Zhou Qiqi's voice wasn't loud, but it was like a needle, piercing through Li Guixiang's feigned composure.
Her eyes were clear and bright as she looked directly at Li Guixiang.
"Just a month ago, you dug out my parents' last belongings from under that stove. What? You've already forgotten?"
Li Guixiang shuddered violently, her harsh face draining of all color in an instant. Her eyes widened as if she had seen a ghost in broad daylight, and her lips trembled.
"How...how did you know?! Which jade pendant were these things placed with???"
Her heart pounded with panic, her eyes darting around. Suddenly remembering something, she raised her foot and kicked Xu Laonian, who was cowering beside her, hard in the leg. Her old, withered leg, like a dry twig, delivered a vicious kick.
"You damned bastard! Didn't I tell you to burn all that bad luck stuff after you took that jade?! How could you let them find it again?!"
Old Xu was kicked and staggered, clutching his leg and crying out in pain. His old face was contorted in agony, and his voice was filled with sobs and fear.
"Burn...burn what! I dug it up in the middle of the night. There was something black on the bundle, like bloodstains! The wind was whistling through the leaves, like ghostly howls! It sounded like something was trying to rush out, I...I was scared! I was afraid of being punished if I burned it! I'd already dug it up, how could I dare to burn it? So I...I stuffed it back into the earthenware pot and buried it back there..."
"idiot!"
Li Guixiang trembled with rage, her triangular eyes practically spitting fire.
"Bury it back?! What about the letter?! Why are you burying those scraps of paper back?! Are you keeping them as a death warrant?!"
Old Xu shrank even further, his cloudy old eyes filled with confusion and grievance, muttering softly:
"I... I don't recognize many words. That paper was all crooked and convoluted; who would have known it was a letter from Shui Sheng and his wife to Qi Qi! I thought it was just some useless piece of paper..."
The moment those words were spoken, the house fell into an instant of deathly silence.
The villagers looked at each other, their expressions shifting from anger to astonishment.
Zhou Shuhua was extremely anxious, her lips trembling. She wanted to ask but dared not, afraid of disturbing the truth she had stumbled upon.
Village Chief Xu, Aunt Zhang, and other villagers listened with furrowed brows and eyes full of doubt:
What exactly was hidden under this stove? And how was it discovered?
Zhou Qiqi looked at the two clowns who had inadvertently confessed, her eyes calm and unwavering, and simply said:
"Want to know what happened? Come on, let's go to the old house and you'll understand."
Her gaze swept over Li Guixiang and her husband, "Bring them along too."
Just as Shen Huaichuan was about to step forward, he didn't expect that the villagers next to him had already been unable to contain themselves.
Aunt Zhang was the first to roll up her sleeves, grab her husband, and speak in a loud voice:
"Did you hear me? Let's go! To Shuisheng's house! Let those two heartless bastards settle things face to face!"
Suddenly, the crowd surged forward like a tide, surrounding the limp Li Guixiang and the cowering Xu Laonian. They pushed and shoved them like livestock, herding them toward the three brick houses at the foot of the mountain.
The sun shone brightly on this vast and imposing procession.
Footsteps, whispers, and Li Guixiang's occasional, unwilling howls shattered the tranquility that should have been in the mountain village.
The group soon arrived at the gate of the old house, and Zhou Qiqi pushed open the familiar gate.
The villagers initially thought the house was probably all dusty and dirty.
But to everyone's surprise, the courtyard was spotless, with hardly a single fallen leaf in sight. The blue brick floor looked as if it had just been washed, and there wasn't even a speck of dust under the old locust tree.
"My God!"
Aunt Zhang, who was leading the way, was the first to scream.
"How come this is so clean? No one has lived here for months. Where's the ashes? Where's the grass? Is it haunted? Could it be... that Shui Sheng and his wife's spirits came back in the night to clean it up?"
As she spoke, she shivered.
Upon hearing this, the villagers crowded at the courtyard gate immediately felt a chill run down their spines. Several timid women shrank back in fright and began to whisper among themselves, creating a tense and eerie atmosphere in the air.
"Aunt Zhang!"
Zhou Qiqi spoke with a wry smile, her clear voice dispelling the inexplicable chill.
"Don't scare yourself. There's no ghost here. It was Huaichuan and me who came here last night."
She paused, meeting the surprised and suspicious gazes of the crowd.
“I was feeling uneasy last night, so I wanted to offer incense to my parents and, while I was at it, I tidied up the yard and the house.”
Everyone then realized what was happening, breathed a long sigh of relief, and began to complain about Aunt Zhang:
"Old Zhang's family, they're talking nonsense! They're terrifying!"
"Exactly, exactly! Where does all this superstition come from!"
Zhou Qiqi's lips curved into a barely perceptible smile. Her gaze swept over the various expressions on the faces of the crowd, finally settling on Li Guixiang, whose face was ashen. She then changed the subject:
"However, something really did happen last night that was a bit 'mysterious'."
Her voice wasn't loud, but it completely drew everyone's attention.
"Huaichuan and I have packed up and were just about to leave,"
Zhou Qiqi pointed towards the main room.
"A gust of wind suddenly blew in from somewhere, and with a 'whoosh,' it swept all the empty bowls and plates on the stove onto the floor, smashing them to pieces."
She paused, noticing everyone holding their breath, and continued:
"We went to clean it up, and we found that the soil under the stove against the wall was a different color. It looked like it had been recently turned over, and there were some broken pieces of tile showing. We thought it was strange. Huaichuan is strong, so we moved the old cupboard that was blocking the way. Hey, there really was a hole underneath! It looked like it had been dug up and then hastily filled back in, and the soil hadn't even been compacted."
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