Chapter 103 Too Many Women Have Died
She clutched her lower back, her gaze fixed intently on the girl. Ping Yu's heart pounded like a drum, but she forced herself to remain calm and said:
"I have hysteria."
She pointed to her head and said, "A large part of the reason Grandpa sold me is because I always say things that don't make sense... Sister, are you going to tell Grandma?"
“That’s not how it is,” Wang Tao insisted. “There was more than just your voice in the room, I heard other people! She was saying something about ‘legs in the well’ and ‘the torso is with Widow Zhang’s…”
That's great! The other party not only heard it, but heard it perfectly clearly.
Why did Wang Tao come here? Recalling when Ping Yu first arrived at the Wang family home, she had an attitude of reluctance towards him entering. While everyone else was welcoming, Wang Tao felt out of place. Ping Yu's secret had been discovered, and she didn't know if she could stay in this village any longer.
As Ping Yu frantically turned her head to respond, Wang Tao suddenly reached out and placed her hand on the back of hers. Pregnant women have higher body temperatures, and the warmth of her fingertips startled Ping Yu. She seemed to know Ping Yu was making excuses, her face showing no fear or surprise. Wang Tao said calmly, "Don't be afraid, I mean no harm, and I won't tell anyone."
What do you mean by "I won't tell anyone"?
"They're all busy dealing with Widow Zhang's matter, and since no one was watching me, I came to find you. I wanted to tell you about things in this family, but it seems you've always had something unusual about you." Wang Tao muttered to herself, "But then again, otherwise how could it be such a coincidence that you came along?"
Pingyu glanced at the sun; it was almost setting. Cooking the communal meal wouldn't take long, and Wang Xushi might be back anytime soon. She interrupted Wang Tao's murmur, "Sister Tao, we don't have much time."
Wang Tao took a deep breath and asked, "Did you come here for that well?"
Although Ping Yu was cautious, he still released some information: "It counts as part of it."
Has it always been like this?
"No." After denying it, Wang Tao's lips trembled. She lowered her head, her hands unconsciously stroking her swollen belly: "It only started after Widow Zhang's daughter died."
"How long has it been since her daughter died? And..." Pingyu asked, "Has Widow Zhang always been like this?"
“Ten years.” Wang Tao remembered it clearly: “Her daughter died ten years ago, when I was only twenty-three. I don’t know what kind of person Widow Zhang was, because she rarely interacted with the villagers after her daughter died. Her family had fields, chickens, and cattle, so they didn’t have to worry about food and drink.”
"How did her daughter die?"
The soul of the dead can do many things. Judging from Widow Zhang's madness, her daughter must have died in an accident. If someone dies in an accident, their soul will become a vengeful ghost. It's understandable that the well water level would rise due to the gathering of yin energy. Wang Tao paused for a moment. She cast a complicated look at Ping Yu, then continued:
“Because the water level in her well rose and the fields yielded a good harvest, the villagers used this as an excuse to burn her alive.”
…?
She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Wang Tao confirmed the girl's meaning: "Yes, I should have been the next one to die."
"This is a custom passed down in our village since ancient times," she said, "a custom to deal with drought demons."
According to Wang Tao, the village once suffered a devastating drought. The year the drought demon appeared, the riverbed dried up, the earth cracked, and people walking on the road would suddenly burst into flames.
To survive, the strong men hunted the weak like rabbits, drinking their blood and eating their flesh. Just as the entire village was on the verge of extinction due to drought, a wandering Taoist priest, unable to bear the village's plight, decided to take pity on them and offer guidance.
"Ten years ago it was Widow Zhang's house that flooded, but this year it's my house that's been flooded. I should have died..."
As Wang Tao spoke, a finger peeked out from the gap in the bundle. Before it could fully emerge, Ping Yu pressed it back down, giving the girl a warning look. Lost in her memories, Wang Tao didn't notice Ping Yu's unusual behavior. Her gaze suddenly sharpened for a moment: "But you're here."
Her face looked somewhat sinister in the increasingly dim ambient light, startling Pingyu, who quickly clutched the bundle to his chest, looking surprised and suspicious: "Me?"
She wasn't a member of the Wang family, how could she die in Wang Tao's place...? Wait! Pingyu suddenly realized she had entered the family as the wife of Wang Tao's unborn child. Wang Xushi had said she would take her to register the household registration tomorrow. Once registered, she would be a member of the Wang family!
A look of realization dawned on the girl's face. Wang Tao forced an ugly smile: "You've heard everything, haven't you? I knew you were special the moment I saw you. You're so beautiful, even with so much dust on your face, you still look gorgeous. If it were a family that didn't care about girls, you should have been married off to a landlord or sold to a brothel, instead of being sold off to some village like this. You're investigating the well and talking to something I can't see, so you must have some supernatural powers. They say that capable people can keep their appearance unchanged, you can't afford to perish here."
Wang Tao took one of her hands and said firmly, "You should run away tonight."
The severed hand still managed to escape, and Wang Tao grabbed it. Ping Yu was sweating profusely, managing a weak reply: "What will you do if I run away?"
“I deserve to die. If I weren’t pregnant, they would have made me die anyway. It was the midwife in the village who said that my belly button was sticking out, so it must be a boy. That’s why they wanted to find someone to die in my place. If you hadn’t come today, they would have gone to town to find a broker to buy someone else.” Wang Tao touched her belly again: “If my child needs to be exchanged for another child’s life, then I’d rather die with him. It’s better for us, mother and child, to leave this world with a clean conscience than to live on with the burden of a murderer’s life. Besides, you’re here to investigate the anomalies in the well. You can’t die.”
"Too many women are dying in this village, far too frequently."
So this year, the fire she hadn't forgotten burned her own body.
"If you can solve this problem, maybe the women in the village won't have to die anymore."
Wang Tao repeated, "So you can't die, little sister."
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