EBE Chapter 358 The Well
Chapter 358 The Well
“We are servants brought by the madam,” said the older maid. “When we first arrived, the person who taught us manners said that we must be careful if we see a well in the mansion.”
“These wells look exactly like ordinary wells at first glance, but they always appear in places where other wells wouldn’t,” the maid said. “She told us to be careful if we saw these wells.”
"Otherwise, if you get too close, it will swallow you whole."
“We didn’t pay much attention at first,” another maid said. “The Gao family has many rules, and we spend most of our time with the madam, handling various affairs.”
“Until one night, when I got up, I found she was not in the room,” said the older maid, referring to her companion.
“We can’t go out at night, and when I saw she was missing, I got worried about her, so I thought I’d open the door to check on her.” As she spoke, her voice became less calm. “So I opened the door, thinking I’d see where she had gone.”
"Then I saw that a well had suddenly appeared in the yard."
"It was a full moon night, and I saw the well in the center of the yard. It was bare all around, but there was a series of footprints on the ground... The footprints were the footprints of someone who had climbed out of the well."
“But where is the well in our yard?” she said, her teeth chattering, as if she were back on that moonlit night.
"I was terrified and quickly closed the door."
"But when I turned around, I found that there was a well in the room."
“I didn’t dare to look at that thing.” She looked at Yan Xun and the others. “The well opening was pitch black, and I didn’t dare to look. I was also worried that something inside would crawl out, so I could only move the table and cover it over the well.”
"I quickly went back to bed, covered my head with the blanket, and dared not speak or make a sound..."
"I don't know how much time passed, but I was shaken awake." She glanced at her companion as she spoke, "She asked me if I had gone out during the night?"
"I said I just opened the door and took a peek in at night."
"She asked me why I was so careless, opening the door at night and then not closing it," the maid said slowly.
"I glanced at the door and noticed it was pushed open..."
"There are still overturned tables on the ground."
“Something crawled out of the well and then crawled out of our room and out again.”
Her voice was low, as if she were back in that night. Sun Zhao felt a little uneasy at her tone and rubbed his arms. "Did anything strange happen in the manor afterwards?"
"There's one person missing from the household," the maid said.
"Because it was the person who disciplined us who told us about this well, we hurriedly told her about it." The speaker was the older maid's companion.
"She told us not to make a fuss."
“The more people know about this, the more people will eat from the well,” she told Yan Xun and the others. “The more afraid we are of the well, the clearer we understand what it is, the more it will devour us.”
“So after that, whenever we saw a well that shouldn’t be there, we would pull the others away,” the older maid said. “Generally, as long as you avoid the well and pretend you didn’t see it, it won’t follow.”
But today, the well has caught up.
Yan Xun understood the implication behind his words.
"So that's why you told us about this?" Yan Xun asked.
The older maid hesitated before nodding, "I'm worried that something might have changed again."
"Is the person who told you the legend of the well still alive?" Yan Xun asked.
"Her?" The maid shook her head. "She left here more than two years ago."
"They said they wanted to go back to the countryside to retire."
"Master Gao doesn't know about this?" Yan Xun asked curiously.
Judging from the background description of the dungeon, Master Gao is clearly not the kind of confused old man. Or rather, it is precisely because he is physically weak that he has such a pathological level of control over this house.
He couldn't possibly allow something he didn't know to happen to his house.
Gao Ruiyun should not have been completely unaware of the mysterious appearance of a well that supposedly swallows people.
Yan Xun's question stumped the maid. She and her companion exchanged a glance. "The person who told us about the well said that such things only circulated within the inner quarters..."
"The master is very busy, so don't bother him with such matters."
Furthermore, the more people who know about it, the more powerful the well is believed to be, and they are afraid of this, so naturally they dare not speak out.
Even Li Wu, who served them, was unaware of this.
"You haven't seen this well in all this time?" Yan Xun asked Li Wu.
“I may have seen it before, but I just thought it was an ordinary well,” Li Wu said.
Master Gao was keeping a close eye on them. These maids, though supposedly serving them, were actually his spies watching them. Although Li Wu's two maids were brought from his home, Yan Xun felt that given Gao Ruiyun's suspicious nature, they wouldn't still be by Li Wu's side if they hadn't been bribed.
It was impossible to tell whether Li Wu was happy or unhappy from his words, and the two maids immediately became a little uneasy.
Sun Zhao asked curiously, "Is this something only the two of you know about?"
"If we accidentally stumble upon it, wouldn't we be serving up as extra food for the well?"
The older maid hurriedly shook her head, "Everyone knows that seeing a well is unlucky, and you should avoid it immediately."
"If you get too close by accident, you might get bumped," Xiao Hong added.
She had only been in the Gao family for a short time, but she was already aware of this rule in the household.
"So you all know you have to be careful when you see a well, but you don't know why you should be careful?" Yan Xun asked.
Xiao Hong nodded, "There are many rules in the manor, and you'll be punished if you can't remember them."
"Everyone is busy memorizing the rules, and no one will delve into the reasons or wonder why there are such rules."
The other maids echoed, saying they had all heard the rule of avoiding wells if they came across them.
Yan Xun took the opportunity to inquire about the ancestral hall—he had just entered the Gao family and was unaware of these rules, so he could ask whatever he wanted.
“We cannot enter the ancestral hall, and we know nothing about these matters,” said the older maid.
"Since the master says it's okay to go, then it should be fine, right?"
“But none of the previous ladies had asked about this,” she said to Yan Xun.
Seeing this, the players asked the maid to leave first so they could whisper among themselves.
Yan Xun told Sun Zhao and the other person about the banquet. Sun Zhao frowned and said, "I really didn't know about this."
He then looked at Gu Jia, "Have you heard of it?"
Gu Jia shook her head.
"I don't get along with Mr. Gao."
"Not good?" Yan Xun still remembered Gu Jia's identity. He was picked up by Gao Ruiyun when they were fleeing. If Gao Ruiyun didn't like him, why would he help him pick him up?
“I don’t see him often,” Gu Jia said, emphasizing each word.
"No wedding night?" Yan Xun wondered.
“No,” Gu Jia said.
“Me too.” Sun Zhao pointed to himself. “I only have the title. After joining the Gao family, my relationship with Gu Jia is the only thing that’s okay.”
“I found my old diary in the room. It said that I felt that life in the Gao family was very strange to me. Everything was very depressing. Gao Ruiyun was not as understanding as when we were studying abroad. He had a strange personality and was as gloomy as a dead person on weekdays.”
"So I want to leave this house."
“But Gao Ruiyun keeps a very close watch on us. We have to be accompanied by attendants when we go out, and we can’t leave at will,” Sun Zhao said, stroking his chin. “We also need a note written by him when we go out.”
"..." Yan Xun was speechless. "He's a high school homeroom teacher? Do I need his permission to leave the school?"
“Something’s strange,” Gu Jia said succinctly.
“Indeed,” Sun Zhao agreed. “I guess this bastard isn’t up to anything, otherwise he wouldn’t be watching us so closely.”
“Besides, I don’t think he likes us,” Sun Zhao said. “It’s said that he had someone specifically check the birth dates of each of his concubines, which is probably related to the thing that the Gao family worships.”
Sun Zhao then looked at Li Wu, "You were the first one in, do you know anything else?"
“Like you, Gao Ruiyun and I aren’t close either. We only see each other a few times a year,” Li Wu said. “All I know is that he suddenly marries someone, and it seems that his birth date and time were indeed calculated by someone.”
"Where are Gao Ruiyun's parents?" Yan Xun asked.
On the day of the wedding ceremony, Mr. Gao's parents did not appear, and their seats were empty.
“Five years ago, the two of them encountered bandits on their way back to the city. Those people not only robbed them but also killed them…” Li Wu said. “When they were found, they had already been dead for several days.”
“Some people suspected it was premeditated murder, but the bandits insisted that they saw the old couple dressed well and looked like rich people, so they had evil intentions and robbed them on the road.”
“However, over the years, many of the direct and collateral branches of the Gao family have died unnatural deaths,” Li Wu said. “The only direct descendant of the Gao family left is Gao Ruiyun, and it seems he won’t live much longer.”
Yan Xun then recalled what Gao Ruiyun had said: because the great master they worshipped did not attend the banquet 30 years ago, the Gao family was cursed.
“By the way, there’s a place in the Gao family’s territory that we can’t go,” Li Wu said.
Yan Xun pricked up his ears.
Li Wu said, "They say that place is where a madman is kept."
"A madman?" Sun Zhao interjected. "In the dungeon, he's either someone who knows the truth, or someone who went mad after knowing the truth."
Where?
Li Wu found paper and pen, drew a simple map, and then circled a place—this location was not far from the Gao family's ancestral hall.
“Although the instance doesn’t explicitly state it, I think we shouldn’t anger Master Gao in this instance,” Li Wu said.
“So we can only go to this place secretly, or accidentally sneak in,” Li Wu said to Yan Xun. “You’ve just entered the Gao family, so you shouldn’t know that the Gao family has such a forbidden area.”
"That place is very close to the ancestral hall, so it's also possible that they got lost and accidentally wandered in."
While the group was still plotting, Yan Xun heard footsteps and the maids knocking on the door to warn him that other people had come to visit.
When the door was opened, Chi Yuan and the others were standing outside.
Gawain looked at them with displeasure, then said to the maids following him, "I told you not to come with me."
The two maids remained unmoved and continued to follow Gawain without leaving.
Li Wu looked at the two of them and said, "Let's talk alone."
The two maids exchanged a glance and said coldly, "Master is worried about Fifth Madam and told us that no matter what happens, we must not leave Fifth Madam's side."
Their tone prompted Li Wu's maid to speak first, "How dare you! Who gives you the right to speak here?"
The two remained standing behind Gao Wen, refusing to leave, as if no one could persuade them unless Gao Ruiyun himself came.
Although Yan Xun knew that these maids were essentially spying on them, he did not expect that the two people next to Gao Wen would be so blatant.
"Who told him to try to run away?" Lou Yanchuan suddenly spoke up.
“He even secretly ran away three months ago,” he told everyone. “Yan Xun doesn’t know, but don’t you all know?”
"The master has his reasons for being wary of him."
Gawain looked shocked, as if he had no idea that there was a part of the story about him escaping.
The two maids did not refute Lou Yanchuan's statement, which can be considered as acknowledging his statement.
"How come I haven't heard about this?" Chi Yuan asked.
"They probably felt that family scandals shouldn't be aired in public," Lou Yanchuan said. "Not many people know about this."
He looked at Li Wu again, "I thought you should know."
Seeing that Li Wu seemed genuinely unaware, Lou Yanchuan smiled again, "It seems the master didn't tell you."
Li Wu looked at Lou Yanchuan with a complicated expression, "I have never heard of it."
Yan Xun couldn't help but lean closer to Li Wu and whisper, "Is he always this dramatic when he's rewinding time?"
“Occasionally,” Li Wu nodded.
It seems that Lou Yanchuan's love for acting is not just his imagination, Yan Xun thought.
Since Gawain's maid was unwilling to leave, there was no need to whisper among themselves, so the group gathered together again and brought up the matter of the ancestral hall once more.
“I never went inside that ancestral hall,” Chi Yuan said. “I only let that official see it from a distance at the entrance of the ancestral hall.”
As Chi Yuan spoke, he looked at Lou Yanchuan and asked, "Have you been inside the ancestral hall?"
"No," Lou Yanchuan said.
The same goes for Gawain.
“Since that’s the case, there’s no time like the present,” Lou Yanchuan said. “Since the master said we can go to the ancestral hall entrance to take a look, let’s go and try our luck.”
Perhaps because they were part of a large group, they did not see the mysterious well again along the way.
When they arrived outside the ancestral hall, Yan Xun and the others saw the porcelain bowl that Gao Ruiyun had mentioned.
A bamboo leaf was placed in the porcelain bowl, but it had sunk to the bottom, signifying that they were not allowed to enter.
Sun Zhao was somewhat disappointed upon seeing this; he knew that this instance would not allow them to easily see the object worshipped by the Gao family.
Just as he was about to leave dejectedly, he heard Lou Yanchuan say to Yan Xun, "Let's leave first."
"You stay here by yourself and observe the changes in these leaves," he said, beckoning the other players to follow him away.
Once the others had disappeared from sight and only Yan Xun remained at the entrance of the ancestral hall, he looked at the porcelain bowl again—
He watched as the leaves that had sunk to the bottom of the porcelain bowl slowly rose to the surface.
Yan Xun looked up at the tightly closed ancestral hall door, pondered for a moment, and then reached out and pushed the door open.