Chapter 54: White Bone Hairpin 9: Changing Clothes
"Human bones?!" Xun Shu felt a chill on her back, her clothes soaked with sweat, and she felt uncomfortable all over. She glanced around at the pile of bone fragments that looked like a small mountain and gasped. "There are so many. There must be more than one person, right?"
"Hmm." Li Xuanhe stood up and patted the bone fragments from his hands. "With it broken into pieces like this, it's impossible to determine how many skeletons there are unless we find the head."
Yuchang circled the cave, examining every corner carefully. Finally, he said with certainty, "I didn't see the skull. It shouldn't be here."
Xun Shu walked over to the stone table and, shuffling the pile of tools, discovered a broken hairpin at the very bottom. Only half of it remained, its head carved with simple patterns. It was almost identical to the hairpins worn by the women of Ningyuan Village.
Although he knew that the 'Lucky Hairpin' was made of human bones, when Xun Shu actually saw everything in the cave, his heart was still filled with turmoil and could not calm down for a long time.
"Now that we've seen it clearly, let's go back." Li Xuanhe glanced at Xun Shu's injured hand without leaving a trace. "I looked at the blocked sky gap this morning, and I estimate it will be open in two or three days. Chi Xiao has sent a message to the Shannan Dao. Once they enter the village, we will bring people to seal this place off."
It would take two or three days for the road to be reopened. Three days later would be the year's pilgrimage ceremony for the Saint to the sacred grounds of the Divine Palace. If these bones were connected to the Saint, wouldn't that mean another innocent girl would lose her life in three days? Xun Shu felt uneasy and asked uncertainly, "Will we be able to make it in time?"
"Whether we make it in time or not, we can't sit idle for the next three days." Li Xuanhe was remarkably calm, his voice steady. "To completely resolve this matter, we must find sufficient evidence to prove that Fu Zan and the Saint were absurd stories fabricated by someone with ulterior motives, and convince the villagers to believe them. If we can't find evidence and kill them immediately, the next Saint will surely appear after we leave, and she'll be even more secretive. By then, I'm afraid no one will be able to help them."
Xun Shu knew he was right and said softly, "I hope we can help them."
-
After roughly resetting everything in the cave and adjusting the lock on the door to look as if it had been accidentally broken due to rust, the three of them returned the same way.
When she left the temple, the sun was so bright that it was hard to open her eyes. Xun Shu blocked the sun with her hands, feeling dazed, as if everything she had seen in the cave was a dream. However, the piercing pain in her palms kept reminding her that the damp, smelly, and terrifying things were all real.
On the way back to the village, they still had to pass through the orchard. Unlike the way they came, there were a few more villagers busy in the orchard. As they passed by, Xun Shu heard them discussing Xili Zheng's death. The three of them tacitly slowed down their pace and eavesdropped on what they were saying.
"Are you saying that Xili Zheng was really killed by a ghost?"
"You didn't see how Cai You died! I went to join in the fun today and saw his body. He died in a horrible way! If it wasn't a ghost, who else could it be?"
"Didn't the village chief say that Xili was torn apart by a wild beast and then fell off a cliff and died?"
"Ningyuan Village has been bustling with people over the years, and there haven't been any wild animals within a ten-mile radius. How could it be such a coincidence that when Cai You was leaving the village, a wild beast broke into the vicinity of the sky gap, ran into Cai You, and attacked him?" The man waved his hand. "I think the village chief must be afraid that the news of the ghost claiming his life would spread throughout the village and make everyone uneasy, so he blamed the beast."
"You're right. I heard that a letter written in blood appeared out of nowhere last night in Xilizheng's house. If it weren't a ghost, who could have entered the iron-clad Cai residence so unnoticed?"
The two of them seemed to have noticed someone eavesdropping nearby, so they fell silent and headed deeper into the orchard. Xun Shu and the other two couldn't linger any longer, so they left the forest and returned to the village.
By the time they entered the village, Li Xuanhe's clothes were already half-dry, only slightly tattered. Yu Chang, standing beside him, was dripping wet as he walked, leaving wet footprints with every step, attracting onlookers who pointed and stared. They quickened their pace, fleeing back to the inn, and breathed a sigh of relief once they reached the lobby.
The lobby was empty, with only a few tables of people sitting there drinking tea. The waiter who was tricked into the room in the morning was chatting and laughing with a guest nearby. When he saw the three people walking in, his pupils trembled, his limbs stiffened, he turned his back and looked away, pretending that he didn't see them, but inadvertently gave them some peace and quiet.
The three of them returned to their rooms to recuperate. Xun Shu, relying on only one hand, struggled to change into clean clothes. Then, she sat on the edge of the bed, looking worriedly at the wound on her hand. She carefully peeled back the handkerchief covering the wound. The wound and the handkerchief were stuck together, and tearing them apart brought on a new round of trembling and pain, causing her to hiss and inhale.
The light was dim in the cave, and it looked like just an ordinary wound. But now, looking carefully in the bright light, she found that the longest wound ran across the palm of her hand. It was hideous and ugly, with the skin and flesh turned over, the palm of her hand was hot, and had begun to swell. It was much more serious than she had thought.
The situation was urgent at the time, and she used all her strength, fearing that the rocks on the cliff would not be able to cut her palm. But now she regretted it because of the pain.
If this continues, I will definitely have a high fever tonight. It seems I need to see a doctor and take some medicine to avoid this disaster.
Xun Shu was dejected and was about to go out when there was a knock on the door. Standing outside was Li Xuanhe, who had washed and dressed in moon-white clothes. Next to him stood a man carrying a medicine box.
"I brought a doctor to treat your injury."
Xun Shu opened the door and let the two in, then sat down at the table, frowned, pursed his lips, and said nothing as he let the doctor check his wound.
The doctor must have been warned in advance, so he didn't ask too many questions. After treating her wound, he gave her a few instructions, left the replacement medicine, and then stood up to say goodbye.
The door closed, and only Xun Shu and Li Xuanhe were left in the room.
The atmosphere was stagnant and strange. The two of them sat on either side of the table, neither speaking for a long time.
Li Xuanhe thought about what happened in the cave and felt a little annoyed. He knew that the person in front of him was very slow in some things, but he still said those words impulsively.
Xun Shu had always been someone who preferred stability and preferred to avoid trouble. If Uncle Jiang hadn't gotten into an accident, she would have been forced into a desperate situation. She probably would have spent her entire life in the coffin shop, living a peaceful life as a shop assistant. Now that her life was in turmoil, he had said something that would further unsettle her, and he was afraid it would cause her to resent it.
He was racking his brains to think of something to make amends for his mistake and didn't notice Xun Shu walk up to her, take out the medicine and apply it to the wound on his cheek near his ear.
Her fingers were cool, different from the damp coolness in the cave. Instead, it was more like the breeze in the mountains, the melting frost and snow in early spring, which was numb and tingling, and addictive.
Li Xuanhe shuddered, his body went numb, only his eyes could still blink.
Xun Shu didn't notice his strangeness and said slowly, "Your face is also very important. Don't disfigure yourself, or you won't be able to marry in the future."
Li Xuanhe's mind was in chaos, all his senses were focused on the wound on his cheek, and he couldn't hear what she was saying at all.
The wound was only a thin layer of skin, and Xun Shu quickly applied medicine. He then sighed, "He Xuan, you should really practice your kung fu. I think you're not even as good as Yu Chang. No wonder you were beaten so half to death half a year ago."
How can they be compared? If his kung fu was better than Yuchang's, why would he keep Yuchang around?
Li Xuanhe looked helpless and was about to retort, but Xun Shu suddenly moved closer to his cheek and, imitating the way her master had blown on her wound when she was a child, gently blew on the wound on his cheek that was covered with ointment.
Li Xuanhe froze in place, unable to move, even his eyes were dull.
Seeing that he was silent and motionless, Xun Shu muttered seriously, "The wound is very shallow, it shouldn't hurt much, right?"
The constant stimulation turned Li Xuanhe's body into a puddle of mud, except for one thing. His cheeks were as red as the sunset, and he didn't dare to look at Xun Shu again. Without saying a word, he hunched over and rushed out of the room as if running for his life, leaving Xun Shu there, confused.
Xun Shu was stunned, and only came to his senses when the door of the next room was closed.
Does it really hurt so much with just a wound?
Xun Shu racked his brains but couldn't figure out the reason. He left the room in the evening, ready to find Li Xuanhe to apologize and ask him if he wanted to go to Xili Zheng's house together to inquire about the blood letter and curse he heard in the woods in the afternoon.
As she left the room, she spotted Li Xuanhe standing in the hallway, lost in thought. She was about to apologize for hurting him when she looked up and saw he'd changed his clothes again. She couldn't help but sigh, "As expected of a royal relative, he changes his clothes so frequently."
Li Xuanhe's earlobes instantly turned red. He cleared his throat and said vaguely, "What's the matter? I mean, why don't you rest in your room?"
Xun Shu patted his head and said seriously: "I wanted to come to you to apologize."
"Apologize?"
"Well, I hurt you just now, didn't I? Sorry, I didn't expect you to be so afraid of pain."
Li Xuanhe was extremely afraid that she would bring up what had just happened, so he quickly interrupted her: "Ashu, don't say any more."
Is his fear of pain a secret? Xun Shu looked around and saw Chi Xiao and Yu Chang's grinning faces at the end of the corridor. He suddenly realized something and said, "Okay, then I won't say anything. I have one more thing to ask. Did you hear what those two villagers in the forest said? I want to go to Xili Zheng's house to take a look. Do you want to come with me?"
As long as he didn't mention what just happened, he would do anything. Li Xuanhe readily agreed: "Then let's go together. I also want to tell you what Chi Xiao and the others found."
-
It was evening when they left the inn, the sunset glow stretching across the horizon like a dream. Li Xuanhe and Xun Shu walked side by side through the bustling crowd, their shadows stretched out long, overlapping, a look of extraordinary intimacy.
Li Xuanhe lowered his voice and briefly told Xun Shu what Chi Xiao and the others had discovered.
"Chi Xiao and his team walked around the cliff face where the body was found and found torn strips of cloth from the body's clothing among the weeds in the forest. They also found footprints of a large beast on flat ground a hundred steps from the cliff. It looked like it belonged to a tiger or leopard. There was a lot of blood next to the footprints, which must be where the body was killed."
Xun Shu was stunned and began to doubt whether his conjecture from that morning was correct. "Didn't the villagers say that there were no ferocious beasts near Ningyuan Village? Could this really be an accident?"
"Mo Ji, you haven't finished yet." Li Xuanhe stretched out his hand to block the crowd for her and continued, "In a hidden place next to the bloodstain, Chi Xiao found a footprint that had not been cleaned up. The footprint was much smaller than the corpse's footprint and quite slender, like a woman's footprint. This means that when Xili Zheng died, there was at least one other person at the scene besides him and the beast."
"And she's a woman."
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