Strange and bizarre, romantic and mysterious.

Fascinating.

If there really are demons and ghosts in this world, they should more or less match the tales told among the people.

It was still early morning. The village at the foot of the mountain was very quiet, the houses shrouded in a light white mist. For a while, only the chirping of birds in the trees and the sound of running water could be heard. Young Man had already thanked Elder, picked up the bag of rice, and headed home.

Walking and thinking at the same time.

He had no idea whether the strange happenings at the The Bennett Family ancestral hall in Heng Village were truly caused by ghosts and monsters, or if someone with ulterior motives was stirring up trouble.

Nor did he know what this world was really like.

A reward of ten thousand coins...

Today, I’ll go see for myself.

Chapter 2 Leave Quickly

Heng Village was large, also situated by the water. From a distance, you could see rows of white walls and blue tiles, reflected together with the dark ink of the stone slabs and the light ink of the green hills in the lake.

But don’t underestimate the villages here—

In this place, whether merchants and the wealthy or high officials and nobles, most families and clans lived in the countryside rather than the city. Thus, almost every village was inhabited by people of the same surname, with no outsiders mixed in. Each village was a huge clan, a small city of its own. Cases like Henry Walton, who clearly had a different surname yet lived in Shu Village, were rare.

Heng Village was home to the Bennett, a rather prominent family, with clan members still serving as officials in the court. In these times, people valued honoring their ancestors and filial piety. There were more than twenty ancestral halls built just for the clan.

There was the original ancestral hall, two main branch halls, and below those, sub-branch halls. Some families even had their own private ancestral halls at home.

The current strange incident was happening in one of the main branch halls.

After some investigation and inquiries, Henry Walton arrived at a large courtyard and met Old Master Bennett.

It was a spacious main hall, with a skylight above for natural light, a water jar below with turtles inside, a few couplets on the walls and pillars, a vase on the east and a mirror on the west at the main seat. Old Master was dressed in luxurious clothes, sitting upright in a grand armchair, his bean-sized eyes fixed on Henry Walton below:

“Whose descendant are you? If you get scared, you can’t afford to pay for it.”

“I come from Shu Village, surname Lin.”

“Oh, that Lin family.”

“Yes.”

“You’re quite bold…”

“I’ve always been bold.”

Henry Walton tried his best to remain calm.

No matter how bold he had been before, now that he was here, in a strange and unfamiliar place, and after hearing a year’s worth of supernatural tales from the village elders in the pavilion, he couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy.

Unease comes from the unknown.

“At your age, studying for fame and success is what matters. Don’t risk your health for a bit of money or a moment of bravado,” Old Master Bennett advised.

“I’d like to go and see for myself.”

“You really want to go?”

“I do.”

“You really are brave. Just as well, you’ll have a companion today.” This Old Sage spoke in an unhurried tone, as if he wasn’t too worried about the trouble in his family’s ancestral hall, and as if, in his eyes, this was something strange but not all that rare or terrifying. “Have you had dinner?”

“Replying to Old Gentleman, not yet.”

“You’re here to help our The Bennett Family, so we can’t treat you poorly. Do you need anything? Just say it now.”

“A knife or sword would be best.”

“Give him a hatchet.”

“Thank you, Old Gentleman.”

“Anything else?”

“……”

Henry Walton fell silent for a moment, then said, “It gets cold at night. I’d like a quilt.”

“Anything else?”

“That’s all.”

“Good lad!”

After speaking, Old Master Bennett waved his hand, both to Henry Walton and to a servant nearby, instructing, “Prepare a quilt for him, let him have a meal here, then take him to the ancestral hall.”

A scholarly family really pays attention to details.

Dinner was bamboo shoots stewed with cured meat.

It had been a long time since he’d eaten such a good meal.

During dinner, Henry Walton also saw the other companion mentioned by Mr. Bennett—a burly man with a whiff of alcohol and a somewhat dejected air, sporting a scruffy beard. He seemed to be here for the ten thousand coin reward as well, which gave Henry Walton a bit more peace of mind.

Most of people’s unease comes from being alone.

Having company makes things much better.

After dinner, someone led them to the ancestral hall.

They walked through the village, passing smoke and lantern light.

“Just go straight ahead to the end.”

By now, it was getting late. The servant’s steps had clearly slowed, as if he didn’t dare get any closer. He simply pointed ahead and spoke to them, holding an oil lamp in his other hand.

Henry Walton looked in the direction he pointed.

Ahead was a straight and narrow alley.

On either side of the alley were the firewalls of houses, built very high. The walls were originally white, but over time, rain had washed them to reveal the black base underneath, giving them a mottled, inky look. At dusk, with the sky neither fully dark nor light, the high walls and narrow alley made it feel deep and shadowy, even though it wasn’t very long.

“……”

Henry Walton took a deep breath.

But thinking carefully about what he’d heard, and remembering his uncle’s illness at home, he felt there really wasn’t much to fear, so he decisively said:

“Butler, you can leave us here.”

“Hmm? Oh, alright…”

The servant handed him the oil lamp.

“Thank you…”

Henry Walton took the oil lamp, then set off again.

He held the quilt under the arm with the lamp, the hatchet in his other hand, and walked into the alley, heading straight forward.

He didn’t look back even once.