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Ye Chenfeng walked towards his grandmother's bedroom, pondering the events that had just transpired. He and Ding Li reached the door when his grandmother opened it. What a coincidence! And then there was Mao Mao, who had died, yet his grandmother seemed indifferent. Her goldfish and the cat...
Ding Li remarked that his grandmother's eyes were like Cat's Eye.
As Ye Chenfeng approached the door, a complex expression crossed his face as he gazed at the slightly ajar door, feeling an inexplicable sense of dread. He imagined various scenarios that could unfold, but he never expected to find his grandmother inside.
She was curled up, facing away from the door.
Yet her hearing was sharp; upon realizing it was Ye Chenfeng, she cleared her throat and said, "Why aren't you in bed yet, dear? You need to wake up early tomorrow. I'll make you lotus leaf porridge."
His grandmother was indeed inside.
Ye Chenfeng nodded at Ding Li, indicating that the cat sounds from Purple Bamboo Forest had nothing to do with his grandmother.
However, Ding Li was reluctant to leave. She pointed towards his grandmother on the bed, suggesting he should go closer to take a look.
To Ye Chenfeng, there was nothing worth seeing; just an old woman with a face full of wrinkles—certainly not as appealing as Ding Li. He had no intention of approaching.
Ding Li nudged him gently. Reluctantly, he took a few steps forward and glanced at his grandmother lying motionless under the covers. He murmured, "Grandma, I'm here to see you."
"Go away."
This time, Ye Chenfeng heard her clearly; her voice didn’t seem to come from the bed but rather from beneath it.
He was taken aback and quickly walked over to face her directly.
What stood before him was not his grandmother at all; it was merely a scarecrow dressed in his grandmother's clothes—an all-too-common sight on rural paths. From the doorway, it looked somewhat like her, but it was just a disguise made to resemble a human form.
Ye Chenfeng was even more surprised, and Ding Li was so startled that he didn't know what to do.
The two of them simultaneously looked under the carved canopy bed.
It was empty beneath the bed. Ye Chenfeng remembered playing hide-and-seek under there when he was a child, prompting his grandmother to come looking for him.
Each time, it was his grandmother who coaxed him out with snacks.
Now he had grown up, and his grandmother had aged.
Her back was bent, but surely she couldn't crawl under the bed anymore?
As Ye Chenfeng and Ding Li peered beneath the bed, the earlier voices had also faded away, leaving an eerie silence.
Were they really going to look under the bed? Ding Li's face was filled with astonishment, yet he nervously watched as Ye Chenfeng got down on all fours to look underneath.
"Hand me the flashlight."
Ding Li passed the flashlight to Ye Chenfeng.
The beam of light swept across the space under the bed. To Ye Chenfeng's surprise, it was remarkably clean down there. This cleanliness wasn't due to sweeping; it felt more like something had crawled around and wiped it clean. In fact, near the corner of the bed, there was a round hole.
Ye Chenfeng and Ding Li tried to lift the ornate bed together to see what lay within that hole. Unfortunately, the bed was too heavy for just the two of them to move.
After struggling for a while, Ye Chenfeng's mind was in a whirl.
What kind of person was Grandma, really? In his heart, the image of her as a kind, gentle figure who had always cared for him had become distant and blurred. Especially after returning from the Ancient River Town, she seemed strange and unapproachable.
Ye Chenfeng went to the living room and picked up the phone again to dial his home number.
This time, it didn't connect at all.
He carefully examined the phone line and discovered that it had been damaged; it had been cut with a knife.
Ye Chenfeng remembered that he had called before dinner, and at that time, he had dialed but his parents hadn’t answered.
Now it was completely destroyed—what was going on?
"Hurry up and think of a way to get out of here. I keep feeling like something outside is watching me," Ding Li said, her face pale with fear as she hugged her arms and sat down next to Ye Chenfeng.
"It’s okay," Ye Chenfeng said, wrapping his arms around her in a protective gesture.
Ding Li trembled in his embrace, lost in daydreams.
"Are we going to die here?"
"No, we won't. As long as I'm here," Ye Chenfeng replied, furrowing his brow and biting his lip as he considered their next steps. They couldn't stay like this forever; they needed to find Grandma and Shen Binghan to resolve the situation.
There was definitely something wrong with Grandma.
It was also uncertain whether Shen Binghan had encountered misfortune.
After sitting for a while, Ye Chenfeng urged Ding Li to get up, holding a crowbar in his hand.
The crowbar was used by his grandmother to fend off thieves. Now he intended to use it to pry open the Carved Canopy Bed. If there was nothing wrong with his grandmother, and the Carved Canopy Bed was broken, he could take her to the city.
With a series of loud bangs and a cloud of dust, after some prying, a large hole was opened in the bed board of the Carved Canopy Bed.
The hole was big enough for a person to crawl through.
Ye Chenfeng crawled inside, but Ding Li panicked and said she was scared, so she followed him under the bed.
The space under the bed was small; there was no way two people could stay there comfortably.
If danger struck, both of them could be in trouble.
Ye Chenfeng firmly refused to let Ding Li enter and ordered her to back out.
Reluctantly, Ding Li crawled out but insisted on lying on the ground to watch Ye Chenfeng until she felt at ease.
Ye Chenfeng cautiously approached the large hole, and a pungent odor hit him, reminiscent of something rotting. He quickly covered his mouth and nose and continued forward. When he reached the hole, he shone his flashlight inside and saw something bloody; from his angle, it looked somewhat like a human body, only incomplete.
What was it?
Ye Chenfeng widened his eyes as he looked; the mangled corpse seemed to have been gnawed on by something, missing arms and legs.
"Ye Chenfeng, what do you see?"
"Ding Li" couldn't wait any longer and kept asking.
"I didn't see clearly," "Ye Chenfeng" stammered.
Perhaps hearing the exchange, a rustling noise came from deep within the cave, moving quickly.
"Ye Chenfeng" was startled and hurriedly stepped back, saying, "Something is coming out."
"Quick, get out!" "Ding Li" shouted in a panicked tone.
"Ye Chenfeng" swiftly retreated, pulling back the flashlight. A flash of green glow flickered from the depths of the cave, sending a jolt through him, his heart racing to his throat.
"Ding Li," anxious, saw "Ye Chenfeng's" legs appear and without hesitation, grabbed him to pull him back.
She dragged "Ye Chenfeng" out from under the bed.
Covered in dust and dirt, "Ye Chenfeng" spat out a mouthful of gritty saliva and desperately pulled "Ding Li," rushing out. They inadvertently ran into his bedroom and slammed the door shut, finally letting out a sigh of relief.
"What... did you see?" "Ding Li" asked, her chest heaving with tension.
"Ye Chenfeng" wiped away the cold sweat and replied uncertainly, "It looked like some rotten corpse; it smelled terrible."
"Is it a rat?"
"No way, how could a rat be that big?"
"What’s the big deal? There are huge rats in Henan," Ding Li thought he was exaggerating a bit and quickly corrected himself, "At least that big."
"Alright! But that's Henan; we're in Ancient River Town."
"Ye Chenfeng, I'm scared."
"It's okay." Ye Chenfeng tightened his embrace around Ding Li, knowing that saying he wasn't scared would be a lie. He remembered the book his grandmother had given him long ago, though he had no idea where it was now. However, Shen Binghan's Ghost-Collecting Gourd was still around, which could be used for self-defense.
Outside, neither of them dared to go out.
Especially not to the Purple Bamboo Forest, which was pitch black. They had no idea if there were giant rats lurking inside.
Ye Chenfeng recalled a time when he heard a mouse squeaking as if it were fleeing for its life. Could it be that giant rats had truly appeared, forcing the little ones to escape far away?
But everything happening seemed unrelated to the rats.
The scarecrow on his grandmother's bed, disguised to look like a person, was just meant to trick him, wasn’t it?
The problem lay with his grandmother.
Ye Chenfeng held Ding Li tightly with one arm while his other hand gripped the Ghost-Collecting Gourd, unsure how to use it.
Not knowing how to use it, he decided to leave it on the bedside for now.
Earlier, Ye Chenfeng had felt jealous of Shen Binghan, wishing he would leave so he could spend time alone with Ding Li. But now, he really wished Shen Binghan would suddenly appear.
Thinking of Shen Binghan, Ye Chenfeng recalled the words he had spoken in a dream.
Could something really have happened to him? The thought that Shen Binghan might be in trouble crossed Ye Chenfeng's mind, but he dared not voice it, fearing it would frighten Ding Li.
The two of them sat in the room, silent and motionless for a long time.
Sleepiness began to creep in. Ding Li wanted to sleep but was also afraid.
Ye Chenfeng glanced at the bed and suggested, "You should get in bed; I'll protect you."
Ding Li felt embarrassed and firmly refused to get into bed.
"What are you afraid of? At this moment, what is there to be scared of? Even if I were to do something to you, I would take responsibility for it later," Ye Chenfeng attempted a bit of dark humor, but it came out feeling awkward.
Ding Li didn’t laugh, yet she couldn’t resist the onslaught of sleepiness. After dozing off several times, she finally lay down on the bed.
At first, Ye Chenfeng insisted on staying by the bedside, but eventually, he couldn’t help but lie down next to Ding Li.
Just as he settled down,
Ding Li woke up.
The attraction between the young man and woman was palpable as their eyes met, lips almost touching, breaths and heartbeats clear and audible.
Ding Li's face turned as red as a ripe apple. She felt breathless and pushed Ye Chenfeng away with outstretched arms, saying, "You need to get off."
Ye Chenfeng shushed softly, saying, "Don't move, there's something outside."
"Ah..." Ding Li, frightened, burrowed into Ye Chenfeng's embrace.
Ye Chenfeng smirked and tightened his hold on her, taking a deep breath to savor her pleasant scent; it was truly an indulgence.
"Ye Chenfeng, do you like me?" Ding Li pulled away slightly from his arm, trying to escape his grasp.
"I do."
"But... we haven't confirmed anything yet..."
"It's okay, I'll take responsibility." At such a close distance, he could easily touch a sensitive part of her body. It felt soft and round, like a cat's paw, scratching at his heart. He wanted so badly to act on his desires but hesitated; this was a precarious time, and if anything went wrong, they wouldn't even have a chance to escape.
Ye Chenfeng felt a certain part of his body reacting. Afraid of scaring Ding Li, he quickly shifted toward the edge of the bed. Ironically, in moving, he inadvertently pulled her closer.
Ding Li felt something foreign against her body and widened her eyes in shock, urgently trying to push Ye Chenfeng away.
Just as they were tangled up on the small bed, the door opened silently. A swift shadow darted through the doorway.
Ye Chenfeng sensed it immediately. He and Ding Li instinctively separated in shock—one rolling under the bed while the other huddled into the corner against the wall, staring fearfully at the entrance.
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