Qiu Miao: Please be considerate of an old antique_(:зゝ∠)_

The population explosion has forced the Earth, which already has insufficient resources, to take measures. Couples who are not of childbearing age are not allowed to have children, otherwise they will be severely punished.

The welfare benefits of Earth One are indeed very good, but it is obvious that rather than heavy punishment, some young couples would rather give up such welfare benefits to avoid punishment.

The woman lying in the ice coffin obviously thought so, and for this reason, the interstellar citizen information collection network always showed that the other party had no children.

The information sent by Secretary Fang Yun contained a very detailed list of related parties. Except for the two brothers, Qiu Yanping and Gu Wenye found that those who participated in the project at that time included not only Mrs. Bathgate's husband and brothers, but also Mrs. Bathgate's own sister and her family. In other words, this project supported an entire family.

Mrs. Bathgate also has a biological sister, who is five years older than her. Qiu Yanping clicked on the detailed information of Mrs. Bathgate's sister's family, took a deep breath, and pointed to Gu Wenye, "Mrs. Bathgate and her sister look so much alike." Even if they are not twin sisters, the two look very similar. If they put on similar makeup, they can be mistaken for real.

"Go check out this Mrs. Bastin." Gu Wenye said, and the two looked at each other.

Mrs. Bastin originally lived in the same residential area with Mrs. Bathgate in adjacent buildings. Later, something happened and Mrs. Bastin's husband and two children died in the accident, and the two sisters went their separate ways.

In order to pay off her debts, Mrs. Bathgate sold her property and moved to a remote suburb. The small house there was originally bought by her husband for leisure and vacation, but after the accident, it became the only house Mrs. Bathgate could live in.

Gu Wenye and Qiu Yanping followed the document information attached by Secretary Fang Yun and found Mrs. Bastin's residence. However, there was no sign that anyone had lived there for a long time. The ivy on the walls had almost covered the windows, and the whole house looked lifeless.

"I want to go in and take a look. I wonder if there are any clues inside." Qiu Yanping said. He tilted his head and glanced at Gu Wenye. He wondered if the upright General Gu would agree with him breaking into a private residence.

Gu Wenye heard this and said, "Okay, wait for me here for a while."

Qiu Yanping raised his eyebrows, nodded and stood there obediently. He was curious about what Gu Wenye was going to do.

Gu Wenye went around to the back of the house and fiddled with something. After a while, he went around to the front of the house. He kicked out a sharp knife from his military boots, dug up the floor in front of the door, and cut off the connection to the alarm buried under the floor.

After doing all this, Gu Wenye said, "Let's go in."

Qiu Yanping blinked, walked past the floor that Gu Wenye had moved back to its original position, and asked, "What were you doing just now?"

"Although it looks like no one lives here, it's safer to cut off the alarm and power lines just in case. Don't worry, no traces will be left," said Gu Wenye.

Qiu Yanping was stunned. It seemed that General Gu had learned something bad.

Gu Wenye: To be honest, people in the military have actually done this kind of thing before.

"Come in."

The two men groped their way into the dark house. The dust in the house flew up the moment they came in, making Qiu Yanping almost sneeze. He bit his lip to hold it back, and tears welled up in his eyes.

"No one has lived here for a long time." Qiu Yanping waved his hand to sweep away the dust in front of him. He squinted his eyes. His cat pupils allowed him to see well even at night, which greatly facilitated the two men's sneaky and severely condemned behavior.

Qiu Yanping gently pulled Gu Wenye and pointed at several photo frames on the shelf. "Family portrait?"

He stood in front of the shelf, scanning the photos one by one. It was an ordinary family of four, and they seemed to be in harmony. However, no one would take a family photo where they looked like enemies. He sighed in his heart, if it weren't for the accident, the family of four would surely have lived a good life.

His eyes stopped on a photo frame that was turned upside down on the shelf. He turned the frame over and saw that the number of people in this photo was twice as many as the previous ones. Qiu Yanping found Mrs. Bathgate in it. He thought that the three extra strangers should be Mrs. Bathgate's family.

"Look, these two young people should be Mrs. Bathgate's two children." Qiu Yanping whispered. At the same time, he turned on the computer and pulled out the photo of the fugitive responsible for the accident. "They look alike, don't they?"

Gu Wenye frowned. Originally, their suspicion that Mrs. Bathgate had a child was just a hypothesis, but now there is real evidence.

"If the accident was caused by Mrs. Bathgate's two children's negligence, it is understandable that Mrs. Bathgate did not demand compensation from the person responsible for the accident afterwards. Although her husband was the main person in charge of the project at that time, he was not the party responsible for the accident after all. If Mrs. Bathgate had made up her mind to ask for compensation, she should have been able to get some compensation and would not have to sell her property." Gu Wenye said.

"And Mrs. Bastin, who was also a victim, parted ways with Mrs. Bathgate afterwards. That's also understandable. Her own nephew killed her husband and children, and her own sister protected the murderer. No matter who it was, she would have been heartbroken." Qiu Yanping said. Mrs. Bathgate's partiality to her two sons is understandable emotionally. How many mothers in ancient times could really sacrifice their own family for the sake of justice? But if you want others to accept it, I guess no one can accept it.

"But what does this have to do with the two clay dolls we have?" Gu Wenye brought his scattered thoughts back to their original goal. The reason they came to Star City and investigated Mrs. Bathgate was because of the fingerprints on the hands of the clay dolls.

Qiu Yanping shook his head and said, "If the two souls trapped in the pair of clay dolls are really Mrs. Bathgate's children, then the mystery can be solved." He said, "Before, I deliberately mentioned in front of Mrs. Bathgate that her children were trapped in the bodies of clay dolls. It was just a lie to deceive her. After all, I saw that her face showed that she was pregnant, so I was a little suspicious. However, this time, her reaction was even stranger."

"Her reaction?" Gu Wenye recalled that Mrs. Bathgate's reaction at that time was very consistent with a mother whose child was inexplicably trapped in a doll. There should be nothing unusual about it.

"Speaking of this, I have to mention an ancient recipe. I never linked this ancient recipe with clay dolls before because I was distracted by the overly prominent image of the clay dolls. In addition, Zhu Wenmin's previous narration deepened my impression of the clay dolls as an independent individual. In fact, the essence of the clay doll is nothing more than a medium," said Qiu Yanping.

The ancient recipe that Qiu Yanping mentioned is a secret recipe that is also very old for Qiu Yanping.

It is rumored that only the closest blood relatives can use this secret recipe to seal the soul of the person to be sealed into a dead object and leave their own mark on it. After a sufficient number of years have passed, the dead object will no longer be able to trap the person, and the soul will return to the world of the living.

The person who came up with this secret recipe in the first place did so out of a twisted love and obsession: whoever she can't get, no one can get. She would rather let the other person live in a strange world where all the loved ones and familiar people no longer exist, than let the other person live in someone else's happiness.

There are very few people who would use this folk remedy. If it weren't for the clue of the closest blood relative, Qiu Yanping might still be stuck with the medium of the clay doll.

"Mrs. Bastin will not use this ancient recipe. If she really wants to take revenge, she will not want to leave the other party a glimmer of hope. Besides, Mrs. Bastin is a little distant in terms of blood relationship and does not meet the requirements." Qiu Yanping said.

Gu Wenye interrupted, he already understood what Qiu Yanping meant, "But Mrs. Bathgate completely meets the conditions, and the fingerprints on the clay doll's hands belong to Mrs. Bathgate, which is a mark that belongs exclusively to Mrs. Bathgate. Mrs. Bathgate wants to save her two children in this way?"

"That's right." Qiu Yanping nodded. "So, if the person we met today was the real Mrs. Bathgate, her reaction should not be like that of a victimized mother. I think it should be Mrs. Bastin. She may know that the souls of the two children are sealed in the clay dolls, but she doesn't know the real method of making the clay dolls. Only Mrs. Bathgate herself knows that she sealed her two children in the clay dolls with her own hands."

Although both of them made a set of inferences based mostly on piecemeal guesses, the actual information they had in their hands made them all fit together.

Qiu Yanping and Gu Wenye quietly retreated from Mrs. Bastin's old house. Gu Wenye asked, "Speaking of which, the souls of the two children were sealed in the clay doll. If the clay doll breaks...what will happen to the two children?"

"Souls are scattered."

Gu Wenye was stunned. He didn't expect it to be so dangerous. Shouldn't this ancient recipe have some protective measures?

"So usually people would choose things that are not easy to break and are easy to store. This clay doll... I think Mrs. Bathgate must have bought it from the original stall owner. It's not up to her." Qiu Yanping said.

"By the way." Qiu Yanping suddenly changed the subject. He turned his head to look at Gu Wenye and said, "Why have I never seen your family portrait in the general's mansion?"

"Well...actually, few people would develop family photos like this nowadays." Gu Wenye touched his nose, "We have holographic technology, and we can also save real-time animations and project them out of thin air. There is no need to use this method."

"..." To Qiu Yanping, even this kind of framed photo was very new. Qiu Yanping shut his mouth, not wanting to reveal any more of the fact that he was an antique.