"Have you been to the imperial kitchen?"
Seeing that Concubine Ou looked nervous, Xia Qi asked back.
This Ou Bin not only looks very similar to a teammate he had met before, but also has a very similar timid temperament.
Through Ou Bin's face, Xia Qi seemed to see that person.
"Well, although I have never been there, I have heard of it..." Ou Bin said hesitantly. Just as he was about to get to the point, he accidentally caught a glimpse of a willow-green figure walking in the distance.
After seeing this person, Ou Bin's face changed.
He quickly raised his hand, stretched out his orchid finger, and gently poked Xia Qi's shoulder, then shouted at the top of his voice: "Why are you two blocking my way? You are too arrogant, you don't even take me seriously!"
"Hey, Sister Oupin, today is the first time I see you teaching someone a lesson." Concubine Wu walked over slowly, with an inquisitive expression on her face, as if she was enjoying the fun.
Ou Bin raised her chin and said angrily, "It's because they didn't keep their eyes open when they walked. They almost knocked me down."
Concubine Wu wished that everyone hated Xia Qi and his sister. She sighed and said sarcastically, "Tsk, Concubine Ou, if anything happens to you, these two will die."
Concubine Ou shook her head and pretended to cry, "They rely on the fact that they are from Shouju Palace to act so arrogantly... Alas, it's a pity that my position is too low now, even the palace maids can bully me."
Xia Qi seldom saw a man crying, but today he saw Ou Bin, a grown man, pretending to cry in front of a woman, crying even more tearfully than the woman. The scene was so shattering that his three views were completely shattered.
"Sister Ou Bin." Concubine Wu didn't expect that Ou Bin was still so useless. She smiled and patted Ou Bin's shoulder in a friendly manner, as if she were Ou Bin's real sister. She said in a gentle voice, "Sister Ou Bin, don't be sad. After all, you are still a concubine now. What can they mean to you?"
Although she said these words of comfort, Concubine Wu had no intention of helping Concubine Ou, which shows how fragile the relationship between the two was.
Oupin wiped her tears and walked back, pulling Concubine Wu's sleeve: "Sister, please don't comfort me, sob."
The bullied expression of Concubine Ou obviously gave Concubine Wu a great sense of satisfaction. The more sadly she cried, the happier Concubine Wu was. She even walked with a light look on her face.
After crying and complaining, and bringing Concubine Wu into the gate of Lengxiang Palace, Concubine Ou suddenly turned her head and winked at Xia Qi and her sister, signaling them to leave quickly.
The two of them retreated cautiously. Just as they passed through a palace gate, Xia Qi paused and suddenly asked, "I forgot to ask Concubine Ou just now. Which way should I go to the imperial kitchen?"
It was all because of Concubine Wu who showed up unexpectedly, leaving Xia Qi and his sister without anyone to ask for directions.
The two of them wandered around the palace for a while like headless flies, and found that there was not even a single palace servant on the road.
"Have you noticed that there is almost no one in the palace during the day." Xia Qi looked strange.
Apart from the players who were having a chat while eating melon seeds in Shouju Palace, and the palace maids who usually served the ladies and looked like players, all the other serving palace servants were gone.
It is unlikely that such a huge Fengdu Palace can be kept running solely by players.
"So where did they go?" my sister asked puzzledly.
Combined with the different settings of day and night in the previous copies, Xia Qi seriously suspected that the palace people during the day would have different forms. They should have restored their original forms and hidden in some corners of the palace.
He remembered clearly that in the Never-Sleeping City dungeon, the Night Emperor never appeared during the day and always avoided him.
So, where do the palace servants hide during the day
Xia Qi thought for a moment and suddenly asked, "Where in the palace are the most dead bodies buried?"
"Haha, Brother Xia, you've got me stumped. I haven't seen many palace fighting dramas." The younger sister laughed dryly, "But if you think about it, the dead usually choose to be in the water. It must be very uncomfortable to be stuck in the soil."
"Beside the river, beside the pond... and in the well?" Xia Qi said as he walked, and unexpectedly found a well not far away.
The well was built in a corner, with a lot of moss growing around the edge of the well, and it looked very dilapidated. When the two of them just walked to the well, they felt a chill behind them for no reason. There was a stone tablet near the well. Xia Qi brushed away the dust on the stone tablet and found the words "corpse dog" engraved on it.
Generally speaking, the more you feel the atmosphere is not right in an escape game, the more likely you are to encounter a ghost.
Xia Qi carefully took out the trident and slowly walked towards the well. His sister walked beside him and took out the revolver with unlimited bullets that Margaret gave her.
After the two arrived at the well, Xia Qi, who was taller, lowered his head and looked down.
It would have been better if he hadn't seen it, but when he saw the scene in the well, even Xia Qi, who was usually calm, couldn't help but be frightened and his heart skipped a beat.
"Hiss—" Xia Qi took a look and quickly raised his head and took a step back.
"What's in there?" Seeing that Xia Qi was not dragged in by the strange thing, the younger sister also stretched her head out and looked into the well. When she saw what was inside clearly, she couldn't help but let out a small scream, "Ah!"
In the dark water at the bottom of the well, a woman's face slowly emerged from the bottom. The flesh on her face had been dug out into a mess, leaving only a thin layer of muscle. Having been soaking in the water for a long time, the woman's face was wrinkled like a pool of rotten tofu skin.
The woman's eyes were dug out, leaving only two empty holes.
When the woman saw her sister looking into her eyes, her blood-red mouth suddenly opened wide.
When she opened her mouth, her sister could even see the black debris in her rotten teeth, as well as the moss and moldy blood in her throat.
“Ugh…” My sister quickly retracted her head, held onto the edge of the well, and began to dry heave wildly.
"Is this really a palace maid?" My sister asked, suppressing her nausea after vomiting for a while.
This must be a disgusting evil ghost, right
"Little sister." A hoarse female voice came faintly. Since it came from the well, the female voice seemed hollow and ethereal. She continued, "Don't underestimate me."
Hearing this, Xia Qi paused. They actually found a person who could talk... "Ghost"
"Who are you?" Xia Qi asked quickly while the woman in the well was willing to chat with them.
"I can't remember clearly." The woman in the well snorted, and then laughed happily, "I only remember that I was very happy, hehehe..."
"Then do you still remember where you worked?" Xia Qi asked again.
"I can't remember, hehe..." The woman ignored his question and let out another shrill laugh. Because her voice was very hoarse, when she laughed, it was like a brush brushing the soles of shoes, making an unpleasant rustling sound that made people feel creepy.
Xia Qi asked the same question over and over again, and he found that apart from the fact that the woman said she was very happy, he could not get any other information from her.
"Excuse me, do you know how to get to the imperial kitchen?" Xia Qi had lost his patience after being asked this question.
"Go east and you will reach the imperial kitchen." The woman in the well suddenly answered his question.
Xia Qi and his sister looked at each other and it seemed that the ghost was indeed a palace maid.
"Can you climb up a little so we can take a closer look at your face. Oh, and remember to shut your mouth." Xia Qi said to the woman in the well, suppressing his nausea.
"Okay, hehe." The woman in the well agreed very readily.
With the foreshadowing of the previous scene, the two men did not vomit again when they saw the woman's disgusting face.
After memorizing the ghost girl's face deeply, Xia Qi and his sister left the well.
Unexpectedly, when the two of them just arrived at the door of the imperial kitchen, the sky gradually darkened.
Unlike other copies, in the Fengdu copy, there is no sun in the sky and no moon at night.
Therefore, when it got dark, the sky above their heads looked like it was splashed with ink. Dark clouds seeped out from the center of the sky, slowly dyeing the entire pale picture black.
"What's going on? Isn't it just noon?" My sister raised the Hello Kitty watch on her hand with a puzzled expression.
This watch was once modified by the old man. It can display the time of the current copy according to the length and operation rules of the copy.
Xia Qi stared at the "12:00:00" on his sister's watch and said, "Will it be dark after noon in this copy?"
"Oh...right." The younger sister frowned, thought for a moment, and suddenly slapped her head, "Oh, that maid is deliberately plotting against us again."
It was already 9 o'clock in the morning when they finished eating melon seeds. Later, the maid asked the two of them to sweep the floor for 2 hours. It was not until after 11 o'clock that they were called to the imperial kitchen to get lunch.
In fact, according to the speed at which they walked, it would take about an hour to get to the imperial kitchen. For the newlyweds who didn't know the way, it was impossible to get back to Shouju Palace before dark at noon.
The two were hesitating whether to enter the imperial kitchen when suddenly, Xia Qi heard a strange splashing sound, as if something was stirring the water surface.
"Let's climb over the wall." Xia Qi grabbed his sister's sleeve and pulled her to a corner.
It was already night time, and Xia Qi planned to be more careful. It would be safer to climb the wall and explore.
“Puff, puff, puff.”
The two of them carefully poked their heads over the wall, only to see that the courtyard of the imperial kitchen was empty.
Following the direction of the sound, Xia Qi discovered that the sound of water came from the well in the imperial kitchen.
Similar to the female ghost well they just passed by, there was also a stone tablet erected beside the well. Xia Qi squinted his eyes and used the faint light to clearly see the words "Queyin" written on the tablet.
Since the well was too far away and nothing strange came out for the time being, the two of them turned their eyes towards the kitchen.
The kitchen was connected by several bungalows. There was a dim kerosene lamp in the room, but the light was very dim. When it shone on the window, it was faintly bloody. Fortunately, the kitchen window was open. But the strange thing was that there was no chef or cook in the kitchen. Only the stacked steamers on the stove could be vaguely seen. At this time, white smoke was coming out of the steamers, and it looked like something was being steamed.
At this time, a cold wind blew, and even though Xia Qi and his sister were far away, they could smell a sweet and greasy aroma of meat.
Just as the two of them were looking around in confusion, suddenly, there was a "splash" sound from the well in the courtyard of the imperial kitchen, and it seemed that something came out of the water.
Xia Qi looked closely and found a snow-white hand at the edge of the well.
"Hmm." The younger sister was startled by the sudden palm. Fortunately, Xia Qi reached out and grabbed her, preventing her from falling off the wall.
The snow-white palm gently pushed the edge of the well, and then a man's head with green moss on his head popped up. His face was still very pale, as if he had no blood. However, unlike the female ghost in the well, the head of this male ghost was very intact, with no signs of damage.
However, the male ghost’s expression was particularly strange. The corners of his mouth were almost stretched to his chin. He looked extremely sad, even a little grief-stricken.
The male ghost supported himself with his hands and slowly climbed out of the well. The moment he climbed out of the well, his skin returned to normal and he looked like a normal middle-aged man in his 30s.
After the male ghost stepped onto the ground, clothes and bibs began to grow on his body, and finally a greasy hat was put on his head, making him look like a cook in the palace. After returning to his normal human form, Pushang no longer showed a sad expression.
After the male ghost walked out of the well, another arm stretched out from the wellhead. After the bitter-faced female ghost landed on the ground, she also transformed herself into a quiet palace maid.
Next, different people continued to emerge from the well one after another. When two rows of people were standing in the yard, the male ghost leader brought a plate from the kitchen. On the plate were large white buns with white mist coming out of them.
As soon as the palace servants saw the plate of big white meat buns, they couldn't take their eyes away. They made no secret of their coveting for the buns and started to swallow their saliva.
For a while, the sound of "gulp, gulp" of people swallowing saliva could be heard one after another in the yard.
Chief Bo grinned, picked up a big bun, and took a big bite into it, making a hole in it.
Half of a white and black ball was exposed in the bun. Xia Qicai took a look and couldn't help trembling all over.
After finishing a bun with a smile, the head of the palace cleared his throat and said to the palace servants, "Thank you for the gift, Her Majesty the Imperial Concubine. Today the kitchen has steamed buns, and each of you can have one."
"Thank you, Madam Concubine!"
"The Imperial Concubine is so kind!"
All the palace servants immediately showed joy on their faces and spoke excitedly.
"However, after you have eaten the buns, remember to deliver lunch to the palaces. Don't keep the ladies waiting for too long." Chief Pu waved his hand at everyone and ordered, "Go in and pack the food boxes. The number of buns should be divided among the ladies according to their ranks. If anyone dares to steal the buns, hmph..."
After saying half of the words, Captain Bo stopped talking. He showed his white teeth and swallowed the rest of the bun into his mouth in one gulp, making a "crunching" sound as he chewed.
After seeing everything in the imperial kitchen, Xia Qi and his sister fell into silence.
It turned out that they didn't need to come to the imperial kitchen to get food at all. The maid sent them here in order to steam them into buns as well.
Looking at the palace servants below rolling up their sleeves to pack the buns, my sister felt sick and couldn't help but look at Xia Qi.
She lowered her voice very low, and said to Xia Qi in an extremely disappointed tone: "Brother Xia, do you think... has Ou Bin also eaten buns?"