Chapter 36
Why do I say this? Because when I saw the villagers' clothes, I remembered that one of the hanged people at the Huiyang Inn was wearing something very similar to them. Now it seems that he must be the village chief's grandson. They are very backward here, and their clothes are different from those in the outside world, which led me to mistakenly believe that the corpse was from the Republic of China.
As for why his grandson died there, it might be because he took the main road when he first went to Baiyun Temple to look for someone, but when Li Danyang brought his grandson back, they took the road around Zhayang Mountain. With Li Danyang around, the hanged ghosts at Huiyang Inn didn't dare to find a replacement, or perhaps they didn't stay at Huiyang Inn for long.
This led to his grandson not knowing the danger of that road. After Li Danyang got into trouble, he knew that it was faster to take the shortcut. But this time, he himself was not intimidated by Li Danyang, and while resting at Huiyang Inn, he was found a substitute by the hanged ghost.
Of course, this is all speculation on my part. Even if I'm right, I can't say it out loud. If the village chief, at his age, knew his grandson was dead, I wonder what the consequences would be.
After we finished talking, the village chief dismissed the villagers and arranged for us to stay at his house.
After we found a place to stay, we put our luggage away, but we had no time to rest as we were only thinking about Li Danyang.
At this time, Zhao Danxi came up secretly and said, "Master, why don't we go to Broken Soul Mountain first?"
Master Zhang nodded in agreement. He was also extremely anxious.
"Danxi, Danchen, you two come with me to the mountain to take a look. Xiaomei and Qingyun, you two stay here and be careful." Master Zhang said.
"I want to go with you too." I don't want to stay in the village.
"Have you forgotten what you told me when you came here?" Master Zhang said.
Now is definitely not the time to mess around, I can only agree to Master Zhang.
He looked outside the courtyard and saw that the village chief had left. He then whispered to the two of us, "Take good care of your luggage. If you encounter any danger, leave here immediately. We will meet at the Huiyang Inn. If you are safe, wait for us here."
"I will follow the master's orders." Qingyun said.
After that, Master Zhang took Zhao Danxi and Liu Danchen out. They wanted to find a local guide, but no one in the village was willing to go. Finally, the village chief made the decision and said, "Xiao Hu, you take them."
Xiaohu is as his name suggests, in his twenties and with a chubby build.
With a guide, Master Zhang and the other two didn't want to delay any longer and hurried into the mountains.
Qingyun and I returned to the village chief's house, wondering what dangers we might encounter by staying in the village. But after a moment's reflection, I understood Master Zhang's hidden meaning. He didn't believe the villagers' one-sided story, so he urged us to be careful and had a plan for retreat.
After realizing this, I couldn't help but worry about Master Zhang's trip. But I still had to look after the luggage. If anything really happened, I would have to take Qingyun out to deliver the message.
I waited anxiously at the village chief's house. Finally, I couldn't sit still any longer, so I said to Qingyun, "Would you like to stay here or go out and walk around the village with me?"
Qingyun said, "Master told me to stay here and watch. I can't leave."
I knew he would say that, so I said, "Then I'll go out for a walk."
After saying that, I walked out of the village chief's house.
The village chief is nowhere to be found and has never returned.
I was walking down the street when I spotted a group of people gathered at the millstone in the center of the village. As I approached, they all stopped talking and looked at me. The men's gazes made me panic. I didn't dare speak to them and hurried past. I could feel their eyes on me, and that feeling only faded as I walked away.
I took a deep breath and walked to the village entrance. Seeing that the road was not blocked, I felt a little relieved and hoped that this was just my illusion.
I didn't take the road in the center of the village, but instead thought of going around the edge of the village and back to the village chief's house.
As we were walking, suddenly a hand grabbed me and pulled me into the door. I was about to scream, but she covered my mouth and signaled me with her hand not to make a sound.
She stuck her head out the door, saw no one around, and quietly closed the door. When she turned around, I could see clearly that it was a grandmother with a wrinkled face and a pair of small eyes.
"Go." She spoke in a very low voice, afraid that others would hear.
"What?"
"Get out of here now."
"What exactly happened in the village?" I knew that the grandma must know the inside story, so I asked her.
Her tears suddenly flowed out, and she said tremblingly, "What a sin!"
But she seemed unwilling to say more. After telling me to leave quickly again, she went out to see if there were any villagers nearby and pushed me out of her house.
It seems that my feeling was right, and Master Zhang's worries were not unreasonable. Not only was there evil spirits causing trouble in this village, but there were also problems with the villagers.
I hurried back to the village chief's house and asked Qingyun to pack all the luggage in case of an emergency. The two of us waited at the village chief's house, and every minute was torture.
Finally, shortly after the sun set, Master Zhang and his team returned.
"How is it?" I asked.
Master Zhang shook his head and said nothing.
Zhao Danxi said, "We found nothing when we got there. Master saw that it was getting dark and it would be even harder to find the place, so he decided to return and go back tomorrow morning."
I looked toward the door and saw that the village chief had not returned yet, so I told them my story: "I just went out for a walk, and when I came back, an old lady grabbed me and told me to leave quickly."
After I finished speaking, I looked at Master Zhang and asked, "Master, have you noticed that there are problems with the villagers a long time ago?"
Master Zhang whispered, "I knew something was wrong the moment I saw the villagers."
We looked at Master Zhang in confusion, and he whispered, "There isn't a single woman among those villagers."
After listening to what Master Zhang said, I thought about it and realized it was true. I said, "I just went out and didn't see any other women except that old lady."
This is very strange. There can't be no women in a village. Otherwise, how did all those children come here when we first arrived?
"No matter what, we will go to the mountain to look for it tomorrow. We can't just abandon Danyang like this." Master Zhang said.
"Qingyun and I are going together. I feel that staying in the village is more dangerous than going into the mountains."
After hearing what I said, Master Zhang thought for a while and agreed.
"Creaky", the village chief pushed the door open and came in.
We all stopped talking about the previous topic and pretended to talk about something else.
The village chief came into the house and saw us all there. He said, "Dear guests, the village has prepared a banquet to welcome you."
"Thank you for being so polite, sir. How dare we bother you?" Master Zhang declined with a bow.
"You're welcome, dear guest. The villagers are waiting. I can't explain to them if you don't go."
It is true that when you live under someone's eaves, you have to bow your head. We have to eat now whether we want to or not.
"Then I'll trouble you, father-in-law." Master Zhang saw that he could not refuse and could only obey.
After all, those dozens of villagers in the village are not pushovers. If they really have bad intentions, we are no match for them.
Now I finally understand that people are sometimes scarier than ghosts.
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