Chapter 9 of Ming Niang Yang
"The Bone Bride...where on earth have you been hiding?"
This was the desperate wail that Jie Qianchou let out after wandering around half of the town.
For an entire day, he and Yan Ran, under the guise of exorcising ghosts, went door to door looking for quicklime, only to discover that every household had it. Jie Qianchou later learned that quicklime was used to disinfect pig pens. Every household in Tiantang Town raised pigs, so not everyone had quicklime. As for the perverted man with an insatiable desire for performance, neither of them noticed. If anyone in this town was paranoid, Jie Qianchou himself was the one who most qualified. To check how much quicklime was needed to disinfect the pig pen, he ran into the pen and was nearly gored by the pigs.
Watching the sun gradually set, Xie Qianchou lost his composure. He pulled his hair into a mess and kept talking to himself.
"Did I miscalculate something? I shouldn't be able to find it."
Yan Ran wiped his forehead with a wet towel and said, "Besides quicklime, let's look for other props. Whoever has a bright red wedding dress has a skeleton bride hidden in their home."
"Please, how do you find a piece of clothing? You can't just go through everyone's closets, right?"
"What about the other props? Didn't the Bone Bride use a ghost hand when she killed Zhu Li? And she even threw her own head down yesterday. How did she do that? That head is also a prop, right?"
Just as Jie Qianchou was about to explain, Yan Ran immediately interrupted him.
"Don't tell me! I know, that head is a prop. The Skeleton Bride's head is hidden under her collar. She takes the fake head off when she performs and puts it back on when she's done! That must be it!"
Yan Ran figured out a trick and excitedly punched his own palm. Jie Qianchou held it in for a long time, but finally managed to hold back his words. Yan Ran, who was standing next to him, saw that he looked constipated and felt unhappy.
"Why, if you have something to say, just say it!"
"Did the Bone Bride know in advance that I would ask her to leave her head behind?"
"I probably don't know."
"So, why did she prepare a fake head in advance?"
"Ahaha, you couldn't even think of that? That's because she was going to perform a head-throwing show from the beginning!"
"It's possible. But wouldn't it be easy to tell if I put a fake head on top of a normal body?"
"I think you magicians must have some skills like shrinking bones and shrinking heads!"
Jie Qianchou pursed his lips. What the hell is this head-shrinking skill?
"When it comes to magic tricks, the people of the Hand Method School do have some skills. But I think the inheritance of this Bone Bride should be from the Color Method School. Besides, there is no such skill as shrinking the head. I repeat, there is no such skill."
"You're so annoying! You're always going through doors all day long. If you don't know me, you'd think I was a gangster. It's just a magic trick, is it really that complicated?"
Jie Qianchou took out a small comb and combed his hair. He turned his back to the setting sun, letting himself be dyed with a circle of warm red light.
"The art of magic has a thousand-year tradition. The hand-based magic school relies on physical skill, quick movements, and dexterity. The colorful magic school relies on a wide variety of props and new tricks. And the talisman magic school that I inherit is the most mysterious of the three major schools, and our school relies on the most authentic illusion techniques!"
Yan Ran felt unhappy when he saw Jie Qianchou, who had a halo around him.
"So, respected Master Xie, how many people are you in charge of now?"
"At the moment, I'm the only one left. But I will eventually make the sect and the ancient magic flourish!"
"So the purest illusion technique among Master Jie's sect is the technique of using talisman paper dipped in phosphorus powder?"
Hearing that Yan Ran was trying to sabotage him, Jie Qianchou's eyelids twitched.
"Our sect is so profound and extensive, how can an outsider like you know it all?"
Yan Ran stood up to block the sun behind Jie Qianchou, and instantly a shadow enveloped Jie Qianchou.
"Then tell me, how did the Skeleton Bride's head fall off?"
Jie Qianchou felt a sense of oppression and coughed twice tactically.
"I guess she tampered with the dress. There must be something like a wooden stick supporting the back of the dress from the waist to the neckline. To put it simply, there's a triangular object like a hanger from the neckline to the shoulders to hold the dress in place. If she suddenly lowers her head, the collar won't move down with her because it's supported by something. At night, it looks like her head is falling off. That's why she has to catch her head at her chest, because her head can only fall to that position."
Yan Ran carefully understood what Jie Qianchou meant while recalling the scene of that night. After Jie Qianchou's explanation, Yan Ran really felt that the Skeleton Bride's trick was very similar to a street magic that was popular abroad before.
"But what fell down was clearly a skull."
"Just wear a skull cap on your head."
Yan Ran also began to scratch her head. She felt that she would not be able to find any evidence for a while.
"Well, what should we do then? If these little things really hide, not only us, but also the police dogs won't be able to find them, right?"
"What can we do? Let's finish visiting the remaining families first."
Jie Qianchou shook his head helplessly. He had previously told the villagers that they would go house to house looking for the female ghost, so he couldn't just give up halfway, right? Wouldn't that expose his plan?
Jie Qianchou and the other person arrived at the gate of a tall courtyard. The courtyard was surrounded by a high wall and the large iron gate was tightly closed, so it was impossible to see what was going on inside.
Jie Qianchou scratched his head. This house looked very different from the others in town. None of the other houses in town had yards, let alone large iron gates. But this one, with its large courtyard, was so special.
Yan Ran knocked on the door, but no one responded for a long time. She looked down at the time and didn't want to waste any more time here.
"It's getting late, why don't we go to Gao's house and get something to eat first."
Jie Qianchou stood there without moving, continuing to scratch his hair.
"You're here for a house call, so you should be familiar with the villagers who invited you here, right?"
"What do you want to do?"
"I'm thinking, since the murderer's props are so hard to find, then there must be a reason for her killings, right? Think about it, why does the Bone Bride always kill people near the Gao family? Is it because the Gao family is special, or is it because the place she chose is special? But the Gao family may not talk about these things, and they may not even know the truth."
"So, you think the other villagers might know something!"
Jie Qianchou snapped his fingers. As the saying goes, a bystander sees more clearly. So, they found Wang Jinhua's house.
"I haven't heard that the Gao family has any grudges against anyone else."
Wang Jinhua talked about the Gao family's past while eating roasted sweet potatoes.
"When our place was still called Dagang Village, every household was quite poor. Later, we started raising pigs, and everyone in the village helped each other. That's when we finally had some extra money, and the village was renamed Tiantang Town. Although we've become a little richer, the friendship among the poor villagers remains, and no one family has ever been particularly hostile to anyone else."
"Then why did Zhu the butcher go to the Gao family to cause trouble for no reason? I heard from Uncle Gao that Zhu Shun should call him father-in-law."
Xie Qianchou recalled the scene when Zhu Shun had caused trouble at the Gao family's house. This place wasn't big to begin with, and with Zhu Shun's loudmouthed personality, everyone in the town should have known about the conflict between the Zhu and Gao families.
"You know everything? Oh, how can I say such gossip when someone else's family is getting married and divorced?"
Wang Jinhua laughed and didn't want to continue talking about this matter.
"I saw a family in town built a huge yard and even surrounded it with a wall. Whose house is this?"
Jie Qianchou stopped worrying about it and wisely changed the topic.
"Isn't that Zhu Shun's home?"
Jie Qianchou and Yan Ran looked at each other and both felt that Zhu Shun was a little weird.
"Sister Jinhua, what kind of person is Zhu Shun?"
"What can he do? He wants alcohol three times a day, and then he gets drunk and acts crazy. There's no one in town who doesn't annoy him."
Wang Jinhua curled her lips, looking down on Zhu Shun. Zhu Shun was the town's biggest butcher, a ruthless and overbearing man who drank when he ate and fought to the death. No one in the town wanted to mess with him. Furthermore, his elders had passed away early, leaving him alone. The townspeople, half pitying him and half fearing him, allowed Zhu Shun to monopolize the town's butchering business.
"Who would marry their child to Zhu Shun, given his character? The Gao family's eldest daughter seemed to have a little something, so she married Zhu Shun. Who knows what happened later? The girl ran away from the Gao family and didn't want to live with him anymore."
Wang Jinhua had no other clues, so Jie Qianchou and the other man had a "sweet potato feast" at her house and then left.
The sun had already set below the mountain, leaving only a sliver of fiery afterglow on the horizon. After walking for a while, Yan Ran stopped.
"Wang Jinhua didn't tell us something."
Jie Qianchou also stopped and waited for Yan Ran's next words.
"When she talked about the conflict between Zhu Shun and the Gao family, she kept looking down, a sign of shame. She also snapped her fingers uncontrollably, trying to relieve her inner tension. She's at least hiding something from us."
"Can you tell fortunes?"
"Look at you, you big-headed ghost! That's called a micro-expression! It's psychology."
Yan Ran was speechless at Jie Qianchou's ignorance.
"Where should we go now? Should we ask other villagers?"
Jie Qianchou snapped his fingers and then pointed to the dark yard not far away.
"Let's just go there and see what happens."
"Aren't you afraid of being beaten out by Zhu Shun?"
"He was chased away by the police. I don't think he'll be back soon."
Yan Ran looked at Jie Qianchou with his eyes wide open.
"You don't mean to..."
A moment later, Jie Qianchou climbed over the courtyard wall, opened the gate, pulled Yan Ran in, and then closed the door again. Yan Ran stood by the gate, looking embarrassed.
"It's not nice to break into someone else's house like this."
"You forgot, we are here to catch ghosts!"
Jie Qianchou walked in with a wicked smile, and Yan Ran had no choice but to follow him.
Xie Qianchou's backpack was like Doraemon's pocket. He took out a flashlight from it and began to search in the yard. Yan Ran did not move, but just followed Xie Qianchou's movements and observed. Zhu Shun's yard was very messy, with empty wine bottles piled everywhere. Deep in the yard was a small warehouse with an unlocked door. Xie Qianchou pushed open the door, and a musty smell came out. Xie Qianchou covered his nose and went into the warehouse to search, but Yan Ran stood at the door and was unwilling to go in.
"A discovery!"
Yan Ran walked in, holding his nose, and saw Jie Qianchou's flashlight shining on several white bags. Yan Ran had seen the contents of the bags many times today.
"Isn't it just quicklime? Doesn't every household here have it?"
"Have you seen Zhu Shun's pigpen?"
Yan Ran pondered for a moment and figured out the key point. Zhu Shun didn't raise any pigs at home, so why did he put so much quicklime?
"Could it be that the Bone Bride is Zhu Shun? But their appearances are so different, how could it be him?"
Jie Qianchou shone the flashlight from bottom to top on his face.
"All tricks are about hiding the truth beneath a facade. The greater the contrast, the more successful the performance. Who would have thought that the most charming Hua Dan on stage is actually played by a man?"
Yan Ran turned on the flashlight in Jie Qianchou's hand, and Jie Qianchou put it away again.
"I don't believe a drunkard like Zhu Shun can dress up as a female ghost. If he has to dress up, he'd better dress up as Zhu Bajie."
"You can't imagine it, and no one else can either. This way he's safest. Besides, who says the Bone Bride can only be one person? How do you know the murderer doesn't have an accomplice?"
Xie Qianchou's words made sense, and Yan Ran couldn't help but nod silently. She followed Xie Qianchou, and the two of them searched the warehouse for a long time but found no other useful clues. The ventilation here was poor, and there were no windows on all sides. It was obvious that this place never saw sunlight all year round. Yan Ran couldn't stand the smell here, so she turned and walked out.
"Wait, come back!"
Yan Ran was stopped by Jie Qianchou, and not knowing his intention, he walked back.
"Go back the same way."
Yan Ran patted Jie Qianchou’s forehead.
"You are sick."
"Trust me, go back the way you came."
Yan Ran didn't know what he was up to, so he retreated the same way he came.
Jie Qianchou's ears twitched, and he pointed at the place where Yan Ran had just walked past: "Something is wrong here!"
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