Chapter 36: The Secret of Linhu Village 7

The village chief's house was also very grand. Not only was there a terrace built with decorative tiles, but there was also a small fish pond in the yard with big fat koi.

Seeing Wang Aping leading Su Qingyun and Xu Xinghe in, the village chief came out to greet them with a smile.

"This is our village elder, Old Yangtou." Wang Aping introduced him to Su Qingyun and Xu Xinghe.

"Hello, Village Chief Yang."

"Hello, hello, please come in and sit down."

Su Qingyun entered the village chief's house. The main hall of the village chief's house was very tidy. There was an eight-immortal table and long benches. In the middle hung a portrait of a great man, and under the portrait were two pots of plastic flowers.

"Sit, sit, sit." The village chief politely offered.

Wang Aping also echoed and asked Su Qingyun and Xu Xinghe to sit down.

The two of them followed the host's lead and sat down without further formalities.

The village chief first asked about the situation of Su Qingyun and Xu Xinghe.

Su Qingyun said that she was a student, and Xu Xinghe said that he worked in administration in a company. They were just being polite, so the village chief didn't ask too many questions.

At the end of the conversation, the village chief told his client that the strange death of the boatman Xie Daqiang should be caused by a monster in the center of the lake.

"We want to perform a ritual in the village to drive away the lake monster, and we'd like to ask for your help."

Help? Su Qingyun was confused, but when she heard the village chief say the three words "lake monster", she did not express her opinion immediately, but looked at Xu Xinghe.

"What do you want us to help you with?" Xu Xinghe asked.

"It's like this. The ritual requires ten young men and women to act as guards, but our village has a limited population, and most of the young people are out working. Even if we gather them together, we still don't have enough people, so we'd like to ask you two for help."

"So that's how it is." This time it was Xu Xinghe who looked at Su Qingyun and asked for her opinion, "Are you willing to help?"

Su Qingyun knew that she had to help whether she was willing or not, because this was a plot derived from the main task.

But this is not the time for her to agree. I believe Xu Xinghe also knows this. He passed the message to her to give her a chance to ask for more information about the monster in the center of the lake.

After all, this is her mission, and only she knows what you want to ask.

Su Qingyun took the opportunity to ask the village chief, "Why do you say that Xie Daqiang's death was caused by the lake monster? What is the lake monster?"

"We don't know what the lake monster is, but there's a legend in Linhu Village. It's said that there's a terrifying monster in the center of the lake. It's several feet tall, and its body is made of mud. Every year around March 3rd, Ghost Festival, it comes out to feed, and it likes to eat human hearts, especially those of people it's scared to death."

"Xie Daqiang's heart was eaten."

The village chief nodded and said, "The village doctor just checked. Xie Daqiang no longer has a heart in his chest, but he has no external injuries, so it's not visible on the surface."

"After the ritual is completed, it will not come out?"

"Yes, our village always holds a ritual before the Ghost Festival on the third day of the third lunar month. However, this year, the lake monster appeared half a month earlier."

Su Qingyun looked down at her watch, and the column showing the date on the dial automatically popped up numbers.

March 12th, February 23rd in the lunar calendar.

It was indeed half a month early.

Su Qingyun asked another question, "Since Boatman Xie knew that the lake monster would appear before the Ghost Festival on the third day of the third lunar month, why did he pack up his boat at night and go back to the lake?"

"He was trying to save himself. The lake monster is most afraid of the lake water."

"Are you most afraid of the lake?" The person who asked this question was Xu Xinghe. He might think that what the village chief said was a bit strange.

The monster in the center of the lake is afraid of the lake water?

"Yes," the village chief replied confidently. "Didn't I tell you that the lake monster is made of mud? Mud is afraid of water, so it will fall apart if washed away."

"Doesn't it live in the center of the lake?"

"Oh, you might not know this, but our Linhu Village is the center of this lake. We call it the Lake Center Monster because it always hides in the muddy pool in the middle of the forest. Every time it emerges, there's always a long muddy trail in the forest."

Su Qingyun and Xu Xinghe understood that Linhu Village was located on an island in the middle of the lake. There was a forest on the island, a quagmire in the forest, and monsters in the quagmire.

"What is the forest fairy?" Su Qingyun asked on behalf of Xu Xinghe.

When the village chief heard about the Forest Fairy, his face changed drastically. He denied it without hesitation, "There is no Forest Fairy here. Who told you that?"

Su Qingyun turned her gaze to Wang Aping.

Wang Aping was holding Xiaozhe and patting his vest to coax him to sleep, as if she didn't hear what Su Qingyun and the others were talking about.

Su Qingyun became suspicious and exchanged glances with Xu Xinghe again.

After finalizing the assistance with the village chief, Su Qingyun and Xu Xinghe followed Wang Aping back.

Back on the lake embankment, Su Qingyun found a high place and looked at the entire Linhu Village.

Linhu Village is built beside the lake. There are indeed not many families in the village. Today, Xie Daqiang died tragically by the lake. The villagers seemed to be frightened. Every household locked their doors and no one was outside.

In this situation, would there still be ten young men and women willing to come out and perform the ritual?

In the afternoon, the village chief sent someone to deliver clothes for the ritual to Su Qingyun and Xu Xinghe.

A plain robe.

Su Qingyun secretly took a photo and sent it to Ye Jian.

She hoped he could help her find out what was so special about the robe.

Ye Jian did not reply to the message.

Su Qingyun and Xu Xinghe changed their clothes and came out, hoping that Aping would ask Yu Qiaoqiao to take them to the commune to gather.

Yu Qiaoqiao was still wearing her miniskirt, but she no longer acted coquettishly towards Xu Xinghe. Instead, she walked towards the commune while eating melon seeds.

Su Qingyun felt strange, so she took the initiative to talk to Yu Qiaoqiao. She asked her, "I heard from grandma that your husband disappeared in the old forest. Aren't you worried?"

"Don't listen to her nonsense. My husband went out to work. There's not even a ghost in that old forest. What is he doing in the old forest?" Yu Qiaoqiao spit out the melon seed shells.

"Isn't there a lake monster in the old forest? How come there aren't even any ghosts?"

"Lake Monster!" Yu Qiaoqiao sneered, "These are all excuses to trick men into going out to work, because the Lake Monster specializes in eating men's hearts."

"Isn't Xie Daqiang dead?"

"Xie Daqiang already has a heart disease. Who knows if he did something shameful with that widow on the lakeshore last night and died immediately after going crazy."

"What does it mean to go crazy immediately?" Su Qingyun asked Xu Xinghe.

Yu Qiaoqiao heard what she said and squinted at Su Qingyun, "You don't even know this, and you still dare to come to Linhu Village."

She sneered again and looked down on Su Qingyun.

Su Qingyun disagreed. She asked Yu Qiaoqiao again, "Are you from this village?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"Your accent is different from the people here."

Yu Qiaoqiao didn't sneer this time, but she didn't say anything either.

After sending the two to their destination, she turned around and left without even saying goodbye to the village chief.

The commune has a very old-fashioned atmosphere. Su Qingyun looked at the slogans on the wall and then at the people around her. She saw Huang Wentao and Zhong Xiaoli.

They also changed into robes, and when they saw Su Qingyun looking at them, they waved to her at the same time.

Su Qingyun counted them and found five men and five women. Except for Huang Wentao, Zhong Xiaoli and Xu Xinghe, the other six were strangers.

Su Qingyun exclaimed in her heart, why is Wu Yong, whom she met last night, not here?

Isn’t there a shortage of young people in Linhu Village? Why are there still some people not coming?