The candy's unique texture felt new to her. For a moment, she even thought getting married might not be so frightening after all. But why was her mother so opposed to it?
Was it because she was jealous that she got to eat something so delicious?
Sitting on the edge of the bed, she felt a little resentful toward her mother.
She carefully licked the candy left inside the wrapper, little by little.
The sweetness of the candy made her happy. Just as she had licked the candy down to a tiny piece, the tightly shut door creaked open.
She looked at the person who entered in confusion. When she saw it was the village chief, who had brought her candy earlier, she grew even happier, thinking he had come to bring her more.
Looking into the village chief's cloudy, yellowed eyes, she mustered her courage and held out her hand, hoping for another piece of candy.
What came instead was a fate like that of prey caught by a ravenous wolf. She didn't understand why the village chief had suddenly pounced on her and torn open her clothes.
The village chief coaxed her, his every breath reeking of the harsh fumes of opium.
He told her not to be afraid, and that he would give her even more tasty treats afterward.
Naively, she believed that if she did as the village chief said, he would give her more candy, so she endured her discomfort without crying or making a fuss.
Little did she know that this was only the beginning of a nightmare.
As many people celebrated outside that night, just as many went into that room...
When dawn finally came, she still hadn't gotten a single piece of candy. Naked, clutching her clothes, she endured the pain and staggered to the door. Outside, she heard the middle-aged man, still drunk, happily counting the rice, flour, sauces, and vinegar others had given him. He said there was a young girl in the room, so he'd never have to worry about food or clothing again...
She looked back at the disheveled bed and at herself, unsure what to do, and seemed to understand.
She let go of her clothes and dropped them on the floor. Then she walked out completely naked, her vacant gaze fixed on the middle-aged man slumped in a chair, grinning from ear to ear.
She smiled back at him, picked up the scissors on the table, and began cutting. Though her movements were frantic, her expression remained calm.
She cut open the flowery packages on the rice, flour, sauces, and vinegar—patterns she had never seen before.
Though her arms had grown weak, she still flung everything forcefully to the floor. At last, she grabbed the scissors and stabbed the man before her.
By dawn, all that remained of the village was a great, blazing fire.
The village's farce ended amid flames and obliteration.
The fire took away not only those involved, but seemed to take the guilt of others with it as well.
The roses before them scattered in the wind, their petals falling all around.
Zheng Wuyou and the two behind her returned to Zhu Li's house.
Why did the story end differently when seen from different perspectives?
In this story, that night...
Could Zhu Li have already died at the door?
Zheng Wuyou lowered her head and saw that Zhu Li's hand, clasped in hers, had become a skeleton.
Bones covered her hand, and roses grew along his skeleton.
He was surrounded by blooming roses.
As if sleeping there forever.
Until a pair of hands pulled her hand free of the bones...
Only when Zheng Wuyou came to her senses and looked down did she realize...
At some point, the roses had already crept from the bones in her palm onto the back of her hand.
They were about to swallow her up in broad daylight.
"Don't get distracted." Miao Laisheng said only three simple words, but there was anger in them.
Zheng Wuyou sheepishly plucked the rose clinging to the back of her hand and held it up to the sunlight, turning it over in her fingers.
"Tell me..." She lifted her eyes as the setting sun filtered through the petals, dappling her face. "Where do you think the two siblings are parasitizing together?"
Miao Laisheng didn't answer. She merely glanced toward Old Zhu's family's home.
This wasn't a horror level, but every scene spelled out the fears buried in people's hearts.
Just before leaving Zhu Li's house, Zheng Wuyou glanced back at the imposing courtyard.
Her earlier guess had been wrong...
Zhu Li really was the King Yama from the nursery rhyme, but the face he wore belonged not to all women, but to... his younger sister.
So, caught between good and evil, he was always on the verge of tipping to one side.
As Zheng Wuyou hurried toward Old Zhu's family's home, her gaze swept across the Wooden House.
She couldn't shake the feeling that she had overlooked something...
Hu Yu, Wen Dian, and the others had been waiting at Old Zhu's family's home for a long time.
They, too, had all entered that rose-filled feast.
Having just witnessed two upheavals firsthand, they all looked rather grim.
Hu Yu in particular was feeling conflicted.
She felt awful, like she'd eaten shit.
She pitied Zhu Li, but also hated the people who had dragged innocent people like them into this.
"What kind of place is this, with so many backward customs?" Wen Dian looked at the petals scattered across the ground. It might have looked romantic... if those roses weren't all stained with blood.
"A game that costs people their lives." Zheng Wuyou ignored the others' discomfort and went straight to the Backyard.
The orange-red sunset once again spread across the whole sky.
Once the sun went down...
The entire Zhu Family Village would become the desolate village outside the window on the first night.
Thinking of what had happened in the Woodshed, Zheng Wuyou sighed inwardly.
The ghosts were beginning to attack.
Tonight was sure to bring hidden dangers.
They couldn't delay any longer...
"We searched the Backyard. There's nothing there. This house looks like it was abandoned in a hurry by people fleeing for their lives." Uncle Cai hurried over to Zheng Wuyou, who had reached the Backyard in just a few strides. Seeing her staring into the barren yard, he kindly explained.
Even the tree they had first seen in the side courtyard had withered and collapsed under the wind and rain.
No...
That wasn't right...
All the women in the Backyard had sacrificed themselves at the altar to help them learn the truth, using their bones to reenact what had happened back then.
And Zhu Li, who had been entangled with the villagers for so long, had also become a skeleton after struggling against his younger sister.
When Zhu Li disappeared, the villagers would disappear with him.
She had thought the exit would be in the secret-filled Backyard...
But now it was barren and completely exposed.
Where was the key to getting out?
A chicken walked calmly past their feet, pecking here and there as it caught the wriggling creatures that would be its dinner.
Zheng Wuyou even had to lift her foot to let the chicken pass.
"Let's go check the second floor of the Wooden House."
Zheng Wuyou suddenly remembered the woman who always sat by her bed at night.
There had been one more unanswered question...
The three rooms in the Wooden House that had remained shut.
Miao Laisheng and the others were in the courtyard of Old Zhu's family's home. From a distance, they saw the brown-haired woman with a short bob hurrying toward the door.
Uncle Cai followed behind her, looking bewildered.
"What's going on?" Hu Yu saw her rushing off and had wanted to stop her and ask.
But she was moving too fast, so all Hu Yu could do was stop Uncle Cai behind her.
"I don't know what's gotten into her, miss!" Uncle Cai turned his head and gave a quick answer, then hurried after Zheng Wuyou.
But no one noticed Miao Laisheng standing where she was, watching Zheng Wuyou's retreating figure and sighing quietly.
The five people still alive in Zhu Family Village crowded onto the second floor of the Wooden House.
Apart from Miao Laisheng, who kept her distance, no one dared disturb Zheng Wuyou as she studied the note at the front.
"How interesting. There's a seal on the door, too." Zheng Wuyou had meant to tear it off in one go, but then remembered night was about to fall.
So she turned and told Miao Laisheng.
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