Gu Yunqing?
Wasn't he dead?
Who has his phone?
Is the voice on the other end human or ghost?
Several thoughts raced through Zhang Yangxu's mind. He decisively turned off the screen and hung up.
Outside the wall, the sound of footsteps grew nearer and more frequent.
Zhang Yangxu had already learned something about this grand residence bearing the plaque "He Mansion." It belonged to a wealthy family, with numerous servants and maids. Whenever the old master went out, he was flanked by a crowd, and returned the same way.
Hearing the footsteps heading toward the front gate, Zhang Yangxu gripped his phone and walked along the wall toward the side gate. He wasn't the sort to bang his head against a brick wall endlessly. If Ye Miaozhu couldn't be found, he wouldn't bother—this impulsive woman, even if willing to cooperate, would probably cause more harm than good.
He had barely taken a few steps when his phone vibrated again.
This vibration was short and urgent—not a ringtone, but a new-message alert. Zhang Yangxu unlocked the screen and saw he'd just received a text:
Sender: Gu Yunqing
Message: "Did you really think I was dead?"
Immediately another message followed:
"You've been played by Ning Zhe."
"Gu Yunqing isn't dead?"
"I've been played by Ning Zhe?"
Seeing the two messages, Zhang Yangxu's expression darkened.
Knowing there was a ghost in Hejiacun Village that could steal someone's identity and pose as the living, he naturally wouldn't trust these two short texts at face value and remained on high alert.
Yet while wary of the "Gu Yunqing" on the call—human or ghost—Zhang Yangxu replayed all his conversations with Ning Zhe and the others.
"These two messages are suspicious, but isn't Ning Zhe also suspicious? I've never actually seen Gu Yunqing's body. The claims that he died like Xie Sining by the river… I never witnessed it firsthand."
Once the seed of doubt is planted, it immediately begins to take root.
Holding his phone in one hand and touching the wall with the other, Zhang Yangxu continued forward, recalling every detail of his exchanges with Ning Zhe and company.
"Ning Zhe is untrustworthy. He likely murdered Lin Zhiyuan and hid the body. Even if I try to think well of him and assume Lin Zhiyuan didn't die by his hand, Ning Zhe is at least a madman with no reverence for life. He would stop at nothing, using another's death for his ends. He's a monster—intellect to match his madness.
"Feng Yushu—I know a bit about her. Raised in strict seclusion, then doted on by her husband after marriage, she's never known hardship. She's a caged golden songbird, easily broken by real violence. So her words aren't reliable either. Ning Zhe tamed her until she obeys his every command, unaware of his subtle indoctrination—like training a dog."
Ning Zhe and Feng Yushu both untrustworthy—what about Ye Miaozhu?
Ye Miaozhu's intense reaction to Gu Yunqing's death didn't seem feigned. Such grief before a beloved's passing is genuine. But…
"Were Gu Yunqing and Ye Miaozhu really that close—close enough for her to abandon her own life when he died?"
Zhang Yangxu couldn't be sure. They were strangers who happened to travel together as university medical interns. They might have been lovers or something else, but if they were merely classmates or a couple, Ye Miaozhu's extreme reaction seemed over the top—like a delicate youth bawling over a scraped knee and demanding to be rushed to a top hospital.
So…
"Trust Ye Miaozhu? Or trust this 'Gu Yunqing'?"
Zhang Yangxu hesitated.
He knew the caller was likely the deadly ghost who lured victims with a human guise, or maybe Ning Zhe using Gu Yunqing's phone to trap him. Yet he couldn't entirely rule out that it was really Gu Yunqing on the line.
At that moment, his phone vibrated again with a new text:
"I guess you're worried I'm a ghost posing as Gu Yunqing."
"You're not wrong to worry, but time is short. No more delays."
"You can ask me some questions to test my identity—quickly."
"Because the Snake God is about to go mad."
"What?!" Zhang Yangxu's nerves instantly snapped taut. He hurriedly typed: "What do you mean? The Snake God is going mad?"
After about two minutes of silence, the reply came:
"Let's confirm each other's identities first."
"You doubt I'm a ghost pretending to be Gu Yunqing—so might I doubt you?"
Zhang Yangxu didn't delay. He swiftly sent a few questions, modeled on his prior interaction with the ghost disguised as Xie Sining. Those questions exploited knowledge Gu Yunqing should have but Zhang Yangxu did not; in that case, the ghost "Xie Sining" glitched like a frozen computer program.
He asked clinical medicine questions; Gu Yunqing fired back real estate questions. Both answered fluently.
Although the subjects didn't overlap, Zhang Yangxu couldn't verify the correctness of Gu Yunqing's answers—but their smooth delivery was proof enough of a human mind.
"He must be the real Gu Yunqing." Zhang Yangxu exhaled and asked: "What does the Snake God going mad mean? Tell me exactly what's happening."
Gu Yunqing: "Let's meet and talk."
Zhang Yangxu: "Okay. Where are you?"
Gu Yunqing: "Outside the wall of the He Mansion. Walk a bit straight ahead, open the gate, and you'll see me."
So close? Zhang Yangxu felt puzzled. If they were that near, why such elaborate phone and text communication? A direct meeting would be easier.
Then he considered: as Gu Yunqing said, he might suspect Gu Yunqing is a ghost—and so might Gu Yunqing suspect Zhang Yangxu.
With that in mind, Zhang Yangxu softened his footsteps and carefully circled the wall to the side gate of the He Mansion. He tapped three times.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Three knocks answered from inside.
Zhang Yangxu exhaled, opened the door, and saw a young man standing there, his clothes drenched, holding a waterlogged phone.
"Mr. Zhang, it's good to see you again," Gu Yunqing said with a smile.
Chapters in advance there: patreon.com/Thaniel_a_goodchild