Unable to rush back, they got a cast for Yi Wansan at the town hospital and stayed there for the night. With many things still to deal with, no one truly wanted to sleep, so they only rented one room.

Including Qing Shan and Ya Feng, there were seven people, packed tightly, feeling cramped even when turning around in the room.

Qing Shan, now separated from the cursed scroll, had a blank stare, looking somewhat dazed and foolish. Cao Yanhua stood beside him lecturing, putting on the air of an older brother, occasionally slapping him on the head.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve been doing? What’s your relationship with this woman anyway?”

Ya Feng was still tied up. Unlike Qing Shan, she remained silent but sneered—this was why Luo Ren refused to untie her. He instinctively felt that this woman would be trouble if released.

After receiving a slap from Cao Yanhua, Qing Shan hung his head, glanced at Ya Feng, and couldn’t help saying: “Brother Dadun, don’t tie her up. Ya Feng isn’t a bad person.”

What kind of stance was this? Cao Yanhua was furious and slapped the back of his head again: “What has she made you do?”

Yi Wansan reclined on the sofa, his plastered arm sticking up like a flag of honor: “Dadun, don’t bother asking him. Your cousin is at most a puppet. The key lies with this woman.”

Cao Yanhua agreed wholeheartedly, but suddenly became alert: What did Brother Sansan just call him? Dadun? Had he heard correctly?

Luo Ren stood to the side, pouring water from the bag into a basin, and said: “This woman’s mouth is hard to pry open.”

As if to agree with him, Ya Feng laughed coldly.

Luo Ren’s face darkened. He threw down the water bag, walked over to Ya Feng, and grabbed her collar: “However, I have ways to make you talk.”

Ya Feng enunciated slowly: “I won’t speak.”

Luo Ren smiled: “There are many methods nowadays to make people tell the truth without resorting to torture.”

Saying this, he leaned toward Ya Feng’s ear and lowered his voice: “Truth serum injection, or hypnosis. Whatever you’ve got, I’ll extract.”

Ya Feng’s pupils contracted violently. Luo Ren sneered and threw her back onto the sofa.

Qing Shan shouted: “What are you doing? What do you want to do? You can’t treat Ya Feng like this…”

Cao Yanhua couldn’t stand it anymore. He pushed Qing Shan back onto the sofa and tied him up too. To prevent him from shouting, he even sealed his mouth with tape.

Luo Ren frowned slightly.

This was the first time such a situation had occurred. After the cursed scroll left his body, Ya Feng still maintained a hostile posture, while Qing Shan defended Ya Feng as if brainwashed.

What could be the reason?

Mu Dai and Yan Hong Sha were washing clothes in the bathroom. The sink was too small, so they each occupied a basin, crouching face-to-face, washing the wet clothes that Luo Ren and Yi Wansan had changed out of.

Seeing that the fifth cursed scroll was almost settled, Yan Hong Sha felt somewhat relieved. She scrubbed the clothes vigorously, with small bubbles flying about chaotically in front of her.

Suddenly thinking of something, she nudged Mu Dai with her elbow: “Hey?”

“Hmm?”

“You and Luo Ren spent several days in that cave.”

“Yes.”

“Didn’t anything happen?”

Mu Dai’s heart skipped a beat. She said: “No.”

She lowered her head and continued scrubbing. Yan Hong Sha pondered thoughtfully, talking to herself.

“That doesn’t make sense. A man and a woman alone, with no one around, something should have… Ah!”

She exclaimed with a start and leaned in mysteriously: “Mu Dai, could something be wrong with Luo Ren?”

Mu Dai didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “What could be wrong?”

“There must be something wrong. Let me tell you, men think with their lower halves. With such a good opportunity that he didn’t seize, there must be a problem!”

Yan Hong Sha looked worried: “Mu Dai, let me tell you, those romance novels all say that those tall, powerful, handsome men… don’t necessarily match up in that aspect…”

Her words were getting more outrageous. Mu Dai looked at her sideways: “What are you trying to say?”

Yan Hong Sha said, “We’re all adults now. In the new era, we need to face this issue squarely. Although I think Luo Ren is great, if he’s not capable, I wouldn’t recommend you stay with him…”

She was speaking excitedly when she suddenly noticed Mu Dai’s gaze fixed on the floor.

What was she looking at? Yan Hong Sha looked down and saw a shadow slanting across the floor.

She had her back to the door, and at this moment, her spine ran cold. She asked Mu Dai: “Who is it?”

“See for yourself.”

Yan Hong Sha whispered, “Please tell me it’s not Luo Ren.”

Mu Dai slowly scrubbed the clothes in her hands: “I’m not good at lying.”

It was over! Yan Hong Sha felt her heart shatter with a crisp sound.

At the same time, Luo Ren’s hand pressed on her shoulder: “Come, Hong Sha, let’s have a chat outside.”

Yan Hong Sha turned around, trembling, laughing dryly: “I’m… busy right now.”

Luo Ren also smiled at her, but his smile suddenly changed. He gripped her waist with one hand and carried her out. Yan Hong Sha screamed: “Sexual harassment! Mu Dai, your boyfriend is harassing me. Aren’t you going to say something?”

Mu Dai looked up, wiping away some foam from her hair: “I strongly oppose Luo Ren’s violent behavior.”

After speaking, she lowered her head again, continuing to scrub the clothes, unmoved as a mountain. She heard Yan Hong Sha wailing outside, and then Yi Wansan coming over to ask: “What’s all the noise about… Er Huo, don’t grab my leg! Let go! Let go!”

When Mu Dai carried the clothes out, Yi Wansan had just been pulled down by Yan Hong Sha. The two were complaining and shouting as they fell into a heap. Luo Ren stood to the side laughing, and when he saw Mu Dai, he gave her a meaningful look.

Mu Dai blushed under his gaze.

Cao Yanhua placed the basin of water on the coffee table. Several people sat on the sofa around it, some turning their heads, some tilting them, looking at the basin.

The water vision did not appear immediately.

Luo Ren said, “Let’s wait. When it’s time to come, it will come.”

So they waited, not in any rush.

The room grew quiet. After all the commotion, everyone was somewhat tired. Mu Dai leaned against Luo Ren, her eyelids growing heavier. Luo Ren stroked her hair and said, “You sleep for a while.”

Mu Dai murmured in agreement, closed her eyes, and lay down on Luo Ren’s lap. Just as she was drifting off, she suddenly heard Cao Yanhua shout and felt water splash on her face. When she opened her eyes hurriedly, she saw that Cao Yanhua and Yan Hong Sha had both stood up. Cao Yanhua was grabbing Ya Feng, his face transformed with anger.

Mu Dai was confused. Luo Ren wiped the water from her face and said: “It’s nothing. Ya Feng tried to overturn the basin.”

To be precise, she didn’t just try to overturn it. At that moment, when everyone was relaxed, Ya Feng, sitting in the corner, suddenly stood up with all her might and lunged headfirst toward the basin. Luo Ren thought she was trying to drink the water.

Fortunately, Yan Hong Sha and Cao Yanhua, who were sitting close by, reacted quickly and pulled her up—she only hit the basin, splashing a few drops of water onto Mu Dai’s sleeping face.

Not daring to risk letting Ya Feng sit nearby again, Cao Yanhua practically carried her to the farthest corner of the room and dropped her there. Luo Ren looked at Mu Dai: “Still sleepy? Go back to sleep.”

Mu Dai didn’t respond immediately. She reached out her hand, touching the spot on her face where water had just splashed, looking somewhat dazed.

Luo Ren noticed something was wrong: “What is it?”

What was it? Just now, when the water splashed on her, she seemed to see something in her mind’s eye.

Not just an image, but the entire environment seemed to change.

Mu Dai stared at the water basin. The ripples hadn’t completely subsided, and the water was still gently undulating. She bit her lip, hesitated for a moment, then tentatively extended her hand into the water.

Luo Ren’s first instinct was to stop her, but then he thought that the cursed scroll wouldn’t possess any of them.

Indeed, Mu Dai’s eyes closed slightly, and the moment her fingertips touched the water’s surface, her entire body seemed to tremble. Her other hand pulled at Luo Ren: “Luo Ren.”

Luo Ren understood. He glanced at Yan Hong Sha and the others, nodded, and also extended his hand.

Yan Hong Sha, Yi Wansan, and the others looked at each other, and gradually, they all followed suit.

It was impossible to describe the feeling.

The moment Mu Dai’s fingers touched the water surface, the surroundings suddenly changed: blue sky, brilliant sun, gentle breeze. But it wasn’t complete, like an abruptly inserted scene.

Only when Luo Ren and the others did the same did the scene fit together seamlessly like a puzzle. Not only could they see it, but they could also hear and smell it.

Mu Dai opened her eyes to look. Luo Ren and the others were all there, standing bewildered on a patch of green grass. Passersby walked by, wearing short mandarin jackets, with shaved foreheads and long braids hanging down their backs.

The Qing Dynasty? But they seemed transparent; those passersby appeared unable to see them.

From a private school nearby came the sound of students reading aloud. Through the half-open window lattice, they could see adolescent students with braids hanging down their backs, holding books and rocking their heads back and forth.

“Heaven and earth, black and yellow; the universe, vast and wild; sun and moon, waxing and waning; stars, arrayed across the sky…”

At the front desk sat an old teacher wearing glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, holding a ruler in his hand. Whenever he felt a student wasn’t reading with enough spirit, he would smack the desk with a whack, and the disjointed reading voices would suddenly grow louder.

What did it mean? Mu Dai was bewildered.

Just then, a young woman walked out of the private school. She had an oval face, bright eyes like autumn waters, and a shiny, thick braid. She wore a pipa-collared jacket in scallion green with black trim at the cuffs and hem. She carried a large food basin, stirring it with a wooden spoon. Walking to the center of the courtyard on the green grass, she tapped the wooden spoon three times on the edge of the basin.

At the tinkling sound, a mongrel dog with a ring around its neck came trotting out from the bushes. In a few steps, it bounded to the food basin, lowered its head, and lapped noisily. The young woman giggled and reached out to pat the dog’s head.

The dog raised its head, its eyes fixed firmly on Mu Dai.

Mu Dai let out a frightened cry, and the scene around them quickly receded. When she came to her senses, they were back in the hotel room. Luo Ren and the others were all there, their expressions grim.

Mu Dai’s heart still pounding, she hesitantly asked: “Did you all see that?”

They must have all seen it. Cao Yanhua’s back felt a bit cold, and he muttered: “Another dog. Why does it always come back to that dog?”

In the silence, Yan Hong Sha suddenly trembled and called out: “Luo Ren.”

Everyone looked at her, only now noticing that Yan Hong Sha’s expression was very unusual—not only was her face pale, but her forehead was also covered in sweat.

“I’ve seen this woman before.”

Seen her before? Luo Ren’s heart tightened: “When?”

“When I was in Wuzhu Village, I had a dream. In the dream, they were cremating my uncle’s body, but on the closed-circuit TV screen, at the furnace opening, a burning woman appeared.”

Her voice trembled slightly.

“It was that woman, the same as the one I just saw in the private school feeding the dog.”