29 “Sometimes people in this world are scarier than ghosts.”
At six o'clock, it was still dark and the lights on the second floor of the funeral home came on.
Just before Tao Wanjia put on his coat and prepared to leave, He Yu received a call from Xiao Zhang.
He followed the man for a whole night, watching him go around the intensive care units of several nearby county hospitals to connect people in need. After going back and forth, he had basically confirmed the man's identity.
However, to know the exact whereabouts of Mai Xiang, one still had to find out in person. Xiao Zhang did not act rashly as requested by He Yu, for fear of alerting the enemy, so he followed him all the way back.
After Tao Wanjia listened to his general description of the situation, they checked out and went straight to the shop opposite.
The woman recognized Tao Wanjia and asked, "It's you again. What do you want to buy?"
"There's nothing I want to buy."
Tao Wanjia blocked He Yu, who was recording the video behind him, and after sitting down with his hands in his pockets, he began to talk nonsense: "I just wanted to ask if you are going to have a wedding."
"I have a younger brother who died when he was very young. He just turned 18 this year, and my family wants to find him a companion in the afterlife."
The woman cast a glance at her, "Then why didn't you tell me yesterday?"
"I was still deliberating yesterday. I asked around here and everyone said yours is the best. After thinking it over, I decided to come here." Tao Wanjia spoke casually, his words clear and slow.
The most important thing she learned from many confrontations and interviews in the past was to be calm. If she calmed down, she would be able to see the clues. No matter who the person she was facing was, she should not get excited. The calmer the surface of the lake, the more she could see through the turbulence hidden inside.
"Any requests? Please tell me your age and birth date."
The woman actually believed it, waved her over to the counter, took out her cell phone and looked through the photo album.
"I actually have someone suitable. This girl is seventeen and dying of acute leukemia. As for the price, it basically starts at one hundred thousand now. Do you think you can accept it..."
Before she could finish her words, Tao Wanjia snatched the phone away.
The woman realized something was wrong and subconsciously reached out to take it back.
"Article 302 of the Criminal Law stipulates that anyone who steals, insults, or intentionally destroys a corpse, its bones, or its ashes shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, or public surveillance."
Tao Wanjia's tone was cold, and he put down his phone with a heavy thud.
The woman's heart trembled, and she finally understood her confusion. "You don't really want to do business, but are you here to test me?"
"I want to find someone. Where did you introduce the girl who drowned at the house you went to yesterday afternoon?"
Tao Wanjia met the woman's evasive gaze and lowered his voice, "If you tell me the exact address, I won't report you to the police for profiting from reselling corpses."
The woman saw that she was not easy to deal with and wanted to continue the stalemate, but after hesitating for a while, she finally spoke.
The buyer was not local, but in a village in the next county.
As they walked out of the shop, Xiao Zhang arrived with the police from the police station. Seeing this, the woman started to scream and claimed that she was innocent.
Tao Wanjia didn't look back. Wrong was wrong. As women, those girls who died but still couldn't find peace were more innocent.
It was already dawn when we returned to Uncle Maixiang's house.
In the quiet countryside in the early morning, the sound of roosters crowing can be heard, and the smoke from cooking stoves shrouded in mist creates a gray haze on the horizon.
After Tao Wanjia entered the room, he went straight to the point. He first told the two that he already knew everything, and then persuaded them half-threateningly and half-negotiatingly to take out the money and return it to the family.
The man didn't want to admit it at first, and slammed the table angrily, "What nonsense! What money? What ghost marriage? Get out of here now! You are not welcome in our house!"
Seeing the boy following Tao Wanji, he became even more furious.
"How dare you come here? If you hadn't delayed Xiangwazi, she wouldn't have run away with you, let alone died. It's fine that you can't afford the bride price to marry her, but now you bring back irrelevant people to disturb her peace. You too, get out!"
"Who is disturbing her peace?"
The boy endured for a long time and finally stopped being silent. He didn't sleep the whole night. As soon as he closed his eyes, Mai Xiang's face appeared in his mind. He really hated himself for not being able to stay with her every step of the way. Regret and annoyance tore him apart again and again. If it weren't for finding her, he would have degenerated and thought about giving up his life to be with her.
"I didn't want her to come back originally, but she said that it was wrong for her not to come back to visit you during the Chinese New Year. She came back to help without a single complaint, bought you clothes, and brought New Year's goods to the family."
The boy stared at the two faces, his voice emphasizing anger. "But what about you? You just do it for money, and all that bullshit customs are just for nothing!"
"A living person has the right to choose their own partner. Why are you making these arrangements for her just because she's dead? Aren't you afraid of retribution?"
The few times Tao Wanjia had seen him, she'd always remembered him as reserved, rarely speaking in front of Mai Xiang, and mostly silently caring for her. His insistent defense now left her bewildered, and filled with pity for the couple separated by life and death.
In her past interviews and investigations, she rarely mixed in too many personal emotions because it was difficult to be objective, but now she couldn't stay calm.
When he saw the man about to hit him with a red-hot pipe, he stepped forward to block it. "You and Mai Xiang are not related. The law will convict you. Even if you don't tell us, we can still find out—"
“Here’s the money!”
A sharp shout came from behind. It was their son, a boy about the same age as Mai Xiang, who walked in.
"The money is all here, take it, take it."
He avoided her gaze and handed the bag in his hand to He Yu with a dazed look on his face.
The man was stopped by Tao Wanjia, and his hand lost its balance, so he dropped his pipe. His dark face flushed with anger, and he cursed, "You bastard! Your mother and I did this for you, how can you be so ungrateful!"
"You are breaking the law!"
In the dark and narrow room, the arguments and noises became louder and louder, and the beams above seemed to be shaking and becoming unstable.
He Yu pulled Tao Wanjia away from the chaos. The moment he pushed open the wooden door and went out, a layer of moisture hit his face. He looked up and saw a fine rain falling from the sky.
The first rain of 2025 falls slowly in the early morning of Jingzhe.
It was already afternoon when we arrived in Lin County.
Police stations in both places sent people, but despite this, it still took a lot of effort to find Mai Xiang.
The family that bought the wheat incense refused to disclose the specific location because they did not agree to dig up the grave. They even refused to take any money and shamelessly said that the ceremony had already been held and the grave could not be taken back anyway.
The family finally relaxed after the local police arrived.
The mountain path was slippery after the rain, the wet soil becoming loose, leaving a layer of mud along the side with every step. Spring had not yet fully arrived, so the desolate mountains seemed gloomy and gray.
The grave is very eye-catching, with several bright wreaths of different colors lying in front of the mound surrounded by them.
There is a joke on the Internet that is quite scary when you think about it carefully. A girl joked that if she doesn’t get married, she can make her own decisions for the rest of her life. Someone in the comment section replied that she can make her own decisions while she is alive, but not necessarily after she dies.
Thinking about it now, the difficulties that have emerged are just the tip of the iceberg.
The difficulties faced by women at the bottom of society may be doomed from the moment they are born. Growing up in the village, compared to being told from a young age to give in to their older brothers and repeating the same numb fate as their mother and grandmother, what is even more powerless is that even death cannot escape being schemed against.
This is not spiritual comfort, but just a commodity that can be traded.
Mai Xiang was brave. She bravely broke free from this home that did not belong to her and escaped. She had freedom and a lover who shared her ideals, but in the end, she could not escape the fate of being eaten.
Tao Wanji stared at the flying yellow earth, feeling as if she was also the one being buried. Her powerlessness made her extremely calm, and she was so focused that she didn't even notice when He Yu came to hold her hand.
"Why is it so cold?"
He squeezed her palm tightly. "If you're scared, just turn away."
"I'm not afraid."
"But you look very bad."
He Yu looked at her with worry. She had put so much effort into Mai Xiang these past two days, and she was often so preoccupied that she barely ate or slept. Not only her, but even she herself felt the strain.
Besides, this matter was too horrifying. If He Yu had not been with her in person, he would never have imagined that such a thing would still exist today.
Tao Wanjia didn't bother to respond to his question. He stared at the gradually flattening grave mound and thought of a case he had investigated a long time ago.
A migrant worker died unexpectedly underground at the mine. To maintain normal production and conceal the death, the mine owner secretly hired a driver to take the body back to the worker's home. In the middle of summer, the body bag was placed in the trunk of the car. After dark, the driver, trembling all over, finally surrendered under pressure from all sides.
After the incident was exposed, the mine owner was held accountable. Tao Wanjia and Zhao Kuo went to interview the frightened driver. He said that he had initially thought about covering up the matter for money, but when he opened the trunk and saw the man twisted and twisted in the bag like an animal, he could not bear the condemnation in his heart.
He concluded the interview by saying that human life is far more important than money. Humans are fragile, but they cannot be treated like objects. Those who manipulate them into objects deserve to die.
After a long silence, Tao Wanjia looked at He Yu and sighed.
“In fact, sometimes, people in this world are much scarier than ghosts.”
After Mai Xiang was cremated, he was brought back to Rongcheng and given a simple funeral at the funeral home.
Tao Wanjia knew that the two were in financial difficulty, so after the ceremony she told the boy that she wanted to buy a piece of land for Mai Xiang as a token of her appreciation for their acquaintance.
The boy flatly refused, "You've already helped us a lot."
"I will choose a good cemetery for Maixiang to rest in peace." He didn't bother her anymore. He stood on the steps holding the urn and watched the car drive away in the twilight.
Tao Wanji looked at the thin figure in the rearview mirror in silence for a long time, and she was still unable to get over the heavy mood until He Yu took her to the hospital.
After examining her wound, the doctor prescribed new medicine. He Yu asked the doctor in the clinic why the wound had not healed for a long time, while Tao Wanjia was taken by the nurse to apply the medicine.
The curtain was drawn, and the nurse looked at her with a smile, "Your husband is so good to you. He accompanies you every time you have a checkup. If the doctor says anything, he gets much more nervous than you do."
Just as he finished speaking, He Yu suddenly knocked on the door and came in. He handed the ointment newly prescribed by the doctor to the nurse and turned to leave.
"Hey, you're here just in time."
The nurse stopped him and said, "I was just about to tell you about the precautions. Just watch from the side so that you will know how to take care of the child when you get home."
Tao Wanjia wanted to say no, but the stinging sensation of the disinfectant splashing onto the wound made her gasp, and the words she couldn't say were completely drowned out.
He Yu stared at the wound whose edges were still deep red, and his heart twisted as she frowned.
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