Chapter 19: The Old Doll

Qin Jiu: “…”

You actually still have the nerve to bring that up???

“Bro, you…” Yu Wen stared at the cloth stuffed into Black Granny’s mouth and asked quietly,

“Where did you even get that thing?”

Qi Yang replied, “Grabbed it from the room next door.”

After thinking for a moment, he added, “It’s not dirty.”

Yu Wen: “…”

Dear brother, is that really the important issue here?!

Still, the cloth really was spotless. The patterns on it were bright and intricate, and it carried a faint fragrance similar to the incense filling Black Granny’s house.

Everyone silently comforted themselves:

At least it’s not a smell Black Granny hates, right?

But…

Was doing this really okay?

Wouldn’t it make Black Granny angry???

Before leaving, the village chief had repeatedly emphasized that they absolutely must not anger this old woman…

And it had only been a few minutes since then.

“I swear you physically itch if you go one day without breaking rules,” said Qin Jiu, who had been forced into becoming Qi Yang’s personal proctor.

Qi Yang replied, “Did the exam instructions say we weren’t allowed to pause the listening section?”

Qin Jiu said, “No, they didn’t.”

Qi Yang asked, “Did they forbid us from stuffing the speaker’s mouth?”

Qin Jiu: “Also no.”

Qi Yang spread his hands slightly.

“Then where’s the violation?”

Qin Jiu actually seemed amused.

He gestured politely toward the room and said, “Please continue.”

Apparently he wanted to see what else Qi Yang might do.

Then everyone watched as Qi Yang pulled out his phone from his jeans pocket, opened the recording app, removed the cloth from Black Granny’s mouth, and said:

“Continue.”

Everyone: “……”

Black Granny: “………………”

“Right! Phones work!”

Only now did everyone suddenly realize that this exam hadn’t forcibly shut down their phones.

A few minutes earlier, they’d even checked the time with them, yet nobody had thought of using the recording function.

Qi Yang’s actions instantly reminded everyone else.

In the next moment, everybody hurriedly dug phones out of their pockets.

Seven candidates.

Seven phones.

All aimed directly at Black Granny.

Two seconds later, Proctor 001 also took out his phone.

The newly joined Chen Bin finally lost his nerve at this point.

“Is this really okay?” he whispered nervously.

“Won’t she get angry?”

Qi Yang replied calmly, “A little late to worry about that now.”

“……”

The two newcomers suddenly felt like they’d boarded a pirate ship.

The kind you could never get off.

Chen Bin held his phone trembling for a long time before realizing something:

Black Granny’s eyes never left Qi Yang.

It was as if nobody else mattered. The only important person was the first one who dared provoke her.

Black Granny’s pupils were enormous, making the black parts of her eyes seem especially deep and dark.

When her eyes moved, it wasn’t so bad.

But once they became fixed…

They looked like a dead person’s eyes.

Anyone stared at by those eyes would feel fear and unease.

But Qi Yang simply didn’t care.

While Black Granny stared directly at him, he calmly lowered his thin eyelids and fiddled with his phone, saving the earlier recording file.

He was so absurdly calm that everyone else felt embarrassed to panic.

…

After saving the recording, Qi Yang renamed the file

“A Segment of Ghost Nonsense” before finally asking Black Granny:

“Anything else?”

Black Granny stared expressionlessly at him for a long while before suddenly breaking into another eerie giggle.

It was as though the mouth-stuffing and recording incident had merely been an insignificant interruption.

Or perhaps…

She had simply added it to a mental debt list to settle later.

Her thin claw-like… fingers grabbed Qi Yang’s wrist and dragged him through the doorway.

Then she tilted her head toward everyone else.

The other candidates definitely weren’t as fearless. The moment she looked at them, they obediently filed into the room.

Black Granny nodded in satisfaction.

Liang Yuanhao entered last. The moment he stepped over the stone threshold, the door behind him creaked shut with a loud bang.

Then came the sharp click of a lock.

As though something had followed directly behind him.

Everyone stared at the closed door and suddenly remembered the last question on the exam:

How many people are inside Black Granny’s house…?

Everyone’s faces instantly turned pale.

They all instinctively crowded together, unwilling to stand alone.

…

Black Granny’s house was somewhat larger than expected.

Apparently Gypsies retained ancestral customs no matter where they lived, decorating every room to resemble wagon tents, covering everything with blankets and felt rugs.

The scent of incense inside was even stronger, enough to make people dizzy.

Old teacups, spoons, and trays sat on the windowsills and stove. A jar of dark black material rested atop the wooden table.

Qi Yang lowered his head and sniffed it.

He smelled old tea leaves.

And beneath that, tobacco.

The scent wasn’t exactly pleasant, but at least it rescued his nose slightly from drowning in incense.

The lone proctor was equally unceremonious.

After entering, Qin Jiu immediately selected a single sofa and sat down comfortably.

Beside the fireplace sat two bamboo baskets filled with yarn balls and knitting needles of varying lengths.

Black Granny reached inside. The ornaments hanging from her wrists clinked noisily together, their weight dragging her arm downward.

She pulled several yarn dolls out from the basket.

The dolls were hideous.

Their faces and limbs were made from faded gray cloth stuffed with cotton into swollen balls and strips, then crudely stitched together with thick yarn.

One doll had already been completed and was tucked into her apron.

The rest remained unfinished.

Some lacked legs.

Some lacked heads.

Judging by their appearance, they looked exactly like cursed voodoo dolls used for divination or witchcraft.

Black Granny pointed toward a wooden shelf in the corner and muttered another stream of gibberish.

This time, everyone had enough experience to know better.

The recording apps had remained running ever since they entered the room, naturally capturing everything.

…

Qi Yang looked toward the wooden shelf.

Several finished dolls sat lined up side by side.

Black Granny added the completed doll from her apron to the row, then handed yarn and needles to everyone one by one.

Pointing toward the bamboo basket, she said:

“#￥*&…（&%”

Even without understanding Gypsy, everyone grasped the meaning this time—

She wanted them to finish making the remaining dolls.

Black Granny took out an hourglass and flipped it upside down onto the wooden table.

Then, hunching her back, she slowly left the room.

The moment she stepped outside, a series of clicks sounded throughout the room.

Chen Bin reacted quickly, rushing toward the windows and tugging hard.

“They’re all locked…” he said.

“She locked us in here. What do we do?”

Yu Wen gestured toward the basket.

“The meaning’s pretty obvious. She even left an hourglass. Either she lets us out after the sand runs out, or we have to finish the dolls before time’s up.”

Everyone exchanged uncertain glances before hesitantly sitting cross-legged on the carpets, each person picking up an unfinished voodoo doll and staring blankly at it.

Old Yu let out a long sigh.

“What else can we do? Sew them.”

“Since Black Granny herself is the exam question, we’ve got to follow her instructions.”

“We’ll deal with everything else after the hourglass finishes, right?”

At this point, everyone subconsciously treated Qi Yang as the leader.

Whenever someone spoke, they instinctively looked toward him for confirmation.

But when Old Yu turned around, he realized his nephew hadn’t come over to sit down at all.

Instead, Qi Yang stood beside the bed, lifting the curtains to look outside.

“What’s wrong?” everyone asked nervously.

“Nothing,” Qi Yang said.

He just wanted to see where Black Granny had gone.

…

Outside the window, Black Granny’s hunched figure moved away slowly.

In the blink of an eye, she had already walked surprisingly far.

Moments later, she disappeared into the dark forest.

Qi Yang lowered the curtain.

He had intended to return toward the fireplace, but his footsteps suddenly paused.

On the lowest shelf of the wooden rack sat a crooked doll leaning dangerously near the edge.

A layer of dust covered it, making it easy to overlook.

But one oddly stretched-out leg caught Qi Yang’s attention.

He walked over and bent down to pick up the doll.

Judging from the fabric and dust, the doll had been made a long time ago.

The craftsmanship was rushed and crude. The stitches connecting the limbs to the body were crooked, and the arms and long thin legs weren’t even made from the same material.

The doll looked strange and pitiful.

But that wasn’t what drew Qi Yang’s attention.

The real reason he noticed it was because one leg had a pattern on it.

The doll itself was crudely made, yet the pattern was vividly detailed.

It looked exactly like a tattoo inked onto a living person’s ankle.

The tattoo depicted a cluster of bellflowers.

Qi Yang stared at the tattoo for several seconds before reaching out to pat the person lounging on the sofa.

Qin Jiu had been resting his chin on one hand while watching him the entire time.

After being tapped twice, he lazily opened his mouth.

“What?”

Qi Yang grabbed the doll by its leg and held it toward him.

“Look familiar? I’m face-blind, so I might remember wrong.”

Qin Jiu looked toward the pattern.

“Why would it look familiar to me?”

Qi Yang clicked his tongue impatiently.

“The stuff I cleaned out of the confinement room last time… the bucket I left outside your door.”

“I think something inside had this pattern.”

Qin Jiu: “……”

You actually still have the nerve to mention that???