Ben Fu couldn't hold back his nosebleed any longer. He instinctively tried to block it with one hand, resulting in blood all over his hand, creating a flustered and embarrassed mess.

A moment later, the gazes directed at Chen Xiaomeng were exceptionally colorful.

By the time Chen Xiaomeng reacted, she was filled with embarrassment and anger. She grabbed the rope, ready to immediately bring justice to this scoundrel, when a burst of exclamation erupted from the crowd.

Everyone stared at the rope in Chen Xiaomeng's hand, as if some strange idea had been confirmed.

Thus... before the village chief arrived, Chen Xiaomeng had only managed a few sips of porridge before she was too angry to eat anymore. Jiang Cheng, on the other hand, devoured three bowls and finished all the pickled cucumber side dishes.

He even tentatively asked Chen Xiaomeng if she wanted more until he saw her livid expression, at which point he gave up.

Seemingly due to the unpleasantness of yesterday's encounter with the shop owner, the village chief and his entourage merely stood in front of the shop, peering inside from time to time.

Upon seeing the village chief, Zhou Rong stood up from the table and walked over to them.

"Please wait a moment," Zhou Rong said, "I'll return the keys to the owner first, then I'll go with you."

The old village chief, his forehead covered in wrinkles, rubbed his hands together in barely concealed excitement, and said with a smile, "Don't rush. Your willingness to come is a blessing from our ancestors for the entire village."

Hearing this, Yu Man, who was reclining in the wooden chair in a suggestive pose, sneered, "If your ancestors had accumulated virtue, you wouldn't have ended up in such a state."

Of course, she kept her voice low so only those nearby could hear.

Li Lu frowned slightly but said nothing.

After waiting for a while longer, the shop owner still hadn't appeared. From morning until now, neither the shop owner nor his wife had been seen.

Zhou Rong was the first to wake up, but he merely opened the door and stood there, waiting for the door next door to open before going downstairs with everyone else.

The porridge had been placed downstairs early in the morning. Next to the pot of porridge were eight sets of bowls and chopsticks, clearly left for them to have breakfast.

Jiang Cheng slowly swallowed the last mouthful of porridge, his eyes fixed on the staircase.

So were Chen Xiaomeng's.

She was waiting. The shop owner, who had promised to get up early to see them off, hadn't appeared.

Instead, the village chief and his group had come to their door.

The sky was already bright. Zhou Rong, holding a bunch of keys in his hand, seemed impatient. He stood up and turned to go upstairs.

Before he reached the stairs, a figure rushed up behind him. "Mr. Zhou," Jiang Cheng walked up to him amiably, walking alongside him, "Let me accompany you."

"Alright."

Given Jiang Cheng's support yesterday, he had a good impression of him, even though he knew Jiang Cheng wasn't as simple as he seemed.

They searched the second floor, but they didn't find the shop owner and his wife.

The same was true of the third floor.

They hadn't expected that this not-so-small inn would only have eight guests.

"Could they have gone out?" Jiang Cheng asked, looking around, "I heard a fatty say that the vegetables at the morning market are cheap and fresh, and many restaurant owners like to go there early to stock up."

"Maybe," Zhou Rong replied, turning around as he spoke, "It seems we'll have to leave the keys on the counter, so they'll see them when they get back."

Hearing this, Jiang Cheng clapped his hands in praise and said, "As expected of Mr. Zhou, to think of such a method!"

Zhou Rong, who had just turned around, couldn't help but freeze. He turned his head in confusion.

Jiang Cheng continued, "Compared to you, I am like a firefly compared to the sun! One must view another with new respect after being apart for only three days!" He pointed to a candlestick at the end of the corridor, making an unflinching analogy.

Zhou Rong: "???"

What the hell is all this nonsense...?

Although he thought so in his heart, he still subconsciously looked in the direction Jiang Cheng was pointing. The third floor was much smaller than the second floor, with only 10 rooms.

Separated by a corridor, five rooms on each side, facing each other.

Only the side he had come up had stairs; the other side was blocked by a wall.

Due to the lighting, a candlestick hung on the wall.

A pale white candle burned dimly, giving off an inexplicable feeling of oppression.

It was like... arriving at a funeral hall.

Just now, he was only focused on finding the shop owner and his wife. Now, Zhou Rong suddenly noticed the candle and the position of the candlestick.

The position of the candlestick was rather strange, hanging neither too high nor too low in the center of the wall, which made its lighting effect very limited, and... as if he had discovered something, his eyes suddenly became strange.

The wall opposite him was also not quite right; it had been painted a rare black.

This made the already poorly lit third floor even darker. Standing in front of the stairs and looking inside, what stood before him didn't look like a wall, but like the entrance to hell.

People living in this era were a bit backward, but they weren't stupid. How could they design such a layout?

The next second, Zhou Rong's pupils suddenly contracted.

He had excellent eyesight and had just seen the flame on the candle tremble violently.

Immediately afterward, he felt a breeze brush across his face, very lightly, but... he looked at both sides of the corridor. All the doors were closed, so where did the wind come from?

The fact proved that discovering problems wasn't his forte; analyzing and solving them was. He immediately summoned the information about this inn from his mind.

There were three floors. From the outside, the first and second floors were the same length, only the third floor was noticeably shorter.

This explained why the second floor had 14 rooms, while the third floor only had 10.

In other words, the second floor was about two rooms wider than the third floor.

But according to Zhou Rong's recollection, that wasn't actually the case.

So... behind that wall, there was likely another space.

And the shop owner and his wife were hidden there.

Without explaining to Jiang Cheng, he immediately tiptoed over to the wall, stood quietly, and stretched out a finger, wetting it with his tongue, and then slowly groped around the wall.

Soon, he felt a slight coolness on his finger.

He discovered a crack near where the wall was tightly joined.

The crack was actually quite rough, but because the wall was completely black and the lighting was poor, even someone standing in front of it would hardly notice it if they weren't paying attention.

Moreover, no one would have thought that there was a hidden room behind it.

The crack was relatively large. Zhou Rong's throat bobbed, and he hesitated for a moment before bringing his head closer without hesitation.

There was indeed another world inside. A white candle, almost identical to the one outside, stood in a corner of the secret room, burning dimly.

In the dim light, he saw a familiar back view, a back view wearing a dirty apron, it was the shop owner.

He was trembling all over, as if excitedly explaining something. Because of the angle, he couldn't see the person in front of the shop owner, only a pair of feet.

Those feet were very small, clearly not the owner's wife's.