This is a portrait of a man wearing armor and holding a long-handled large knife, with what appears to be thousands of horses and soldiers behind him, and he is the commander of that army.

  The painting is about one meter long and no more than thirty centimeters wide. The paper has already turned yellow, it should be a bit old.

  I called Zhu Zihao over to identify him and asked who the person in this painting was. He replied that he didn't know.

  "This painting is worthless without a seal and signature."

  "Can you send it to me?"

  Zhu Zihao that guy was quite straightforward, readily agreeing: "You can take it away if you want to, but what you said is really strange. My grandmother is a thousand gold, why would she hang a painting of a general fighting in her room?"

  I carefully took down the painting and placed it on the ground, then carefully wiped off the dust from the glass cover. I asked him, "Don't you think the person in this painting looks a bit familiar?"

  "Huh?" He bent down to take a look and was also shocked, stuttering: "Isn't this Shi Gan Tang?!"

  No, Zhu Zihao also recognized it. The facial expression of the man in the painting reveals a strong sense of courage, and his features are vividly depicted. At first glance, I thought he looked like Pangzi. If only I felt that way, it would be my personal imagination, but all three of us think so, could this be just a coincidence?

  When I wiped the whole painting clean and lifted it into the living room, more details began to emerge.

  "What's that thing on his right hand?"

  The man in the painting stands with a large knife in his left hand and something in his right hand that he is holding up, which looks like a spirit tablet or seal. I carefully observe his facial features and compare them to the fatty in my mind, and whether it's height, build, or appearance, they all match. The painter didn't leave their name or any words, so having just this painting is equivalent to having nothing for me.

  Perhaps seeing that something was off between me and Cha Wenbin, Zhu Zihao mediated: "What a coincidence!" Before I came, I had told him about the fat kid's situation, just saying that something unexpected had happened, and he probably understood.

  "I also quickly changed the subject and said: 'It's just a coincidence, Wenbin. How is this house? Is it clean or not?'"

  "This house originally had a good location, with a broad view, and was situated on the middle of the mountain, with water in front and a backing. However, he suddenly changed his tone and said: 'But this house is missing one thing, it lacks something to calm the house down. If you buy a middle hall painting and hang it up, within three days, it will be much cleaner.'"

  "The master smiled and said, 'This is Hong Kong, who hangs up Chinese paintings here?'"

  In traditional Chinese culture, a middle hall painting is an indispensable part of home decor. To this day, many rural homes still hang a middle hall painting, some with images of great men and others with landscapes. This thing is usually hung on the inner wall opposite the main door, its purpose is to tell those who are not clean that this is a sunny house, where people live.

  But Hong Kong people rarely use Chinese paintings, let alone this kind of villa, hanging a picture is indeed harmful to the architectural landscape, so they usually choose to use townhouse stones or screens instead.

  However, Zhu Zihao's living room didn't have these things, so Cha Wenbin thought it was no surprise that some dirty things came in. After all, according to his words, no one had lived here for many years. A house, no matter how good the materials are, will not be clean if no one lives there for a long time.

  "Can't see much in broad daylight, let me spend a night here and I'll understand what needs to be understood."

  "No problem, originally we were going to arrange for two people to stay in a hotel..."

  I saw him still pretending to be rich, so I didn't bother to give him face: "Forget it, stop putting on airs, we're in a hotel, is there food or not, get some?"

  "Yes, but I won't do it." "Bullshit!"

  Three men sat by the seaside villa eating clear broth noodles, this scene was indeed a bit interesting. While eating, they talked about his grandmother. Zhu Zihao said that his grandmother was also a talented woman in her youth, after the war, she escaped from Beiping to Hong Kong and married his grandfather. His grandfather's most beloved woman in his life was her, unfortunately, all the remaining photos were wearing a veil, so Zhu Zihao had never seen his grandmother's true appearance, but heard that some people who had been close to his grandfather said that his grandmother was indeed a stunning beauty.

  "I only know my grandmother's surname is Jiang, actually I don't even know her real name, it's really unfilial of me."

  "You good-for-nothing, indeed a standard scoundrel. You've eaten the meal and drunk the soup. Master Zhu, are you going to arrange our sleeping quarters for tonight?"

  "There are many rooms, choose whichever you like, but there's something we need to discuss first, can I sleep in the same room as you guys tonight?"

  I smiled and said: "Are you afraid?"

  "A bit, last night was the first time I came to sleep here, and I always felt like there was something under the bed. Dazed and confused, it seemed like there were even women's crying sounds. Ah, we're all just brothers in our own family, so it doesn't matter if we lose face. If things hadn't become like this, how could I have dared to continue living here?"

  "Which room did you stay in last night?"

  "The room on the west side of the second floor facing the sun was originally where my grandfather lived, and later my father also lived there for a while."

  "Let's go, we'll stay there tonight."

  This is a suite, the room is big enough, and it comes with a bathroom. The decoration style is typical European, with dark red wood and ancient bronze-colored furniture. In short, one word: luxurious!

  There was a big bed and a sofa set in the room. Zha Wenbin patted the sofa and said, "I'll sleep here tonight, you two sleep on the bed. Oh, take this and put it under your pillow." He then handed each of us a small red cloth bag. I pinched it and felt something inside. Zhu Zihao was about to open it when Zha Wenbin said, "Don't unwrap it, or you won't be able to sleep well tonight." The kid quickly hid it under his pillow.

  The night in Hong Kong is a sleepless city, the window is half open, the warm sea breeze mixed with the whistle of the ship on the sea, it's so cozy. But the snoring sound of that person beside me really ruined the atmosphere, I tossed and turned but couldn't fall asleep, so I got up and put on my clothes to smoke a cigarette.

  "Where are you going?"

  "Haven't you slept either?"

  Zha Wenbin said to me: "It's best not to go out, I've set up a trap outside, this house is really not clean."

  I sat down on the sofa and lit a cigarette, saying: "What's going on? Didn't you tell him this morning that it wasn't a big deal?"

  "I was afraid of scaring him." Zha Wenbin turned over and sat up, saying: "The yin energy in this house is already heavier than I imagined. This place was originally built as a yang house, which is very suitable, but unfortunately it has been empty for too many years. Those strange things are probably treating this place as an ownerless grave. In the afternoon, when it was still daylight, my compass kept shaking, and that room on the third floor is just above our heads. I can feel that there's more than one thing in there without even going up."

  "Hasn't this place become a haunted house?"

  "It's a haunted house, the biggest problem with this house is that too many people have died unnatural deaths here. The older the house, the more it seems to be like this. He said that women who give birth in this house always have stillborn babies, I think this can't be just a coincidence. He wants to sell this place, whoever takes over will be unlucky. You go sleep first, when it's time, I'll go take a look. I reckon there will be some movement tonight."

  "Now that you mention it, I won't be able to sleep either, why don't I go with you?"

  "Afraid?" "Not afraid!"

  Ever since I couldn't see those things with my eyes, it seems that I've become even more timid than before. When following Zhang Wenbin upstairs stealthily, I felt like grabbing his hand tightly as if my life depended on it.

  "The thud, thud" sound of the soles and floor echoed in this house, Zhang Wenbin's hand only had a lighter, everywhere was a mess of black ink. I always felt that there was a pair of eyes staring at me in this mansion, so I stopped to think about finding those eyes.

  "Don't look back!" Cha Wenbin whispered: "One glance back and you'll be possessed by evil spirits, your heart is a bit messy."

  "How did you know that, I was indeed quite anxious." I estimated that at the time my heart rate was already around 130, and I felt uncomfortable all over, I even regretted following him.

  Cha Wenbin handed me something, and in the dark I couldn't see what it was, but as soon as I held it in my hand, a refreshing feeling suddenly surged up from the bottom of my heart, and I became much more awake.

  He said to me, "If your mind is not steady, the other party will take advantage of it. This kind of thing is also specialized in bullying the weak. As the saying goes, ghosts are afraid of people for seven points, and people are afraid of ghosts for three points. As long as you straighten your back and have enough fire energy, even if it's a thousand-year-old old demon, it won't be able to do anything to you."

  "What did you give me?"

  "This old jade was originally hung under the Heavenly Lord's token, and has been passed down through generations of masters for nearly a thousand years. Later, the token was destroyed by humans, leaving only this jade. When I was young, my master hung it around my neck. I see that your aura is very chaotic, calm down, perhaps it will be helpful."

  "No wonder I just felt a moment of comfort."

  Zha Wenbin said: "The jade relies on people to nourish it, and the spiritual energy is connected. This piece of jade can also be considered a treasure in our school. In that case, you stand behind me for now, and I'll go take a look at what they're up to."

  "Knock, knock, knock." Zha Wenbin surprisingly chose to go and knock on the door. What made me even more shocked was that the damn door actually opened...