As he reached the entrance to the building, he heard someone calling from a distance. He turned around and saw his older sister, Jiang Ying, parking in the distant carport.
"Yue, do you have any coins? Bring me a few!"
They'd just bought groceries, so they had some change left over, including several one-yuan coins.
"Second Brother, wait here. I'll take some over to Big Sis." San Gou hurried off with a few coins to curry favor with her.
"Oh? San Gou, you're here!" Big Sis took the coins beside the charging station and fed them into the slot. She was charging her electric scooter.
"Hehe, I missed you, Big Sis, so I came to see you." San Gou grinned ingratiatingly.
Jiang Ying chuckled. "Is that so? How's school going lately? Have you been giving Aunt trouble?"
"Not at all! Aunt's always saying how well-behaved I am. If you don't believe me, ask her." San Gou hurried to explain.
Jiang Ying didn't interrogate him as much as San Gou had expected. The two chatted and laughed as they walked over to Jiang Yue.
When she saw the several large bags of groceries by the entrance, Jiang Ying froze. "Did you two rob a bank? Where'd you get the money to buy all this?"
"We'll talk at home." Jiang Yue didn't intend to discuss family matters in the hallway.
Besides, the rice and flour delivery had arrived right on time.
Back at home, they carried the rice and flour inside.
"Now can you tell me?"
It was clear that even with their parents away, Jiang Ying hadn't let the family's values fall by the wayside.
There were several large bags of groceries, both meat and vegetables, plus over a hundred pounds of rice and flour. It must have cost at least several hundred, maybe over a thousand. Jiang Ying couldn't remember ever giving them that much money.
"Aunt gave it to us. Two thousand yuan in total. I just spent over seven hundred, and the rest is here."
"Jiang Yue, you've got some nerve! Aunt gave it to you, so you just took it? Things aren't easy for her either. You—"
"Aunt slipped it into my bag without telling me. By the time I noticed, I was already on the way." Jiang Yue knew two thousand yuan weighed heavily on him, but he couldn't reject his aunt's kindness.
"So you just spent it without a second thought?"
"Big Sis, just put this favor on my tab. I'll repay Aunt in the future. Don't worry about it."
Jiang Yue spoke slowly, his gaze and expression as serious as any adult's.
Jiang Ying had been ready to lecture him at length, but seeing her younger brother standing before her, more than half a head taller than she was, she suddenly felt dazed.
All the things she'd meant to say, all the talk about owing people and doing the right thing, suddenly seemed less important.
Had her little brother... grown up?
Seizing the chance to smooth things over, San Gou said, "Big Sis, I can vouch for Second Brother. He really didn't know beforehand. And you know what Aunt's like. If you give the money back, she'll think you're insulting her."
Jiang Ying wasn't unreasonable, of course. She nodded. "Help wash the vegetables."
When there were enough people to help in the kitchen, the work went quickly.
Just forty minutes later, a decent dinner was ready.
Nobody brought up the two thousand yuan again during the meal.
Jiang Ying asked about their visit to the graves, then brought up the shuttle bus.
According to the original plan, Jiang Yue should have taken the bus yesterday. That was why, when Jiang Ying had come across the news, she'd nearly collapsed and frantically called Jiang Yue.
Jiang Yue and San Gou both tacitly avoided mentioning how close they'd come to taking that bus.
Then they talked about how Sister He next door had come down with a strange illness. Jiang Ying sighed, deeply saddened. She was also inevitably shaken. Could there really be such a terrifying illness in the world? One that made you age decades in an instant?
Jiang Ying couldn't even imagine it happening to her.
"Big Sis, I'm going out tonight." Jiang Yue got up and ladled her a bowl of egg-drop soup.
"Go ahead. You're not a three-year-old. You don't need to report every little thing to me."
Jiang Ying happily accepted the soup. Maybe it was just her imagination, but after returning to their hometown, her younger brother seemed to have grown more mature.
"Second Brother, can I come with you?" San Gou's eyes lit up.
"It's a classmate reunion. No tagalongs." Jiang Yue rejected him without mercy.
"You've only been on break for two or three days, and you're already having a reunion? How inseparable are you guys?" Jiang Ying chimed in again.
"One of my classmates comes from a well-off family. He invites a bunch of people over to his place every year for his birthday."
"What a show-off. Does his family own a mine?" San Gou grumbled when he heard he wasn't invited.
"They do, actually. And supposedly, quite a few." Jiang Yue said it on purpose.
"Where does he live?" Jiang Ying worked as a real estate agent and liked to judge people by their homes. It was a bit of a job habit.
"He said it's in the Daozi Lane Villa Area."
"Daozi Lane Villa?" Jiang Ying was indeed surprised.
"That's no ordinary place! Daozi Lane is all villas. Even the cheapest one there is worth at least eight figures—and well into the eight figures. I've heard you have to be seriously wealthy to live there."
Daozi Lane, the villa area—those details matched.
"Is it really that impressive?"
"I can't say how impressive it is. All I know is, I've never even been through the gate in all these years. I've heard only one villa has been sold in the past decade. I'm not sure what the final price was."
"Supposedly, most of the people who live there aren't locals. Even high-ranking officials in Star City might not qualify to live there. That's what people say, anyway. Who knows how true it is?"
"Of course, maybe that's just a rumor spread by real estate companies to drive prices up and make the place seem mysterious."
"Big Sis, you don't do that kind of thing, do you?" Jiang Yue joked.
Jiang Ying rolled her eyes at him. "That's the boss's business. We little employees don't get involved."
"By the way, which villa does your classmate live in? If I'm ever passing by, I'll take a look."
"Uh... I didn't catch the number. Maybe No. 17, or Villa No. 9?"
"No. 9?" Jiang Ying's expression turned a little strange.
"What's wrong? Is there something wrong with No. 9?" Jiang Yue asked, feigning surprise.
"It can't be No. 9, can it? People outside the industry might not know, but in real estate, we've heard some rumors about Daozi Lane Villa No. 9. Supposedly, there's something unclean in that house." Jiang Ying's tone grew guarded.
"Unclean?"
"Not dirty, like it hasn't been cleaned. They say there are Unclean Things inside. It might be a haunted house. But nobody's ever proved it. You can talk about it at home, but don't go spreading rumors outside."
"Come on. If nobody's proved it, how can they call it haunted? There's no smoke without fire."
"The rumor goes that a few years ago, two thieves sneaked into Daozi Lane. They'd had their eyes on Villa No. 9 for a while and had scouted it for half a month. They were sure nobody lived there, so they decided to break in."
"That night, they made their way to Villa No. 9, but no matter what they tried, they couldn't open the security lock. So they decided to pry open a window. It looked like an ordinary solid-wood window, but they just couldn't get it open."
"Just as they were sweating buckets trying to pry it open, all the lights in the house suddenly came on. The whole place was full of bats, surging toward the window like a rising tide and smacking against the glass with a creaking sound. All kinds of strange laughter came from inside..."
"The two thieves were so terrified they collapsed on the spot. Supposedly, they even wet themselves and couldn't walk, so they called the police themselves."
Thieves getting so scared they called the police—that did sound pretty creepy.
"I heard that the next day, the police went to investigate. They looked inside through the glass, but the house was neat and tidy, and there wasn't a single bat. Of course, it's only a rumor that's gone around a small circle. As for what really happened, probably only the people involved know."
"That's quite a strange story. Here, Big Sis, have some water." San Gou wasn't at all interested in the Daozi Lane villas, but that didn't stop him from ingratiating himself and buttering her up.
Jiang Ying's throat really was a little dry. She took the water and had a sip.
"Just listen to stories like that and leave it at that. If you go to someone else's house, don't go asking nosy questions."
"Big Sis, do I look that stupid?" Jiang Yue said with a grin.
After hastily eating half a bowl of rice, Jiang Yue put down his chopsticks, changed into casual clothes, and headed out.
San Gou watched Jiang Yue leave, looking utterly dejected.
"San Gou, I'll take you out for a walk later." Deep down, Jiang Ying cared about her younger cousin.
At the entrance to the Daozi Lane Villa Area, Jiang Yue opened the taxi door and stepped out.
The Daozi Lane Villa Area was more like a secluded resort tucked away in the middle of a bustling city.
More than a hundred villas stood amid nearly a thousand acres of landscaped gardens, making the place seem exceptionally luxurious.
The villa area was made up of old buildings dating back many years, and for some reason, they'd been preserved to this day. With land as expensive as it was now, such extravagant luxury was almost unimaginable.
Even if the market price was said to be eight figures per villa, that was nowhere near enough. The price of the land alone would be hard to cover.
In an ordinary residential complex, the gate blocked cars, not people.
But the Daozi Lane Villa Area was clearly no ordinary complex.
Besides, Jiang Yue had a backpack and a baseball cap pulled low over his forehead. He looked suspicious no matter how you saw him.
The security team was extremely professional. Without asking any questions, they all saluted in unison.
They showed courtesy first, leaving no room for anyone to kick up a fuss.
"Excuse me, are you a resident, or are you here to see someone?"
From the way they carried themselves, Jiang Yue could tell they'd received strict military training. He just couldn't tell whether they were active-duty soldiers or veterans.
Either way, Jiang Yue had always held a deep respect for soldiers.
"Neither. An elder of mine owns a villa here and told me to come by and look after it when I had time."
"May I ask which villa?"
"No. 9." Jiang Yue didn't want to end up using a thousand lies to cover up one lie, so he decided to tell the truth.
No. 9?
The guards exchanged looks, their expressions suddenly animated.
The team leader was still the quickest to react. "Sir, our complex offers a shuttle service. Would you like a ride?"
"No, thanks. I'll walk around myself." Since it was his first visit, Jiang Yue wanted to get a feel for the place.
Jiang Yue had expected to do a lot of talking to get inside, and he'd even prepared himself to be turned away.
He never imagined they'd let him through without a fuss.
Not only did they let him in, but the security team was so dedicated that they kept saluting his back until he'd gone some distance away. Only then did they lower their hands.
"Captain Wang, that guy looks a little sneaky."
"Judging by his clothes, he doesn't seem like someone who'd have connections to a Daozi Lane villa owner."
The team leader's surname was Wang. He was a broad-browed, handsome man in his thirties. His bearing showed a soldier's resolve and composure, along with the discipline and maturity of someone his age.
"Don't forget our rules. First, don't judge people by their appearance. Second, don't get into conflicts with the residents. Third, don't make remarks about them!"
Captain Wang said sternly.
He was surprised and suspicious too, but rules were rules.
Villa No. 9 was one of the most mysterious villas in the area.
Their superiors had once given them strict orders: anyone connected to those few villas had to be treated with the utmost care. They must never be slighted, much less offended.
That was why, despite Jiang Yue looking suspicious, they hadn't stopped him.
Before you continue