The area around the square well was covered with messy footprints, which were obviously left by people who discovered it and were salvaging it. The footprints were scattered all over the place, two or three meters away.
The old patriarch was supported by someone and walked such a distance. When he arrived, he was gasping for breath.
It took a while before he caught his breath. Looking at the messy footprints everywhere, the old patriarch's expression suddenly became gloomy again.
He said angrily, "What's wrong with you? Why are there footprints everywhere?!"
Hua Tingjing glanced at the old patriarch anxiously, and said with a stammer, "When rescuing people, it's inevitable that some will be left behind..."
The snow is so deep, how could there not be footprints?
The old patriarch sighed in anger, glared at Hua Tingjing, and was helped by someone to walk around the square well.
When Hua Shi saw someone in the crowd, he couldn't help but look around, trying to find any suspicious traces around.
It’s a pity that the scene was destroyed too thoroughly. It’s very difficult to find any suspicious traces at the first scene of the destruction.
She looked around for a long time but couldn't find anything wrong.
Aside from a pair of footprints in the snow, left by someone unknown, the area around the square well was completely empty, with nothing visible, let alone any obvious traces...
That's not right. The edge of the well is covered with green moss and broken snow. If Hua Ciyuan accidentally falls, he will fall in.
Human instinct would drive him to grab the edge of the well and struggle desperately to climb up.
But apart from the traces left by the salvage operation, there were no signs of hand grabbing at the wellhead...
While Hua Shi was frowning in a daze, the old patriarch had already walked around twice and found nothing worth noting. The old patriarch's expression changed from cautious to a disappointed sigh.
"Alright, alright, everyone, disperse. The two of you carry the person from the ancestral hall back to his home. Don't leave him in the ancestral hall anymore."
The old patriarch waved his hand and gave instructions to those standing nearby. At this moment, after checking, it seemed that no trace was found, and his expression clearly showed that he had given up.
There were no suspicious traces found, and no one witnessed the fall into the water. Only a body was hastily found, and there was no way to know the cause. We could only regard this as an accident...
A good scholar was just... drowned in less than a day. It's hard not to think too much.
When the old patriarch heard that a young man from his clan had passed the imperial examination, before the news spread, he immediately heard that the man had drowned in a well.
His first reaction was to come over and see if he could be revived. When he saw that he was dead, he was angry at first, and then immediately wondered if he had been murdered...
After checking the Sifang Well, he found no trace and no one had seen it. As far as he knew, Hua Ciyuan stayed at home reading books all year round and seldom went out, so he had almost no friends. This could also indirectly rule out the possibility that someone he knew was jealous of him and secretly murdered him.
In the end, the conclusion was that he fell into the water and drowned...
Li, who was dragged here by force, sat on the snow in a daze. It was not until she heard the old patriarch's last words that she vaguely reacted.
"No! Chief! Wuuwuwu... You have to take charge of this for me! My son must have been murdered! He can float, he's a good swimmer, how could he have drowned! And, and how could he have come to such a remote place and fallen in and drowned? Someone must have tricked him into coming here and pushed him in, and that's why he drowned...!... Wuuwuwu..."
Li shook her head tremblingly, crawled over on her knees, grabbed the old patriarch's trouser leg with one hand, and tears suddenly welled up in her eyes again.
The old patriarch brought a large group of people to check it out. He must have suspected that someone had murdered him, otherwise he would not have come here!
Li still couldn't believe that her son, who had passed the imperial examination and had such a promising future, was gone just like that...
Even she didn't know if it was a deliberate murder, but she was like a possessed person, thinking that someone was jealous of her, so after knowing that her son had passed the imperial examination, they couldn't bear to see her doing well, so they deliberately pushed him down and drowned him...
The old patriarch kicked Li's bound hands and feet hard, but he was old and his bones were stiff, so he tried hard for a long time but failed to kick Li away.
He roared at Li in rage, "Li Lianxin, what are you doing?! Let go!"
Li shook her head desperately, grabbed the old patriarch's legs, and cried for him to make the decision for her.
"Are you all dead?! Hurry up and drag them away! Cough cough cough!"
The old patriarch was really furious this time. After yelling a few words, he started coughing loudly.
Li was dragged away forcibly again. This time she struggled even harder, shaking her head and waving her hands frantically, kicking her legs everywhere. Her black hair mixed with white was spread out in a mess, and her face was covered with tears and snot.
An old lady over fifty years old, like a child, broke down and cried and made a fuss.
The old patriarch was so upset that his head popped out. Seeing that Li refused to give up, the old patriarch cared about his reputation and couldn't just wave goodbye and leave in front of everyone.
He stamped his cane, suppressed his anger, and asked in a deep voice, "So what do you want to do? You say he was murdered? Where's the evidence? There's no evidence, and you're just talking nonsense. If you say it's true, then just say it. I'd rather let you have the final say in this village!"
Li, who was sitting on the ground like a spoiled child, wiped the tears from her face and stared at the old patriarch with her dark eyes, which were filled with unconcealable resentment.
The old patriarch frowned, his impatience reaching its peak. "You said there was some kind of murder plot? Then tell me, your son never leaves the house except during busy farming season, when he goes out to help out. Who else does he know? Everyone in the village knows each other. Who would kill him for no reason?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Li's dark eyes suddenly widened and she looked ahead with a stiff expression.
I don't know what he was thinking about, but after a while, he suddenly looked enlightened...
Everyone saw Li pat his head, cover his face with his hands, and let out a strange and eerie laugh.
“Hahaha… I get it! I get it!!”
The sound of her laughter was so creepy that it made people's hair stand on end.
Shouting loudly, I know what...
The onlookers looked at each other in confusion, and some even wondered if she had been devastated and gone crazy.
In the crowd, Hua Shi frowned slightly, watching Li crying and making a fuss for a while, and then suddenly burst into laughter like crazy, and her heart, which had been hanging in the air, began to drop a little bit.
There's something very wrong with Li's crazy look...
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