Chapter 32 (Three Updates in One)
Director Zhang's voice was so earth-shattering it wouldn't be an exaggeration. Before the day was over, word of He Qing's fall into the manure pit had already reached the family members of the government compound.
The office cafeteria is busier at night than at noon. Not only do people come to eat, but there are also many who order two dishes to take home. After all, it's not like lunch when you have to get off work in the afternoon, so there are quite a few people chatting in the cafeteria.
Two major events happened today. One was that the city sent several comrades to ask Deputy Group Leader Qu to leave the work meeting directly without giving him any face, and asked him to suspend all his work; the second was that Minister He led the spring sowing guidance group to the countryside, but everyone ended up falling into a manure pit. What a smell.
The first thing is not suitable to be discussed in public, but the second one is not a big deal.
This one said, "No way? I just saw Xiao Chen, the officer who followed He's team to the countryside. He was quite clean." He wasn't wearing any of the villagers' clothes. If he fell in, wouldn't he have changed his clothes?
"Then you were too far away and saw it from outside, right?"
"The guards in the Little White Building are all on duty. I saw Xiao Chen standing at the window of their office from the bungalow behind us." He was also puzzled. Instead of writing properly on the table, he was writing awkwardly with his head down on the windowsill.
My colleagues burst out laughing. "Standing in the corner, huh? They're in a real mess! The production department's been through a lot! Seven of the spring sowing team went missing, four of them from their office. The two who stayed behind didn't even get a chance to say anything before they were choked out. And they had to finish the report overnight, so as not to make things difficult for the two people seconded from the agricultural technology station. So, all the resentment is directed at Xiao Chen."
"I heard it didn't fall into a cesspool, but that someone hid under a wild boar while trying to escape, and the Hes got it when they got him out. That wild boar loves to dig up stinky mud, and now that the weather's warmer, imagine if it fermented..."
"Hey! We're all eating, what are you two talking about?"
"Tsk, why are you pretending to be so particular? You're not laughing at me, are you?" This man was an archivist, well-informed: "The Buxiantun Production Brigade we inspected yesterday has a new 'Iron Lady Who Beats Pigs'. The record has been approved and sent to our office." This was something that would be entered into the archives, absolutely set in stone.
"Goodness! Doesn't that mean He's team encountered wild boars coming down the mountain yesterday?" A clerk from the countryside smacked his lips. "Wild boars are more ferocious than black bears this spring. Are He's team all right?" They must have been frightened by the boss, right? As a result, they can't rest even after returning today. I don't know how long they have to stay up. The Little White Building is now closed to people. I'm afraid they have to stay up all night. It's frightening and tiring. It's not easy for the leaders either.
The story was not spread quickly, and later it became "Qu Xiangjin deviated from the leader's teachings and repeatedly attacked the people's grain bags. After being discovered by He's troops, he fled in a hurry. He Qing and others held the proletarian knives in their hands, fearlessly and bravely moved forward. With the help of local villagers, they went into the mountains to build a place to stay. Trapped in the mountains at night, Qu Li tempted them by saying that he could lead them out, but the comrades were determined not to succumb to bad elements and the cold, and fearlessly went into a wild boar's den..." This anecdote seems to have a beginning and an end at first glance, but in fact it does not stand up to scrutiny.
Some people even made up a jingle on the spot: "The production minister is really powerful, passing on proletarian knife skills; he catches termites with sharp eyes and goes into the mountains to catch thieves without fear of difficulties; he resolutely refuses to listen to the enemy's temptations and shows off his unique skills to resist the cold; the stinky mud pit is a treasure, and the wild boar's belly is good for keeping warm..."
After the meeting, a dizzy He Qing returned home to hear his eldest grandson, who was no taller than a table leg, pinching his nose and learning a jingle from him. "Who the hell rolled in the stinking mud with a wild boar?" Minister He choked on his breath, but thinking of Qu Xiangjin's miserable appearance, he calmed down again.
He ignored his eldest grandson's struggles and picked up the little guy, kissing him twice. Minister He kissed his precious grandson until he cried, and was then dragged into the bathroom by his wife, who grabbed his ear. Mrs. He was quite civic-minded and didn't want to make things difficult for the agency's bathhouse. She had already boiled several large buckets of hot water, waiting for He Qing to come back and wash him to remove the odor.
There was too much work to do at the company, so He Qing took a hot bath and slept for two hours before being woken up by Xiao Chen knocking on the door.
"A working group has arrived from the city, and Director Zhang wants you to go over quickly." Xiao Chen reported in a low voice: "On the night of the fifteenth day of the lunar calendar, Qu's relative, Fei Xinli from the Fangmaji Commune Health Center, was caught on the spot by the masses for practicing feudal superstition; the director of the Fangmaji Commune and the police station conducted an overnight investigation, and found evidence of 'reaction and collusion' in Fei's home. Early in the morning of the sixteenth day, Director Zhou and Chief Yan of the commune secretly took Fei and rushed to the city, during which they received help from the forest farm security department; we also found and apprehended Qu Xiangjin in the Bushantun Production Brigade. On the evening of the sixteenth day, Qu learned of Fei's arrest, but behaved normally. While on night shift, he even issued a request to the lower commune to deal with it seriously." Xiao Chen was scared when he said this. It was a good thing that Qu Xiangjin was apprehended in Bushantun, otherwise their entire group would have been investigated.
"On the 17th, yesterday, as we were rushing back to the county, the Municipal Bureau directly sent people to suspend Qu's work and took him away. It's worth mentioning that on that morning, Qu's wife screamed repeatedly at his home. Her screams were so frightening that Director Zhang's wife, who lives nearby, went to check on her. It's said that Qu's wife was so frightened that she didn't recognize anyone. Director Zhang saw Qu's niece covering a charred animal-like object with a quilt."
Xiao Chen shuddered and lowered his voice even more. "I asked around. It's said that the Fei family is superstitious about the Yellow Goddess. A few days before he was arrested, his wife suddenly fell ill and couldn't get out of bed. His mother's temperament changed drastically and her behavior was strange, as if she was possessed. When Fei was arrested that day, he was worshiping the Yellow Goddess in the courtyard, but the tablets and incense burners all gave off a foul stench. Leader, it stinks!"
He Qing, who was hurriedly stuffing his food into his mouth, was startled. He seemed to remember something and bent down to sniff his clothes, but his nose seemed to be broken and he could not smell anything. He asked Xiao Chen: "Does it still stink? It doesn't stink anymore, does it?"
Xiao Chen pointed to the empty house and said, "Look at this, doesn't it look smelly? The teacher and Dabao can't stand it!" Seeing He Qing looking at him sideways, he laughed and said, "It's the same for me. My mom threw out my bedding roll and told me to sleep on the floor at work at night." Mrs. He taught at the county middle school, and Xiao Chen used to be the best student in her class.
"But after showering, the smell is a little lighter. I had the publicity team next door check it out for me. I think a few more showers will clear it up." After saying this, Xiao Chen immediately returned to the subject: "Do you think the Fei family's Huang Xian and Qu's wife are both related to her?" Didn't Secretary Chen of Buxian Village say that Fei had set his sights on her as his daughter-in-law and had been pressuring her and trying to get her into trouble? And yet, she had a foul odor, and then the charred animal was left at Qu's house. It was likely that Fei was trying to use Huang Xian against her, but she had overturned the situation, even targeting Fei's backers.
He Qing shook his head, but instead of refutation, he warned the young clerk, "It's good to know the situation, but keep it to yourself and don't be curious. It's okay for us to talk about it, but the more you analyze, the more you want to know. You're used to doing paperwork, and if you accidentally scribble a word or two on the paper—you saw what happened to Qu Xiangjin last night! So, control yourself."
The young clerk's face turned pale.
At this time, the sable was also imitating Qu Xiangjin's miserable situation from Lin Xinghuo, covering his chest with his claws and spitting something out.
The caracal slapped the marten off the stone table with one claw and lazily told Lin Xinghuo the whole story.
It turned out that upon arriving at the county, Qu Xiangjin had been detained by He Qing at the security office. He had no idea that Fei Xinli had been arrested or his stepfather had been taken away. He was quite courageous, frightened as he was in Buxiantun, but his courage returned upon leaving. Upon entering the security office, he retracted the confession he had signed with his fingerprints the previous night, accusing He Qing of colluding with local evil forces and demanding that a working group be dispatched to thoroughly investigate the Buxiantun production brigade.
If it weren't for the incident between Qu's stepfather and the Fei family, the county might have really sent a few people to visit Bushan Village because of his unreasonable behavior. Although it would not harm the overall situation, it would definitely delay the rural people's most scarce spring time.
But it was a mistake. Compared with the cases of Qu Jifu and Fei Xinli, his mistake of abusing his power was a small matter. His biggest crime had long become the "mud" of "pulling out the radish brings out the mud".
To be honest, Qu's stepfather's downfall wasn't his work, but rather his in-laws' discovery of his past. He was a reactionary cancer hidden within the Red class, not only a member of the Communist Party but also an imposter, even killing a good comrade's entire family. The focus now is on how he managed to conceal his true identity, remaining undetected by the Qu family for years! Qu Xiangyu, currently assisting the Qu family, is the cousin of the imposter, yet she lived with her fake uncle for years without a single suspicion.
The leadership team had no patience for him harassing He Qing and the Spring Sowing Team. Instead, they wanted to learn as much as possible about Qu Xiangjin's stepfather before the higher-level working group arrived, so they could calmly handle the investigation. They couldn't tell Qu Xiangjin directly, so they could only pressure him by using the existing charges. The interrogation lasted until midnight, and finally drove Qu Xiangjin to his limits.
In a desperate situation, Qu Xiangjin desperately tried to prove that He Qing and the Chunbo Group were colluding with Buxiantun. He tried to accuse He Qing and Lin Xinghuo of feudal superstition, but suddenly his voice was cut off. Qu Xiangjin's quick thinking led him to think of another way to reveal the truth. After all, they had sworn not to tell anyone, so he asked for paper and pen.
Regardless of whether Qu Xiangjin hadn't anticipated the words "if the secret is leaked..." when he swore, or whether he was determined to test the bottom line of the contract, when he picked up the pen to write the first sentence, he suddenly grabbed his throat and vomited blood and water - exactly fulfilling the curse of "mouth sores, intestines and stomach rupture".
The leading group had no choice but to suspend their inquiries. They even invited an experienced police officer who was good at deciphering the code, but he couldn't make any sense out of the ghostly words...
After hearing this, Lin Xinghuo's attention was not on the power of the talisman, but on how Stepfather Qu was deceiving the world: "The more complicated the interpersonal relationship, the harder it is to replace it."
Just like during wartime, when Japanese pirates sent out spies, they would often brutally massacre the entire population of a remote village in order to arrange a reasonable identity for the spies. Even now, enemy spies still hiding among the people often use identities taken from people with shallow kinship and simple social connections.
Lin Xinghuo keenly sensed an unusual dark wave - the "Jin Zilin" hiding in the capital was not simple, perhaps not an ordinary person.
"What do you think?"
The caracal is not very understanding of human nature, but it understands the rules of the animal world: "It depends on Fei Ping and the consequences of being submissive." Among wild beasts, the strong prey on the weak. Useless members will be expelled and burdens will be eaten.
Fei Ping... Lin Xinghuo was speechless. It was obviously Fei Xinli and Qu Xiangjin, but it couldn't remember either of them. However, it remembered Fei Ping clearly.
However, what the caracal said was right, Fei Ping really did happen.
Fei Xinli's feudal superstitions implicated his mother, wife, and sister's family, while leaving his children alone. No evidence of Fei Ping's involvement was found, so although he was fired from the Second Cotton Mill due to his changed family background, he was released. However, on the third day after his release, while arguing with Chang Qing, he suddenly collapsed, bleeding from all seven orifices. Chang Qing's screams attracted the neighbors, who checked and found him dead. Even more eerie, the body of a recently deceased person was cold, as if he had long since passed away.
Not only Fei Ping, but everyone in the Fei family died suddenly at almost the same time, with the same cause of death. Even more frightening was the death of a young man in Fangmaji Commune, who was the person Fei Ping's eldest sister had been secretly dating.
The two had been secretly together for over six months, doing things they shouldn't have done. The young man's family was poor, and Fei Ping's sister was trying to persuade them, hoping to get their parents' approval through this matter. Unexpectedly, on the day the Fei family was wiped out, the young man suddenly fell while working in the fields, and then he was so exhausted that he couldn't even stand. The commune sent him to the county hospital, but they couldn't find anything. The young man became weaker and weaker, so his family fed him ginseng roots passed down from their ancestors. The young man recovered for more than ten minutes, but soon began to decline again, and died before dawn. It was said that his face was pale, and within half a day, his flesh had sunk, leaving only skin and bones. It looked like his yang energy had been sucked out.
It is said that members of the Fei family also became like this after their death, causing panic among the people of the entire Fangmaji Commune, but due to the prevailing customs, no one dared to speak out openly.
The one who was most frightened should be Chang Qing. When she rode her bicycle crookedly to the health station at the foot of Nanshan Mountain, Lin Xinghuo was removing the bee venom from Wei Chunxing.
·
Wei Chunfeng and Wei Chunxing, brother and sister, were delayed outside for three or four days before returning, purely because of Wei Chunxing's spur of the moment decision.
On the evening of the 15th, the brother and sister finished Lin Xinghuo's instructions. Still uneasy after seeing Fei Xinli taken away, they decided to stay at the commune to wait for news. Unexpectedly, Fei Xinli was secretly taken away by Director Zhou and Director Yan. Wei Chunxing, with his keen sense of smell, followed them with his sister. Arriving at the forest farm, they saw Director Zhou borrow several demobilized soldiers from the forest farm's security department to escort Fei Xinli to the city by train. Only then did the two brothers feel relieved.
Wei Chunxing, relieved of his worries, remembered that the beehive he had been thinking about was from the woods north of the forest farm. While his sister was visiting relatives at the forest farm, Wei Chunxing went back to the mountain nest.
Sure enough, the wild beehive was still there in the crack of the rock, and the half that had been dug out by the black bear last year had been filled up again. Wei Chunxing sniffed carefully for a long time, making sure there was no bear scent before he dared to approach.
As he got closer, the sweet aroma of honey was like a hook, even better than the one the fairy had given him a few days ago. Wei Chunxing thought about breaking off a piece and giving it to the fairy as a whole, while keeping the broken pieces for his family of three.
After wrapping his head, face, and hands with his clothes, he held a torch, hoping to stun the wild bees so he could remove the nest. Unexpectedly, before he even reached the crevice, the bees spotted him and buzzed out. Wei Chunxing waved the torch to shoo them away, but the swarm was frantic, chasing and stinging him. Even after Wei Chunxing desperately ran back to the forest farm, a small group still followed.
"If he had decided to sting her, it would be useless for the rest of us to go up and help! He had already hidden in the woodshed, but those wild bees were still lingering outside and trying to get in through the crack in the door!" Wei Chunfeng pointed at her brother angrily: "If it weren't for Layue's cleverness, who directed him to jump into the vat and completely submerge himself in the water... I'm afraid he would still be fighting with the group of wild bees." Wei Layue is Grandma Wei's granddaughter. She married into the forest farm and is of the same generation as Wei Chunfeng's siblings. She is warm and considerate, and most of the villagers in the village call her by her nickname "Little Sister".
Wei Chunxing's entire body was swollen, especially his head and face, so much so that he barely looked like a human. He struggled to open his mouth, but his lips were like two sausages stretched across a bed of fermenting dough; no one could hear what he was saying in Ulu.
Wei Chunfeng was both angry and distressed: "Layue pulled out a straw for him to breathe, and he hid in the jar for nearly half an hour before we used torches to drive away the wild bees. As a result, after we fished him out, he looked like a swollen bean sprout. His head scared the children and made them cry. He was also dizzy and unconscious. Layue was really cheated. She asked her husband to take off his wet clothes and wrap him in the quilt, and she went to call the forest doctor right away." He also damaged other people's water tanks. It was not easy to clean such a big tank.
She took out a handkerchief and showed Lin Xinghuo the black stinger inside, which was as long as a fingernail: "I've been stung by more poisonous wasps before, but I've never seen a sting this long! This is a honey-making bee, how can it be more powerful than a wasp?" The old doctor at the forest farm only took out a few stingers, but these few poisonous stings made Wei Chunxing suffer a lot.
"The doctor said being submerged in water helped a lot. The water diluted the venom and took away some of it. Otherwise, it might have been even more severe." Wei Chunfeng hugged her daughter and sighed, "He was throbbing with pain. Three or five grown men couldn't hold him down. Luckily, the old doctor had experience. He mixed soapy water for him to rub, and then used saltpeter to make an ice compress..."
The whole family had to endure a whole day and night of suffering during the twelfth lunar month. Wei Chunfeng had wanted to quickly get her brother back to the village to find Lin Xinghuo. Naturally, she trusted the little fairy's ability, "but the old doctor didn't dare to let them go, fearing something might happen along the way."
Even Lin Xinghuo couldn't say anything about Wei Chunxing's tragic fate. In fact, if Lin Xinghuo hadn't nursed him back to health for nearly half a month, Wei Chunxing might not have survived the bee venom. In her opinion, the venom of the wild bees had already taken on a fire-like quality. The wound wasn't like a blister, but a swollen, nodular, hard lump—without the support of spiritual power, even Lin Xinghuo's acupuncture couldn't draw out the venom.
The little girl didn't dare to touch Wei Chunxing's wound, and blew air on her uncle with her mouth.
The caracal lay on Lin Xinghuo's back and listened for a while, then suddenly rubbed Lin Xinghuo's shoulder with its head, and pointed its tail inconspicuously at Wei Chunfeng's handkerchief on the stone table.
Then the old man jumped away and disappeared, taking away the sable that was familiar to Wei Chunfeng and her brother.
Lin Xinghuo knew it was going to look for the stone bee, and she felt a little worried. However, since the caracal had the talisman she had just drawn, it should be fine. Thinking of the talisman, Lin Xinghuo asked Wei Chunxing if he still had the amulet she had given him.
Wei Chunxing compared himself to his sister, and Wei Chunfeng hurriedly took out two small cloth bags from his trouser pockets: "Chunxing didn't have time to unpin the pins when he jumped into the vat. After he changed his clothes, I quietly put them away and stuffed them into his pocket together with mine." Her brother's condition was not very good at that time, so Wei Chunfeng gave him hers as well, hoping that the little fairy's talisman could bless him.
Lin Xinghuo looked at the two identical cloth bags, accurately took Wei Chunxing's from Wei Chunfeng's hand, untied the drawstring and poured out a handful of paper ashes.
"This..." Wei Chunfeng hurriedly opened her own and found that although the yellow talisman was still there, the color of the cinnabar had faded, as if it had been put away for many years.
Oh my god! Wei Chunfeng clenched the cloth bag tightly. She had only known that the little fairy was powerful, but she had never thought that she could really use Taoism! This talisman, oh my! Wei Chunfeng looked at her brother and then at her little girl, gritted her teeth and stuffed the talisman into her brother's arms.
Lin Xinghuo chuckled: "Sister Chunfeng, I'll give you a few more, and our little girl will get one too!" After the talisman master advanced, the amulets she drew now are more effective. If Wei Chunxing carried the talisman she drew now, his injury could be alleviated by at least half.
Now that Bushian Village has an ally or backer in the county, it no longer has to worry about the commune causing trouble or sending a propaganda team to "criticize capitalism" or "incite polarization among members." If it only stays in the village, there is no need to worry about Huang Fu being exposed and reported for practicing feudal superstition.
"Ding ding ding!" The sound of the bell at the entrance of the village came from afar. Wei Chunfeng stood on tiptoe, holding the gate of the courtyard: "What happened over there?" There are several customary ways of ringing the bell in the village. This sound was not among the important ones. She listened carefully again before turning back.
Just then, the little fox cubs came down the slope. The leading fox, the big one, was carrying a small basket the size of a palm. When Wei Chunfeng and her daughter saw it, their eyes lit up. They rushed over, helping to take the basket off the cubs and petting and praising them. In a flash, they forgot about their still-swollen brother/uncle and walked back to the side of the mountain.
Wei Chunxing moved his sausage-shaped mouth, and with only two slits left in his eyes, he tried his best to send pitiful thoughts to his sister and niece.
Lin Xinghuo paused, feeling the sting in his eyes, and at the same time, he heard the sound of an unfamiliar bicycle rapidly approaching the health station.
"Lin Xinghuo!" Chang Qing threw his bicycle to the ground and stumbled and crawled towards the gate of the health center.
Wei Chunfeng stepped forward to block the courtyard gate, stared at Chang Qing, and said in a deep voice: "Aren't you married to Fei Ping? Why are you here again?" She saw the drama of Fei Ping and Chang Qing first being affectionate and then falling out in the commune while hiding in the alley.
The Fei family's father and son were both quite interesting. The father insisted on Little Fairy marrying him, even risking his mother and wife to demand Huang Xian's help in capturing her. The son, on the other hand, arrogantly pestered her twice, only to be rejected and then, having married someone else, even took him to the commune to show off. If Little Fairy were just an ordinary farm girl, would she have been able to marry into a good family if her family treated her this way?
Chang Qing fell to his knees with a thud, shouting, "Lin Xinghuo, Lin Xiangu! Please save me!"
Seeing this, Wei Chunfeng pushed Nannan and the little foxes out of the door and said, "Go back to our home and ask the little foxes to accompany you." Nannan nodded obediently and ran back to her home excitedly following the big fox.
"Hey!" Huang Dazhuang, who was chasing after the old branch secretary on his back, shouted angrily, "Get out! We don't welcome you in our brigade!"
Damn it, it was Grandma Wei and the female educated youth Xiao Lanqin's turn to guard the village entrance today, and this Chang Qing rushed around and almost knocked down Grandma Wei who tried to stop her!
The old Party secretary patted Huang Dazhuang and said, "No matter how busy or important the spring plowing is, we have to dispatch the militia to stand guard at the village entrance." This incident made the old Party secretary want to build a sentry post at the village entrance. After the spring harvest, he would first make a "barricade" out of some wood and place it at the entrance of the village! Who would dare to rush in like this?
Chang Qing's hair was a mess, all over her face. Her trouser leg was torn, and the strips of cloth were covered in mud. She cried and said, "They're all dead! Fei Ping and his family, Fei Ping's sister's mistress! They're all dead!"
"The man his sister was having an affair with died of shortness of breath." Chang Qing rambled incoherently. "He had no strength, couldn't stand, and lost dozens of pounds in just one day—his bones were brittle! When we brought him back from the county, he got bumped and broke!"
"Fairy Lin, save me! I'm in this situation too!" Chang Qing cried.
"Today I found that the waistband of my pants was two fingers loose!" As she said this, she pulled open her jacket. Huang Dazhuang, who wanted to come up and grab her, had to turn his back.
Lin Xinghuo stood up, and Chang Qing was like he had grabbed a life-saving straw: "I have no strength either, really! It's like all my strength and vitality have been sucked away! Fei Ping's father worships Huang Xian. Did you drive Huang Xian away, and Huang Xian took revenge on his family?"
"Please, save me!"
"How are you weak? You can ride a rickshaw from the commune to our village, how can you say you don't have the strength?" Wei Chunfeng stopped Lin Xinghuo: "Alright, go away, we don't welcome you here!"
Chang Qing pulled out a large ginger-like object strung with cotton thread from his neck. It had messy tooth marks on it, and it was obviously gnawed. "Fei Ping's sister's lover, he will be healed after eating a ginseng root. I..."
Lin Xinghuo recognized it immediately as Polygonatum sibiricum, which, like ginseng, has the ability to replenish Qi. This was probably a new Tibetan medicine. Was Chang Qing relying on it to replenish Qi?
Her guess was correct. Fei Xinli had been a village doctor for many years and had accumulated a wealth of medicinal herbs. The inspectors had mistaken this piece of polygonatum for ginger and hadn't confiscated it. After all, Chang Qing had memorized the barefoot doctor manual and studied for six months, so she could distinguish these famous herbs. By chance, the polygonatum had become her life-saving medicine.
"Yellow Skin Man is dead." Lin Xinghuo said, "Yellow Skin Man died before the Fei family was arrested."
Chang Qing shivered non-stop and took another bite of Huang Jing. "I know, I actually know it's none of your business... But Lin Xinghuo, Fei Ping's uncle, his parents and their whole family are dead too. They died even earlier than Fei Ping!"
Lin Xinghuo was completely unaware of this. The countryside was isolated, so news from the commune spread quickly within the village, but news from the county town spread much more slowly. Ever since the Qu family was investigated, Lin Xinghuo knew they wouldn't have a good ending, but he hadn't expected the entire family to be wiped out—that was even less likely to be the actions of an ordinary person.
Lin Xinghuo asked her: "How did you know?"
"The whole family was put under guard." Chang Qing sat on the ground. "After the sudden death over there, someone came to question Fei Ping and me. What did I know? When they released them, they told me that the entire Qu family had died under guard, at the same time... I was terrified. I went home and insisted on divorcing Fei Ping. We kept arguing... Fei Ping, Fei Ping... everyone else in the Fei family died. I didn't dare to be alone, so I could only squat outside the commune office. As a result, in the afternoon, Fei Ping's sister's lover was carried in... In the middle of the night, a mule cart brought him back, dead too."
"The way the people in the commune looked at me... I knew I would be the next to die! I don't want to die. Save me, Lin Xinghuo!"
"They privately said that the Fei family was being pursued by Wong Tai Sin. Last night, someone was squatting outside watching when I would die." Chang Qing pulled her hair hard: "I know it wasn't Wong Tai Sin. The Qu family died first! Fei Ping and the others died after the Qu family died - the Qu family is even more weird! When I first got out and didn't know that the Qu family was extinct, I asked Fei Ping to go find his aunt. Didn't his aunt marry well? His uncle's family is a high-ranking official in the county! Fei Ping refused to go, and when we quarreled, Fei Ping said it was all his grandmother's fault! And his uncle's too! Some of the deadly things found in the house were hidden by his uncle's instructions to his father... Then we were... and we knew his uncle's family..."
"Oh, right! Before we got married, Fei Ping boasted to me that before the Spring Festival every year, his uncle's biological mother would invite their whole family to have a reunion dinner in the No. 1 compound in the county. The dishes were all very nourishing. His sister had a cold body and had nosebleeds several times because of the nourishment. He said that the official's wife only looked cold but was actually a nice person! Fei Ping said that if I married him, I would be able to attend the dinner!" Chang Qing shuddered: "Could it be, could it be that the meal was not right?" He was just envious at the time, but now he thinks it's strange. Why prepare so many nourishing dishes when inviting relatives to dinner?
But what about her relationship with Fei Ping's sister? Haven't they eaten it before?
Lin Xinghuo squatted, extending a finger to lightly place on Changqing's wrist. Spiritual energy flowed through her meridians, revealing signs of decline. Upon closer inspection, Changqing not only showed signs of being possessed by spiritual energy, but also a strange, foul aura emanating from her veins, infiltrating upward from the Xia Yuquan point three inches below her navel. This uncontrolled evil energy, now uncontrolled, had caused leaks in her veins, through which life force could escape. It wasn't too serious right now, perhaps due to the couple's recent marriage.
The swift and decisive death of the Qu and Fei families, thousands of miles away, didn't resemble the talisman used by Lin Xinghuo, but rather the legendary method used by monks to control their death guards or slaves. The master, holding the slave's voluntary blood, could summon life or death with a single thought. If the master died unexpectedly, the slave would be buried with him. The hidden member of the Jin family in the capital controlled the life and death of Qu's mother and her family, and Qu's mother, following suit, also controlled the Fei family.
But Qu's mother is an ordinary person, so she probably cannot directly control the essence and blood, but can control the vitality - for example, Chang Qing was taken away, the problem must be with Fei Ping, and it is very likely that Qu's mother used some means on the Fei family.
After the caracal fought against the stinky orchid and the yellow fox in succession, the inheritance was opened up a little more, and he talked a lot with Lin Xinghuo. Both of them lacked common sense of cultivators, but they broadened their horizons a lot.
Low-level cultivators could gather the vitality of mortals to cultivate. Ordinary people, if they could refine instruments and talismans that possessed these unholy techniques, could also use them to perform monastic techniques or prolong their lives. This led to the cruel ancient recipes for using fetuses to refine elixirs. Lin Xinghuo suspected that Qu's mother might have possessed some unholy artifact given to her by the capital. Fei Xinli and the others appeared normal while alive, but in reality, their bodies had long been permeated by that evil energy. Under Qu's mother's control, this element wouldn't have turned them into sieves. But once she died, the evil energy unleashed, and ordinary people couldn't withstand such a loss of vitality, making it impossible to recover.
This is probably why Qu's mother did not panic when she knew Fei Xinli was in trouble. She knew that Fei Xinli's life was in her hands. The only thing she did not expect was that Qu Xiangjin actually gave some of the deadly things to his brother-in-law and hid them. These things directly proved the death of Qu's stepfather and her. The man in the capital noticed the movement here and cut off the line of the Qu family without hesitation. Qu's mother died suddenly, and the Fei family naturally died soon. But
Chang Qing and the missing young man were naturally corrupted by evil spirits. Especially Fei Ping's sister's lover, I'm afraid they had been together for too long and had been drained of their energy. Fei Xiaomei had become his controller in disguise, and this is why one after another...
Although Chang Qing was not likable, Lin Xinghuo couldn't bear to see her die. Besides, cultivators believed in the law of cause and effect. Since Chang Qing came to him in time, she had won a chance of survival.
It's just an exorcism talisman, Lin Xinghuo can afford it. But -
"Sign a contract to guarantee that the secret will not be leaked in any way." Lin Xinghuo took out a scarecrow, took a hair and a drop of blood from Changqing and sealed it inside. The scarecrow stood up tremblingly, and in a trance, its facial features seemed a bit like Changqing.
Let Chang Qing sign a contract with him: "If you break the contract, the scarecrow will spontaneously combust and you will die."
Lin Xinghuo had no other choice. The caracal was too difficult to please, and the matter of the black fox skull was still fresh in its mind. To prevent the need to sign a contract with an ordinary person again, the caracal, after receiving the new inherited memory, first asked Lin Xinghuo to learn this substitution technique.
Using the scarecrow as the other party to the contract is essentially a pact between Changqing and her own alter ego (the scarecrow). This pact is even more demanding than a pact between two individuals: the person who knows you best is actually you. Even if you harbor even the slightest negative thought, the scarecrow will react, and Changqing will suffer excruciating pain. If she were to act, she would inevitably combust.
After Chang Qing signed the contract with a trembling voice, Lin Xinghuo slapped a talisman to exorcise evil spirits, burning away the evil spirits, and said, "Don't appear in front of me again in the future."
Chang Qing felt lighter all over and nodded quickly like a chick pecking at rice.
But before she could be happy, a vague thought flashed through her mind, and then her heart suddenly skipped a beat. The scarecrow on the table rolled over twice, messing up one of the straws.
Lin Xinghuo looked over with a clear gaze and suddenly smiled.
Chang Qing's face suddenly turned pale and he looked at the scarecrow in disbelief.
"Ah!" She suddenly clutched her chest, and her whole body arched like a cooked shrimp.
Huang Dazhuang was startled and asked kindly, "What's wrong with you?"
The old Party Secretary said nothing. Wei Chunfeng sneered, "I'm afraid he has some evil intentions."
The scarecrow rolled and struggled, and finally stopped trembling after a straw fell off.
Lin Xinghuo glanced at the scarecrow and reminded Chang Qing: "Once the scarecrow is completely gone, the people will also die."
Chang Qing suddenly seemed to understand something and said hoarsely: "If you tear it down and burn it, I..."
Lin Xinghuo nodded, put the scarecrow in a cloth bag, and placed it in a box. With a wave of his hand, the wooden box disappeared. "So don't show up again. If you don't remind me, I won't think about it much."
"Okay, okay!" Chang Qing looked at Lin Xinghuo again as if he had seen a ghost, and immediately left the place as if he was escaping.
After Chang Qing left, the old branch secretary and his four companions were still in the yard. The old branch secretary lit a pipe of dry tobacco, and no one knew what he was thinking about.
Huang Dazhuang helped Wei Chunxing change his position and squatted beside the recliner waiting for everyone to talk.
Lin Xinghuo seemed to sense something and was about to speak when Wei Chunfeng spoke first, "We know too much. How about we sign a contract too?"
The more she thought about it, the better it felt. "This will remind us not to say anything we shouldn't."
The old Party Secretary tapped his pipe and nodded, as if he had made up his mind. "Chunfeng is right! We don't have bad intentions, but we never know what might happen and reveal secrets we shouldn't. It's better to sign a contract to put things at ease."
In fact, the old Party Secretary had this idea after the Spring Sowing Group signed the contract that day, but he was too preoccupied to make up his mind. However, Lin Xinghuo's abilities were growing, and they knew too much. If they couldn't keep it secret, it would be a disaster for everyone, and even put the entire village in danger.
Wei Chunxing and Huang Dazhuang nodded, and Wei Chunxing even gave his sister a thumbs up with difficulty.
"The world is so vast!" the old Party Secretary said, "Girl, there might be someone as capable as you somewhere else. But we can't use your character to judge them. You might not covet other people's things, but they might be jealous of your abilities! Tell me, when it comes to someone like that, is it better to know nothing about them, or to know your abilities? Sometimes, what's a constraint can also be a protection!"
Having said that, Lin Xinghuo had no choice but to take out a contract talisman, but this time she first gave each person a concentration talisman superimposed on the evil-dispelling talisman. This was an unexpected effect she had discovered through trial and error. When these two talismans were activated together, there was a certain chance that a protective shield would be superimposed on the purple palace...
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Author's Note: Great chapter! Little angels have been waiting for a long time~
Octopus is asking for comments online~ Thank you little angels~
Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or provided nutrient solution between 2023-11-08 19:30:00 and 2023-11-13 23:30:00~
Thanks to the little angel who cast the mine: Gudong is coming! 1;
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: Cat Star Special Observer 55 bottles; Bad Guy, Cat Group, Shanyangxiezi 30 bottles; Little Yellow Duck 007 22 bottles; In a Dream, Thank My Dad 70000, Lanlan, Just Want to Be a Salted Fish, ╰_╯, Xiaohei Come Over 20 bottles; Ah Xian 11 bottles; Moon, Early Morning, Gudong is Here! , This Flower Has No Name, Yueyueing, Linmulin, Color Suo, The Wind is Coming, Calm Little Watermelon, Love Farming and Love Eating Meat 10 bottles; A Pineapple Cake 6 bottles; Xia Xia, Fox Ah Fox, 45304078, Snow Branch, In the Old Times, Did the Big Brother Add More Updates Today 5 bottles; A Cup of Lemon Black Tea 4 bottles; Dangdang's Ghost Painting, Yue Beibei 3 bottles; Mushroom Riding a White Horse, Momo, Orange from the Orange Family, Slowpoke Beast, Fence Man, Coriander is Delicious, Day Day Up, Unsmiling Cat x 2 bottles; Wei Zi, 45678, Smile Every Day, Emily, D, Smell the Fragrance DAYTOY, Nanchen Rufeng, Counting the Cold Stars, Pen Tip Flowing with Elegance, Xiaofan, Latte with Milk, Congratulations on Your Paper Being Accepted, Hanting, Mo Yi, Energetic Girl Guo Degang, Grass and Tree Essence, Ji Mu, 42757860, Yisha, Audrey, Zixia, Lin Huahua, Yiyi, Xiaoshan Liuying 1 bottle;
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