Chapter 26 The Truth (Part Two) Sunrise
"You should go back first. Thank you for leading the way."
Feng Dahai had a very close relationship with the couple. If there was evidence on the ship proving that Wang Zhiyong had fallen into the sea and died, Bai Yan feared that Feng Dahai would not be able to bear it.
We don't know when Di Ting will arrive, so it's best to send him away.
Feng Dahai obediently left, not forgetting to ask Bai Yan to let him know if there was any news before he left.
Only after receiving an affirmative answer did he reluctantly head home, turning back every few steps.
The dilapidated boat, perhaps due to lack of maintenance, has been exposed to the wind and sun on the beach, and has several cracks on its side.
The humans and ghosts worked together to move the sand out of the boat.
No abnormalities have been found so far.
Just when Bai Yan thought he could only return empty-handed, Jiang Yuzhi found a trace of blood on the outside of the boat, near the bottom.
The location is tricky.
That's enough as evidence.
Di Ting finally strolled over just as they were about to leave.
Just then, Bai Yan took out a bamboo whistle from the pouch at his waist and blew it silently.
A man dressed as a fisherman came riding the wind and bowed with clasped hands.
"Stay here and watch over the place. No one is allowed to cause any damage. People from the prefecture will come after dawn."
"Yes, young master."
There was more than one such person. They disguised themselves and mingled among the common people. They were guards sent by Xiao Yao to protect her son.
Di Ting watched helplessly as a mortal swiftly passed by it.
He was immediately seized by a competitive spirit and started running after them.
"Awooo, wah-woo." I'm here! Zhizhi.
With outsiders present, Di Ting can only howl.
Jiang Yuzhi was still angry. Ignoring Diting, she reached out and grabbed it by the scruff of its neck, half-lifting it and taking big steps forward.
The streets were deserted late at night.
The soldiers on duty at the city gate changed shifts, but Chief Song didn't leave and remained there.
Di Ting's forelimbs couldn't touch the ground, and its hind legs hurriedly followed Jiang Yuzhi's steps.
Bai Yan walked behind with a smile.
"What's going on?" Chief Song asked, puzzled, noticing the different expressions on the faces of the two men and the dog.
Bai Yan: "It's alright, the dog just likes to play. Maybe we can spare a few people now? We've found Zhang Niangzi."
Di Ting whimpered pitifully, its forelimbs clasped in a gesture of respect, as if to say it would never do it again.
Jiang Yuzhi rarely gets angry with it, but lately she's been so preoccupied with her troubles that she can't even find the dog to get things done, and she can't control her temper.
She released her grip on the back of Diting's neck, pulling down a few white hairs.
He gently stroked Diting's back in a soothing manner.
He pulled a corner of Zhang Yun's outer robe from his small bag and then pulled over the mouthpiece of Di Ting. Di Ting immediately knew what to do.
The scent had faded considerably, but Diting was no ordinary dog; it could still find its way by relying on the faint scent and its ability to hear everything.
Chief Song selected two or three men, who, following Bai Yan's instructions, took shovels and followed behind.
When they asked for a shovel, Chief Song sensed something was wrong; Zhang Niangzi was most likely...
As they entered a small grove not far from the city, Di Ting slowed down, its nose almost touching the ground, as if it wanted to return to Jiang Yuzhi's side to smell the scent on her outer garment again.
The woods were not dense, the branches were dry, and sparse leaves hung scattered on the branches.
After the rain, the soil was moist, most of the fallen leaves decomposed, and new buds sprouted from the branches.
Di Ting stopped in one place, its ears twitching, and patted the ground with its mud-covered paws.
Found it.
"Start digging down from there," Bai Yan said, pointing to the spot where Di Ting was squatting.
Song Dutou and his men immediately stepped forward.
The big white dog, its rear end and paws covered in mud, tried to rub itself against Jiang Yuzhi as if seeking praise, but she disdainfully pushed its head away with a single finger.
After only a few shovelfuls, one of the soldiers froze and stopped.
When the shovel was pulled out, a strong stench seeped out from the soil.
The officers and soldiers retreated in unison.
The body has been buried here for almost a month, and the rain has washed away the surface soil.
Ignoring the stench of the corpse, Jiang Yuzhi approached with a solemn expression, took a shovel, and insisted on using it herself. Bai Yan also took one.
Chief Song glared at his spineless subordinate and quickly continued his work, but now he dug more carefully.
It wasn't buried very deep.
The body, covered by coarse cloth, was mostly decayed, and its facial features were unrecognizable.
A rough wooden hairpin, somewhat cracked but still intact, adorned her head.
Jiang Yuzhi reached out with her bare hands to pull it out, even reaching halfway towards the corpse.
Bai Yan was horrified. Before he could stop her, his wife stood up and held the hairpin intact in her hand.
"Tamaori, should you wrap your hands next time, or should I do it for you?"
"It's nothing, it won't affect me."
Song Dutou and his group were too frightened to utter a sound. It wasn't that they hadn't seen dead people before, but these were people who had just died not long ago, and there was no stench or maggots on their bodies; they still maintained a normal appearance.
This young lady is truly someone whose appearance doesn't tell you anything.
"Chief Song, please have two people stay here to keep watch. The prefectural government will send people over after dawn. Remember, do not move without permission," Bai Yan repeatedly instructed.
The officers and soldiers nodded repeatedly. Although there was a pitiful person in the pit, they dared not approach him because of his appearance.
The sun is about to rise.
On the way back to the prefecture, the orange-yellow sun gradually pressed down on the crescent moon, and clouds drifted by.
The golden threads bursting forth from the horizon, as thin as gossamer yet incredibly resilient, tore several cracks in the clouds, from which light seeped out and spilled onto the newly sprouting soil of Zuo Huai.
Jiang Yuzhi's white hair was dyed golden-red, and her ghostly face was coated with a soft, gentle color.
In that moment of distraction, Bai Yan's hand had already taken the initiative to grasp that pale wrist with no pulse.
Jiang Yuzhi looked at him with suspicion.
"I...I can't walk anymore. I guess it's because my old injury hasn't fully healed. Isn't it said that touching it helps with recovery?"
Jiang Yuzhi, unsuspecting, asked with concern, "Does it feel better to hold it?"
"Cough, I don't feel anything. Maybe I wasn't there long enough?"
After being stared at for a while, Bai Yan thought he had been exposed. The next second, his wife took his hand and said, "Then hold my hand. It's inconvenient to walk with your wrists together."
"Oh, okay." Her ears, red as if they were about to bleed, were barely hidden in the golden sunlight.
The little dog, trotting happily behind them, wasn't willing to be ignored and nudged between them, "Why are you on a leash! Woof! I want one too!"
Its fur was still covered in mud, and Jiang Yuzhi didn't want to touch it for the time being. Di Ting stubbornly squeezed in the middle and walked side by side.
Even the mud spots on its white fur couldn't hide its joyful radiance.
The prefect and his advisors, among others, lived in the backyard of the prefectural government building; they were all still asleep at this hour.
With numerous case files and frequent unexpected events, I often have to work until late at night before I can rest.
The mansion was completely silent, except for the faint sound of their footsteps as they moved about.
Jiang Yuzhi didn't want to disturb the prefect's rest, but the yamen runners said that their magistrate had just gone to sleep and would be getting up again soon.
Bai Yan also didn't sleep all night and now insisted on staying by Jiang Yuzhi's side to watch her burn paper money as usual.
The act of burning paper money can only be done with ordinary fire; the condensed power of ghosts cannot transmit messages.
This useless method cannot be used in the underworld or in the mortal world; it can only be used when transmitting information from the mortal world to the underworld.
When burning paper money, write some scribbled symbols that only the recipient can understand on the paper, and silently recite the recipient's name and appearance. The recipient will then receive the message quickly.
Upon hearing this, Bai Yan was eager to learn, thinking that if his wife ever returned to the underworld, he could use this method to talk to her.
The state government kitchen was empty, which was convenient for her.
The mythical beast Di Ting was perched at the kitchen doorway.
The small bag still had plenty of blank paper in stock. Jiang Yuzhi casually pulled out a sheet and, under Bai Yan's curious gaze, wrote a few crooked and illegible characters.
"This is called a ghost talisman. My writing doesn't look like this. After writing it, I add my ghost power to it, and I can condense what I want to say into it. If you don't have ghost power, when you burn it for someone, just write down what you want to say completely. It's best not to write anything shameful. If the other person gets it and there are other ghosts around, it won't be good."
"I'll only burn it for you."
Jiang Yuzhi freed one hand to rub her burning ears, pretending not to hear. Why was the light so warmer than usual today?
The flames burned the white paper inch by inch.
She continued, "I'll send a message to my brothers and ask them to inquire how Wang Zhiyong and his wife died. We've found some evidence, but I don't know if it's enough. Fortunately, Zhu Xuanwei is dead, so we can make up a story based on the truth."
Zhu Xuanwei had a bad reputation, but he was rashly arrested and imprisoned, and died. The people need an explanation, and the young couple who died unjustly also need an explanation.
Bai Yan had never served as an official or judged a case; he had only been around his uncles and elders for a while, learning from them.
Perhaps he was cold-hearted by nature, and before meeting his wife, he didn't care much about the joys and sorrows, the blood and tears, and just watched them with indifference.
Jiang Yuzhi was more like a living, breathing person than him. She would happily hug him because of a budding tree, feel guilty for not being able to fulfill her request, get angry because Di Ting was not on time, and indulge him in getting close to her because she cared about his health.
Gradually, he seemed to be affected by external emotions, feeling pity for others' experiences and abhorring the actions of evil people.
Aside from Zhu Xuanwei, it was purely out of spontaneity that I felt disgusted by him.
Bai Yan didn't know whether these changes were good or bad.
It doesn't matter anymore.
Xie Bi'an arrived quickly, but the couple's obsession had not subsided, preventing them from being reincarnated.
Zhu Xuanwei had long been thrown into hell to serve his sentence in shifts, and the rest of the two bodies were still resting.
Xie Bi'an also brought another piece of news.
Before pushing Wang Zhiyong into the sea, Zhu Xuanwei had already accidentally killed another person.
The son of the owner of a grain shop in the city.
His son was already sick, and Zhu Xuanwei bumped into the little boy who had run out to play when he passed by the back door of the grain store.
The boy was straightforward. When he saw Zhu Xuanwei, he brazenly demanded payment from him, shouting that Zhu Xuanwei had borrowed grain but refused to repay it.
Feeling ashamed, Zhu Xuanwei dragged the boy to a dark alley next door, even though there were few people at the back door, and warned him in a low voice.
The boy resisted, saying that it was only right to pay back debts, while struggling.
Zhu Xuanwei, impatient, slammed him against the wall. The boy convulsed twice, suffered a sudden heart attack, and stopped breathing.
Having accidentally killed someone, Zhu Xuanwei panicked and forced himself to remain calm as he walked out of the alley.
After buying the grain, Wang Zhiyong left through the back door, which was closer to his home.
The two bumped into each other. Although Wang Zhiyong disliked him, he still greeted him politely and subconsciously glanced into the alley where Zhu Xuanwei had come from.
The child's thin, small body lay prone on the ground, completely obscured by Zhu Xuanwei, so he couldn't see anything.
After just one glance, Zhu Xuanwei became restless and unable to eat or sleep, fearing that Wang Zhiyong might report the case to the prefectural government one day.
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Author's Note: A family of three (not really)
Note: Do not follow Tamao's example! Touching the personal items of a decomposing corpse with bare hands could lead to infection and is very unsafe.
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