"This is getting troublesome." I gritted my teeth, unable to describe the panic in my heart.
"We can only take things one step at a time now. We mustn't panic and throw ourselves into disarray," Old Zhao said.
"Mm, you're right."
Liu Ling'er and the others were confused by our words. They had no idea what we meant.
I looked at them and said, "In any case, we must be more careful during this period."
And so, we stayed in the village until nightfall.
When it was time to sleep, we were at a loss. There were no inns nearby, and even finding someone to take us in would have been troublesome.
Just then, we found an empty courtyard. It had more than a dozen newly built, tiled houses. The walls were fences made of woven branches, and the village chief said we could stay there as we pleased.
So we excitedly carried our bedding into the new house. Everything inside was brand-new and spotless.
Old Zhao followed us in, but after glancing around, his expression suddenly changed. He hurriedly told us to move out.
Only after we left did Old Zhao explain. He had found seven knife marks on the main beam of the house! There was a local custom that if someone hanged himself inside a house, a mark had to be chopped into the roof beam. This house was the worst kind of haunted house: all seven members of a family had hanged themselves inside it one after another. That included a newlywed couple. The family had gotten along harmoniously, yet this happened only a few days after they moved in. No one knew why.
With no other choice, we found some materials and built a shed, then settled down inside it.
After the others went to