Chapter 157
Chapter 157
To avoid causing a panic, Yan Zhengchu naturally chose to keep the matter quiet. Still, he asked the two of them for a general account of Miss Qiao’s situation.
According to the shop assistant, Miss Qiao’s family ran a tofu shop.
Because she was beautiful and had a gentle temperament, people had given her the nickname “Tofu Beauty.”
Everyone in town was very fond of her.
But Miss Qiao had not been blessed with an easy life.
Her mother was timid by nature and had been bedridden with illness for years, while her father was a rotten gambler and a drunkard.
She had also had a twin sister, with whom she had been extremely close, but that sister had hanged herself a year ago.
Although Miss Qiao was outstandingly pretty, mild-mannered, hardworking, and able to endure hardship, her family circumstances meant that even after she had long since reached marriageable age, no one dared come to propose.
Whenever the townsfolk mentioned her, they could not help but feel sorry for her.
The shop assistant said, “If I remember correctly, Miss Qiao started coming here to sell jewelry about half a month ago…”
The first time she came, she lingered outside for a while before finally stepping in, hesitant and anxious.
She handed a jade bracelet over the counter and asked timidly, “I want to sell this bracelet. Could you take a look at the quality and tell me how much you can offer?”
At the time, her gaze kept darting away. She had probably run into some trouble.
The shop assistant and the manager did not ask, but they both understood perfectly well.
If they were not mistaken, it was most likely that gambling-ghost father of hers causing trouble outside again.
Yet less than two days after selling the bracelet, Miss Qiao came again.
It was much the same as before. This time, she sold a jade pendant.
After that, Miss Qiao would come by every few days at most, or after just a single day at the shortest interval.
As the shop assistant thought it over, he said, “Now that I think back on it, I realize that only the first time she came was she not much different from usual.”
“But the next few times, she was either wearing a hat or covering her face, as if she really didn’t want anyone to get a clear look at her…”
“Today was even stranger. She was wrapped up tightly from head to toe and wouldn’t even let her fingers show.”
At this point, the shop assistant thought again of those chilling fingernails and could not help saying, “Manager, do you think Miss Qiao might have caught the plague?”
After hearing him say that, Manager Qian felt a wave of lingering fear as well.
Yan Zhengchu quickly cut in and asked, “What plague? Has there been a plague in town recently?”
The shop assistant said, “It seems it happened about half a month ago too. In that village less than five li from Yunxia Town, a dozen or so households all died of plague overnight.”
“After the authorities found out, they issued an order forbidding anyone nearby from setting even half a foot inside that village again.”
“I heard the corpses were burned on peachwood soaked in black dog blood, because the evil aura was too strong.”
Yan Zhengchu frowned as he listened. “There was such a thing? Do you know what exactly happened with this plague?”
The shop assistant shook his head. “That, I don’t know. We only heard bits and pieces after it happened.”
“In our town, it seems only the night watchman went over to take a look. He said all the corpses were rotting, and there were signs they’d been gnawing at one another. It was like they went mad after catching the plague and started eating people…”
The words “eating people” made Yan Zhengchu’s heart thump uneasily.
Was this really a plague?
Why did it sound more like evil spirits making trouble?
Of course, the most important matter was Miss Qiao. What exactly had happened to her?
After leaving the money shop, Yan Zhengchu still made a round through town first and reserved the goods he was preparing for his junior brothers for the New Year.
When he passed by Miss Qiao’s tofu shop, he deliberately glanced inside twice.
The shopfront was pitch-black, and the residence behind it had no lamps lit either.
Could they really have gone to sleep at this hour?
Yan Zhengchu couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. He couldn’t help edging closer to their courtyard and peering inside with focused attention.
There was no Yin-Sha Qi.
But at his nose, he could faintly smell a rotten stench.
To confirm his suspicions, he sprang up and leaped into the courtyard, then quietly approached the main house.
Sure enough, the stench grew stronger.
Yan Zhengchu’s stomach churned, and he nearly gagged again, but he forced it down through sheer will.
Covering his mouth and nose with one hand, he was just about to move a little closer when a dark shape suddenly lunged at him head-on.
Daoist Yan was startled. Fortunately, his reflexes were extremely quick. With a nimble roll, he dodged the black shadow’s attack.
“Woof! Woof! Woof!”
The barking went on without end.
Only then did Yan Zhengchu realize that the thing attacking him was actually a black dog.
Seeing this, he had no choice but to withdraw from Miss Qiao’s courtyard for the time being.
The dog’s frantic barking drew the surrounding neighbors out to see what was happening. Strangely, Miss Qiao’s house remained completely silent.
Yan Zhengchu knew something was off, but he was also afraid of being taken for a thief. Left with no better option, he slunk back to the inn.
Inside the inn, Yu Lang had come downstairs for some reason. Draped in an outer robe, he stood in the main hall with a deeply troubled look on his face.
When he saw Yan Zhengchu return from outside, wearing such a grave expression no less, he couldn’t help growing curious. “When did Daoist Yan go out?”
“What did you sneak off behind our backs to do? Hurry up and confess!”
Yan Zhengchu found a seat at random and poured himself a cup of tea to steady his nerves. Instead of answering, he asked, “Didn’t you say early on that you were tired and wanted to sleep? What are you doing down here?”
Yu Lang immediately scrunched up his face, scratching at himself here and there as he muttered, “I suspect there are lice in that bed. The moment I lie down, my whole body itches like mad.”
Although he spoke quietly, the waiter in the hall still heard him.
The waiter immediately defended the inn. “How could there be lice? The sheets, quilts, and pillows in our guest rooms are all changed as soon as a guest leaves. When the weather is good, we even take them to the back courtyard to air in the sun.”
“The quilt in your room was just sunned earlier today.”
Yan Zhengchu was, after all, familiar with this inn, so he put in a word for them as well. “That much shouldn’t be in question, should it? It must be that Young Master Yu has been too pampered. Look at the Young Marquis and Miss Xia. Why don’t we hear them coming down to complain?”
“…”
Yu Lang frowned in displeasure and hurriedly rolled up his sleeves to show him. “Do you think I’d lie about this? Look. There are bumps. If it isn’t lice, then what is it?”
The waiter also came over to join the commotion.
At this look, he was startled too. On both of Yu Lang’s arms, there was indeed a large bump, faintly red and swollen.
The waiter said in confusion, “This doesn’t look like a louse bite. A louse bite definitely wouldn’t be this big.”
“…”
The more Yu Lang talked, the itchier he felt. He reached out and scratched again, growing even more annoyed. “I told you and you still don’t believe me. I don’t care what bit me. Go to my room right now and… catch the bugs!”
Knowing he was in the wrong, the waiter said nothing more. He picked up a candle lamp and went upstairs to catch the bugs.
Yan Zhengchu took hold of Yu Lang’s arm again and stared at it for a while, but for some reason, he felt that something was not quite right.
To calm him down, he said, “I have a wonderful medicine in my room specifically for insect and mosquito bites. I’ll get it for you now.”
He was just about to go upstairs when a clang suddenly came from the guest rooms above. Immediately after, there came a dull thud, as if some heavy object had fallen to the floor.
Yu Lang had sharp ears. The moment he heard it, he knew the sound had come from his own room, and his expression changed at once.
“Not good!”