What exactly was the connection between the pattern on this plaque and the pattern on that worn doll?

It was like an enormous mystery.

And this was a puzzle that had been circling in Ji Yunshu’s heart ever since she saw that doll.

After a long while—

She carefully wiped the plaque clean with her sleeve and tucked it into her waist.

Naturally, she then raised her head to look at the broken little window, her face catching the cold moonlight refracting in from outside.

She breathed softly and deeply.

Worrying about Wei Yi!

She didn’t know if that foolish boy would run into any trouble?

But fortunately—

The two lines she had written on that cloth weren’t obviously visible. Others couldn’t understand them. Probably only after Jingrong saw them would he know what she had written.

And at this moment!

Wei Yi was clutching his stomach with both hands, being led to the outhouse by that bandit.

All around, it was pitch black.

“I’m scared!” Wei Yi frowned.

The bandit glanced at him sideways and impatiently pulled a fire starter from his waist. After lighting it, he handed it to him.

He didn’t forget to curse, “Such a troublemaker. There are no ghosts inside—could they eat you or something?”

Wei Yi’s ears happened to be sharp and caught this remark.

Waving the fire starter in his hand, he glared angrily at the bandit, pointed at him, and began to retort.

“Inside are all pits. Without a light, what if I fall in? It’s filthy and stinks. I don’t like it. Besides, I really like these clothes—Shu’er bought them for me. They cost a lot of money. I have to take good care of them. I absolutely can’t ruin them or make them smell bad. After all, I’m not like you people.”

“How are you different?”

“Different in every way!” Smugly. “You kill people—I don’t. You carry knives around all day—I don’t either. Also, you’re even worse than Brother Muruo. He only made me drink one cup of wine, but you people made me drink pot after pot. You also injured Shu’er. You’re really bad. After bad people die, they go to hell. King Yama will throw you into oil cauldrons to fry you, and won’t let you reincarnate either, to prevent you from harming people again.”

Having said this, Wei Yi actually laughed cheerfully.

Blinking his innocent eyes, tilting his supremely smug head, he extended his finger and poked several times at the chest of the bandit in front of him.

In a sarcastic tone, he said, “When that time comes, you’ll become lonely wandering ghosts. Taoist priests will capture you, and then you’ll be scattered to oblivion.”

Uh!

That small appearance, reflected in the fiery glow of the fire starter, looked particularly comical.

That bandit was completely stunned!

He had just listened to words he had never heard in his entire life.

After coming to his senses, he suddenly raised his hand and slapped Wei Yi hard on the head.

“Damn it, acting like a scholar with me! I’ll beat you to death! What I hate most in my life are you scholars, saying weird things that I can’t even understand.”

Slap after slap landed on Wei Yi’s head.

Until—

He forced Wei Yi into the outhouse and kicked him inside.

“Go to your outhouse, and be quick about it.”

Bang—

He shut the outhouse door.

Inside, Wei Yi clutched his aching head and patted the door, shouting through it to the outside.

“I haven’t read any books! I’m not a scholar! My teacher thought I was stupid and refused to teach me anything. All this I heard from the storytelling master. It’s true, not false. You should obey and be good people. That way, when you die, you can go to heaven and become immortals. The storytelling master also said that if you do more good deeds, you can accumulate merit and become Buddha.”

“…”

The landlord’s foolish son had been thoroughly corrupted by the storytelling master!

“Brother, are you still listening?”

“Yes!”

“Do you believe it?”

“Believe?”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“That’s good. Oh, let me tell you another secret…”

And so—

The bandit supported his forehead with one hand while watching the outhouse, holding his breath as he listened to Wei Yi’s pile of nonsense.

In short, from talking about the south, he veered to the north, and from King Yama, he shifted to mountain demons.

Speaking with great enthusiasm.

During this time, Wei Yi learned that the bandit was called Little Fish and kept calling him “Brother Little Fish.”

Little Fish trembled all over listening to him.

However, as he listened to Wei Yi’s stories, he became entranced, with an expression of “the outside world is truly vast.”

Through the door, Little Fish rolled his curious eyes and asked, “So what happened next? What happened to that monkey?”

“That’s not a monkey.”

“Same thing.”

“It’s not the same! That’s the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. It’s the Great Sage, not a monkey.”

Little Fish thought for a moment and waved his hand. “Whatever, who cares? Just hurry up and tell me—what happened to that Great Sage in the end? Was he really pressed under the mountain and died?”

“The Great Sage won’t die! Shu’er said someone will come to save him, but she hasn’t finished telling the story yet—you people brought us here.”

Such a pity!

Little Fish’s curiosity was thoroughly aroused. He said anxiously, “If you find out what happens next, you must tell me immediately.”

“Okay, brother, don’t worry. When Shu’er finishes telling me the story, I’ll tell you.”

“Good, you’ve got spirit, you brat. I quite like you.”

Creak—

Just as he finished speaking, the outhouse door opened. Wei Yi laughed cheerfully, “But I don’t like you.”

“…”

“Brother, I’m hungry.”

Little Fish covered his nose with his hand and bounced back one or two meters, saying, “Your hunger has nothing to do with me.”

“But what if I starve to death?”

“Huh?”

“If I die, I won’t be able to tell you the rest of the story.”

Eh?

Little Fish thought about it—that was actually true. The chief had also said not to let those two people come to harm. If he really starved to death and it was blamed on him, what then?

“Alright, alright, hurry back. I’ll find you something to eat.”

Wei Yi twisted his body. “No, I want to find food myself. I want to go to the kitchen.”

“Let’s go, let’s go. Whatever you want.”

Little Fish completely gave in.

His temperament had long been worn down completely by Wei Yi!

He couldn’t be bothered to argue with him.

So he simply took Wei Yi to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, two big rough fellows were busy tidying things up.

As soon as Wei Yi entered, he started rummaging around. The people inside asked angrily, “Hey, hey, hey, what are you rummaging for?”

“I’m hungry!”

Clutching his flat stomach.

Little Fish also quickly stepped forward to speak to that person. “Is there any food left? Give this kid some.”

“There is, but this fool is our chief’s prisoner—does he deserve to eat?”

“Hurry up, stop the nonsense.”

“Just wait.” That person reluctantly went to fetch food.

Just at this moment, by coincidence, they heard a clamor of voices from outside.

“Gentlemen, I’ve brought the things for you.”

Looking toward the sound, they saw an old man about fifty or sixty years old pushing a cart and calling out at the door.