Hu Yu and Zheng Wuyou contradicted each other in every sentence, leaving the others, who hadn't been there, utterly confused.
"I'm not imagining things, am I? Why are these two saying different things?" Guo Mu scratched his head in frustration.
What was going on?
Wen Dian nodded in agreement.
Hadn't they gone together? Why were their stories so wildly different?
"If you don't believe me, ask those two! You know they're all in cahoots. They'll definitely say it's my fault in the end." Hu Yu was as sharp-tongued as a firecracker, rattling off a whole string of words.
Zheng Wuyou folded her hands in front of herself. She could understand why Hu Yu doubted her.
After all, Hu Yu hadn't found the key point.
So she couldn't understand how Zheng Wuyou had reached that conclusion.
Uncle Cai gently pushed down Hu Yu's hand, which was pointing at the three of them. "All right, all right. Why don't you let the young lady explain?"
If he didn't step in to stop her, he was afraid she'd do something foolish.
Hu Yu pulled her hand back, snorting so hard it seemed she could blow a cow away.
"Then I'll explain. Of course... not for your sake, but so I can clear this place successfully." Zheng Wuyou finally unfolded her arms. "I told you before that you can't trust the Zhu family. Just imagine every villager as a program loaded with a set of instructions. Their minds are limited to a few things, including not being able to tell the truth."
"So can we understand that the Zhu family's words need to be taken backward? When I asked her if she was a member of the Zhu family, she shook her head. But when I asked if she'd been a member of the Zhu family before marrying in, she nodded. That contradiction makes the conclusion even more certain. She married into the Zhu family, so how is she not a member of it?"
"From there, work backward, and every answer... becomes obvious." Zheng Wuyou held her teacup out toward Hu Yu. After clinking it against hers without waiting for a response, she added, "Next time, think before you argue."
Uncle Cai nodded in agreement.
He hadn't really understood what the young lady had said, but he'd seen how impressed Wen Dian and Guo Mu looked.
That was enough to tell him she was right.
"Hu Yu, I don't mean to offend you. I just think I should warn you—you seem to fit the profile of the kind of person they kidnap." Zheng Wuyou hesitated for a moment, then continued, "Every time the middle-aged man sees you, he looks delighted. You should be careful."
Zheng Wuyou set her teacup down. A rare, grave seriousness appeared on her face.
Even though she and Hu Yu didn't get along,
they were in this together now. In a story like this, she couldn't just stand by and do nothing when a female companion was in danger.
Especially in a kidnapping plot as horrifying as this one.
Hu Yu fell into thought at her words. Every time she went to Old Zhu's family, something had felt off.
Only now, after being reminded, did she realize the middle-aged man always tried to find a chance to get close to her.
"Damn him! That Toad thinks he can get his hands on a swan!" Hu Yu slammed her teacup down on the table.
She turned toward Old Zhu's family and started cursing at the top of her lungs.
"...No wonder. Hu Yu and Uncle Cai, you should stick with the four of us from now on." Wen Dian hadn't expected to encounter such an old, distant custom himself.
Besides, there was safety in numbers.
"You two can protect Hu Yu. There's another girl among those three, isn't there? I can team up with this handsome guy." Grinning, Guo Mu sidled up to Miao Laisheng.
From what he'd seen so far, the cold-faced handsome guy was obviously the strongest fighter among them.
"...You can team up with them. We don't need a burden." Before Zheng Wuyou could reply, Miao Laisheng turned down Guo Mu himself.
Guo Mu had still been hoping to persuade him, but seeing that same unapproachable look on his face, he could only slink back to Wen Dian's side.
Still as heartless as ever. Maybe this guy really was a machine.
Wait...
A burden? Zheng Wuyou looked at him in disbelief. Who was he calling a burden?
"So we still don't know how to save the First Wife. What do we do when it gets dark?" Wen Dian's foot accidentally brushed against Sun Wu, whose face had turned gray-white. He sprang away, hopping several steps from where he'd been standing.
"She's like the boy who cried wolf. They've tested her so many times, and every time she's been caught and brought back." Hu Yu thought of the last thing the First Wife had said before leaving, and felt a jumble of emotions.
"..." Zheng Wuyou was stumped too. What would count as rescuing the First Wife?
They were trapped in Zhu Family Village. Even if they managed to get the First Wife away from Old Zhu's family, they still couldn't escape this place...
"Cough, cough... Why are you all gathered here instead of helping out, you bunch of lazy good-for-nothings?" The old man came into the Main Hall from the Backyard, leaning on his cane and coughing. He seemed not to see Sun Wu lying on the ground and stepped right on him.
Wen Dian had been about to stop the old man, but when he walked over Sun Wu as if nothing had happened, Wen Dian realized that death meant Sun Wu no longer existed in this world.
"The wedding's tomorrow! This afternoon, we're going to the back hill to pay our respects to the ancestors. According to the rules, you're not allowed to go!" The old man coughed a few more times. "But... we're short-handed. Go to Old Zhu's family, pick up the offerings, and meet at the path on the back hill."
As he spoke, Wen Dian, standing closest to him, took a stone about the size of an egg from the old man.
Strange patterns were carved into it.
They'd found their chance!
Zheng Wuyou's eyes lit up as she looked at Miao Laisheng. He seemed to have reached the same conclusion.
"Hurry up and get going! You lot take forever to do anything... You're making your master look bad!"
The old man's grumbling continued behind them as the group hurried toward Old Zhu's family.
Remembering what Zheng Wuyou had said earlier, Hu Yu chose to walk in the middle of the group this time.
She was a little afraid of running into the middle-aged man.
As soon as they reached Old Zhu's family, they saw the middle-aged man open the door.
A two-wheeled wooden handcart stood behind him.
When the middle-aged man saw them at the entrance, surprise flashed in his eyes. Then he motioned for them to make way.
"Looks like the village chief told you. I'll go get the offerings. You can head straight to the back hill and wait for me."
The middle-aged man immediately turned around, took hold of the handcart, and hurried past them toward the Wooden House, the wheels clattering.
"Weren't we supposed to get the offerings? Why are the instructions completely different? What do we do now?" Hu Yu instinctively looked to Zheng Wuyou, wanting to know how she'd handle it.
"If the offerings can't be seen, then let's just go to the back hill." Zheng Wuyou couldn't be bothered with all the twists and turns.
They were going to the back hill anyway. It looked like a new part of the story was about to begin.
The back hill lay behind the Wooden House, at the peak of the hillside.
A hidden path choked with weeds ran beside the Wooden House. About four hundred meters along it, they'd reach the entrance to the back hill.
From the very first day, Zheng Wuyou had noticed the many graves standing on the back hill.
The mounds were scattered one after another across the barren hillside, rising starkly above the silent earth in the distance.
Some had been battered by wind and rain for years and looked dilapidated;
others were relatively new, still bearing traces of the living's grief for the dead.
The mounds varied in size and shape.
When night fell and moonlight washed over the back hill, the whole scene grew even more eerie, sending chills down one's spine.
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