Chapter 1 Woman in Burgundy

"You are..." the woman in the burgundy coat asked, holding a large pile of items wrapped in cloth, looking rather haggard.

"Are you the owner of this shop?" Hua Luo asked.

The woman nodded. "Yes, I am." After a moment, she said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I'm getting ready to move out. I'm just here today to pack things up, so I can't really..."

Before she could finish, her eyes were drawn to a splash of bright red on the floor, near the shards of a nail polish bottle.

Yu Lan stood there awkwardly, explaining to the woman, "I accidentally broke it. Please tell me how much it costs, and I'll pay you."

She didn't have much money, and because she was timid, she hadn't dared to rummage around in the room, unlike Jiao Tailang, who had turned the sofa upside down.

Finally, she pulled a blue wallet out of the pocket of ripped jeans, containing a few anonymous membership cards and several hundred yuan in cash.

After saying she would pay, she turned to look at Jiao Tailang. Before she could speak, the woman sighed and said, "It's okay, they're just cheap trinkets. It's fine if it's broken." She paused. "I'm not doing this anymore anyway."

"That won't do." Jiao Tailang glanced at the price tag under the nail polish display and pulled out a twenty-yuan bill. "We should pay for the broken bottle, and I'll take another one."

"Hua Luo," Jiao Tailang said, "go pick out one you like."

Hua Luo walked over naturally, lifting the hem of her skirt as she passed the nail polish on the floor, seemingly worried about getting it on her.

Then she slowly picked through the basket of nail polish.

While Hua Luo was stalling for time, Wan Yuanning naturally found a seat, looking around as if she were waiting for someone.

"Although this place is a bit out of the way, we didn't see another nail salon on the way here," Wan Yuanning said, looking at the woman. "And I heard that these kinds of shops mostly rely on word of mouth, attracting repeat customers. Why not keep at it?"

Perhaps because she had been paid, the woman's attitude improved. She put down the things in her hands and said, "You're right. Actually, my business here... my business here is not bad."

"Then why?" Jiao Tailang looked around as if he didn't know, and asked knowingly, "The rent and utilities here shouldn't be expensive, right?"

Hearing this, the woman was silent for a long time, finally shaking her head and saying, "It's not expensive. I just... I just don't want to do this anymore."

Staring into the woman's eyes, Hua Luo noticed her gaze was constantly shifting. So, she put down the nail polish and suddenly said, "Is it because you can't manage on your own?"

The woman was taken aback.

"Why not consider hiring someone?" Wan Yuanning continued, her tone gentle. "They could help you share the load."

Now the woman started to panic. She immediately stood up and smiled apologetically at them. "I'm sorry, I still have things to move, so I can't stay with you. If you... if you want to get your nails done, go to the one in the east of the city. It's very famous; you can ask around and find it."

Having finally probed out a clue, there was no way they were going to let her go. Jiao Tailang immediately stopped her, saying, "Boss, since you're moving out anyway, if the lease hasn't expired, could we... rent it from you?"

"No way!" the woman said vehemently.

"Why not?" Jiao Tailang asked.

"Don't ask so many questions. Just leave quickly. To tell you the truth, I haven't been here since that incident. Today is the last day of the lease, and I have to move my things out, that's why I came." After a pause, the woman pursed her lips and said quickly, "Take my advice, don't be tempted by the cheap rent here. There's a reason for it. Haven't you noticed that everything around here is empty?"

Following the direction of the woman's finger, everyone saw two rows of shops nearby, but they looked dark because no one was running them.

The doors and windows of these shops were covered with white "For Rent" signs.

A gust of eerie wind blew in, causing the white signs to flap up and down, making a rustling sound that echoed into the darkness.

At that moment, Yu Lan had a strange feeling, as if she were standing in a graveyard, with white banners of summoning souls fluttering in front of her.

"What happened?" Jiao Tailang and Wan Yuanning asked in unison.

Seemingly worried that these nice-looking young people were being deceived, the woman hesitated for a moment, then invited them inside.

Before, they had been standing near the doorway, and the woman seemed reluctant to approach the darkness.

The woman led them into the room inside, the one she had come out of.

Then she turned around and poured each of them a cup of hot water in white paper cups, and sat down. After a long pause, she sighed and said, "You asked me why I didn't hire someone to help? Actually, I did hire someone, not full-time, just to work here part-time when I was too busy." The woman's Adam's apple bobbed as she said, "This matter... is related to her."

"Oh, her name was Song Xiaoyou," the woman added. "Xiaoyou was a very nice girl, a college student. Besides working here, she also worked at another shop here."

"That was a shop that specialized in wigs. The thing..." The woman pursed her lips, then continued, "The thing happened there."

"That day, I went to buy supplies. I wasn't in the shop. When I came back, I saw police cars parked outside, and a lot of people in police uniforms were busy. When I went inside, I found that the wig shop had been sealed off, and there was police tape around it."

"The owners and employees of the nearby shops were all called in for questioning. I saw someone holding a notebook, writing down what they said."

"It wasn't until the afternoon that I learned from one of the owners that Xiaoyou... was dead."

Although they had already guessed this ending, to appear normal, Jiao Tailang, Wan Yuanning, and Hua Luo all acted very surprised.

Especially Yu Lan, who even started to tremble.

Wan Yuanning glanced at her casually, a flicker passing through her eyes.

"How did she die?" Hua Luo pressed.

The woman tightened the collar of her red coat, a look of fear appearing in her eyes, as if she were reliving that day. "According to what they said, the owner of the wig shop came to open the door in the morning and found that the door wasn't locked. He pushed it open and saw that the inside was a mess. Not only were a lot of things knocked over, but even some of the wigs were thrown on the floor. Anyone would have thought it had been robbed."

"Because Xiaoyou was responsible for cleaning up and closing the shop the night before, he immediately called her to ask what was going on, but what he didn't expect was..." The woman looked at Yu Lan, who was closest to her, and lowered her voice. "The ringing... was coming from the storage room in the back."