Chapter 187 The Ancient House
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Two patrol cars drove along the clean and tidy asphalt roads of the Guanjiang Residential Complex.
"We have now arrived at Building A. To our left is the villa area, to our right is also villa area, and ahead is still villa area... The total number of villas in this A section, uh, I don’t actually know how many there are in total, but anyway, there are a lot, and they are not yet on sale to the public. What? Several sets have already been sold?
Okay, a few have been sold, but it seems, maybe, probably no one is living in them yet."
A manager stood up in the front seat of the patrol car, introducing the development to Yang Jian and others including Zhang Xiangu.
"As a manager, don’t you think your introduction is a bit too amateurish? Friends are watching, could you please be more professional?"
Zhang Wei looked at the manager; "Dad, can we fire him? Having such an unprofessional manager is embarrassing."
Zhang Xiangu pondered for a moment before replying, "I’m afraid that’s not possible."
"Why not? Aren’t you the boss around here? How come you can’t even fire someone?" Zhang Wei said; "You’re making me lose face in front of Brother Tui."
"Because he is your uncle," Zhang Xiangu coughed twice before saying.
"I know, but Dad, if you don’t bring it up, only my uncle will be embarrassed. If you do, our whole family will be embarrassed," Zhang Wei said.
"..." Zhang Xiangu’s face showed a hint of embarrassment.
Yang Jian sat in the car, looking around, trying to spot something amiss.
But all was calm.
"Let’s keep moving forward and skip the introduction. Just drive around the area and try to pass by every building. I’ll try to find out what’s unusual here," he said.
"Okay, okay," Zhang Wei’s uncle said somewhat awkwardly.
The residential complex was huge.
It was a bit beyond Yang Jian’s expectations; if they were to tour around at this pace, it would take an hour or two.
Nevertheless, realizing that forty percent of this vast area belonged to him excited him somewhat, giving him the feeling of turning over a new leaf as a landowner.
"Brother Tui, have you noticed anything?" After a while, Zhang Xiangu couldn’t help but ask.
Yang Jian shook his head: "It’s very normal. As far as I can tell, there are no supernatural events here. If there were, I would have some sense of it."
His Ghost Eye enabled him to sense the presence of ghosts nearby.
Even without the Ghost Eye, places with supernatural events tend to have some irregularities.
"Ahead is Section D, that’s where the buildings under construction are. I hope the problem isn’t there," said Zhang Xiangu.
"Why?" asked Yang Jian.
Zhang Xiangu replied, "The buildings there are skyscrapers, intended for sale as regular commercial housing. If there is a problem, abandoning that block of buildings would result in a huge loss."
Yang Jian looked up and saw, indeed, there was a dense line of tall buildings ahead, most of which were already completed. Only one project was still under construction, but it had stopped, with only some workers maintaining the usual operation of the construction site.
As the car entered this area,
suddenly,
he felt a slight uneasiness and instinctively looked towards a neglected area overgrown with weeds at the back of the complex.
In that neglected area, there were some old buildings, decrepit wooden houses, and some demolished earth houses, but one of the structures built with bluish bricks, with a distinct Republic of China style, caught his attention.
"President Zhang, what is that area?" Yang Jian asked.
"That should be President Qin’s property, but if I remember correctly, there used to be a small village there with not many residents, just over a dozen households. Later, President Qin relocated them elsewhere, and what’s left most likely hasn’t been demolished yet," replied Zhang Xiangu.
"Drive over there and take a look," Yang Jian said.
Zhang Xiangu immediately frowned, "Don’t tell me there’s a problem with that place."
Yang Jian replied, "There’s no problem with the land; it’s that house that I feel is somewhat off."
He was talking about the old Republic of China era house.
The two-story house was built entirely of blue bricks. The wooden supports for the roof tiles had rotted, collapsing a large area, which was overgrown with weeds and moss. The walls, however, were densely covered with ivy, the leaves thick and lush. Due to the long absence of inhabitants, the surrounding desolation and decay added a sinister air to this old Republic of China-style house.
"This house... has a problem." Yang Jian closed his eyes, faintly feeling his Ghost Eye beneath his skin stirring with restlessness.
The closer they got, the stronger the uneasiness became.
It was then that Zhang Xiangu spoke up, "I just asked the foreman under President Qin, and he said the reason this land has been left here is that they can’t find the original owner of that house. Due to the issue of ownership rights, that piece of land has been left abandoned and no work has started on it yet."
"Yes, it’s that house."
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He also pointed to the old house covered in ivy.
"Stop the car," Yang Jian suddenly said.
The car came to an immediate stop.
"Aren’t we going any further?" asked Zhang Xiangu.
"No need, if we go any further I’m afraid something unexpected might happen," Yang Jian said; "I want to know some information about this house, any aspect will do."
At this moment, he could be completely certain.
This house was very unusual.
The uneasiness of the ’ghost eye’ became even more apparent.
"Alright, I’ll have someone make inquiries," said Zhang Xiangu.
He immediately ordered his subordinates to look for the contractor or workers responsible for the demolition of this area.
Meanwhile, Yang Jian got out of the car, furrowing his brows as he stared at the building from a distance.
He observed carefully.
Soon, he noticed something very odd.
This house had no windows.
Yes.
Neither the first nor the second floor had windows.
No.
It’s not that they were missing; it’s as if they were never constructed in the first place.
Yang Jian even took a walk around, and he did not see a single window on the side of the house either.
An old house without any windows.
This was clearly very unreasonable.
All houses have windows, that has been a building style since ancient times.
Unless... unless the original owner never intended to stay, but the specific reason for doing so would probably only be known by the first owner of the house.
But that was something from the Republic of China Period.
That was over a hundred years ago, there was no way for Yang Jian to find out.
"Looking for so long? Could it be that this house is a haunted house?" At this moment, Jiang Yan came over, curiously had a look, and then asked quietly.
"Most likely," Yang Jian squinted his eyes, "But to be certain, we will have to go and see it for ourselves."
"Don’t look at me, I’m not going with you," Jiang Yan shivered and immediately took a few steps back.
Yang Jian said, "I didn’t ask you to go. Zhang Wei, you will have to come with me to take a look later." n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
Zhang Wei was the source, with a ghost always following him around; if he wanted to resolve the situation, he had to be present.
"No problem," Zhang Wei gave a thumbs up.
At this time, Zhang Xiangu said, "I’ve had people ask about the building. We didn’t get much information, but we were able to contact a few locals who are being relocated. They know that over forty years ago an old man lived there. Later, that old man died of an illness during the winter; it was the villagers who helped with the funeral. Afterwards, the house was locked up and abandoned."
"People used to live there?" Yang Jian was surprised.
"Indeed, that’s what those being relocated told us, it should be correct," Zhang Xiangu said.
Yang Jian said, "Didn’t the old man have any relatives, children or the like?"
"It was quite some time ago, the elderly who knew have passed away, and those details are not clear to those being relocated," Zhang Xiangu shook his head.
The events from over forty years ago were still remembered by many and had not been forgotten.
But the information that could be traced back was just this little bit.
"I see, it looks like I will have to take a trip there myself," Yang Jian’s gaze once again shifted to the old house from the Republic of China Period.