Chapter 333: Reenacting Strange Stories in the Middle of the Night!
Old Master Hu’s decisiveness shocked the few of them. Since then, his stern expression was gone. He would chat with s.h.i.+ Ting, Ye Chen, and Yang Tian occasionally.
Ye Chen glanced at the ancient painting on the wall and said while smiling, “Old Master Hu, I wonder who that is in the painting.”
“That’s right, Old Master Hu. That beauty in the painting is no ordinary woman. She’s ranked No. 1 among all of the beauties that I’ve ever seen!” Yang Tian grinned.
s.h.i.+ Ting had disdain on her face. ‘Hah, all men are the same!’
Old Master Hu’s face froze a little, then he said while shaking his head, “She was our family ancestor, but she has pa.s.sed away for a long time.”
Yang Tian looked disappointed.
On the other hand, Ye Chen was secretly smirking. ‘Your ancestor has demonic qi? How come your ancestor’s eyes are still moving despite the fact that she’s dead?’
However, since Old Master Hu was unwilling to reveal anything, he did not want to ask further.
Old Master Hu invited Ye Chen and the rest to stay in a friendly manner. Aunt Hong did not decline that offer. She was here mainly because of her concern that Shen Cangsheng would come to them anytime.
The young man and the lady were in disbelief about Old Master Hu’s decisiveness. They loathed Ye Chen and the rest even more now. They would bicker with the newcomers whenever they met occasionally.
Yang Tian was so p.i.s.sed off that he almost wanted to roll up his sleeves to beat them up.
Instead, Ye Chen took him out and bought many things such as an ancient book, an ancient scholar costume, and an oil lamp. He rented the scholar costume from a drama crew. Otherwise, he would not have been able to get it anywhere no matter how much money he had.
Ye Chen smiled and did not explain a thing whereas Yang Tian could not stop asking the reason why he bought all those.
Soon, the sky turned dark.
After everyone went to bed, Ye Chen dragged Yang Tian under a grapevine in the courtyard of the Hu residence. The sky was rather dim.
Yang Tian turned on the flashlight on his phone and said while feeling rather speechless, “Old Ye, why did you bring me here in the middle of the night?”
Ye Chen placed the things that he had bought earlier on the stone table. He lit the old lamp and handed the ancient scholar costume to Yang Tian. “Here, put it on!”
“Why would I want to put it on?” Yang Tian looked blankly at him. “Don’t tell me that you’re taking some videos to upload it to TikTok? When did you start playing that? d.a.m.n, it’s very addictive. You should stop!”
“Have you read the ‘Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio’ before?” Ye Chen suddenly asked.
Yang Tian nodded. “Yes, I have. Why?”
Ye Chen said while smiling, “Do you know what’s the most frequent plot in the book?”
Yang Tian glanced at the ancient book, scholar costume, and the oil lamp. He smacked his head. “The plot whereby a scholar is reading in the middle of the night? And a fox spirit comes to seduce him?”
“Exactly!” Ye Chen nodded and peeped at the living room intentionally. A smirk appeared at the corner of his lips. “Let’s reenact the strange stories tonight!”
“Are you out of your mind?” Yang Tian opened his eyes wide as he thought he had heard it wrong. “You’re asking me to do this in the middle of the night? Who are we even doing this for? I might say yes if you’re just taking a short video to upload it to TikTok.”
“Why are you talking so much? Put it on now!” Ye Chen forced Yang Tian to put on the ancient scholar costume and ordered him, “Sit down and pick up the book before you. Read it out loud.”
“Wait!” Yang Tian stopped him suddenly. He seemed to have noticed something. “Why am I the scholar and not you? That’s unfair.”
Ye Chen’s countenance turned grim instantly.
“I know. You finally admit that I’m more handsome than you.” Yang Tian almost laughed out loud. He changed his words noticing that Ye Chen’s expression was getting sourer and sourer. “I can pretend to be a scholar, but you’ll have to use your phone to take a video of me and upload it to TikTok.”
In reality, Ye Chen indeed was mediocre when it came to his looks. He could not compare with Yang Tian who had pretty features, thick brows, and big eyes.
“Sure,” Ye Chen agreed to that instantly.
Only then did Yang Tian sit down and flip the book to the first page. He looked troubled. “d.a.m.n it, Old Ye. Didn’t you check the t.i.tle before buying the book?”
“I forgot.” Ye Chen smiled awkwardly. He really did not notice that, so he subsequently said, “Don’t worry about it. Just pretend like you’re reading. Read it like you’re reciting the poems you learned in high school. I’ll stand aside to take a video of you, so be serious.” Then, he left after saying that.
Yang Tian was annoyed. However, he picked up the book anyway and began reading under the bright oil lamp, “Ehem, first chapter. Ximen Qing makes ten friends, and Wu Song meets his sister-in-law…”
He thought the opening was boring as he read to this point. He flipped a couple of pages and happened to get to the part where Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian were having an affair. Wu Song had just found out about that, and they were going to poison him.
“Big boy, it’s time to eat your medicine…” He cleared his throat.
…
Ye Chen sat on a tree less than 100 meters away from Yang Tian. He performed the Aura-concealing Method to cover his aura to blend in with the tree. He looked at the living room of the Hu residence and said wryly, “Can you hold back?”
He had noticed the strange thing about the ancient painting during the day. Since there had been people around back then, it was inconvenient for him to pry further.
To verify his speculation, he came up with this plan.
It was a quiet night with no breeze. Time pa.s.sed by slowly, and nothing was happening in the living room.
Ye Chen could not help but frown. “Is this a mistake?”
He controlled his Divine Consciousness to scan under the vines. He saw Yang Tian sitting on the stone stool with a cigarette in his mouth. He was scratching his foot with his other foot on the stool while indulging in the book.
The corner of Ye Chen’s lips twitched hard.
An ancient scholar?
It was no wonder that his target did not fall into the trap.
He could not help but speak to Yang Tian through voice transmission, “Can you be more serious? Do you want the many TikTok users to laugh at your video?”
The voice that came out of nowhere shocked Yang Tian.
He looked around for a while. He only suppressed his shock when Ye Chen’s voice came into his head again. He put on his shoes and stomped the cigarette b.u.t.t out. He coughed and held the book in all seriousness. He read out loud while moving his head around, “Bright moonlight before my bed, I suppose, it is a pair of shoes, I mean, frost on the ground…”
Ye Chen nodded and recalled his Divine Consciousness.
Half an hour pa.s.sed, but still, nothing was happening in the living room.
Ye Chen looked at Yang Tian again. To his speechlessness, he saw him leaning his head on the table and mumbling in a blurry manner.
He shook his head and gave up. He leaped from the tree and walked over to wake Yang Tian up. They went back to their rooms respectively and slipped into bed after leaving the vineyard.
What Ye Chen had no idea about was that Old Master Hu returned to the living room soon after they left. He knelt before the ancient painting despite his withered body.