First Day Bride
Amid the commotion, some people inevitably stepped forward to watch the spectacle, rushing to the front to form a circle around the corpse.
Qin Ming moved swiftly, leading several people to the temple entrance. He stood guard beside Lin Chaoying, vigilantly observing their surroundings. Wang Fei followed closely behind, and when she saw Wang Shao kneeling beside his mother, she broke down in tears, crying out, "Mom—"
When Lin Chaoying looked up again, she noticed that the bride inside the temple was gone! She couldn't find her figure in the chaotic crowd. As far as she could see, there were no other exits in the temple, only the main entrance. How had she left?
Kong Yue squatted beside the body, examining the eyes, pulse, and heartbeat, and finally concluded: "Dead."
Wang Fei fainted on the spot from crying. Wang Shao, supporting his daughter, sobbed uncontrollably, muttering, "How could this happen..."
Kong Yue quickly took out a pair of gloves from her pocket and cleaned the hair off Zhuang Huan's face, revealing the skin of the bloated face. She found bloodstains around the mouth and nose, and a shallow, purplish ligature mark on the neck. Upon further examination, in addition to the head injury, there were fractures in all four limbs. She said, "The bleeding from the mouth and nose most likely indicates drowning, but there are many wounds on the body, requiring a professional autopsy."
Wang Shao suddenly scrambled over and stopped him, saying, "No autopsy! No knives! We can't leave my wife without a complete body!"
"Then call the police!" Lin Chaoying, too lazy to waste words with him, turned to Jiang Chuan Gu and said, "Make the call!"
I could hear the chatter of young women around me.
The tall man said, "I just saw Sister-in-law Zhuang Huan going to the river with a man."
The short man: "Huh? You said you weren't coming to the River God Festival, so why are you running to the river with a man?"
A middle-aged man interjected, "You don't know the Wang family? Their family tradition has always been like this—the women are always so promiscuous! A few years ago, Xiao Ge's wife also cheated on him, tsk tsk tsk..."
The tall man said, "Speaking of infidelity, it reminds me! Didn't Xiao Ge's wife also drown?"
The short man: "Hey! Oh right! But didn't they say he jumped into the river and died? It wasn't like he fell from the sky like this, right?"
Lin Chaoying pushed her way through the crowd and asked with feigned surprise, "Oh! Is that so? Xiao Ge's wife also drowned?"
Seeing that some listeners were unaware of the situation, the tall man became even more enthusiastic, saying, "Of course! She probably died around dawn. In the morning, someone came to the river to wash clothes and saw Xiao Ge's wife floating in the river! It was terrifying!"
"Floating?" Lin Chaoying didn't believe it. After clicking her tongue a few times, she waved her hand and said, "How could that be! That's river water! If a person fell in, they would have been swept away by the waves long ago! How could they float in one place? Waiting for you to come and see?"
The tall man said, "You really shouldn't disbelieve me. She floated on the river like a water ghost, and Xiao Ge pulled her out!"
The middle-aged man then stepped forward and said, "Women have long hair but short brains. What do you mean by 'floating'? They've tied a rope around their necks and are hanging themselves in the water!"
The shorter man interrupted him: "Hey, hey, what are you saying! Look at Sister-in-law Zhuang Huan? She wouldn't have died like that, would she?"
The middle-aged man said, "That proves he really cheated! He caused trouble right under the river god's nose and got punished for it!"
Feeling it was bad luck, the three left the scene chatting and laughing.
Lin Chaoying got goosebumps all over. How could the villagers gossip around a corpse, make wild accusations, and condemn someone with just a few words?
Jiang Chuangu hung up the phone and said, "There is only one mountain road from the county town to the village, but it is now blocked by rocks. The police have contacted the construction team, but they can't get in for the time being."
Qian Fei exclaimed, "That really sounds like Scarface's technique!"
Lin Chaoying recounted the sound of wind she heard just now, standing at the door, before the body fell, saying, "Zhuang Huan's body was thrown at the temple gate."
Suddenly, a man rushed out, crouching beside the corpse, his eyes bloodshot. "Village Chief! Two traitors have appeared in your family. The Book of Immortality is no longer suitable for you to keep!"
Wang Shao kept his head down, only concerned with comforting his daughter in his arms, and did not respond.
Lin Chaoying discovered that this man was number '68' in the lottery.
He seemed to have gone mad, disregarding all dignity, pointing at the village chief and saying, "The Book of Immortality was given to Peach Blossom Village by the River God! Why should your family have it! I don't have many days left! I can't wait any longer, Wang Shao! I might die tomorrow! I have a six-year-old child who has no mother!"
Tears streamed down Wang Shaofa's chapped face as he cried out, "Wang Gao! Are you trying to kill me?! If I could really be brought back to life, how could my wife have died here?!"
"I don't care!" Wang Gao's voice became sharp and distorted with anxiety as he said viciously, "You must hand over the Book of Immortality today!"
Qian Fei grabbed Wang Gao by the collar with one hand, pulled him up, and angrily shouted, "Are you crazy?! Someone in their family died! And you're here asking for books?! Go see a doctor if you're sick!"
"Hey!" Qin Ming quickly stopped him, "Qian Fei! Let go!"
"Fine! I'll tell you!" Wang Shao wiped away his tears as if giving in, first looking up at the sky and murmuring, "I'm sorry, Uncle can only help you this far." Then he said to Wang Gao, "I've never received the Book of Immortality. My father left it to Wang Ge back then! You all know my father loved Wang Ge more! Naturally, he wouldn't leave something so important to our family!"
Wang Gao shook off Qian Fei's hand and rushed forward again, his eyes filled with greed. "Then, where is Wang Ge?"
Wang Shao was completely at a loss. "I really don't know where he is!"
The villagers watching behind them whispered among themselves.
Villager 1 said, "Impossible! I saw Wang Ge arguing with Zhuang Huan in front of the village chief's house yesterday morning."
Villager 2 added, "When I passed by his second uncle's house, I saw Wang Ge coming out of his second uncle's house."
Villager 3 retorted: "No! I clearly saw him come out of the tavern yesterday afternoon, looking furious! He must have gone to settle scores with that adulterer!"
Villager 4 said, "I went to the tavern to buy wine yesterday, but I didn't see him. However, when I went home at night, I saw him enter the Wang family's 12th household."
Lin Chaoying remembered the gift shop owner mentioning the Wang family's 12 households, so she asked, "Are the 12 households the family of the River God's Bride?"
The villagers nodded.
She then asked Villager 2, "When did you see Wang Ge at his second uncle's house?"
Villager 2: "During the day, right? I don't remember the time."
According to the order in which they said, Wang Ge appeared at the village chief's house and his second uncle's house during the day, went to the tavern in the afternoon, ran to the small shop outside the village entrance, called Jiang Chuan Gu, and finally entered the River God's Bride's house at night.
The onlookers immediately began discussing Wang Ge's whereabouts. No one cared about the deceased Zhuang Huan, nor did anyone pay attention to the village chief and Wang Fei's emotions. When everyone talked about the Book of Immortality, their eyes unconsciously revealed a possessive and demanding nature.
Qin Ming and Kong Yue stayed behind to help the village chief dispose of the body, while Lin Chaoying suggested going to investigate the river god's bride.
The three stood at the entrance to the Wang family's 12th house. Two red lanterns hung at the door, with several beautiful colorful ribbons dangling beneath them. Qian Fei felt a chill run down his spine and said, "This village is eerie. The River God's Bride? Lin Chaoying, did you even get a good look at what she looked like?"
"No." Lin Chaoying observed the mysterious symbol on the door. "What does this symbol represent? The villagers who perform exorcisms during the festival all have this symbol on their faces?"
Jiangchuan Valley took out his phone, took a picture to save it, and posted it in the group chat.
With a creak, the door slowly opened from the inside, and a middle-aged woman gently inquired, "May I ask what brings you here?"
Lin Chaoying lied without batting an eye, saying innocently, "We are friends from outside Wangge Village. Yesterday he said that if we couldn't find him in the village today, we would contact Wang Sui at 12 households."
The middle-aged woman stood there, stunned, before she could react. A soft female voice came from inside the room: "Mom, let them in."
Qian Fei gave a thumbs-up and praised, "I never realized you were such a good con artist!"
The courtyard was very clean, and the house was spotless. Unlike the village chief's house, which had local characteristics, the interior decoration was more like modern decor.
The middle-aged woman finished making tea for the three people and left.
Before even seeing the real person, a faint fragrance wafted from afar. It wasn't the scent of flowers or fruit; the aroma was mysterious, dangerous, and full of life, as if it were bottomless, with a newly sprouting flower bud in the dark cave.
Wang Sui changed out of her bright red dress and into a white one. With her hair down and barefoot, she walked into the room. Her skin was frighteningly white, almost blending into her clothes. She was bloodless and looked as thin as a skeleton. She sat in the main seat without any emotion and said, "I'm afraid you've come to the wrong place. I'm not familiar with Wang Ge."
Lin Chaoying smiled apologetically and said, "We just heard from the villagers that Wang Ge came looking for you yesterday, so we apologize for bothering you."
Wang Sui picked up his teacup, took an elegant sip of water, put the cup down with his slender, bony hand, and stared at Lin Chaoying as he said, "I have some conflicts with Wang Ge. He suspects that I have the Book of Immortality. He came over yesterday to ask for it back, and we had a fight."
Lin Chaoying's intuition told her that she had seen these eyes somewhere before. The more she tried to explore, the more fascinated she became. In a daze, she felt an invisible hand reach out from the black pupils and pull her in.
Jiang Chuan Gu patted Lin Chao Ying's leg under the table. She snapped back to reality. "Oh, so that's how it is." After taking a few deep breaths to clear her mind, she smiled and asked, "The villagers say you came back from the dead. That's amazing! No wonder everyone in the village is so eager for the book of immortality!"
Wang Sui shook his head. "I didn't survive because of the Book of Immortality. It was the River God who gave me a second life, so naturally I'm willing to do things for the River God."
She turned her teacup upside down, signaling to us to leave, her expression remaining unchanged. "I'm tired today. Goodbye for now."
As the three walked out of the courtyard, Qian Fei complained, "If she couldn't talk, I would have thought she was a fake!"
Jiang Chuan Gu asked in confusion, "The village chief said that Wang Sui was called the River God's Bride because he didn't want to get married, but how come in her mouth it became a second life bestowed by the River God?"
Lin Chaoying: "You noticed it too?"
Qian Fei: "What did you find? What kind of riddle are you two talking about!"
"Oh dear!" Lin Chaoying pulled her away, gently patting her head with her palm and saying, "Let's go! We said that one of Wang Sui and the village chief is lying."
Qian Feiyi said righteously, "I think it's Wang Sui. The village chief has a kind face and looks like a good person!"
The three returned to the village chief's house, where Qin Ming and Kong Yue packed their luggage and waited for the two at the door.
Qin Ming said, "The village chief helped us contact the nearest hotel, let's go."
After a long and tiring day, the five of them went straight to their rooms and fell asleep. Lin Chaoying couldn't sleep at night, so she pulled out the legendary post from the forum on her phone again and made a new discovery.
—"No one in the village is allowed to do anything that would betray them."
— "Eight years ago, after a young couple in the village got married, the woman was caught by the villagers having an affair with a man from another village."
—“The village chief and the villagers, fearing divine punishment from the river god, tied up the woman and threw her into a human-shaped wooden cage, then soaked her in the river to beg for the river god's forgiveness.”
These sentences strangely overlap with what happened today.
What secrets does Peach Blossom Village hold? And what is its connection to Scarface? Is Scarface the murderer? Why did he deliberately lure people from Twelfth Street?
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