Ben Fu couldn’t hold his nosebleed in anymore. He went to block it with his hands, causing his hands to be bloody. It was very chaotic. Moments later, everyone tossed interesting looks at Chen Xiaomeng.
When Chen Xiaomeng reacted, she pulled out the rope in anger. Just as she was about to punish the bastard, a loud gasp came from the crowd. They stared at the rope Chen Xiaomeng was holding as if Jiang Cheng’s statements had been verified.
Ultimately… before the village head arrived, Chen Xiaomeng only took a few sips of the porridge before she lost her appetite. Jiang Cheng finished three bowls and even all the appetizers. In the end, he even purposely asked Chen Xiaomeng if she wanted to eat more porridge. He only stopped when hatred oozed out of the girl’s eyes.
The village head and his people only stayed before the door and didn’t dare to come into the inn due to their unhappy interactions with the boss from the day before. They looked around nervously. When Zhou Rong saw the village head, he stood up and walked towards him.
“Please wait a moment,” Zhou Rong said, “I’ll find the boss to return him the room keys and then we’ll go with you.”
The wrinkles on the boss’ face folded from happiness. “It’s no rush. It’s our village’s good karma that you are willing to come visit us.”
Hearing that, Yu Man, who was sitting cross-legged on the chair, scoffed, “If the village really has good karma, they wouldn’t have fallen into its current state.” Of course, her voice was only loud enough to be heard by those close to her. Lee Li frowned but said nothing.
They waited a while longer, but the boss still hadn’t appeared. They hadn’t seen the boss or his wife since that morning. Zhou Rong woke up the earliest. However, he only opened his room door, stood before it, and waited for the other room doors to open before going down the stairs with the group. The porridge was placed there before any of them arrived. Beside the pot of porridge were eight sets of utensils. They were clearly meant for the travellers.
Jiang Cheng slowly swallowed his last bite. His gaze never left the staircase. Chen Xiaomeng was the same. She was waiting. The boss who promised that he would see them off hadn’t shown up. In contrast, the village head and the other villagers had already arrived at the inn.
Before he reached the stairs, a figure chased after him from behind. “Mr. Zhou,” Jiang Cheng approached him with friendliness. “Let me go with you.”
“Okay.” Considering Jiang Cheng’s show of support yesterday, Zhou Rong had a good impression of him even though he knew Jiang Cheng was not as simple as he appeared. They searched the second floor but couldn’t find the boss and his wife. The result was the same on the third floor.
They were also surprised that the inn only had eight guests, which were all of them, staying overnight.
“Could they have gone out?” Jiang Cheng offered, “I heard from a Fatty that the vegetables at the morning market are cheap and fresh. Many restaurant owners like to make purchases there in the morning.”
“Perhaps.” Zhou Rong went along with it. “It looks like we’ll have to place the keys on the counter. That way, they’ll see the keys when they return.”
Jiang Cheng clapped his hands. “As expected of Mr. Zhou. That is a brilliant idea!”
Zhou Rong frowned with confusion.
Jiang Cheng continued, “I’m like a candle compared to Mr. Zhou, who is the sun. I am so tiny and miniscule.” He pointed at the candlestick at the end of the corridor.
As confused as he was, Zhou Rong still looked down at where Jiang Cheng was pointing. The third floor was smaller than the second floor. It only had ten rooms. They were lined down both sides of the corridors, five on each side. There was only one stair, and the other side of the corridor was a dead-end. For lighting, a candlestick hung from the wall. The pale white candle burned solitarily. It felt like they were at an altar.
Zhou Rong only noticed this candle and the location of the candlestick at this moment before he was too busy looking for the boss and his wife earlier. The location of the candlestick was rather weird. It was situated perfectly right in the middle of the wall. This meant that the coverage of the flame was limited. Then, his eyes narrowed.
The wall didn’t look right. It was painted black. This meant that the already dim third floor appeared even darker. Standing at the stairs, it felt like they were looking down at the entrance to hell. The people in this era should be quite superstitious. It would be quite rare for them to use black paint.
The next second, Zhou Rong’s pupils shrunk. With his great sight, he spotted the flame tremble. Then, he felt a breeze caress his cheeks. It was very soft… He looked around. All the doors on this floor were closed. Where did the wind come from?
Discovering issues was not his strength, but analysing issues was. He immediately pulled out information he had on this inn. The inn had three floors. From the outside, the inn looked perfectly angular and symmetrical. The size and length of the third floor were similar to the first and second floors.
However, based on his memory, there were 14 guest rooms on the second floor and ten guest rooms on the third floor. That shouldn’t be the case.
In other words… there was most likely a hidden space behind that black wall. And the boss and his wife were hiding inside.
He didn’t explain anything to Jiang Cheng. He slunk over to the wall and stood there. He licked his index finger and traced it around the wall. Soon, he sensed a breeze against his finger. He followed along the line and found a gap.
The gap was actually quite discernible. It was due to the black wall and the dim lighting that one had trouble noticing it normally. The gap was large enough for Zhou Rong to poke his head through directly. He swallowed and did so.
The space on the other side was quite large. There was a white candle that was identical to the one outside inside the hidden space. Under the dim flame, he saw a familiar back. The person wore a dirty apron. It was the boss.
His body moved as he gestured wildly. Due to the angle, Zhou Rong couldn’t see who the boss was talking to. He could only see their legs.
The feet were relatively small. They didn’t look like they belonged to the boss’ wife.