Shen Yihu looked at me skeptically and said, “It’s late at night, and the old building is pitch black. What are you going up there for?”
I replied, “Just wait for me. I dropped five yuan upstairs, and I’m going to look for it.” Shen Yihu sighed, “Then be careful. If you can’t find it, just come down. It’s just five yuan, after all.”
When I reached Room 502, the dance party was still going on.
No matter what major incident had occurred downstairs, Ye Wenxin continued hosting her party as usual. Even Shen Yihu, standing below, seemed to hear some strange noises.
Ye Wenxin wasn’t particularly surprised to see me.
This time, however, she didn’t offer me any bizarre stones to eat.
“You’re not Lin Danan. Lin Danan is my grandson. I was once married to a man from the Lin family,” Ye Wenxin said pointedly.
“My name is Xiao Qi,” I replied, taken aback by this revelation. Ye Wenxin was actually the grandmother of that bespectacled guy, Lin Danan.
“Xiao Qi… Life is like a game of chess, but few can truly make moves without regret. Do you know why the Jade Ruler you used had no effect on me?” Ye Wenxin asked.
“Why?”
“The Jade Ruler belonged to Ye Guyi. And I am Ye Guyi’s daughter…” she continued.
The amount of information was overwhelming. I pressed further, “Then, do you have any history with Long Youshui?”
Ye Wenxin laughed heartily. “I enlisted in the army and met Lin Danan’s grandfather. We married, but later, he suddenly abandoned me. I don’t blame him—he came from a red-blooded revolutionary family, while I was the daughter of a ‘black category’ ghost and monster. Eventually, I returned alone to Jiangcheng. As for Long Youshui… maybe he liked me, but people in his profession often suffer from the ‘Five Misfortunes and Three Deficiencies.’ My father would never have approved of him courting me, and Long Youshui knew his fate. Even if he liked me, he never showed it. Truthfully, I was a few years older than your grandfather, and I always saw him as a younger brother.”
Ah, poor Grandpa—rejected by his crush.
“Five Misfortunes and Three Deficiencies?” I looked at Ye Wenxin in confusion.
“I don’t fully understand it either,” she explained. “It’s said that those in this profession are doomed to either die young, live a lonely life, or suffer physical disabilities—missing an eye, an arm, or a leg. They’re usually cut off from power and wealth. But my father once said there are ways to avoid it. Many powerful practitioners still marry, raise families, and live normal lives.”
What Ye Wenxin referred to as the “Five Misfortunes and Three Deficiencies” was a metaphysical concept. The “Five Misfortunes” referred to widowhood, loneliness, orphanhood, isolation, and disability. The “Three Deficiencies” were lack of money, life, or power. Every feng shui master was said to be afflicted by at least one of these…
Her words stunned me. Lately, I had been earning well—money wasn’t an issue. I was decent-looking and in good health. Did that mean I was destined for a lonely life?
Would I become the “Lone Star of Calamity”?
I didn’t want to dwell on it and changed the subject. “What about Zuo Shan? What kind of person was he?”
Ye Wenxin looked at me, a strange glint in her eyes—perhaps surprised that I knew of Zuo Shan. “Zuo Shan was much older than me. He didn’t interact with me much, and he committed a terrible crime. My father crippled him for it. Within two years, he fled south. No one knows if he’s alive or dead—maybe he’s already in the underworld. After all, everyone ends up there eventually.”
I told her about Zuo Shan’s later fate. Ye Wenxin sighed, saying she hadn’t expected him to remain unchanged after all these years.
“You didn’t come just to chat about this, did you?” she asked.
I had been circling the real issue—the eye.
“I wanted to ask—there’s a fragrant corpse downstairs, and a wandering eye in the old building. Did you know about them?”
Ye Wenxin didn’t answer directly. “The one who trapped me here was Ji Ruyue’s master, Gu Rechang. But back then, Ji Ruyue wasn’t called that—she went by something like ‘Red Guard’…”
I didn’t quite understand.
Ye Wenxin continued, “When Ji Ruyue came to study at the school, she had ulterior motives. She and her master were after a great secret from us. After we died, we were all trapped here.”
“What secret?”
“The mystery of the stone coffin,” she said.
Locked in the old building for the sake of a stone coffin? I pressed, “What mystery?”
Ye Wenxin stood up, gazing into the night as if recalling the past.
After a long pause, she finally spoke.
“The stone coffin was empty. But Gu Rechang refused to believe it. He thought it contained hidden treasures, so he trapped me here.”
“You mean you don’t know the secret either? Then where is the stone coffin?” I was confused. If she knew about the coffin, why didn’t she know its secret?
Ye Wenxin explained, “During my time in the countryside, we dug up a stone coffin in a village. No matter what we tried, we couldn’t open it. Eventually, it was transported to Jiangcheng as a cultural relic. But one day, it was stolen—vanished without a trace. Gu Rechang was there when we unearthed it. He followed me, demanding to know its whereabouts.”
“Why didn’t you ask my grandfather for help?”
Her voice remained calm. “I couldn’t find them—especially my father. His fate was unknown. Long Youshui was locked up in a cowshed for ‘feudal activities,’ and I was barely surviving myself. There was no way to reach them.”
“And then?”
“After we died, Gu Rechang locked us here and sent a starving ghost to torment us daily. I had no choice—I couldn’t even enter the cycle of reincarnation.” Her tone was still steady, as if she had grown accustomed to this existence over the years.
“Now that the Flying Centipede is dead, you’re safe,” I said, struggling to find comforting words.
Ye Wenxin replied, “Everything is part of the cycle. Lingering between life and death, holding onto memories, isn’t unbearable. Besides, we have so many friends here.”
“Then… do you know about the female corpse in Room 302?” I asked.
She gave me a surprised look. “You’ve discovered it.”
“There are no secrets that stay hidden forever. The first time I came here, an eye was watching me. I’ve noticed many strange things about this building,” I admitted honestly.
Ye Wenxin said, “A few years ago, one night, three people sneaked in. Among them was a very beautiful but restless girl. Later, she drank some kind of potion, stopped breathing, and was sealed inside a red cabinet—turned into a ‘Death Door.'”
I sighed inwardly. Justice always prevailed—what had happened that night had been witnessed by Ye Wenxin, who now revealed the truth about Guo Furong.
It seemed Guo Furong had been murdered.
“But… the girl went willingly,” Ye Wenxin added.
“What?!” I couldn’t help but exclaim.
Little Rascal, hearing my shout, barked loudly. Shen Yihu immediately called, checking if I was okay. I quickly reassured him and said I’d be down soon.
Ye Wenxin warned, “If I say too much, I’ll suffer retribution. The living and the dead are separate—what happens in the mortal world is none of my concern. I can’t speak further, or I’ll face punishment in the underworld. Xiao Qi, I can’t tell you more. You’ll have to figure it out yourself.”
I thanked her repeatedly, promising to free them and break the old building’s seal.
…
The night after the rain was cool and breezy.
As I reached the ground floor, Shen Yihu said, “I think I hear someone singing ‘Tian Mi Mi.’ Do you hear it?”
I laughed. “You caught me—I love singing that song. If I sang Teresa Teng’s classic, it’d be a rare masterpiece.”
Shen Yihu eyed me suspiciously. “Quit joking. How’s the investigation going? Any leads? Can we bring in the forensics team? Can we start digging?”
I shook my head. “Not yet. I need to rest first. Stay away for now.”
Shen Yihu was probably cursing inwardly—I’d left him with this mess while I walked away. Truthfully, I was exhausted beyond words.
I didn’t know why I felt so drained. After a hot shower, I unrolled the painting of the bare-backed beauty. Mo Bai exclaimed, “Bring it closer! Let me see! What a gorgeous woman!”
I glanced at it but was too tired to care. Tossing the painting aside, I fell asleep instantly.
In my dream, a smooth-skinned beauty approached. When she drew near, I asked her name. She smiled. “Everyone calls me Teacher Aoi.”
“Alright, I’ve got things to do tomorrow. Watch TV or something.”
The next morning, Shen Yihu’s call jolted me awake, scolding me to hurry over—the sun was already high.
It was only 8 a.m. I rushed over, carefully packing the painting.
The overnight lab reports came back. The seven skulls were decades old, at least twenty or thirty years, with no clear cause of death.
Guo Furong’s results showed her body was unnaturally youthful and full of vitality—her hair seemed freshly plucked from a living person.
Neither Zhou Liangliang nor the homeless man had been found. It was as if they had never existed. The search continued.
A ray of sunlight fell on my handsome face.
Gritting my teeth, I ordered, “Start digging. Break down the walls—let the sunlight in.”
Shen Yihu immediately directed workers to demolish a section of the wall. The sturdy construction from the last century resisted for a long time before finally giving way. Sunlight poured in.
By 9 a.m., the light grew stronger. Shen Yihu and I decided to excavate the ground—to uncover whatever secrets lay beneath.
What was hidden there?
What was the secret?
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