Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

"It should be fine."

Chen Ji shook his head: "One positive and one negative, you two are even."

"Let's observe her further and see just how bad her luck gets."

The ghost hasn't harmed anyone yet, so nothing can be seen for the time being.

As they spoke, they arrived at the Zhou residence, the village chief's house, where the vermilion gate was tightly locked.

Ah Jian sighed, seemingly anticipating that no one would answer the door, and took out a bunch of brass keys from his pocket to open the door.

After everyone worked together to unload the wood, Ah Jian had already disappeared.

They returned to the previous room, where several food boxes had been placed on the table, sitting there for who knows how long, and were completely cold.

The meat inside was no longer mutton, and even the steamed buns were gone; there were only a few coarse flatbreads and vegetables, with no trace of meat.

"They think they've achieved their goal by eating the mutton, right?" Jiang Zhong was so hungry he was dizzy. Seeing the food, he was so angry he laughed: "After doing so much work, at least give us some meat!"

The Zhou family is making it so obvious, aren't they afraid the carpenters will suspect there's something wrong with their breakfast?

Chen Ji seemed to be deep in thought.

He watched as Jiang Zhong sat down without paying any attention and was about to pick up some food when he suddenly said:

"and many more."

A few seconds later, Chen Ji picked up a slice of lotus root from the plate and broke it apart with his chopsticks.

In the dim sunlight...

You have to get very close to see a thin layer of minced meat at the edge of the holes in the lotus root slices.

"Someone used chopsticks to dip into the meat and swirl it around inside the holes of the lotus root slice," Chen Ji said, scooping out the minced meat.

Who said... there was no meat?

I flipped it over again, and sure enough, there were some in the pancake too.

Jiang Zhong's face turned ashen!

With various seasonings, ginger, scallions, and garlic as a mask, it is difficult to detect the presence of minced meat, whether by sight or taste.

"It looks simple, but it actually takes a lot more thought than our breakfast."

Du Tingfeng crossed his arms, his expression somewhat unpleasant:

"They deliberately let the food get cold and pretended to cook it casually so that we would feel at ease eating it."

"Who came up with this idea? Abu?"

They hadn't forgotten how Abu had urged them to eat meat that morning, but in any case, it was all related to Village Chief Zhou.

"No one's outside."

Chen Ji glanced outside the door, discussed it with everyone, and then took Du Tingfeng out.

Soon after, they climbed over the wall, carrying a bag of things.

The cloth bag contained some dry food, not much, but enough to fill one's stomach; it had been stolen from someone else's kitchen.

"Eat up. These should be fine; the villagers are eating them too." With that, Chen Ji handed Du Tingfeng a piece of bread and took one for himself.

Amidst the pervasive smell of cow dung, everyone wolfed down their food quickly, just in case Ah Jian and Ah Bu suddenly appeared.

but.....

It wasn't until they buried the food in the food box in the ground and a while later that someone came.

It was a petite maidservant with a beaming smile who called out loudly to the three people from the Zheng residence:

"Master Wu, Master Yin, Master Jiang, come with me."

She was a maid in the Zheng household, Xiao Yan.

He then gestured to Chen, Du, and Chu at the Li residence, indicating that they should follow as well.

"What happened? Where are we?"

Tan Xiangsong said nervously, straightening up slightly, wishing he could leave with Xiao Yan, but Chang Hao pulled him back.

"They don't live in this house, what are you panicking about?"

Xiao Yan smiled and said, "Yes, I'll go and escort the masters back to their residences for their afternoon rest."

"When do we start work this afternoon?" Chang Hao asked, actually wanting to know when we would meet.

With only two people on his side, Chang Hao actually felt safer staying with everyone, but he didn't show it.

"It's just noon now, and I will send all the masters back to the Zheng residence at the beginning of the 11 PM."

"The work in the afternoon is relatively simple; it just involves painting the wooden boards and assembling them."

Xiao Yan explained patiently, in a gentle tone and in detail.

Tan Xiangsong immediately felt that she was many times better than the two servants, Ajian and Abu.

"At the hour of Wei (1-3 PM)... I understand."

Chang Hao nodded.

So there are still two hours left, and the painting will begin around 1 p.m.

Xiao Yan stopped talking and led the rest of the people from the Zhou family out of the house, first sending Chen Ji and the other two to the Li family.

Finally, he returned to his own house.

The Zheng residence was incredibly spacious, even better built than the village chief's house. A dozen or so mahogany chests were piled up in the corridor, tied with bright red ribbons.

Looking at the beads of sweat on Xiao Yan's forehead, Yin Ziqin asked casually:

"Little Yan, is someone bullying you?"

Xiao Yan looked puzzled: "No?"

"Really?" Yin Ziqin smiled. "I noticed that you were the one picking people up every time. I thought the other servants had pushed all the work onto you."

"Why have I never seen them before?"

Xiao Yan paused for two seconds before saying:

"...They all went to take care of the old lady."

Yin Ziqin immediately pressed, "What's wrong with Grandma Zheng? Is she unwell? Can she still attend the wedding banquet?"

“…”

Xiao Yan stopped talking and pursed her lips.

Yin Ziqin seemed to be deep in thought.

She received a warning look from Wu Gong and didn't ask any more questions to avoid causing trouble.

Xiao Yan's attitude had already answered her question.

The three returned to their room. The room where they were staying was a fairly large side room, with two rooms, one inside and one outside, which were just enough to separate the men and women.

"Could you please move into the inner room?"

Sitting in the armchair in the outer room, Jiang Zhong covered his nose and looked at Wu Gong with some disdain.

The strong smell of cow dung can be unbearable in a confined space.

"Chu Jing didn't have eyes, how can you blame me for this?" Wu Gong said calmly. "How about this?"

"Get me some hot water and help me take a bath; maybe then the smell will go away."

"Get out of here, go back inside and sleep, or sleep outside!" Jiang Zhong frowned.

"Stop arguing," Yin Ziqin said helplessly, wondering what was wrong with this domain, that even Wu Gong's temper had become so volatile.

She gave Wu Gong a reproachful look, but he shrugged and went back to the inner room.

Yin Ziqin also seemed to find the smell inside the house unbearable, so she went outside and said she wanted to take a look in the yard.

Jiang Zhong was left alone in the outer room. As he watched Yin Ziqin walk out the door, the fierceness in his eyes vanished, leaving only a trace of coldness.

Yin Ziqin and Wu Gong knew each other before entering the domain.

It's very likely that they entered the domain together, just like the two men from the Li family.

Unlike the other two, Yin Ziqin and Wu Gong deliberately pretended not to know each other... but Jiang Zhong still found out.

Jiang Zhong couldn't help but recall a piece of advice his "mentor" had once given him.

He always thought it made a lot of sense.

The one who is left out of the group of three is better off going alone.

Because... if anything happens, Jiang Zhong will become cannon fodder for the other two to die in their place, the one to be abandoned first.

It would have been better to separate them from the beginning.