When Pei Nuo heard the voice, she hugged Sheng Chengan and refused to let go, hiding her little face behind him and refusing to come out.

Sheng Cheng'an and Zhou Luancheng looked over in confusion, and saw an old man with a hunched back slowly walking out from the depths of the doorway. There was a circle of cloth wrapped around his head. He should be a member of some local ethnic group.

His cloth clothes were covered with patches, his face looked extremely old, and the corners of his eyes were covered with deep and shallow wrinkles.

Only his eyes were unusually clear, and when he looked at people, it was like an eagle staring at its prey.

Zhou Luancheng didn't react at all, but Sheng Chengan couldn't help but shudder. The old man's eyes were too eerie and terrifying.

The old man walked up to the three people with a hunched back, squinted at Zhou Luancheng and Sheng Chengan for a few seconds, and then turned his gaze to Pei Nuo.

He smiled and said, "Xiao Nuo has been out for a few days, and he actually knows how to recognize people. He is still afraid of me? If your grandparents saw you, they would definitely say something bad about you. Have you forgotten that when you were sick as a child, it was me, your grandma, who treated you."

Sheng Chengan listened to the somewhat difficult-to-understand Mandarin before he realized that the old woman in front of him was actually a woman.

And they are not Mrs. Pei’s parents.

Pei Nuo still tightly grasped the clothes on Sheng Chengan's back, with her little face pressed against his back, refusing to look at anything outside. Her body was shaking with nervousness.

Sheng Chengan knew that Pei Nuo was afraid of the old woman in front of her. It must be that the old woman had done something in the past that left a deep impression on Pei Nuo, so she was afraid of her.

Therefore, he no longer had a good attitude towards the old woman. He just glanced at her and didn't intend to talk to her.

Zhou Luancheng spoke up: "Does the old man know Xiao Nuo? Are her grandparents at home?"

The old man squinted at Zhou Luancheng and suddenly smiled, revealing his gums with only a few teeth left. There was something strange in his smile, and he repeated Zhou Luancheng's words: "You are here to see Xiaonuo's grandpa and grandma. They should be at home."

Zhou Luancheng nodded: "Then we will go there first. If you want to see Xiao Nuo, you can go back to her house."

The old man laughed, and his smile inexplicably gave people a chill. Sheng Chengan felt goose bumps all over his body. He even said something even weirder: "I knew he would come. How could he not come?"

Then he mumbled something in dialect, which neither Zhou Luancheng nor Sheng Chengan could understand.

But Pei Nuo behind him was trembling even more violently, obviously she understood.

Sheng Cheng'an reached out and held Pei Nuo's hand, patted it gently, then turned around, put his arm around her shoulders, half-hugged her in his arms, and left with her in his arms.

Ignore that weird old woman.

Zhou Luancheng glanced at the old man, said goodbye, and left quickly with Sheng Chengan.

The old woman just stood there, squinting her eyes at the backs of the three people leaving, her smile becoming more and more weird, and her medicine man came back again.

After walking a distance, Sheng Chengan stopped and hugged Pei Nuo in his arms and coaxed him: "Don't be afraid, Xiao Nuo. With us here, no one will bully you, and no one dares to bully you. From now on, I will definitely not leave you and will not let anyone have the chance to hurt you."

He stroked Pei Nuo's back gently and took out a sorghum candy from his pocket and gave it to her.

I don’t know if it was the candy that soothed Pei Nuo, or if Sheng Chengan’s words worked, but Pei Nuo calmed down a lot. He stepped out of Sheng Chengan’s arms, lowered his head, and carefully and clumsily peeled off the candy wrapper.

After twisting the candy for a long time without any result, she angrily gave the candy to Sheng Chengan and asked him to peel it for her.

Sheng Cheng'an smiled and rubbed her head, peeled off the candy wrapper for her, put the candy into her mouth, and watched Pei Nuo holding the candy like a child, with a satisfied expression, as if she had forgotten what had just happened.

He frowned and said to Zhou Luancheng, "That old man just now seemed weird. He must have hurt Pei Nuo before."

Zhou Luancheng agreed: "We will find the answer in the next few days. Let's go there quickly. But when we get there, don't tell them about what happened to Mr. Pei."

Sheng Chengan was a little puzzled: "Why?"

"Don't tell me yet. If I tell you, I'm afraid we won't be able to find out anything."

Sheng Cheng'an didn't understand why Zhou Luancheng said that, but since Zhou Luancheng said that, he must have his reasons.

He also very consciously admitted that it was right to listen to Zhou Luancheng.

Mrs. Pei's parents live not far to the west of the town. There are bamboos on both sides of the road, and the bluestone road is winding and seems to have no end in sight.

Mrs. Pei's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Li, lived in a small courtyard in Banpo.

The courtyard wall is also made of bamboo fences, less than one person high. Standing outside the fence, you can see the entire courtyard.

There are three rooms with two side rooms. There is a pressurized well in the yard, a vegetable patch, and a small chicken coop in the corner.

In the yard, an old woman with completely white hair was holding a winnowing basket and turning over the grain in it to dry.

There was also an old man with gray hair, sitting nearby and weaving something like a mat out of bamboo.

Zhou Luancheng looked around the yard, checked the information he had just inquired about, and confirmed that this was indeed Mrs. Pei's hometown, then he went over and knocked on the door.

Sheng Cheng'an observed Pei Nuo's reaction and saw that she was neither excited nor afraid when she saw the old man. She was just very calm.

It was so peaceful as if it was my first time here.

After a while, Li's father came to open the door. He was stunned for a moment when he saw two unfamiliar young men. When he saw Pei Nuo again, he was surprised: "Xiao Nuo? Why are you here? Who are you?"

After saying that, he became alert again.

Zhou Luancheng had a faint smile on his face and spoke in a very gentle tone: "We are here to investigate something. Mr. Pei and the others are busy, so we brought Pei Nuo with us. This is my work permit."

As he said this, he took out his work ID and handed it to Father Li.

Father Li rubbed his cloudy eyes and stared at the work permit in Zhou Luancheng's hand for a while before he spoke slowly, "I can't read. Just tell me what you do. Why are you with Xiaonuo?"

Zhou Luancheng still smiled and patiently explained his work, then said, "We are investigating a case from many years ago this time. It may be related to Xiaonuo, so we brought her back with us."

Father Li frowned. He was still a little nervous when he heard about the case. "What case? How is it related to Xiaonuo? Look at Xiaonuo. What can she do? What do you want to do?"

He became a little emotional as he spoke, and always felt that Zhou Luancheng and the others were liars.

The noise was so loud that Li's mother came over with a dustpan. She only saw Pei Nuo and exclaimed, "Xiao Nuo."

He put down the dustpan in his hand in a panic and went over to pull Pei Nuo over: "Oh my God, it's really Xiao Nuo. I thought I heard it wrongly."

She was old and hard of hearing, so when she heard someone talking she thought they were asking for directions. It was only until she heard her husband's voice got louder that she came over curiously to see what was going on.

At this moment, he was so excited: "Oh my God, my dear, look, Xiao Nuo is back."