The small mountain village in the daytime has returned to its picturesque appearance.
The three of them walked slowly along the village path to the small river in the south of the village. This small river comes through the mountains, passes through the village, and then goes out through the mountains. If you want to find a way to reach the outside, then this waterway is most likely to be the way.
The sky is big and the earth is big, and eating is the biggest thing.
Counting the time, it's almost evening in the real world and it's time to have dinner. Li Heping skillfully raised a bonfire on the gravel beach by the river, and brought a pot from a nearby house. Yan Yueming dug out of his bag and took out a small bag of rice.
"This rice is no-wash, just boil it in water." Yan Yueming loves carbohydrates. Only sufficient carbohydrate intake can keep his brain functioning. Otherwise, no matter how full he eats, he will only feel full.
The water for cooking came from the river. Only then did Yan Yueming realize that he had forgotten to bring water purifiers. However, the teacher said: "The natural water in the gaps is drinkable unless there are any restrictions. Don't worry about it." Too many details.”
Yan Yueming learned the lesson. When the rice was cooked, the first bowl was served to Li Heping. Li Heping was very happy. Although the rice was a bit hard, it was still the first bowl.
The side dish is a pot of soup, the meat is dried meat that comes with it, and it tastes good when cooked. The vegetables are provided by various courtyards in small mountain villages. They look fresh, but they won't kill anyone anyway.
After a hearty meal, it’s time to get down to business. Walking along the river, you will see the main room that Li Heping said was full of luggage, like a family that was about to flee.
This family lived by the river, so they raised ducks. Ducks are not raised in the yard like chickens, but by the river. They have a small circle of land under a big tree. Half of the duck circle is in the river and half is on the bank.
The ducks here are also drowned, floating on the water, huddled together.
Thinking that she had just drank the food cooked in the river water, Yan Yueming felt a little strange, but she could only comfort herself and not pay attention to the details.
He then thought of the chickens that died in the water tank at the scholar's house, and said: "Chickens will not jump into the water tank to seek death, and ducks are unlikely to drown in the water. Is that a problem with the water? We There was no problem after drinking the water, which means it’s not that the water is unclean, but that…”
what is it then? Yan Yueming frowned.
Li Zheng stood by the river and asked lightly, "What's in the water?"
Yan Yueming then opened his mind, what's in the water? There are aquatic plants, mud, and maybe water ghosts. But even if there are water ghosts in the river, there won't be water ghosts in the tank, right?
What else could be in the water?
Suddenly, Yan Yueming's inspiration suddenly appeared, "The moon in the water!"
What is the biggest and most striking vision in this village? There is no doubt that it is the blood moon!
Li Heping crossed his arms, "These chickens and ducks should have died at night. There was a reflection of the blood moon in the water, so they died in the water. This is the most likely guess."
Yan Yueming: "Teacher, you said when you were at Wang Fuhu's house that you can't walk by the water at will. But now it seems that this rule applies to the entire small mountain village at night?"
Li Heping: "The key lies in the moon, not the water."
Yan Yueming nodded with deep understanding, because it was daytime now, and they were fetching water from the river during the day, and nothing unusual happened. After thinking about it, he scratched his head in embarrassment at the end.
The seniors and teachers must have known it all for a long time, but they gradually laid out the rules and clues one by one, mostly for their own sake.
Yan Yueming encouraged himself again, he could do it.
Immediately afterwards, they went into the house again. The room was strange as Li Heping had said. It was full of luggage. All the valuable things that could be taken away were packed, leaving some bulky furniture.
The rules in this house are also simple, as long as you don't take anything away from the house.
Li Heping came here for a rough look before, and this time he rummaged through it carefully and found that this man turned out to be "Pei Lang", the lover of Wang Fuhu's concubine.
Did Pei Lang know something? So you packed your bags and ran away overnight?
The adultery was discovered by Wang Fuhu?
With such doubts, Yan Yueming opened each package and looked through it, but found nothing. In the end, Li Zheng found a letter that had not been completely burned in the stove.
The letter paper was burned until only a palm-sized piece was left. The handwriting on it came from the concubine and was consistent with the one in the concubine's room. In her letter, she asked Pei Lang, whom she longed for, to have a private meeting with her during the wedding banquet.
Pei Lang wrote a comment at the bottom of the letter: Are they crazy!
This sentence is more spoken than written. Yan Yueming guessed: "So I invited Pei Lang to have a private meeting during the wedding banquet. At this time, everyone is busy with the wedding banquet, and no one will notice them. It is an excellent private meeting." The timing. But after Pei Lang saw the content of the letter, he wrote this sentence on the letter in excitement. In the end, he did not reply to the letter, but directly burned the letter, packed his luggage and left. What made him choose to throw it away directly? Falling for a lover and leaving home?"
With that said, Yan Yueming looked outside the house again, "He found that the duck at home died mysteriously?"
"If we want to figure it out, we have to sort out the causal relationship between these things." Li Heping said, his hand involuntarily reaching for his pocket, looking for a cigarette to smoke. Seeing Yan Yueming standing in front of him, he remembered Li Zheng's attitude and endured it.
r />
These stinky disciples are all debt collectors.
Yan Yueming was immersed in the world of thinking without realizing it. She raised her eyes to look at Li Heping with bright eyes, "I think it's a problem with the wedding banquet, right? The source of everything comes from this wedding banquet without a bride, and then There was a vision of the blood moon, and then the chickens and ducks died mysteriously, and Pei Lang fled. Pei Lang had an affair with the concubine of the Wang family, so he may know the truth behind this wedding banquet, plus the duck He was afraid of dying, so he ran away. The scholar didn't know, so the scholar didn't run away. He went to the wedding banquet anyway."
This reasoning was logical and everything connected.
Li Heping struck while the iron was hot, "Let's go to the doctor's house."
The doctor's house is not very far away, but the rules of his house are very strange. You can't touch this and that. If you touch, you will be poisoned, and the poisons you get are all kinds of weird.
Yan Yueming walked inside as fast as a turtle crawling. As he crawled, he took out sterile gloves from his backpack and asked Li Heping what was the biggest and most conspicuous phenomenon? There is no doubt that it is the blood moon!
Li Heping crossed his arms, "These chickens and ducks should have died at night. There was a reflection of the blood moon in the water, so they died in the water. This is the most likely guess."
Yan Yueming: "Teacher, you said when you were at Wang Fuhu's house that you can't walk by the water at will. But now it seems that this rule applies to the entire small mountain village at night?"
Li Heping: "The key lies in the moon, not the water."
Yan Yueming nodded with deep understanding, because it was daytime now, and they were fetching water from the river during the day, and nothing unusual happened. After thinking about it, he scratched his head in embarrassment at the end.
The seniors and teachers must have known it all for a long time, but they gradually laid out the rules and clues one by one, mostly for their own sake.
Yan Yueming encouraged himself again, he could do it.
Immediately afterwards, they went into the house again. They searched the house and finally found a paper package labeled "Mongolian sweat medicine" in the doctor's medicine box.
When I opened the paper bag, there was white powder inside.
Yan Yueming: "Is this used to treat dogs?"
Li Zheng took out the knife, picked it up with the tip of the knife, carefully distinguished it under the lamp, and said, "I can't be sure, but the butcher does have such a thing in his house. It's in his bedroom."
At this time, Yan Yueming saw the doctor's diagnosis and treatment diary with sharp eyes. He thought of Wang Fuhu's son and wondered if there would be any of his cases in the booklet. He opened it and saw that it was true.
Wang Fuhu's son was not born stupid. He fell into the water when he was a child and became stupid after he was rescued. Over the next ten years or so, Wang Fuhu invited doctors to come to the clinic many times for treatment. The most common cause of illness was falling into the water.
It is understandable that a fool falls into the water. After all, he has lost his basic ability to take care of himself. If care is not taken properly, it is possible for him to accidentally fall into the river. But falling into the water repeatedly is very unusual.
Yan Yueming has watched too many movies, TV dramas, and has a rich imagination. Countless clues are entangled in his mind. There is a vague idea in his mind, but he fails to catch it.
If you don't catch it, you can only continue to explore.
The next stop was the house where half the house was burned down because the incense burner fell down.
The house was burned down, so there was little to explore. But it's not the New Year, there are still people in the village holding weddings. What are the people of this family doing at home with incense and worship?
Li Zheng stood in the charred ruins, squatting down and wiping the black ash on the ground with his gloved hands. He looked back at the table and chairs that had fallen to the ground, with only charcoal left, his cold eyes filled with contemplation.
"The people in this family stood inside and worshiped outside. The incense candle fell down and lit the futon used to kneel and worship." Suddenly, he said.
"Stand inside and worship outside?" Yan Yueming repeated this sentence and couldn't help but imitate it. Generally speaking, when people worship at home, they worship towards the inside, or towards the stove, to worship the Stove Lord.
Facing the outside... Yan Yueming was shocked, "Moon worship!"
On August 15th, the Mid-Autumn Festival, this custom will still be retained in rural areas.
But Yan Yueming was certain that the day of the wedding banquet was not the Mid-Autumn Festival, because judging from the vegetables grown in the village, the thickness of the clothes people hung to dry, and various clues, it was spring.
This is a spring wedding feast.
So, why worship the moon?
"Let's go to the next house." Li Heping made a decision immediately.
The next house followed the next, and then they found pigs dead in the mud. All kinds of weird phenomena appeared in front of them, which made people think deeply. Finally they came to a thatched house, where lived the dog with yellow hair and black back.
Yan Yueming had just been chased by that dog, so even though she loved dogs, she was still a little frightened. It was normal for him to be afraid. To his surprise, Li Zheng and Li Heping also stopped.
"What's wrong?" Yan Yueming was confused.
"Now it seems that all the animals in the village are dead, so why is this dog still alive?" Li Heping touched his chin and narrowed his eyes.
"There is a butcher in front, and a blood moon behind." Li Zheng's voice was slightly colder, "It doesn't deserve to live."
Yan Yueming's scalp felt numb.
