Zhang Wei made an OK gesture and then laughed, "No problem, I'll tell Dad first. Actually, I agree with Dad. I thought our family's ancient books were either pretentious poetry or just records of daily life, perhaps even family expense ledgers."
To prevent his parents from getting involved in the truth of the Dragon Locking Well, Zhang Wei decided against having Zhang Ping hire someone to translate the ancient books.
Furthermore, Zhang Wei had an idea to show the ancient books to the Fengmen zombie, to see if the contents could awaken its memories and if it could translate the text.
"Dad, besides the ancient books and stone murals, did our ancestors leave behind anything else?" Zhang Wei put away the ancient books and immediately asked. Now that he knew his ancestors were the creators of the Dragon Locking Well, Zhang Wei was determined to uncover its secrets.
Zhang Ping thought for a moment and shook his head. "Besides this ancestral home, there's nothing else left by our ancestors. I've inventoried everything before; only the ancient books, this mural, and this ancient ancestral home remain."
"An ancient ancestral home." Zhang Wei murmured softly, his gaze sweeping across the main hall, as if trying to see the entire ancestral home through it. Although he knew there wasn't anything else, Zhang Wei didn't give up. Instead, he set his sights on the ancestral home itself. Since it was left by his ancestors, it might contain information about the Dragon Locking Well.
"Dad, can you show us around the ancestral home?"
"Sure." Zhang Ping glanced at his watch. Seeing it was only seven in the evening, he agreed to Zhang Wei's suggestion and began to lead them on a tour of the ancestral home.
The ancestral home wasn't large, but it wasn't small either, covering three to four hundred square meters. Besides seven or eight rooms, the largest areas were the spacious main hall and the backyard. Zhang Wei and the others toured the rooms quickly, finishing each one in less than ten minutes. This wasn't because they were rushing; it was because the rooms were completely empty. Over the long passage of time, everything sellable had been sold, and not even a bed, table, or chair remained.
"This was the study," Zhang Ping said, pushing open a room and gesturing to the empty space that was visible at a glance. He then walked out, preparing to lead Zhang Wei and the others to the next room, but before he did, he turned and asked, "Son, do you want to look around this study again, like you did the other rooms?"
When touring the rooms earlier, Zhang Wei, in his search for clues, had made excuses to linger, claiming it was an ancestral home and they needed to look closely to see if there was anything different. Lu Lianxue and Qiu Xiaolin, understanding Zhang Wei's intentions, followed suit, looking around the rooms, even touching the walls, occasionally avoiding the gaze of Zhang Ping and his wife, or finding excuses to examine the walls and step on the floor, searching for hidden mechanisms.
However, no matter how discreet their actions were, the emptiness of the rooms made it difficult to hide from Zhang Ping and his wife.
"Lu Lianxue, Qiu Xiaolin, do you want to knock around a bit more, haha."
"Ahem, Uncle, we're just knocking around casually. After all, this is an antique room." Qiu Xiaolin tried to make an excuse, but Zhang Ping interrupted her. He looked at Zhang Wei, who was still examining the study, and waved his hand. "And you, son. Your little actions don't fool me. Do you think there are any mechanisms in the ancestral home? Hahaha, after all, this is an ancient house that has been passed down through generations. It's common in TV shows, isn't it? In ancient houses, turning a study cabinet or a statue on a desk would reveal a mechanism."
"Or pressing a wall or something would reveal a hidden secret door or a small cabinet."
Seeing that Zhang Ping had noticed their subtle movements, Zhang Wei grinned and said, "Hehe, you caught me, Dad. That's exactly what I was thinking. What about it, Dad? You've done this before, haven't you?"
"Hahahaha, you're right, son. I actually did. When I was in high school, your grandfather brought me to the ancestral home. You know, in our time, there weren't many anime. What we had were novels, comics, and cards like 'Fengyun Xiong Ba Tian Xia' and 'Tian Long Ba Bu'." Zhang Ping said directly, "Those martial arts stories often featured secret passages like this. I was quite chuunibyo back then and thought that since the ancestral home was so old, it probably had them too. So, I started tapping and feeling around, even dragging your grandfather to tap and feel with me."
"Did you find any mechanisms then, Uncle?" Qiu Xiaolin's ears perked up at this, and she and Lu Lianxue stopped tapping the walls and looked back.
Zhang Ping spread his hands and shrugged. "Forget about mechanisms, I didn't even find a protruding wooden post. The rooms are very ordinary. What you can see now is all there is to the rooms. There are no mechanisms or hidden rooms. If you don't believe me, just tap around and see."
Just as Zhang Wei and the others were about to give up, Zhang Ping's tone shifted. "The rooms are mostly the same. If you're determined to think there's a mechanism somewhere, it's probably in the backyard. Although I've searched everywhere, the rock garden, the pond, and the well there at least offer a sense of treasure hunting compared to the empty study. How about I take you to the backyard?"
"You should have said so earlier, Dad. Lead the way quickly."
"Wow! Then let's hurry to the backyard."
"Uncle, we won't tour the other rooms. Let's go straight to the backyard."
Zhang Ping laughed heartily. After briefly showing them the subsequent rooms, he led everyone to the backyard.
...
Meanwhile, on the way to the ancestral home.
At this moment, the Fengmen zombie was rushing towards the ancestral home address Zhang Wei had provided.
*Ring ring.*
The Fengmen zombie's phone rang, interrupting its journey. It was Sen Luo calling.
"Zombie, have you set off to find the special zombie yet?" As soon as the call connected, Sen Luo asked directly. Not long ago, Sen Luo had learned from the Fengmen zombie that it had recovered some of its memories and had shared some of the content with Sen Luo. However, the zombie had modified the information, making it half true and half false, claiming to be related to the Dragon Locking Well, from the family of its creator, but a betrayer. Afterward, the Fengmen zombie used the excuse of finding a special zombie to stimulate its brain with the corpse qi of a special type of zombie to see if it could recover its memories, and then left for the Sen Luo Division.
"I'm on my way. What's up?"
"Alright, then go find the special zombie. But don't take too long; come back in four or five days."
"Four or five days? That early? It's not that easy to find a special type of zombie."
"Don't worry, I'm also having 'insects' collect information for you. In four or five days, I should be able to find at least one for you. The reason I'm asking you to come back early is that there's something you need to do, and it's related to the Dragon Locking Well."
...