Free Web NovelChapter 1064: Chapter 734: Thousand Prison Country_2
"To assess your abilities, naturally, we won’t use the ones from the market. You’ve said so much, are you just brushing me off, or are you unable to translate these things within your knowledge, just stalling for time?"
Sure enough, the girl who hasn’t yet stepped out of college doesn’t have as much on-the-spot experience as Yang Xiao, a seasoned guy. Yang Xiao just slightly intensified his tone, and the girl got a bit flustered.
In the time that followed, the girl quickly dissected the book, displaying her professional abilities completely.
One must say, professional matters should indeed be handled by professionals. The ancient literary texts that gave Yang Xiao headaches were no different from regular words in the girl’s eyes, even though they were limited by the incomplete pages.
Before long, Yang Xiao roughly understood from the girl what the book was about, mostly trivial family matters, farming, and fishing, until he heard a bizarre story.
The story is called Thousand Prison Country.
The story is narrated in the third person; the protagonist is a woodsman who was chopping wood. One day, he joined a few other woodsmen in the mountains, but they unfortunately got trapped by a sudden mist and quickly lost their way.
There were six of them in total, and they didn’t know how long they had been walking, hungry and tired, until they suddenly heard a noise from the mist.
They immediately recognized it as the sound of wood chopping, realizing they had encountered fellow woodsmen.
At this moment, the six of them threw caution to the wind and followed the sound. They found a group of woodsman-like people, explained their situation, and those woodsmen kindly agreed to take them back to their village to rest, promising to send them back once the mist cleared.
Soon, under the guidance of the unfamiliar woodsmen, they emerged from the mist, revealing a secret village located between the mountains.
The village had an interesting name: Ten Thousand Immortals Village.
Ten Thousand Immortals Village was quite large, with houses stretching far in the distance; it seemed like there were at least hundreds of families, not just any small village. The six woodsmen were amazed, having lived there for generations never realizing a treasure like this was hidden deep in the mountains.
The locals explained that due to ongoing wars outside, life was hard, so their ancestors migrated the entire village and eventually found this haven.
They have lived here for many years, leading peaceful lives without conflict with the outside world.
Their ancestors left instructions not to actively engage with outsiders, so they couldn’t stay with the six woodsmen for long and planned to send them away once the weather improved and the mist lifted.
Initially, the six woodsmen thought the same, but after staying a few days, they changed their minds and didn’t want to leave.
The environment was good, and most importantly, the food was excellent, with decent living conditions and clothes for everyone.
The people were living and working here without disputes, war, or even the most ordinary arguments, with everyone’s faces full of happiness and satisfaction. This place was like a paradise on earth.
You have to understand, war was rampant outside, filling one’s stomach was hard, and they might be dragged into combat at any time. Although their wives and children awaited them in the village, in such harsh times, being able to take care of oneself was considered fortunate.
So they planned to find the village chief and pleaded to stay, willing to do anything needed.
The village chief couldn’t resist their persuasion, pledging with oaths, reluctantly agreeing to let them stay.
However, not everyone wanted to remain, and the protagonist of the story was determined to leave, despite anyone’s persuasion, claiming he couldn’t give up his wife and children.
Before leaving, he tried to persuade the other five to return with him, saying they were from the same village and should return together, but the other five, enchanted by the place, refused to listen, deciding not to leave.
With that, the woodsman couldn’t care less and, without waiting for the mist to fully clear, set off alone, even forgetting to bring his axe for chopping wood. freёwebnovel.com
His journey was perilous, but he managed to escape the woods and return to the village at the mountain’s base.
Only after confirming his return home, did he dare to reveal his judgment: he had long realized those villagers were not human, they were ghosts!
The so-called Ten Thousand Immortals Village was actually a Ghost Tomb!
The remaining five woodsmen had been ghost-blinded, and now that they had stayed in the village, they were surely doomed.
The woodsman was a former hunter with sharper observation skills than most. Not long after staying in Ten Thousand Immortals Village, he sensed something was missing in the house.
It wasn’t until he saw a few women gathered together the next day that he realized, the village lacked mirrors.
He could understand one family without a mirror, but none of them had one, which was odd. What household could go their whole life without using a mirror?
To validate his suspicions, he pretended to be ill the following day, placing a basin of water beside his bed in advance.
Sure enough, when news spread of his illness, many villagers came to visit. The woodsman, feigning illness while lying sideways, used the water’s reflection to witness a chilling scene.
In the water’s reflection, all the visiting "villagers" had bizarre tilted eyes, with empty eye sockets filled entirely with whites.
These "villagers" were Lost Souls and Wild Ghosts who got lost in the mountains over the years, unable to escape after death, now aiming to confuse more people to stay, which explained the woodsman’s fervent attempts to persuade the five companions to leave.
But it’s hard to persuade the damned ghost, he did his best but dared not reveal the truth to his companions, fearing he would be unable to escape as well.
At the end of the story, the author changed the name "Ten Thousand Immortals Village" to "Thousand Prison Country."
That concludes the book’s contents.
It’s evident that during translation, Qin Shuya was quite terrified; though the room wasn’t cold, she was tightly wrapped in her coat, lips slightly pale, and her voice trembled until the very end.
After finishing the translation, Qin Shuya breathed a long sigh of relief. She hadn’t expected to translate until midnight.
Yang Xiao listened while taking notes; there were parts in the story describing geographical features, the name of the woodsman’s village, nearby river courses, etc. Yang Xiao noted them all down, aiming to locate the place.
After ensuring nothing was missed, Yang Xiao thanked Qin Shuya, and the latter quickly got energized, taking out some printed papers from her backpack to show Yang Xiao. They were her script drafts and plans.
"President Wen, I prepared these, please have a look." Qin Shuya handed them over with both hands, politely offering them to Yang Xiao, her tired eyes filled with anticipation. Without waiting for Yang Xiao to speak, she quickly added, "Please rest assured, President Wen. I will also invest in this project, although my funds are limited. I can first pay a deposit of ten thousand, and then pay the rest in installments."
"Although... it might take some time. I’m doing tutoring, but eventually... I will definitely pay you. We can sign a contract."
"How could that be? I’m a big spendthrift heir; should I need a young girl like you to pay for it? If word spreads, how would I survive?"
"Is 300 thousand enough? If not, I’ll add more." Yang Xiao waved generously.
"Enough! President Zhao said about 200 thousand should suffice, no need for that much." Qin Shuya was extremely grateful, for the first time finding these spendthrift heirs adorable.
Yang Xiao skimmed through the girl’s script, sighing inwardly, thinking that the 200 thousand was probably wasted.
But spending 200 thousand to acquire such critical information was a profitable deal for Yang Xiao.
Before leaving, Yang Xiao reminded Qin Shuya not to speak of today’s matters, ensuring she wouldn’t tell anyone, threatening to withdraw his investment otherwise. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
Qin Shuya nodded repeatedly, promising not to say a word, ensuring she would maintain President Wen’s erudite and glorious image.
After bidding farewell to Qin Shuya, Yang Xiao met Zhao, who had been waiting outside. After exchanging pleasantries, Yang Xiao asked Zhao to drive Qin Shuya home, advising him to ensure she reached her place or was dropped off at the school gate.
Given it’s late at night, a pretty girl being outside wasn’t safe, especially after translating such a spooky story; she probably was quite scared.
"I invested in her script and the money has been sent over. Find a skilled scriptwriter to coach her and cut those pretentious, idiotic romance lines, deducting the fees from this."
