Chapter 24
Cui Ziyao had been hiding behind Wang Sheng all the way. Once bitten, he was afraid of the rope for ten years. Now, everyone in Fangjia Village looked like that Bansheng. Shi Ye saw that Wang Sheng was always holding onto Wang Sheng, and he felt a little unhappy. He gave Cui Ziyao a look and said, "Didn't you say you would lead the way? Is this the way you lead?"
After hearing this, Cui Ziyao raised his hand and asked the servant who had gone to check Fang Zhitao's house before to lead the way. He and Wang Sheng continued to walk in sync, completely unaware of Shi Ye's meaning.
The servant shrank his neck and said, "Master, please come this way."
"Get out of the way." Shi Ye half-closed his eyes, walked around the servants and walked in front.
Servant: Ah, then do we still need him to lead the way?
Cui Ziyao urged him to make way for Wang Sheng and himself: "Get out of the way," and then asked Wang Sheng: "Why did that witch come to you last night?"
Fangjia Village has not discovered the true identity of that witch for so many years, and Wang Sheng came to find him just yesterday.
Wang Sheng pulled him a little further away. This guy was blocking his way like a snake, making it impossible for him to move. "How about you ask for me later?"
Cui Ziyao shook his head like a rattle: "No, no."
Not long after, they arrived at a shabby house. Wang Sheng looked at it and thought it was even more shabby than his own courtyard. He went up and knocked on the door. "Is anyone there? Is this Fang Zhitao's house?"
They waited for a while, but no one responded. Cui Ziyao was about to ask someone to break down the door, but Wang Sheng stopped him. "It's your door, so you can just bang it down. If you keep banging on it, the house will collapse."
"If it collapses, I'll build them another one. Is this a shabby place really a place for people to live?" Cui Ziyao glanced at the house in front of him with disdain.
Cui Ziyao grew up spoiled in Zhong County and had rarely traveled far. Naturally, he had no idea that there were so many homeless people in the world, and he had no idea about the many sufferings in the world.
Shi Ye closed his eyes and felt for a while, then opened his eyes and said, "There is someone inside."
Cui Ziyao asked in wonder, "How did you know?" He walked forward, stuck his eye close to the crack in the door, and tried to search. "Why is it so dark in there? I can't see a thing."
But there was light above his head, so Cui Ziyao tiptoed to get a higher view. Before he could focus and look, it was suddenly dark again. But this time he did see it. At that moment, a bloodshot eyeball flashed and was staring at Cui Ziyao.
“Ghost!”
After Cui Ziyao howled, he collapsed and fainted. Fortunately, he was caught by a servant of the Cui family nearby.
Shi Ye's eyes were as sharp as a knife, and he pushed the door open suddenly. There was a muffled sound behind the door, followed by a scream. A woman with disheveled clothes was kicking her legs frantically on the ground, making a hoarse and frightened sound.
"mother!"
Someone squeezed over from the side, pulled the woman's clothes, and hugged her with a pair of white hands. It was Fang Zhitao.
"Fang Zhitao?" Wang Sheng looked at the mother and daughter on the ground and wanted to go over and pull Fang Zhitao up, but the latter dodged him.
Wang Sheng squatted down, looked at the child in the veil, and said softly, "Fang Zhitao, we met yesterday. Do you remember me?"
Fang Zhitao didn't dare to look at them at first, until she heard Wang Sheng's voice, she slowly let down her guard and looked up at him. It was that handsome brother.
She nodded to show that she still remembered him.
Cui Ziyao unconsciously lowered his presence, came to Shi Ye's side, and urged Shi Ye: "Master, she is here, you should take her in quickly." However, Shi Ye ignored him and attracted the attention of the witch.
"What are you looking at? I'm telling you, I'm not afraid of you anymore. Feel free to use any tricks you have!"
Fang Zhitao shuddered and didn't dare to look at him anymore. Instead, it seemed as if Cui Ziyao was being aggressive, which made him very angry. This witch was really good at pretending.
Seeing Fang Zhitao's reaction, Wang Sheng seriously suspected that Cui Ziyao was lying to them, but Cui Ziyao didn't seem like a liar, so he became uncertain.
After he pulled Fang Zhitao up, the woman quickly crawled into a corner and hid there, thinking she was pretending to be very good at spying on them.
Wang Sheng took a look at the house. Unlike the outside, the inside was very clean, but the house was very poor, with nothing on the walls. "Why isn't your father home, Xiaotao?"
Fang Zhitao's hat tilted forward, "Dead, dead, just me and my mother."
Fang Zhitao was young to begin with. Since no one had spoken to the family for years and some people had ostracized her, she didn't know how to speak normally and became a stutterer.
Everyone present was speechless.
In fact, the rhyme that the children recited at the beginning mentioned that Fang Zhitao had no father, but they all ignored this point and paid full attention to the fact that Fang Zhitao was wearing a veil hat.
The most shocked person here was Cui Ziyao. He didn't expect that this house was so dilapidated and no one had repaired it because Fang Zhitao's father was gone.
So when someone bullies Fang Zhitao, she will just hug herself instead of resisting. If she resists once, it will bring endless revenge next time, and no one will support her.
Cui Ziyao was able to act so recklessly because he had a rich father, but he bullied an orphan girl.
Cui Ziyao still said stubbornly: "So what, you are indeed a witch, I am not wrong..."
Shi Ye, who had been silent the entire time, had been inspecting the room from the moment he entered, not missing a single spot. Banshengren were extremely skilled at concealing their presence, often using sympathy to deceive them. Shi Ye noticed that Wang Sheng was almost forgetting what he had said about Banshengren.
He didn't notice anything unusual, so he asked directly: "Where were you last night? Did you go near Meng De's house?"
Fang Zhitao shook his head silently.
.
Patriarch's House
Someone hurried up to the clan leader from outside and said, "Clan leader, I also went to Fang Wei's house with Wang Sheng at that time." Fang Wei was Fang Zhitao's father.
The patriarch's gray beard moved, and he put down the copper piece in his hand. Why did these two people suddenly go to Fang Wei's house?
"Walk."
While Shi Ye and the others were frozen in place, the clan leader and his men rushed over. He stood at the doorway, leaning on his cane. Seeing a group of people standing inside, he calmly asked, "What are you doing..." When he saw Cui Ziyao inside, he paused and said, "Young Master Cui, why are you here too? Master Cui was just looking for you."
Cui Ziyao knew that the old man listened to his father, so he said, "You came at the right time. Did you know that Fang Zhitao is a witch? My father spent so much money in Fangjia Village, and you actually kept a witch here to desecrate the statue. Believe it or not, I will tell my father to peel off your skin."
"Oh, young master, what are you talking about? Everyone in Zhitao Village knows that she has been pitiful since she was a child, suffered a lot, and has to take care of her mother Qiuli. How can she be a witch?"
This old man actually dared to refute him. He really didn't know who provided him with food and clothing, right? Cui Ziyao saw that he was young and easy to deceive. So he made a note of it in his heart and planned to go back and complain to his father.
The clan leader then said to Shi Ye, "Master Shi, Qiuli is more likely to get sick in crowded places. Villagers generally won't bother them, so everyone should leave."
This is because he doesn't want them to come into contact with Fang Zhitao. The clan leader thought he had done everything perfectly, but he didn't know that there were many loopholes. What Shi Ye hated most was people who treated him like a fool and wasted his time.
The clan leader was no good either, and Shi Ye didn't intend to alert the enemy, so he dragged Wang Sheng out with him. Once they left, Cui Ziyao had to follow.
After everyone left, one person stayed with the patriarch.
This person was unlike the other people in Fangjia Village. The clothes he wore were made of fine materials, and he wore soft-soled boots instead of linen shoes. He looked low-key, yet his status was faintly revealed.
He came up to Fang Zhitao, his face stern: "You two better behave yourself. If you ruin this sacrificial ceremony, even if you look ugly, you have to get out of here and become a fairy child. Do you hear me?"
This time, Mr. Cui gave them a lot of money and asked them to repair the statue so that his only son could be chosen, and they also made a lot of money from it.
Someone nearby roared hoarsely and charged, knocking the man to the ground. Qiuli held Fang Zhitao in her arms, staring at the man like a ferocious beast guarding its food, trying to scare him away. The man walked away with a gloomy look on his face, and before leaving, he even spat in the room.
Qiuli hugged Fang Zhitao very tightly, holding her tightly. She didn't know that this made Fang Zhitao very uncomfortable, and Fang Zhitao didn't struggle.
"Mom, that handsome brother is a good man. I even gave him a windmill as a gift."
The only visible eye under the veil blinked twice, looking very happy.
.
After returning to the Meng family, Wang Sheng followed Shi into the same room very naturally and didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
Tokiya reminded him again: "She is a half-life person, you should know that."
"I know, didn't you say that?" Wang Sheng sat with his legs crossed and his back against the table. He was just feeling a little emotional. Xiao Tao was still so young, but had experienced so many things, which made him not want to spend the rest of his life with her.
"Hey, how did this half-life person come about? It can't be that Xiao Tao's father is a human, her mother is a ghost, and then a half-life person was born, right?"
This is impossible, Xiaotao's mother is obviously a living person.
Shi Ye shook his head. The book he read at the time only explained what a half-life person was, but did not explain how the half-life person came into being. However, he could write a letter to his master and ask his fellow disciples to help him find it.
Wang Sheng watched him take out a paper figurine and, after some manipulation, he spoke to it, asking someone to find out about Ban Shengren's origins. This was much more convenient, as he didn't have to write, he could just talk.
He wondered, "Is it too late? The sacrificial ceremony is coming up soon, and I'm afraid your letter hasn't even reached halfway yet."
But he soon found out at night that not only would the letter be delivered immediately, but he would also be able to see the legendary underworld with his own eyes.
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