Chapter 233
Chapter 233
“That man… is deliberately making life difficult for us!”
The driver had a fiery temper. Furious at once, he wanted nothing more than to go down and teach the fellow a lesson.
His master caught hold of him. “Do not be so hotheaded. I will come and have a look with you.”
They went downstairs together.
As they reached the hall, the sound of sharpening abruptly stopped.
The driver rushed straight into the rear courtyard. An angry outburst was on his lips, but the sight before him extinguished his fury in an instant.
Blood covered the ground, a shocking expanse of red.
The attendant lay in a grotesque position inside the wooden basin, his belly slit open.
He looked exactly like the rabbit the driver had seen earlier…
The driver turned away, white-faced. Bracing himself against a pillar, he nearly brought up the noodles he had eaten that evening.
Hearing the commotion, his master was about to approach, but the driver stopped him.
“Master, do not…”
Yet the pungent smell of blood reached him. Even without clearly seeing the mutilated body, his master guessed what had happened.
“Is he dead?”
It took the driver a long while to recover. Then he returned to the hall, picked up the tea he had left unfinished, and drained it.
Only then did he say, “Someone slit his belly open… and emptied him out.”
His master shuddered at the cruelty of the death.
The driver wasted no more words and urged him, “Master, we cannot stay here. We must leave at once.”
The attendant was dead, there was no one else in the inn, and, most frightening of all, they had no idea where the killer was hiding.
His master knew they would probably have to wait until daylight, then find people from the government office in Liangzhou City to deal with it.
They went upstairs to gather their belongings and left the post station without a moment’s delay, heading east.
Midnight had passed. Thick vegetation surrounded them, with no sign of human habitation.
Traveling along the pitch-black road, they could hear only the howls of unknown wild animals deep in the mountains.
The road ahead… seemed endless.
The driver was growing anxious when an imposing villa suddenly appeared before them.
It seemed to have materialized from nowhere. A single lantern hung at its entrance, illuminating the words on the signboard: Mingyue Villa.
“Master, there is actually a villa ahead.”
His master immediately lifted the curtain to look. Puzzled, he said, “Who would have thought there was such a place out here in the wilderness?”
The driver dismounted at once.
“It is such a large villa. I will ask whether they can put us up for the night.”
His master wanted to stop him, but he had already hurried forward to knock.
“Ah, how can we disturb people at this hour?”
Too late to stop him, his master could only get down from the carriage as well.
He was old and unsteady on his feet. By the time he reached the entrance, the great doors creaked open to reveal a very young face.
It was a boy of about eleven or twelve.
“Who are you looking for?”
The driver was rather surprised.
He had assumed that anyone who lived in such a large villa must at least be a person of considerable local wealth and standing.
Wealthy households cared about appearances and ceremony.
In mountains like these, would they not employ a few guards to watch the gates?
His master hurried forward. “We are not looking for anyone. We are merely passing through.”
The driver added, “Might we stay here for the night?”
The boy’s eyes were dark and bright, but held no emotion. Even his voice sounded chilling.
“Wait here.”
With those two words, he shut the doors and went back inside.
The driver felt uneasy. “This villa is strange too. Why have a child guarding the entrance?”
His master could not understand it either.
The night was deep and the dew heavy out in the countryside, lending the air a chill.
They waited a while without seeing the boy return. Just as they were wondering whether to leave, the doors opened again.
The boy said, “Our young lady has agreed. Come with me.”
A young lady…?
The driver was puzzled anew, but could hardly question him. He immediately helped his master into the villa.
Carrying a lantern, the boy led them across the forecourt, through the hall, and into the courtyard at the back, where he showed them into a guest room.
“Gentlemen, this is your room.”
“My young lady likes peace and quiet. Please keep your voices down, and leave on your own tomorrow morning.”
Having spoken, he bowed politely, then departed with his lantern.
The master stood in the doorway for a while. The courtyards stretched deep into the grounds, yet, strangely, on the way in they had neither seen another person nor heard the slightest sound.
It was as though… no one lived in the villa at all.
Looking back into the guest room, he saw neatly arranged beds and bedding, and every daily necessity. It was comfortable, incomparably better than the post station…
After their fright there, both men were utterly exhausted.
Yet once they lay down, their minds were painfully clear. Neither felt the least bit sleepy.
One on the bed and the other on the couch, they tossed and turned for a while.
“Master!” The driver suddenly sat up. “This villa is so close to that inn. Do you think the killer might…”
Before he finished, he distinctly glimpsed a figure by the window. Frightened, he scrambled off the couch.
“Who is there?”
His master sat up too. But when they looked outside, there was no one.
With the killer on his mind, the driver could not rest easy. He rose, lit the lamp, and opened the door.
Still, wherever he looked, there was no sign of anyone.
He was about to return to the room when, from the corner of his eye, he noticed a gray rabbit beneath the covered walkway…
The driver recoiled several steps. The scene he had witnessed at the post station immediately returned to him.
Coincidence or not, this rabbit’s fur and size were exactly like those of the dead rabbit at the station.
His hair stood on end, and he had no idea what to do.
Just then, bells rang. A figure had silently appeared not far away.
A woman.
She wore snow-white clothes, and her jet-black hair reached her ankles. Her footsteps were as light as a ghost’s…
Her skin was almost as white as her clothes…
She slowly approached the rabbit and scooped it into her arms. Without a word, she silently walked away.
The driver watched her retreating figure, every hair on his body bristling.
But he said nothing. He went inside and locked the door.
His master hurriedly asked, “What did you find?”
The driver held back what he wanted to say, not daring to speak. “Nothing. My eyes were playing tricks on me.”
That night, both men stayed awake almost until dawn.
When they rose the next morning, the boy from the night before was nowhere to be seen. The master left a silver ingot in the room, then quietly departed with his driver.
Only after they were outside the villa did the driver dare tell his master what he had seen and heard during the night.
After considering it carefully, his master decided to return to the post station and examine the situation more closely.
Yet to their astonishment, by daylight the station was utterly unlike what they had seen the night before…
It was completely abandoned, unfit for anyone to stay in.
The attendant, the body, the blood covering the ground: it all seemed like an absurd dream.
They exchanged speechless looks, then immediately turned the horse around again and headed toward Liangzhou City.