Before Ming Mingzhong could answer, Yu Nian's cold voice slowly came: "Director Zhang, please come in."
Zhang Bolin's eyes instantly lit up. He quickly walked into the Taoist temple and handed his business card to Yu Nian. "Hello, I'm the chief director of the adventure program Midnight Hour. As expected of Master Yu. You're really clairvoyant."
Yu Nian took the business card and smiled. "Not really. Director Xu just called me."
Zhang Bolin:...
"Bah," Bai Shengyi beside them couldn't help laughing out.
He had been a bit nervous at first, but seeing Yu Nian was so interesting and amiable, he immediately relaxed.
He reached out his hand to Yu Nian with a big smile. "Hello, sister. I'm Bai Shengyi, the planner of Midnight Hour."
Zhang Bolin coughed. "Shengyi, show more respect to the master." Then he paused, turned to Yu Nian and said seriously, "Master, to be honest, when we first founded Midnight Hour, Shengyi and I spent half a year researching hard, collecting all kinds of strange tales from home and abroad. Our original intention was to present our country's long - standing ghost culture in the form of adventure. We spent a great deal of effort on this. The program was officially launched online, and the first few episodes received an unexpectedly good response. People were very interested in this kind of supernatural tales. But unexpectedly, something went wrong in the fourth episode. The cameraman of the crew was so frightened that he was sent to the hospital..."
According to Zhang Bolin, although the shooting atmosphere was rather gloomy, they had never really encountered anything supernatural. Until the fourth episode, whose theme was an adventure in a haunted house.
The program crew chose a well - known haunted house in the capital, the No. 44 Mansion on Xinwang Road. They originally thought it was just a rumor, but when they were actually shooting, a person suddenly appeared in the house. She crawled around the house in a twisted and terrifying posture, and the program's producer died unexpectedly not long after this incident.
This incident caused a great stir on the Internet, and the program had to be suspended. Zhang Bolin had invested a lot of money in this program, and he was on the verge of losing everything. Helpless, he found Yu Nian through his old friend Xu Yang.
When he first saw Yu Nian, his heart skipped a beat. Could this delicate little girl, who seemed too weak to even bind a chicken, deal with the ghosts in the haunted house?
But at this point, he had no other choice but to give it a try!
Yu Nian pondered for a moment. "So you want to invite me to be a guest on the program for one episode, to exorcise the ghosts and at the same time keep the program running smoothly?"
Zhang Bolin clapped his hands. It was really easy to talk to smart people!
He took out a card from his bag and smiled. "I know that people in your line of work don't do things for free. This is a little token of my appreciation for the Taoist temple."
Yu Nian smiled kindly. "I'll naturally help you. Just leave the money for three sticks of incense. You'd better take back the rest."
Zhang Bolin was taken aback for a moment and quickly agreed.
It was originally the day for Feng Chengyuan to come to the Taoist temple. After learning that Yu Nian was going to the haunted house, he hardly hesitated. "I'll pick you up at the Taoist temple and go with you."
Yu Nian was sitting beside Feng Chengyuan. Lost in thought, she suddenly asked, "You know the capital better than I do. What exactly happened at the Xinwang Mansion back then?"
Feng Chengyuan nodded and said softly, "Twenty years ago, there was a murder case that shocked the whole city. The owners of the mansion were a couple. The husband's name was Liang Shaoshan, and the wife's name was Zhu Xiaohong. The couple had twin daughters, and the family of four lived happily. But one quiet night, shrill screams suddenly came from the mansion and lasted for ten minutes. The neighbors came to knock on the door, but no one answered. When the police arrived, Liang Shaoshan and the twin daughters were lying in a pool of blood, their eyes wide open. And Zhu Xiaohong was covered in blood, holding a sharp knife and stabbing it into her own heart.
All four members of the family died, and this case became an unsolved mystery. After that day, when people passed by the mansion in the evening, they often heard cries and screams from inside. Two years ago, a group of thieves sneaked into the mansion, trying to steal something valuable. But they didn't know what they saw. After coming out of the mansion, they all went crazy and died one after another within a month. Since then, the mansion has become a forbidden area in the capital, and almost no one dares to provoke it."
The Taoist temple was quite far from the mansion. By the time the group arrived at Xinwang Road, it was already ten o'clock at night. Zhang Bolin had reserved a hotel nearby for everyone and planned to gather the staff to enter the house for shooting early the next morning.
The night sky was clear. The street near the alley on Xinwang Road was still bustling and lively.
He Zhiping couldn't resist the temptation of the street - stall snacks and pulled Yu Nian to queue up with him.
"I'll have a plate of fried rice noodles."
Yu Nian raised her eyebrows and looked at the young man beside her who had said the same thing at the same time. He was very tall and good - looking, with three eye - catching earrings on his left ear bone. He was holding a mobile phone steadily in his hand, as if he was shooting a video.
Jian Ming was taken aback. Looking at the beautiful girl in front of him, his ears turned slightly red.
The shop owner was a kind - hearted middle - aged man. Hearing this, he smiled apologetically. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm really sorry. Business has been so booming recently that there's only one table left. Could you please discuss it among yourselves?"
Jian Ming hesitated for a long time and then tentatively said, "How about we share the table?"
Half a minute later, the three of them raised their sodas and clinked glasses.
Seeing that Jian Ming was still constantly shooting videos with his mobile phone while eating, He Zhiping understood immediately. "Are you an entrepreneur in the self - media field?"
Jian Ming smiled shyly. "Ah, yes. I used to be a small blogger on a short - video platform. I usually shot some daily vlogs, but the traffic was so poor that I didn't have many fans."
So the company came up with a new idea to attract attention and asked him to become an adventure anchor. His task this time was to live in a haunted house and broadcast it live for three days. If he succeeded, he would get a handsome bonus.
Jian Ming was from another place and an absolute atheist. He wasn't very afraid of the local haunted house, so he almost didn't think twice before accepting the task.
Of course, following the principle that secrets make things succeed, he didn't tell Yu Nian and He Zhiping about this.
Seeing that Yu Nian had an outstanding temperament and behaved gracefully, Jian Ming was a bit curious. "What's your occupation?"
Yu Nian was concentrating on her meal and didn't even raise her head. "I'm a fortune - teller."
"Pfft," Jian Ming was suddenly choked. He was taken aback and felt a bit sorry in his heart. Such a nice girl actually made a living by deceiving people.
But then he sighed softly. In this day and age, competition was fierce in every industry. He had worked hard for a long time just to earn back his cost, let alone such a delicate and quiet little girl.
So he laughed heartily. "Since we've met, it means we're destined. I just found a place to stay in the capital and was worried that I had no one to share my joy with. I'll treat you to this meal!"
Yu Nian smiled and didn't decline. But before leaving, she stopped Jian Ming and took out a thumb - sized round jade pendant from her pocket. "Thank you. This is a return gift."
Jian Ming was a bit confused. "What is this?"
Looking at the thick and persistent black aura lingering on Jian Ming's forehead, Yu Nian casually left a phone number for him. "It's a peace - protecting jade pendant. Keep it with you at all times. Also, if you encounter any problems you can't solve recently, you can call me."