Rules of Horror: Survival Begins in the Haunted Harem - Chapter 64

Xie Nuange lowered her lashes and slowly approached Old Madam Xie.

At the same time, she swiftly activated her skill on the old woman.

Datafication.

[Target: Old Madam of the Xie Residence, Madam Zhou.]

[Identity: Mother of Vice Minister Xie and the most senior member of the Xie Residence.]

[In her youth, she accompanied her husband to his provincial posts. She has ruled the inner household for more than forty years. Her methods are fierce, and everyone in the Xie Residence fears and respects her.]

The old woman reached out and took Xie Nuange’s hand.

Her hand was as warm as Madam Xie’s—warmer, if anything.

Age-spotted fingers enclosed Xie Nuange’s hand. One thumb gently stroked its back.

She looked exactly like a grandmother reunited with a granddaughter after a long absence.

“Come sit.”

Xie Nuange did not follow the force of Old Madam Xie’s hand. Instead, she sat on the footstool.

“How did you fare during your time in the palace?”

“Everything went well, Grandmother.”

Xie Nuange answered with perfect propriety, remaining alert for any head that might lunge toward her.

“Good.”

The old woman nodded, fingers still patting the back of Xie Nuange’s hand. “Grandmother was always afraid you might suffer in the palace. Now it seems you’re much more sensible than you were as a child.”

Su Ye stood beside Xie Nuange, ready for any sudden danger.

As Old Madam Xie spoke, the old man’s head lowered from above her left shoulder until it nearly touched the crown of Xie Nuange’s head.

“My, Nuange is all grown up? Very good, very good. Entering the palace has brought honor to the Xie family.”

Another woman’s head leaned closer. “Hmph. If that old hag hadn’t made her move, my daughter might have entered the palace too…”

“As if! Your daughter was born to a concubine. This one is legitimate!”

Xie Nuange divided her attention between listening to the heads and responding to Old Madam Xie and Madam Xie.

Her gaze settled on the bracelet around the old woman’s wrist.

“Just like when you were little. The moment you see something you like, you can’t take your eyes off it.”

Old Madam Xie slipped the black obsidian bracelet from her wrist and placed it around Xie Nuange’s.

“Grandmother, this…”

“Even Grandmother doesn’t know where this bracelet came from.”

The old woman sounded both casual and puzzled. “I don’t particularly like it, and I don’t know why I’ve worn it for so many years. If you like it, you may have it.”

“Thank you, Grandmother.”

By the time they left Shouchun Hall, night had fully fallen.

Madam Xie escorted Xie Nuange to the gate of Qiwu Residence. After reminding her several times about the hour and attire for opening the ancestral hall tomorrow, she left with the maids.

Su Ye barred the door. The instant she turned around, her gaze fell on Xie Nuange’s wrist.

“A ghost item?” she whispered.

“Yes.”

Xie Nuange looked serious. “And one that has already been used once.”

[Ghost Item: Twelve Links Bracelet.]

[Effect: Twelve beads. Each may block one attack. The bead shatters after blocking.]

[Remaining Uses: 11/12.]

“Old Madam Xie said she didn’t know where it came from, but this ghost item has been used once.”

Xie Nuange looked at Su Ye. “That means there is a Chosen Player inside the Xie Residence.”

“Could the Chosen Player be one of those heads behind the old woman?” Su Ye suggested.

Xie Nuange shook her head. “I don’t know. But judging by what the heads said tonight…”

“They all seem to have died at the old woman’s hands.”

“We should sleep early. Who knows whether visiting the ancestral hall tomorrow will trigger another scenario?”

Su Ye studied the things in the room. “Before we enter the palace at midnight the day after tomorrow, bring everything unusual in your room.”

“What if some of it is a ghost item?”

Once they lay down, Su Ye suddenly asked, “Did you check your panel?”

“Yes.”

Xie Nuange did not mention the side quest, even though Su Ye’s loyalty was astonishingly high at ninety.

“Did you see the Assimilation Level? What’s yours?”

Su Ye opened her own panel and frowned. “My Assimilation Level is zero. My side quest is to help you clear your maternal family’s name.”

“If you succeed, I succeed. If you fail, I fail.”

She rolled over and looked teasingly at Xie Nuange. “Why didn’t you tell me about the side quest?”

Xie Nuange had not expected their quests to be bound together.

She blinked innocently. “I hadn’t decided whether to accept it.”

“Liar.”

Su Ye snorted. “You’re far too guarded.”

Xie Nuange did not answer. Instead, she asked something she had been wondering about.

“Why did you suddenly agree to cooperate in Yinghua Hall?”

She stared into Su Ye’s black eyes, unusually bright in the darkness. “Before that, you kept wavering over whether to work with me.”

Su Ye copied Xie Nuange and blinked. “Did I? I always said we could cooperate.”

She touched the red cord at her chest.

She would never tell Xie Nuange how, the first time, she had chosen to become her enemy.

Xie Nuange nodded without pursuing it. They were bound together now. They would rise together and fall together.

“Tomorrow they open the ancestral hall. I wonder if it will be another scenario.”

Nothing happened that night.

At the exact hour of the Rabbit, a maid entered with a brass basin of hot water and helped Xie Nuange wash and dress her hair.

They were opening the ancestral hall today, so her clothing and ornaments were more formal than yesterday’s.

Su Ye assisted from the side, straightened Xie Nuange’s collar, then stepped back and looked her over before nodding. The two left the room.

The ancestral hall stood on the eastern side of the Xie Residence in a separate courtyard. A plaque above the gate read Ancestral Hall of the Xie Clan.

Madam Xie and the rest waited outside. Only Master Xie and Xie Nuange entered.

Xie Nuange gave Su Ye a slight nod, then followed Master Xie across the black threshold.

Even after she emerged from the ancestral hall, tense and vigilant, Xie Nuange remained utterly bewildered.

It truly was nothing more than an ordinary, perfectly normal Xie Residence.

Everything remained normal until the hour before she was due to enter the palace.

Madam Xie arrived carrying a bundle filled with banknotes and silver ingots.

“Mother.”

Madam Xie reached out to straighten Xie Nuange’s collar, her fingertips trembling faintly.

She opened her mouth as though to speak, but in the end only smiled. “Let’s go. The sedan chair should be here.”

The lanterns beneath the covered walkway had already been lit.

Xie Nuange walked several steps, then suddenly stopped.

She raised her head and looked at the lanterns hanging on either side. A few days ago, they had been red.

Today, they were white.

One after another, they extended all the way beyond the gate.

“Let’s go,” Madam Xie said hoarsely. “Don’t keep the people from the palace waiting.”

Xie Nuange and Su Ye exchanged a glance. Even if the family chose not to hang red lanterns, surely they should not hang white ones?

Both women walked warily toward the entrance. Old Madam Xie and Master Xie were already waiting there.

The two cousins also watched Xie Nuange with reluctance in their eyes.

Outside, the sound of a suona approached from far down the road. Only when it drew close did Xie Nuange recognize funeral music.

A plain white sedan chair waited beyond the gate.

The official at its head bowed and invited Xie Nuange to enter. Su Ye nodded to her.

“Go on.”

Madam Xie clutched her handkerchief and began to weep.

Xie Nuange entered the sedan chair. It rose, and the night wind carried Madam Xie’s sobs inside.

She lifted the curtain and watched the Xie Residence recede.

The white sedan chair, the residence’s white lanterns, and the funeral music in the darkness…

No matter how she looked at it, this did not resemble sending off a bride.

It looked more like a funeral procession.