Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Bloody Wedding (8)
The leaves twirled in the wind and drifted down in scattered pieces.
Lu Cen didn't mention his lover, afraid of touching on his sore spot, and instead asked evasively, "Were you born with a weak constitution?"
Su Lian nodded and said, "That's right, so I've never traveled far from home. The only time was when I went to take the prefectural exam, but I fell seriously ill before the exam and had to give up. On the way back, I was robbed by bandits. They are ruthless; they not only rob people of their belongings but also kill them all. I thought my life would be like this forever..."
Lu Cen's curiosity was piqued: "And then?"
"I don't know either. I was unconscious at the time, and I still don't know how he saved me. I only know that when I woke up, there were only the two of us alive."
Lu Cen felt something was off, but it wasn't uncommon for girls to know martial arts. He guessed, "She might be a trained fighter who knows some legwork."
Su Lian smiled and said, "No, he's just thin and weak, and can't even kill a chicken."
Lu Cen was surprised: How did you manage to save the person?
Suddenly, a maid rushed in: "Master, the wife of our cousin, Master Su, is dying. He has sent someone to invite you to take charge of the situation."
Startled, Su Lian stood up, swaying slightly. Lu Cen quickly reached out to support him, saying urgently, "I'll go with you."
The group rushed over and found white banners already hung in the main room. A cold wind blew, chilling them to the bone. In the center was a black coffin, flanked by wreaths. A young man was kneeling before a brazier burning paper money. When he saw Su Lian approaching, he grabbed his leg and cried out, "Brother, Yue'er is gone!"
For a moment, only the sound of sorrowful cries could be heard.
Su Lian lowered her eyes: "How could it be so sudden? She was still here just a few days ago..."
He closed his eyes briefly: "That's enough, let's prepare for the worst."
Su Lian took a few steps forward, and Lu Cen helped him up, forcing him to step forward. Caught off guard, he saw a woman dressed in a funeral shroud with a pale face.
He was so frightened that he immediately closed his eyes, feeling a chill as if fine hairs were clinging to his body.
Su Lian felt a sharp pain in her arm and looked at Lu Cen. The latter's eyelashes trembled, and he looked frightened. Su Lian knew that he had never seen such a scene before and must be terrified.
He had someone lead Cen down.
Lu Cen felt a little better when he stood in the courtyard.
As her heartbeat returned to calm, more and more people came to pay their respects. Not wanting to block anyone's way, Lu Cen decided to go back to the Su residence first. As soon as she stepped out, she bumped into Chen Ning.
"What are you doing here?" Lu Cen asked curiously. "Didn't you go to Master Su's courtyard?"
“The monkey is over there,” Chen Ning said. “I heard someone died here, so I came to check it out.”
Lu Cen shuddered: "What's so interesting about a dead person?"
"You saw it?" Chen Ning asked.
"Um."
"How did he die?"
Lu Cen asked blankly, "Didn't he die of illness? That's what everyone says."
Chen Ning's expression was serious: "In a small town, someone dies of illness every now and then, and they're all women. Don't you find that strange?"
"A woman dies of illness every now and then?"
Chen Ning: "Yes, funerals are held in this town from time to time. Strangely, all the dead are women, and they are all very young."
Su Li had previously lost two wives and remarried, and now Seventh Master Su has also lost a wife.
Lu Cen pondered: "You suspect there's something wrong here?"
“There’s a big problem. I heard that she’s being buried tomorrow morning. I’ll see if I can find a chance to see her body and find out the cause of her death.”
The next day, before dawn, the townspeople carried the coffin in one direction.
Everyone carried a torch, and the only sound in the deathly silence was the sound of their footsteps. A young man said, "Why is this coffin so heavy?"
"Shh! Are you out of your mind?!" someone shouted.
Besides the coffin bearers, the funeral procession included several people carrying paper money and wreaths.
They walked for an unknown amount of time before leaving the town, crossing a low-lying area, and then climbing the mountain. The path up the mountain was difficult, with tall, dense trees that were eerie and frightening. Lu Cen and the other two followed at a distance, their ears filled only with the heavy breathing of the other two.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, Lu Cen's legs were aching before the people in front of her finally stopped.
The townspeople carried the black coffin into a narrow passage. The space inside was large and barren, with no trees on all sides. What made Lu Cen's hair stand on end was that there were small mounds of earth standing one after another, some clean and tidy, others overgrown with weeds, so dense that they could not be seen from beginning to end.
I wonder how many people are buried here.
Lu Cen felt a chill run down his spine as he watched them place the coffin into the pre-dug pit. The group then picked up shovels and dug for almost an hour before finally covering the coffin.
A brand new, small mound of earth appeared.
After they left, the three of them, worried about their return journey, made a special detour to watch them descend the mountain before they felt at ease. The three of them surrounded the mound, and Yang Xing asked, "What do you mean?"
"Dig."
Lu Cen: "Are you really digging?"
"How can we know the cause of death if we don't dig?" Chen Ning said without changing his expression. He took the shovel that the group of people had just used, plunged it into the ground, and even stomped on it with his foot to make the shovel dig deeper. His movements were very professional.
He and Yang acted quickly, and in no time, a corner of the black coffin was revealed.
In the desolate mountains and forests, only their heavy breathing could be heard. Yang Xing lay lifeless on the ground beside them, while Chen Ning was pulling out coffin nails.
The coffin lid was pushed open, revealing the scene inside.
Lu Cen stood silently to the side, vaguely seeing that the corpse inside was dressed in dark burial clothes. Chen Ning jumped into the pit and carefully examined the corpse, occasionally turning it over.
"Do you see something on her lips?"
"It looks like some kind of residue; the lips are a bit purple, can you see?"
"Your nails are also a bit purplish, look."
"She must have died of poisoning."
"How could she have been poisoned out of the blue? Who gave her the poison?"
"Dig up the graves next to it too."
The monkey shuddered: "Forget it. I can tolerate a fresh corpse, but who knows how many years old a grave has been? Let's just forget about it."
Chen Ning only uttered one word: "Dig."
The monkey was defeated.
Before noon, the second pile of graves was revealed, and over time, a small part of the coffins had rotted away.
Pushing open the coffin lid, an indescribable odor instantly swept through the graveyard. Lu Cen ran away in a few steps, bent over, and dry heaved.
The monkey couldn't hold it in and vomited.
Chen Ning remained expressionless, carefully examined the coffin once, and then called the monkey back to close it.
"Let's go back."
Lu Cen's face turned deathly pale: "Did you find something?"
“The bones are black, so they must have been poisoned. I just don’t know if the other graves are all like that.” Chen Ning pondered for a moment and said, “There’s not enough time. I’ll come back tomorrow to check on the other graves.”
Lu Cen and the monkey exchanged a glance but neither spoke.
When we returned to the town, the sun was already setting. The town was bustling with activity, everyone was smiling, and there was laughter and chatter, as if some great joy had happened.
Lu Cen was puzzled and stopped someone to ask, "Is there some happy occasion in town?"
"Seventh Master Su is getting married tomorrow, isn't that a joyous occasion?"
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