Chapter 226: Cursed Place

The sunset in Guyuan, compared to the vastness of Luocheng, has a different feel.

A distant red sun painted the yellow earth, city walls, and clouds an orange-red color, as if the horizon was ablaze, transforming into potent wine pouring down one's throat.

Only when the sun sank behind the city walls did the temperature suddenly drop.

Chen Ji stood quietly by the window, looking through the gap at the street below until the last sliver of light in the gap disappeared from his face. Only then did he slowly close the window.

Chen Liqin had been summoned by the Crown Prince three hours ago and had not returned yet.

Chen Ji looked towards Zhang Xia by the other window. "How is it?"

Zhang Xia frowned. "In half a day, over a thousand people have come and gone from the front of Guyuan Station. Among them, thirty-four people pretended to wander in and out multiple times. Seventeen people stopped at the door for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn. There were elderly people, children, men, and women. Additionally, nine people entered and exited Guyuan Station."

Chen Ji looked at her in surprise. "Second Miss Zhang can really remember so clearly?"

Zhang Zheng laughed heartily. "Scared, are you? When she plays chess with Father, they don't even use a chessboard. They can call out the moves with their eyes closed. None of you should provoke her. People with good memories remember both favors and grudges. I provoked her once when I was six, and she remembers it to this day. But if you help her, she will remember that in her heart just the same, and remember it for a very long time."

Zhang Xia glared at him. "Brother, you talk too much."

Chen Ji brought up the proper matter. "During this time in Guyuan, make sure to close the doors and windows tightly at night. If you encounter danger, you must immediately shout for help."

Zhang Xia lowered her head in thought. "So many people are watching the Chen family, and they're not necessarily the same group. It's strange. Exactly how many forces are keeping an eye on us?"

Chen Ji shook his head. "It's not clear. Just be careful."

Zhang Zheng slumped in his chair with a sigh. "The weather in Guyuan is really strange. During the day, the sun makes you sweat, almost wishing it would peel off your skin. But as soon as the sun sets, it gets cold down to your bones."

Xiao Man said in a low voice, "Some people say Guyuan is a cursed place. The wronged souls of the soldiers from the two dynasties who died in the wars in Guyuan haven't scattered. No flowers in spring, no rain in summer, no fruits in autumn, no one survives in winter. It's destined for year-round war and chaos."

Chen Ji looked at her. "Did Aunt say that?"

Xiao Man hummed in agreement. "I heard Aunt and Li Momo talking about it when I was a child."

Chen Ji smiled. "It's not like that. The large temperature difference between day and night in Guyuan is caused by the dry climate. There are no cloud layers, so the earth doesn't retain the heat from the daytime. Of course, this is just one of the reasons."

Xiao Man said sulkily, "Young Master, where did you hear these strange reasons? It's unreasonable that light, floating clouds can retain the heat on the earth. I still believe what Aunt said."

Chen Ji laughed dumbly.

*Dong dong dong,* came a knock at the door.

Just as Chen Ji was about to get up and open the door, Xiao Man stopped him. "I'll go, I'll go!"

The room door opened, and a minor official in a short robe came in with a charcoal basin using two tongs. He said politely, "Honored sirs, it gets cold at night here in Guyuan. We've brought you a basin of charcoal fire."

Zhang Zheng exclaimed, "That came at just the right time!"

He stretched out his hands, palms towards the charcoal basin to warm them. Waves of heat rushed at his face, making his cheeks swell.

Chen Ji pointed at Zhang Zheng and Zhang Xia and asked the minor official, "My two friends are staying in the Tianziwu and Gui rooms. Can you give them a charcoal basin too?"

The minor official hesitated for a moment and said with difficulty, "Begging your pardon, our station has no one living here year-round. Not to mention charcoal for warming, we don't even have enough firewood to cook rice. This charcoal was allocated from the 'Dusi Fu' by General Zhou, and it was specifically ordered to be given only to you."

Zhang Zheng rubbed his palms together, then put them back towards the charcoal basin. He grumbled, "I've been to several official stations, and yours is the most dilapidated and simple."

Zhang Xia frowned. "Brother, don't complain when we're outside. No one begged us to come."

Zhang Zheng laughed heartily. "I was just saying... I won't say it anymore."

The minor official said awkwardly, "Sir, we are in a poor, remote place. Usually, no officials are willing to come here, and the station is just a formality. Even the military reports from the Ministry of War are all sent directly to the Dusi Fu. Originally, there were still Eunuch Party members checking for Jingchao spies, but they disliked it too much and all withdrew."

Zhang Zheng said, "Oh. Then we can go out and buy some charcoal ourselves, right? Where can we buy it?"

The minor official quickly said, "Noble sir, may I offer one more word? You'd best not go out to buy it yourselves. After dark, it may not be peaceful outside... Right, do you several want dinner? Our Guyuan Station today only has some coarse tea and plain food, corn porridge, pickled vegetables, things that lower people eat. I'm afraid it won't suit your tastes."

Chen Ji said with a smile, "No need. We had lamb for lunch and are still full."

"Alright." The minor official cupped his hands to Chen Ji and left.

Xiao Man wanted to keep him and asked him to bring a few bowls of porridge to taste, but seeing the expressions of the others, she had to stop.

Zhang Xia said to Zhang Zheng, "Brother, we've been traveling all day today. Let's all go back and rest."

Zhang Zheng sprawled in his chair, unwilling to move. "I'm not going back. The room is like an ice cellar. I'll just stay in Chen Ji's room tonight. I'll sleep in the same bed as him."

Xiao Man was anxious. "Why are you so like a rogue? Don't disturb my young master's rest."

Zhang Zheng didn't care. "Or I can sleep in the chair, that's fine too. Anyway, wherever there's a charcoal basin, that's where I'll be. A Xia, you don't go back either. How about we both roll up our bedding and sleep on the floor in Chen Ji's room tonight? It'll be good to look out for each other."

Xiao Man's eyes widened. "Is that proper? Second Miss Zhang isn't married yet, is she? Don't say my young master is an outsider, even siblings shouldn't live in the same room."

Zhang Zheng laughed happily. "As long as we don't say anything, who will know? Our Zhang family is most annoyed by red tape. Now is an emergency, and it's safer if everyone stays together."

Chen Ji thought for a moment. "That's also good. Staying together is more reassuring. Second Miss Zhang can sleep on the bed, and the rest of us can sleep on the floor."

Xiao Man muttered in a small voice, unwillingly, "It's so cold on the ground. What if something happens from sleeping there... Young Master, I'll go get another quilt for you to lay down."

Zhang Zheng said happily, "Little girl, I thought you were going to keep chasing us away."

Xiao Man rolled her eyes at him. "Who are you looking down on? Since Young Master has decided, I certainly won't say anything more."

Having said that, she turned and went out the door.

Not long after, a series of footsteps came. Someone was stepping on the wooden floor of the station's second floor, emitting creaking sounds.

Zhang Xia got up and said, "I'll go open the door for Xiao Man."

She walked to the front and pushed open the door, but stood in her original spot. Outside the door was only a dark corridor, empty and silent.

Zhang Xia quickly retreated back into the room without the slightest hesitation. "Chen Ji, there's a problem!"

As she retreated, Chen Ji had already brushed past her with his whale knife, coming out into the corridor to check.

There was no one on the left, no one on the right, and no one on the house beam.

The sound of footsteps just now seemed to come from the air and disappear into the air again.

Chen Ji gripped the whale knife, slowly untying the cloth strip wrapped around it. Before he had finished untying it, he heard Xiao Man's exclamation from downstairs!

He immediately rushed out the door with his whale knife, untying the cloth strip as he ran. The door of the room next to the stairs opened, and Chen Wenzong, wrapped in fox fur, said worriedly, "What's wrong?"

Chen Ji ran past him without looking back, simply throwing the cloth strip he had just untied onto the ground. "Elder Brother, go back to the room. Don't come out."

Coming downstairs, Xiao Man was standing beside the counter, her soul not settled.

Chen Ji asked in a condensed voice, "What's wrong?"

Xiao Man looked at the whale knife in his hand, then pointed inside the counter. "I just came to find that minor official to ask for a new quilt, but I found him fallen inside the counter, with blood flowing from his seven orifices."

Chen Ji wanted to go and check, but Xiao Man desperately pulled his arm. "Young Master, don't go. This person has blood flowing from his seven orifices. Perhaps it's the wronged souls of Guyuan coming to claim a life. It's not clean!"

He turned his head to look, only to see the minor official who had just brought them the charcoal basin lying on the floor. Purple blood flowed from his eyes and nostrils, like unwilling blood tears.

Chen Ji's heart secretly thought it was bad. He picked up the oil lamp on the counter with one hand and carried the whale knife through the corridor with the other, pushing open the large doors of the common beds in the Renzi rooms one by one.

The Chen family's maidservants and young servants, were actually all lying on the beds, dead with blood flowing from their seven orifices!