Li Miao used a branch to pick up the snake corpse and placed it in front of him for a closer look.
A snake's skin is dead and won't rot. Any external injuries it sustained in life would be reflected on its skin.
Li Miao looked for a long time and found a small gap on the snake's belly.
He carefully examined the gap, then casually tossed the snake corpse into the pool, having a general idea of what happened.
It was roughly four or five in the afternoon, still early for the haunting hour, so waiting there was pointless.
Li Miao yawned, went back to find the trembling servant, and had him lead the way to eat and rest.
As the sun set and the moon rose, it was the third watch of the night.
When Wu Yuanwai moved away, he took many servants with him, leaving many rooms empty in the Wu Mansion.
The servants had also been in a state of panic recently; their rooms were usually full, and having people nearby offered some comfort. Now, the emptiness was too unsettling, so they simply gathered in a few adjacent rooms to rest.
Most of them were already sound asleep at this time.
One servant, woken by the urge to relieve himself, turned over and got out of bed, intending to go to the outhouse, but hesitated at the door, not daring to open it.
After a moment of hesitation, he went back and woke up a 雜役 he was usually on good terms with.
“Hey, wake up.”
“What is it?”
“Come with me to the outhouse.”
The person who was woken up was a bit displeased, but remembering that he would need company when he had to get up at night, he said nothing more, threw on an outer garment, and followed him towards the outhouse.
Fortunately, the outhouse was not near the haunted courtyard.
The two arrived at the outhouse; the servant who needed to relieve himself went inside, and the 雜役 who accompanied him waited outside the door.
It was late autumn, and the weather was growing cold.
The cross-breeze blowing through the corridor stirred up fallen leaves, rustling dry grass.
The servant who was relieving himself squatted for a while, feeling a chill in his heart, and knocked on a pillar.
“Are you there?”
“Yes, yes, hurry up, I’m freezing to death.” An impatient reply came from outside the door.
He breathed a sigh of relief and continued, “Tell me, what kind of officials were those four people who came during the day?”
“They were quite amiable, not as fierce as Lord Wang who visited the mansion before.”
“But aren't officials supposed to ride in palanquins? How come they were leading their own horses?”
“Those two women were really beautiful, even more beautiful than the Third Madam.”
“Sigh.”
“If only I could marry such a beautiful wife in the future.”
He babbled on, finished his business, pulled up his pants, and prepared to open the door and leave.
But then he suddenly stopped.
He suddenly realized that the person outside the door had been silent for a long time.
With a trembling voice, he quietly asked, “Are… are you there…?”
No one answered.
“You… you better not scare me…”
“If you're there, say something… stop messing around…”
Outside the door, there was still complete silence.
“Stop messing around… I’m scared, isn’t that enough…?”
He wanted to open the door and look, his hand on the door, but it trembled like a sieve, not daring to push it open.
Drip.
The wind paused for a moment, and he heard the sound of liquid dripping outside the door, right outside the door.
Drip.
Drip.
Each drop sounded like a hammer striking his heart.
“It’s here… I’m finished…”
Remembering what a servant who had encountered a ghost a few days ago said, he panicked.
“What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?!”
The outhouse only had one door, and the person outside was no longer making any sound, most likely already harmed by the ghost!
The ghost might be right outside the door, waiting for him to open it!
“The window, yes, the window!”
There was a small vent window above the outhouse, not in the same direction as the door. He was small and thin, he could squeeze through!
He quickly ran to the window and jumped with all his might.
But his hands were weak from fear and failed to grasp it.
Tears streamed down his face in his desperation; he slammed his hands against his legs twice and wiped off the sweat.
He jumped again with all his might, and this time he finally grabbed the window sill.
Excitedly, he kicked off the wall twice, using his arms to pull himself up and cling to the outer wall.
“Quick, quick!”
He pressed his hands against the wall, trying to climb out, but he couldn't move, as if his clothes were caught.
He struggled, unable to break free, then brought his body back into the outhouse, reaching out a hand to unhook his clothing.
“Creak—”
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Just then, he heard the sound of the door being pushed open behind him.
His limbs went limp, and he fell, landing seated on the ground.
Behind him, he heard the sound of clothes rustling in the wind, moving towards him.
He forced himself to turn his head and look.
Behind him, suspended in the air, was a blood-stained white robe.
Further up was a face covered in blood, with a pair of bleeding hollows staring directly at him.
“!!!!”
He was terrified to the extreme at this moment, opening his mouth to scream for help, but his throat felt as if it were being squeezed, only letting out a hoarse shriek.
The face paused in the air, then lunged at him!
“Ah!!!!”
He let out a piercing scream as he wished, finally fainting from fright.
The face lunged at him, but instead of making contact, it made a dull thud and fell from his body, rolling a few times on the ground.
The white robe also floated lightly over him, empty inside.
After a while, the robe seemed to be pulled, gliding along the ground and out of the outhouse.
Li Miao bent down, picked up the robe, and with one hand, pulled hard on it, drawing out a silk thread.
“Heavenly Silkworm Silk, good stuff.”
Li Miao turned to look at a rooftop: “You just use it for this? To scare people?”
A soft sound came from the rooftop; a person dressed in night clothes jumped up and fled silently along the eaves.
“Don’t be in such a hurry to leave.”
Li Miao wrapped the silk thread around his hand and turned to the servants who had run over to investigate after hearing the scream: “There are two people in the outhouse, one was drugged unconscious, and the other was scared unconscious.”
“Carry them inside, and find a doctor to check on them tomorrow.”
With that, he also leaped up, stepping on the rooftops to pursue the fleeing person.
On the other side, Wang Hai, Xiao Si, and Mei Qinghe also heard the commotion.
The three of them knew there would definitely be something happening at night, so they had all rested in the afternoon.
At this moment, all three were in a small courtyard; Wang Hai had his own room, and Xiao Si and Mei Qinghe shared a room, and they were all awake now.
Hearing the scream, they knew that with Li Miao there, they didn't need to worry, just take care of themselves, so they didn't move.
Just then, a large cat suddenly jumped down into this small courtyard.
The cat's gait was stiff, walking crookedly, covered in mud and grass, its fur damaged, with only a pair of eyes glowing green.
It walked a few steps in the courtyard, first looking up at the two brightly lit rooms.
One room showed two figures, while the other only had one.
It hesitated for a moment, then wobbled towards the room with fewer people.
Inside the room, Wang Hai listened to the sounds outside the door, pulled out a pair of gloves from his bundle, which were inlaid with iron plates and had sharp hooked blades on the fingers, and put them on.
“You chose me?”
“Well, you certainly picked the right one.”
“Prying things out from under the skin, that’s my specialty.”