My happy life in a courtyard house with triplets.

Chapter 54: Buying Torches

Zhang Lei glanced at the extra Jia Dongxu, secretly amused by the thought of yet another innocent victim. He then raised his voice and asked, "Anyone else want to join? Those who do, pay up now!"

Zhang Lei called out three times, but the crowd remained silent, and no one responded.

Liu Haizhong, who had been holding back for a while, urged, "Alright, stop shouting. Nobody's going to waste their money. Hurry up!"

Zhang Lei waved his hand dismissively: "Alright, alright, you guys go first, I'll follow behind."

At this moment, a sense of suspicion arose in Yi Zhonghai's heart. He frowned, looked at Zhang Lei, and questioned, "Why weren't you in front?"

Zhang Lei raised an eyebrow and asked, "Are you sure you can trust me to be in front?"

Upon hearing this, Yi Zhonghai was momentarily speechless. He quickly calculated in his mind that he was truly uneasy—if Zhang Lei went ahead, who knew what good things he might be hiding. He coughed twice and replied curtly, "Alright then."

Then Zhang Lei looked at the four of them and said with a half-smile, "Aren't you going to prepare something?"

Yan Fugui was completely bewildered, and asked with a frown, "Zhang Lei, what else do we need to prepare?"

Zhang Lei curled his lip and said, "Who knows how long this secret room has been there? You just walk in like this, it's pitch black inside, what can you possibly see?"

At this moment, Liu Haizhong slapped his thigh and shouted as if he had just realized something: "That's right, torches! Let's go in with torches!"

As he spoke, Liu Haizhong was about to step out of the courtyard.

Zhang Lei quickly stepped forward to stop him, and asked in a deep voice, "Liu Haizhong, what are you going to do?"

Liu Haizhong replied matter-of-factly, "Didn't you say it yourself? It's pitch black inside, you can't see anything. I'll go get some torches!"

Zhang Lei crossed his arms, looked at him with a half-smile, and said, "If you want to leave and come back in, you'll have to pay 10 yuan."

Upon hearing this, Liu Haizhong was speechless for a long time after hearing Zhang Lei's words, and his face instantly turned a deep purplish-red.

Liu Haizhong's eyes widened immediately, and he snapped, "Zhang Lei, are you obsessed with money? I've already paid ten yuan, and now you want more money to come back in?"

Zhang Lei resorted to shamelessness, spreading his hands and saying, "Anyway, that's the rule; you have to pay to come in."

At this point, Yan Fugui quickly tried to smooth things over, asking with a forced smile, "Zhang Lei, if we don't go out, how are we going to keep the torches? We can't just go in in the dark, can we?"

Zhang Lei grinned and pointed to the corner of the wall: "Don't worry, I've already prepared everything for you."

Yan Fugui looked in the direction he was pointing and saw two torches standing there. He immediately breathed a sigh of relief: "Since you've prepared them, then hurry up and give them to us."

Zhang Lei stepped forward to stop him, raising an eyebrow and saying, "Third Uncle, these are my things. How can I just give them to you to use for free?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Haizhong became displeased again, stubbornly shouting, "Zhang Lei, you can use our torches, we'll return them to you once we get out, it won't delay you at all!"

Zhang Lei held up a finger and shook it, repeatedly saying, "No, no, no! This torch was painstakingly crafted by me, a masterpiece among masterpieces!"

Yi Zhonghai, having lost patience with Zhang Lei's pacing, finally asked directly, "Zhang Lei, just tell me, how exactly do you want us to get the torches?"

At this moment, Zhang Lei held up two fingers, waved them, and said, "Two yuan a bunch, anyone want some?"

Hearing that he had to pay again, Yi Zhonghai was about to lose his temper. He stared at the torch in Zhang Lei's hand, which was made of wood wrapped with a tattered cloth, and raised his voice, saying, "You want two yuan for this? Are you robbing us?"

Zhang Lei looked at Yi Zhonghai with an indignant expression: "Hey, Uncle Yi, you can't say that. This is a fair trade. This stuff may seem worthless normally, but right now you desperately need it. It's like a bottle of water in the desert—it's worthless normally, but it can save your life. This torch is the key that illuminates your path to wealth. Think about it, how much is this worth? I feel like setting it at two dollars is a loss!"

Hearing Zhang Lei's words, Yi Zhonghai suppressed his anger, took a deep breath to calm himself, and said, "Okay, give me one."

Jia Dongxu, standing to the side, couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "Master, are we really going to buy it?"

Yi Zhonghai glared at him fiercely, then lowered his voice and scolded, "What? You think your 1.0 eyes can actually see in the dark?"

At this moment, Yan Fugui and Liu Haizhong quickly huddled together and whispered to each other.

Yan Fugui rubbed his hands together and said, "Old Liu, how about we chip in and buy one together?" Liu Haizhong gritted his teeth and nodded, "Okay, one yuan each!" The two of them chipped in two yuan, handed it to Zhang Lei, and bought a torch.

Zhang Lei looked at himself and realized he had earned four yuan with two broken wooden sticks, and he couldn't suppress the smile on his face.

At this moment, he slowly pulled a match out of his pocket. Yi Zhonghai's face instantly darkened upon seeing it, and he couldn't help but ask, "Zhang Lei, don't tell me you're charging for these matches, are you?"

Zhang Lei quickly waved his hand and said with a grin, "Uncle Yi, don't be angry. How could I do something so tasteless? I said it was a torch, so I'll definitely light it for you."

Hearing this, the four men finally breathed a sigh of relief. They secretly wondered how much more they would have to pay if Zhang Lei charged for even matches.

At this moment, Zhang Lei saw the four people carrying torches and about to rush in, and quickly stopped them, saying, "Wait a minute."

Liu Haizhong could no longer contain his anger; veins bulged on his forehead as he roared, "Zhang Lei, are you ever going to stop? Are you ever going to stop? We just went into a lousy secret room, and you've been causing all this trouble. What are you trying to do?"

Looking at Liu Haizhong's exasperated expression, Zhang Lei slowly spread his hands and said, "If you want to die, I won't stop you. Come on in."

Upon hearing this, the men were startled and abruptly retracted their raised feet. Yi Zhonghai frowned and asked in a deep voice, "Zhang Lei, explain yourself clearly. What exactly do you mean?"

Zhang Lei began by saying, "I think you all know that this secret room has been sealed for an unknown amount of time, and it's completely airtight, right?"

Jia Dongxu scratched his head and asked nonchalantly, "So what? If the room isn't sealed, can it still be called a locked room?"

Zhang Lei glanced at him and slowly asked, "What would happen if a place was sealed off year-round, with no air circulation?"

At this moment, Yan Fugui suddenly realized what was happening, his face turned pale, and he was so frightened that he exclaimed, "Yes...it can cause oxygen deprivation, this can really kill people!"

At this moment, Zhang Lei clapped his hands and said, "Uncle San is indeed a teacher; he knows a lot."

Upon hearing this, Yi Zhonghai felt a chill run down his spine. It wasn't that he didn't understand, but he was so excited by the possibility of treasure hidden in the secret room that he completely forgot about it.

Liu Haizhong, also pale with fright, quickly stepped closer and asked, "Then what should we do? Should we go in or not?"