chapter 30
“That child was Xiuyu’s Younger Brother,” Zhou Xiang said, utterly distraught.
“Go on,” I said after a moment of silence.
Zhou Xiang swung his hand and slapped himself hard across the face again, crying, “I’m not human! After Liu Hao abducted the boy, I thought about persuading him to stop, but he kicked me, and I didn’t dare try again.”
“And then Xiuyu came looking for us, so the two of us hurriedly took the child and fled into the mountains. On the way, we almost let the child escape by accident.”
“Liu Hao flew into a rage, picked up a stone, and smashed it into the child’s face. He told me to do the same. I… I didn’t dare, I just watched as Liu Hao struck him again and again… Hahaha.”
At this point, Zhou Xiang suddenly burst into a hysterical laugh, slapping himself madly.
“Was it the Cao Family who sent you to Grave Mound Ridge?” I asked abruptly.
Zhou Xiang shuddered at my words, stopped laughing, lowered his head, and didn’t dare meet my gaze. “Don’t ask about that. In any case, Xiuyu’s Younger Brother was taken by me and Liu Hao…”
“Is Cao Xuerong really that terrifying?” I asked calmly.
Zhou Xiang jerked his head up, looking at me in terror. “You… how do you know? How do you know?”
“Why did Cao Xuerong want you to dig up the coffin?” I pressed on.
“We… we…” Zhou Xiang stared at me, his voice trembling.
He suddenly slapped himself again, let out a long sigh, and said, “That child buried at Grave Mound Ridge once offended the Third Young Lady. He accidentally… accidentally scratched her face, so the Third Young Lady ordered that he be sealed in a coffin and buried alive at Grave Mound Ridge.”
“But seven days later, the Third Young Lady told Liu Hao and me to dig up the child’s corpse and carry it back. She wanted us to…”
At this point, Zhou Xiang’s hands were shaking uncontrollably. He gritted his teeth and said, “She wanted us to nail the child to a Mulberry Tree with ninety-nine nails for three days, then bury him in this house.”
I glanced at the room next door. “There?”
“Yes.” Zhou Xiang nodded. Having revealed the most important part, he seemed much calmer and continued, “At the time, Liu Hao deliberately smashed Xiuyu’s Younger Brother’s face with a stone. The two children were about the same size, so we managed to fool them.”
“But when we were nailing the child to the Mulberry Tree, he suddenly opened his eyes. It turned out he wasn’t completely dead-he just stared at us!”
“We were terrified. Liu Hao, in a panic, grabbed a nail and stabbed it into the child’s left eye. After he did that, he saw me standing there in shock, so he shoved another nail into my hand and told me to stab the other eye.”
“I was scared out of my wits and refused no matter what. But after the nail went into the child’s eye, he finally… finally stopped moving. Liu Hao let me off then, and made me help him nail the child to the Mulberry Tree.”
“During that time, the Third Young Lady came by once. Xiuyu’s Younger Brother’s face was covered in blood, so she didn’t look closely, and we managed to fool her again.”
“After three days, the Third Young Lady told us to move the body… move it across the way.” Zhou Xiang pointed to the room next door.
“The Third Young Lady said she wanted Young Man Lin to never be able to reincarnate!”
“What kind of grudge is this? Who is this Young Man Lin?” I asked expressionlessly.
“He…” Zhou Xiang glanced at me again. “I’m not really sure either. I only know that this kid surnamed Lin has a grandfather, who seems to be a Feng Shui Master. It was he who arranged the engagement between the Lin kid and the Third Young Lady.”
“And then?” Hearing him mention the grandfather, my heart trembled, but my face remained expressionless.
“It’s said that his grandfather was a swindler, who cheated the Cao Family out of a large sum of money and then ran away…” Zhou Xiang hesitated.
Before he could finish, I interrupted coldly, “You believe that nonsense?”
“I…” Zhou Xiang’s face turned pale. “I don’t believe it, but that’s what they say to outsiders. Besides, everyone who was involved in this matter at the time was put under a Gag Order. Anyone who couldn’t keep their mouth shut, all…”
“All what?” I frowned and asked.
“I don’t know exactly what happened, but in any case, I… I never saw those people again, including their families.” Zhou Xiang’s voice trembled slightly, his expression full of fear.
“You mean, anyone who didn’t obey was silenced by the Cao Family?” I found it hard to believe.
Zhou Xiang let out a bitter laugh. “That’s the reality. Otherwise, Liu Hao and I wouldn’t… wouldn’t be so afraid.”
I couldn’t help but frown deeply.
When my grandfather brought me to the Cao Family all those years ago, my impression was that they were just an ordinary wealthy family. But now, I’m realizing more and more that the Cao Family is far from as simple as they appear on the surface.
It’s like an abyss-unfathomable!
“Then what do you think happened to that child’s grandfather?” I asked.
“I really don’t know…” Zhou Xiang shook his head. “The Cao Family issued a Gag Order on that matter. We weren’t even allowed to mention it, so how could we possibly know the inside story? If we really did know, I’m afraid…”
He didn’t finish, but the meaning was clear-he was afraid there wouldn’t even be a trace of their bones left.
I knew it was basically impossible to get any information about my grandfather from him, so I let it go. “Then what about Xiuyu?”
At the mention of “Xiuyu,” Zhou Xiang froze, staring blankly for a long time before suddenly letting out a bitter laugh.
“After Liu Hao and I did that thing, we thought it was over. But then Boss Cao suddenly came to us and told us we were responsible for guarding this house.”
“We were both startled and instinctively wanted to refuse, but we didn’t dare. In the end, we had no choice but to agree. Liu Hao moved in with his family, and I… I lived alone next door.”
“To outsiders, it looked like the Cao Family was rewarding Liu Hao with this house, but in reality, we were just pawns assigned to guard it.”
“Boss Cao repeatedly warned us that we absolutely must not mess with this house, or we would bear the consequences ourselves!”
“Why can’t you mess with it?” I was a bit suspicious.
Earlier, when Liu Hao heard about digging up the place, he was extremely nervous as well.
“It must be because of that child. There’s a child buried under this house, so naturally the Cao Family is worried,” Zhou Xiang said.
I neither agreed nor disagreed.
“After moving in, Liu Hao started acting paranoid all the time, often waking up from nightmares at night. I didn’t dare come in here either-this place just feels full of yin energy.”
“Later, Liu Hao contacted one of his cousins.” At this point, Zhou Xiang paused to explain, “Liu Hao’s cousin is that Taoist Priest Sun.”