Ping'an Town is part of Ping'an County. It is the most basic unit, juxtaposed with townships, pavilions, and towns. However, the chief official does not have an official body and does not enter the rank.
Moreover, in such an ancient world, transportation was inconvenient. Unless there were major events reported, the Tingxiang and county offices below would only report twice a year.
Chen Yuan has only heard of Pingan Town and has never been there.
However, this name made him feel inexplicably familiar.
"Brother Zhao, have you ever been to Ping'an Town?"
On horseback, Chen Yuan turned around and asked.
"I came here a few years ago. A very strange thing happened in Ping'an Town. Huang Captou personally brought people to investigate, but unfortunately nothing was found in the end."
"Evil?"
Chen Yuan became somewhat interested.
"Yes, in a relatively remote village in Ping'an Town, all twenty-three households were missing. That was a major case in the past few years."
"No trace found?"
"No, that village is too remote, and we rarely interact with people outside..."
"Did the devil do it?"
"I don't know, I don't have any clues, so I can only let it go." Zhao Ning shook his head slightly.
After two hours, at nearly noon, Chen Yuan, Zhao Ning and a few white servants finally arrived at Ping'an Town. Zhao Ning took Chen Yuan to the home of the chief officer Liu Laosan with ease.
Although he is not of high rank, Liu Laosan has considerable power in Ping'an Town. His family is well-off and he wears fine fabrics, which are completely different from the coarse linen clothes worn by ordinary people.
"Who is this?" Liu Laosan cupped his hands towards Zhao Ning and looked at Chen Yuan with a smile on his face.
"This is the catcher who joined last year, Chen Yuan...this is Liu Sanye..." Zhao Ning introduced with a smile.
"What's Mr. Liu? Mr. Chen, just call him Lao Liu." Mr. Liu waved his hand.
Chen Yuan nodded and smiled.
"Why do the two detectives have time to come to our safe town today? But what are the orders from the county magistrate?" Liu Laosan asked tentatively.
Chen Yuan and Zhao Ning looked at each other and whispered:
"We came here to check for some fugitives. The county captain was furious and conducted a thorough search of all the townships in the county, so... the two of us were assigned to Ping'an Town."
"I see..." Liu Laosan looked relaxed.
As long as it's not directed at him.
"You two are so busy traveling, why don't you take a rest here first."
"Then it's annoying..."
...
After pushing cups and changing cups for a while, Liu Laosan's cheeks began to turn red, and his voice sounded a little drunk. He staggered around and pulled Chen Yuan and said:
"Brother Chen, you..."
"Brother Liu, has anything unusual happened in Ping An Town recently?" Chen Yuan asked softly. As for Zhao Ning, he was already lying on the table unconscious.
"Something unusual... Let me think about it, it doesn't seem to happen... Oh, by the way, old Chentou and his wife died three days ago... It's quite... quite evil..."
Liu Laosan burped from wine and spoke intermittently.
"What's wrong?" Chen Yuan became interested.
"The two of them..."
Chen Yuan frowned and left Liu Laosan's home alone, wanting to check out Lao Chentou's home.
According to Liu Laosan, Lao Chentou and his wife worked diligently on weekdays and never provoked anyone, but they died mysteriously three nights ago.
It was as if they had been buried underground for a long time and became mummified bodies. Someone took a look at them and was so frightened that they didn't dare to close their eyes for a whole day and night. Their bodies are still parked at home, and few people dare to approach them.
After asking a few idle people in the town, Chen Yuan successfully found the home of old Chen Tou.
It is a very dilapidated small courtyard, with the door tightly closed, and the couplets from previous years are still posted on the door, but they have completely faded and seem to fall off when the wind blows.
"Dong dong dong..."
Chen Yuan held the long knife at his waist with one hand and knocked gently on the door with the other.
Although Old Chen Tou is dead, Chen Yuan learned from Liu Laosan that they still have a son who is fourteen or fifteen years old and has not left home in the past few days.
When Chen Yuan wanted to ask again, Liu Laosan had stopped moving.
No one dared to go to his house to help. People in the town spread the news that his family was drained of blood because of an evil spirit. Now Xie Chong is still in their home.
Even if someone wants to help out of friendship with the neighbors, they don't have the guts.
"rustle..."
A slight friction sound came from the small courtyard.
"Squeak..."
The door was opened from inside, and a young man appeared in front of Chen Yuan.
The young man was young, with a white hat tied on his head and a linen-colored cloth robe with several conspicuous patches on his body.
The young man had a calm face, with clear eyes under his thick eyebrows. He looked a little resolute, and he was holding a cut-out paper figure in his hand.
"Is something wrong?" the young man asked calmly.
Chen Yuan frowned. Such a huge change had occurred in his family, but a teenager should not be so calm, as if what happened in his family was not a funeral.
"I'm arresting Chen Yuan to investigate the death of your parents." Chen Yuan said in a low voice.
The young man was stunned for a moment when he heard this, looked up at Chen Yuan, and whispered:
"Please come in, sir."
Chen Yuan walked into the small courtyard with a calm expression and looked at the small courtyard carefully. It was very simple and not surprising, except that there were some wood chips piled together in the courtyard.
"What does this do?"
"Make coffins for my parents."
"You can still do this at such a young age?" Chen Yuan was a little surprised.
"Learned it before..."
"What's your name?" Chen Yuan asked.
The young man was silent for a long time, lowered his head and said:
"My parents both call me Ping An..."
"Ping An, Chen Ping An!!!"
Chen Yuan murmured to himself, why are they all called Chen Pingan now?
Um?
Why use capital?
"Your parents seem to want you to be safe."
Chen Ping'an didn't answer. He returned to the hut and continued to use tools to chip sawdust, trying to fill in the last piece of wood.
Chen Yuan stepped into the hut. What appeared in front of him was a large coffin with many flaws. The most important coffin roof was missing, and a faint smell of corpse odor escaped.
Chen Pingan rubbed the wooden board with an expressionless face, looking around Chen Yuan without any curiosity, nor crying to find out the truth for his parents.
Chen Yuan lightly covered his nose and leaned forward. He saw two withered corpses with ferocious faces and wide eyes, as if he had encountered great fear before death.
Gently lifting the coarse cloth covering their bodies with a knife, Chen Yuan looked at them carefully, but there were no obvious wounds on their bodies, only a red spot on the back of their necks.
"Why don't you report it to the official?" Chen Yuan asked while observing.
"Is reporting to the official useful?" Chen Ping'an did not raise his head.
"Were you at home the night your parents died?"
"exist."
"Did you sense anything was wrong?"
"have."
Chen Pingan raised his head and stared at Chen Yuan.
"where?"
"I'm not dead..."
