Translator: Cinder Translations
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In Fatty's eyes, Jiang Cheng shook his head, "Young Master Huang did exist, but I think he's already dead. That female ghost is probably Young Master Huang's newlywed wife."
"Old Master Huang is likely overwhelmed by grief and has lost his mind, which is why he plays the role of his son every night," Jiang Cheng continued. "Only by doing this can he feel as though his son is still alive."
After a brief moment of thought, Fatty felt that the doctor's speculation was more reliable and closer to reality. His own earlier speculation was entirely influenced by the plotlines of some TV dramas.
Young Master Huang must have existed; otherwise, many things wouldn't make sense.
"By the way, Doctor," Fatty suddenly remembered something, "There's one more thing I forgot to tell you. Before you ran out, we heard the sound of a drum..."
Jiang Cheng slightly frowned, retracted his gaze, and looked at Fatty, asking, "You heard the drum sound?"
"Yeah," Fatty nodded, "It was the same as the drum sound from the lake. I wanted to ask you about it when you ran out, but the situation was urgent, and you pulled me away before I could ask."
The drum sound was caused by Shi Liaozhi knocking over an instrument, which hit the drum. Because the collision was off-center, the sound wasn't very loud. He hadn't expected it to travel so far and so clearly.
A sense of foreboding slowly crept into his heart, and he immediately realized that the ghost had appeared after that drum sound.
"Doctor," Fatty licked his lips. He didn't notice the change in the doctor's expression and continued on his own, "Listen, the drum sound itself wasn't a big deal, but after hearing it, that little beggar was terrified. He first looked in the direction of the pavilion, then turned around and stared at me. I thought he was going to do something to me."
"Unexpectedly, he suddenly reached out, grabbed my arm, and started shaking it up and down, making whimpering sounds," Fatty recalled, describing the scene to the doctor.
"And then?" Jiang Cheng urged.
Fatty scratched his head in frustration, "The main problem is that he can't speak. He just kept whimpering, and I couldn't understand a word. But he seemed really anxious."
Jiang Cheng roughly understood. The little beggar clearly wanted to tell Fatty something, but unfortunately, Fatty's comprehension was poor, and the little beggar couldn't speak, leading to a communication breakdown.
"Should I demonstrate it for you, Doctor?" Fatty asked.
"Hurry up!"
Fatty first walked forward a few steps quickly, then stepped back one step at a time, each step with great force. Jiang Cheng looked at him, and Fatty showed an expression that said, "This is exactly what he did."
Then Fatty pointed to the spot under his feet and just looked at Jiang Cheng.
"Is that it?" Jiang Cheng looked back at him.
Fatty nodded sheepishly, "Yeah."
Seeing Jiang Cheng's expression immediately darken, as if he was about to reprimand him, Fatty quickly defended himself, "Doctor, don't be like that. Really, that's exactly what he did."
Jiang Cheng glared at him, thinking that the little beggar was clearly trying to convey very important information, information that could potentially save lives, but Fatty thought he was just playing in the mud.
But now, there was no use saying anything more. It was almost dark, and unless the little beggar came again tonight, with him present, they might be able to figure out some clues.
What frustrated Jiang Cheng was that the little beggar seemed to only favor Fatty and only wanted to help him.
As for whether the little beggar would demonstrate again for Jiang Cheng out of respect for Fatty, that was unknown.
In extraordinary times, extraordinary measures were needed. If all else failed, he would have to team up with Xia Meng and try to use Fatty as bait to catch the little beggar.
Through this incident with Fatty, Jiang Cheng increasingly felt that the little beggar's identity was suspicious. Given his familiarity with the Huang household, he couldn't have been there for just a day or two.
Moreover, his age was also a problem. He was so young, still a child.
A child who could come and go freely in the Huang household...
More importantly, he seemed to know many of the Huang household's secrets.
Who... was he?
"Doctor," Fatty leaned in and asked, "It's almost dark. Why haven't they... they come back yet?"
As soon as he finished speaking, as if something in the void had heard his words, the door suddenly opened. A cold wind blew in, and Fatty's large frame instantly shrank.
He stared at the open door as if looking at the gates of hell.
Xia Meng, who walked in, glanced at Fatty, then went straight to the table, sat down, poured herself a cup of water, and gulped it down.
Fatty blinked, then looked outside the door again.
No one was there. Only Xia Meng had returned.
"Did you shake them off?" Jiang Cheng took the teacup, poured himself a cup, and slowly drank it.
Xia Meng nodded, "Yeah."
Then her expression changed slightly, as if there was something she couldn't figure out, "The lake surface can't reveal ghosts. You Qi's words can't be trusted," Xia Meng said. "That Zuo Jing also seemed strange. As we walked, when it was almost dark, she turned around and disappeared."
"Looks like you weren't the last one to run?" Jiang Cheng smiled.
Xia Meng glanced at him and snorted, "An Xuan is still there, probably trying to find a way to escape."
The door had already been closed by the extremely vigilant Fatty. She looked out the window; the sky was gradually darkening, and night would soon fall.
"What... what are you guys talking about?" Fatty was completely lost.
Xia Meng, having drunk enough water, turned slightly and gave Fatty a disdainful look, making him feel guilty, "Shi Liaozhi is a ghost," she suddenly said.
"A ghost?" Fatty instinctively looked at the doctor. He didn't trust Xia Meng's words; he only trusted the doctor.
Then he saw the doctor nod, and he felt a cold breeze at the back of his head. In the afternoon, Shi Liaozhi had seemed perfectly normal. How could he suddenly be a ghost?
He really wanted to ask if there was some mistake, but reason told him not to ask. Listening to the doctor was always the right choice.
At least he wouldn't die.
Perhaps feeling a bit of affection for Fatty, Jiang Cheng spoke up, "Don't you feel like something's missing today?"
"There's no dinner tonight!" Fatty immediately replied.
Indeed, since the afternoon, they hadn't seen the middle-aged woman, so no one had notified them about dinner.
"There's no task!" Xia Meng couldn't stand it anymore and said, "It's almost dark, and the middle-aged woman hasn't come to notify us, which means there's no performance tonight!"
"No performance, then how..." Halfway through his sentence, Fatty suddenly stopped, and his expression changed, as if he had unlocked some hidden knowledge, and everything fell into place.
At this stage of the plot, someone was supposed to die every night, and the ghost's method of killing was through the performances. So... how could there be no performance tonight?
Unless... Fatty's pupils trembled violently. Someone had already died today.
(End of the Chapter)
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