When Ning Yitao opened her eyes again, all the illusions had disappeared, and she was back beside Ji Wangqiu and the others.
Ning Yitao knew that Liu Qiaozǐ had withdrawn all the illusions to clear the way for her.
Just thinking of Liu Qiaozǐ, the corners of Ning Yitao's mouth twitched slightly.
Ji Wangqiu and the others didn't feel that Ning Yitao had been gone for a long time. Zhaocai looked at her in surprise and said,
"Taotao, you came back so quickly."
The flow of time in the illusions was different from that in the real world outside.
Ning Yitao's mind was still filled with the well - behaved and obedient Liu Qiaozǐ. At this moment, Zhaocai showed up looking slovenly. Ning Yitao simply ignored him. She didn't want to ruin her good mood.
Ning Yitao waved to the others and led them to the correct entrance.
They walked through the desolate forest path. At the end of it, they saw an old - fashioned courtyard. In front of the gate, several clumps of slender bamboo swayed gently in the wind, making a rustling sound.
The place exuded a sense of desolation everywhere.
It was completely different from what Ning Yitao had seen in the illusions. After years of corrosion, there was hardly any trace of its former glory on these buildings.
Ning Yitao didn't stay in the courtyard for long. She directly pushed open the rickety gate. This time, there were no illusions to stop them.
The group smoothly entered the gate.
Zhaocai sauntered behind them, complaining that the dry leaves were pricking him.
Zhaocai tugged at the corner of Ji Wangqiu's clothes from behind, wanting to be carried.
The two of them started arguing at the back of the group.
Eve walked side by side with Ning Yitao. Looking at the scenery ahead, she became more and more puzzled. She asked,
"Was this place really built inside the school? The graffiti on the outer walls indicates that students used to live here. It seems that this used to be a kindergarten. But why is it abandoned like this while the buildings outside are intact?"
Grandma Grace heard Eve's speculation. Her voice was filled with worry as she said,
"Don't underestimate any school. Most schools are built on graveyards. Some people try to use the positive energy of students to suppress evil spirits. Once they fail, and are backfired by the evil spirits, it will end up like this."
Ning Yitao couldn't help but look at Grandma Grace with admiration. She was really insightful. This school was indeed built on a mass grave.
The person in charge of the school was attracted by the low price of this land and bought it. The location of this land was remote, which was perfect for a boarding school. Every school meant huge profits, and no parents would hesitate to spend money on their children.
About 98% of the students in this school had parents who had to work away from home, leaving the children unattended.
To make a living, parents were willing to pay higher tuition fees to send their children to this boarding school.
The price of this land was extremely low at that time. Chen Kangnian, the person in charge who bought the land, thought he had got a great bargain. He tried every means during the bidding process and finally won the bid.
However, he didn't expect that his life would start to go downhill after the construction began. It was as if bad luck had been following him, and everything went wrong.
After buying the land, every business of his failed for no reason. Or the projects would fail at the last step. The successive losses caused an economic crisis in his company.
In his personal life, four of his close relatives passed away within just one year.
When Chen Kangnian saw off his fourth relative, he saw his haggard self in the bathroom mirror.
In just one year, his hair had turned completely white with worry. There was no longer a smile on his face, and his back was deeply hunched.
Chen Kangnian's face was blank and expressionless. His face was as numb as a clay statue, and his brows were deeply furrowed with worry.
In just a few months, his cheeks had sunken deeply, his face was ashen, and he exuded an air of sadness.
People who didn't know him might think he was a dead man.
At that moment, Chen Kangnian was deeply immersed in grief. Staring at his changing reflection in the mirror, he felt even more sad. But the more he looked, the more familiar the face seemed.
The person in the mirror was completely different from his former self, but he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity at first sight.
Chen Kangnian felt that this was the key to his bad luck. After wracking his brains, he finally remembered why this face seemed so familiar.
The person who sold him the land had the same expression and temperament as he did now!
For the first time, Chen Kangnian began to doubt this land. But then, a phone call completely shattered his hopes.
The call was from his son's teacher.
The teacher said that his son had suddenly fainted at school and was urgently sent to the hospital. The preliminary diagnosis suggested that it might be leukemia. The teacher asked Chen Kangnian to come to the hospital as soon as possible.
This sudden blow completely panicked Chen Kangnian. What made it even more tragic was that he was already in the hospital, having just seen off a relative.
Chen Kangnian was completely flustered. He didn't want to see his son die.
After leaving the hospital, Chen Kangnian immediately went to a famous fortune - teller, hoping to find a way to break the curse. His son couldn't afford to have any more problems.
Chen Kangnian spent all his remaining liquid funds on the fortune - teller. This was his last hope.
Finally, he got the solution from the fortune - teller.
The solution was simple. He just needed to transfer the ownership of this land to someone else.
But at this moment, this piece of land was all he had left. Without it, he would be completely bankrupt.
Chen Kangnian cried and begged the master to give him another way out.
Finally, the master told him that if he wanted to make a comeback, he needed to change the name of the landowner, speed up the construction of the school, and recruit a large number of students to suppress the evil spirits.
As long as the name of the landowner was changed, those evil spirits would find someone else to bother.
Chen Kangnian's fortune had been damaged because of this incident. After the school was built, he should leave this place as soon as possible to avoid being haunted by the ghosts in the school.
But at this moment, Chen Kangnian just wanted to protect his family.
Naturally, Chen Kangnian didn't dare to disobey the master's instructions. He just wanted to transfer the ownership as soon as possible.
After he came back from the master, the first thing he did was to transfer the ownership of the land.
Chen Kangnian found someone who had bid for the land with him before and sought cooperation.
He sold the ownership of the land at an extremely low price and only asked for 30% of the profits.
After he used this money to solve the company's capital - chain problem, he even gave up his 30% share of the dividends.
The partner on the other side naturally readily agreed to this windfall.
No one noticed the relieved smile on Chen Kangnian's face when he signed the contract.