The backdrop can also be propped up.

Chapter 233 Haha

As Fang Cheng listened to the conversation between the white figures, he gradually pieced together a rough outline in his mind.

The landlord—who is also the father of the two bosses in this instance—sacrificed his wife and her lover to the heavens and obtained the money to open a tea shop.

Later, when the tea shop encountered difficulties, it once again sacrificed people to the heavens. After overcoming the difficulties, the tea shop felt that this method was effective and continued to sacrifice people to the heavens on several occasions afterward.

Because the requirements for the sacrificial offerings were quite high—at least literacy was required—and because the owner himself disliked scholars (his wife had run off with one), he opened a school at the tea shop and had Zhang Tianshi, with whom he had a long-standing relationship, select students from among the tea shop's servants. Once suitable individuals were chosen, they were sent to the school, and after completing their studies, they became the appropriate sacrificial offerings.

As the tea shop prospered, the owner became even more convinced that the sacrificial rites were the key to its success.

However, the owner did not seem to be satisfied with this. According to the diary written by the literate tea-picking girl and the conversations of the white-shadowed group, the owner seemed to want to live forever and was willing to sacrifice his own daughter.

That Master Zhang... it's clear he might actually know a little bit. But probably not much, because the literate tea-picking girl wrote in her diary that he was a fraud.

Moreover, it was this Zhang Xiying Zhang Tianshi who proposed the idea of ​​sacrificing people to the heavens. What legitimate Taoist priest would use people to sacrifice to the heavens?

Furthermore, that incantation to summon spirits that looks like a cheat sheet is even more unreliable.

Then there's that little wooden stick. Connecting it to what those white-shadowed figures said, it seems to be Zhang Tianshi's disciple. He probably has a good relationship with the literate tea-picking girl, but I wonder how those two got together.

However, it's clear that the master's wish for immortality hasn't been fulfilled, just look at the fact that the two bosses in the dungeon are twins. I wonder what happened in between. Fang Cheng wondered if it had anything to do with the red thread on the third floor?

Why can I see the red line but Gu Huayang can't? Fang Cheng was still wondering about this. Was it only me who could see it, or was it someone else who could see it?

"I wish I could read a few more pages of that diary," Fang Cheng thought, glancing up at the sundial and the chronometer. Seeing it was almost 1 p.m., he quickly ran towards the tea garden entrance.

The white shadows were moving towards Fang Cheng at an extremely slow pace, something Fang Cheng had anticipated—they must be up to no good if they didn't disappear for so long.

So Fangcheng placed the little figure with braided pigtails on her head and let the little figure with braided pigtails help her direct the direction.

After dodging left and right, Fang Cheng finally arrived at the entrance of the tea garden.

With a dull thud at one o'clock in the afternoon, the tea garden gate slammed shut.

When Fang Cheng looked back, the white shadows had gathered together and merged into a huge white shadow.

The huge white shadow transformed into a cylinder, with a long object on top.

It wasn't until the long object caught fire as if ignited by the sun that Fang Cheng realized these white shadowy figures were actually candles.

Fang Cheng carried the basket of tea leaves to the kitchen and handed it to Bai Xingyi. Bai Xingyi then asked her if she had gone up to the third floor of the lobby.

Fang Cheng shook his head and truthfully told Bai Xingyi about his experience.

"This red thread even chases after people? It's so intelligent! What exactly is being suppressed on the third floor?" Bai Xingyi began to ponder. "Even if it's the Second Miss, it's impossible. If it were suppressing the Second Miss, would she be able to wander around in broad daylight?"

"Sister Bai, did you see the Second Miss too?" Fang Cheng said. "I thought she would only appear in the evening."

"That's what I thought at first, because the first time I saw her was at 5 p.m., when the sun was almost setting."

"But the second time I saw her was at noon! Noon! That's when the yang energy is strongest!"

"If the second young lady is a ghost, then what is it that keeps her running around in broad daylight?"

"Perhaps it's related to some kind of magic array?" Fang Cheng said.

"A magic array? Did you receive any information?" Bai Xingyi asked hurriedly.

“Let’s put it this way,” Fang Cheng said, “I suspect this magic circle is related to each and every one of us.”

Bai Xingyi thought about it and agreed that it made sense, so he took Fangcheng to the place where the players were gathered.

Almost everyone had arrived at the players' meeting place, but the atmosphere was clearly tense.

Bai Xingyi and Fang Cheng had just arrived and didn't understand what had happened, so when they sat down, Bai Xingyi quietly asked Li Hongying, who was sitting next to her.

"Sister Hongying, what happened?" Bai Xingyi asked, looking at Gu Huayang, Chen Yi'an, and Wang Jianhua, who all looked unwell.

"What else could have happened? They just started arguing." Li Hongying sighed softly.

"They're arguing?" Bai Xingyi asked incredulously. "What, they're arguing all of a sudden?"

“Oh dear… have you noticed that we’re missing one person?” Li Hongying asked in return.

"Hmm, I noticed, Fu Qu isn't here," Bai Xingyi said, glancing at the people present.

“That’s the problem,” Li Hongying sighed. “Aren’t Fang Cheng and Fu Qu the most special people here? Gu Huayang told us that some things Fang Cheng saw were different from what he saw, so he thought of having Fu Qu, who has a special identity like Fang Cheng, take a look at the third floor of the lobby.”

"Originally, this suggestion was fine, but when Gu Huayang mentioned that it might be pursued by the Red Line and therefore had a certain degree of danger, Chen Yi'an's expression immediately changed."

"They started arguing over this?" Bai Xingyi frowned and said, "It mainly depends on Fu Qu's opinion. It's really not good for the two of them to be arguing like this."

Just as Bai Xingyi finished speaking, Gu Huayang spoke again from the opposite side.

“I think I’ve made myself clear,” Gu Huayang said with a stern face. “We need Fu Qu to check if there are any red lines on the corridor between the third and second floors of that lobby.”

"This is Fu Qu's decision, so why are you in such a hurry?"

"I...I'm his friend, how could I not be worried?" Chen Yi'an's expression was also not good. "That place is so dangerous!"

"I said it depends on Fu Qu's thoughts. If he doesn't want to go, then there's nothing we can do." Gu Huayang's face looked even darker.

"Besides, those red lines should be suppressed by the bell's sound. We just need to time it right before sending Fu Qu up to test them. And I don't think Fu Qu is that weak, right? A healthy adult male like him can't be stronger than a 15-year-old underage girl?"

"You didn't value his life at all!" Chen Yi'an suddenly became agitated.

"Hey, Chen, calm down. We need to hear Fu's opinion, right?" Wang Jianhua tried to smooth things over.

"Shut up! You're in cahoots with him!" Chen Yi'an suddenly stood up and grabbed Gu Huayang's collar.

Everyone was taken aback by this sudden turn of events.

Wang Jianhua, who was closest to the two, immediately went around to Chen Yi'an's back, grabbed Chen Yi'an's hand that was about to hit Gu Huayang with one hand, and wrapped his other arm around Chen Yi'an, pulling him backward.

Bai Xingyi flipped over the table and reached out to pry open the hand that Chen Yi'an was using to grab Gu Huayang's collar.

Li Hongying stopped herself from helping Fang Cheng and blocked Gu Huayang's way.

Fang Cheng, anxious, tried to persuade them from the side: "You, you guys don't fight! I, I have news, please listen to me first, okay? Listen to me first!"

Chen Yi'an was in a state of rage, and everyone was only focused on stopping him, so no one noticed what Fang Cheng was saying.

Fang Cheng was anxious and wanted to step in to help, but he was worried that he would only make things worse if he went over there.

At that moment, Fang Cheng felt his clothes being tugged.

Fang Cheng looked down and saw that it was the little person with braided pigtails tugging at her clothes.

Lu Renkui waved to Fang Cheng, signaling him to lower his head and listen to her.

“The argument started over whether or not to let Fu Qu go to the third floor,” Lu Renkui said. “So you need to come up with something about the third floor to get their attention.”

Regarding news about the third floor… Fang Cheng thought for a moment, then her eyes widened instantly—although there was no news about the third floor, she could make a hypothesis and then say that the hypothesis might be related to the third floor.

"Wait, wait a minute! I have a clue about the third floor of the lobby!" Fang Cheng stood up, leaned forward, and shouted to the chaotic crowd.

Upon hearing that there was a clue about the third floor of the lobby, Chen Yi'an released his grip on Gu Huayang's collar, turned to Fang Cheng, his face flushed, and said, "What clue do you have? Tell me!"

"When I was picking tea, I encountered some white figures. They told me how this tea plantation came to be," Fang Cheng recounted everything he had seen and heard in the tea garden.

After hearing the news from Fang Cheng, the others fell silent.

Seeing that the people opposite him did not react, Fang Cheng nervously licked his lips, swallowed, and said, "So I suspect that this time we might be the sacrifices for this magic circle, and the third floor might be the place where that magic circle was drawn."

After he said that, the room fell silent.

As Fang Cheng was wondering if what he was about to say would be successful, he heard a voice from outside the hall: "Sorry I'm late. Where are you talking now?"

Looking outside, I saw that Fu Qu had arrived.

Fu Qu was a little confused by the tense atmosphere in the hall. He asked, "What happened? Why is the atmosphere like this?"

"The passageway from the second to the third floor of the lobby," Gu Huayang said, smoothing out the wrinkles on his collar that Chen Yi'an had just pulled. "Fang Cheng had thought of going up to the third floor to take a look, but the red line blocked his way."

But all I saw in the passageway was a sign saying "No Upstairs."

"So, given the special nature of Fangcheng's identity, I'm not sure which of the two of us is right, so I thought of you, Fu Qu."

Gu Huayang looked at Fu Qu and said seriously, "Your role in this instance is rather special compared to ours, and..."

Our lives and deaths seem to be closely related to you.

"Huh?" Fu Qu was bewildered, suddenly being labeled with such a huge accusation made him somewhat flustered. "Am I that important?"

"Don't listen to his nonsense!" Chen Yi'an ran up to Fu Qu, grabbed Fu Qu's hand and said, "I will not let you put yourself in danger."

“Yes, Yi’an, thank you, but I think I still have my responsibilities,” Fu Qu said firmly. “I have always lived under your protection, which is not good. Let me do my part for everyone this time.”

The two then gazed at each other tenderly, while the others successfully became the third wheel.

Bai Xingyi sensed something was off—her years of experience in shipping couples through reading novels and comics told her there was definitely something between the two of them, but she didn't dare say anything for fear of being scolded.

Chen Yi'an and Fu Qu ignored everyone else for a long time. Gu Huayang felt that if they continued to delay like this, it would be time to start work, so he coughed twice.

But the two of them seemed not to hear, continuing to gaze at each other with deep affection.

Wang Jianhua glanced down and saw the veins bulging on Gu Huayang's clenched fist. His eyes lit up, and he said to Fang Cheng, "Oh, Miss Fang, where did you get all that information?"

"Ah, this..." Thinking that there was no point in hiding anything now, Fang Cheng took out a stack of papers from his pocket and said, "I got this stack of papers when I went back to my room to get my basket. It was written by a literate tea-picking girl. However, I don't have enough clues, so I can only read part of these papers."

Fang Cheng distributed the unlocked papers to everyone—except for the two people who were still gazing at each other affectionately.

The group passed the papers around, and Fang Cheng, seeing that they were still reading them, flipped through the remaining pages in his hand and was surprised to find that there were a few more pages to flip through.

Fang Cheng quickly looked at it—she remembered that the last time she saw this tea-picking girl, she said that she had made an appointment with that little apprentice to watch Zhang Tianshi set up an array.

The newly unlocked paper reads:

That evening, I followed the little wooden stick upstairs.

However, it was really not easy for those who were patrolling the mansion. If they were caught by the person in charge, it would be fine—he was the kindest person, and he would let us go because we were both young.

But if we get caught by someone else, we'll be in deep trouble.

The little wooden stick led me to the main hall, which is usually where the master and guests stay.

The lobby is huge, even bigger than our living quarters.

The little stick said that Zhang the swindler was setting up his trap on the third floor. But there was a sign on the third-floor stairwell prohibiting people from going upstairs, so I didn't dare to go up.

The little stick scolded me for being a coward. He said that the "no upstairs" sign was only for the managers and those who could read, so what was there for me, an illiterate person, to be afraid of?

I said I can read, and I know what's written on it.

The little stick cursed at me again, saying I could just pretend I didn't know him.

Anyway, the two of us ran to a corner and hid there to watch Zhang the swindler set up his trap.

Zhang the swindler came upstairs, followed by the master. Instead of setting up his trap today, Zhang the swindler started chatting with the master.

The master asked Zhang, the swindler, if he had chosen the offerings and the person.

Zhang the swindler said he had already chosen them. Weren't the literate people in his household all the right age and everything? He just needed to find two more with auspicious birth dates and make them sacrifices together.

The master said that besides wishing for the tea shop's success and longevity, he also wanted something else this time.

The conman asked him what else he wanted.

The old man said he wanted to live forever because he couldn't have a son—because his lineage was gone—and there was no one to inherit the tea business, so he wanted to live forever to maintain it; he wanted to become an immortal.

I asked the little stick why the old man couldn't have a son anymore since his manhood was gone.

The little stick told me to shut up, saying I was too young and would talk to him when I was older.

Zhang the swindler said that was easy; the new schoolteacher would arrive in a couple of days, and then all of the master's requests would be fulfilled.

"The offerings are the same, but the process is a bit more complicated," Zhang the swindler told the master. He also said that this time it would take longer than usual, and they would need to prepare some more...