Courtyard House: The Frog Boy Brings Back a Genetic Potion at the Start

"And Hao Jianguo...you heartless bastard! The house was haunted and you didn't say anything, you just ran away, leaving us here to die..."

"I'll haunt you even as a ghost... I'll never forgive you!"

Curses mingled with wails, echoing in the dimly lit room.

As soon as he finished speaking, a cold snort suddenly rang out, as cold as iron, piercing straight to the eardrums.

"Even on the verge of death, he still dares to utter evil words."

In an instant, the scene before my eyes changed drastically—

Where is this familiar room? A chilling wind blows, and the darkness is eerie; it is clearly the legendary underworld.

Several green-faced demons grinned and pounced on her, grabbing her and dragging her toward a pot of boiling oil.

"No...no! Please let me go! Please, please let me go!"

Crying and begging is useless.

thump!

My body plunged into boiling oil, and the excruciating pain felt like a thousand needles piercing through every inch of my skin and every bone.

She thought she would be annihilated, but after the ordeal, she was found lying unharmed on the cold ground.

Only the excruciating pain that tore her body apart reminded her that this was not a dream.

"No...no—!"

The screams were no longer human voices, and the body convulsed like a dying fish.

No matter how much she struggled or pleaded, the ghostly figures remained unmoved.

Tortures such as being subjected to mountains of knives and seas of fire, and being sawed in boiling oil—one cruel torture after another was staged.

In the end, the limbs and head were pulled in different directions by an invisible force—

That was the punishment of being torn apart by five horses.

Before the excruciating pain engulfed all her consciousness, she finally sank into an abyss of darkness.

The experiences of the deaf old woman were several times more cruel than the legendary eighteen levels of hell.

This inhuman torment finally drove her to a mental breakdown, causing her to collapse to the ground, foaming at the corners of her mouth.

However, this is not the end.

Just as she was on the verge of despair, she suddenly felt someone pinch her buttocks hard.

"ah--"

The deaf old woman let out a piercing scream.

She never expected to encounter such a terrible thing in such a place; it was simply outrageous.

She turned her head angrily, only to be met with a distorted, grotesque face.

The evil spirit stared at her with wide, malevolent eyes, and that one glance almost scared her out of her wits.

"Old man, weren't you so stubborn before, daring to curse people? Come on, slap him in the face."

Before he finished speaking, a little devil strode forward, holding a wooden board.

Before the old woman could react, the wooden board had already struck her mouth hard.

"what!"

Screams rang out, but the little devils who attacked showed no mercy.

The wooden planks slammed down repeatedly, tearing her lips and knocking out her teeth, causing her mouth to bleed profusely and quickly becoming a bloody mess.

For the deaf old woman, this torment felt as long as several lifetimes.

Finally, amidst excruciating pain and fear, she completely lost consciousness.

……

The next morning, Sha Zhu and the others went out one after another.

Sha Zhu was still feeling a bit resentful—in his mind, it was his new house, and the first night should have belonged to him, but the old woman had taken it first, which made him unhappy no matter how he thought about it.

He complained all night and barely slept a wink.

If it weren't for the old lady's influence in the courtyard, he would have kicked her out long ago.

"Never mind, suffering a loss is a blessing in disguise."

Sha Zhu could only console himself with this thought.

At the same time, he also started to worry about the house: he hoped that the old lady wouldn't dirty the newly cleaned house.

"Hey, silly Zhu, up so early? People are in high spirits when they have something good to do."

Yi Zhonghai also came out of the house and laughed loudly when he saw Sha Zhu.

After hearing what he said, Sha Zhu's displeasure dissipated considerably.

"Of course! Now that eyesore is gone, I have a new house and I got over a thousand dollars for free. How can I not be happy? This kind of good fortune is something others can only dream of."

Sha Zhu started yelling at the top of his lungs, looking around as he spoke, his eyebrows and eyes full of smugness.

By this time, many people in the courtyard had stood up. Hearing his words, they were all so angry that their teeth itched, and their eyes looked like they were about to spit fire at him.

But they also knew that in the current situation, they were no match for Sha Zhu.

"What's with the arrogance...?"

"It's only because Hao Jianguo isn't here that you get to act so arrogantly."

The crowd murmured amongst themselves, but none of them dared to speak out loud.

Sha Zhu and Yi Zhonghai walked to the door of Hao Jianguo's room with suspicion.

"That's strange. Usually, the old lady would have opened the door to sunbathe by now. Why isn't she doing anything today?"

Sha Zhu scratched the back of his head, looking completely puzzled.

Yi Zhonghai suddenly slapped his thigh and laughed heartily: "Silly Zhu, don't you understand yet? This place is a blessed land! The old lady moved in and was nourished by the feng shui, so her body became strong and healthy. Naturally, she sleeps soundly and still doesn't want to get out of bed."

Hearing this, Sha Zhu's face lit up with even more joy.

He started to think to himself: if even the old lady can enjoy such good fortune, what would happen if I moved in? Wouldn't promotion and wealth be just around the corner?

The old lady's door was not locked, but the two of them couldn't just barge in.

Helpless, Yi Zhonghai and Sha Zhu could only wait in the yard, hoping that the old lady would push the door open and come out on her own.

To their surprise, more than two hours passed during this wait.

The room remained quiet, without the slightest sound.

Even Yi Zhonghai realized something was wrong.

He frowned, unable to understand the situation before him.

"Uncle Yi..."

Sha Zhu was getting anxious. "Even if the old lady can sleep a lot, she shouldn't still be asleep at this hour, right?"

He was still worried about his new house, afraid that the old lady would mess it up and make it dirty—it was a new house that he himself hadn't even dared to move into yet.

Yi Zhonghai didn't think in that direction, but instead became vaguely worried: he had seen how excited the old lady was yesterday, could it be that she was too excited and her joy turned to sorrow? If that were the case, it would be terrible.

He glanced at Hao Jianguo's room, made up his mind, and said, "Let's go in and take a look."

Yi Zhonghai stepped forward and gently pushed open the door.

"Squeak—"

The sound of the door hinges turning was exceptionally clear in the silence.

The two looked inside and froze in place.

The old woman was curled up on the ground by the door, her body hunched over, with some white foam dripping from the corner of her mouth.

Sha Zhu was the first to come to his senses, and he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Something terrible has happened! The old lady is in trouble!"

The shout startled the neighbors, who all gathered around.

Seeing the deaf old woman in this state, everyone looked at each other with surprise and doubt.

"Wasn't this supposed to be a blessed place? How come the old lady is in such a state?"

"What... what exactly is going on?"

A low murmur arose.

Yi Zhonghai glared at them: "What time is it for you to keep saying this! Get him to the hospital right now!"

As he spoke, he pinched the old woman's philtrum forcefully.

To some relief, the old lady actually woke up.

She opened her eyes weakly, her gaze still somewhat unfocused.

But the moment her gaze fell upon Hao Jianguo's room, the old woman trembled as if suddenly seized by something terrifying, and screamed in terror:

"A ghost! A ghost! This house is haunted!"

After shouting that, her head lolled to the side and she fainted again.

No matter how much Yi Zhonghai pinched her philtrum, even until blood was drawn, the old lady did not wake up again.

Everyone present heard her shrill scream clearly.

Everyone looked at each other in surprise; no one had expected that the old lady's first words upon waking up would be this.

Even Yi Zhonghai couldn't help but shiver and subconsciously glanced into the dark room.

Whether it was psychological or not, everyone who looked at that door felt a chill creep up their spine.

Those as timid as Xu Damao took several steps back, wishing they could get as far away from the house as possible, fearing that there might be something unclean hidden inside.

Finally, the group hurriedly took the old lady to the hospital.

However, this did not quell the situation.

Xu Damao and the others remained huddled by the door, craning their necks to peer into the Hao family's house.

Just seeing that tightly closed door sent a chill down their spines, and their hearts pounded with anxiety.

"This is really weird... Do you think there might be something unclean inside?"

Xu Damao muttered in a low voice.

Yan Jiecheng didn't reply, only glancing at him sideways: "What do you think?"

Xu Damao quickly shook his head: "In my opinion, it doesn't seem like it."

Hao Jianguo's family has lived here for so many years without ever causing any trouble. How come they're making a scene the moment he left?

Liu Guangfu squeezed in and said mysteriously, "There are some things you can't help but believe."

That old lady couldn't have been faking it, could she? You saw it with your own eyes; she was foaming at the mouth with fear—there's something fishy about that!"

Despite this, Xu Damao still harbored some doubts.

He even had a fleeting thought: Could it be that the old lady was in cahoots with someone to put on a show, just to squeeze more money out of Hao Jianguo?

"Alright, if anything happens to the old lady, what does it have to do with us?"

Xu Damao waved his hand in the end, too lazy to think about it anymore.

Actually, it wasn't just the young people; the older folks in the courtyard were also whispering among themselves in small groups.

"What a tragedy... This old lady is so old, and she has run into such bad luck."

But is the Hao family's house really haunted?

Second Aunt rubbed her hands together, looking rather mysterious.

Aunt San, however, believed it completely: "Have you forgotten? Didn't Master Wang say before that his family's feng shui was never right?"

I think it's evil spirits attracted by bad feng shui!

"Auntie San, I don't believe that."

Another older woman chimed in, "When Yi Zhonghai and the others were cleaning that house, they were overjoyed. Didn't the deaf old lady keep praising the good feng shui? If you ask me, there's definitely something fishy going on."

Suddenly, someone lowered their voice and introduced a new theory: "Think about it... Is it possible that the feng shui of the house was good when Hao Jianguo lived there, but it deteriorated after he left?"

Why? Maybe it's Old Hao's spirit protecting his son!

"Now that Old Hao has seen the deaf old lady and the others drive Jianguo out, how can he swallow this anger? That's why he's acting up, turning a good feng shui house into a haunted house."

This explanation garnered nods of agreement from the crowd.

Many people thought to themselves: If that's the explanation, it makes sense.

Otherwise, how could such a fierce old deaf woman have been so easily frightened into fainting?

Rumors quickly spread throughout the courtyard, with everyone saying that Old Hao's ghost had returned to collect a debt.

Some even say that Lao Hao is going to settle scores with everyone who bullied his son, including the deaf old woman, Yi Zhonghai, and the entire He family—no one will escape.

Despite the rumors, many neighbors were secretly pleased – they had suffered quite a bit from Sha Zhu and his gang lately.

When He Daqing heard these rumors, his legs trembled so badly that he almost collapsed to the ground.

"No, no way... Could it really be Old Hao's ghost haunting us?"

His face was deathly pale, and when he turned to glare at Sha Zhu and He Yushui, his eyes were practically spitting fire.

He Daqing felt both fear and anger.

If it weren't for the brother and sister forcing him to take the house back, he wouldn't have gotten into this kind of bad luck today.

"How should we end this situation? I advised you long ago not to provoke Hao Jianguo and to let it end here."

"You all ignored my words and went to great lengths to cause him trouble—and now look what's happened, you've made a mess of things!"

He Daqing's complaints revealed a sense of anxiety, and he even had the faint thought of abandoning the courtyard again and leaving his children behind.

Sha Zhu didn't take it to heart at all, and just let out a snort of laughter.

"A haunted house? Hao Jianguo's house is haunted? Nonsense! Dad, I don't believe a word of that."

He spoke decisively, his eyes filled with indifference as he looked at He Daqing.

"If you ask me, all this talk of gods and ghosts is just gossip and slander from people in the neighborhood."

Sha Zhu spoke with certainty.

He Yushui, who had been somewhat intimidated, relaxed her tense shoulders after hearing what he said.

She preferred to believe her brother's judgment rather than those mysterious rumors.

"That's right, Dad. This time I also think my brother is right."

Things like ghost stories are feudal superstitions and should not be believed.

"Wasn't that Taoist priest Wang who got arrested and sent to a cowshed for doing the same thing?"

He Yushui spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world, as if she had already seen through everything.

With the two of them singing in unison, He Daqing's resolve began to waver.

But when he thought of the deaf old lady's previous distraught appearance, worry welled up in his heart again.