"Where...am I?"
Once ten o'clock had passed, what appeared before them was no longer a train, but an old courtyard. They stood in a spacious courtyard with a well in the middle, two large water vats at the two corners, living quarters on three sides, and a gate on one side.
It was nighttime, with only the soft moonlight shining down, and each of them held a red lantern, which made their faces appear red.
Standing there, they didn't know which way the door faced, but according to the ancient tradition of sitting in the north and facing south, the door should open to the south. And this whole courtyard was somewhat like a northern-style courtyard house, which was popular in Beijing and Tianjin during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
The reason it's identified as a three-sided courtyard house rather than a four-sided courtyard house is mainly due to the size of the courtyard. A four-sided courtyard house would have more rooms and a larger courtyard, and some even have gardens.
The two veteran players simultaneously took out their phones, and Ren Yifei followed suit, opening his phone as well. New messages appeared on the screen:
A casual mini-game called "Spot the Difference".
Please find the inconsistencies. One point is awarded for each inconsistency, and three points are required to complete the level. Also, beware of the unknown creatures lurking in the darkness!
Ignore the deliberately cutesy tone and see that the game has already started. Specifically, you need to find the illogical parts of this place to earn points.
You only need to find three to pass the level, but it doesn't say you can't find more to get more points.
Furthermore, no punishment was mentioned for 'identifying errors'.
In the desolate corner, identifying the wrong character results in instant death; it's unclear what this area might be. Based on some mobile spot-the-difference games, it's more likely that you have one to three chances to identify the wrong character, or that identifying the wrong character reduces your playtime.
What's particularly intriguing is the 'unknown creature in the darkness.' What could it be?
"Where's my bag?" The young man looked around for his bag.
"Stop looking. You can't bring anything in except yourself and your phone." This time, it was the scarred woman who spoke.
She glanced at the people in the courtyard, then picked up her lantern and walked towards the main house: "The game has begun. Good luck."
Ren Yifei then realized that he hadn't brought his watch in either, nor his car keys in his pocket; he only had a cell phone and a lantern in his hand.
He put his phone back in his pocket and took the opportunity to take out his ID card and prop card.
No obstacles, very good. The desolate corner is clearly of a higher level.
He had already scanned the courtyard beforehand. It was a typical Ming and Qing dynasty style residence, with a square courtyard in the middle paved with blue bricks, and inner courtyards on three sides. The gate leading to the outer courtyard was closed. He went over and tried to open the gate, but it didn't budge.
It seems the location is restricted to this courtyard, like a 'wedding banquet'.
He had only half an hour to ponder: the allocation of housing in these ancient houses all followed a strict system of seclusion, and was determined according to seniority and age.
Generally speaking, when three generations of a family live together, the main house is the residence of the elders, the side room of the north wing of the main house is the residence of unmarried girls, the east and west wing rooms are the residences of the sons and daughters-in-law, and the servants live in the outer courtyard.
"Whoosh—" A gust of wind blew, making the lantern sway and casting a swaying shadow on Ren Yifei.
The red candlelight flickered, and a shadow seemed to flash by quickly down the corridor. The woman in her pajamas was startled and let out a brief cry.
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The young man, who was already in bad shape, was so frightened that he sat down on the ground, unable to speak. The others were also trembling with fear.
"Is that the creature from the darkness?" Ren Yifei guessed.
Two minutes had passed by then.
"Now is not the time to stand around in a daze. If you don't want to die, go and try to find some clues." After saying that, Ren Yifei ignored the people who were still sitting in the courtyard and walked towards a side room with his lantern.
The main room has already been taken by the veteran players, so he won't get the best food there now. He might as well go check out the side rooms first.
From a distance, one could only see what appeared to be a shadow moving on the door. But as one got closer, one could see that something was hanging on the door of the side room: a pendant made of folded colorful paper, in triangular and square shapes, with colorful tassels hanging down from it.
He recalled a time when he had a cameo role in a Qing Dynasty drama, and a teacher had told him that during the Dragon Boat Festival in the Qing Dynasty, it was popular to hang colorful gourds on the doors of rooms. These gourds were used as amulets to ward off evil spirits and were taken down on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.
Dragon Boat Festival.
He paused only briefly before pushing open the door.
The room was dark, so he found a candlestick and lit a few candles with the candles from the lantern, and the room became bright.
Turning around, you'll see that this is a very popular home furnishing style in the Qing Dynasty, where all the furniture is arranged in one line.
The first place you enter is a small reception room with a kang (heated brick bed) on one side and a kang table on the other, with a purple clay tea set on the table. Next to the kang are also a quilt, a large cabinet, and a top cabinet. In addition, there is a display shelf and a high stool with a potted plant on it in the corner.
There aren't many items, and the decorations are rather simple and elegant, unlike the brightly colored items in TV dramas.
Passing through this small reception room and through a curtained door, one enters the bedroom, containing a carved four-poster bed with a moon-shaped archway. There are also a wardrobe and dressing table, though not entirely complete…
Looking closely with the lantern, the canopy bed appears to be made of pear wood, while the others are of slightly inferior quality.
The bed was covered with pillows and blankets, all neatly made. He also noticed that the bed was carved with pomegranate and grape motifs, symbols of wishing for many children and blessings; this was not a bed for unmarried young men and women.
The question now is whether this is the room of a daughter-in-law or the room of a concubine.
If the traditional courtyard houses weren't enough, it wasn't uncommon for the wife and concubines to share a courtyard.
Behind the canopy bed were trunks, which he dragged out one by one, opened, and found several sets of winter clothes inside. Most were made of cotton and linen, with a few pieces of silk.
The silks were all folded and pressed at the bottom of the box.
He looked around but didn't find the bright red clothes. Instead, he found a "Mr. Horn" sword and a celadon box at the bottom of the box. The box was decorated with two mandarin ducks with their necks intertwined. When he opened the lid, he found two tiny, naked ceramic figures embracing each other. The boy had a long braid trailing behind his head.
"..." People in ancient times really knew how to have fun.
Come to think of it, there seemed to be no signs of a man living in the house for an extended period; neither the daily necessities nor the clothing were men's. Considering the mismatched furniture, Ren Yifei roughly understood that this was definitely not the residence of the principal wife, but more likely that of a concubine or mistress.
Then he opened the outer wardrobe, and sure enough, it was full of ordinary-looking cotton clothes.
"Hmm?" He picked up a red garment from inside and shone the lantern on it. The garment was bright red, whether from the lantern or it was naturally that red, he couldn't tell.
He looked at it carefully for a while and confirmed: "In the Qing Dynasty, the hierarchy was very strict. Logically speaking, there should not be bright red clothes in a concubine's room."
As soon as he finished speaking, the bright red clothes in his hand instantly faded to a purplish-magenta, and his phone vibrated for three seconds.
Once opened, I saw that the score had become 1, with a note below: "An error has been found."
So that's how it works, Ren Yifei finally understood.
Despite his calm demeanor, he was actually quite confident at this moment.
The game "Wasteland Corner" has always suited him well. He can either find someone to play with, or he can manage to complete the game by himself if he can't find anyone. Therefore, he rarely experiences that feeling of helplessness or being unable to control the situation.
This place is completely different; it tests your personal abilities, and there's no such thing as an easy win. If you can't find three mistakes, you could very well be doomed.
Of course, Ren Yifei still has three lives, so he won't die even if he doesn't clear this level.
But this proves one thing: Ren Yifei is not invincible. He will eventually run out of three chances. He is no different from anyone else in the desolate corner.
He disliked this feeling and absolutely refused to fail.
Having learned how to pass through the checkpoint, Ren Yifei continued to look around with his lantern. He checked the wardrobe and found nothing unusual, so he went to look at the dressing table.
On the dressing table is a blurry bronze mirror with grape and pomegranate patterns for praying for children on the back, and flowers and plants of the four seasons carved on the front.
The mirror was placed on top of a three-tiered jewelry box.
On the box were several gourds, rice dumplings, and cherries made of silk and satin, strung together with colorful rope and tied to a copper hairpin to make a hairpin.
These hairpins are also amulets for the Dragon Boat Festival. They are worn on girls' heads, tied to children's bodies, or hung together with sachets.
Next to the hairpin was a small bowl containing half-ground rose petals, perhaps for making homemade face powder.
He opened the jewelry box layer by layer. The first layer contained cosmetics, such as rouge and face powder, nothing unusual. The second layer contained jewelry, and he even saw a pair of glass earrings.
However, considering that glass jewelry already existed in the Qing Dynasty, he did not jump to conclusions but continued to examine the third layer.
On the third shelf were two jade bracelets, round and with a decent oily sheen, but the color was a bit dull. They were Hetian jade, but not the best kind.
"Nothing seems wrong." He pushed the drawers back one by one, then checked the time. Ten minutes had passed without him realizing it.
"Only twenty minutes left." Ren Yifei took a deep breath. If the mistake was related to acting skills or a person's image, he could be somewhat confident. But a mistake in the environment...
I'm afraid we'll need to find consultants from those production crews to be competent for this job.
He was getting a little nervous, but it wasn't showing on his face.
The sounds of rummaging through drawers and cabinets could be heard outside, indicating that they were also starting to look for errors. It was just unknown how far the newcomers were progressing.
Just as Ren Yifei was pondering whether he should move to a different spot, a dark shadow suddenly darted into the mirror. Startled, Ren Yifei instinctively flung the red lantern away.
"Plop." The red lantern hit the white porcelain bowl, and red flower juice flowed out.
However, the dark figure had vanished, and only his blurry, distorted face was visible in the mirror.
"snake?"
"Ah! A scorpion! A poisonous scorpion!" A painful scream came from outside, sounding like the middle-aged man. No one knew what had happened.
Ren Yifei was about to leave to take a look when his gaze suddenly fixed on the white porcelain bowl.
"During the Dragon Boat Festival, it's common to dye your nails. They pound balsam flowers to extract the juice and then dye their nails red to ward off evil spirits. I've never heard of using roses to dye nails."
As soon as he finished speaking, the rose petals turned into balsam petals. He found another mistake, making two in total, which eased the pressure slightly.
"One left," he thought, taking one last look inside. Perhaps there were still many inconsistencies, but he couldn't discern them; he could only try his luck elsewhere.
Perhaps there are more things and clues in the main room.
He came out of the side room and found that all the other rooms were occupied, and there was also someone in the courtyard, the middle-aged office worker, sitting on the ground hugging his legs, with the red lantern beside him, which had been extinguished at some point.
Ren Yifei walked past him and noticed that the man's ankle was swollen and purple. He was groaning and crying in pain.
Next to the man was a well, and beside the well was a wooden bucket, half full of water, as if someone had drawn water halfway through.
Seeing the water reminded Ren Yifei of another small custom of the Dragon Boat Festival, which is related to wells.
The Dragon Boat Festival is considered one of the most unlucky months of the year, and many taboos exist during this time.
However, that custom was local, not national, and he wasn't sure if it existed here, nor did he know the punishment for making a mistake, so he decided to keep it to himself as a backup plan. His steps, however, continued relentlessly towards the main house.
Author's Note: Mini-game - How much do you know about Qing Dynasty customs?
hooligan:...