Chapter 333
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I knocked on the door of the courtyard, and it was Zhengxing who opened it. He was rubbing his eyes and looked like he had not woken up yet. He was a little surprised when he saw Lin Qingyang.
"What's wrong? Did something happen?"
Lin Qingyang's eyes narrowed slightly, and he asked with a smile, "Why do you ask?"
"Uh..." The little Taoist boy was also stunned. He said blankly, "No one usually comes to see me for a long time..."
Lin Qingyang's eyes flashed: "Sorry to bother you."
“It’s okay…” The little Taoist boy waved his hands repeatedly: “Actually, there’s nothing wrong with me keeping watch at night… The village is very safe.”
He brought Lin Qingyang to the living room and made tea for him. After drinking a cup of tea, he finally looked much more sober.
Lin Qingyang held the teacup and pondered for a moment before slowly speaking, "I came here this time because I have something I want to ask you."
"Oh? Go ahead and ask." The little Taoist boy said nonchalantly.
Lin Qingyang began to ask the villagers about their situation indirectly. He was very concerned about Aunt Zhang's change and wanted to find out what was going on.
The little Taoist boy didn't hide anything and basically told everything he knew.
But as he listened, Lin Qingyang noticed something strange.
The little Taoist boy clearly said that he and his master came to the village to exorcise demons at the invitation of the village chief, which meant that they had not been in the village for long. However, the little Taoist boy seemed to know every place in the village very well, as if... he had lived there for a long time.
He was on guard and suddenly interrupted Zhengxing: "Where is your master?"
Zheng Xing was dazed for a moment, then as if remembering something, he said, "Oh, right, Master said he's going to perform a ritual and appear. He's in seclusion in the backyard."
Lin Qingyang's eyes moved, "Can I go visit the master?"
Zheng Xing scratched his head in annoyance. "I'm sorry, Master doesn't want to be disturbed during his retreat."
"I understand." Lin Qingyang said with a smile, and then said goodbye to Zhengxing.
After walking out of the courtyard, he pondered the strangeness of this place. The whole village seemed peaceful, but there was always a strange atmosphere.
He didn't interact much with the villagers, and the few personalities he did meet were very welcoming.
Being enthusiastic is a good thing, but Lin Qingyang knows better that in a small village like this one, which is almost completely enclosed in the mountains, closedness and conservatism are the mainstream. It is normal for them to be wary of strangers. Such enthusiasm is abnormal.
Of course, it is not ruled out that the people in this small mountain village are so hospitable, but Lin Qingyang has never hesitated to speculate on human nature with the worst malice, so the enthusiasm of the villagers will instead arouse his vigilance.
As he was walking, Lin Qingyang suddenly felt something was wrong.
The courtyard of a village chief's house in a mountain village, no matter how big it is, is limited. He has been walking for nearly a quarter of an hour. It didn't take him that much time to come here.
He raised his head and saw that the surrounding scenery was just like an ordinary farmyard. Under the high wall was a small vegetable patch where seasonal vegetables grew. Although it was only early spring, these vegetables were growing very vigorously with lush green leaves, which was a far cry from the green vegetables that had just sprouted in Aunt Zhang's house.
Lin Qingyang paused, then suddenly turned around and walked to the vegetable patch. He grabbed a hoe placed at the corner of the wall and dug hard at the roots of the vegetables.
After a few consecutive hoeings, the green plants were knocked down, revealing the complex root system underneath.
Looking at the thing entangled in the roots, Lin Qingyang had a blank expression on his face: "Ah, I'm really not surprised at all..."
Wrapped in thin roots is a human head, which has not completely decayed and the blurry face can still be seen.
Maybe it was a coincidence or something else. If it was someone else, Lin Qingyang might not have recognized him. But the half of the face that was left was surprisingly similar to Zhang Hai. Combined with what Aunt Zhang said about the two sons who went out to work, it was not difficult to guess who was lying underneath.
He changed the spot and dug a few more times, and found that the entire ground under the vegetable patch was almost entirely filled with corpses.
Most of these corpses had just begun to rot, obviously they had been buried not long ago. What surprised Lin Qingyang the most was probably that he saw a familiar face among the corpses.
The old man's facial skin was still relatively intact, so it was not difficult to see the expression of fear frozen on his face.
I don’t know what he saw before he died that could scare people so much.
Perhaps he saw the snake-necked human head of his wife?
Lin Qingyang was guessing in his heart.
"Hey! What are you doing!" A cute voice came from behind.
Lin Qingyang slowly turned around and saw a girl in a yellow skirt running towards him aggressively.
The girl was very cute. She was originally filled with anger, but it disappeared completely after seeing Lin Qingyang's face.
Even the running posture has become elegant.
Lin Qingyang: ...
"You...why are you like this? Why did you ruin other people's vegetables?" The girl came to Lin Qingyang and gently stroked his hair. Although her words were clearly accusations, she said them as if she was acting coquettishly.
Lin Qingyang looked back and saw that all the corpses he had turned out had disappeared, leaving only a large area of damaged vegetables on the ground.
His expression was calm as he turned to look at the girl: "I'm sorry, I'm willing to compensate you."
“No need…” The girl looked very shy as she faced Lin Qingyang: “It’s just some food. Anyway, don’t waste it next time.”
Lin Qingyang smiled faintly: "Okay."
The girl pinched the hem of her skirt nervously, but still bravely asked, "Who are you and why are you in our house?"
"I'm just a traveler passing through, temporarily staying at Aunt Zhang's house."
"Oh..." The girl seemed a little disappointed: "Are you here to look for someone?"
"I'm here to visit Master Zhengxing."
"Oh..." The girl seemed to not know how to respond and looked unhappy.
Lin Qingyang's heart moved and he asked, "Are you from the village chief's family..."
"The village chief is my father," the girl said with a smile. "How long...will you stay here?"
Lin Qingyang didn't know how long he would stay here, so he could only vaguely say, "Probably two more days."
"Oh..." The girl gently stroked a strand of her long hair, "Actually... our village is pretty good. It's so chaotic outside right now, and our village is the safest."
"Qinghe! Who are you talking to?" a man's voice came.
A strange expression suddenly appeared on the girl's face, a complex expression mixed with contempt and disgust.
"Second Uncle..." Qing He suppressed her impatience and said to the middle-aged man who was walking towards her.
The middle-aged man, Qinghe's second uncle, was the man who had led Lin Qingyang before.
"It's you. You haven't left yet?" Qinghe's second uncle seemed a little surprised when he saw Lin Qingyang.
"Second Uncle! How can you talk like that!" Qinghe stomped her feet unhappily.
"I chatted with Taoist Priest Zhengxing for a few more words." Lin Qingyang smiled faintly.
"Well, let me tell you, those two are really liars." The middle-aged man seemed to want to say something, but was interrupted impatiently by Qinghe.
"Okay, second uncle, please say less. Those two were invited back by my father." Qinghe seemed very unhappy.
"Okay, okay, really, I don't know what big brother is thinking. Why did he bring these two people back...it's a waste of money." The middle-aged man muttered in a low voice.
"You two, I have to go too. Goodbye." Lin Qingyang observed the interaction between Qinghe and her second uncle for a while, and some ideas came to his mind.
"Ah? You're leaving now?" Qinghe asked in surprise.
The second uncle seemed to realize something and rolled his eyes secretly: "Okay, okay, come, I'll take you out." He quickly interrupted the conversation between the two, forced his way in between them, and blocked their sight.
"Second Uncle!" Qing He stomped her feet angrily.
Unfortunately, the middle-aged man was very persistent and sent Lin Qingyang out directly.
Lin Qingyang left without hesitation, but he still had great doubts about the village chief's family.
After all, it was he who invited Master Zhengxing and his apprentice back, and it was he who suggested the existence of a female ghost. These strange things happening in the village must be related to him.
After he left the gate of the village chief's house, he looked back at the high courtyard wall and felt that it was covered by a dark cloud, which was extremely ominous.
After leaving the village chief's house, Lin Qingyang realized that the people who were truly familiar with the village must be the villagers.
Relying on his good looks, he captured all the men, women, young and old in the village who were not working and asked them about the news in the village one by one.
He walked all the way from the east end of the village to the west end. Perhaps being good-looking really would get him preferential treatment. Although many people met him for the first time, they all told him a lot of secret information.
Lin Qingyang heard a lot of gossip and garbage, including news that Zhang Er's wife was having an affair with Li San and that the second son of the Huang family might not be his own. However, what he heard the most was the "scandal" of the village chief's family.
It's called a scandal, but it feels more like a rumor.
The protagonists of the rumor are a man and a woman. In this closed mountain village, only this matter between men and women can become a persistent hot topic.
The man and woman were the village chief's daughter-in-law and younger brother respectively. The villagers who spread this scandal all swore that it was true, as if they had peeked at the affair between the two through the cracks in the wall.
However, in fact, Lin Qingyang did not hear any evidence from the news they said.
In other words, this piece of gossip that spread throughout the village always starts with "I heard", "Did you know", "So-and-so told me", etc.
Lin Qingyang felt very strange. If there really was an affair between the two, given their identities, how could they let the whole village know about it?
On the other hand, if the entire village knew about this, how could there be no evidence?
It's as if someone has put the blame directly on these two people.
Moreover, the ultimate victim of this incident was actually the daughter-in-law. Even though the rumor had no basis, the woman who had married from afar still suffered a lot and even dared not show her face in the village.
The villagers also said that it was because the village chief’s son had good character that he did not divorce his wife. The woman should have committed suicide by jumping into the river long ago after doing such a thing.
Lin Qingyang listened to a lot of rumors and returned to Aunt Zhang's house while thinking about the connections between them.
Aunt Zhang and her husband Uncle Zhang had already returned and were cooking. Their youngest son Zhang Hai was chopping wood in the yard, while Cheng Hui was helping them dive.
Lin Qingyang walked into the yard, greeted everyone, and then observed Uncle Zhang unnoticeably.
He had seen Uncle Zhang’s body in the yard of the village chief’s house before, but there was nothing abnormal about Uncle Zhang in front of him.
In order to prevent his observation from being discovered by others, Lin Qingyang smiled and pretended nothing had happened. He had dinner with everyone, and then returned to the woodshed with Cheng Hui.
They did not sleep. They both sat on the bed at the same time, staring at the only window of the woodshed.
They wanted to know whether the snake-necked human head would appear again today!
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