually paid close attention to Lu Jiuling and knew that he was not a cowardly boy, asked him a question.
“Student Lu, what do you mean…”
“A light has risen over there!”
Lu Jiuling raised his hand and pointed to the front right.
Everyone looked in the direction Lu Jiuling was pointing. Sure enough, they could see a hazy ball of red light, like looking from afar through the night and seeing a red lantern with a faint flame.
“You’re making a fuss over nothing. Isn’t it just a light?”
Jia Mingqiao sounded disgusted.
“I remember there didn’t seem to be any lighting equipment over there, right?”
Xu Shaowei recalled.
The place Lu Jiuling was pointing at seemed to be a bamboo grove. Although there was a courtyard wall, no bulbs had been installed on top of the wall, so naturally there should not have been any light source.
“There really isn’t any!”
A hint of doubt surfaced on Jiang Shan’s clean cheeks.
Where had that red light come from?
“D-don’t scare me!”
Feng Xiu was timid. Hearing Xu Shaowei and Jiang Shan both say that made her panic a little.
“It’s not just that. The lights from before are gradually dimming.”
Lu Jiuling reminded them.
Tang Lei hurriedly observed. “Damn, it really is true?”
Sure enough, the places where lights had been lit were growing dim. It was not like a sudden power outage, either; instead, they were slowly darkening like candles burning down to the end.
“What’s going on?”
Jia Mingqiao scratched his hair. “Is this place haunted?”
“Don’t talk nonsense!”
Xu Shaowei glared at Jia Mingqiao.
“L-let’s hurry and get out of here?”
Feng Xiu tugged at Xu Shaowei’s sleeve.
“Go. Let’s get out first!”
Xu Shuo made a prompt decision, turning around to head back the way they had come. But after only a dozen steps, he suddenly froze. Jia Mingqiao, who was beside him, did the same.
“Why did you stop?”
Feng Xiu urged, “Hurry up and go!”
“There… there’s a ghost!”
Jia Mingqiao’s voice trembled.
“Please, stop playing pranks!”
Xu Shaowei was speechless.
“I think I saw a red shadow floating!”
Xu Shuo did not move forward. His eyes were wide as he looked all around, searching for traces of that thing.
“Like hell I believe you.”
Tang Lei cursed under his breath.
In psychology, there was something called the suspension bridge effect, which said that men and women were more likely to fall for each other and develop feelings in high-pressure, tense, and thrilling environments.
Tang Lei felt that Xu Shuo and Jia Mingqiao had teamed up to put on an act for the four girls, Jiang Shan and the others.
This behavior was too despicable.
“Brother 69, come on. Let’s go clear the way!”
Tang Lei strode forward, wanting to go to the front, but before he had taken even two steps, Lu Jiuling grabbed him and pulled him back.
“Don’t go!”
The unease in Lu Jiuling’s heart grew heavier and heavier.
He could not help thinking of what had happened at the Headless Chan Monastery.
Could it be that here…
A forbidden contamination had appeared as well?
“Ah!”
Feng Xiu screamed and suddenly hugged Xu Shaowei beside her. “There… there’s a ghost!”
Everyone immediately looked over.
Aside from the dense fog, there was nothing.
“I… I saw it too!”
Xu Shaowei swallowed, her voice trembling. “It looked like… a woman in a qipao?”
“Yes, and she was floating!”
Feng Xiu nodded frantically.
For a moment, none of them dared even breathe loudly. They stared fixedly at their surroundings.
Lu Jiuling opened his backpack, took out the Fochang short sword, and inserted it into the belt at his left waist. That way, if they encountered a monster, he could draw it in time.
“Holy shit, why did you bring that thing?”
When Xu Shuo saw Lu Jiuling’s movement, he was immediately startled.
Carrying a knife out on the street?
Are you insane?
Then he thought about how, this morning, Lu Jiuling had even dared to argue with Zhang Shuai, whose father was a district chief…
Could it be that something had happened in this kid’s family, and he was ready to give up on life?
At that thought, Xu Shuo’s scalp went numb. He had originally planned to make some trouble for Lu Jiuling after they got back, but now he thoroughly did not dare.
“Why did you bring that?”
Tang Lei looked stunned.
Xu Shaowei and the other three were also completely bewildered, while Feng Xiu even showed a nervous expression.
“It’s just a fruit knife!”
Lu Jiuling brushed it off.
He had not put on the bronze Buddha mask for that slight increase in physique, mainly because it would be hard to explain why.
The fact that he was a prospective transcendent absolutely could not be leaked.
“Are we leaving or not?”
Feng Xiu did not care why Lu Jiuling would bring a knife while traveling. In any case, it had nothing to do with her.
No one answered.
Because a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly rang out, drawing closer and closer, causing their hearts to feel as if they had been seized by a giant hand. In an instant, they clenched tight, and none of them dared to breathe.