Jing Shi was originally in low spirits, but after hearing the bad news, he immediately forgot about his chores, picked him up and said, "What happened?"
Gu'erwan's hands and feet danced wildly and squeaked continuously. He was so anxious that he forgot to speak Lu Zhong's words. Fortunately, Jing Shi had already learned the Ruho dialect. After a cursory listen, he found out that Hui Zhou sent people to search the mountain all night, and finally found Wu Ma's relics in the mountain stream, only to find out that he was dead.
The people of Juo were born from water and turned into pure water after death, leaving no trace of corpses. Jing Shi heard what Guerwan said, but he was suspicious and asked: "You just said that he was killed by others, where did you start?"
Gu'erwan regained his breath and said in land language: "I looked for him with others and saw his clothes at the bottom of the stream. I thought he had slipped and fell. But when I looked further outside, I saw the crow. Ka Ye is dead, that would be a very evil thing, he must not have been killed by a fall."
Jingshi thought about it for a moment and realized that Wuka was a young pig raised by Wuma. The beast was an ordinary animal in the mountains, so it could leave its body behind. He asked, "Where are the relics of Wuma now?"
Gu'erwan said: "I have given it to Old Man Huizhou and brought it back to Zhongcun."
Jing Shi immediately said: "We will go back now."
Gu'erwan saw a black code and died suddenly, and the reason was strange. I had long thought about Jingshi's safety. As soon as others arrived, he escaped and went to look for Jingshi. Wu Ma's funeral was unclear, but after hearing that Jing Shi wanted to return to the village, it would be better than staying in the mountains, he immediately agreed and led the way back to Zhongcun.
Jingshi stayed on the island for several months and became very familiar with the roads in the mountains. However, because he was not feeling well in the morning and the snowy trails in the mountains were difficult to walk, he just stayed where he was and waited. At this time, when I first heard the bad news, I no longer cared about my abnormal condition, and hurriedly waded through the snow and mountains to return to Zhongcun.
When the two of them entered the village, they saw that the atmosphere in the village was filled with panic, and the people were whispering to each other and surrounding the abandoned boat house. Gu'erwan came forward and shouted to drive him away, and then he opened the way so that Jingshi could enter the house. He also guarded himself in front of the door curtain to prevent outsiders from prying.
Jing Shi opened the curtain and entered the house, only to see the room was brightly lit, and the abandoned boat stood alone in the corner, looking down at something with its back turned. Hearing the movement outside the door, he turned around and saw Jing Shi, saluted and said: "Your Excellency is here." He looked calm as usual.
Jing Shi stepped forward quickly, hurriedly performed the etiquette, and said straight to the point: "I heard that the official Wu Ma died in the mountains, and his tamed animal Wu Ka also died. His two belongings can be taken care of by Mr. Feizhou."
Huizhou said: "It's at my place." After saying that, he stepped aside and revealed a wooden basket in the corner, covered with straw mat and linen cloth, and there was a faint smell of fish. Jing Shi opened the mat and first looked at the black cloth on top, which was wet and wrinkled, and seemed to be worn by Wu Ma on a daily basis. At that moment, he borrowed a thin stick and picked out the black cloth from the basket. As soon as it was lifted into the air, something heavy fell out from the bottom of the cloth and landed with a clang. Jing Shi looked intently and saw that the object was round on the outside and square on the inside. It was bright and bright. It looked like a silver coin with scales and snake lines engraved on it. When he leaned over to pick it up, he realized that there was something stuck to the coin, which turned out to be a piece of minced meat the size of a fingertip. It is black and shriveled, shaped like the tip of a tongue.
Jing Shi couldn't help being surprised when he saw the strange shape of the thing. He handed the coin to Hui Zhou and said, "Sir, do you know what this thing is?"
Hui Zhou took a close look at it, shook his head and said: "There is no money in our country, so I don't know what this thing is for. Since I found it in Wu Ma's clothes, it must be his private collection."
Jing Shi said: "The dead tongue on that coin, sir, do you know its origin?"
Huizhou still shook his head, and after a pause he said: "It is not uncommon for people in our country to occasionally fail to dissolve in water after death. They have to be left quietly for several months before they dissolve. This tongue may be owned by Wu Ma, It’s just that it hasn’t been fully resolved.”
Jing Shi said: "If it belongs to Wu Ma, the size is wrong." But suddenly he remembered that Wu Ma had another head under his chin, which was the stillborn baby of his brother. If you hide this silver coin in his head and mouth, the size will be exactly the same. However, seeing that the silver coin and the dead tongue are closely adhered, it seems that they have been kept together for many years. Wuma put it away by himself, but he does not know the meaning of this move. He suspected that this was a funeral ceremony for Zou, so he asked Huaizhou, but Huaizhou said: "Since our country does not use money, there is no such custom of containing coins." His tone was very firm.
The two of them discussed it for a while, but still didn't know the origin of the silver coin. They placed it on the table and looked at the relics at the bottom of the basket. I saw a hatchet stuck in the basket, which Wuma used every day. There were six or seven pieces of dead meat, and the fishy stench filled the air. Because it was so cold and freezing, it didn't rot. The Jing stones were taken out one by one and pieced together, and it turned out to be the little black pig Wuka. When the wound was examined, it was found that the fracture was smooth. Although the torso was torn, the internal organs were actually frozen in place and did not fall out. It was determined that the wound was caused by a sharp weapon. There was one injury in particular, which was cut transversely from the hip to the mouth.
Wuka is originally a young dolphin, its body is no higher than a mainlander's knee, and even if it is the height of a Jiao people, you can still overlook its back. If you were to kill him with a sharp blade, you should lift the blade and stab him in the back, or cut his neck to bleed. Such a horizontal cut is really against common sense. Jing Shi noticed this, and his heart sank secretly, but he felt that the truth was not yet known, so he could not After thinking wildly, he only related the matter to the abandoned boat and asked: "Sir, in the country where people worship the sea god, is there such a method of slaughtering animals?"
Huizhou shook his head and said: "Sacrifice in our country is different from that on land. There has never been a ceremony of offering three animals."
Jing Shi shouted in response and looked at the corpse for a long time before finally placing it in the basket and covering it with a mat. He went out and washed his hands, then returned to Huizhou and asked, "Now that the matter is over, I don't know what Mr. Huizhou has in mind."
The abandoned boat walked slowly, leaning on a stick, and walked around the house. After a long time, he sat at the table and said slowly: "When the people of our country are approaching their first life, they will feel it in their hearts, and they will go to the deceased official to wait for him. It is rare for him to be careless. The wrong time. However, if the weather suddenly changes and people are in danger at sea, there are also people who die early before their life span is over. It is a normal thing to go back and forth between life and death. Although it is a pity that Wuma died on land and could not return to the sea, but one day When the clouds rise and the rain falls, they are buried as usual. You don’t have to worry about this."
Jing Shi was shocked when he heard what he said and what he meant. He actually wanted to let the matter pass lightly without pursuing further investigation. Immediately he said: "If the death is due to an accident, it will be difficult for manpower to do it. But what we see now is caused by evil. Why does Mr. Huizhou ignore it?"
Huizhou's white eyebrows slightly shrugged and said, "My lord, I think you made this conclusion after hearing what Hun'er said in Gu'erwan. That Hun'er has always been impatient and reckless, and his words are often exaggerated, so I don't necessarily believe him."
Jing Shi said: "I didn't listen to what he said. Seeing Wuka's death in such a state was definitely not caused by the beast Juexuan. Since the cause of its death was unexpected, I'm afraid Wuma didn't stumble and die."
The abandoned boat was silent for a moment, and then he responded: "My lord, have you ever thought that Wu Ma killed his animal, and then lost his footing and fell off a cliff? Although there are many villagers on my island, there are only a dozen or so people living in the wild in Gu'er Bowl. Maybe Wu Ma He lost his footing and fell to his death, and his animals wandered elsewhere, only to be killed by those who passed by."
Jing Shi frowned slightly and said, "Why did he kill Wuka after he had been raising it for a long time? It is a coincidence that Wuma died first and Wuka was killed by an outsider later. If you feel this is the case, sir, you can also summon the wild residents on the island and ask them one by one. Then you will know the difference."
Huizhou shook his head in response, and said, "If you want to do this, sir, that's fine." His attitude was very indifferent, and he didn't care at all. Although Jing Shi was indifferent by nature and didn't like to argue with others, he never thought of scrapping the boat but he really regarded life and death as nothing. He also suffered from headaches and body ailments. For a moment, his chest was filled with depression and a dark fire was smoldering. He frowned and said, "Mr. If we don’t investigate this matter, what will happen if someone else dies unexpectedly in the future?”
Huizhou lowered his eyes and said with half-sleep: "If this is true, the changes that have not happened on our island for hundreds of years are probably not caused by the islanders. They are old and dim, but I will let you make the decision."
When he said this, Jing Shi had no words to respond. But thinking that it would be useless to get angry, he collected himself and said calmly: "In that case, I will investigate it myself. But if you have any doubts, ask Mr. Yi, and I hope you can tell me."
Huizhou responded: "I should tell you everything I know."
Jing Shi nodded silently and said: "Wuma was originally the official responsible for the death of the island. Now that he died suddenly, sir, you want to choose someone to replace him."
Huaizhou said: "I originally asked Da Taohua to take over the duties of the official of death and medicine. Although things have suddenly happened now, there is no better candidate. I have just asked Da Taohua to pack up, and tonight I will move to the corner tower in the forest to take over the post of death. Official."
Jing Shi did not expect that he would be so vigorous and resolute in choosing someone to replace him. Although the people in the village gathered to discuss things, they rarely showed sadness, and he felt that this country despised death. After all, he was an outsider and had no reason to interfere with the affairs of the people, so he had no choice but to say, "I'll just listen to Mr. Huizhou's arrangements." Then he stood up and resigned. When I came out of the abandoned boat gate, I saw the big peach blossom carrying a bag, hugging each other and caressing the little peach blossom, saying goodbye reluctantly, looking very reluctant to leave. Now they stood quietly in front of the door, looking at each other from a distance. When the big peach blossom left the village, they returned to the official residence.
