Chapter 108: The Landlord’s Treasure [1]

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Yan Yu rolled his eyes, took Yang Xuefei’s luggage, and followed everyone into the funeral hall.

The courtyard was spacious enough to accommodate all their tents with room to spare. A pile of firewood stood to the south, a crude outhouse to the north, and the main building of the funeral hall occupied the western side.

The wooden house stood with its doors wide open, cold, eerie wind blowing outward from within. It resembled some enormous beast crouching on the ground, its jaws gaping wide.

“It’s pretty cool in here!” Hao Zhuang said with considerable satisfaction.

Yan Yu had no intention of telling the fool that the reason it was so cool was because the place was saturated with yin energy.

The courtyard had already been cleared. Under Lin Xuan’s direction, the male students were working together to set up the tents. Lin Xuan had somehow obtained a folding chair and was now sitting in it with his legs crossed, wearing sunglasses as he basked in the sun.

The Fatty grumbled, “Why are we students doing all the work while the teacher doesn’t have to lift a finger?”

Lin Xuan heard him. He stopped shaking his leg, removed his sunglasses, and smiled at Fatty. “What’s this? You dissatisfied with me, little fatty?”

Fatty had no idea what the relationship between Lin Xuan and Yan Yu was. In keeping with the proud tradition of spoiled second-generation heirs, he resolutely nodded.

“Whoever was dissatisfied with me just now, come here for a moment.” Lin Xuan beckoned.

Before long, three tall and burly male students came running over with obsequious smiles. Yan Yu recognized them. After Li Kang and the others had dropped out, these three had become the most arrogant troublemakers in the class.

And yet now, these three rich young heirs had swollen, bruised faces. The leader still had fresh blood dripping from his nose, and all three looked utterly miserable.

“Brother Lin, you called for us?” they asked with utmost respect.

Lin Xuan nodded. “Someone’s dissatisfied with me.”

All three turned toward Fatty and said in low voices, “Fatty, don’t blame us for not warning you. The new Teacher Lin is even more dangerous than Teacher Su. He’s the one who did this to our faces just now…”

Fatty’s chubby face immediately went pale.

He knew exactly how much he could handle. He had no idea whether he could beat Lin Xuan, but he certainly knew he could not withstand being beaten by him.

Lin Xuan rubbed his head. “What was it you three were pestering me about earlier? Something about telling me not to get close to Mengmeng?”

“Ahem… Nothing of the sort… Brother Lin is a fine-looking, dashing gentleman. You can get close to whoever you want…”

“Oh, is that so? Then you’re dismissed. Get lost.”

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“All right, Brother Lin! Call us if you need anything!” The three of them scampered away once more.

Lin Xuan scratched his ear and asked, “Little fatty, what was it you wanted from me just now?”

“…Brother Lin, are you thirsty? Hungry? Would you like me to make you some noodles?”

Fatty immediately surrendered.

“Get lost!”

“All right, Brother Lin! Call us if you need anything!”

Fatty promptly grabbed Yan Yu and Hao Zhuang and ran.

Yan Yu was speechless. Anyone who had seen how meek Lin Xuan became before a five-hundred-year-old zombie would know that this fellow could only throw his weight around in front of students.

As he helped everyone set up the tents, Yan Yu chatted with Zhao Qingqing. “By the way, the sunlight here is pretty strong. Don’t you need to go back and rest?”

Zhao Qingqing shook her head. “The yin energy here is even heavier than the sunlight is bright. I actually feel more comfortable out here than I did inside the doll.”

“It’s that heavy?” Yan Yu sniffed the air.

Ghosts generally dared not go anywhere crowded with people and brimming with yang energy. Although the yin energy in the funeral hall was intense, more than forty students were packed into the courtyard, so they should have dispersed quite a bit of it.

How could Zhao Qingqing still feel that the yin energy was so abundant?

Yan Yu surveyed the surroundings. He vaguely sensed that something was wrong, but he could not pinpoint what it was. Seeing that his master still looked perfectly calm, however, he decided not to investigate further.

Fatty and Hao Zhuang wandered around the main hall of the funeral building. When they returned, they could not stop praising it.

“This house stays warm in winter and cool in summer. No wonder it belonged to a landlord. It would be wonderful if we could live here every day.”

Yan Yu was speechless. If Fatty lived here every day, given his constitution, he would probably fall ill and die within two weeks.

Hao Zhuang gave a foolish chuckle, then tugged Yan Yu and Fatty closer and whispered, “I found a treasure in there just now.”

“What treasure?” Fatty’s eyes lit up.

Hao Zhuang carefully took a small, yellowing white jar from his backpack. Strange patterns covered its surface, and its top had been sealed with strips of cloth. No one knew what was inside. It looked as though it had weathered many years.

“Judging by my eye for antiques, this is probably a porcelain jar from the Qing dynasty. It might fetch a fortune!” Hao Zhuang said excitedly.

Fatty took it and weighed it in his hands. The little jar was surprisingly heavy.

“Big Guy, you’re something else. You found a treasure just like that! Why don’t we go back inside and look around some more? Maybe we’ll find old coins, jewelry, or something!”

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“Let’s go, let’s go! If there’s money to be made, we’ll make it together!” Hao Zhuang was equally enthusiastic.

Only Yan Yu silently blocked their path. “I advise you not to go back in. And that thing Big Guy found isn’t an antique.”

“Impossible. This was the landlord’s house. If the things inside aren’t antiques, what are they?” Fatty asked in confusion.

“If this really were the landlord’s house, the villagers would have taken everything long ago. Do you think they would have left it for you?” Yan Yu rolled his eyes. “Besides, Big Guy, I suggest you put that thing back where you found it. It isn’t a Qing-dynasty porcelain jar. It’s an urn.”

“What?!”

Hao Zhuang jumped in fright. He lost his grip, and the urn slipped from his hands and smashed onto the ground with a sharp crack, breaking into pieces.

White ashes sprayed across the faces of both Hao Zhuang and Fatty.

“I told you it was an urn,” Yan Yu said helplessly.

“Ugh…”

The two of them gagged repeatedly before rushing out of the funeral hall and running to the stream to wash their faces and rinse their mouths.

Looking at the ashes scattered all over the ground, Yan Yu could only turn to Zhao Qingqing and ask, “Is the owner of these ashes still here?”

Zhao Qingqing shook her head. “There are no ghosts left in the funeral hall. The owner of these ashes may already have been reincarnated.”

“Even so, we shouldn’t scatter someone’s ashes. When Fatty and the others come back, they’d better gather them up.”

Fatty and Hao Zhuang soon returned, covered in dust and grime. They happened to see Yan Yu standing before the ashes and talking to Zhao Qingqing. Confused, Fatty asked, “Boss, who are you talking to?”

“Someone you can’t see,” Yan Yu replied.

The two men shuddered. They were so frightened they nearly wet themselves.

“Could it… could it be the owner of those ashes?”

Yan Yu paused. He exchanged a glance with Zhao Qingqing, then gave them an eerie grin.

“That’s right. You scattered the person’s ashes, so now they’ve come looking for you. They say they’ll be watching you tonight—especially when you go to the bathroom…”

“Please, no! It was an accident! Honored ghost, please forgive us!” Fatty and Hao Zhuang hurriedly pleaded. “We’ll gather your ashes up right away. Please, don’t haunt us!”