Chapter 190
Chapter 190
Santa Claus was about to come down.
Zhao Qingqing quickly rushed forward and braced herself against Santa Claus’s legs, stopping him from touching the floor.
The chimney was narrow. Once Santa Claus was pinned by Zhao Qingqing, he could neither climb back up nor come down.
Jiang Li immediately pulled a burning torch from the heated brick bed, stripped off Santa Claus’s shoes and socks, and held the flames beneath his feet.
“Hiss… hissss…”
The fire scorched the soles of Santa Claus’s feet. He was in so much pain that he kept trying to pull his feet back up.
In the end, the Old Man started cursing everyone inside the room.
As he cursed, he withdrew his feet back into the chimney.
Smoke and soot from the burning firewood surged up into the chimney.
Santa Claus was choked badly by the smoke. He hurriedly kicked Zhao Qingqing away and climbed out through the chimney.
Seizing the chance, Zhao Qingqing and Jiang Li quickly blocked the chimney with the boiler.
“Jiang Li, this house isn’t safe. We need to think of something and escape as soon as possible,” Zhao Qingqing suggested.
Zhao Qingqing’s opinion was very reasonable.
If they did not find a chance to leave, it was only a matter of time before Santa Claus broke through the door and got inside.
Jiang Li nodded. “All right. But before that, there’s one more thing we need to do.”
Outside the little house, Santa Claus stepped barefoot through the ice and snow until he reached the Kitchen window on the first floor.
Santa Claus grabbed a stone from outside and smashed the Kitchen’s glass window with several loud cracks.
He held onto the windowsill, reached through the hole in the glass, and opened the iron latch locking the window from the inside.
The Kitchen window opened. Humming a little tune, Santa Claus climbed in from outside.
After the Old Man entered the house, he took a wood-splitting axe from beside the stove in the Kitchen.
Then, with the bells on his ankles jingling, he walked deeper into the house.
“Good children, don’t cry, don’t cry. Grandpa is here to comfort you~~~”
“Children who cry get candy, you know. Grandpa is here to bring you candy.”
“Stop hiding. Come on out. Grandpa has something nice to give you. Hehehe…”
Santa Claus made a round through the house, but he did not see a single person.
Only one place was making noise without pause.
“Thump, thump, thump!”
Fake Grandmother was still slamming her head against the bathroom door.
Outside the bathroom, Jiang Li and the others had also deliberately left a key for Santa Claus.
Santa Claus was drawn over by the sound of the door being struck.
His face, which had fallen when he couldn’t find anyone, lit up with surprise when he discovered the commotion.
Gripping the axe, he hunched over and slowly approached the bathroom, the smile on his face growing more and more lecherous.
“Good child, don’t be scared… Grandpa is coming in right away! Hehehe…”
When Santa Claus reached the bathroom door, he did not even consider using the key.
He raised the axe high, his expression twisting viciously, and chopped hard at the bathroom door.
After the first and second blow landed, Fake Grandmother let out a scream like a pig being slaughtered from beside the door.
The axe had struck Fake Grandmother in the thigh. Her pant leg split open, revealing the “wolf fur” on her body.
At the sight before them, Wolf Grandmother and Santa Claus froze at the same time.
Wolf Grandmother flew into a rage. She tore off her disguise on the spot, revealing sharp fangs and claws, and began grappling with Santa Claus inside the bathroom…
Meanwhile, Jiang Li and Zhao Qingqing had already taken the Little Soldier, sneaked into the backyard, and led away the Pony tied to the wooden stake.
The three of them brought the Pony and quickly arrived beside the moat.
Following the rules, the Little Soldier picked up the special whistle hanging around his neck and placed it in his mouth.
The whistle lasted for two seconds. The soldiers on the other side received the signal and responded with a whistle of their own.
Before long, there came the sound of something entering the water.
The soldiers opposite the castle sent out a wooden raft, rowing a small boat over to pick up the Little Soldier and the others.
The soldier on the raft reached their side and invited the Little Soldier’s group aboard.
Four people and one Pony crossed the river without incident, arriving in the territory of Brand Castle.
The area around Brand Castle was not covered by fog.
The greenery around the castle was well maintained. A large area on the outskirts was filled with evergreen plants.
The only thing Jiang Li couldn’t quite get used to was that among all the greenery, there always seemed to be pairs of red eyes watching her.
There were a lot of crows in this area.
Almost all of the crows here had red eyes, each pair gleaming with a bloodthirsty light.
They perched on the branches, the gazes from their red eyes following Jiang Li and the others closely.
Zhao Qingqing noticed it too, and her scalp instantly prickled.
She pulled on the Invisibility Cloak, hunched her shoulders, and did her best to make her presence as small as possible.
After walking for more than ten minutes, Jiang Li and the others finally arrived at the castle gates.
The soldiers at the entrance needed to check each person’s Invitation Letter.
Jiang Li had been invited in her capacity as the Witch.
Zhao Qingqing, however, did not have an Invitation Letter, so she could only wrap the Invisibility Cloak tightly around herself and sneak in behind Jiang Li.
In this fairy-tale world, Zhao Qingqing did not have a mission that required her to attend tonight’s banquet.
Under the guidance of a designated attendant, Jiang Li was led to the castle’s great hall to rest.
Zhao Qingqing, meanwhile, took advantage of the Invisibility Cloak to search the castle for Meng Zihan.
As long as she got the human skin mask Meng Zihan had made for her, Zhao Qingqing would have a way to recreate the scene from the prophecy.
Before entering the fairy-tale world, Zhao Qingqing had specifically instructed Meng Zihan to stick a chocolate wrapper on the door of her room after coming in, so Zhao Qingqing could identify it.
Now, Zhao Qingqing could only hope that Meng Zihan had not fallen into a deep sleep yet-and had not been killed.
Using her invisibility, Zhao Qingqing smoothly found a room with a chocolate wrapper stuck to the door.
The door was half open, and from inside came the voices of Meng Zihan and the Magic Mirror.
Delighted, Zhao Qingqing pushed the door open and walked in.
In the great hall…
Jiang Li sat in a chair, resting.
A few other guests, like Jiang Li, were seated in their own chairs, waiting for the banquet to begin.
Around the walls of the hall were fifty dim yellow wall lamps.
The lamps formed a ring along the walls.
Their light was very weak and served no real purpose for illumination; they were purely decorative.
While Jiang Li sat waiting in her chair, several maids from the castle deliberately brought over tools, climbed up ladders, and extinguished two more of the wall lamps.
Of the fifty wall lamps, only thirteen were currently still lit.
Without changing her expression, Jiang Li took in every detail of these changes.
Behind her, someone covered Jiang Li’s eyes. “Sis, guess who?”
Jiang Li smiled. “Liang Chen.”
Liang Chen let go and sat down beside Jiang Li, full of excitement.
After finally seeing a familiar face, Liang Chen’s nerves eased a little.
Liang Chen’s role was Cinderella, and she had also been invited to this banquet.
Just as Jiang Li and Liang Chen were chatting, a Witch dressed in a black gown walked toward them.
The Witch looked to be eighty or ninety years old.
She wore a pointed black hat. Her chin was long and narrow, her skin sagging and deeply wrinkled.
A Black Cat crouched on the Witch’s shoulder.
The cry it made while swishing its tail sounded very much like a child weeping.
The Witch came over holding a bottle of Magic Potion.
She glanced at Liang Chen, shook the potion, and revealed a kindly smile.
“Good child, it truly hasn’t been easy for you to make it this far…”
As the Witch spoke, her right hand grabbed something out of thin air.
A closer look revealed it to be a Jade Necklace.
“You look beautiful today. But… with this necklace, you’ll be even more beautiful.”
The Witch waved her withered hand at Liang Chen.
In an instant, the Jade Necklace appeared around Liang Chen’s neck.
“Good children mustn’t lie, you know.” The Witch pointed at Jiang Li’s nose, then looked meaningfully at Jiang Li, the Witch.
Before Jiang Li and Liang Chen could react, the Witch turned around, transformed into several crows, and vanished from the spot.
Half a minute later…
A maid hurried out of a room on the Third Floor.
Facing the great hall, the maid shouted, “The Queen’s Jade Necklace is missing! Whoever has it on them, step forward!”