Chapter 50: White Bone Hairpin 5 Sushan
The person who spoke was the traveling merchant whom I had seen in the inn last night.
Xun Shu was about to explain when Li Xuanhe, standing beside him, spoke first, his smile full of doting. "Excuse me for making you laugh. My sister had poor health when she was young, so she was sent to a traveling master. After a few years of nursing her, she unexpectedly entered the Taoist sect. After she recovered and was brought back home, she would often tell fortunes for those around her, or go to the market to find someone with whom she had a connection." He looked helpless. "This is certainly not what a lady from a wealthy family would do, but my sister left home alone due to illness when she was young. My parents felt sorry for her and felt that as long as she was happy and safe, she could do whatever she wanted, so they let her do it."
Li Xuanhe's expression was gentle, like a loving brother. Xun Shu watched in amazement, secretly admiring the man's ability to speak freely, but he remained smiling and playing along.
Since his brothers had no objections, it was natural for the others to say nothing more. After a few pleasantries, they were about to move on from the matter when a hoarse, sneering voice suddenly rang out from the side: "She's just a useless little girl, unhappy and unhappy. What's the point? She'd be better off getting married soon and carrying on the family line. Only then would she be of some use."
Xun Shu frowned at this and turned to look. He saw a middle-aged man with graying hair, hunched over, his face etched with sarcasm. He glanced at the sullen Wei Sheng and sneered, "And you? Li Zheng Cai is doing this for your own good. You've delayed so many young girls and ruined Ningxi. You'll get your comeuppance!"
Wei Sheng had obviously known him for a long time. He raised his chin, his eyes full of disdain: "I didn't know that I could destroy the entire Ningxi with my own strength. Could it be that the other people in Ningxi are useless trash? A hundred people gathered together, but they can't defeat me alone?"
"What nonsense are you talking about!" The man pointed at Wei Sheng and shouted angrily, his voice becoming hoarse.
Wei Sheng brushed his fingers away, his eyes sharp, the sarcasm on his lips even stronger than the man opposite him: "No matter what I do, I'm much more useful than a loser like you who only knows how to bully women and children, right?" He took out a fine silk handkerchief, wiped the hand that had touched his fingers, and threw it at his feet with disgust, "You are not afraid of retribution, so why should I be afraid?" After saying this, he ignored the man and turned to look at Xun Shu. His expression was normal and he smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Fairy. The village is isolated from the world, and there are many frogs in the well, croaking day and night, which is annoying. Fairy, if you encounter them again, don't pay attention to them. Don't let these dirty things ruin your mood."
Xun Shu was stunned. She wanted to thank Wei Sheng for speaking up for her, but before she could open her mouth, Li Xuanhe pulled her aside. He shielded Xun Shu from view and said with a smile, "Thank you, Brother Wei. If I have the chance, I'll come to thank you someday."
After saying this, without waiting for Wei Sheng to react, he grabbed Xun Shu's forearm and walked through the crowd. After a while, he left the gap and returned to the fields outside the village.
Except for the village chief, Donglizheng and several villagers who were still discussing how to transport the corpse back in the gap in the sky, the rest of the onlookers gradually dispersed after arriving here, each busy with their own things, and disappeared in a short while.
The fields were vast and shaded by green trees. The depressed mood was gradually relieved by the blue sky, white clouds and the mountain breeze. The fluctuations in Li Xuanhe's heart gradually subsided. Only then did he realize that his previous behavior was quite childish.
Like a child protecting his beloved thing, he doesn't want others to see it even once, and doesn't want to share it with others in the slightest.
He let go of Xun Shu's arm and awkwardly rubbed the embroidery on his sleeve. He was just trying to cover up his childish behavior when he suddenly realized that the person next to him didn't pay attention to these small details at all. She looked around like a vigilant little animal. Seeing that there was no one around, she tilted her head in his direction and whispered, "I think that person's death is a bit strange."
Xun Shu's hair brushed against Li Xuanhe's nose, tickling him and tingling with a strange sweet fragrance. The strands seemed to possess a strange power, capable of penetrating his skin, sweeping across his heart, tingling and numbing, his heart instantly collapsing into ruins. Li Xuanhe paused for a moment, barely stabilizing his composure. His words were still a bit erratic, a bit perfunctory: "Oh? What do you think, Ah Shu?"
Xun Shu counted on his fingers and said seriously, "That piece of shredded cloth was torn from the deceased's clothes on his back and was hanging at the top of the mountain. This means that when he fell off the cliff, he was facing the gap in the sky, with his back facing the mountain wall. According to the village chief, he fell to his death, so how could he be facing the gap in the sky? If he was forced to the edge of the cliff by a beast and jumped off on his own initiative, he would have leaped forward, and the distance between his back and the mountain wall would have increased, making it impossible for him to collide with the mountain wall."
Li Xuanhe's thoughts finally returned to the case, and he nodded in agreement. "That's right. If someone stumbles and falls, they might hit the cliff face, but the impact is usually head-on or sideways. The deceased looked like someone lacking the strength to push the unconscious body down the cliff, causing their back to hit the rocks." He turned and glanced at the towering cliff face beside the sky-high gap, sighing, "Guess we should finally go to the top of that mountain and take a look."
Xun Shu glanced at him and said slowly, "You are just a tea merchant now. Even if you find out that this case is not an accident, what can you do?"
Li Xuanhe wasn't worried about this. "People from the Dali Temple are supposed to get to the bottom of any mystery. We've only been trapped here for a few days, using fake identities. It won't last forever. Once we leave this place and enter Shannan Road, there will be reinforcements waiting. We can then bring people back and put a final stop to this case."
The speaker may not have meant it, but the listener took it seriously. Xun Shu unconsciously recalled Li Xuanhe's identity as a shop assistant in the coffin shop, and her heart was filled with anxiety. She didn't want to talk about it anymore, so she turned to ask, "If a murder occurred here, wouldn't the prefecture and county send a county lieutenant to investigate? This place has a lot of confusion about ownership. Although taxes go to the national treasury, wouldn't a murder case also require His Majesty to send someone to investigate?"
Chi Xiao explained, "If you are asking about this case, it should be under the jurisdiction of Jiangnan Province."
"Why is that?"
"The confusion over ownership in the village stems from the fact that the people of Ningxi migrated here from Jiangnan Province, while the ancestors of Ningdong originated from Shannan Province. They originally belonged to two separate countries and lived together to escape war. Therefore, while the village head is now a highly respected individual, the actual headmen are one each from Ningdong and Ningxi. If a case occurs involving Ningxi, the head of the western head will report to Pingpu County, the closest county in Jiangnan Province, and the county lieutenant there will bring troops to investigate. Otherwise, they will go to Shannan Province to seek help. Now that the head of the western head has died, Jiangnan Province naturally holds the responsibility."
"It doesn't necessarily mean it's Jiangnan Dao." Li Xuanhe said meaningfully, "The body is unrecognizable, and its distinctive features are destroyed. If the previous inference is correct, this person was murdered, then the destruction of the body could be a deliberate attempt by the murderer to confuse the enemy."
There were so many doubts that Xun Shu's mind was in a tangle of thoughts, unable to make sense of them. Her brows furrowed in knots as she muttered softly, "If the deceased wasn't Xili Zheng, then who could it be? Who was that person I saw leaving the city this morning?"
"Wait until the people in the sky gap leave, and find a chance to go to the top of the mountain and take a look. Maybe you can find the answer."
"That's all we can do."
Xun Shu had left the inn early in the morning, having walked all this way on an empty stomach. She was now ravenous. Looking at the Qingtang Teahouse in the village, she suggested, "I've heard that every region has different cuisines. Some places prefer spicy food, and their cuisine often features that flavor; others prefer sweetness, even adding sugar to their dishes. I wonder what Ningyuan Village's specialties are...why don't we go try them together?"
Xun Shu spoke, and Li Xuanhe naturally agreed. The four of them re-entered the village from the south entrance, walking north all the way to the market in the center of the village. Seeing the dazzling array of shops around them, they unconsciously slowed down their pace.
Although the Ningyuan Village market wasn't as large as the one in Chaozhou County, it had everything you needed, from food and clothing to housing, entertainment, and recreation. Xun Shu walked around, stopping and buying things to try when he came across something delicious, and holding onto the leftovers, finding it quite fascinating.
Tired from walking, the two of them went into a nearby restaurant to rest. The waiter brought two bowls of Sushan to the table. Li Xuanhe pushed one of them in front of Xun Shu and said, "This is the most refreshing thing to eat in the hot summer. Come and try it."
Xun Shu looked at the bowl of Sushan covered with peach-colored honey, pursed his lips, and said softly: "I have eaten Sushan before."
Li Xuanhe was stunned and asked, "What?"
Xun Shu's fingertips lightly touched the porcelain bowl. The coolness that seeped through the dishes numbed her fingertips, but it gradually made the memory clearer: "I was young at that time. Once, I accompanied Uncle Jiang to deliver a coffin to a wealthy merchant's house. I saw the young men and women in his family, each holding a Su Shan, eating in the pavilion in the courtyard. Uncle Jiang saw that I wanted to eat it too, so after leaving there, he took me to a restaurant in the city and bought me a bowl. That bowl of Su Shan was not expensive, even cheaper than here, only fifty cents, but for the coffin shop at that time, these fifty cents were a few days' worth of food for Uncle Jiang and me. The coffins we sold that day were the first we opened that month. We should have been frugal, but Uncle Jiang bought it for me anyway... He is so kind."
Xun Shu sat by the window, which was wide open. Sunlight shone on the Su Shan, refracting a shimmering light. The Su Shan steamed beneath the scorching sun, melting to combat the scorching heat. She held the Su Shan in her hands, taking small bites, feeling the cool sweetness slowly dissolve in her mouth, masking the bitterness in her chest. She remained silent for a long moment.
Li Xuanhe knew she missed Jiang Zheng. He didn't know what to say, so he could only offer a pale comfort: "When we find Uncle Jiang, I'll take you to eat the best Sushan in the capital, okay?"
Xun Shu pursed his lips and nodded gently: "It's a deal."
Xun Shu's emotions came and went quickly, and with Li Xuanhe by her side, telling her some funny stories from time to time to cheer her up, the dark clouds in her heart had already dissipated before she even finished eating the Sushan in her hand.
"I understand." Xun Shu pushed the empty bowl aside. "It's already happened. Worrying is the most useless thing. Finding Uncle Jiang and rescuing him is the most urgent thing. Once the road to the north is open, I will set off immediately and find Uncle Jiang as soon as possible."
Li Xuanhe opened his mouth, but only a few words remained on his lips: "I will definitely find it."
It was almost noon, and the restaurant was gradually filled with diners, men and women, young and old, making it quite lively. Li Xuanhe ordered another table of delicious dishes. While waiting for the food, Xun Shu's eyes darted around, watching the people coming and going, and what was on other people's tables.
The restaurant was packed with young women, their hair tied up in buns and their clothes chic. Their faces were painted with the latest makeup, and their hair was adorned with a variety of hairpins, each with its own unique beauty. Xun Shu was watching when he suddenly noticed something peculiar. He lowered his voice to Li Xuanhe beside him, "Look, these women all seem to be wearing the same white hairpin. It looks similar, not very attractive... Is this a custom in Ningyuan Village?"
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