Chapter 29.2 Ye Family House No. 444 02
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The two of them walked to the courtyard, where several green plants with red flowers were planted, creating a picturesque scene. In the center of the courtyard, there was a barbecue grill. When the guests who were staying there noticed someone preparing for a barbecue, they became intrigued and went to discuss it with the innkeeper. However, they were informed that the barbecue grill had already been reserved. They could only reluctantly give up.
The ones who made the reservation were Chen Yang and his group. Kou Xuanling had anticipated that someone would be interested in using the barbecue grill, so he took Hu Yingnan and went to borrow it. Considering Hu Yingnan’s relationship with Ziyang Palace, the innkeeper agreed to lend them the grill, but they had to prepare all the tools themselves and not damage anything.
After making the promise, they began purchasing barbecue utensils, seasonings, and food. Once the fire was lit and everything was prepared, they waited for Chen Yang to arrive and start barbecuing. Zhang Qiudao was chatting with Hu Yingnan when he turned around and saw the two of them. He commented, “Couple shirts? How romantic.”
Hu Yingnan was puzzled, and Zhang Qiudao explained, “They’re married.”
Hu Yingnan suddenly understood, calmly accepting it and expressing that the two of them were well-suited. “I have a cousin coming with a friend later, is it alright?”
Chen Yang: “Sure. The more people, the merrier.”
Hu Yingnan smiled and took the responsibility for the cost of the ingredients upon herself. Chen Yang didn’t insist on refusing her offer. His straightforward personality was very much to Hu Yingnan’s liking, and she quickly treated him as a friend.
Kou Xuanling carried a pile of charcoal over and, after placing it down, looked at Chen Yang. Kou Xuanling paused for a moment before asking, “Where did you buy these clothes?”
Chen Yang: “Interested in buying? Do you even know what these clothes are?”
“Of course, I have no idea. They look interesting, definitely something brothers would wear,” Kou Xuanling confidently replied. “I’ll buy a set to give to a pair of twin brothers in my clan. They often wear matching clothes, so I’m sure they’ll love it.”
Hu Yingnan nearly sprayed the drink from her mouth as she exclaimed, “What is he talking about?”
“He’s clueless,” calmly explained Zhang Qiudao. “He just transferred to our branch office and doesn’t know that Brother Chen is already married.”
The thought processes of creatures like clueless straight men will forever be incomprehensible. Hu Yingnan nodded in understanding, but her gaze towards Kou Xuanling had changed. “How cute.”
Zhang Qiudao’s hand trembled slightly but ultimately didn’t say anything.
Chen Yang casually dismissed Kou Xuanling and then introduced other brotherhood outfits and parent-child matching outfits, capturing Kou Xuanling’s attention. This was to prevent him from actually buying this set of couple shirts and sending them back as birthday gifts to a pair of twins, only to be beaten up.
As the bonfire burned brightly, Kou Xuanling set up the grill while Chen Yang sat on a chair, leisurely barbecuing and preparing sauces and marinades. Du Shuo sat beside Chen Yang, occasionally handing him sauce or flipping skewers. The others opened cans of beer and played cards. When Mao Xiaoli also reached for a beer, Chen Yang didn’t even turn his head and said, “Minors can’t drink alcohol.”
Mao Xiaoli, stripped of her drinking rights, exclaimed, “I’m of legal age! I’m a freshman this year, I’m really an adult now.”
Zhang Qiuda: “Let’s go by the traditional Chinese age counting.”
Mao Xiaoli furiously munched on snacks. However, Chen Yang quickly grilled a plate of skewers, silencing a few people. Chen Yang discreetly set aside a plate for Du Shuo to eat. Beside Du Shuo was an unopened can of beer, which he took a sip from before losing interest and placing it aside. Whenever he picked up a skewer, he would take a bite and feed the rest to Chen Yang. The two of them cuddled together, occasionally whispering sweet nothings, their affection palpable.
Before the barbecue reached its halfway point, Hu Yingnan’s cousin arrived with her friend. Both girls were sophomores in college, bold and outgoing, quickly bonding with everyone present. They particularly hit it off with Mao Xiaoli, engaging in gossip as if they had found an ally.
When they heard Mao Xiaoli mention the livestream at the Ye Family House, they simultaneously burst into laughter, leaving Mao Xiaoli perplexed. One of the girls, named Yang Xiao, was a university friend of Hu Yingnan’s cousin, Hu Xiang. Yang Xiao was laughing so hard that she couldn’t straighten her back. “You actually believed it? Haha… it’s fake!”
Mao Xiaoli: “Fake?”
Hu Xiang saw that Yang Xiao couldn’t explain through her laughter, so she explained on her behalf, “Of course, it’s all fake. Those eerie screams and sudden blackouts were all staged by her and her team to debunk superstitions.”
Mao Xiaoli: “What do you mean?”
The rest of the group was drawn in by their conversation.
Hu Xiang: “Yang Xiao formed a club at university called the Paranormal Investigation Society. But it’s not actually a society that researches the paranormal. It’s focused on debunking superstitions. They specifically visit places rumored to be haunted or inhabited by spiritual mediums, document the alleged ghostly occurrences, and then solve the mysteries. Everything is based on science. There are no ghosts in this world. It’s all just scare tactics.”
Mao Xiaoli: “To say there are no ghosts in this world is too absolute. Maybe you just haven’t encountered any.”
Yang Xiao: “All I know is that I’ve never encountered one in all my years. Not me, nor the people around me. It’s all just hearsay. I’ve been to so many supposedly haunted places, explored numerous ghost houses, and never encountered a ghost. Those rumors of terrifying nightly sounds? Just the wind. The alleged ghostly figures? Just coincidental shadows. There are no ghosts in this world.”
Chen Yang and the others didn’t bother arguing with Yang Xiao about the existence of ghosts. There would always be skeptics. There was no need to forcefully convince each other. So, Mao Xiaoli urged her to talk about the livestream at the Ye Family House, changing the subject.
“In reality, there has always been a legend surrounding the Ye Family House in Shen City. Every city has its own top ten urban legends, spooky folklore. The Ye Family House is one of Shen City’s top ten urban legends. Remember the rumors about someone live streaming from inside and going mad in the end? It caused quite a stir online. We determined it was all staged. So, we took our society club members and went on live explorations of haunted houses. Did you notice how the stream always went black at the staircase? That was just due to poor internet connection, sometimes it would cut off completely. As for the horrifying screams, we intentionally shouted them out. There was nothing there, no ghosts to be found.”
After Yang Xiao finished speaking, she invited Mao Xiaoli, “Since you seem interested in the Ye Family House, we’re planning to go again tomorrow night to uncover the truth. Would you like to join us?”
Mao Xiaoli gladly agreed.
Chen Yang turned around and whispered to Du Shuo, “Have you ever heard of Shen City’s Ye Family House No. 444?”
Du Shuo: “I have.”
“What rumors? Tell us.”
“Decades ago, a family of four lived there and was brutally murdered in the middle of the night. No bodies were found, but the entire house was covered in bloodstains that couldn’t be washed away. It became an unsolved case. Ye Family House No. 444 gained a reputation as a haunted house, and no one dared to live there. Twenty years later, the old house was demolished and rebuilt. Another family of three moved in but was also killed in the middle of the night. The house was once again filled with blood, but the bodies vanished without a trace. The incidents caused a great uproar, but the local government suppressed the information and prohibited renting the house. Another ten years passed, and the area was reconstructed into a new neighborhood, with many people moving in. Yet again, the tragedy repeated itself, bodies disappearing without a trace. The rumors about Ye Family House No. 444 couldn’t be suppressed anymore and became a true house of horrors.”
“How dreadful! Didn’t they invite a celestial master to exorcise the evil spirits?”
Hu Yingnan approached, sat beside them, and waited for the skewers. In response to the question, she said, “They did invite celestial masters from Baiyun Temple and Ziyang Palace, but all they could do was seal the house, prohibiting anyone from living there.”
“Why?”
Hu Yingnan shook her head and only said one word, “Evil.”
Evil, not just tragic.
In other words, perhaps the celestial masters from Baiyun Temple and Ziyang Palace couldn’t find a reason, so they attributed it to evil.
“Not only were the bodies missing, but the souls as well,” Hu Yingnan took a bite of the skewer as she spoke, “It is said that the amount of blood found in the house, according to forensic analysis, was consistent with the dismemberment of several individuals. Unfortunately, no bodies were found. Do you know? The victims called the police every time, always in the middle of the night. The police rushed over, but it took them at least an hour. How could they clean up the bodies of multiple victims within an hour? Moreover, people live around the Ye Family House, so logically, the screams of the victims being attacked would be heard, but when asked, none of the nearby residents heard a thing. They slept soundly through it all.”
Upon hearing these descriptions, Chen Yang also felt a sense of evil.
Hu Yingnan picked up another skewer and took a sip of beer. “There’s more. Ye Family House No. 444 has been renovated three times. After each death, a doorplate was found inside the house, engraved with ‘Ye Family House No. 444.’ Over time, no one dared to live there, and the reputation of Ye Family House No. 444 as a haunted house spread.”
“Truly sinister,” Chen Yang concluded, “With such a sinister house, are you confident about your cousin going there?”
Hu Yingnan: “Not at all. That’s why I have to go with her.” She shook her head and smiled bitterly. “These young folks, they fear nothing, not even the heavens and the underworld.”
Seeing this, Chen Yang took a plate of skewers and offered it to her as a consolation. Hu Yingnan’s expression didn’t change as she thanked him, then she took the skewers and moved to the side to devour them all. In an instant, Chen Yang felt like he had been deceived.
“With such a sinister house, doesn’t your underworld or Fengdu intervene?”
“They don’t.”
“Why not?”
“The ghost envoys of the Underworld are not that idle, and they don’t know everything. For ordinary ghost officials, dealing with Ye Family House is not easy. As for the Ghost Emperors, it’s not interesting to them. So they don’t intervene.”
“You don’t intervene either?”
“Hmm.” Du Shuo paused for a moment, then said, “Matters of the mortal realm, we don’t interfere.”
Chen Yang’s skewering motion paused, lost in thought.
They initially thought this matter had nothing to do with them, but the next day, Hu Yingnan came to them with a solemn expression and said, “Something happened.”
The group sat in front of Hu Yingnan, still groggy with sleep. Upon hearing her words, they immediately perked up and asked what had happened. Hu Yingnan replied, “One of the members of Yang Xiao’s society club was found dead at home, kneeling in front of the window with ᴛᴡᴏ ᴇʏᴇꜱ ɪᴍᴘᴀʟᴇᴅ ʙʏ ᴡᴏᴏᴅᴇɴ ꜱᴛᴀᴋᴇꜱ. ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴛᴀᴋᴇꜱ ᴡᴇɴᴛ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴋᴜʟʟ, ᴄᴀᴜꜱɪɴɢ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ.”
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