Old Zhu's Family

Bangs Woman thought that these were teammates assigned to her by the List, after all.

One less was worse than one more.

So she kindly called out to the short woman inside.

Whether out of selfishness,

or kindness.

Hearing her call and seeing the slanting sunlight outside, the short woman hesitated for a moment before stepping through the bloodwater to follow them.

Each heavy step splashed up water.

Yet she deftly avoided the red patches.

But now, she had fallen into endless silence. No matter how Bangs Woman tried to strike up a conversation,

she gave no reply.

They looked at one another, but no one dared knock on the door first.

Here, no one could be sure what consequences one wrong step would bring.

"You solved it... you knock." Seeing no one willing to take the lead, the burly man thought for a moment, then pointed confidently at Zheng Wuyou, who stood at the very front.

Time was not waiting for them.

This was not a marketplace where they could leisurely haggle over the rules. Keep fussing over them, and none of them would survive.

Zheng Wuyou raised one eyebrow and turned a sharp gaze on the burly man in the middle of the group.

You ungrateful bastard, take off your sheep's clothing yourself.

"Knock, knock, knock..."

Just as everyone reached a stalemate, a Navy Blue Long Sleeve silently knocked on the old wooden door.

The dull sound of wood striking wood echoed through the quiet village.

Everyone held their breath and instinctively took a step back.

Only Zheng Wuyou and Little Girl remained behind Navy Blue Pajamas.

"Hey, hey, hey! Why did you knock?!" Toothless Pajama Man was clearly unprepared. Startled, he nimbly leaped several steps backward.

His feet landed in the mud, splattering mud all over the hems of the people around him.

With a creak, the tightly shut wooden door swung inward.

A thick cloud of smoke instantly surged out from within, rushing straight at the people outside.

The lingering slanting sunlight in the village abruptly turned fiery red, casting its glow across the mountainside.

A Red Sun hung high overhead. At some point, the originally azure sky had been stained by a deep crimson as thick as blood.

That red was vivid and dazzling.

It continued to spread, blanketing the entire sky.

As if it meant to devour everything in the world.

"It's over, it's over! We opened the wrong door!" Bangs Woman waved away the smoke before her, then looked up to see a blood-red sky.

Fear invaded her heart, and she staggered backward, nearly falling to the ground.

Fortunately, the uncle in capri pants standing at the very back caught her in time.

It should have been this door. There could not have been a mistake!

But this situation...

Zheng Wuyou warily stared inside, while her tense hands instinctively shielded Little Girl behind her.

No one dared make a rash move, maintaining their original positions.

The second hand on their watches made only one full turn before the Red Sun, like a withering flower,

vanished from everyone's sight.

No sound came from inside the door.

Nor did any heavenly punishment descend from above.

The setting sun continued to hang slanted in the sky, spilling the warm hues unique to dusk.

The only difference from before was a backlit middle-aged man standing in the doorway. He held both wooden doors open with his hands. From that backlit angle, they could vaguely see a kind smile on his face, his eyes curved into narrow slits as he looked at those outside.

"You're here." The middle-aged man happily released the doors, making room for them to enter. Turning sideways, he swept his left hand behind him in welcome.

Only then did Zheng Wuyou notice that the half of his face lit by the sun was pitted and uneven.

It seemed covered in pus-filled boils of varying sizes.

"Tonight's dinner is at the village chief's house, and your lodging has been arranged as well. Please bear with us during these days of celebration." Seeing no one enter, the middle-aged man simply turned around and crossed the small courtyard toward the Main Hall.

They could not repeat their mistake with the NPC.

There had been no punishment.

This was Old Zhu's family.

Zheng Wuyou silently counted to five in her heart. This was her countdown to good luck.

Thinking of the first girl, whose task had been missed because no one spoke to the NPC,

she firmly became the first to step inside.

Following behind the middle-aged man, she took Little Girl's hand and crossed the small courtyard, where several tables draped in red cloth stood, heading toward the Main Hall built of packed yellow earth.

She did not do things she was not confident about.

Then the hem of Navy Blue clothing appeared in her field of vision.

Only then did hurried footsteps gradually sound behind her as the others followed.

"Aren't we staying here?" Zheng Wuyou watched the slightly hunched middle-aged man open the cracked door to the Main Hall, unable to understand why this village always liked keeping its doors tightly shut.

"You're only hired help, and you want to stay in the home hosting the celebration?"

Before the middle-aged man could answer, a harsh rebuke interrupted everyone's thoughts.

It startled Little Girl, who had finally poked her head out from curiosity, into shrinking farther behind them again.

An old woman with a face full of wrinkles emerged unsteadily from the Backyard behind the Main Hall, lifting aside a cloth curtain with one hand while holding a Smoking Pipe in the other.

Her stern face bore some resemblance to the middle-aged man's.

She seemed to be the one in charge of Old Zhu's family. The moment she appeared, the middle-aged man's smile plainly vanished, and traces of fear surfaced on his face.

The words "not welcome" might as well have been written across it.

"Why did you bring them in today?! The bride is in the Backyard. If you disturb her, will you take responsibility?" The old woman blocked the doorway leading to the Backyard, her sharp gaze sweeping over everyone as spittle sprayed from her mouth with every word.

"Yes, yes, yes. Mother is right." The middle-aged man bent over and bowed repeatedly.

His posture was humble to the bone.

He turned around and apologetically gestured for the group to leave first.

Interesting. The old man drove people away, and the old woman drove people away too.

This place sure was obsessed with pushing the progress bar.

Zheng Wuyou first took two steps out of the Main Hall, then feinted and stopped. Smiling, she turned back and waved at the old woman. "Sorry, but the old man smoking opium told us to come help today, so we have to come. We were paid to do a job, after all."

"Mother, this was the village chief's idea..." Hearing her words, the middle-aged man turned back and tried to support her, but his voice grew lower and lower.

"Pah! Even the village chief has to follow the village rules. Get the hell out of here, wherever you belong."

Clearly displeased, the old woman picked up the Carrying Pole resting in the corner and prepared to drive them all out. It was her family's celebration, and the rules could not be broken.

Frightened, everyone hurriedly ran outside.

Was entering Old Zhu's family not the task?

Why were they being driven back out?

Could the remaining hour actually be for persuading this old woman to let them go inside and help?

Everyone scrambled to the entrance like ducks being herded in a panic.

Then they heard the wooden door slam shut behind them.

Leaving the group standing at the entrance, staring at one another.

"No, there are only forty minutes left until five o'clock. Did we complete it or not?" Toothless Pajama Man could not quite make sense of the situation. He had been the first to run out of Old Zhu's family, and he stood the farthest away.

"We didn't." Navy Blue Pajamas, who had come out last, held up the List in front of everyone. The same few lines were still written on it.

"How do you know whether it's complete?" The uncle in capri pants curiously leaned closer, but still could not understand it.

Young people's thought processes could not be used as a reference.