chapter 32

We didn’t dare to keep looking at that painting.

But I was still very curious-who was the bride in that painting?

Rumor had it that Du Ruhai’s wife died many years ago, and he hadn’t remarried since.

But that’s just what I’d heard from others.

As for whether Du Ruhai had any children, it seemed no one ever talked about that either.

If we hadn’t been investigating that girl who knocked on the door, we wouldn’t even have known that Du Ruhai had an adopted daughter.

Looking at it this way, Du Ruhai had protected his privacy-and even Du Yuwei’s privacy-very well.

Even his recent marriage was done so secretly that no one in the industry knew about it.

For a big entrepreneur like him to get married, shouldn’t it at least make the local news?

At this moment, Seventh Master turned his head, looked around the living room, and said, “This villa only shows traces of Du Ruhai living here. There’s no sign of a second person.”

Hearing Seventh Master’s words, we felt even more puzzled.

“What about his wife?” Meng Yifan blurted out. “He just married a new wife, didn’t he live together with her?”

Seventh Master shook his head, indicating he didn’t know either.

Actually, after hearing what Seventh Master said, I already had a bold guess in my heart.

I thought I probably knew who the bride was.

But I was too embarrassed to say it out loud.

“Normal people wouldn’t hang an Evil Painting at home.”

Seventh Master frowned and said, “Du Ruhai is probably not just a businessman. There’s something strange about him. You’d better be careful.”

After reminding us again, Seventh Master led us straight up to the second floor.

The old man speculated that only Du Ruhai had ever lived in this villa, and now that Du Ruhai was out of town, there shouldn’t be anyone else here.

So we didn’t have to act so guilty.

We checked all the rooms on the second floor, and sure enough, no one was living there.

Although there was no one, we also didn’t find Du Yuwei’s body.

Now only the third floor and the attic above remained.

Seventh Master walked ahead again, leading us to the third floor.

Looking at his back, I suddenly had a strange feeling. I kept thinking… he seemed to have been here before.

He was familiar with everything here, especially when we had just climbed into the villa and couldn’t even tell directions, yet he led us straight to the outside of the first-floor bathroom.

I wasn’t trying to judge a gentleman with a petty mind, but I really felt he’d been here before.

A chill crept into my heart, and a frightening thought occurred to me.

Could Seventh Master know Du Ruhai…

But then I thought it over carefully. Even if Seventh Master was a master, aside from that, he was just an ordinary person like us, living in a small apartment.

Could he really have any connection with an entrepreneur like Du Ruhai?

I comforted myself, thinking I was overthinking it. Seventh Master had always been helping Meng Yifan and me. How could I suspect him?

Besides, he was introduced by Brother Liu. He wouldn’t set us up…

Soon, we reached the third floor.

The layout of the third floor was a bit different from the second.

The second floor had seven rooms, including bedrooms and studies.

But the third floor had only one room; the rest of the space was a large living room.

By our estimation, the living room took up less than half the area of the third floor, while the rest was occupied by that one room.

That meant the room must be very spacious, but there was a lock on the door, so we couldn’t get in for now.
“None of the rooms on the second floor are locked, except for this one.”

I looked at Seventh Master and Meng Yifan. “There must be something locked inside, something important to Du Ruhai.”

Meng Yifan’s eyes lit up. “Could Du Yuwei’s body be inside?”

I said, “This door is locked from the outside. We can’t open it, and to break it open we’d at least need hydraulic cutters. Where are we supposed to get something like that?”

At that moment, Seventh Master suddenly pulled the two of us aside and took a piece of wire out of his pocket.

He took the wire and stuck it into the keyhole.

The way he moved was astonishingly skillful.

“Seventh Master, what did you use to do…” Meng Yifan and I were a little curious.

Seventh Master kept picking the lock, glancing furtively left and right. “I learned to pick locks for a couple of years when I was young.”

Watching him nod and shake his head like that, he really did remind me of that guy from our hometown who got caught stealing and still hasn’t been released.

But I had to admit, his skills were definitely professional.

The lock soon made a ‘click’ sound.

It took less than a minute for Seventh Master to pop the lock.

He gently set the lock on the ground and blurted out, “You two keep watch outside for me-”

“Seventh Master, this villa is empty…” I reminded him.

He paused, cleared his throat, “Mm, let’s go in together.”

With that, he pushed open the door.

The moment the door opened, a dense sea of red, like an unfolding scroll, filled our eyes.

We were just about to enter, but instantly froze where we stood.

Because… we saw Du Yuwei’s body.

She was sitting upright, right across from us… dressed in a red wedding gown, her head covered with a red bridal veil, and behind her, a large double-happiness character.

The whole room was decorated in bright red: red tablecloths, red curtains, even burning red candles…

The scene was eerily familiar.

Isn’t this exactly the scene Meng Yifan and I saw in that Evil Painting?

It was almost identical!

And inside this room, there were even guests here to offer congratulations-but those guests… weren’t living people at all. They were paper effigies.

The kind of paper figures made in paper craft shops.

The only difference between this wedding scene and the Evil Painting was that here, there was no groom-one of the chairs was empty.

Seeing such a strange scene, my legs began to go weak.

So the Evil Painting was depicting this place all along…

“The bride… isn’t she supposed to be Du Ruhai’s new wife? Did his wife die too?”

Meng Yifan seemed stunned by the scene-he still hadn’t realized who the bride was.

But that bride was definitely a corpse. Though her face was covered with a red veil, her exposed hands were already purplish blue.

Looking at Seventh Master’s expression, I could tell he had already guessed the bride’s identity, just like I had.

He was bolder than we were. After hesitating for a few seconds, he walked straight over, reached out with his right hand, and lifted the red bridal veil.

A dead face was revealed before our eyes once again.

When Meng Yifan saw the bride’s face, he nearly collapsed to his knees, clutching my shoulder tightly.

The bride was the same girl who had knocked on our door before.

It was Du Yuwei…”