He Yulan

A scorching sun rose to the center of the sky, steaming the damp stone slab road into a thick, humid mist. The entire He Family Village was shrouded in hot, muggy sunlight, resembling a giant steamer.

The piles of firecracker debris scattered along the streets were scorched dry and brittle by the intense sun, crunching under the youngster's feet with every step.

After parting ways with Feng Yushu, Ning Zhe ran alone through the empty streets. The faint scent of gunpowder drifted through the humid air, and the crackling sounds echoing from afar made him realize why the long road he had just traveled was completely deserted.

He arrived at an arched bridge upstream of the river and stood before the railing, gazing into the distance. He could already see the grand He Family Mansion that Zhang Yangxu had mentioned.

Red lanterns hung from the wide lintel, and the three-story bamboo and wood structure stood upon a foundation of stacked stone blocks. It was crowded among the surrounding houses—which were generally only one or two stories high—like stars surrounding the moon. The courtyard wall alone was over three meters tall, standing out from the crowd and appearing exceptionally conspicuous.

The crackling sounds Ning Zhe had heard earlier were indeed coming from the direction of the mansion. From afar, he could see several servants in green shirts and small caps lighting strings of firecrackers on the steps of the main entrance. The explosions of gunpowder pierced through the alleys, and red paper scraps fluttered amidst the smoke.

A set of red-lacquered tables and chairs was placed to the left of the steps. An old man with white hair and sideburns sat at the table, brush in hand, surrounded by a noisy crowd that seemed to be waiting in line for something.

Ning Zhe quietly crept closer and saw a villager approach the desk, gently peel the yellow paper off his face, and place it before the old man.

The yellow paper on his face read: [He Renliang]

The old man raised his brush, wrote a string of curly characters on the paper, and then nodded slightly.

"He Renliang" stuck the yellow paper back onto his forehead, and the servant nearby immediately let him pass, allowing him to walk through the main entrance into the brightly decorated He Family Mansion.

Ning Zhe could not clearly see the specific characters the old man wrote on the yellow paper; he only saw the crowd queuing at the entrance of the He Family Mansion moving forward step by step amidst the noise. One yellow paper after another passed through the old man's brush, and one person after another walked through the gate.

This scene is quite familiar, Ning Zhe thought to himself.

When he was a child, he would go with his grandmother to attend wedding banquets held by relatives in the village. The scene back then was just as lively, with the sound of firecrackers and the clamor of voices mixed together. Ning Zhe would squeeze into the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd with his grandmother to hand the gift money to the accountant.

If the group of people at the door were queuing to pay gift money and attend the banquet, then...

Ning Zhe raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the bustling crowd toward the main entrance of the He Family Mansion.

This vermilion-lacquered gate was even more magnificent than the South Street Ancestral Hall that enshrined the Snake God. On both sides of the gate, just like at the entrance of the Ancestral Hall, hung a pair of couplets with red characters on a white background:

[Welcoming a new marriage, flawless white jade]

[Bidding farewell to the old, the full moon has its flaws]

[Contentment brings happiness]

"Is this a wedding banquet? Is someone in the master's family getting married?" Ning Zhe couldn't help but feel a bit puzzled.

The current situation certainly looked like a celebration, but even setting aside the eeriness of red text on white paper, the content of this couplet alone was enough to make him feel that something was off. At the very least, if he were the one getting married, Ning Zhe would never accept such a couplet being posted at his door; it looked ominous.

"There are too many strange things in He Family Village. Even though I have deduced the Ghost's Rule, this village is still shrouded in fog everywhere."

Ning Zhe exhaled softly and stopped focusing on the unsolvable puzzles. He lightened his steps, bypassed the bustling main entrance, and followed the towering courtyard wall around to the side of the mansion.

The architecture of the He Family Mansion was a "Hui" character structure. The main entrance faced south, while the other sides featured side doors to the east and west, and a back door to the north, following the traditional orientation of facing south.

Ning Zhe did not take any of the four doors. Instead, he arrived at a low house next to the He Manor and, with agile movements, climbed directly onto the roof. Crouching on the roof tiles, Ning Zhe looked over the wall to observe the situation inside the He Family Mansion.

The courtyard was very lively. Tables and chairs were set up from the main hall to the side rooms, with guests sitting sparsely scattered about. The three strings of firecrackers at the door hadn't finished popping yet, so it wasn't time to serve the food. Ning Zhe only saw the guests casually chatting while eating tea snacks, children chasing each other on the stone path, and the back kitchen bustling with activity.

It was just a very standard rural banquet, nothing special.

If one had to point out the only unique features, they would be the couplets posted at the door and the yellow paper stuck to the guests' faces.

"Earlier, the ghost used Zhang Yangxu's identity to send a text message to Aunt, saying that Ye Miaozhu died in the He Family Mansion." Ning Zhe's gaze circled the area, but he found no clues: "Where is her body? Where is Zhang Yangxu?"

Filled with doubt, Ning Zhe observed the area once more. After a moment, he stopped hesitating, leaped from the roof, grabbed the top of the courtyard wall with both hands, and flipped himself over.

The courtyard wall of the He Family Mansion was built of stone bricks and was over three meters high. It was not an easy task for an average person to climb, and it was undoubtedly even more difficult for a senior year student who neglected physical exercise for the sake of constant test preparation. However, Ning Zhe was not an average student; his physical fitness was excellent, belonging to that type of ultimate overachiever who consistently ranked first in physical fitness tests and was also at the top of his class in academic performance.

After cleanly flipping over the wall, Ning Zhe used the Albizia Tree planted against the wall in the courtyard to conceal his figure and quietly arrived in front of a row of guest rooms beside the main building.

The guest rooms, which were usually vacant, were now filled with tables and chairs, and quite a few guests were sitting inside.

After confirming that no one had discovered him, Ning Zhe leaned against the wall and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

At this moment, hushed, rustling conversation drifted from the window.

The sound was very light, not like a normal conversation between people, but more like mice sneaking into a granary, gnawing on rice grains—very clear, yet very stifled. Ning Zhe concentrated his focus and heard a deliberately lowered female voice say eerily:

"What? Your family's offerings were eaten too?"

"You'd better believe it. They were quite picky, too. Not a single grain of rice was touched in the bowl, they just dug out the plum."

"Your kid is that mischievous? Daring to eat the Snake God's offerings?"

"It's not the kid's doing. Several children have been playing right in front of me; they haven't even been inside the Zhai Hall."

"If it's not the kid, then what..."

The tone of the guests' conversation was not standard Mandarin; it carried a heavy Hakka Accent. Fortunately, Ning Zhe had been born and raised in Ancient Tablet Town, so he could barely understand what they were saying.

Several village women chatted while drinking tea and cracking melon seeds about the offerings being stolen. From mischievous children to stray cats, they suspected everything they could think of, but no one could convince the other, and they couldn't provide a definitive answer.

Ning Zhe listened quietly until one person spoke up:

"You guys say, could it be that the food offered up isn't meant for people to eat at all?"

"Don't talk nonsense. It's been so long since Snake God Grandma showed any signs; how could she come down to eat..."

"Who can say for sure..."

The chatter of the village women continued for a long time until the three strings of firecrackers at the door had finished popping, the tables and chairs in the hall and rooms were filled with guests, and the scent of meat drifted from the back kitchen to the guest rooms. The grand banquet finally began to serve the dishes.

"I'm going to go call my kid over."

A village woman wearing a Square Scarf pushed open the door of the Guest Room and walked along the pebble path surrounded by Dianthus toward the Main Hall.

Taking advantage of the brief moment when no one was around, Ning Zhe lightened his footsteps, picked up half a Stone Brick used for weighing down boxes, and followed her, cleanly and decisively smashing it against the Back of the Head.

The back of a person's head can be said to be one of the most fragile and fatal parts of the entire body; even a primary school student playing in a classroom who accidentally slips and hits the back of their head on a desk corner can easily lose their life, let alone a premeditated heavy blow with a blunt object from an adult male.

With a dull thud, the village woman's body collapsed to the ground, and she died instantly without a struggle.

The Yellow Paper stuck to her face fell off immediately, with the name written on it: He Yulan.

Blunt force trauma usually does not cause uncontrollable hemorrhaging, so Ning Zhe casually used the Square Scarf from the head of the village woman named He Yulan to cover the bloodstains on the back of her head, stuffed the fresh corpse into a Lotus Jar, and used the vibrant green leaves and red flowers to conceal the death that was right before his eyes.

After finishing this, Ning Zhe deliberately walked with clattering footsteps, returned along the original path to the Guest Room he had been in, and gently knocked on the half-closed Room Door.

"Who is it?"

"Oh my, I don't know where the kids ran off to play, I can't find them anywhere..."

A faint woman's voice emanated from Ning Zhe's throat, and as the Room Door was pushed wide open, the shirt and Long Pants on the Youngster transformed into simple Hemp Clothes, and his originally fair and tender skin was stained with the dark tan of a farmer.

This is the Ghost's Rule:

--When the others in the room preconceived that the person knocking on the door was He Yulan, then he truly was.

Ning Zhe stole the identity of the village woman He Yulan and blended into this grand banquet.