Chapter 105 She had a smooth face
Pingyu took out a compass from her wrist and followed the direction of the needle to find Widow Zhang's house.
In my line of sight, there is a person standing still in front.
Who is it?
The widow Zhang that Wang Tao spoke of was a reclusive old woman driven mad by the death of her daughter. It's said that widows attract trouble; could she be some scoundrel coming under the cover of night? Pingyu was small, and many villagers suffered from night blindness due to malnutrition, so she went unnoticed. The man took two steps to the left, and there was a well! He leaned over the wellhead, seemingly throwing something into it. He couldn't possibly be up to anything at night; a bad feeling crept into Pingyu's mind.
Could it be poisoning?
"What are you doing!"
She spoke abruptly.
The combination of nighttime and a girl's voice always evokes a multitude of associations.
The man was startled and turned around, dropping what he was holding. The winter night was windy, and the cold air carried the object to Pingyu's feet. The girl reached out and caught it, only then realizing the man was throwing paper into the well. She looked up and recognized him as the widow Zhang who had come to abduct her during the day.
Pingyu walked forward, and Widow Zhang recognized her: "What are you doing here, little brat? Aren't you afraid I'll kidnap you and sell you again?"
After saying that, she realized something was wrong.
In his haste, he asked again, "Who told you I live here? Who sent you here?!"
The girl raised her hand, and Widow Zhang vaguely saw a flash of cold light. Ping Yu got straight to the point, immediately showing off his compass: "Auntie, I am a cultivator. I live on the mountain behind your village. My master heard that you have a grievance and sent me to handle it."
“If you are a cultivator, why put on that show at the village entrance?” Widow Zhang looked at the compass in her hand suspiciously, not believing it at all: “Could it be that old hag Wang taught you to say that? She’s not a good person.” After saying that, the woman reached out to take her hand: “But since you’re here, there’s no reason for you to leave.”
"The Wang family isn't safe, come to my house."
The man with the severed hand took Zhang the widow's hand first, and she greeted him as always: "Hello, may we go to your house?"
The hand I held was like snake scales, smooth, soft, and cold; the size of the palm indicated it was an adult's hand.
The widow was shocked and took two steps back in fright: "What is that?!"
Before Pingyu could speak, he released Zhang the widow's hand. The severed hand said, "You smell like me, it's like..."
She jumped to the ground and went to the well. She tapped the surface of the well with her fingertip and said, "Here it is!"
"In the well again?"
But the village legend says that the drought demon will only choose one household to flood, causing everyone else's wells to dry up. It's too dark now to see anything in the well, and in the village legend, the drought demon is depicted as a demon that brings drought. Dismembering the water-drawing monster and throwing it into the well, their source of water, isn't that cutting off their own escape route? During their conversation, Widow Zhang had recovered. She returned to the well, disheveled, and said to the two men, "Wait, explain yourself! What body?"
Pingyu hesitated for a moment, but finally raised the paper money in his hand and said, "I came here for this."
Widow Zhang's expression changed drastically. She wanted to tell them to leave, but then she remembered Ping Yu's words. He had said he was there on his master's orders to resolve the village's injustice. Didn't that prove her daughter's death was suspicious? Hatred flashed across the woman's face. She asked, "How do you know about my son? Wasn't her death suspicious?"
"It's more accurate to say that the entire village might be the culprit." Ping Yu picked up the severed hand: "Although the investigation is still ongoing, this hand is very likely the hand of the drought demon."
Widow Zhang stared at the hand and murmured, "The hand of the drought demon..."
“You’ve always known about the substitution, so you didn’t want me to die a violent death, right?” Pingyu said, “Wang Tao told me everything, including the legends of your village. Were there any signs before your well flooded?”
Widow Zhang was momentarily dazed, but quickly regained her composure: "Yes."
Hearing the toothpaste's crisp and decisive answer, Pingyu was stunned: "...Huh?"
“Before the floodwaters rose at home, my son kept having dreams. He said he dreamt of a white-haired woman in a blue dress standing by the well at home, constantly thanking him for the water and telling him not to worry, that it would rain soon,” Widow Zhang recalled. “She had this dream every day, every night. At first, she was uneasy because of the woman’s white hair and red eyes, but later she realized that the woman meant no harm, and then she was able to sleep peacefully.”
"And then your family's fields also started to improve?"
Ping asked.
“That’s not it…” Widow Zhang said, “My family are all hardworking people, and the fields have always been fertile since our ancestors’ time. The crops in our fields grow better than those of other families… Moreover, my husband is a ventriloquist, and he earns a lot of money performing in the city. Now that it’s not a year of famine, whether the well water rises or falls has nothing to do with my family.”
Pingyu asked the severed hand, "Do you remember me? Maybe it was you I dreamed about."
"I already told you I have no memory!"
The severed hand jumped up: "The sooner you find my body, the sooner I can remember what happened. The larger the limb, the more memories it holds. Why don't you just retrieve my torso first!"
"Okay, okay!"
Pingyu also wanted to resolve the matter quickly, so she asked Widow Zhang, "Could you please fetch me a bucket of water?"
Although she didn't know what Pingyu was going to do, Widow Zhang confessed.
The moonlight, too, is yin. Pingyu immersed his hand in the water that encompassed the entire moonlit expanse, closing his eyes to feel it. The night, devoid of noise, made it easier to quiet the mind and focus. Just like when he meditated in the mountains, Pingyu quickly entered a pale, empty space. The fragmented sounds interspersed with each drop of water passing between his fingers and palm gradually coalesced into a complete sentence:
I'm here, I'm here.
Come find me, I'm right in front of you!
Pingyu asked, "Do you know where your other bodies are?"
“I know.” Compared to the clueless hand, the body in Zhangjiajing seemed to know more: “My legs are in the Wang family’s house, and my other hand is underground at the village entrance. However, I don’t know where my head is.”
The body said, "Not only me, but all the limbs don't know where our head is. Without a head, we can't reassemble ourselves into our original selves. But the head is in this village; are you willing to find it for us?"
Shuibo pushed her body closer to Pingyu and said, "As for the rest, just touch me."
"If you touch me, you will know everything you want to know."
The body emitted a soft glow, and Ping Yu felt a subtle awkwardness looking at the woman's beautiful body. She pinched her burning earlobe and reached out to hug her: "Let's go up first, Widow Zhang and Shou are waiting for us."
The moment she touched the skin, the glimmer of light rushed into her body.
Pingyu's body convulsed violently for a moment, then quickly slumped down, head bowed limply. Although Widow Zhang had used her madness and shrewishness to frighten away many villains, she had never witnessed anything like this. She wanted to carry Pingyu on her back, but dared not touch her. In her panic, she could only ask the severed hand beside her, "What...what happened to her? What do we do?"
The severed hand cheered and jumped up lightly, trying to give her a high five: "She found my body!"
At the same time, Pingyu, after fainting for a while, opened his eyes again and found that his hands were empty.
A pair of adult hands.
"Ba? Ba!" Two shouts rang out in succession. Ping Yu heard a very familiar voice in front of him, asking, "Are you still listening?"
"ah....?"
She glanced to either side discreetly, confirming that the other person was calling her. No wonder the body said that touching her could unlock all the unknowns; it was because she could immerse herself in the other person's memories!
"Nothing, what were you talking about?" She quickly composed herself and replied in a flawless manner, "Sorry, I was just spacing out...?"
The moment she saw him, all her mental preparation crumbled.
The person in front of Pingyu was dressed in an elaborate fairy robe of overlapping pink and green, her clothes fluttering and colorful ribbons swaying. Her black hair was draped behind her back, with several strands tied into double buns piled with gold and jade hairpins, like cat ears adorned with decorations. Beneath her thin, curly bangs, her almond-shaped eyes showed a hint of reproach as her willow-leaf eyebrows furrowed.
Her face was beautiful, flawless, a fact no one could dispute. But most importantly, Pingyu recognized whose face it was.
This is......
The fairy-like girl stood with her hands on her hips, reached out to pinch her cheek, and gritted her teeth, saying, "Tomorrow you will be going to war with the Yellow Emperor. How about I hold a farewell banquet for you today?"
The closer he got, the more horrified Pingyu became.
The fairy's appearance is completely identical to her modern appearance.
She has a smooth face.
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