Chapter 100 The Hundredth Melon
After the New Year, Hong Kong is still filled with the atmosphere of the New Year in the first month of the year.
Lin Yuan made an appointment with a few classmates to go out and play. On the eighth day of the New Year, when Gu Xicao was at home, Mrs. Lin suddenly came to the house, bringing another mistress with her.
"Xiao Gu, I have something to ask you, is it inconvenient to trouble you?"
Mrs. Lin was embarrassed to speak, after all, it was the first month of the year and she was not at work yet, so she pointed to the lady next to her and said, "This is my poker friend, Mrs. Zhou. Something strange happened at her house."
Mrs. Zhou had dark circles under her eyes and came over carrying a few bags of gifts. When she saw Mrs. Lin pointing at her, she quickly gave Gu Xicao a somewhat nervous smile.
"Yes, we know it's embarrassing, but my family is really scared by this incident, so we have no choice but to trouble you now. This is just a small token of our appreciation, not a sign of respect, not a sign of respect."
Mrs. Lin was also a little embarrassed and said, "If it's not convenient for you, you can come back in a few days. Mrs. Zhou and her family are all honest people. If there is really no other way, I won't bother you."
Gu Xicao smiled and said, "It's not inconvenient. I've been watching TV at home these days and my bones are numb. I think it's better to do it today than to wait for a better day. Isn't Mrs. Zhou's house not far away?"
"Not far, not far. My home is nearby."
When Mrs. Zhou saw that Gu Xicao agreed, she was so excited that she quickly said, standing up, "My son is driving downstairs."
"Then let's go."
Gu Xicao felt that he was a person who could not sit still. He felt relaxed and comfortable in the first few days of the holiday, but after a few days, he felt uncomfortable.
Seeing that Mrs. Zhou was about to put down the gift, she smiled and said, "No need for a gift, just charge 188 here."
Neighbors like this didn't have much money on hand, and the gifts they gave him were worth at least a thousand yuan, but Gu Xicao was not willing to accept them.
Mrs. Zhou seemed embarrassed and insisted on leaving the things behind. Mrs. Lin spoke up for Gu Xicao, and only then did Mrs. Zhou take the things back with a blushing face.
Mrs. Zhou’s family consists of four people. Her son has been married for a long time and has a little grandson. The family of four lives in a 500-square-foot unit nearby.
When Gu Xicao arrived, Mrs. Zhou's daughter-in-law was busy boiling water and making tea to greet them. The little grandson was holding a slingshot in his hand, hiding behind his mother, and looking at the strange young lady curiously.
"Take me to see your balcony first." Gu Xicao looked at his little brother, touched his head, and said.
Mrs. Zhou was surprised and excited. "The master is indeed a master. He knew what went wrong before we even said anything."
She led Gu Xicao and Mrs. Lin to the balcony.
As soon as she reached the balcony door, Mrs. Lin was startled by the situation on the balcony. She almost stepped on the balcony floor, but she pulled back and took a step back, covering her nose with her hands, "Wow, Mrs. Zhou, why is your house like this? You usually like to clean up, but why is there bird shit all over the balcony!"
When the neighbors heard that Mrs. Zhou had invited the famous Gu Xicao to come over, they all gathered at the door to join in the fun.
The neighbor downstairs couldn't help but say, "This is weird. Since last November, a group of birds have been flying into their house and pooping every now and then, and our house is also covered in bird poop!"
"Yes, it's not just bird droppings, there was also a foul smell a few months ago, it was really irritating."
Other neighbors followed suit and started complaining.
Mrs. Zhou's face flushed red, and she said to Gu Xicao awkwardly, "Master Gu, our family's situation is really embarrassing for us to face people, and it's not good for the neighbors around us. Please help us find out what's going on."
"Why would you say this? It must be that your family has done something bad and offended some god." The person who said this was a housewife with curly hair, and her husband echoed her.
Mrs. Zhou's son was embarrassed. Even an honest man was angry. "Aunt Lin, what are you talking about? Everyone knows that my family are honest people and have never done anything wrong. You keep telling others that it is my family that has done something wrong. You are simply wronging us!"
When Auntie Lin saw that Mrs. Zhou's son dared to refute her today, her eyes widened, her hands on her hips, and her face was full of nerves. "You are rude and have no manners. Why are you shouting so loudly? Are you trying to scare people? I am not the only one who said this, everyone said it. If you have the guts, just shut everyone up!"
"You!" Mrs. Zhou's son was very angry, with bloodshot eyes, pointing at Aunt Lin angrily.
"Son, stop arguing with her." Mrs. Zhou pursed her lips and pulled her son back, preventing him from going over to argue with others.
"Oh my god!" Mrs. Zhou's daughter-in-law couldn't help it, "Aunt Lin used to be on good terms with you, but now she clearly doesn't take us seriously, why are you giving her face?"
Aunt Lin sneered and crossed her arms, "Don't act like your family is wronged. Your family has caused so much trouble to everyone, and no one has said anything to you."
Although the other neighbors didn't say anything, their expressions clearly showed their approval.
Mrs. Lin felt both embarrassed and awkward at this time.
She had a good relationship with Mrs. Zhou, and she knew that Mrs. Zhou was a very honest person, willing to suffer losses to help others, and had a bad temper. It was conceivable that when this situation happened in Mrs. Zhou's home, Mrs. Zhou herself must be more anxious than anyone else.
But the difficult thing is that what they said does make sense. We are all neighbors. If something like this happens in your home, other people will be affected. There will be bird droppings in the house and they will have to smell the bad smell. It is understandable that they will be unhappy.
but.
Mrs. Lin let go of her hand and sniffed.
"Isn't this smell just bird shit? It's not really that bad."
Mrs. Zhou sighed, her face looking a few years older in an instant. "It's not that smelly now, but I don't know when it started in October, it suddenly became very smelly. It was so smelly that we had to move out for a few days. It was much better in November, but there was bird shit again."
While they were talking, a few birds suddenly flew across the sky and headed towards this side.
Aunt Lin immediately pointed at the birds and said, "Look, look, the birds have flown back again!"
Those birds are clearly crows.
There were obviously a lot of people in the room, but those crows acted as if no one was around. They flew to the balcony and started shitting without restraint.
"Bad bird, bad bird!"
The little grandson suddenly took out a slingshot and shot at the crows.
The crows dodged quickly, and although a few feathers were knocked off, they were obviously frightened and wanted to fly away, and even cawed a few times triumphantly.
"Oh, Xiaobao, how can you shoot birds?"
Mrs. Zhou was busy pulling her little grandson.
The little grandson looked up and said, "Grandma, there are so many birds. It stinks."
Gu Xicao had been looking at the balcony. Suddenly she turned around and said to Mrs. Zhou, "Mrs. Zhou, I know what's going on in your family."
Mrs. Zhou and her family all looked towards Gu Xicao.
The whole family has been troubled by the bird poop issue for more than a month. It’s not a big deal, but it’s not a small one either, it’s just disgusting.
"Crows are very vengeful animals."
Gu Xicao pointed at the crows that were standing on the railings, turning their heads, staring at people with their black eyes, and not afraid of the heat at all, and said: "Your grandson loves to play with slingshots. He must have tried to shoot them with a slingshot before. That's why they keep flying over and pooping on your balcony."
ah?
Mrs. Zhou and her family were all stunned.
The daughter-in-law looked at her grandson and said, "Abao, have you ever shot a crow before at home?!"
Zhou Xiaobao held the slingshot and said, "Mommy, those crows were so noisy. Xiaobao wanted to sleep, so I shot them a few times."
He looked at his mother's sudden change of expression, his voice became smaller and smaller, he loosened his grip on her pants, and hid behind Mrs. Zhou, "I, I didn't mean it."
"Oh, your little treasure is really mischievous. Can you just hit a crow? I said your family must be involved in this matter."
Aunt Lin spoke in a sarcastic tone, with displeasure in her triangular eyes.
"This little treasure is really something. He caused so much trouble that everyone has been busy cleaning up the bird poop for the past few months!"
"Not only that, we used to dry tangerine peels at home. Although there were no birds pooping here, the stench made our tangerine peels sour. We couldn't sell them, and we couldn't eat them ourselves."
Hearing the protests from her neighbors, Mrs. Zhou looked embarrassed and ashamed.
She bowed to everyone and said, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, it's my family that has caused you trouble, I'll go to your house and help you clean it up later!"
"I'm sorry, you're sending us away with just a simple apology?!"
Aunt Lin was aggressive and unyielding. "Your family has caused chaos for everyone these past few months. I say you must move out! Move out!"
"Move away? How can that be possible?!"
Mrs. Zhou opened her mouth.
Mrs. Lin couldn't bear to see this and said, "We are all neighbors. Mrs. Zhou and the others didn't do this on purpose. Who knew the crows would hold a grudge and poop on people's balconies? Mrs. Zhou wanted to compensate everyone, but you asked them to move away right away. Do you have any humanity?"
The neighbors looked at each other, hesitant, not knowing what to say.
It is not good to ask people to move out because of this. After all, this is someone else's house and the neighbors have no right to ask them to move out.
But the impact on everyone is real.
"How can I say that? I don't want to force Mrs. Zhou and her family to leave, but those crows are really annoying."
"Me too. It's not impossible to bear it, but the stench before was really unbearable. I even vomited at home."
"Don't be soft-hearted, everyone. We were all living well and nothing had happened. If they hadn't caused such trouble, how could we be affected?!"
Aunt Lin shouted loudly.
Her husband also said, "That's right, their family is not innocent, we are the ones who are pitiful. Living so close to their family, we are implicated every day!"
"Aunt Lin, don't be so shameless!"
Mrs. Zhou's son couldn't hold back his anger, "My mom has helped you so much in the past, it's fine if you don't remember my mom's kindness, but don't kick her when she's down!"
Aunt Lin's face changed when she heard this. "What favor? I don't remember it. I only know that your family caused so many crows to fly over and harm us every day!"
"Wait a minute." Gu Xicao interrupted Aunt Lin, "I just said that the situation on Mrs. Zhou's balcony was because her grandson shot the crows, but before that, those crows that flew over were not caused by her grandson."
Gu Xicao's words were a bit lenient.
Mrs. Lin didn't understand what was going on at first.
She scratched her forehead and said to Gu Xicao, "Xiao Gu, what do you mean? I don't quite understand."
Mrs. Zhou's daughter-in-law is obviously much more intelligent.
She immediately reacted: "Master Gu, you mean that those crows were already there before my son shot the birds!"
"That's not right. There are very few crows here. I haven't seen many in the past few years."
Some neighbors disagreed.
Gu Xicao said: "Crows are rare in Hong Kong. In addition to holding grudges and seeking revenge after being beaten, they also have a hobby, which is eating carrion."
"Eating rotten food?" Mrs. Lin was confused. "What rotten food? What does it mean?"
Gu Xicao glanced at everyone and explained patiently, "That is to say, crows are animals that eat carrion and corpses. Do you understand?"
Corpse?!
Everyone was just filled with righteous indignation and anger, but when they heard the word "corpse", they were all stunned.
Someone was surprised and asked, "What does this mean? There are dead bodies here? That's impossible!!"
"It can't be possible that Mrs. Zhou's family killed someone. They don't seem like that kind of people!"
"Yes, Mrs. Zhou's family is usually very honest. In our country, they would not steal food even if they were carrying shit. How could they kill someone?"
Gu Xicao could see that Mrs. Zhou's family did have a good reputation.
Therefore, no one suspected that their family might have committed murder.
She looked at Aunt Lin, "Aunt Lin, is it convenient for us to go in and take a look at your house?"
Aunt Lin and her husband were stunned for a moment.
When everyone looked at her with doubtful and fearful eyes, Aunt Lin avoided them and said, "Meah, why should we let you in?"
"That's not the case, Aunt Lin. You just spoke so loudly, saying you wanted to drive away Mrs. Zhou's family or something like that."
Mrs. Lin rolled her eyes and said to Aunt Lin rudely, "Now everyone just wants to go into your house to see what's going on. Why are you making excuses?"
"Baaaah, don't wrongly accuse a good person!"
Aunt Lin's husband got angry and pointed at Aunt Lin with his eyes wide open, spitting into the air. "My husband and I are honest people and have never done anything bad. You said there is a corpse in our house, so there is a corpse in our house? You said you want to go to our house to see it, so we have to show it to you. Who do you think of our family?"
Aunt Lin's husband didn't say much before, and no one could have imagined that he would be so ferocious when he opened his mouth.
For a moment, everyone was shocked.
"Master Gu, could this be a misunderstanding?"
Mrs. Zhou glanced at Aunt Lin and said hesitantly, "Aunt Lin and I used to have a very good relationship. It's unlikely that there would be a corpse in her house, right?"
"Mom, it's already so late and you're still speaking for them!" Mrs. Zhou's son looked at his mother angrily, "They just wanted to chase us away!"
"I know, but this kind of thing can't be said casually."
Mrs. Zhou also knew that Auntie Lin had just said something too much. "Who would have a dead body in their house?"
"Just call the police and you'll know."
Gu Xicao said, "It's pointless to argue here. Call the police and let them handle this matter."
Call the police?
Everyone looked at each other.
Mrs. Lin immediately said, "If you don't fight, I will!"
She borrowed a phone from Mrs. Zhou and called the police. After hanging up, she said to everyone, "The police said they will arrive in fifteen minutes. We will know whether it is true or not once we check."
Upon hearing that Mrs. Lin had really called the police, Aunt Lin and her husband instantly looked very unhappy.
Aunt Lin pointed at Mrs. Lin and cursed, "You are an idiot. This has nothing to do with you. Just call the police. If you can't find the body later, I will scold you to death!"
Mrs. Lin was very confident. She put her hands on her hips and said, "Baaa, do you think I was scared? I'm not afraid. Master Gu has never made mistakes in fortune-telling, and he won't make mistakes this time! If I were you, I would turn myself in as soon as possible when the police come, so that I can get a lighter sentence."
Both sides are confident and their voices are loud.
For a moment, everyone didn't know who to believe.
Mrs. Zhou was a little worried and whispered, "What if there's no body over there? How embarrassing it would be to see Aunt Lin every now and then?"
The daughter-in-law lowered her voice and said, "Mom, don't think about it. I think what the master said is very credible. We have been living here for more than ten years and have never seen any crows. Last October, a lot of them suddenly flew over. Even if your grandson shot the crows, it was because the crows flew over first. It would be a lie if there was nothing strange about the crows flying over here for so many crows for no reason."
"Yes, Mom, think about it carefully. Aunt Lin and you broke up around October." The son also tried to persuade her, "Before, you two were as close as sisters, but suddenly you broke up and didn't even say hello to each other when you met. Maybe she really had something wrong, and..."
The son glanced at the man next to Aunt Lin and said, "Aunt Lin was a widow for decades, and suddenly she found a man and said she was getting married. It's fine if there's no wine, but that man looks so fierce and evil. Who would believe her if she said there's nothing wrong with him?"
Mrs. Zhou was a soft-hearted person. After listening to her son and daughter-in-law's analysis, she was a little shaken. She nodded and said thoughtfully, "Yes, Aunt Lin used to be a very good person. She always spoke in a nice tone to everyone she met. Since last year, her temper has become much worse."
"What are you talking about? What are you talking about?" Aunt Lin said angrily. She pointed at Mrs. Zhou's family and said, "Hey, don't blame me for being blunt. You guys have made such a big deal out of this. If we can't find the body, my husband and I won't just sit there and do nothing! You guys will give us an explanation no matter what!"
"What are you arguing about? Who called the police?"
Several patrolmen came running up the stairs, sweating profusely. They probably received the notification in the middle of their patrol and came here in a hurry.
Mrs. Lin hurriedly squeezed out of the crowd and said to the patrolmen, "I called the police."
"You called the police?" The patrolman looked at the onlookers, then looked at Mrs. Lin, "Madam, were you the one who called the police saying there was a suspected body here?!"
"That's right."
Mrs. Lin pointed to Aunt Lin's house next door and said, "The body is inside their house!"
"Bah, bullshit, there are no dead bodies in my house, your house is full of dead bodies!"
When Aunt Lin saw the patrolman arrive so quickly, her heart skipped a beat. When she saw that Mrs. Lin was so rude, she couldn't help but curse at her.
"Sirs, don't listen to this crazy woman's nonsense!"
Auntie Lin's husband glared at Auntie Lin, then turned around to face the patrolmen and forced a smile: "This is just a misunderstanding. We had a quarrel with our neighbors. Where did the body come from? We are all good citizens. How could there be a body in our house?"
"What's going on?"
The patrolman was not easy to fool. He glanced back and forth between Aunt Lin and her husband and Mrs. Zhou's family. "Who among you said there was a body? Do you have any evidence?"
Aunt Lin's eyes lit up, and she immediately said confidently, "That's right, sir. Look how funny they are. A fortune teller said there is a dead body here, and they believed it. It's so funny."
Gu Xicao walked out of the house.
When the patrolmen saw Gu Xicao, their eyes lit up.
"Aren't you the master on TV?!" One of the patrolmen said in surprise, "I didn't expect you to be more beautiful in person than on TV."
"Are you the fortune teller she mentioned?" The patrolman looked at Gu Xicao, hesitated, and asked.
Gu Xicao nodded: "It's me, but I'm not without evidence. The crows are the evidence. Crows eat carrion. Except for special circumstances, they usually only gather around corpses or dark places. I just checked. Their balcony is sealed and surrounded by iron sheets, but the crows keep flying around it. Obviously, there is something inside that attracts them."
Hearing Gu Xicao say this, the patrolman walked into Mrs. Zhou's house, found a place to stay on the balcony, and tried to look towards the balcony next to it.
The balcony over there was indeed sealed off, and there were a few pieces of iron sheets placed against the railing on this side. The iron sheets were rusty, and flies could be vaguely seen crawling on them.
The patrolman sniffed hard and found a faint foul odor in the air.
The smell is very special. If you don't smell it carefully, you will just think it is the smell of bird droppings.
When the patrolman came out, there was nothing unusual on his face.
He looked at Gu Xicao: "This alone is not enough evidence, do you have any other evidence?"
What more evidence do you need?
Mrs. Lin was so anxious that she was dying.
To find out if there is a dead body in this room, just rush in and take a look.
Spending half a day here!
"That won't work. Our police regulations state that if there is no solid evidence to suspect a resident, we must apply for a search warrant before entering a house to search."
The patrolman glanced at Mrs. Lin and explained.
Only then did Mrs. Lin realize that she had spoken out what was in her heart.
"I want evidence—"
Gu Xicao propped up her chin and fell into deep thought. She suddenly raised her eyes and looked at Mrs. Zhou, "Mrs. Zhou has evidence here."
"Me?" Mrs. Zhou was stunned for a moment. When she realized that it was her that was being talked about, she showed a surprised expression.
"Yes, early last October, didn't you see something terrible on the balcony one night?"
Gu Xicao stared at Mrs. Zhou and said, "You probably thought you were dreaming at the time."
After Gu Xicao said this, Mrs. Zhou actually remembered something.
Her eyes were filled with memories and she clapped her hands: "Yes, there really is such a thing."
"Mom, you have evidence, why didn't you tell me earlier?" The son asked with a hint of complaint in his tone.
Aunt Lin and her husband's faces turned very ugly.
"I thought it was just a nightmare." Mrs. Zhou said a little aggrievedly, "I woke up suddenly that night and heard banging noises from the balcony. I thought it was a thief, so I went to check. But when I looked, I was scared to death!"
When she said this, her face showed an expression of extreme fear.
"Mrs. Zhou, what on earth did you see?"
The neighbors couldn't help but urge.
Mrs. Zhou swallowed her saliva and looked at Aunt Lin. "I saw Aunt Lin covered in blood. Her hand kept hitting our balcony. Then I fainted. The next day I went to find Aunt Lin, but she was fine. When I asked her about it, she said I was crazy. Of course I thought I was having a nightmare."
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