The King of Curses

Chapter 209 Quiet Autumn Night

The house was already narrow, and with the tall and strong Cen Dongsheng, and the two girls being both tall, it looked even narrower visually.

The small room was packed full before we even had time to put down our luggage; if two people stood at the door, the remaining one had to squeeze in sideways.

Cen Dongsheng did just that. When passing by, he smelled the scent of different brands of shampoo on the girls' hair.

"...Only one bedroom?"

The man lowered his head and crawled back in with a strange expression on his face.

As for the bed inside...

The one in the middle is quite large, with a soft double bed that looks very comfortable. The bright red mattress embroidered with golden dragons and phoenixes creates a festive atmosphere.

The remaining one is obviously too small, and it feels like it is for a child to sleep on.

It is a typical design for a couple's room. Unfortunately, the problem is...

There are three of them.

"That village secretary is a bit inconsiderate."

Cen Dongsheng sighed.

"Maybe he forgot, or maybe he simply misunderstood the relationship between us."

Jiang Yunmei crossed her arms, looking like she was enjoying a good show.

"It's quite clean inside, and the furniture and quilt smell like sunshine. I feel like I can have a good sleep tonight. Oh, by the way, are any of us used to our own beds? No? What about snoring? I used to hate my college roommate's snoring, but it got better after I moved out and lived on my own. I heard that men are more likely to snore than women..."

No one answered her.

After another silence, Jiang Yunmei, with a smile on her face, made a suggestion:
"How about... Yutang, you and Master can sleep on that big bed together tonight? It feels like a bridal chamber..."

As soon as these words came out, the master and disciple's eyes were like sharp arrows shot at her at the same time.

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

"I think you deserve a beating."

Cen Dongsheng and Song Yutang spoke almost at the same time.

Because the two people's attitude of rebuttal was too serious, Jiang Yunmei felt frightened.

"I was just joking..."

The girl shrugged.

"But there are indeed only two beds in the room."

"Just sleep on the floor."

Song Yutang's answer was straightforward.

"I don't care about the accommodation. If it doesn't work, I can just set up a tent outside. Anyway, I'm used to camping alone..."

"How can this be possible? It's better for the three of us to stay together when we are on a mission."

"Or go to the guesthouse in town. I noticed it when the car drove over. The environment is not that bad."

"Don't think too much. Alas, there is no other way. Men and women should not be intimate with each other. Yutang and I have to sleep in the same bed."

Jiang Yunmei hugged Song Yutang's arm and looked at Cen Dongsheng with a smile.

"As for you, Teacher Cen, just sleep on the bed with the kid..."

Cen Dongsheng sighed, reached out and knocked on Jiang Yunmei's head. Amid the other party's complaints, "How dare you knock on my head, how disrespectful!", he made the decision.

"You are right. The three of us should stay together so that we can react in time when something happens. Especially you, Yunmei, remember to stay close to us. Yutang, too, you should protect your partners during the most critical mission of this operation. Everything else can be put aside."

Seeing that all the girls nodded in agreement, Cen Dongsheng picked up the luggage at hand.

"As for going to the guesthouse in town, it's too far. If something happens in the village, it will be difficult to get back in time. Let's stay here tonight. There's no need to think too much. You two can sleep in the house, and I'll stay in the car for the night."

"Master..." Song Yutang wanted to speak but was interrupted.

"It's settled." He waved his hand, and walked out with his bag on his back. "If you need anything, call me... No, I'll use Yun Mei's 'Heavenly Ear' to contact me."

*
They left early, so it was still morning when they arrived. It was almost noon when they finished cleaning up, so they still had plenty of time.

Before leaving, Jiang Dafu invited them to dinner, but Cen Dongsheng and others refused.

Although the gastrointestinal and organ metabolism capabilities of the curse-binding masters are very good, there is obviously no need to cause trouble for themselves. They usually carry their own dry food, or bring a teammate who is able to "distinguish" whether the food is harmful.

After enjoying lunch, this time they did not go to find the village secretary. Instead, they walked through the entire Jiangtun Village along the numerous paths in the village, and found a high cliff from which they could overlook the entire village.

He asked questions to villagers he saw along the way. From them, Cen Dongsheng learned that the Jiang family's ancestral tomb was deeper in the mountain behind the village, and the ancestral home was located in the low corner on the west side of the village, just opposite the house that Jiang Dafu had arranged for them.

As for the burial site chosen by the Feng Shui master for him, no one knew it. Even those who had heard of it thought that all the ancestors of the Jiang family were buried in the ancestral tomb... which was also expected.

Putting the matter of the ancestral tomb aside, Cen Dongsheng and his friends planned to go to the Jiang family's ancestral home to find out what was going on.

But when they approached this place, they immediately felt that the situation was not good:
The alley where the ancestral home is located is overgrown with weeds and vines growing wildly everywhere, as if they are about to completely submerge the house deep inside.

"Wow……"

The girl beside him exclaimed. They trudged through the grass that was thick enough to cover their calves. The painted wooden door was mottled in color, and the copper door knocker on the door was rusty. The carved plaque above the door lintel had blurred characters due to erosion by wind and rain, and only the word "Jiang" could be vaguely recognized.

Cen Dongsheng reached out and pushed open the creaking wooden door, and stepped into the courtyard. A damp and musty smell hit him in the face. The stone pavement in the courtyard was covered with moss, and the flowers that once bloomed in the garden had withered and turned into mud; there was an ancient well in the corner, the edge of the well was also covered with moss, and the water in the well had long been dried up.

The main building of the ancestral home is in the layout of the classic Jiangnan courtyard house from the Qing Dynasty. The blue bricks on the walls are mostly peeling off, and the eaves covered with gray tiles are cracked everywhere. A tattered red lantern hangs under the eaves, swaying in the wind.

“It’s like a horror movie location.”

"Yeah. I remember watching "The Old Corpse in the Mountain Village" when I was a kid, and there was a similar scene in it..."

They walked through the deserted courtyard to the main hall and the side rooms. The furniture in each room was covered with thick dust, and the mahogany tables, chairs and carved screens were covered with cobwebs.

Going further inside, there is a small garden covering a large area in the backyard, but it is also almost submerged by lush weeds. After the rockery pond dried up, only the bare bottom of the pond was left, revealing cracked soil; the lotus leaves withered and turned into pieces of black and brown debris.

In the middle of the pond, the wooden beams of the small pavilion at the end of the stone steps were rotten, and the entire roof was tilted and could collapse at any time.

No one has lived here for many years. Apart from rats, mosquitoes and weeds, there are no other residents.

"It looks like there are no clues." Song Yutang sighed, "There's no sign of anyone coming here recently."

"That Feng Shui master designed this ancestral house nearly a hundred years ago. During this century, this place must have been renovated more than once. But now, several generations of Feng Shui master's descendants have abandoned this place..."

……

After spending most of the day without any results, the two girls were inevitably a little discouraged. Cen Dongsheng, on the other hand, acted very calmly. He comforted them, "Don't be too depressed. This kind of thing is very common. Besides, we still have one place to go."

"Is it common...?"

"According to my experience, when we know nothing, clues are often not found out, but appear in front of us when the time is right."

"...Can't we follow the clues and take the initiative to find the truth?"

“That would probably take longer.”

Cen Dongsheng smiled.

"After all, we are not here to solve the case, but to cause trouble. Since the other party is hiding, we should do the opposite and force it to surface... No, maybe we don't even need to consider the means. As long as the guy lying in the grave is not really blind, he should have known we are here. We should wait patiently for another night."

Afterwards, the three of them went to a nearby town to gather intelligence and had dinner.

After returning to my residence to rest, time quickly came to night...

*
Night falls.

The smoke from cooking was swallowed up by the vast darkness, the crowing of chickens, the barking of dogs and the voices of children gradually died down, and every household closed their doors. Some houses lit up bright yellow lights, while others had already immersed themselves in the darkness.

On a quiet autumn night, the hazy moonlight covers the village with a soft silver veil.

After dusk falls, the stars in the sky light up one by one, like broken diamonds on a black velvet curtain; the night sky in the countryside is clearer than in the city, so the stars in people's eyes are several times clearer and brighter.

There is a big banyan tree at the entrance of the village, its leaves swaying gently in the wind. The shadows of the tree are dancing, and the breeze blows through the treetops, making a rustling sound; under the shade of the tree is a gurgling stream, winding around the edge of the village, and the water surface is sparkling in the moonlight.

“It’s a great place to spend the holiday.”

The girl standing in front of the window admiring the night view, breathing the fresh air, temporarily putting aside the worries of the day.

Although we are going out on a mission, it is also possible to treat it as a relaxing trip before the battle breaks out.

"This kind of rural village scenery is the same and can be seen everywhere in the country."

Jiang Yunmei's voice came from behind.

"In recent years, I think it has been slowly decreasing..."

“Because the economy is developing.”

Song Yutang untied the ponytail at the back of her head, letting her dark and smooth medium-length hair fall on her shoulders. She then stretched, and the light from behind outlined the curves of her toned body.

She was wearing a thin nightgown, and after taking off her trousers, shoes and socks, her long, smooth legs were exposed. They were straight with perfect curves, and there was no gap when they were put together.

When Jiang Yunmei saw it for the first time, she was full of admiration and praised her junior schoolmate for having a pair of beautiful legs that were like a work of art, which made Song Yutang a little amused and helpless.

……

In the temporary residence, the two girls only turned on a dim light. After Song Yutang stretched, she turned around and saw Jiang Yunmei with her back to her.

Unlike me, the senior was wearing a furry pajamas and seemed to be a little afraid of the cold.

Unlike a human immortal curse master like Song Yutang, who has cultivated to the level of not being afraid of cold or heat, and has strong blood and energy, he will not feel cold even if he runs outside in pajamas in the cold winter.

After observing her companion's reaction for a while, Song Yutang felt that she seemed to be lost in some kind of contemplation, and it lasted for a long time. She had been standing in front of the window looking at the scenery, and she had been in this posture...

Although there was no gain today, Jiang Yunmei's attitude was a little strange. Sometimes she frowned, sometimes she looked away, and she always looked absent-minded.

The master said that this was normal for a spell-binding master who was good at spiritual perception.

The "sixth sense" that people often talk about is actually the "spiritual sense" that has not yet transformed. For people like Jiang Yunmei, she can always receive some secret information that ordinary people cannot know.

Maybe it’s the same now.

"……What are you looking at?"

She couldn't hold back her curiosity, so she moved a chair and sat down next to Jiang Yunmei, following her companion's gaze towards the corner of the room.

The room was not big to begin with, and there was only enough space in the corner for a small wooden shelf, on which a lot of sundries were placed.

"I'm thinking about something."

Jiang Yunmei pointed under the wooden rack.

"That place is a bit strange."

"Huh? Where?"

"There is a scratch mark between the wooden frame foot and the nearby wall that is different from other places. It is obviously added recently."

After carefully observing the place she pointed out for a while, Song Yutang's eyes widened.

"Really."

After becoming a curse-binding master, her eyesight naturally improved greatly. In theory, her observation ability should be much stronger than her past self.

But the fact is that the way the human brain works is to make people focus their attention on one area, and it is still easy to ignore external objects.

Jiang Yunmei held her chin with her hand and pondered:

"Next, you'll notice that the paint on the entire wall is divided into two colors. It doesn't look like a house renovation, because the new paint layer is obviously thicker, which means that the original paint layer was not scraped off and directly covered on; the shape is also very rough, and it doesn't feel like it was done by a professional plasterer, so I guess..."

She makes a judgement.

"——There may be something behind the wall that has been deliberately concealed."

"Senior sister, you are amazing." Song Yutang couldn't help but sigh, "Just like the detective in mystery novels."

"This is the first time I've heard you call me senior with such respect in all this time."

Jiang Yunmei laughed.

*
The two girls were discussing the newly discovered clues, while Cen Dongsheng, who was preparing to rest in the car for a night, was reporting his safety to his two sisters at home.

After a long time, he let out a breath, put down his phone, and looked out the car window.

The outlines of the surrounding mountains are like sleeping beasts, vaguely visible in the darkness; and the village path is like a winding snake, quietly extending into the distance.

……

Not long after, a red light suddenly appeared on the hill behind the village.

It was not a warm light like the morning glow or a mountain fire, but a quiet, flowing, eerie light like blood...

(End of this chapter)