The backdrop can also be propped up.

Chapter 232 The Tale of the Tea-Picking White Figures

Fang Cheng was about to continue reading the diary of the literate tea-picking girl when he heard the bell ring – it was already 10 o'clock.

After calculating the distance, Fang Cheng put away the papers, picked up the basket, and headed towards the tea garden.

Reaching the tea plantation, and seeing the white shadows floating among the tea leaves, Fang Cheng realized it wasn't time yet. She turned to look at the huge Western clock—from this angle she couldn't see the sundial, but the clock itself was still barely visible—and could see that there were still a few minutes until 11 o'clock.

Fang Cheng then looked at the white shadows floating in the tea garden—this time they were still moving, and their movements were much more varied. The white shadows transformed into human figures, bending down to pick tea leaves, some huddled together as if they were talking about something.

"Dong—dong—dong—dong—dong—dong—dong—dong—dong—dong—" The bell rang, and the gate opened with a bang as before, but the white shadows did not disappear.

Fang Cheng stared wide-eyed at the still-moving white figures, then turned to look at the large clock embedded in the wall.

After confirming that the clock showed 11 o'clock, Fang Cheng turned his head back to the tea garden.

Having found the open gate, Fang Cheng first stuck one foot inside, then watched the reaction of the white figure nearby.

The white figures didn't even raise their heads and continued doing their own things.

It doesn't seem to matter, but I should finish picking them as soon as possible and leave when it's time, Fang Cheng thought to himself. He called out the two little people to help him pick tea leaves.

When she was only halfway there, Fang Cheng realized something was wrong—these white figures were trying to steal her tea leaves.

Moreover, those white figures moved even closer, reaching out to grab the tea leaves in the basket.

Fang Cheng tried to take a picture of the white figures, and they immediately withdrew their hands.

Guang Guang's discovery of a way to repel the white shadow was not enough, because the white shadow's hand reached out from many directions, making it impossible for Fang Cheng to both fight the white shadow and pick tea leaves at the same time.

Remembering that he still had two golden finger figures with him, Fang Cheng held them up in front of the white figures to see if they could drive them away.

After learning about Fang Cheng's request, Lu Renkui threw the tea leaves he was holding into the basket, and then reached out to slap the white figure's hand that was reaching into the basket.

The white figure withdrew its hand.

Seeing that the two little figures were effective in repelling the white shadows, Fang Cheng put the system WQBYRZM into the tea basket as well, asking them to help drive away the outstretched hands of the white shadows.

Fang Cheng sped up his tea-picking pace, and when he heard the two little people say that they could no longer defeat the white figures, he immediately changed locations to pick tea leaves.

After changing locations several times, Fangcheng discovered a pattern—the two or three white figures huddled together would not come over to take the tea leaves from the basket.

However, the two or three white figures left after picking for a short while. If you followed them, they would come over to get more tea leaves.

So Fangcheng went to find a group of two or three white figures and moved closer together. After those two or three white figures left, she went to find other groups of white figures huddled together.

After following a few white figures huddled together, Fang Cheng noticed that they were talking.

Listening carefully to what the white figures were saying, Fang Cheng was surprised to find that the content was exactly the same as the diary entries written by the tea-picking girl.

With the idea that listening to them might lead to new discoveries, Fang Cheng picked tea leaves while listening intently to what the clustered white figures were saying.

The white figures were saying a variety of things.

"The landlord is really troublesome; he's hired quite a few more Taoist priests and Buddhist monks."

Do you know why he did it?

"Have a son, he only has two daughters, doesn't he?"

"Tch, you're so short-sighted. The purpose of having a son is to ensure that the tea shop has someone to inherit it. If that's the case, he might as well live forever."

The two or three white figures left, and Fang Cheng, seeing this, couldn't follow. Instead, he joined the group of white figures who were huddled together.

The white figures were talking about something different from the group in front of them.

"Hey, did you know? A new schoolteacher recently came to the tea shop, and he's quite handsome."

"What's the use of being handsome? Would he even look at a bunch of lowlifes like us?"

"Oh my, even school teachers might not be interested in women."

"What do you mean?"

"Have you all forgotten? Our boss also hates literate people the most."

"Oh, right, his first wife ran off with a scholar."

"So what do you think he hired that tutor for?"

What news do you have?

"I'm telling you this, but don't tell anyone else. That schoolteacher is supposedly our boss's mistress."

"Doesn't our boss not have that kind of fetish? Would she take a man as a lover?"

"That must be our boss's younger brother's. It couldn't possibly be the eldest or second young lady's. They don't seem like the type to be interested in men. They're always together."

The two or three white shadow groups also left, but the news they brought was absolutely explosive. Fang Cheng took a while to process it before going to the other huddled white shadow groups to listen to what they were saying.

"Hey, do you know how our boss developed this tea shop?"

"Is your news reliable? I've heard several versions of it. I've even heard the news that our boss slept with rich people before."

"I heard it from the young apprentice of that Taoist Zhang, but I got the information by exchanging the cured meat I received for the New Year."

"Oh, my little apprentice, tell me about it."

"The young apprentice said that the Taoist priest Zhang used to be a friend of our master. The day our master's wife ran off with that scholar, our master went to Taoist priest Zhang and asked him to avenge him."

"and then?"

"Then the Taoist priest asked him how he wanted revenge. Our boss said that he wanted the adulterous couple to regret it, and it would be best if the adulterous couple could bring him some benefits before they died."

"So, that Taoist priest used some magic to tie up his wife and her lover and sacrifice them to the heavens. After the sacrifice, our boss got the money and then opened this tea shop."

"Mom."

"Moreover, our boss has also benefited from the human sacrifices. I heard that when the tea shop was in trouble a few years ago, the boss went to Zhang the Taoist priest again, and the two of them put their heads together and sacrificed a few more people. Only then did the tea shop recover its previous business."

"Oh dear, don't let this happen to us."

"Even if we offer ourselves as sacrifices, they probably won't even look at us. Don't forget, the master hates scholars the most. He just picks a few kids of suitable age and birthday from outside and puts them in the school, where the teacher teaches them. Wasn't our former manager from that school?"

"Oh, that manager? Wasn't he supposed to be sent home to get married?"

"Pah! What kind of wedding is this? The person in charge said the wedding venue was my hometown. When the enemy attacked my hometown, everyone who could escape fled. There are only a few old bachelors left in the village."

How can you be sure no new people have moved into your hometown?

“A new person? Are you kidding me? I just escaped from there a few weeks ago and worked day and night to get here.”