Rules of Horror: Survival Begins in the Haunted Harem - Chapter 23

Xie Nuange lay perfectly still in the darkness.

The matron’s head remained face-to-face with her sleeping face.

At least this scenario possessed a certain degree of intelligence.

Otherwise, death announcements would have sounded throughout the night. Anyone startled awake by the noise would have opened their eyes and suffered a heart attack even without violating a rule.

Xie Nuange considered how Jiang Fan had entered with the matron.

Then she recalled the moment Jiang Fan split away from the matron’s body.

Certain things were beginning to make sense.

[Once, she was powerless to resist. Now, she holds the executioner’s blade of the rules.]

If Xie Nuange had not happened to confirm her earlier theory tonight, she would still have been left testing possibilities.

Now she was certain that the matron and Jiang Fan were connected.

Perhaps the matron was Jiang Fan.

Xie Nuange withdrew her attention and silently counted the markings on the water clock.

How many people would die tonight?

And even if they survived the night, how many would live through tomorrow’s tea lesson?

Only two days remained, and the number of survivors was already nearing half its original size.

If they did not clear the scenario soon, it would only become harder.

That night dragged on far longer than usual.

At the first rooster’s crow, the matrons finally withdrew their stares and slowly left the room.

Only after the door closed did Cheng Luo and Ye Wan open their eyes.

Xie Nuange opened hers as well.

[Current palace candidate rankings: 27 candidates remaining.]

[Rank One: Zhao Ning.

Rank Four: Ye Wan.

Rank Seven: Gray.

Rank Eight: Cheng Luo.

Rank Nine: Xie Nuange.

Rank Ten: Liu Feng.

Rank Eleven: Meng Shi (Gray).

Rank Eighteen: Gray.

Rank Twenty-Three: Gray.]

Xie Nuange frowned at the rankings.

The former Rank Six had somehow forced her way up to Rank Three overnight.

Four people had died before morning.

[Palace Candidate Rankings updated: 23 candidates remaining.]

Xie Nuange rose from Rank Nine to Rank Eight.

After today’s rules lesson, they would have to clear the scenario as soon as possible.

The top ten were now targets for everyone behind them.

Xie Nuange hurriedly sat up, intending to search for more clues.

They were supposed to rise at the Hour of the Rabbit, which had not yet arrived.

But it should be safe to get up now.

The three women exchanged glances. No one spoke.

Their gazes settled on Meng Shi’s empty bed.

They began searching for clues. For the first time, someone from their own room had been taken away in the night.

“What a waste of a ghost item.”

Cheng Luo looked regretfully between Ye Wan and the empty bed.

“Why didn’t she leave a single one behind?”

“Because they’re in the well. Didn’t you hear the splash last night?” Xie Nuange turned toward her. “If you want them, you could have Mom climb down and fish them out.”

The corner of Cheng Luo’s mouth twitched. “I’ll pass.”

Ye Wan searched the area but found nothing except a single shoe beside the bed. Two small characters marked its edge.

“Jiang Fan.”

As always, the object began dissolving the moment someone noticed the name Jiang Fan.

Ye Wan looked up at Xie Nuange. “What was your clue? I’ve already lost a ghost item. I’m not losing the clue too.”

Cheng Luo also turned to her.

“Isn’t this the clue?” Xie Nuange pointed at the empty bed. “What Jiang Fan hates most are bullies.”

“Bullies?”

Ye Wan looked thoughtful.

“We saw Jiang Fan’s jade pendant before. Her family probably had neither power nor influence,” Xie Nuange said, looking between Ye Wan and Cheng Luo.

“She was a palace candidate. In her time, there were no anomalies—only palace candidates scheming against one another.”

“I asked Liu Feng why Jiang Fan skipped her and killed Rank Eleven instead. Liu Feng said she didn’t know.”

“She thought she was certain to die because Rank Eleven had stolen all her ghost items.”

“Yesterday, Jiang Fan took Rank Twenty. And when I questioned the roommates of the Rank Fifteen who died on the first night, I learned that Fifteen had forced someone else out of her bed on the first day…”

The only gap was Rank Fourteen. Xie Nuange still did not know what she had done before she died.

“So Jiang Fan doesn’t only kill candidates who learn the rules poorly,” Ye Wan concluded. “She also kills those who have bullied someone else.”

“Yes. Those should be the only two conditions.”

Cheng Luo tilted her head adorably after listening to them.

“Big Sister Xie, how do we know any of that is true?” she asked with an innocent expression. “What if you made it all up just to protect yourself?”

“See? I tell you, and you refuse to believe me.”

Xie Nuange shrugged, returning Ye Wan’s earlier words to Cheng Luo.

Each harboring her own thoughts, the three women opened the door and went outside.

More than twenty long tables had been arranged in the courtyard.

A tea tray sat on each one. Every tray held a celadon tea bowl filled seven-tenths of the way with steaming tea.

Palace candidates emerged from the various rooms in twos and threes, studying the objects in the courtyard.

Xie Nuange looked past the crowd to the matron on the steps.

She looked the same as ever: blue-white face, papier-mâché smile, cloudy eyes fixed unblinkingly upon them.

“Your Ladyships, please stand according to your rankings. Today, this servant will teach you how to serve tea.”

Xie Nuange entered the courtyard with the others and checked the numbers on the tables.

She found the place marked Eight.

Then she summoned the thorn seeds she had left in the bedroom.

Through them, Xie Nuange first inspected the woman who had risen so abruptly—the former Rank Six, now Rank Three.

How had she climbed into the top three in a single night?

Had she found some special method?

“Today, you will learn the rules of serving tea.”

The matron’s voice interrupted Xie Nuange’s thoughts.

She lifted her chin. A palace maid behind her stepped forward, picked up a tea bowl, and began the demonstration.

“Serving tea is among the most important forms of palace etiquette.”

“In the future, Your Ladyships will serve tea when you meet His Majesty, the Empress Dowager, the Empress, or a high-ranking imperial consort.”

Xie Nuange watched the palace maid’s movements.

[Rules for Serving Tea:]

[Rule One: Support the bottom of the bowl with your left hand and steady the rim with your right. Leave the lid open a narrow crack, and make certain the bowl contains tea—not something else.]

[Rule Two: Do not open the lid completely. If the gap grows too wide, there is no telling what you might see.]

[Rule Three: Keep your gaze lowered and fixed on the tea. Make certain it remains clear.]

[Rule Four: When serving, bend your knees and raise the bowl to the level of your brow with both hands. Do not straighten until the recipient has accepted it.]

[Rule Five: Do not spill a single drop. If the bowl falls below eight-tenths full, you will have to fill it yourself.]

[Rule Six: The lid must not make a sound. Any noise is a grave act of disrespect.]

When the palace maid finished demonstrating, she stepped aside. The rules gradually faded and disappeared.

The matron swept her gaze across the candidates. “Today is the fifth day. Once you pass this tea-serving trial, you will have no further rules to study. Your Ladyships need only await the final palace selection on the seventh day.”

Xie Nuange reviewed the rules in her mind.

They looked simple enough.

But would the final lesson truly be so easy to pass?