Nan Zhi didn't leave the city. Instead, she headed straight for the abandoned, overgrown courtyard.
Shu Jiulang was quite surprised to see Nan Zhi return so soon.
He was currently leading several small mice that had awakened their intelligence in learning cat talk, hoping to prevent them from being eaten if they encountered a large cat in the future.
"Shu Jiulang, I'm afraid I have a favor to ask of you."
Nan Zhi didn't even have time for pleasantries and got straight to the point:
"You told me before that all rats are connected and share information. Do you know any rats in the Wenshan area of Wen County?"
Shu Jiulang didn't know why Nan Zhi looked so hurried after being gone for only a short while, but he still answered honestly:
"Naturally. The families in the Wen County area don't like keeping cats. Even if they do, the cats always run away, so there are naturally many rats.
I have a twenty-seventh sister who lives in Wenshan Village, just below the south gate tower of Wen County.
If Lady Nan has something she wants to ask her, I'll just have her come over tomorrow."
"Tomorrow will be too late."
Nan Zhi glanced at the sky and said hurriedly, "If I go looking for her now, how can I find your twenty-seventh sister?
I have a matter of the utmost importance that I need to ask her about."
"I haven't seen my twenty-seventh sister in a long time, so I don't know her current situation..."
Shu Jiulang's eyes darted around, seemingly unsure for a moment.
"If Lady Zhi is truly in a hurry, I'm willing to make the trip for you, but I have all these young ones at home and really can't leave them alone..."
"There will be plenty of benefits for you."
Nan Zhi guessed that his rat nature was acting up again. She pulled out a bottle of Qi-Supplementing Pills and stuffed it into his arms.
"You've taken the payment. Now tell me, how do I find your twenty-seventh sister?"
Shu Jiulang smelled the fragrance of the pills inside. Although he didn't know exactly what they were, he knew they were good things.
He clutched the medicine bottle with both paws, his long snout twitching a few times before he broke into a grin.
"That's easy. My twenty-seventh sister lives in the woodpile behind the third house in Wenshan Village. She's called Rat 27."
As he spoke, Shu Jiulang handed Nan Zhi a tuft of black rat hair and added:
"Take a tuft of my hair, Lady Zhi. Stomp your foot three times behind the woodpile of that house, and my twenty-seventh sister will know I sent you."
"Thank you."
Nan Zhi took the token and turned to leave. She went straight to the carriage agency and rented a carriage to Wen County, heading toward Wenshan as dusk fell.
Some people at the carriage agency recognized her, and a few busybodies even went to inform Nan Dazhuang.
The worker who rented the carriage saw Nan Zhi's grim face and serious expression. Fearing something major had happened, he didn't ask many questions.
Either way, the silver was real. Why bother with what the Nan family's eldest daughter was doing in Wen County?
Perhaps some house in Wen County was haunted, and she was going there to exorcise ghosts.
It was said that those who could catch ghosts were somewhat eccentric, and perhaps the Nan family's eldest daughter was no different.
In reality, Nan Zhi was simply reviewing her death from the previous round.
The carriage was significantly faster than the donkey cart.
As the twilight faded and night fell, the stars rose high in the sky. Nan Zhi arrived at Wen County just moments before the city gates closed.
If her character knew how to ride a horse, she could have arrived even earlier.
Nan Zhi left the jewelry shop and headed straight for Wenshan Village. Sure enough, she found a woodpile next to the outhouse behind the third house.
"Sister 27! Is Rat 27 home?"
Following Shu Jiulang's instructions, she placed the tuft of hair on the ground, stomped her foot firmly, and called out:
"I am a friend of Shu Jiulang from Dingyuan County. He sent me here to ask for your help. Can we meet?"
For a long while, there was no movement from the woodpile.
Just as Nan Zhi thought Sister 27 wasn't home and was planning to look for someone else, countless fluorescent lights suddenly lit up on the outhouse next to the woodpile.
Faint green points of light moved and floated in pairs in the air. Looking closely, they were flickering.
No, those weren't fluorescent lights.
They were the eyes of countless rats.
They were hidden in the darkness, quietly observing Nan Zhi.
Fortunately, there were few people in the village after dark. Otherwise, anyone who saw this scene would likely be scared to death.
A dark shadow moved, surrounded by many rats, and slowly walked out.
It was truly a massive, fat rat.
It was about the size of a cat, with a thick, powerful tail and a body as plump as a small dog.
Judging by its appearance, one could tell that natural predators were scarce here, making it a perfect environment for rats.
This rat was female, and as Nan Zhi looked at it, she actually thought its features looked somewhat delicate.
"My ninth brother sent you to find me? You're a strange human. How can you understand us rats?"
Sister 27 tilted her head, her pink nose twitching as she squeaked at Nan Zhi:
"What do you want with me? As long as it's within the borders of Wen County, whether it's lost gold and silver or finding a thief, I only need to give the order."
"Squeak squeak squeak!"
"Squeak squeak squeak squeak!"
"Squeak squeak squeak!!"
"Squeak squeak!"
As if in response, a chorus of thin, sharp rat squeaks immediately erupted from the surroundings.
Nan Zhi immediately felt goosebumps crawl up her back.
"I'm looking for a certain family.
The whole family should be hunters. The son was named Chunsheng and was taken and eaten by a tiger over a decade ago. As for the father, I don't know his name, but he should be dead."
She suppressed the urge to frown and spoke quickly:
"Over a decade ago, or perhaps even longer, they should have killed a tigress. They likely lived in the Wenshan area."
"Hunters?"
Sister 27 twitched her nose, thought for a moment, and squeaked at the small mice around her:
"Squeak squeak squeak!"
"Squeak squeak!"
"Squeak squeak squeak!"
With that, several rats scurried into the woodpile, while others scurried out, appearing to be busy with something.
After a short while, a small rat ran back and squeaked frantically. After listening, Sister 27 nodded repeatedly.
"I've gathered the information. There was indeed a family surnamed Niu in the Wenshan area who were hunters for generations. They had a son named Chunsheng.
Over twenty years ago, Chunsheng's grandfather went hunting in the mountains and was bitten to death by a tiger.
Later, to seek revenge, Chunsheng's father went into the mountains and killed a tiger.
But the strange thing is, when Chunsheng turned nineteen, he was also snatched away by a tiger and became a chang ghost.
Afterward, one by one, the members of the Niu family were bitten to death by the tiger, and Chunsheng's father died of illness.
Now, only the Niu family ancestral house remains, but it's haunted, and no one dares to go there."
Nan Zhi breathed a sigh of relief.
As expected, her guess was correct.
Chunsheng was likely a hunter from the Wen County area. Constable Zhang and his men, being unfamiliar with the terrain, must have looked for someone to lead them to catch the tiger, only to be deceived by the chang ghost.
Sister 27 stared at Nan Zhi and suddenly grinned like a human, saying:
"My ninth brother is usually stingy. To think he'd actually give you a tuft of hair to find me for help.
He must have taken some benefits from you. I'm not greedy, but you must give me a reward as well.
I won't ask for much, but whatever good thing you gave my ninth brother, I want double."
Nan Zhi indicated that she understood the rules.
So, she pulled out two bottles of Qi-Supplementing Pills and handed them to Sister 27.
No wonder those in the information business in novels made so much money.
With this level of efficiency, she was more than willing to pay double.
Nan Zhi was very satisfied, and Sister 27 was also very satisfied.
A win-win situation.
...
...
Half an hour later, led by a rat, Nan Zhi found the Niu family ancestral house.
It was a large courtyard with four tile-roofed rooms, with a vegetable plot in front and Wenshan at the back.
It was built in a somewhat remote location; one had to walk several hundred meters to see the next house.
The courtyard was dilapidated and desolate, with farm tools scattered everywhere. Thick layers of fallen leaves were pressed down, rotting into mud, making it almost impossible to see the original state of the courtyard.
The doors and windows were rotten beyond recognition, covered in spiderwebs. Snakes, insects, rats, and ants had made their homes here. It couldn't be more desolate.
Holding a lantern, Nan Zhi walked in and saw a row of spirit tablets placed neatly on the table in the main room.
【Spirit Tablet of Late Grandfather Niu Dadan】
【Spirit Tablet of Late Grandmother Niu-Liu】
【Spirit Tablet of Late Father Niu Zhu】
【Spirit Tablet of Late Mother Niu-Wang】
As she walked in, several faint shadows drifted out, staring intently at her.
Nan Zhi: "..."
It was quite lively for such a late hour, wasn't it?
In her previous death, she had been so desperate to save people that she had rushed into Wenshan without understanding the situation, leading to a certain-death ending.
Although she had learned the weakness of the white tiger who called itself the Mountain Lord through reloading, the eight chang ghosts under the tiger's command were also a problem.
The chang ghosts were the white tiger's minions.
They roamed the mountains, acting as the tiger's eyes and ears. Any slight movement would not escape the white tiger.
Therefore, to achieve a one-hit kill, she had to snap off these claws of the white tiger one by one.
She would start with Chunsheng.
Rate on N.U.
