The jade pendant was given to him, which was the perfect return of the jade to Zhao.
"Are you Xiao Liang?" Cheng Sizhou asked doubtfully.
Xiao Liang didn't say anything, perhaps he simply couldn't speak.
No matter what Cheng Sizhou asked, he did not respond. The most bizarre thing was that he always stood between the two of them, not allowing Cheng Sizhou to get close to Wen Zichuan.
Wen Zichuan looked at Xiao Liang's back and felt that Xiao Liang didn't seem to want to hurt him, and there was a vague sense of protection in his eyes.
"Xiao Liang," he stood up and approached, motioning with his peripheral vision to Cheng Sizhou to lower the clothesline. "He's not a bad person."
Xiao Liang did react. He shook his head vigorously and continued to guard against Cheng Sizhou.
Mo Ming, Zhou Han and Xu Jiaxuan heard the noise and all hid outside the door, sticking their heads out to look inside.
The atmosphere on the scene was awkward for a moment. To outsiders, Xiao Liang was just a wild man who came out of nowhere. How could he have any reason to stop a pair of lovers from getting close to each other?
But if the stalemate continues, something bad will really happen.
Wen Zichuan went up to Cheng Sizhou and said, "Brother Zhou, why don't you go and boil some hot water for me? I have to give him a bath and change his clothes first, and then..."
"Okay, got it." Cheng Sizhou turned and walked out, his face hidden in the shadows, his expression unrecognizable.
Things are always so strange. In this group of people, Xiao Liang has only seen and known Mo Ming, but he has no special feelings for Mo Ming. Instead, he listens to Zichuan's words very much.
As Xu Jiaxuan carried the hot water into the bathroom, he lowered his voice and asked, "Have you met before?"
Wen Zichuan shook his head: "Absolutely not."
Come to think of it, they drove hundreds of kilometers from Dengyuan to Mutao. How could they have possibly seen a mentally ill person who had been wandering around the local area for many years?
Zhou Han and Mo Ming are older, and they can understand why Xiao Liang is in this state.
Although Dr. Mo rescued him in the past, he was entrusted to someone else for upbringing for a long time, so he and Mo Ming did not have more emotional exchanges, and it was understandable that he did not remember it.
As for Wen Zichuan, Xiao Liang acted warmly and obediently, and it seemed like they were meeting again after a long separation rather than just meeting for the first time.
But they didn't know each other. Even if they had seen each other and knew each other before they could remember, so many years had passed and people's appearance and body shape had changed. A normal person couldn't recognize each other at a glance, let alone a mentally ill person?
Unless Xiao Liang admits his mistake.
A guess was circling in Zhou Han's mind, but more evidence was needed to confirm it.
After the hot water was ready, Cheng Sizhou moved a stool and sat at the door waiting so that if Wen Zichuan needed anything, he could pass it in in time.
Xu Jiaxuan came over and said, "She's like an old hen protecting her cubs, afraid that they'll be kicked by an eagle."
Cheng Sizhou wanted to kick him: "Why am I the hen and he is the eagle?"
Just as he finished speaking, a burst of laughter suddenly came from the sound of water splashing in the bathroom.
The voice was simple, honest and rough, that was Xiao Liang's voice.
Xu Jiaxuan caught sight of Cheng Sizhou's troubled and tense face and found it quite amusing: "Hey, could you be more confident? You two have been dating for how long? If it were a man and a woman, they would have been married long ago. Even with that slovenly look of Daliang, he's no match for you."
Xu Jiaxuan is the youngest here, and he changed "Xiao Liang" to "Da Liang" on his own.
Cheng Sizhou didn't bother to pay attention to him, but he realized that he was much more afraid of losing Wen Zichuan than he thought.
Although they have reconciled, they are not a man and a woman after all, and there is no marriage certificate as a guarantee. He is even afraid that during the time they broke up, someone suddenly appeared to pursue Zichuan, and in Zichuan's heart, he was inferior to him.
He didn't dare to think about whether he could continue to live in agony if he really lost Zichuan.
There was constant laughter in the bathroom. Xiao Liang seemed to be playing with water. Zichuan said helplessly, "Stop it, stop it." Cheng Sizhou knew that nothing could happen between them, but when he heard it, it still felt like a long torture.
Xiao Liang was too dirty, and Wen Zichuan took more than an hour to wash him. The filtered clean water turned black water, and he used up seven or eight buckets. He also trimmed his overly long hair and beard.
"Brother Zhou," Wen Zichuan said as he opened the door, his body soaked and his eyes showing fatigue. "Xiao Liang is taller than me, so he can't wear my clothes. Take one of yours."
"...Okay." Cheng Sizhou responded and left quickly.
In his impression, Zichuan seldom made requests to him, which made him feel that he was not a lover he could rely on. He was terrified and guilty. Even though Zichuan's request at this moment was overwhelmed by his own wishes, he carried it out without hesitation.
After cleaning himself up, Xiao Liang was not ugly. Ignoring the spots and scars caused by the hardships of life, he had sharp features, a high nose and thin lips. He was about the same age as Cheng Sizhou, but his eyes were full of the purity and innocence of an ignorant person.
Mo Ming asked him to sit down, poured him a glass of water, and brought him some biscuits and snacks that children liked.
Cheng Sizhou sensed that he was in a better mood, so he leaned over and asked, "What's your name? Is it Xiao Liang?"
Xiao Liang didn't sense the ill will of these people. He was in a good mood, swinging his legs and fiddling with the colorful box of biscuits. When he heard his question, he suddenly jumped up, screaming and asking to go back to the bathroom.
The bathroom door was closed. After Wen Zichuan finished washing him, he also had to wash himself and tidy up.
"Xiao Liang!" Mo Ming saw him about to push the door, and he quickly went over and held him down!
But Xiao Liang was agile and strong. He broke free from Mo Ming and rushed forward to hit Cheng Sizhou!
How could Master Cheng withstand the fists of this barbarian? Zhou Han pushed him away and protected him behind him.
Fortunately, Xiao Liang only had strength and no strategy, and he fell to the ground gasping for breath after just a few moves with Zhou Han.
Wen Zichuan hurriedly came out of the shower and quickly helped him up when he saw him like this: "You just changed into clean clothes, why are you sitting on the ground again?"
Cheng Sizhou saw that Zichuan was in such a hurry that he didn't even have time to button up his lapel, revealing a small piece of snow-white skin. The feeling of being tortured by slicing was still lingering, making him unable to utter any words of explanation.
As soon as Xiao Liang saw Wen Zichuan, he became obedient. He took him to Cheng Sizhou, pointed at Cheng Sizhou's chest, and yelled incoherently.
Mo Ming and Zhou Han looked at each other, neither of them understood what was meant.
Wen Zichuan seemed to understand. He stood on tiptoe, took off the jade pendant from Cheng Sizhou's neck, and said to Xiao Liang, "You want this, right?"
Xiao Liang took the jade pendant and wrapped it tightly in his palm, then hugged Wen Zichuan and smiled with his teeth showing.
The red string of the jade pendant was dangling in front of Cheng Sizhou's eyes. He immediately guessed Xiao Liang's identity. He was a tomb keeper from Beiling Village. Giving the jade pendant to him was like returning the jade to Zhao.
Their original plan was to find Wu Heng and the others. As long as the tomb keepers were willing to come forward, there would be enough evidence to identify the suspects in the tomb robbery case.
"Xiao Liang, I have a question for you." Wen Zichuan's tone was so gentle and pleasant that it could make water drip out of it.
Xiao Liang just held him tightly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
Wen Zichuan had no choice but to continue: "Do you know Wu Heng? Do you know where she is?"
Xiao Liang felt like he was hit in the face. His whole body stiffened and his pupils dilated. He pushed Wen Zichuan away, mumbling incoherent words, waving his fists and stomping his feet, then crying and screaming wildly.
"Okay, okay, let's not ask any more questions." Mo Ming felt sorry for him. That year, he heard his adoptive parents say on the phone that he went to the mountains to pick mushrooms and went crazy when he came back. He must have looked like this.
"It looks like post-traumatic stress disorder. The situation isn't very optimistic." Zhou Han said to Cheng Sizhou, "He seems hostile towards you. Don't get close to him."
"Doctor Mo, is there a better mental hospital in Huaili? Also, where are those mentally ill patients wandering around the town that you mentioned before taken away?" Cheng Sizhou asked.
Xiao Liang became more and more violent, and Mo Ming could hardly control him and could not answer Cheng Sizhou's questions properly.
Wen Zichuan concentrated on comforting Xiao Liang and brought him into the room. Perhaps for him, facing so many strangers was also an invisible pressure.
"After that free clinic, I wrote a letter to the health department of Huaili, hoping that they could build a mental hospital nearby to accommodate and treat them." Mo Ming said, sighing heavily.
"Didn't they approve it?" Zhou Han asked.
"After they sent someone to investigate the situation, they agreed, but they wanted the locals of Mutao to contribute a sum of money." Mo Ming looked away, gazing at the unchanging mountain silhouettes outside the window. "The town is too poor. Building a mental hospital would cost money not only upfront but also for the ongoing operation. Besides, the townspeople weren't very supportive, so the project was ultimately abandoned."
Cheng Sizhou had heard him mention that the symptoms of those mentally ill patients varied in severity. For those in better condition, the men would be captured and forced to work as part-time laborers, while the women would be forcibly married home to be used for reproduction.
If the mental hospital is built, it will not only accommodate these patients, but also require the families who take them away to pay annual treatment fees, which will undoubtedly make the already poor town even worse.
They are all homeless mentally ill people anyway, so why should we care about their life or death?
"About five or six years ago, there was a murder in town. A woman strangled her son and beat her husband to death at night, then ran away. The police came and interrogated her. They found out that she was a mentally ill woman who had been forced into marriage years ago. She said they had lived together for several years and were like a family, but for some reason, she suddenly had a seizure."
Mo Ming also thought about coming back to treat his neighbors and repay his hometown after learning medical skills, but what happened later completely changed his mindset. After all, diseases can be cured, but human hearts are difficult to save.
Therefore, apart from asking someone to take care of Xiao Liang, he was unable to change the current situation.
"I have a hypothesis," Zhou Han said. "The common trait among the mentally ill people in the town in the early years, Xiao Liang, and Tong Chunyang from the archaeological team, is not that they all came to Mutao Town, but that they all went to Beiling Village."
"Yes, Mutao Town and Beiling Village are close neighbors. Something must have happened in Beiling Village, which caused so many mental illnesses and Xiaoliang's post-traumatic stress." Cheng Sizhou added.
"So what are you going to do next?" Mo Ming asked.
"Can we contact other mentally ill patients in the town? If their cases are not so serious, we can first ask them what they know, and then go to Beiling Village." The clues were finally continued, and Cheng Sizhou was eager to take it one step further.
"Of course I can, but I haven't been back for many years. They are not familiar with me. If I visit them rashly, the people in the town might be resistant," said Mo Ming.
Zhou Han patted Cheng Sizhou on the shoulder and said, "This method is not good. Checking every household will make the target too large."
After he reminded him, Cheng Sizhou was silent for a while.
It is no longer a secret that he came to Mutao. The current situation is that they are in the open, while the real murderer is in the dark. If he investigates in the town openly, it is impossible to predict what will happen.
"Then let Dr. Mo give them free psychiatric examinations and let them come to us themselves," said Xu Jiaxuan.
"You're so clever! Wouldn't it be more obvious if we only examined the mentally ill?" Zhou Han didn't deny the feasibility of this approach, but he needed to tweak the details. "Xiao Liang was only eleven or twelve years old back then. Even a normal child wouldn't necessarily remember those things. But if he were an adult in his twenties or thirties, he would be in his forties or fifties by now."
"Oh—" Mo Ming immediately understood what he meant. "I can set up a clinic to screen for common diseases for people over 40. That should give me some clues."
As everyone was discussing, Wen Zichuan suddenly rushed out of the room: "Oh no, Xiao Liang ran away!"
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