"I know, mother."
Cai Hongxia turned around and smiled sweetly at her mother-in-law, with two pear dimples in her smile, which was particularly beautiful.
Qiu Chuandong also raised the shovel in his hand towards his mother to reassure her.
Mother Qiu smiled kindly and followed them to the courtyard gate.
Originally, in rural areas, after the courtyard door was opened in the morning, it was not closed or bolted until the evening.
But because in the past few years, villagers have always disappeared for no reason, people in each village are afraid. No matter day or night, the courtyard door will be bolted tightly.
Qiu Chuandong pulled the door latch open and opened the courtyard door.
Just as they walked out and Mother Qiu was about to close the door again, they saw a dark, thin, strong, but short man walking over to greet them.
"Is this Cai Hongxia's home?" the man asked.
Cai Hongxia nodded when she heard this and asked doubtfully: "What do you want from me?"
"Oh, you are Cai Hongxia? Here is one of your packages. I am the postman responsible for delivering letters and packages in villages, towns and counties. You press your fingerprint and I will go back."
As the man spoke, he handed a small bundle to Cai Hongxia, then took out a box of ink pads and a piece of paper filled with words, and asked Cai Hongxia to press her fingerprints.
Cai Hongxia pressed it. By the way, I asked: "Brother, can I ask where this baggage was mailed to me?"
The man asked, pointed to a small note attached to the small bundle, and replied: "It is written on it that it was sent by Cai Daquan of Jinshi Village."
After saying that, the man put away the note, turned and left.
Watching him walk away, Qiu Chuandong muttered a little strangely: "Why does this postman walk on his feet?"
Cai Hongxia, who received the package from her father, said nonchalantly: "Maybe the horse is tired? Or is it sick? Who cares. Come, let's see what my father sent me?"
Cai Hongxia was also born in Pengze County, but she married from Jinshi Village to Yanghua Village. They were in these two counties, and the distance between the two villages was a bit far.
The two families don't move around very often unless necessary.
Sometimes, we ask the villagers to help bring something to each other, but this is the first time we have sent luggage. Because the cost is too expensive.
Cai Hongxia was very curious about what made her father willing to spend "wasted money" to find the postman.
The baggage is not big, but it is bundled very tightly.
Cai Hongxia spent a lot of effort but couldn't untie it, and in the end it was Qiu Chuandong who helped.
Qiu Chuandong laughed at her for being squeamish and untied her baggage.
There is only one pair of shoes in the baggage.
No, to be precise: there is only one finished shoe, and the other is only half-finished, with the needle and thread still attached to it.
There was dust on both shoes.
Cai Hongxia patted it, picked up the unfinished shoe, and thought about it again and again, but couldn't figure out what was going on.
"Sanlang, do you think my father wants me to finish this? But what about my mother-in-law? These are obviously my mother-in-law's stitches. Looking at the size, they are also my father's shoes. Why do you just do them? Where’s half of it?”
Qiu Chuandong also felt strange.
He scratched his head, shook his head, and asked his mother.
"Auntie, do you know what this means?"
But Qiu's mother was holding on to the door frame, lost in thought.
When she heard her third son calling her, Qiu's mother came back to her senses. But his face was very ugly.
She replied with some difficulty: "Hongxia, don't worry first. Listen to what your mother-in-law told you. There is dust on the shoes and one shoe is only half done. This means your mother is sick."
"ah?"
When Cai Hongxia heard this, she immediately panicked: "Why, why are you sick? What kind of disease? Does it matter?"
"Don't panic yet,"
Mother Qiu stepped forward, held her arms, and warned: "Go back to the house to pack some things first, then bring some money, and ask Chuandong to accompany you back to take a look."
"Yeah, yeah."
Cai Hongxia, who was frightened by the news, responded repeatedly and ran back into the house.
He took nothing, but rummaged through the two hundred copper coins he had saved, put them into the bag of two shoes, and ran out again.
According to common sense, this baggage should be taken back. When my mother recovers from her illness, she will continue to finish the shoes, so that they will have a good meaning.
Hongxia, who was in a hurry, was caught by her mother-in-law.
Mother Qiu gave her half a piece of silver and told her to be slow on the road. Then he asked Chuandong to catch the only old hen in the house that could lay eggs, and then let the two of them leave.
The young couple rushed to Jinshi Village in a hurry.
For the sake of speed, I didn't take the official road, so I took the mountain road.
The road was slippery on a rainy day and the mountain road was rugged. Even the two of them, who were used to walking on mountain roads, had to slow down a bit.
There is a seam between two mountains ahead.
Just go down from this side of the mountain and climb up from the other side of the mountain.
With such a deep V shape, the mountain road is even steeper.
Qiu Chuandong went down first, then held the old hen in one hand and held his wife in the other. Slowly step on the stepping holes dug on the mountain road and slide to the next stepping hole.
The distance between the two pits is nearly one meter.
At this time, when the anxious Cai Hongxia was sliding in the pit, her feet on the pit failed to stand firm, and she slipped down, knocking Qiu Chuandong down at the same time.
Both slid to the bottom of the V.
Fortunately, it's not too high.
But both of them suddenly felt a little dizzy.
He obviously slipped down and didn't hit anything hard, so why did he feel dizzy?
Cai Hongxia shook her head violently, and then hugged Qiu Chuandong's head to see how he was doing.
suddenly.
Cai Hongxia's eyes suddenly widened, and a figure appeared behind Qiu Chuandong.
The man was holding something high in his hand, and he hit Qiu Chuandong on the head...
"ah!!"
The shrill screams pierced the silence of the mountain crevices, and gradually disappeared into the rustling sound of rain.
…
Di Ying, who was searching for corpses by the river, stopped and stared at the river in trance.
The murderer severed the head of the deceased from the body. Was it only the head or the entire body that had been dismembered?
The fracture marks on the neck were very messy, indicating that the murderer did not know the art of decomposition. It's just force and nonsense.
Then, there is a great possibility that all it takes is to cut off the head of the deceased.
Why?
Because the body is too heavy to take away?
Because if the head of the deceased is destroyed, no one can find out who the deceased is? Can the body be disposed of at will?
Then, there is a high probability that the body was not thrown into the river.
Based on the broken marks, it can be basically concluded that there is only one murderer.
And he is a person who has hatred for the dead. Otherwise, they would not have smashed the face of the deceased with a blunt instrument first.
But there is another possibility: the murderer might have been using some kind of 'head-lowering technique', but it failed, so he simply separated the deceased's head and body by himself.
Di Ying could only guess so much.
There is no body, and there are too few clues.
He called to the guards: "Go to various towns and villages to find out who knows witchcraft, is a witch doctor, or is a magician.
Ask them if they know what 'dropping the head' is all about? If anyone knows anything, bring it back. "
