The He Family

"Anything... are you sure?"

"I'm sure." Feng Yushu pressed both hands against her chest; beneath her snow-white collarbones lay a full, heaving bosom. Her fair, supple skin was even more beautiful than the white jade pendant hanging at her neck. "As long as I can leave this place, I'll do whatever you want."

"Fine, then pay up," Ning Zhe said immediately. "What valuables do you have on you? Cash, jewelry, anything works. But let's be clear: I don't want things that are hard to liquidate like jade pendants, pearls, or Bodhi Seeds. I only accept cash and precious metals like gold or silver."

Feng Yushu opened her mouth as if to say something, but in the end, she said nothing. "Alright..."

She reached up to remove the gold-inlaid Wutong wood hairpin from the back of her head. Her long, raven-black hair lost its restraint and cascaded down like a waterfall of ink. Then, she took all the cash from her small handbag, removed the Rose-Carved Diamond-Studded Gold Ring from her left ring finger, and handed everything over to Ning Zhe.

Feng Yushu didn't resent Ning Zhe's extortion; on the contrary, she felt a sense of relief. Material possessions like money were only useful in a real world with a functioning social order. The fact that Ning Zhe demanded gold, jewelry, and cash proved he had the confidence and certainty that he could leave He Family Village and return to reality.

As long as she could leave, what did a few trinkets and some money matter?

But what Feng Yushu, who thought she was playing on the second level, didn't know was that Ning Zhe was on a much higher level.

This woman is unexpectedly clever, but by demanding these items, I should have successfully earned her subconscious trust. Ning Zhe remained calm as he stuffed Feng Yushu's hairpin, ring, and cash into the inner pocket of his jacket.

"Tell me, Ning Zhe, what should we do next?" Feng Yushu asked while using the Bodhi Seed bracelet she had been wearing on her right hand to tie up her loose hair.

Ning Zhe held Feng Yushu's hairpin in one hand, examining the golden "Phoenix Perch Wutong" carving at the top, and said:

"There are two rules in He Family Village."

"The first is the Snake God. The Snake God uses the almanac to inform us of our daily fortune."

"The second is the supernatural. The Ghost uses certain methods to replace someone else's identity."

"There are two mysteries in He Family Village."

"The first is the Snake God. It is known that the Snake God has gone mad and suffers regular episodes. I have already witnessed the symptoms of these episodes, but the cause remains unknown."

[Mystery 1: Why did the Snake God go mad?]

"The second is the Ghost. It is known that the Ghost cannot kill people directly, but it can impersonate others to violate the death taboo, using the Snake God's blade to kill."

[Mystery 2: How does the Ghost impersonate others?]

"The Ghost wandering in He Family Village cannot replace anyone's identity at will, otherwise we would have all been wiped out long ago."

"Just as the Snake God requires you to break a taboo to make your luck turn sour, and requires you to break a death taboo to kill you outright, the Ghost needs to meet specific conditions to impersonate someone. That person must violate a certain 'rule' for its ability to be triggered."

Ning Zhe pinched the Phoenix Perch Wutong hairpin between his fingers, spinning it gently, and finally said: "I have two paths before me now—find the cause of the Snake God's madness, or uncover the trigger condition for the Ghost's identity theft... or perhaps solve both. That way, we might be able to reveal the true face of He Family Village and find the way out."

"That sounds dangerous." Feng Yushu tied her smooth, thick black hair into a convenient bun and asked: "Which side do you plan to start with?"

The Snake God? Or the Ghost?

"Neither," Ning Zhe shook his head. "I'm tired now. I need to rest for a while. We'll deal with everything when it's light out."

"Huh?" Feng Yushu was stunned.

Ning Zhe smiled at her: "Thinking is mentally exhausting, so Auntie, keep watch for me."

"Oh..."

Feng Yushu followed Ning Zhe out of the Ancestral Hall in a daze. They climbed onto the roof from a narrow alley piled with firewood and tables. The wet roof tiles felt cold and slick. He simply lay down on the roof of the Ancestral Hall, pulled a silk handkerchief from her small handbag to cover his face and block the moonlight, closed his eyes, and went straight to sleep.

When faced with a problem, just go to sleep.

"What kind of person is this?" Watching Ning Zhe, who had fallen asleep instantly with a handkerchief over his face, Feng Yushu felt a mix of anxiety and amusement.

She turned to look at the alley they had climbed up from. The narrow space was filled with firewood and dismantled old-fashioned round tables leaning against the outer wall of the Ancestral Hall, the old wood covered in patches of mold in the damp air.

"Why are there so many tables and chairs by the Ancestral Hall?" Feng Yushu wondered, wanting to ask Ning Zhe, only to find that he had truly fallen asleep.

It's nice to be young, falling asleep the moment your head hits the pillow... unlike her, who needed sleeping pills to get a good night's rest.

I wonder how Zhang Yangxu and Ye Miaozhu are doing? Have they found the "door" to get out?

I wonder how Azhi is doing? Has she noticed that Mother is missing? Is she worried?

And... and...

Perhaps because she had been through too much terror and her emotions had fluctuated too violently in such a short time, Feng Yushu's constantly taut nerves finally began to relax along with her exhausted mind. As the crisp night breeze blew through the streets and alleys, she wrapped her clothes tighter around herself and drifted into a deep sleep.

The plump, white moon, like a silkworm, wiggled its body and crawled slowly across the night sky. When morning arrived, a scorching sun rose from the hills on the east side of the basin.

Feng Yushu opened her eyes, hazy from a long, deep sleep. She instinctively moved her limbs but felt a sense of resistance, as if she were bound by something. A profound fear jolted her awake. She sat up and saw that she was covered by a large piece of bright red cloth, used as a blanket, which looked very familiar.

"Looks familiar, right? This cloth was originally covering Lin Zhiyuan," Ning Zhe, who was sitting nearby, said nonchalantly. "I told you to keep watch, but you fell asleep deeper than I did, and your sleeping posture wasn't exactly graceful—you kept pressing against me for warmth... so I found you a blanket."

"Don't bother with the thanks. Just cooperate with my instructions later."

"...I'm sorry, wh-what instructions?" Feng Yushu rubbed her sleepy eyes with both hands and asked hurriedly.

Ning Zhe raised his hand and pointed downward: "Look over there."

Feng Yushu followed his gaze to the other side of the street. A small shop that had been tightly shut was now open. A woman's head slowly emerged from the doorway; she wore a cloud hairpin at the back of her head, and a square piece of yellow paper was pasted onto her face. She appeared to be the shopkeeper.

Even across the street, with Ning Zhe's eyesight, he could clearly see the characters written on the yellow paper pasted on the shopkeeper's face:

[He Huifen]

After stepping out of the door, the woman with her name written on her face walked straight toward the Ancestral Hall, her small feet pattering rapidly against the ground.

She was not the only one walking toward the Ancestral Hall, and she was not the only one whose shop door had opened across the street.

Feng Yushu had the altar tablecloth draped over her legs, and she watched in astonishment as the moon set and the sun rose, causing this entire silent street and the whole of He Family Village to "wake up."

Residential houses, pharmacies, tea shops... one tightly shut door after another opened in succession, and people with Yellow Paper stuck to their faces all headed toward the Ancestral Hall in unison.

They walked toward this direction without saying a word, converging into a massive stream of people.

The paper on each of their faces bore a different name: He Runsheng, He Quanyu, He Rongqiu... Every name on their faces began with the character "He," and the movements of each member of the He Family were stiff, their limbs awkward, and their footsteps stumbling like marionettes.

The people of He Family Village aren't normal; they seem more like byproducts of some kind of rule. If I could, I really wouldn't want to have any more contact with these things.

Ning Zhe shook his head and pulled Feng Yushu down to lie flat, avoiding being spotted by the few villagers who were bored enough to look up at the sky.