"Let's go help too, we can't sleep anyway." Zhang Xiantao couldn't sit still, she was so curious, she couldn't wait to rush to the scene to take a look.
"You go if you want, it's raining outside, we don't want to go out and get soaked." Zhu Qingru glared at her, this girl was trying to persuade Xingxing to go with her to see the fun.
Zhang Xiantao ignored Zhu Qingruo and only looked at Xingxing. Xingxing shook her little head and said, "It's too dark outside, and it's raining. The road is muddy. I don't want to get my shoes dirty."
"You can change your shoes..." Zhang Xiantao was very disappointed. No one wanted to watch the excitement. Why were they all sitting still?
She couldn't summon the princess and the men in white, so she looked at Xiao Huan and Xiao Yuan. The two maids looked up and down, pretending not to see her hint. Zhang Xiantao glared angrily at the only guard.
The guard remained expressionless, his expression clearly saying, "Go back to sleep, don't torture yourself in the middle of the night."
This bodyguard had multiple roles. He not only had to protect Zhang Xiantao's safety, but also act as her coachman. Every few days, he had to write to Madam Zhang to report on the situation on the road, where they were, what had happened in the past few days, whether the young lady had eaten well, whether she had slept well at night, and so on.
Zhang Xiantao felt that she, as the mistress, had no authority. The servants she brought didn't listen to her, but she couldn't do anything about it. She was so angry.
Fifteen minutes later, Zhu Qiuyu returned. Xingxing was yawning and almost fell asleep again, but she immediately perked up when she saw her senior brother return. Zhu Lin chuckled and didn't try to persuade her to rest. Instead, he asked her how she was doing.
"That person was very fast, had very long hair, excellent night vision, and was as sharp as a wild beast. As soon as he saw us, he ran away and headed towards the swamp that the village chief had mentioned," Zhu Qiuyu said.
"That person jumped into a house and stole the pig that the other person was raising."
After a moment of silence, Zhu Lin said, "Since no one is injured, everyone should go back and rest. We'll talk again tomorrow."
If they hadn't heard someone shouting for help and saying that someone had been killed, they wouldn't have rushed out to investigate. Now that they know it's just a pig that's gone, they don't want to get involved.
Zhu Qiuyu and the others weren't sleepy, so they sat in the main room and played chess. When the village chief's family returned, they called them over to ask them questions.
"When did that person appear? How many people did he kill? How many livestock and poultry did he harm?" Zhu Qiuyu asked casually.
The village chief said with a bitter face, "It's been several years, and I don't know where he came from. There are more than just our village around here, but he only targets our village to cause trouble. He must think that the people in our village are easy to bully."
"You didn't report it to the authorities, and just let that person do whatever he wanted?" Zhu Qiuyu raised an eyebrow, somewhat puzzled by the actions of the people from Chaimu Village.
"The village elders say we can't report this to the authorities. We've considered reporting it, but the elders in the clan are stopping us." The village chief looked hesitant, lost in thought.
"Okay, thank you for clearing up my doubts. You all go and rest. Let's play another game of chess." Zhu Qiuyu dismissed the village chief's family and continued playing chess with Zhu Chumo.
Zhu Chumo took a chess piece and said in a low voice, "From the village chief's words, we can infer that the person has a secret, and it is related to the village elders. The village chief is almost fifty years old, and if even he doesn't know, then it is likely that only his elders would know."
When they came to ask for lodging in the evening, they didn't see the village chief's father, so they figured the old man had passed away. They would have to ask other elderly people to find out the truth.
As soon as Xingxing got back to the kang (a heated brick bed), she fell asleep and quickly drifted into a deep sleep. However, her sleep was a little restless. She hadn't dreamed in a long time, but today she started having strange dreams again.
In my dream, there was a beautiful woman who looked about fifteen or sixteen years old. She had her hair styled like a married woman and was dressed in white. Her lower abdomen was protruding, and it looked like she would be giving birth soon.
She walked straight ahead from Chaimu Village, not knowing how long she had walked, until she finally came to the swamp. Without hesitation, she stepped in, and as soon as her foot sank into the mud, she began to sink. She was sucked into the mud, sinking deeper and deeper until it reached her neck...
"Oh no, don't go over there, get up quickly..." Xingxing sat up abruptly, panting heavily with sweat on her face, her little face pale.
"What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?" Zhu Changge gently put his arm around her, his voice soft and reassuring.
Xingxing snuggled against her and said, "Second Senior Sister, I dreamt of a very beautiful pregnant woman who ran to the swamp to commit suicide. It was so scary."
"A swamp?" Zhu Changge pondered. She knew that stars had precognitive abilities, and her dreams were a kind of hint.
"Isn't that madman who lives in the swamp? Could it be that madman?" Zhu Qingruo stopped abruptly as her second senior sister glanced at her, signaling her not to continue.
However, both of them saw the same thought in each other's eyes: the pregnant woman might be the so-called madwoman. There must be an untold story behind a pregnant woman being driven to suicide.
However, there's still more than an hour until dawn, so let's lull the stars to sleep first, and then unravel the mystery when it's light.
Actually, Xingxing hoped that the dream could continue; she wanted to know if the pretty woman was eventually rescued. However, after being gently coaxed to sleep by Zhu Changge, she slept until dawn and woke up naturally without having another dream.
It was already high in the sky. Zhu Lin and the others had already eaten breakfast. Zhu Qiuyu and the others went to the swamp, and Zhang Xiantao followed them eagerly. Only Zhu Lin stayed at the village chief's house to wait for Xingxing to wake up.
The boy combed Xingxing's hair and led her out for breakfast. He specially had steamed egg custard made for her, along with a pancake and fresh meat porridge.
In the morning, Zhu Changge told Xingxing about her dream from last night. Seeing that Xingxing was enjoying her meal, the boy didn't mention the dream, which had frightened Xingxing, making the boy a little worried.
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