Chapter 10 – Haunted House Vlog (10)

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The night passed.

What happened in the Lin household, according to the vegetable merchant’s tale, spread throughout Huaiyang Town.

Some people said it was the Lin family who provoked someone who shouldn’t have been provoked, and were accordingly taken out.

But everyone who was associated with the Lin family was very secret about what had happened to them.
They didn’t want to say even a single word for fear of being linked to them.

After the merchant shared the gossip, in less than a stick of incense’s time, even the old man who sold vegetables near the gate knew about the Lin family.

Whether they were friends with the Lin family, had a grudge against them, or were strangers, they all ran to the Lin household to snatch the Lin family’s treasures.

Although the merchant said it was horrifying there, it couldn’t stop those wealth seekers.
In their eyes, any odd encounters at the Lin household was nothing compared to their silver and gold jewelry.

In their opinion, there was nothing more precious than money in their hands.

After hearing the news, the rice merchant quickly took his servants to the Lin house.
All the men he brought along were strong, tall, and broad.

The rice merchant tried to take over the Lin family’s property through their marriage with the Lin family, but the other merchants who went with them were not fools.
How could they stand by and watch the rice merchant take over the Lin family’s incense shop?

So several people argued without end, and their quarreling could be heard all throughout their travels.

The rice merchants pretended to be in-laws, while the other merchants pretended to be friends from other parts of the country who couldn’t bear to watch the Lin family incense shop have no successor, but in reality, they all had selfish intentions.

Ever since Lin Hai had become famous in Huaiyang Town, they had all been inquiring about the secrets of preparing incense.
However, Lin Hai had kept his secrets very well, and no one has found out so far.

The popularity of his incense shop has made many people jealous, especially the other merchants who were friends with Lin Hai, who watched ‘friends’ earn a lot of money every day while no one cared about their own businesses.
They couldn’t even get monthly rent from their own shops.

On one hand, business was booming, but on the other hand, no one cared.

Under such circumstances, how could they not pay attention to Lin Hai’s secret methods of preparing incense? They did a lot of shameful things.

The rice merchant was also interested in Lin Hai’s incense shop.

The two of their families were engaged.
He had heard a little bit about some suspicious things around Lin Hai – not just tangentially, but he was even involved in some of them.

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But Lin Hai had always treasured the secrets to preparing incense.
Even after becoming drunk, he wouldn’t say it when he was prompted, whether he used aggressive methods or bribery.

The rice merchant twisted his fat body and walked to the front.
A group of servants with wooden sticks followed, and behind them were the other merchants.

They were divided into two groups.
The merchants were all dissatisfied with the rice merchant’s behavior, but due to his power and his backing, they could only talk about it.
If they dared to make a move, they would definitely not be able to beg for even half a cent.

In the Lin household, everything was silent.

They walked in the entire way.
When they didn’t see anything strange in the front yard, the nervous merchants relaxed.

But before they could stay relaxed, they walked through the arched gate in the front yard and saw piles of bones near the main house.

Some timid merchants were already on the ground, paralyzed with fear, and a fishy smell was emanating from their bodies.

The people who smelled it backed farther away from them.

The rice merchant who was walking in front was also terrified, but he had also done plenty of shady things.
His fear only lasted for a moment.
He quickly reacted and directed his servants to investigate what was going on.

It was a brave servant who walked forward.
He walked to the main house and saw piles of bones nearby, so he crouched down and reached out to pick up a bone to inspect.

The moment his fingers touched the bone, a cloud of black yin qi came out of the pile, biting at the servant’s fingers.

The servant screamed.
The creature was biting so hard that it almost hit the bone, so he grabbed at the black qi with his other hand, trying to tear it off.

But the black qi wasn’t so easy to get rid of.
When he grabbed the black qi with his other hand, it suddenly grew bigger and transformed into its original appearance.

–A human-like evil spirit.

The evil spirit opened its gaping mouth filled with sharp teeth and immediately bit at the servant’s shoulder.
The reborn spirit shattered the bones on the servant’s shoulder, and he screamed in agony, causing everyone behind him to turn pale with fright.

The evil spirit’s appearance and the servant’s cries caused the rice merchant to pale.
He didn’t have time to say anything, only ran away, and didn’t forget to allow the servants behind him to run with him as he escaped.

When the other merchants saw that their leader, the rice merchant, had run away, they all followed.

Only the one servant remained, devoured in agony by the evil spirit.

No one knew where to go, and the leading rice merchant scrambled around the house like a headless fly.

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Unconsciously, everyone ran into the garden.

As soon as they entered the garden, they saw a pile of bones beside the bright roses.

No one dared to look around for fear of being devoured like that servant just now.

Because of his son’s engagement, the rice merchant often came to the Lin household, so he knew some paths.
As long as he could get over the wall in the garden, there would be a narrow pathway leading to the main house.

The path was mentioned once by Lin Hai when he was drunk.
The rice merchant wanted to get rid of the others and go alone, but the merchants were like brown sugar, and he couldn’t get rid of them.1

The rice merchant thought for a while, and let a few trusted servants follow, while the rest of his servants stayed behind to stop the others.

Those merchants weren’t able to oppose the servants at all.
They could only watch the rice merchant’s back as he drifted away into the distance.
After the rice merchant left, the remaining merchants were too scared by the previous scene and didn’t dare to walk around.

~ After a while ~

The sun emerged from behind the dark clouds.
As its warmth shone on their bodies, the merchants felt more courageous.

One merchant said: “Let’s go back, this Lin house is too weird.
Let’s leave as soon as possible while the sun is still shining.”

Another merchant said: “We finally got in here.
Are you willing to return empty-handed?”

The merchant who spoke just now spoke again: “Alright.
If you don’t want to, then you can stay here and slowly look around.
I want to live, so I won’t continue to accompany you here!”

After speaking, he turned around and ran away, afraid that he would be too late and wouldn’t be able to escape.

As for the rest of them, they looked at themselves, then at each other.
Some thought life was important, some thought wealth was important.

So the ones who thought life was important left, leaving only the two who felt that wealth was important.

The remaining pair walked together.

They couldn’t get past the servant barricade, so they had to leave the garden.

The servants saw them leave, and after waiting a while, they turned and ran in the direction that the rice merchant had left in.

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After the servants left, the pair returned and followed behind them, walking and pausing so they wouldn’t be noticed.

After they all left, Lin Wan came out.

Her face was expressionless, and her hands were clenched so tightly that her fingernails were about to pierce into her heart.

Lin Wan couldn’t believe what she had just seen.

Those people were all uncles who had business dealings with the Lin family, and the leader was the rice merchant, her future father in law.

Lin Wan bit her lower lip, then looked at the sky, grit her teeth, and ran off.

She knew a secret passage that would take her outside.

After Lin Wan left, Gu An and Ming Ye also came out.
Gu An looked in the direction that Lin Wan left in, but his eyes were slightly hesitant, so he asked Ming Ye: “Are we following Lin Wan or staying here?”

Ming Ye casually took Gu An’s hand and spoke: “An An can go wherever he wants.”

Gu An frowned lightly.
When he took his hand away from Ming Ye, his tone was dissatisfied: “I asked you because I couldn’t make up my mind.
Your answer is too useless.”

Ming Ye lowered his head and spoke in a gentle and coaxing tone: “It’s my fault, An An.
Don’t be angry.
We’re in the house’s memory, what is there to do outside?”

He said: “Lin Wan will return.”

Gu An asked curiously: “Are you so sure that she’ll return?”

“Where else can she go if she doesn’t return?” Ming Ye said.
“This is her home.”

Gu An heard the words, but said nothing.

The pair walked in the direction that the rice merchant left in.

Because it was daytime, the evil spirits weren’t very lively, so they hid in shady places.
When night fell, they would come out for food.

When they arrived, there were two people lying in the main house.

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They were the merchants from just now.
After they followed the others, they were discovered by the rice merchants and beaten to death by the servants.

The rice merchant packed away all of the Lin family’s valuables except for the incense manual.
The rice merchant searched through Lin Hai’s bedroom and study, but he couldn’t find it.

But he didn’t lack a harvest.
He found the remaining incense in Lin Hai’s bedroom.
The rice merchant picked it up and smelled it.
He found that the scent was familiar, so he ordered the servants to take all the incense away.

The dignitaries that Lin Hai made friends with often granted him rare treasures, all of which he locked in his bedroom cabinet.

When the rice merchant saw the exotic treasures, his eyes went wide.
He wore the treasures on his body, and put the ones that wouldn’t fit on his arms.

After a while, the rice merchant stole all the treasures that Lin Hai held dear, not even leaving behind the golden silk sachet handing on his bed curtain.

But they weren’t what the rice merchant desired most.

The land deed to the incense shop, the house deed, and the secret methods of preparing incense were what he most desired, but he couldn’t find the incense guide.

However, the excited rice merchant didn’t realize that there was an indistinct black cloud attached to the land deed he grabbed.
When he pulled the land deed into his arms, the black cloud followed his movements and entered his body.

And throughout all of that, the rice merchant had no idea.
He got what he dreamed of, and was laughing ecstatically.

After the rice merchant and the servants left, it was already very late, and the rice merchant had taken almost all of the valuable things from the Lin family.

When Lin Wan returned, she happened to see the rice merchant instructing his servants to carry things.
She saw the servant put her jewelry into a carriage, and her eyes became red with anger.

When she left, she deliberately wiped something across her faced.
She wanted to find her beloved for help, but she couldn’t see anyone at all, and her beloved’s mementos were thrown onto the ground by the servants.

Lin Wan walked through the streets in despair, listening to the merchants on the street gossip about the strange things that happened in her home, taking pleasure in her misery.

Lin Wan didn’t dare to go out.

She huddled in her bedroom and gazed out the window at night with a desolate heart.

Fortunately the Lin family had a surplus of food, so it was enough for Lin Wan to live off of for a while.

Just when Lin Wan thought that her situation wouldn’t get any worse, one morning, another group of people broke into the Lin house.

An old man pointed at her nose and said that she was a witch, and that she was going to be stuffed into a well to suppress the rampaging evil spirits.