Chapter 67: The Missing Sister (12) He Xiangu
The next morning, Sang Luo took a donkey cart to Daliushu Village. Today was the sixth day of the holiday, and including today, she still had two days.
She still stayed at Xingxing's house. After reuniting with Ruan Yu, the two of them went to find Wang Huahua's house together.
In 1984, Wang Huahua from Daliushu Village disappeared. The girl was also seven years old when she disappeared. She was the third victim.
When they arrived, they happened to see Wang Huahua's parents going out. The couple carried hoes and shovels, and it seemed that they were going out to farm. Sang Luo took the initiative to say hello:
"Sister, what are you doing?"
Wang Huahua's mother looked at her suspiciously, as if she felt a little strange, but she still replied:
"Oh, go out and dig the land. The autumn harvest is over and the land is idle. There is an old tree stump at the edge of our land that has been taking up space. We have some time, so let's go and dig it out today."
"Let us help you!" Sang Luo said enthusiastically. She turned around and pointed at Ruan Yu. "This is my boyfriend, from the city. We came to the village to experience life and wanted to try farm work ourselves!"
The Queen Mother glanced at them a few times, her eyes a little hesitant, but the King's father beside her couldn't wait to agree:
"Okay, we just need some help! Digging out old tree stumps is not an easy job. Girls, you are really conscious. Young people should endure more hardships and exercise more!"
After agreeing, Wang's father turned back to the house and got some farm tools for the two men, and the four of them went to the fields together.
Arriving at the Wang family's field, Sang Luo saw the old tree stump the couple had mentioned. The stump was large and deep, and indeed took up a lot of space. Sang Luo casually asked:
"Sister, this tree takes up too much space. Why didn't you get rid of it earlier?"
The Queen Mother complained and cursed, "Hey, I get angry when I talk about this. It's all because they bullied us when they divided the land. Seeing that we didn't have a son, they gave us the worst land. Not only is it full of rocks, but there's also this big old tree stump! My husband and I have been busy all year round, but we just don't have time to dig it out, and it has been delayed until now!"
"You don't have a son, so it seems like you and your wife gave birth to a daughter?" Sang Luo asked pretending to be ignorant.
The Queen Mother was stunned for a moment, then said stiffly: "I had a daughter before, but she died later."
Sang Luo asked hurriedly: "It's gone, how come it's gone?"
The Queen Mother sighed, "She just disappeared one day. Our family had just finished lunch, and her father and I went back to the house to wash the pot. She was digging in the yard by herself. I don't know what happened, but when we came out after washing the pot, she was gone. We couldn't find her no matter how hard we looked. She just disappeared like that."
Sang Luo looked concerned and asked, "Did you go to the next village to look for it?"
The Queen Mother shook her head and said, "We have tried everything, but there is no news at all. I am also confused. Huahua is not young anymore. If she was kidnapped, she should have screamed. Why is there no sound at all? Could she have been taken away by the God of Land?"
Sang Luo reminded, "Could it be that someone passed by outside and lured the child away with snacks? Your daughter was playing in the yard at the time. Was the gate to the yard open?"
The Queen Mother shook her head again: "What are you saying? It's been so many years, how could I possibly remember all this?"
Sang Luo changed the question: "What is your daughter's personality like? Does she like to eat snacks?"
The Queen Mother patted her thigh and said, "She is so greedy that she will not care about her life when she sees food. We used to joke with her and said that she was the reincarnation of a rat spirit, but how can we give her snacks in a rural family like ours? Well, anyway, she is just lost. Maybe she is a debt collector and will go back after collecting her debts."
The Queen Mother was not like Chen Xiujuan's mother who still held out hope. She had a resigned expression on her face. Sang Luo nodded and didn't say anything more. She had already gotten the answer she wanted.
Sang Luo came this time to understand the victim. After talking with the Queen Mother, she learned that this was a poor and greedy girl, very similar to her sister.
Sang Luo did not speak, but the Queen Mother took the initiative to speak: "Well, anyway, these are all things of the past, it's better not to mention them, people always have to look forward, after Huahua was lost, I was actually very proud, guess what? I gave birth to a son! The whole village did not expect it, before everyone said that I was destined to only give birth to daughters, now it's good, I can finally turn things around, no one dares to look down on me anymore!"
"..." Sang Luo was a little speechless for a moment, but still asked perfunctorily, "What is your son doing now?"
The Queen Mother proudly put her hands on her hips and said, "He is in primary school in the village. He studies very well. He got 42 points in the last math test, and the top scorer in the class only got 60 points! The teacher said that my son will definitely be able to enter a junior college in the future!"
When she talked about this, the sadness on her face disappeared, and only joy remained.
Sang Luo wanted to say something, but in the end, he said nothing. It seemed that no one in this family cared about Wang Huahua's disappearance.
After a whole morning, the four of them finally dug out the huge old tree root. Wang Huahua's parents enthusiastically invited Sang Luo and Ruan Yu to their home for dinner, but Sang Luo declined as she needed to take some time to think about her next plan.
After returning to Xingxing's house, Xingxing's grandparents had already put the food on the table. The two quickly finished their lunch. Sang Luo invited Xingxing to come into the house and play. Xingxing ran in happily. Although these two city people were a little strange, they were willing to play with her. It had been a long time since anyone had played with her.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, there were not many people at the market in Daliushu Village. The lukewarm sunlight shone down, and many stall owners took a nap on the spot. Everyone was sleeping soundly when a hoarse voice broke the silence: "Be careful of wolf dogs! Be careful of wolf dogs!"
Everyone opened their eyes and saw a tall and strong man walking and shouting. The man had a beard and tattoos on his face. He looked like someone who was not easy to mess with. He kept repeating these two sentences. Someone approached him curiously to ask:
"Hey, what do you mean? What do you mean by beware of wolf dogs?"
The bearded man said loudly, "Our guard dog ran away. It's a big wolf dog, taller than a human when it stands up. I had tied it up with an iron chain, but when I went out just now, I saw that the chain broke at some point and the wolf dog ran away. I'm going to make it clear to everyone in advance. If you see that dog, don't get close to it. Stay away from it. Our dog is well trained. If you let it bite, it must bite off a piece of meat! I will not be responsible for anything that happens then!"
The crowd suddenly became lively, and the stall owners also dropped their stalls and came over, talking in groups of two or three:
"What kind of talk is that? Your wolfhound bit someone, and you still want to avoid responsibility?"
"Hush, stop talking. Didn't you see what he looked like? He is Huo Lao San from Daliushu Village. He has been in prison. He is a tyrant in the village. How can you reason with him?"
"I remember his dog. Last time I passed by his door, I just took a second look and the dog almost pounced on me. It scared me to death!"
"What should we do now? This dog ran away and loves to bite people. Should we just ignore it?"
"Please stop talking, all of you, keep your voices down. Can't you see that all the shoppers have run away? If this continues, I won't be able to do business today, and I won't have to set up my stall anymore!"
"Yes, you can't take care of the dog yourself, so why should you affect our business? We can't just let this go, you have to give us an explanation!"
Finally, the stall owners united and unanimously asked Huo Laosan for an explanation. Huo Laosan was also in a dilemma. He spread his hands and said, "How about this, let's each take a step back. You help me find the dog, and I won't make this matter public anymore. Is that ok?"
Of course everyone disagreed. They all came to the market to make money. Who would be willing to spend time doing this kind of thing? Besides, everyone was guarding the stall, so it was not convenient to move around.
While they were arguing, someone in the crowd shouted, "Please help me calculate it!"
Someone immediately agreed: "Yes, let's ask a deity to calculate! Deities are very powerful, and finding objects and determining their location is no problem for them!"
More and more people shouted this, and Huo Laosan agreed. It happened that there was a famous fairy named "He Xiangu" in Daliushu Village. In order to calm the public anger, Huo Laosan invited He Xiangu to the market and performed a ritual in front of everyone.
He Xiangu lit a cigarette, then put it in front of herself and said in a hoarse voice: "The person you want to see will come to me in a while. Ask whatever you want. Remember, you only have time for one cigarette."
The people in the market gathered around He Xiangu, and everyone was curious about what would happen next. Huo Lao San said respectfully:
"Fairy, I want to see my dog. I'm afraid he might bite someone outside and cause a disaster."
He Xiangu closed her eyes, sat cross-legged on the ground, placed her hands on her knees, exerted a little force, and opened her mouth to bark like a dog: "Woof woof! Woof woof woof!"
Everyone burst into laughter, and they all thought that this scene was outrageous. However, He Xiangu's expression did not change at all. There was a sense of oppression around her, which stunned everyone. No one dared to laugh for a moment, and they all listened in silence.
Huo Laosan seemed to see hope on his face: "Laifu, is that you, Laifu?"
He Xiangu barked a few more times, and Huo Lao San said in embarrassment: "Lai Fu, what are you talking about? I don't understand! Can you speak to me in human language?"
He Xiangu opened her mouth slightly and uttered a child-like voice: "It's me, what do you want me to do?"
Huo Lao San asked hurriedly: "Where are you now?"
He Xiangu: "I don't know where I am. I only know that it's dark around me and it's all dirt. I'm also covered in dirt. I'm digging now. I'm so happy. I dug a big hole!"
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, and Huo Lao San then asked, "Besides soil, what else is there?"
He Xiangu replied: "There are also bones, white bones, which are crunchy when you bite them. I like them!"
When she said this, everyone immediately understood:
"Oh my god, this dog is digging up someone else's grave!"
"It's really a lack of virtue. I don't know whose family is so unlucky. Huo Lao San should pay compensation!"
"Do you think this is true? Is He Xiangu really so powerful that she can even possess the soul of a dog?"
Huo Laosan asked: "You jumped out of the pit and looked up. Are there a lot of small mounds of earth around you?"
He Xiangu: "No, there was only this mound of earth around when I came. I smelled a fragrant smell underneath the mound, so I dug it open. The bones here are really delicious, short and small, very crisp and easy to bite open. They are the bones of children!"
After hearing this, people started talking about it again:
"Oh, this beast actually dug up a child's grave!"
"Who has a child? Go check and see if your child's grave has been dug up!"
"Don't say anything, just listen and see if you can tell who it belongs to!"
Huo Lao San finally asked: "What are the characteristics of those bones?"
He Xiangu replied: "It's very broken, some of it is broken, as if it was crushed by something. But it's just right, it saves me from chewing it! Hehehehehehehe!"
Huo Laosan wanted to ask something else, but the cigarette had already burned out. He Xiangu shuddered all over, and the prayer was over. She resumed her hoarse voice:
"The time has come. Have you got what you wanted?"
Huo Lao San said in embarrassment: "I did ask, but I really can't put it together. This evil beast said that it dug up a child's grave, and it was a child who was crushed. I really can't think of it. Which child in our Daliushu Village has been crushed?"
He Xiangu waved her hand: "That's none of my business. I've done what I should do. I'm leaving now."
Huo Laosan paid the money. After He Xiangu left, everyone started talking again:
"Is the one who was flattened the child of the old Zheng family? I remember their kid just passed away two years ago."
"You remembered it wrongly. The Zheng family's child was drowned. It had nothing to do with being crushed."
"He may not be from our village. Dogs run fast. At this time in the afternoon, he may have run to another village!"
Everyone discussed it for a while but couldn't come to any conclusion. Finally, Huo Laosan repeatedly assured them that he would find the wolfdog, and everyone let him go. After he left, the market returned to its previous state.
No one noticed that Zhou Kailong, who was selling sugar figures at a stall in the corner, had a gloomy face. He closed his stall early and pushed his cart out of the market.
Outside the market, Sang Luo, who was in disguise, saw his move and immediately notified Ruan Yu on the mountain to take action. Ruan Yu squatted on the top of the mountain and observed Zhou Kailong's direction from a high place. He saw Zhou Kailong quickly returned to Huaishu Village. He first put the cart back home, and then went out with a machete and shovel.
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