"Hello, I'm Zhu Li. Come on in." Before Zheng Wuyou could speak, the man politely introduced himself first.
He still had his eyes closed, basking in the sunlight.
Even Wansi curiously poked her head out to look at him.
For some reason, Zheng Wuyou's intuition told her:
This was the man who wrote such beautiful Regular Script.
His surname was Zhu, and he wasn't from out of town. In this poor, remote village, there was actually a cultured person?
Miao Laisheng sneered. For the first time, instead of waiting for Zheng Wuyou to lead the way, he walked in without a word.
Zheng Wuyou hurriedly pulled Wansi along behind him.
"Because of my condition, I can't pour tea for you. Please excuse the poor hospitality." Zhu Li propelled his wheelchair into the house, and only then did he slowly open his eyes.
His eyelashes were long, and his two pupils seemed to be slightly different colors.
"That's all right." Miao Laisheng's voice carried a hint of wariness.
"How did you know we'd come?" Zheng Wuyou stared at the back of his wheelchair and asked, puzzled.
"With all the commotion you made next door, I doubt there's a single household in Zhu Family Village that didn't notice." Zhu Li smiled faintly and turned his wheelchair to face them. "And I hid the hairpin you're looking for."
He didn't hide his intentions at all, stating them plainly.
Zheng Wuyou glanced at Miao Laisheng again. Whatever Zhu Li's background was—
He was definitely a skilled player.
He knew how to draw people into his plans, one step at a time.
Seeing that they had misunderstood him, Zhu Li clearly explained that he'd asked someone to hide the hairpin only to get the few outsiders to come find him.
Zheng Wuyou looked Zhu Li up and down. He wasn't dressed like the other villagers.
At least, his clothes had no patches.
He'd gone to all this trouble just to get outsiders to find him?
"Doesn't seem like you're looking for us for anything good." Zheng Wuyou knew she couldn't outmaneuver people like him.
So she openly expressed her hostility.
For the first time, Wansi didn't hide behind Zheng Wuyou when they met a stranger. Her curious eyes roamed over the big brother in the wheelchair.
Sensing her gaze, Zhu Li smiled gently at the Little Girl.
"My younger sister should be about her age." To ease the hostility in the air, Zhu Li turned the conversation toward the Little Girl.
"That's not important."
Zheng Wuyou pulled Wansi back behind her and forced a smile.
She didn't have time to listen to him talk about family matters.
If she hadn't remembered the task, she would've almost let him lead her off track.
"If you successfully help her, the hairpin will be returned to you." Zhu Li got straight to the point.
He took a piece of Yellow Paper from his wheelchair. On it, in neat Regular Script, were the words: [Imprison the First Wife; fly beyond the high walls.]
Zheng Wuyou accepted the Yellow Paper, still uncertain.
The First Wife?
Wasn't that usually what you called the first woman someone married, if they had several wives?
Whose First Wife?
Zhu Li smiled faintly at the girl his age. "Whoever's celebrating a wedding, that's whose."
As she walked out of Zhu Li's House holding the Yellow Paper, Zheng Wuyou clearly heard Zhu Li, sitting by the entrance to the Main Hall, say:
"Nothing a member of the Zhu family says can be trusted."
"Did you hear that?" Zheng Wuyou still felt as though she were dreaming.
The moment she left Zhu Li's House, reality came crashing back.
Zhu Li was like an elegant non-player character handing out a quest, giving her the strange impression that he didn't belong here.
"Yeah. He's a member of the Zhu family too."
Miao Laisheng was good at getting to the point, always catching Zheng Wuyou's concerns exactly.
"Could the task on the List just be a way to get us to find Zhu Li and obtain the real task?" No matter how she thought about it, finding the hairpin seemed too simple.
It wasn't nearly as convoluted as the first task.
She hadn't noticed that she'd asked the stranger beside her out loud.
It was as if they were old friends.
Miao Laisheng was lost in thought too.
He couldn't be certain about the task, but everything now pointed to it being a double task.
Seeing him lapse into his usual silence, Zheng Wuyou regretted opening her mouth.
She shouldn't have asked that question.
"Big Sister, he doesn't seem like a bad person." Wansi obediently tugged on Zheng Wuyou's hand from behind.
Zheng Wuyou hadn't expected Wansi to speak up. Patiently, she crouched down to explain. "Wansi, you can't judge whether someone's bad by how they look."
"But... you're pretty, and you're not a bad person."
When they returned to the Wooden House, everyone had gathered outside, waiting for the three of them.
Wansi was like a healer for the heart, always soothing Zheng Wuyou at the crucial moment.
Cheered up, Zheng Wuyou walked over with Wansi, but immediately sensed that something was wrong with the atmosphere.
Why did everyone look so grave?
Zheng Wuyou's smile faded as she looked at Wen Dian, who was awkwardly shoving Guo Mu back and forth.
"What happened?" Zheng Wuyou asked, puzzled, as she looked at the gathered group.
Only after scanning the crowd did she realize two people were missing.
Sun Wu, the one in the tracksuit, was gone.
And someone else...
The short woman was gone too.
Had they not finished searching, or...
"..." Uncle Cai didn't know how to explain it. By the time he found out, it was already too late.
"Tch, that idiot killed someone and left him by the river where we came ashore." Hu Yu was distraught.
She didn't dare imagine what would have happened to her if they hadn't split up this time.
Those words pierced Zheng Wuyou's mind like a sword.
She couldn't understand. The short woman had killed Sun Wu, a man built like a tank?
"Uncle Cai and I had finished searching inside. Since it was still early, we decided to look along the river. Uncle Cai was walking in front and found him. By then, all that was left was... Sun Wu lying there. That idiot was already gone." Seeing Zheng Wuyou's doubtful expression, Hu Yu added more details.
If she remembered correctly, the river where they'd come ashore was behind the alley between East Third Room and East Fourth Room.
Wen Dian and Guo Mu had been assigned to East Third Room.
East Fourth Room was assigned to her, Miao Laisheng, and Wansi.
They'd even run into Wen Dian and Guo Mu along the way, and hadn't noticed anything unusual then.
Sun Wu and the short woman had been assigned to East First Room. How had they ended up so far away?
He'd been lying behind East Third Room and East Fourth Room.
Zheng Wuyou fixed her gaze on Wen Dian and Guo Mu.
When she went to Zhu Li's House, Wen Dian and Guo Mu had still been figuring out how to get into the other rooms in East Third Room.
There was no way they hadn't heard anything.
"Come on, I knew we'd be suspected." Wen Dian had expected this.
Their location had indeed looked suspicious.
"After we ran into you, you went across the way. We ended up finding a dog hole in some weeds and crawling through it. He even stepped in a pile of shit." Wen Dian pointed at Guo Mu's shoe sole.
Guo Mu obligingly lifted his foot, and a faint stench of shit wafted from the sole.
Everyone hurriedly covered their noses.
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