Chapter 77: Tell the Truth
Upon hearing this, Aunt Chen sighed softly, "I hope so."
Jingwu didn't reply and continued drinking his tea.
Before long, a man dressed in patched clothes sat down and asked hesitantly, "Master, how much do you charge for exorcising ghosts?"
Jingwu looked up at him. The man in front of him was in his forties or fifties, with a square face and dark skin. He exuded a faint aura of yin.
She frowned slightly: "It depends on what happened to you."
The man sighed deeply and said, "I'm the village head of the poorest village in Pingyao County. The only well in our village is haunted..."
The man's name is Zhang Yang. He is the village chief of Zhangjia Village. He is only in his forties and has several gray hairs because he worries about the livelihood of the village every day.
Two months ago, his son suddenly rushed over to call him, saying that the well had swallowed people. He rushed to the well and saw a crowd of people gathered around it, with a straw sandal belonging to a six or seven-year-old child placed at the wellhead.
"What's going on?" Zhang Yang asked the onlookers hurriedly.
A woman suddenly ran out, grabbed his leg, and cried out, "Village chief, my Sui Sui has fallen in for some reason! Please save her, village chief!"
Zhang Yang looked down and immediately helped the person up. While comforting him, he directed the able-bodied men in the village to see if they could pull the person out of the water.
Everyone gathered together and tried many methods, but they still couldn't get Sui Sui out of the water.
Zhang Yang had no choice but to appease Sui Sui's mother, and he was beaten quite a bit in the process, but thankfully he managed to calm her down.
Sui Sui's family erected a cenotaph for her, which was considered a proper burial.
The matter should have ended there, but unexpectedly, less than half a month later, another child from a family in the village also fell in, and his body was never recovered.
Zhang Yang looked at the shoe lying outside and instantly got goosebumps. He immediately thought of murder and went to the county government to report it to the authorities.
Several yamen runners came and investigated for almost half a month, but they found nothing.
The day after the yamen runners left, another child fell into the well.
This time, it was a girl in her early teens. They still couldn't retrieve the body, and one of her shoes was still left outside.
The fact that three children fell into the well one after another was certainly not an accident.
It's neither an accident nor murder, so it's probably haunted.
The villagers also thought of this and dared not drink the water from the well anymore. They dared not go out day or night. It was the best time to plant crops, but because everyone was afraid, no one dared to go up the mountain or down to the fields to work. The village's fields were barren and even overgrown with weeds.
Zhang Yang naturally heard these words as well, and instantly felt a chill down his spine. However, he couldn't show his fear, so he could only reassure the villagers and then go around inquiring about whether there was a reliable master.
After much searching, he finally found out about this reliable master and immediately came to him.
Fortunately, he was lucky enough to run into them on South Street.
After saying these words, Zhang Yang looked at the person in front of him with pleading eyes: "Master, please save those children, save our whole village."
Upon hearing this, Jingwu frowned, carefully examined his face, performed a divination, and instantly understood.
“There’s a ghost haunting that well, but it’s probably a new ghost. Think carefully, besides these children, who else has fallen into that well?”
Zhang Yang lowered his eyes and thought carefully for a moment. A person flashed through his mind. He wanted to keep this a secret, so he carefully spoke.
"No, only those few children fell in."
"If you're not going to tell the truth, then please leave."
Hearing the cold voice, Zhang Yang looked over and saw a richly dressed young man sitting next to the master with a cold expression.
Just as he was about to ask a question, he heard the master speak.
"He's right. If you're not going to tell the truth, then please leave."
“Master…” Zhang Yang’s heart trembled slightly. He gritted his teeth and said, “There was someone who died inside, but she jumped in herself before the New Year. She shouldn’t have anything to do with this, right?”
Jingwu looked at him with a half-smile: "Why did she jump in?"
"How would I know?" Zhang Yang looked up at the two pairs of cold eyes opposite him and said, "Their whole family died before the New Year. She was just a young girl and couldn't go on living, so she couldn't think straight and jumped into the well to commit suicide."
"How did her family members die?" Yue Huai and Jing Wu asked in unison.
"He died of illness."
Upon hearing this, Jing Wu's eyes darkened: "Is that so?"
When Zhang Yang met her eyes, his heart skipped a beat, and he dared not speak again.
“I think it was the people of your village who conspired to drive that family to their deaths. She is now filled with resentment and has transformed into a vengeful ghost. If you don’t tell the truth, the entire Zhangjia Village will perish.” Jingwu put down his teacup and looked at him leisurely.
Hearing this, Zhang Yang felt extremely guilty, and sweat began to bead on his forehead.
That matter really couldn't be known by outsiders; otherwise, the entire village would be too ashamed to face anyone.
Seeing that he still wouldn't speak, Jingwu raised an eyebrow, turned to the boy and said, "It's getting late, let's pack up and go home."
When Yue Huai heard the word "go home," he was taken aback at first, then nodded in understanding and helped her pack up the stall.
When Zhang Yang saw that the two had packed up their stall, he immediately became anxious: "Master, Master, don't go!"
Jingwu stopped and looked at him: "What's wrong?"
Zhang Yang was very anxious, wanting to say something, but not knowing how to put it into words.
"After you've thought it through, come find me at the third house from the right on 10th Street."
Seeing his hesitation, Jingwu gave him his address, then added, "Remember to give me the divination fee this time as well."
After saying that, he and Yue Huai moved the tables and chairs back to the steamed bun shop and headed towards Tenth Street.
The two watched the sunset and slowly walked to their front door.
Yue Huai followed her into the dining room and sat down at the table, thus getting a free dinner.
He knew Jingwu's habit of taking a walk in the garden after meals to digest her food, so he followed her to the garden.
The two hadn't walked far when they saw a communication talisman floating in the distance.
Yue Huai reached out to take it, quickly read the contents, and his face gradually darkened.
The message talisman self-immolated and turned to ashes, falling to the ground.
Jingwu noticed that his expression wasn't good and asked, "What's wrong?"
Yue Huai looked at the person in front of him, thought for a moment, and then said, "In the granary of Anhe County, all the grain was eaten by insects overnight. My master told me to set off immediately to check the situation there. Awu, I have to go."
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