Lin Zhensheng narrowed his eyes, examining that flash of bright red closely.
In the beam of the flashlight, it was clearly a faded piece of red cloth, with one corner hanging down from the roof beam.
"Strange, how come I never noticed this red cloth on the beam before?" Lin Zhensheng muttered to himself. "Hiding it like this, it must be some kind of precious treasure. Looks like this Old Lin Family is no simple bunch!"
Glancing at the sagging, slanted roof beam, Lin Zhensheng figured even the heavens wanted his family to strike it rich.
Otherwise, after all these years, the beam wouldn't have loosened and sagged like that.
Immediately, his gaze swept across the surroundings in the flashlight's glow, looking for a stool or something similar to support him in taking down the red cloth.
Yet after searching a full circle, aside from a few armless and legless chairs and stools, there was nothing else.
And no wonder—anything usable had already been gathered by Lin Moyang into the thatched hut.
Desperate to get his hands on the treasure and unwilling to waste time making another trip, Lin Zhensheng decided to move these broken chairs and stools over and make do with them.
As long as he handled it properly, supporting himself to get the item down would certainly be no problem.
Credit where credit was due, Lin Zhensheng's execution was quite impressive.
In no time at all, he had built a small platform.
Although it looked rather dangerous, it was remarkably stable.
With the flashlight clenched in his teeth and a wooden stick tucked into his waistband, Lin Zhensheng climbed upward with extreme caution.
Within a few minutes, he reached the top of the platform, his head level with the sagging end of the beam.
Shining his flashlight over, Lin Zhensheng discovered that it was actually a square, box-like object, wrapped entirely in red cloth.
"I'm rich, I'm rich!" Lin Zhensheng whispered with a look of excitement, his heart pounding in his throat with agitation.
Convinced in his heart that this must be the jewelry box hidden by Lin Moyang's mother, his brain was already picturing a scene filled with gold and silver jewelry.
After all, back in those days, everyone in the village knew that Lin Moyang's mother was the child of a high-ranking official from the county town.
She had come down to the countryside in Qingshuitang Village, fallen in love with Lin Moyang's father, and the two of them had married and made their home right here.
Every now and then, packages would be mailed down from home to ensure that Lin Moyang's mother and her family lived quite comfortably.
Even as Lin Zhensheng was thinking this, that object was pulled right before his eyes.
Instantly, he panted heavily with the flashlight still clamped in his teeth, his two trembling hands slowly unwrapping that layer of red cloth to reveal the dark red wood grain inside.
The moment the entire box appeared before his eyes, Lin Zhensheng was certain that this had to be the jewelry box belonging to Lin Moyang's mother.
"No wonder when we turned the place upside down back then we didn't find anything valuable, who would have thought it was hidden on the roof beam," Lin Zhensheng muttered to himself, feeling immensely glad about how wise this family split had been.
If they hadn't split the family, there wouldn't have been the silver dollars later on, nor would there be these gold and silver treasures now.
The more he thought about it, the more excited Lin Zhensheng became, goosebumps breaking out all over his shivering body as his two trembling hands reached toward the latch of the wooden box.
Because of its age and dampness, with just a gentle tug, Lin Zhensheng pulled the latch right off and tossed it onto the ground.
Suddenly, a blinding flash of white tore across the heavens, illuminating Lin Zhensheng's twisted, excited face.
Immediately following.
Rumble!!
A deafening clap of thunder struck, and the earth itself seemed to tremble along with it.
The sudden roar of thunder scared Lin Zhensheng out of half his wits, nearly causing him to drop the flashlight from his mouth.
Hoo!!
Letting out a long breath, Lin Zhensheng slowly opened the box.
The first thing to greet his eyes was a layer of golden-yellow velvet cloth.
Upon seeing this, Lin Zhensheng's eyes went wide, and his heart was overwhelmed with joy.
Feeling it with his hand, this texture was top-shelf merchandise without a doubt.
By now, he was basically convinced that inside lay the gold and silver jewelry of Lin Moyang's mother.
And so, harboring an impatient and nervous excitement, Lin Zhensheng sped up opening the box.
Creeeak!!
Accompanied by the scraping sound of the aged wooden box against its lid, the cover was flung open by Lin Zhensheng in an instant.
Yet.
Another flash of lightning descended from the clouds, its pale glare turning the entire world brilliant for a split second.
Lin Zhensheng saw the contents of the box with crystal clarity, and was scared out of his wits on the spot.
"Ah!!"
"Rumble!!"
"Rumble!!"
Screams, thunderclaps, and the sound of the chair platform collapsing intertwined as Lin Zhensheng's body slammed heavily onto the ground.
Falling right along with him was that wooden box.
Landing directly facing Lin Zhensheng's head, out rolled a straw figure covered entirely in yellow paper talismans, with a dark brown iron nail driven straight through the top of its head.
By the light of the flashlight on the floor, Lin Zhensheng saw it all with horrifying clarity and was frightened out of his wits, instantly passing out.
On the other side.
Two consecutive claps of thunder also startled Lin Moyang and Shen Youwei awake from their deep slumber.
At that moment, Shen Youwei was trembling all over, drenched in cold sweat from head to toe.
Sensing her unease, Lin Moyang smiled slightly in the darkness, his gentle voice sounding softly: "Don't be afraid, I'm here."
With that, he pulled Shen Youwei into his arms.
Paralyzed by fright, Shen Youwei gripped the edge of the quilt tightly as her rapid breathing gradually calmed down.
Before she knew it, she slowly drifted back to sleep in his embrace.
With his eyes closed, Lin Moyang listened carefully to the sound of the wind and the patter of raindrops outside.
During the second thunderclap just now, he had distinctly felt a violent tremor come from the nearby Old House.
Only, Shen Youwei had been scared out of her wits, and he couldn't bear to leave her behind all by herself, so he had dismissed the thought of going over to check.
Now that Shen Youwei was sleeping peacefully in his arms, he was even less inclined to disturb her.
Coupled with the fact that they didn't have a flashlight, Lin Moyang decided to wait until he woke up the next day to see what was going on.
Before he knew it, Lin Moyang too drifted into a deep sleep.
Meanwhile, inside the Lin Family Old House.
Lin Zhensheng was jolted awake by rain leaking down onto him. He jerked upright in an instant, pulling his legs in tight as he pressed his back against the wall.
In the dead of night, during a thunderstorm no less, unearthing a straw figure bound with talismans would cause anyone to completely break down.
It was only because Lin Zhensheng had worked in the coal mines in his early years and had even helped bury the dead for others that his psychological resilience was so strong.
Otherwise, just that little scare from a moment ago would have frightened him to death right here on the spot.
"F*** your mother, what damned bad luck!" Cursing fiercely at the straw figure, Lin Zhensheng tried to crawl over to grab the flashlight.
It was right at that moment that he noticed a sharp, intense pain coming from his right ankle.
"Hah, which damned wronged ghost is it, making me fail to find the treasure and spraining my ankle to boot? F*** your mother!"
Anger and fear intertwined in Lin Zhensheng's heart as he sat on the ground, spitting out vicious curses in a low voice.
In the countryside, there had always been such a saying.
If you encounter ghosts or spirits, you must curse them out—use the nastiest language you can find—and then they won't dare to approach you.
Perhaps acting as a psychological comfort, after cursing for a while, Lin Zhensheng felt his ankle didn't hurt quite as much.
Enduring the pain, he picked up the flashlight from the floor, grabbed the stick from earlier, and stood up with trembling legs, ready to hurry home at the first opportunity to rub some medicinal liquor on it.
Before leaving, he didn't forget to kick the straw figure with his stick and spit a glob of saliva on it for good measure.
Yet just as the straw figure was kicked into the corner by him.
Bang!!
A muffled impact suddenly echoed from the corner, sounding like a hard object striking the wall—clearly not something a straw figure could produce.
Lin Zhensheng's heart leaped straight into his throat as he leaned on that stick and limped away from the Lin Family Old House at top speed!