Sleepy Valley

Chapter 24

Du Chuanxiong, dressed in white shirt and black trousers, stood with his hands behind his back by the castle gate. Outside the wide-open gate stood four outsiders: Qin Ge, Sha Bo, Tang Wan, and the skinny man. The four outsiders had arrived in a hurry and were somewhat disheveled. They were sweating, their clothes stained with mountain dirt, carrying their own luggage, and panting heavily. Only the woman, dressed only in pajamas, was expressionless, her eyes vacant, being supported by a man. She seemed to be seriously ill, or perhaps had lost her mind.

After listening to Qin Ge recount what had happened, Du Chuanxiong frowned and remained silent for a moment. Qin Ge and the others watched him anxiously, afraid that he would utter a word of refusal.

When I escaped through the back door of the Night Sleep Inn, the cacophony of voices on the street was already clearly audible. I wondered how many people were rushing towards the Night Sleep Inn at that moment; I could even detect anger and hatred in the noise.

Their only option was to flee.

Qin Ge and Sha Bo took turns carrying Tang Wan, who was now like a puppet, completely at their mercy. They headed north through the alley behind the inn and then up the mountain. After crossing the mountain, Sleeping Manor came into view. They felt somewhat relieved to have met the legendary owner of Sleeping Manor so easily. Sleeping Manor wasn't as eerie as the legends suggested. Through the open gates, they saw a few workers moving about in the spacious square in the center of the castle, a peaceful and serene atmosphere enveloping the castle.

“If you can assure me that you have nothing to do with the murder, then I can let you stay for the time being and explain to the people in town on your behalf,” Du Chuanxiong finally spoke.

Qin Ge stepped forward: "We had absolutely nothing to do with those incidents. It's just that the people in the town are so agitated and have lost their minds that we were forced to flee here."

Du Chuanxiong stared at him for a while before finally nodding.

Qin Ge and the other three entered the castle, and the gate slammed shut behind them. Du Chuanxiong led them to a hall that resembled a reception room, telling them to rest for a while while he sent someone to check on the situation in town.

As Qin Ge and his companions entered the castle, they were immediately captivated by its architecture. While not grand in scale, the castle's buildings were undeniably ingenious, with inner and outer rings of buildings harmoniously interwoven. The circular eaves atop the castle roof formed a seamless whole, showing no signs of patchwork. A quick glance around revealed dozens of visible doors, not to mention countless others, indicating that the castle contained no fewer than a hundred rooms.

They were now in one of the inner-ring rooms. The room wasn't large, just over a hundred square meters, with thick wooden beams on the ceiling, gray floor tiles, and walls made of bluestone. The two red-lacquered wooden doors looked heavy and sturdy.

As Du Chuanxiong was leaving, he turned back at the door and said, "I hope you won't cause me any trouble while I'm here. So, you'd better stay in this room and not wander around until I get back."

The two large doors closed after Du Chuanxiong left. The room was dimly lit, but fortunately, the skinny man quickly found the light switch by the door. The incandescent bulb illuminated the room brightly, and everyone looked at each other, unsure of what to feel.

Qin Ge walked around the room but found nothing suspicious. However, he was still worried. He said to Sha Bo and the skinny man in a deep voice, "This manor lord appears humble, but he is actually quite cunning. We must not let our guard down."

Shabo said, "Now we just hope that the people in town will listen to the manor owner's explanation. Otherwise, we don't know how long we'll have to wait here. Besides, hiding here isn't a long-term solution."

Everyone fell silent for a moment. Sha Bo and the skinny man were worried about their current situation. Tang Wan hadn't uttered a single word since escaping the Night Sleep Inn, and her expression remained blank, as if she had lost her soul. Qin Ge, on the other hand, had countless thoughts running through his mind. His worries were far greater than Sha Bo's and the skinny man's, but he didn't know how to tell them what he knew.

"I suddenly have a premonition that all of this is being arranged by someone," Qin Ge said.

"You mean Jiangnan?" Sha Bo asked thoughtfully.

Qin Ge nodded. He was growing to like Sha Bo more and more. Although Sha Bo had not received professional training, he could always quickly grasp the key to a situation when it happened, under Qin Ge's guidance.

“Jiang Nan is definitely not the person he claims to be, who failed in business and fled to Sleepy Hollow to escape his debts. If I’m not mistaken, he was definitely a sensation ten years ago.”

"You already know his background?" Shabo asked.

"All I hope for now is that he has absolutely nothing to do with this matter."

Time passed, and the gate remained tightly shut. It was eerily quiet outside, without even a sound. Looking at their watches, it was nearly noon, and suspicion began to creep back into their hearts. Even if Du Chuanxiong had sent someone to town, they should have returned by now. Whatever the situation, Du Chuanxiong should have come to inform them.

What exactly happened outside in the last few hours?

The skinny man walked to the door, which was completely shut. He hesitated for a long time before finally reaching out to open it. Before leaving, Du Chuanxiong had only told them not to wander around and to open the door to look outside; this was certainly not considered causing him any trouble.

But the door was locked from the outside.

Qin Ge and Sha Bo rushed to the door, and together they pulled hard, but the door remained unmoved. An ominous feeling arose in the hearts of the three men at the same time. They looked at each other, none of them knowing what to do.

Shabo slowly walked back to Tang Wan's side. Tang Wan was still sitting blankly in the chair, seemingly unconcerned about her situation. Her eyes were so empty that even fear seemed to have vanished, which was what worried Shabo the most. He then stood beside Tang Wan, knelt down, placed his hands on her shoulders, and gently called her name.

Tang Wan's gaze shifted and landed on Sha Bo. Sha Bo was delighted and was about to speak when her gaze drifted away again, landing somewhere in the room.

Shabo stood up in disappointment and couldn't help but sigh softly.

“Her current condition is very dangerous. If she is not sent to a major hospital for treatment as soon as possible, she may suffer a mental breakdown and become a mental patient,” the thin man said.

"Is there no other way?"

"There is another way to wake her up from this state of confusion and ignorance, which is to subject her to even deeper stimulation. This is like a doctor performing a cardiac stimulant on someone whose heart is about to stop beating. This is the same principle behind the common saying of fighting poison with poison."

Sha Bo remained silent, staring at Tang Wan, thinking that Tang Wan was already so weak, how could she withstand any more stimulation?

About an hour later, everyone grew increasingly anxious. They took turns going to the door, pressing their ears to the crack, trying to hear what was happening outside. In the last half hour, there seemed to be some movement outside, but it was indistinct, which only intensified their worry and doubt. Suddenly, the lights went out, plunging the room into darkness. Shabo, who was by the door, rushed back to his chair, touched Tang Wan, and stood in front of her. Qin Ge said in a deep voice, "Don't panic, stay calm."

The skinny man gave a bitter smile in the darkness. Not long ago, he had used darkness to punish a girl named Yuan Li, but he never expected that darkness would fall on his head so quickly. If this was retribution, it had come far too fast.

In the darkness, no one dared to move, and because of their fear, no one spoke; only the sound of their breathing rose and fell. The sudden darkness caused Tang Wan to scream, and then her terrified voice echoed in the darkness.

"Tan Dong, Tan Dong, where are you..."

Upon hearing this, Sha Bo was overjoyed, as Tang Wan finally came to her senses. He stepped forward to try to comfort her, and in the darkness, Tang Wan hugged him tightly. He hugged her back in return, gently stroking her back, and softly said, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, we will protect you."

"Could you please turn on the light? I don't want this darkness, I'm afraid of the dark," Tang Wan said, her voice carrying a hint of etherealness. "Tan Dong, do you know, I stopped sleeping in the dark when I was ten years old."

Shabo knew she was still somewhat dazed and mistaking him for Tan Dong, but he had no intention of pointing it out. Right now, he just wanted to offer this poor girl some comfort as much as possible.

“I’ve been keeping this from you because I was afraid you’d dislike me. I really like you. I fell in love with you the moment I saw you. Do you remember the first time I saw you? You were fighting with two people who were much bigger than you, and you beat them so badly they ran away. I stood in the crowd watching, my eyes glued to you, watching you throw punches at those two men until they couldn’t stand up straight. At that moment, I thought, I want to be your girlfriend.”

Tang Wan's recollections captivated the three men in the darkness.

"Later, you chased those two away. As they ran, the onlookers quickly scattered in all directions, but I was so focused on watching you that I forgot to dodge and was knocked to the ground by one of them. You came over, helped me up, and that's how we met. Later, you often asked me why I liked you, and I always said that liking someone is just liking them, there's no reason. Tan Dong, actually I was lying to you. There's a reason I like you. Because you're strong, you can protect me, you can drive away the demon that has been following me for so many years, you are my hero."

Tang Wan paused for a moment, took two heavy breaths, and then her emotions quickly became agitated.

"Tan Dong, don't blame me for keeping this from you, because I don't want to lose you. I don't want you to say that I like you, but it's just that I'm using you. I'm scared, I'm scared of losing you. Being with you, for the first time, I feel safe. Those demons, they saw you from afar and were too scared to approach you. But those demons are still here. They haven't disappeared. They're just temporarily afraid to approach me. They're all hiding in the darkness, waiting for me to be alone before they come to hurt me."

The skinny man in the darkness felt a surge of emotion and suddenly felt inexplicably shy. The devil Tang Wan had described was practically a true reflection of him.

"You know, I learned about the existence of demons when I was ten years old. When I was ten, I was still a little girl. I liked to wear pink dresses, wear a ponytail, and always had a smile on my face. Everyone said I was a happy and cheerful little girl. But, one day when I was ten, all my happiness and cheerfulness suddenly disappeared."

It was springtime, and I went to play by the Rose River with some classmates. The riverbank was covered in green grass. We chased each other across the grass, and I tripped and fell, hurting my leg. Before long, I fell behind my classmates. I endured the pain and desperately tried to catch up with them; I wanted to be with them, I didn't want to be alone. That's when the demons appeared. They blocked my way, and I didn't pay them any attention, trying to go around them. They grabbed me. They were filthy devils, reeking of stench, their hands covering my mouth covered in filth. I struggled desperately, but I was no match for the devils, and there were three of them.

The devils lived in the bridge archway, a place filled with garbage. They took me there, bound my hands and feet, and stuffed a rag into my mouth. The rag was filthy, and the stench almost made me vomit. I was terrified, not knowing what the devils were going to do to me. Three devils, dressed in tattered clothes, one of them pinned me to the ground, his hand tightly covering my mouth, while the other two sat opposite me, watching me. Later, as darkness fell, I watched helplessly as my classmates called my name from the riverbank, searching for me everywhere. I wanted to tell them I was there, but I couldn't speak, much less call out.

The other students had all left, and the riverbank was deserted. Only the occasional sound of cars passing by on the bridge could be heard. I was even more terrified, and my body went limp with sobs. Just then, the madman holding me down suddenly began to undress me. I vaguely sensed something, but I still couldn't fully understand. What were these madmen going to do to me?

Tang Wan then burst into tears, her voice choked with sobs. By this time, Sha Bo, Qin Ge, and the skinny man had already guessed what was about to happen, and a shared anger burned within them.

"Suddenly, I felt an intense pain, a pain so intense it felt like they were tearing me apart. The demon was on top of me, biting me with his foul mouth, his tongue crawling all over me like a maggot. I felt utterly disgusted, I was in excruciating pain. Tan Dong, they were going to kill me, they were tearing me to pieces. The other two demons surrounded me too, reaching out their filthy hands. I knew I was going to die, because my body no longer belonged to me; it was gradually becoming numb and devoid of feeling..."

Tears welled up in Shabo's eyes. He hugged Tang Wan tightly, feeling his body tremble violently along with hers. "Alright, that's enough. There are no more demons. The demons are dead. They can no longer hurt you."

Tang Wan seemed not to hear him, and continued crying, "If I really died, I think I would thank God for his favor. Are there really gods in heaven? The gods were all asleep that night. When I woke up, the first thing I saw was a sky full of stars. Those demons had abandoned me on a riverbank far away. The stars twinkled in the sky, and I desperately tried to figure out what had happened. Where were those demons? They took me to another world. The wind blew, and I was very cold. I didn't have any clothes on. I wanted to go home, but I couldn't move. My body was so numb that I had no feeling at all."

Shabo pulled Tang Wan's head into his arms and said, "Don't say anything. Those devils are gone. They can't hurt you anymore. Believe me, don't say anything."

"These scumbags!" Qin Ge's angry voice was accompanied by a loud noise, as if he had kicked over a chair.

Tang Wan's words were like needles, piercing everyone's hearts and causing them to bleed. At this moment, they finally understood why this girl was so terrified, her seemingly innate melancholy, and her morbid attachment to Tan Dong. Over the years, the demons that had harmed her had never left her body; they tormented her constantly.

What kind of life would that be?

Tang Wan's sobs continued to flow in the darkness, and everyone's heart ached terribly at that moment...

Suddenly, there was a noise outside the door, followed by a beam of bright light shining in from between the two doors. Tang Wan let out a soft moan and buried her head in Sha Bo's arms. Qin Ge and the skinny man took a step back and simultaneously shielded their eyes. The bright light grew stronger and stronger until the two doors swung open with a bang. After the light subsided, a figure stood before it.

White shirt, black trousers. It was Du Chuanxiong, the owner of Sleeping Manor.

After a brief period of discomfort, the three men in the room regained their vision. Qin Ge and the skinny man walked towards the door to greet Du Chuanxiong, but before they reached the door, they froze.

Behind Du Chuanxiong was a dense crowd of people.

These people varied in height, build, and age, and were dressed in different ways, but at this moment, they were all unusually calm, completely devoid of the excitement they had shown when they rushed towards the Night Sleep Inn not long ago. What had caused them to calm down in such a short time?

Behind the crowd, they saw two tall wooden stakes erected in the square, with a horizontal beam supporting them. Tan Dong's arms were tied to the horizontal beam, dangling in mid-air.

The refined-looking Du Chuanxiong stood by the door with a hint of mockery, as if wondering why these outsiders would come to Sleeping Manor seeking refuge. Sleeping Manor was located in Sleeping Valley, long since integrated with it. Why would he make an enemy of all the people of Sleeping Valley for the sake of a few outsiders?

Now, he looked at the four people in the room as if they were a bunch of idiots. Idiots in a cage.

This was Yang Xing's third time going out for drinks.

The moment the alcohol entered his body, it felt like a warm current flowing through him, a comforting warmth that lessened his hunger considerably. However, this warmth was like boiling water in the open air in winter; it quickly turned cold, and the hunger returned, becoming increasingly unbearable.

His face had turned bright red from drinking too much wine. After each drink, he would lie on the ground with his head resting on Xiao Fei's legs. His mind was becoming somewhat clouded.

Xiao Fei sat slumped against the wall, her arms limply cradling Yang Xing's head. The wooden bucket was not far in front of her. She seemed to have given up on stopping Yang Xing from drinking. Something was definitely wrong; they had fallen into an elaborate trap, a trap inextricably linked to the wine, but she didn't know how to stop it. Yang Xing kept muttering something, indistinctly. She couldn't be bothered to listen. Her heart had turned as cold as ice; now, she only hoped that what she feared wouldn't happen.

Yang Xing struggled to sit up for the third time; he didn't even have the strength to stand. He sat up only because he was hungry again and wanted to drink.

He slowly climbed towards the wooden barrel, his flushed face contorted with intense longing.

Suddenly, Xiao Fei jumped up and reached the wine barrel before Yang Xing. A sharp knife lay on the ground beside the barrel. Xiao Fei gripped the knife and began hacking at the barrel frantically. The barrel was sturdy; the first few cuts only left shallow marks, but two more cuts cleaved it open, and the wine spilled out. Xiao Fei continued hacking, seemingly determined to exhaust all her strength before stopping.

"No!" Yang Xing screamed in anguish. Suddenly, he found the strength to stand up unsteadily and reach the barrel in an instant. He turned around and shoved Xiao Fei hard. Caught off guard, Xiao Fei was pushed to the ground.

Yang Xing ignored Xiao Fei and quickly put his mouth to the spilled wine in the bucket, greedily swallowing it.

Xiao Fei stared blankly at Yang Xing, her heart gradually filling with despair. She stood up again, rushed to the barrel, and wildly slashed at it with the knife in her hand.

More wine spilled out, and Yang Xing frantically tried to stop it with his hands, but to no avail. Enraged, he turned around and shoved Xiao Fei hard again. As Xiao Fei fell to the ground, she felt a burning pain in her leg, while Yang Xing, his eyes bloodshot, walked towards her step by step.

"Stop cutting!" he screamed hoarsely. "If you cut me again, I'll kill you!"

Yang Xing has gone mad, Xiao Fei thought. Is this the result that Du Chuanxiong wanted to see?

Yang Xing returned to the barrel. The force of the spilled liquor had weakened considerably. He brought it to his mouth again, and the spilled liquor flowed onto his head and face. His expression was extremely strange; his eyes rolled back, his mouth was slightly open, and his facial muscles twitched rapidly. Suddenly, he rolled over and fell to the ground, unable to move any further.

After a short while, Xiao Fei endured the pain and crawled over, hearing Yang Xing on the ground making soft snoring sounds.

He actually fell asleep under the influence of alcohol.

Xiao Fei thought, "It's so good that he's asleep. He won't be hungry anymore, and he won't have to drink that wine." She sat down against the wooden tub with pity and placed Yang Xing's head on her lap.

By this time, she knew she shouldn't blame Yang Xing; it was all that damned Du Chuanxiong's scheme, his attempt to completely break Yang Xing's spirit. She now understood the plot, but there was nothing she could do to stop it except break the wine barrel. The wine was poison; it wouldn't kill him, but it could poison his heart. Yang Xing's use of wine to stave off hunger was clearly a case of drinking poison to quench thirst.

Yang Xing's body grew colder and colder, but Xiao Fei's heart was even colder than his body.

Shabo stood in front of Tang Wan again, and Tang Wan curled up in fear. Her expression was conflicted, as if she wanted to know what was happening outside, but dared not to know.

Qin Ge, standing by the door, glared at Du Chuanxiong, then suddenly smiled.

Du Chuanxiong feigned surprise and said, "I really can't figure out why you're laughing at this time."

"Of course, it's because of you."

"You want to accuse me of being untrustworthy and a petty person?" Du Chuanxiong smiled slightly. "If I said that when you came this morning, I forgot what day it was, you certainly wouldn't believe me."

"Today?" Qin Ge paused for a moment. "Could it be some kind of auspicious day today?"

"I don't know if today is a good day, but I've remembered that every year on this day, it's the day we at Sleeping Mountain Villa worship the god of wine."

"The God of Wine?" Qin Ge was clearly taken aback again.

“Sleepy Hill Estate produces wine, and the residents of Sleepy Valley have relied on grape cultivation for their livelihood for many years. Therefore, the wine from Sleepy Hill Estate is closely related to the lives of everyone in the town. According to local custom, the town holds a grand ceremony to worship the god of agriculture every autumn harvest. Now, Sleepy Hill Estate has followed the local custom and chosen to worship the god of wine at this time of year.”

“But the God of Wine doesn’t seem to have anything to do with us,” Qin Ge said, frowning.

“Originally, there was no connection, but now it’s different.” Du Chuanxiong’s eyes sharpened. “Every year, the worship of the wine god is presided over by the town’s Tima. But now, Tima Tianyangzong has been killed by your friend. So, the people of the town will use your friend’s blood to worship the wine god and the dead Tima.”

Qin Ge was startled. His gaze swept past Du Chuanxiong and the dark mass of people behind him, landing on Tan Dong, who was bound high in the air. Tan Dong's head drooped, motionless, but his clothes were tattered and stained with blood. Qin Ge suddenly became furious: "You have no right to decide a person's life or death."

"So, I discussed it with the people in town and decided to give you a chance."