It happened one night two months ago.
It was not autumn yet, and the scorching summer temperature made everyone feel somewhat inexplicably irritable.
Although the night brought darkness that blocked the light, it did not take away the heat.
There were several maids in green clothes and light skirts, holding fresh fruits that had just been soaked in cold well water in their hands. They walked hurriedly to the embroidery building in the backyard where the young lady lived.
squeak--
The summer insect is still chattering and singing, but in the ears of others, its singing is just a noise that disturbs people's dreams.
"Oh, it's really hot today..."
The youngest maid in the crowd, a round-faced maid, complained in her mouth as she walked.
"Isn't that right? I have changed into three pieces of underwear today, and my handkerchief is almost like a rag, and I can squeeze out water from it."
A tall maid walking in front was holding a plate in her hand. She turned back and complained to the round-faced maid.
"Okay, let's stop complaining. Hurry up and give the things to the lady. If the lady is in a good mood and rests earlier, we can relax a little bit."
The maid leading the front was very steady and seemed to be the backbone of the group of maids.
The celadon on the plate contains fresh fruits soaked in well water. Each one is fresh and attractive, either red or green, purple or black, forming a colorful picture under the clear water.
"Oh, I just want to take a good bath with well water, and then..."
"Haha, you little prodigal, what else do you want to do? Don't think we don't know. You and the young master a few days ago..."
Several familiar maids heard this and immediately covered their mouths and smiled sweetly, even making a few jokes.
"Bah, bah, bah, you... don't talk nonsense! If you continue to talk nonsense, I will tear your mouths apart..."
The maid who was teased immediately blushed with embarrassment. If she hadn't been holding something in her hand, she would have gone up and covered the mouths of those people.
"Afraid, if you are anxious, then it must be true, hahaha..."
"Oh...shut up, shut up, shut up!"
The maid, who blushed as she spoke, deliberately ran forward several steps and distanced herself from the people who were having fun before.
Just then, a gust of wind suddenly blew,
The moonlight shone down from the sky, and the entire courtyard was shrouded in silver-white brilliance. The flowers, plants and trees planted in the courtyard were swaying in the wind.
"Look, the wind has picked up. I can have a good sleep today."
"Yeah, that's great."
As he said this, everyone stopped.
Woo——
A whimpering sound of wind passed through the courtyard and corridor, stopped for a while next to the group of maids, and then continued to blow into the distance.
It is obviously a hot summer day, but it was still unbearably hot just now.
Now, suddenly, an inexplicable cold air surged up from under the feet, making people shiver uncontrollably. The celadon in the hand was trembling slightly, and ripples appeared on the originally clear water.
"Sister Xiaoqing..."
The maid standing at the front widened her eyes and did not look back even when she heard the call.
"Sister Xiaoqing——"
There was already a hint of crying in his words, and several maids could not even hold the plates in their hands.
Just at the corner of the corridor where these maids were, a huge black figure lay quietly there. Although it could not be seen clearly, only a pair of scarlet eyes stared at the people approaching.
The lips were split open, and slender fangs came out one by one.
Snap.
Thick saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth and hit the bluestone floor with a loud sound.
For a moment, Xia Chong, who had been chattering endlessly, suddenly became mute, as if he was intimidated by something and closed his mouth.
The sound of the wind became more rapid, and the branches rustled with each other.
It was unclear whether it was the sound of the wind passing through the treetops or the sound of the black figure's sharp claws scratching on the bluestone.
Woo——
A whimpering sound started again, and the sound seemed to have turned into sharp steel needles, piercing every inch of skin through the clothes.
His fingers kept trembling, and he felt that all the strength in his body had been taken away by a pair of invisible hands. Gradually, he almost lost the strength to stand.
Cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and the sweat mixed with tears slid down the sides of his cheeks, and finally dripped onto the well water in the celadon.
Smashing out ripples.
Just like everyone's confused mood now.
In the end, the wooden plate and porcelain in someone's hand fell off first and hit the bluestone floor with a crisp cracking sound.
The celadon broke into pieces and scattered, the well water spilled all over the floor, and the fresh fruits rolled everywhere.
This crisp sound was like the last punch that knocked down everyone's inner defenses.
"Run!"
The maids simply dropped what they were holding, turned around and ran away.
The ones with fast legs and feet had disappeared, and the ones with slightly slower steps also rolled and crawled and disappeared at the end of the corridor.
The shadow did not rush to chase the escaping maids, but slowly walked forward.
The wide soles of the feet trampled the broken porcelain pieces on the ground into smaller pieces, and the originally fresh fruits were trampled into a puddle of mud.
After walking for several steps, he swayed and turned back.
The black shadow gradually disappeared into the shadows of the corridor.
…
Tap tap tap.
The sound of hurried footsteps was heard, and many servants followed closely behind their master, clutching wooden sticks for guarding the courtyard.
The candle-lit lantern swayed, and the orange light inside flickered.
"Where? Where is the monster?"
"Just...just around the corner in front..."
The master of the Zhao family is only in his forties, with a white face and long beard, and is wearing a brocade robe. When he was young, he traveled extensively as a businessman and gained quite a lot of knowledge. He also encountered ghosts and ghosts more than once.
A group of people came to the place where the maid met the black shadow before, but saw nothing.
"Master, there is nothing here. Are these maids knocking things over and they are afraid of your punishment, so..."
The butler stood aside, holding a lantern and said.
"It's true, sir, it's true."
The maid named Xiaoqing came forward. She was already calm, but there were still sweat and tears on her face.
The other maids were so frightened that they could not speak.
"Xiao Qing has always been steady and will not talk nonsense..."
Mr. Zhao looked at the broken celadon pieces and fresh fruits scattered on the floor, shook his head and rejected the housekeeper's words, and then squatted down.
"lamp."
The housekeeper quickly moved the lantern over, and the orange light illuminated the ground.
Under the light, except for the broken celadon black and trampled fresh fruits.
There are also clear water stains of paw prints on the ground.
Mr. Zhao stretched out his hand and measured it, and found that the paw print was much larger than his own hand. His brows gradually formed a deep frown, and the beard at the corner of his mouth began to tremble slightly.
"With such a big paw print, could it be a tiger?"
Mr. Zhao took a deep breath, passed the lantern forward, and found that the beast's paw prints lingered here for a while and then walked deeper along the corridor.
He hunched over and looked down at the water-stained paw prints on the floor as he walked forward.
The guards at the back who were summoned clenched the wooden sticks in their hands and followed closely behind their master.
After walking a few dozen steps, the water stains on the ground had completely disappeared.
When Mr. Zhao looked up, he found that he had almost reached the entrance of the courtyard where his daughter's embroidery building was located.
I saw the wooden door of the courtyard opened again.
My heart skipped a beat, and suddenly an inexplicable sense of panic came over me.
"Hurry up……"
Mr. Zhao held up the front of his clothes and trotted into the courtyard where his daughter's embroidery building was located.
The servants behind looked at each other and had no choice but to follow them in.
After all, this is the inner courtyard of the back house, and it is also where the lady’s embroidery building is located, so under normal circumstances, servants are absolutely not allowed to come here.
…
"Girl, girl..."
Even if they came in, the servants could only stay below the embroidery building. Only Mr. Zhao and Xiao Qing walked into the embroidery building carrying a lantern.
Usually Miss Zhao has not gone to bed at this time, but I don't know what happened today. The lights in the embroidery building are dark, and it seems that Miss Zhao has already fallen asleep.
"Girl, girl..."
As Mr. Zhao walked, he called his daughter repeatedly. No one in the room answered, but walking down the stairs, I saw vague lights flickering on the second floor.
He then walked up the stairs, Xiaoqing following a few steps behind holding a lantern.
"Girl, are you asleep? It's daddy, I'm coming up..."
When Mr. Zhao walked to the stairs on the second floor, he suddenly broke into a cold sweat. He swallowed hard and held on to the handrail of the stairs with his trembling right hand.
Naturally, there could not be any ferocious beasts on the second floor, but I saw an even more bizarre and terrifying scene.
Only a red candle fell on the corner of the dressing table, giving off a faint light.
Snapped!
The candle flame swayed for no apparent reason, and the light gradually dimmed.
A beautiful figure wearing a white gauze dress was facing a bronze mirror, combing the black hair in front of her with a wooden comb.
"Ya...head..."
Mr. Zhao calmed down and called his daughter with a trembling voice.
The beautiful figure stopped.
The shadow in the bronze mirror in front of her was blurry and her appearance was unclear.
Snapped!
There was no wind in the room, but the red candle could not stop swaying the flame.
The flames grew smaller and smaller.
Then at some point, the flames suddenly changed from orange to blue with a pop.
According to folklore, if a lighted lamp suddenly changes color, it means that there is a ghost or something nearby. It is said that tomb robbers will also light a lamp in the tomb. If the lamp goes out or changes color, they are not allowed to take anything in the tomb, and they have to go back the same way and bury the robber's hole.
Now, blue flames appeared in front of Mr. Zhao.
A bone-chilling chill came over me. It was obviously a hot summer day, but it felt like I was staying in a snowy day in the middle of winter. My hands and feet were frozen to the bone.
Mr. Zhao felt dizzy.
At this time, although the figure did not move, its head turned around strangely.
Her face appeared in front of Mr. Zhao.
His face, which was so pale that there was no color at all, was like a paper man made of fine rice paper, which made people feel indescribably awkward.
Bright red tears of blood gradually seeped out from his eyes, which were so hollow that they were so deep.
She tilted her head and grinned:
"Hey hey hey..."
