Chapter 473 – To Take a Wife
This town reminded Xiao Lou of Liuxi Village from 4 of Spades.
It was also located between remote mountains and forests so very few outsiders could find it. On the surface, it looked like an isolated paradise but in fact, it hid many secrets. At that time, all the villagers in Liuxi Village were poisoned and blinded by Old Lady Qin. Then what happened in Qingfeng Town? What about the ma.s.s graves on the cliffs near the town?
Xiao Lou looked at Yu Hanjiang and whispered, “It is late at night and we don’t know if there are any hunters in this town. For the sake of safety, it is best to not act collectively. It is enough to send only a few people to scout the place.”
Yu Hanjiang also thought it wasn’t necessary for all 12 people to enter the town. Some teammates weren’t good at investigating. In addition, Lu Jiuchuan was the initiator of the Peach Blossom Spring. He could stay where he was and pull the teammates back at any time.
Chu Huaying, Elder Gui, Shao Qingge, Y
and Liu Qiao could all stay. Long Sen and Qu Wanyue’s Chameleon card allowed them to completely integrate with the bluestone slab on a rainy night so it was convenient for detection. Old Mo had the strongest sense of direction among all of them. In case the road inside the town was complicated, Old Mo could quickly identify the path and guide everyone.
Yu Hanjiang thought of this and nodded. “Long Sen, Qu Wanyue and Old Mo, the three of you will go into the town with me and Xiao Lou to investigate. The rest will stay in the Peach Blossom Spring.” He looked at Lu Jiuchuan and said, “Brother, I am using Heart has a Tacit Exchange of Romantic Feelings with you. If we encounter danger, I will notify you as soon as possible and you will directly pull us back to the Peach Blossom Spring.”
Lu Jiuchuan nodded. “Okay. Let’s take a look around the outskirts of town. Be careful.”
Xiao Lou, Yu Hanjiang and Old Mo put on their invisibility cloaks while Long Sen and Qu Wanyue quickly fused with the environment using the Chameleon cards. The group of five people entered the boundary of Qingfeng Town and walked along the s.p.a.cious stone road.
After walking some distance, the torrential rain gradually stopped.
The dark clouds in the sky cleared and soft moonlight sprinkled through the clouds. It was like a light veil enveloping the town.
The size of the town was huge.
There was a lake in the middle of the town and the clear water reflected the moonlight. A circle of weeping willows was planted by the lake and there was a pavilion in the middle. There was a plaque hanging from it that said ‘Intoxicated Moon Pavilion.’ The scenery was very beautiful and it was suitable for appreciating the moon.
The bluestone slab road that surrounded the entire lake was washed clean by the heavy rain.
Xiao Lou stood by the lake and stared into the distance. By the moonlight, he could faintly see the scattered buildings. The style of the building was very uniform with white walls, green bricks and green tiles. This had the beautiful charm of a small town south of Yangtze River.
Xiao Lou saw that there was no one around and said in a soft voice, “Along the way, modern means of transportation such as bicycles and electric vehicles haven’t been seen. It seems that this time is indeed an ancient background.”
Long Sen whispered, “Are those zombies in the ma.s.s graves residents from this small town?”
Xiao Lou said, “Go inside a house and take a look. This town is slightly quiet. Go to the left first.”
The group heard this and immediately followed Xiao Lou.
Everyone went to the main road on the left side of the town and continued their search.
The front door of a house was closed. There were two stone lions at the door that looked very imposing. This should be a large family.
Xiao Lou said, “Long Sen, Teacher Qu, you should go inside and take a look at this house.”
Long Sen and Qu Wanyue directly went over the wall using their long legs and quickly climbed through the window. Long Sen pretended to be the strong wind pushing it open and Qu Wanyue followed closely behind.
After a moment, the two of them returned to Xiao Lou’s side. “There is no one in the house.”
Yu Hanjiang said, “Let’s explore again.”
Long Sen and Qu Wanyue continued to go next door in the same manner. After a few seconds, they said, “There is still no one.”
Yu Hanjiang frowned, “Is it an empty town?”
Xiao Lou suggested, “We should check it on a different road. We can’t draw any conclusions at the moment.”
The group returned to the lake.
Old Mo suddenly said, “The roads inside this town extend in all directions and there are many curves. I took a closer look and the lake and willows around it are almost the same. The pavilion in the middle of the lake was carved with the words Intoxicated Moon Pavilion in all directions. Therefore, it is difficult for us to identify the direction based on references inside the town.”
Xiao Lou looked up at the sky and frowned slightly. “There was just a rainstorm and now there is only the moon in the sky. We can’t see any stars. It is impossible to determine the direction according to the North Star or the Big Dipper.”
Yu Hanjiang wondered, “Is it a circular labyrinth?”
Old Mo nodded. “It is probably a labyrinth. We have to continue to investigate.”
Xiao Lou said, “It seems we can only use the mark to find the way. Fortunately, it is late at night now. We shouldn’t be found even if we mark it with arrows. The duration of the invisibility cloak is only 30 minutes. We have to hurry.”
Mo Xuemin said, “The road we have just been to is tentatively set as the west. I’ll use the arrow markings to the left to draw a map. Once the sun comes out tomorrow, I will rotate the map at a certain angle if the direction isn’t right.”
Xiao Lou said, “Yes, let’s go to the opposite place next.”
The group crossed the pavilion in the center of the lake and continued to investigate in another direction.
They had just walked into an alley when they heard the loud cry of a baby. In the quiet night, the baby’s crying startled everyone. Long Sen took a deep breath and said, “This is too penetrating!”
Qu Wanyue wondered, “Do you think it is better to have people in the town or for it to be empty?”
Long Sen, “……”
Out of the two options, was the former a bit better? At the very least, they could find clues from people.
Long Sen thought of this and took the initiative to suggest, “I will go and take a look.”
Xiao Lou told him, “Let’s go together.”
He was worried that the Long Qu couple wouldn’t be able to handle it if it was a trap.
The five of them headed in the direction that the baby’s cries came from. A moment later, they saw a house with the lights on and there was noise coming from the house. An old lady said, “Congratulations to the young master. The mother and child are safe!”
The child cried very loudly. The young man took the child from his swaddling clothes and said with delight, “That’s great! The thunder and lightning just now frightened me a lot. I thought that something would happen to my wife…”
The mother-in-law smiled and said, “Heaven helps the worthy. The child cries loudly and she gave birth at full term. The baby is very spirited at first sight.”
The young man asked, “How is my wife?”
His mother-in-law said, “She was so tired that she went to sleep. The maid is taking care of her in her room…”
Xiao Lou’s group of five hid under the willow tree by the wall. They saw this scene and looked at each other.
This family should be quite rich. There were more than a dozen maids and servants who were busy in the courtyard. It turned out that the young lady gave birth tonight and it was to a big, fat boy. The young man who became a father was full of smiles as he carried the baby into the house. The baby’s cries were still quite loud. Xiao Lou’s group stayed outside for a while. Then they found that nothing happened and quickly withdrew.
Old Mo picked up a pen and paper and quickly recorded the location of this house. “I made a mark on the map. I don’t know if the child born in this family is a clue related to the plot.”
Xiao Lou said, “It isn’t clear at the moment. Note it down first and talk about it tomorrow.”
Everyone continued to move forward. Most of the homes in this area were occupied. Long Sen and Qu Wanyue secretly explored all the households. 99% of them were sleeping and the remaining 1% were woken up by the crying of the baby just now. One couple was still discussing it. “Is it the young lady of the Liu family who gave birth?”
”Do you want to go and take a look?”
”What is the point of looking so late? Go to bed first and we’ll talk about it tomorrow.”
The Liu family. Old Mo wrote the word ‘Liu’ on the map.
The five of them went around and found they had returned to the lake in the middle of the town. Old Mo wondered, “A circular structure?”
The group couldn’t help getting a headache when they thought of the leaf labyrinth in the ancient tomb.
They returned to the original road after a long time. They had definitely taken a circular road but it wasn’t clear what the structure of the entire labyrinth was. Xiao Lou looked at the two roads marked with arrows and said, “Continue to check. The time is limited so we will try to check some more of the labyrinth areas. Then tomorrow, everyone will go in together with an idea in mind.”
The group picked a path that hadn’t been taken and continued forward.
After walking some distance, they suddenly heard a loud firecracker sound coming from the alley on the side. This was followed by the sound of gongs and drums. Several people even blew on the suona at the same time.
It had to be said that it was much better than Ye Qi’s blowing.
This instrument was worthy of being the king of musical instruments. The refreshing effect was extremely powerful. The five people were shocked by the sudden sound and Xiao Lou looked back.
They saw a bridal procession coming out of a house, beating on the gongs and drums. There was a sedan chair with eight carriers and they were carrying the bride out of the house.
The bride’s family should be very good. The dowry alone was more than a dozen boxes. Four dowry girls followed the sedan chair as well as the matchmaker, bridesmaids and bridal procession…
This long procession was very spectacular. They pa.s.sed by in front of Xiao Lou’s group but the bridal procession didn’t discover them due to them being invisible.
A young lady smiled and said to the matchmaker, “The rain has finally stopped. If it doesn’t stop, our lady will have to brave the heavy rain to get married. Fortunately G.o.d has eyes and we didn’t miss the auspicious time.”
Another girl said, “The fortune teller said that the young lady should get on the sedan chair at Yinshi (3-5 am) right? The rain suddenly stopped when it arrived at Yinshi. The young lady and her husband must be a perfect match.
The woman in the sedan chair said softly, “The two of you shouldn’t speak poorly. Be careful that others don’t laugh at you if you are heard.”
“Yes, Miss.” The two whispering maids immediately shut up and followed the sedan chair.
The huge procession walked through the town with their gongs and drums. Many people in the area were awakened by the sound of firecrackers and some came out in cloaks to see their excitement.
Xiao Lou always felt that something wasn’t right but he couldn’t say what it was.
The five of them continued to investigate the area, walking around and returning to the central lake.
At this moment, Lu Jiuchuan’s voice was heard in Yu Hanjiang’s mind. “Hanjiang, have you finished your investigation? The 30 minutes is always up. Come back first and then talk about it at dawn. Don’t take too many risks.”
Yu Hanjiang asked, “Brother, did you see a bridal procession leave the town?”
Lu Jiuchuan was confused. “A bridal procession? I didn’t see it.”
Yu Hanjiang couldn’t help being stunned when he heard this. “You didn’t see it? So they didn’t leave the town?”
Lu Jiuchuan said, “We have been at the gate of the town. There really wasn’t any bridal procession.”
Yu Hanjiang, “……”
Yu Hanjiang found that something was wrong and immediately told Xiao Lou the information. “Brother Jiu’s group is guarding the gate of the town but they didn’t see the bridal procession go out. Is this young lady getting married to a local man or is there another exit in this town?”
Xiao Lou was silent for a moment before saying, “Out of the two young ladies who were chatting just now, one of them always felt familiar to me.”
Yu Hanjiang wondered, “Familiar?”
Xiao Lou took a deep breath before stating softly, “I don’t remember her face clearly but I remember those red embroidered shoes… among the zombies who crawled out from under the gravestone, there was a female zombie wearing the same embroidered shoes. She was so close to me at the time that she almost grabbed me. Therefore, I could see clearly.”
This sentence made everyone at the scene suck in a breath.
In other words, the young lady who was just smiling and chatting with her companions had climbed out of the ground not long ago and almost grabbed Xiao Lou’s ankle with her white, eerie hand.
She was dead.
Qu Wanyue’s voice trembled. “This… can it be that the bridal procession just now… is a ghost wife?”