After the village chief finished speaking, he seemed to have remembered something sad, and his face was full of sadness.
Twenty-nine lives, it is really sad to talk about it.
But to say sad... that's a bit of a stretch.
At least this kind of emotion should not appear in the village chief.
After all, we are not related.
Of course, if the troupe happens to include the village chief’s relatives and friends, that would be a different matter.
Shen Qiqi thought for a moment and asked, "Does the village chief know anyone in that troupe?"
"More than just acquaintances! Most of the people in the entire troupe were raised by people from our village. It's no exaggeration to say they are our family!"
Shen Qiqi's words seemed to have triggered a switch in the village chief. He became excited, his face flushed, and veins on his neck were faintly visible.
But soon his shoulders slumped again, and he said with a sad expression, "We were the ones who saved them, but we were also the ones who killed them in the end... If we had known it would be like this, we should never have built a theater in the first place... It's all my fault!"
The village chief let out a long sigh and stamped his feet, looking as if he was regretting his decision.
In the end, he squatted on the ground, holding his head and sobbing.
A man in his forties, crying without hesitation, with tears and snot all over his face, actually scared Shen Qiqi - she was good at fighting, she had no problem catching ghosts and monsters, but she really couldn't persuade people not to cry!
Shen Qiqi was feeling distressed and didn't know what to do, when she saw a few women chatting not far ahead pushing each other closer. They then secretly looked at Shen Qiqi, and when they saw that she didn't show any impatience, they became bolder.
A fair-skinned woman said, "Fairy, please don't mind it. Our village chief is just blaming himself too much."
"Actually, this isn't our village chief's fault at all. If anyone is to blame, blame that damn Wang Dachui!"
"That's right. It was all that evil-minded Wang Dachui who did this. If he hadn't poisoned them, Xige'er and the others wouldn't have gotten into trouble..."
There was no need for Shen Qiqi to ask, as the women started talking one after another.
Shen Qiqi also quickly sorted out the ins and outs of the matter from their words.
On a rainy day eight years ago, a theatre troupe passed by Fuma'ao Village and stayed overnight. It had been raining for several days in a row, and the rain suddenly intensified that night, triggering a flash flood. The troupe could have easily escaped the disaster, but in order to help the villagers evacuate and rescue their property, only thirteen of the twenty-nine people in the troupe survived.
Among the thirteen people who survived, two were elderly people with limited mobility, and the remaining eleven were children who were still in the learning stage.
It can be said that the pillars of the entire opera troupe were destroyed in that flood.
On the contrary, the villagers of this village suffered the least casualties because they had the support of the beams and pillars of the opera troupe.
After the flood receded, in order to repay the troupe's kindness, the villagers spontaneously took on the responsibility of supporting the elderly and weak in the troupe.
The old and weak in the troupe did not eat the villagers' food for free. Apart from the essential practice time every day, they would also spontaneously help the villagers with work during the rest of the time.
The two sides have been helping each other for more than five years.
By the sixth year, the children in the troupe had finally grown up, learned enough, and were able to perform on stage.
The Lantern Festival two years ago was supposed to be the first time their troupe performed on stage after resuming classes.
In order to perform this opening scene well, the entire troupe put in their best efforts.
This was their first play after resuming classes, and they had been eagerly looking forward to it for several years.
Unfortunately, they never got the chance to perform on stage: all 29 lives of the entire troupe were lost in the pot of soup and rice they had the night before.
...Years of wishing finally came to nothing.
After the women finished speaking, their eyes turned red with sadness and they lifted up their sleeves to wipe away their tears.
On the contrary, the village chief, who had already cried bitterly, calmed down after venting his emotions and continued to speak.
"Not long after the opera troupe's incident, the village began to be haunted. First, someone found that the dirty clothes they had soaked in a wooden basin the night before were washed clean and hung on the clothesline the next day. Then, the wooden stakes in the yard were chopped into firewood, the water tanks were full, and the weeds in the fields were pulled out..."
As the village chief spoke, he began to wipe away his tears again.
Shen Qiqi couldn't help but feel a little sour in her nose.
Washed dirty clothes, chopped firewood, water in the water tank... Even if you become a ghost, you will still subconsciously repeat the things you did in your lifetime.
The village chief choked up and said, "Actually, we all know that those children who came quietly to help us in the middle of the night were the children from the opera troupe. So, at first, although we were scared, we didn't think of driving them out of the village. After all, they didn't hurt us, and instead, they quietly helped us, right?"
Shen Qiqi thought that might not be the case.
How can the living and the dead live together?
Some injuries are invisible to the eyes.
Sure enough, the village chief said, "But who would have thought that a few months later, something bad would happen again in the village. The crops in the fields withered for unknown reasons, more and more people in the village fell ill, and the children cried non-stop at night... The elders said that it was because the children had too much negative energy. We had no choice but to seek help from outside... But our intention was not to hurt them!"
The women also quickly said, "Yes, yes, we won't hurt them!"
"We just wanted to ask the Fairy Lady to help pass on a message to those children, telling them that we appreciate their kindness, but... humans and ghosts have different paths!"
"Do you think this is okay, fairy?"
After everyone finished speaking, they all looked at Shen Qiqi eagerly.
The latter shook his head.
"Can't."
“…”
Before the village chief and the others could show any sadness on their faces, Shen Qiqi explained, "Because they are in the state they are in now, we can't persuade them to leave. We can only use other methods. But don't worry, I promise not to hurt them unless it is absolutely necessary."
Chen Qiqi glanced at the sun, which was only half overhead, and said to the village chief, "While the sun is still shining, go to the village and get some people to clean up the abandoned stage. Put up all the gongs and drums needed for the opera, and then make as many scarecrows as possible... Hurry."
…
People always like to say "You are kidding me".
That’s because ghosts are really easy to deceive.
This was the experience Shen Qiqi had summed up after hanging out with a group of ghosts for many years in her previous life.
But the village chief, who was surrounded by a group of scarecrows, didn't think so.
This was the first time in his life that he had seen so many ghosts gathered together!
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