An Accident Occurs

"Hello, I'm Zhu Li. Please, come in." Before Zheng Wuyou could speak, the man took the initiative to introduce himself politely.

He still had his eyes closed, bathed in the sunlight.

Even Wansi poked her head out curiously to look at this person.

For some reason, Zheng Wuyou's intuition told him—

This was the man who wrote that fine Regular Script.

His surname was Zhu. He wasn't an outsider. In this remote, impoverished village, there was actually a cultured man?

Miao Laisheng let out a cold laugh. For the first time, without waiting for Zheng Wuyou to take the lead, he strode in unceremoniously.

Zheng Wuyou grabbed Wansi and hurried after him.

"Because of my physical condition, it's inconvenient for me to serve tea. Please forgive my poor hospitality." Zhu Li manually pushed the wheels of his wheelchair into the room, only then slowly opening his eyes.

His eyelashes were long, and his pupils seemed to be different colors, faintly discernible.

"No need." Miao Laisheng's tone carried a hint of wariness.

"How did you know we were coming?" Zheng Wuyou stared intently at his back as he faced away in the wheelchair, voicing her doubt.

"The commotion you made next door—I imagine no household in Zhu Family Village could ignore it." Zhu Li smiled faintly, turning his wheelchair to face them. "And the hairpin you're looking for—I hid it."

He didn't hide it at all, directly stating his intentions.

Zheng Wuyou glanced at Miao Laisheng again. No matter what background this Zhu Li had—

He was absolutely a master of chess.

He knew how to lead people step by step into his plan.

Realizing he was misunderstood, Zhu Li made a clear gesture of goodwill. He explained that he had someone hide the hairpin just to make them, as outsiders, come find him.

Zheng Wuyou scanned Zhu Li from head to toe. His clothes weren't like those of the other villagers.

At the very least, there were no patches on the fabric.

He went through all this trouble just to have outsiders come to him?

"Finding us doesn't seem like good news." Zheng Wuyou knew well that when it came to schemes, she couldn't outplay someone like him.

So she directly laid out her hostility.

For the first time, Wansi didn't hide behind Zheng Wuyou when seeing a stranger. Her curious eyes roamed up and down, sizing up the big brother in the wheelchair.

Sensing her gaze, Zhu Li gave the little girl a gentle, faint smile.

"My younger sister's age should be about the same as hers," Zhu Li said, steering the topic toward the little girl to ease the hostility in the air.

"That's not important."

Zheng Wuyou pulled Wansi back behind her and forced a smile onto her face.

She didn't have time to listen to his family chatter.

If she hadn't remembered the mission, she would've almost been led astray by him.

"If you successfully help her, the hairpin will naturally be returned." Zhu Li finally stopped beating around the bush.

He took a sheet of Yellow Paper from his wheelchair. On it, black ink wrote in neat Regular Script: [Imprison the First Wife, fly far beyond the high wall.]

Zheng Wuyou took the Yellow Paper from him, half-believing, half-doubting.

First Wife?

Wasn't that usually a term for when a man married several wives, calling the first one the First Wife?

"Whose First Wife?"

Zhu Li looked at this girl of the same age and smiled faintly. "Naturally, whichever household has a happy event, it falls upon that household."

Finally, as she walked out of Zhu Li's house holding the Yellow Paper, Zheng Wuyou clearly heard a sentence from Zhu Li, who sat at the entrance of the Main Hall.

"None of the Zhu family's words can be trusted."

"Did you hear that?" Zheng Wuyou still felt like it was a dream.

The moment she stepped out of Zhu Li's place, a wave of reality hit her.

Zhu Li was like an elegant NPC issuing a quest, giving the illusion that he didn't belong here.

"Mm. He's also a Zhu family member."

Miao Laisheng was good at grasping the key point, always hitting squarely on Zheng Wuyou's doubts.

"Could the tasks on the List be just to make us find Zhu Li and get the real mission?" No matter how Zheng Wuyou thought about it, finding the hairpin seemed too simple.

Not as roundabout as the first task.

She didn't notice that she had unconsciously asked this stranger beside her.

Like an old friend she'd known for years.

Miao Laisheng was also lost in thought.

He didn't dare to be certain about the task, but right now, everything pointed to this being a double mission.

Seeing him switch back to his miserly word mode, Zheng Wuyou regretted running her mouth.

She just had to ask that one question.

"Big Sister, he doesn't seem like a bad person." Wansi obediently tugged at Zheng Wuyou's hand from behind.

Not expecting Wansi to suddenly speak up, Zheng Wuyou patiently crouched down to explain to her: "Wansi, you can't judge a bad person by their looks."

"But... you're good-looking, and you're not a bad person either."

When they returned to the Wooden House, everyone had already gathered in front of it, waiting for the three of them to appear.

Wansi was like a mood healer, always soothing her emotions at critical moments.

Zheng Wuyou walked up cheerfully, pulling Wansi along, only to sense something off in the atmosphere.

Why was everyone's expression so heavy?

Zheng Wuyou withdrew her smile and looked at Wen Dian, who was hesitantly shoving back and forth with Guo Mu.

"What happened?" Zheng Wuyou asked, puzzled, as she scanned the gathered crowd.

A quick sweep revealed two people were missing.

Sun Wu in the tracksuit was gone.

And one more...

The short woman was also missing.

Had those two not finished searching, or...

"..." Uncle Cai didn't know how to put it. By the time he noticed, it was already too late.

"Tch, that idiot killed someone and dumped them by the river where we came ashore." Hu Yu was agitated.

She didn't dare think about what would have happened if the groups hadn't been split up this time.

What her own fate might have been.

Those words stabbed into Zheng Wuyou's mind like a sword.

She didn't quite understand—how could the short woman have killed Sun Wu, who was all muscle?

"When Uncle Cai and I finished searching the house, we figured it was still early, so we walked along the riverbank. Uncle Cai was in front and found it first. By then, there was only... Sun Wu lying there. That idiot was already gone." Seeing the disbelief in Zheng Wuyou's eyes, Hu Yu added more details.

If she remembered correctly, the riverbank where they landed was behind the alley between East Third Room and East Fourth Room.

East Third Room was the area Wen Dian and Guo Mu were responsible for.

East Fourth Room was hers, Miao Laisheng's, and Wansi's area.

They had even crossed paths with Wen Dian and Guo Mu midway, and nothing seemed off at the time.

Sun Wu and the short woman were assigned to East First Room—how had they wandered so far?

And ended up behind East Third and Fourth Rooms.

Zheng Wuyou locked her gaze on Wen Dian and Guo Mu.

When they went to Zhu Li's house, Wen Dian and Guo Mu were still figuring out how to get into the other houses in East Third Room.

There was no way they hadn't heard a thing.

"Oh, I knew we'd be suspected." Wen Dian had expected this.

Their position at the time was indeed suspicious.

"After we ran into you guys, you went across the street. We found a dog hole in a patch of weeds and crawled in. He even stepped in a pile of shit." Wen Dian pointed at the sole of Guo Mu's shoe.

Guo Mu cooperatively lifted his shoe, faintly reeking of feces.

Everyone quickly covered their noses.