Chapter 260: Communal Sleeping Quarters

High walls and grand courtyards, with green bricks and blue tiles—the Zhen family’s estate had a unique design, where the front courtyard was larger than the combined area of all the other wings.

The reason for this was that Master Zhen was an avid chess player. He invited people over to play chess nearly every day and frequently held chess competitions. Because of this, a large space had been reserved for the front courtyard.

However, at this moment, the once-spacious front courtyard had been transformed into a communal sleeping area.

Each person, young or old, lay on a layer of cotton bedding, covered with blankets of various colors. Most of these blankets had been brought by the villagers who had come to claim money. After all, no matter how wealthy these two landlords were, they couldn’t possibly gather such a large number of blankets in such a short time.

By the time the hour of the Dog (7–9 PM) arrived, most of the people in the courtyard had already fallen asleep. The sounds of snoring and heavy breathing rose and fell, and a faint scent of alcohol lingered in the air.

Inside the main hall facing the courtyard, Guo Teng and Feng Wei sat across from the two landlords, each with a pot of strong tea in front of them.

Feng Wei withdrew her gaze from the courtyard and looked at the two landlords. Lifting her teacup, she spoke solemnly, “I admire you both for being willing to part with your wealth for the villagers. I offer you a toast with tea in place of wine.”

Seeing this, Guo Teng also raised his teacup in respect.

“Sir and Madam, you flatter us! The rise and fall of a nation concerns every citizen. Now that disaster has struck our village, how could we, who have been fortunate enough to prosper, hide away at a time like this?”

“Indeed! We became wealthy thanks to this village. One must not forget their roots. If we lose our money, we can always earn more, but if the village is gone, then we’ll have lost our very foundation!”

The two landlords each raised their cups in response and then downed their tea in one go.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Master Zhen steered the conversation toward the man with the cart.

“Sir and Madam, that person distributing gold and silver outside—he’s really not human?” Master Zhen furrowed his brows, his face full of concern.

Guo Teng nodded. “No, he is a chang ghost. He seeks to exploit human greed and turn the villagers against each other.”

Master Wu, the other landlord, interjected, “Then is there any way we can kill him?”

Having once run an armed escort business, Master Wu carried a bit of a warrior’s temperament. Even upon hearing that the cart-pulling man was a chang ghost, he still dared to ask if they could take him down.

At this, Feng Wei let out a wry smile. “The chang ghost is highly skilled. I’m afraid we don’t have the strength to fight him head-on…”

“However, in the east corner of the village, there is a Universal Temple. The temple’s caretaker possesses spiritual powers, and he is currently preparing to deal with the chang ghost. What we need to do is hold our ground here.”

“If we can hold out until midnight tomorrow, he will be able to handle the chang ghost.”

Hearing that there was a way to deal with the chang ghost, the two landlords visibly relaxed.

Master Zhen chuckled. “It looks like tonight will pass peacefully. With everyone having had some wine, they should be sleeping soundly.”

Feng Wei replied with a smile, “It was a clever idea of yours, Master Zhen, to have them drink a bowl of rice wine before bed.”

“You flatter me!” Master Zhen cupped his hands and laughed. “Let’s just hope that nothing unexpected happens tonight.”

The moment Master Zhen finished speaking, a soft knocking sound echoed from the courtyard gate.

As the saying goes, A clear conscience fears no ghosts knocking at the door.

But even though none of the four in the hall had done anything wrong, hearing someone knock in the dead of night still sent a chill through their hearts.

Feng Wei and Guo Teng exchanged glances before grabbing their weapons and heading toward the gate.

As the two landlords sat anxiously, hesitating over whether to follow, Feng Wei’s voice rang out: “Stay inside, both of you.”

With that, their uneasy backsides settled firmly onto their chairs.

“Master Zhen! Master Zhen!”

“I’m Niu Da, the eldest son of the Niu family from Xiaodian Street. I heard that if you spend the night at your place, you can receive silver.”

“I’m just here to ask—am I still in time, or is it too late?”

Knock, knock, knock…

“If I’m too late, I don’t mind getting a little less. Three to five taels will do just fine!”

The voice outside the gate belonged to a boy around fifteen or sixteen years old. He was short and somewhat thin.

After knocking for a long time without a response, Niu Da frowned and turned to the group behind him, lowering his voice. “What’s going on? Did we come to the wrong place?”

“Could everyone be at Master Wu’s estate instead?”

The people behind him exchanged uncertain glances and shook their heads, indicating they didn’t know either.

Just as Niu Da was about to take his group to check Master Wu’s estate, the gates of the Zhen residence suddenly creaked open, revealing a narrow two-finger-wide gap.

Through the slit, a pair of sharp, scrutinizing eyes peered out.

Seeing this, Niu Da quickly put on an innocent, harmless expression and grinned. “You must be the External Agents! We met before, remember?”

“So… can we still come in?”

From inside, Feng Wei glanced at the group outside—there were fewer than ten of them, mostly young men with only a few women.

On the surface, they seemed normal, but something about them felt strangely off in a way she couldn’t quite pinpoint.

“Please wait a moment.”

After closing the gate, Feng Wei turned to Guo Teng and asked in a low voice, “What do you think? Should we let them in?”

Guo Teng hesitated before replying, “Judging by the way they speak, they seem coherent and don’t appear to be possessed.”

“But we went door-to-door in the afternoon, calling people to come. They didn’t show up then, yet now they’ve come at this late hour. That’s suspicious.”

Feng Wei nodded. “So you’re saying… we should ignore them?”

“That’s what I was thinking…” Guo Teng admitted, though a conflicted expression crossed his face. “But there’s also the chang ghost outside. If we don’t let them in, we might just be pushing them straight into its hands. What then?”

“This…” Feng Wei was still hesitating when Master Zhen’s voice drifted over.

“Why not just let them in? If there’s any trouble, I’m sure you two agents can handle it, right?”

Feng Wei paused for a moment before making up her mind. She opened the gate and addressed the group outside.

“You may enter, but before you do, you must submit to a search.”

At this, the villagers outside immediately looked displeased.

“A body search? What’s the meaning of this?”

“Exactly! We’re all from the same village! Do you really not trust your own people?”

“Hah! Now I see it—get a little money, and suddenly you don’t recognize your own neighbors anymore!”

The commotion outside made Master Zhen’s face flush with embarrassment. He was just about to say, “Forget it, no need to search them,” when Guo Teng stepped forward.

His voice was firm. “You get one chance. If you want to enter, you’ll be searched.”

“Don’t be angry, sir! The villagers are just rough folks, they don’t mean anything by it.”

Niu Da quickly raised both hands in surrender, signaling his willingness to be searched first.