Chapter 59 Clearing Obstacles "Haven't you ever bled?"...
Zhou Ya's emotions were in turmoil, and she almost couldn't react: "Chen Ying is here?!"
“To be precise, the man in the iron mask who was with her came here a few days ago. When he killed Zhang Tiezhu, the witnesses only saw a little girl who was not yet sixteen. Chen Ying did not show up. Perhaps she was hiding in the carriage.” Bai Yuan paused, then said, “Judging from the villagers’ description of the little girl’s appearance, the person with the man in the iron mask should be Qin San.”
"What?!" Zhou Yaren exclaimed in astonishment. "Qin San? How could she be with them?"
"Who knows?"
Zhou Yaren remained silent for a moment, countless possibilities flashing through her mind: "Go back to the original village."
Bai Yuan frowned, having anticipated that he would lose his composure upon hearing this clue: "I need to remind you, it's not a big deal if you're blind, but if you become deaf, you'll truly be a cripple."
Zhou Yaren understood what she meant and told her frankly, "I can't hear clearly anymore, and my hearing may not be very good for a long time to come."
Now he has to concentrate with all his might even to listen to them talk normally, and even then he still experiences tinnitus from time to time.
It had been a tiring day. Whenever he slacked off or lost focus, his ears felt like they were stuffed full of water-soaked cotton, completely blocked. He couldn't hear anything clearly, and he had only managed to persevere this far by sheer willpower.
In other words, even if he wanted to act rashly, he would be willing but unable to.
Bai Yuan had no empathy: "He brought it on himself."
Zhou Yaren did not refute: "Let's go back to the original village first."
He called out to Xiao Dinggua, who stubbornly replied, "My grandfather hasn't been found yet, I'm not going."
"First, go to the original village and ask the Zhang family members who have held funerals here if they have seen Doctor Ding."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Dinggua immediately grabbed the medicine box and followed them: "Has the Zhang family seen my grandfather? What if they haven't seen him either? She said there was blood near the medicine box, so my grandfather must be injured. What if he was robbed... Ah, we should report this to the authorities!"
A buzzing sound filled Zhou Yaren's ears, like a swarm of bees. The incessant chatter was severely impairing his hearing, and he accidentally stepped into a depression.
Zhou Yaren staggered to his feet, thankfully without twisting his ankle. He gripped his bamboo cane tightly for support, and even though he was being extra careful, he would still occasionally trip over withered vines and sloping edges. He continued to explore the path, his steps becoming increasingly clumsy.
Bai Yuan took a deep breath and finally slowed down. He kicked a pebble with his toe, and with a bang, he cleared away the stone blocking the blind man's path.
Otherwise, Zhou Yaren might trip and fall at any moment.
Bai Yuan's actions were remarkably natural, as if he had simply kicked a pebble that was in his way.
Zhou Yaren escaped a disaster, but Xiao Dinggua suffered the consequences. He stepped on a rock and fell face-first into the mud while clutching his medicine box.
"ah!"
Zhou Yaren listened intently and realized that someone had fallen at her feet. She immediately bent down to help them up: "How did you fall?"
Bai Yuan paused and glanced at the two of them.
Little Dinggua raised his head, and two lines of blood immediately appeared on his little face. He said innocently, "I stepped on a pebble."
Bai Yuan said indifferently, "Watch your step and stop talking, then you won't step on any pebbles."
"I wasn't making a fuss," Xiao Dinggua said, unsuspecting that the stumbling block was of dubious origin and had caused him to stumble. He got up, resigned to his bad luck, and then, after wiping his nose, he started yelling in alarm, "Ah, blood, blood, I'm having a nosebleed, I'm having a nosebleed!"
Zhou Yaren quickly took out a handkerchief to wipe his wound, and the clean white handkerchief was stained with blood.
Only Bai Yuan stood by coldly, saying, "It's no big deal. This child is tough; he won't get hurt."
Hearing her nonchalant remark, Xiao Dinggua looked aggrieved: "I'm bleeding!"
Bai Yuan: "Haven't you ever bled?"
The way she spoke made it sound like bleeding was something so commonplace.
Little Dinggua didn't understand: "Why am I bleeding?!"
The sudden question caught Bai Yuan off guard.
She had only ever seen life and death, blood and tears. Most deaths were scarred and mutilated, or even missing limbs.
It seemed that everyone's life was tragic. In fact, every person who died unjustly in front of her was tragic, so she took it for granted that this was the norm for people in the world.
But that's not actually the case. There are some people who live peaceful and uneventful lives, so they make a big fuss about getting a nosebleed.
Zhou Yaren pinched the back of his neck and comforted him, "The bleeding has stopped. Wipe it yourself. I can't see it, so I don't know if it has rubbed against other places."
Xiao Dinggua took the handkerchief and thanked him, genuinely believing that the other person was a very good person.
The kind person even asked with concern, "Did you hurt yourself anywhere else?"
Xiao Dinggua shook her head, then realized the other person couldn't see her, and quickly said, "No."
"Let's go then."
"Oh." Xiao Dinggua responded and turned around, bending over to pick up the medicine box from the ground. The box was completely broken and couldn't be closed no matter what he did. Xiao Dinggua squatted down and fiddled with it for a while, intending to pick up a sturdy piece of dry grass to tie it up temporarily, and then repair it when he got back.
"Eek..." As he rummaged through the dry grass, he pulled out a red cloth bag about the size of his palm, and asked in confusion, "What's this?"
By the time he looked up to speak, Bai Yuan and Zhou Yaren had already walked away.
Little Dinggua didn't have time to open it to see what was inside. He hurriedly stuffed the red cloth package and the handkerchief used to wipe his nosebleed into his clothes, then hastily tore off a dry blade of grass and tied it to the medicine box before running off to catch up with the two people.
Just as he was about to catch up, Xiao Dinggua suddenly slowed down, because he vaguely saw a small pebble the size of a broad bean flicked from Bai Yuan's fingertip, and the branch that was blocking Zhou Yaren's way instantly shifted away.
So the latter walked across without any hindrance.
Xiao Dinggua was stunned for a moment, then suddenly felt a pain in his nose.
He looked at Bai Yuan in front of him and saw that she was sitting upright with her shoulders relaxed. The hand that had just flicked the pebbles was casually behind her back, with a small pebble between her fingertips.
For some reason, Xiao Dinggua could sense a certain leisurely air about the woman from behind.
The road ahead was clearly straight, but the woman leading the way took a long, roundabout route, silently choosing a flat path and avoiding the bumpy, straight road.
Seeing this, Xiao Dinggua suddenly felt less resentful towards her for tripping him up with a pebble. Although her attitude was cold and her words were unpleasant, she didn't seem like a bad person; at least she had been quite considerate of the blind man.
Little Dinggua trailed behind like a tail, finally quieting down.
When he finally calmed down, Bai Yuan turned his head slightly and glanced at the honest and simple-minded Xiao Dinggua out of the corner of his eye, while his fingertips were busy playing with a pebble.
From Xiao Dinggua's perspective, all he could see was a slanted corner of her eye and her long eyelashes.
But when he was suddenly glanced at by that woman out of the corner of his eye, Xiao Dinggua felt inexplicably wary of her, afraid that the pebble in her hand would fly to his feet at any moment. So he had to watch his step carefully and not be as careless as before.
A wind rose over the mountains, blowing a few withered leaves off the branches. If you looked closely, you could see tender buds sprouting from the top branches.
You can sense the changing seasons simply by listening to the wind, without needing to look with your eyes.
Early spring has arrived, and all things are reviving. Something flew past his bamboo cane, and the previously bumpy road, covered with withered vines and stones, suddenly became smooth, so that he no longer tripped over it.
And on this path, Bai Yuan was his guide.
Zhou Yaren raised her eyes, her blind eyes capturing the other person's aloof back. As her gaze slowly moved down, it finally settled on the other person's slender and nimble fingertips.
The blind man is not blind in spirit, and he has always been much more sensitive than others, so he certainly knows how the smooth road he is on came about—someone walked ahead of him and silently cleared away the obstacles for him.
What kind of feeling is this?
Zhou Yaren couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she felt a damp heat rising in her heart.
Since the other party had done it silently, he remained calm as well.
The three returned to their original village unharmed and arrived at a kiln courtyard with white mourning cloth hanging in the air.
This was the only family in the village holding a funeral. Last night, the carriage happened to pass by, and Bai Yuan said, "This must be Zhang Tiezhu's house."
However, the doors and windows were tightly closed during the day, and the yard was deserted.
Little Dinggua was anxious to know where his grandfather was, so he was the first to run up and knock on the door: "Is anyone home? Is anyone home?"
Zhou Yaren waited for a moment, but heard no other sound: "Is no one in the house?"
Bai Yuan tried to push the door of the kiln courtyard, but couldn't open it: "The bolt is locked from the inside, so someone should be home."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Dinggua punched her several more times.
Bang bang bang!
Bang bang bang!
His voice was several times louder: "Open the door! Is anyone home?!"
After shouting, he continued smashing.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Perhaps startled by the incessant banging on the door, some movement finally came from inside.
The cave door slowly opened a narrow gap, just wide enough to let out a forehead that wasn't round or flat. A thin strip of black cloth, about two fingers wide, was wrapped around the forehead. The person peered out like a thief and asked in a hoarse voice, "Who is it?"
The voice was soft, deliberately lowered, and even carried a hint of timidity, as if afraid of disturbing something.
Little Dinggua opened his mouth and called out, "Hey, Uncle, it's me, I'm Little Dinggua, the grandson of Doctor Ding from town. Can you open the door?"
"Ding Langzhong's grandson?" The man asked with a hint of doubt, half his head still stuck in the door crack, unwilling to stick it out. "Do you need something?"
"Uncle, I just wanted to ask if you've seen my grandfather?"
The man said, "How could I have seen your grandfather? I didn't see him."
Xiao Dinggua immediately became anxious: "No, Uncle, please think carefully. Last night, my grandfather came to Yuan Village to treat some patients, but he hasn't returned yet and we can't find him. However, we found his medicine box on the barren mountain in the west. I'm afraid he might have encountered some bad people, so I wanted to ask you if you saw my grandfather when you were on the barren mountain in the west last night?"
“Last…last night…” the man stammered, his voice trembling, “No…no.”
"Uncle..."
"Never seen this before, get out of here." The person inside said, then slammed the door shut.
But a moment later, there was another knock on the door.
But this time it won't be smashed.
Knock knock knock!
The knocking was done at a steady, unhurried pace.
Knock knock knock!
It has a pretty good rhythm.
Knock knock knock!
This is never going to end!
The person inside was annoyed by the knocking, so the door opened a crack again, and the person said impatiently, "Stop knocking. I've already told you I've never seen your grandfather."
"Oh, is that so?" Bai Yuan spoke slowly, his voice not loud. "When we were wandering around in the mountains, we accidentally found Zhang Tiezhu and Huang Xiaoyun's marriage certificate. I thought that such a thing should not be thrown away, so I specially brought it to you."
After Bai Yuan finished speaking, she heard a gasp from inside. She said, "Open the door."
After lingering inside for a while, the wooden door finally creaked open.
Bai Yuan's gaze passed over the low courtyard wall and saw a middle-aged man dressed in hemp clothing hesitantly stepping out of the threshold. His back was hunched and his neck was tilted forward. He walked tiptoeing.
The man went into the courtyard and unlatched the gate. Upon seeing the two distinguished-looking men and women outside, he hesitated slightly: "You..."
Zhou Yaren said politely, "Sorry to bother you, sir."
The man stood guard at the gate, making no attempt to invite anyone in: "Where...where's the marriage certificate?"
Bai Yuan asked calmly, "A ghost marriage?"
The man remained silent, which was taken as tacit agreement.
"I'd like to ask the host for a drink of water while I'm at it." She didn't ask if it was convenient for her, nor did she immediately return the invitation.
The man blocked the door and confronted her. At that moment, an old man with a white beard slowly walked over from not far away, pulling an oxcart. As if avoiding something, the man immediately opened the door and let these uninvited guests in.
He didn't allow the uninvited guests into the main room. Instead, he turned around and hurriedly went upstairs to lock his own door, being extremely vigilant as if guarding against thieves, before leaving the guests to wait in the courtyard.
This person's behavior was really unpleasant. Bai Yuan looked around the yard and saw a chicken coop in the corner. There were quite a few chicken feathers, but he didn't hear any poultry making any noise. There were also several bundles of straw and firewood piled up haphazardly next to it.
Her gaze swept over the northwest corner where there was half a millstone, some simple farm tools, and below it an iron basin where paper money had been burned, with ashes still at the bottom.
Zhou Yaren frowned, faintly smelling a rusty, metallic odor, likely emanating from the crack in the door of the main room. Just as he approached the door, a man who had gone to the kitchen to fetch a large ladle of cold water emerged, shouting sternly, "What are you doing?!"
Zhou Yaren paused, stopping in the courtyard, about four or five steps away from the door.
The man strode in front of him and shoved the melon ladle at Zhou Yaren without any politeness, poking him directly in the waist and causing Zhou Yaren to take a half step back.
"Didn't you say you were thirsty? Drink up."
Zhou Yaren took the cool melon ladle and, without taking offense at the other person's words and actions, thanked him gently and politely.
The man's expression softened slightly: "My child's marriage certificate..."
"Here," Bai Yuan replied, seemingly casually asking with concern, "Has the child been buried?"
Tie Zhu's father, Old Zhang, nodded.
Bai Yuan casually asked, "Was it done last night?"
Old Zhang rubbed his hands, which seemed to have nowhere to go, on his linen clothes a few times, and then nodded silently.
"Where was he buried?"
This stranger of unknown origin was quite strange. Old Zhang glanced at her warily and asked, "Who are you? Why are you asking this?"
"Us? Just passersby, asking casually."
Old Zhang frowned: "Please return the marriage certificate to me."
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