The room was terrifyingly quiet.
After a long while, Gu Mang said slowly, "You're saying … Miss Su had already passed away before we came?"
Mo Xi nodded slightly, "She committed suicide."
Gu Mang was silent for a while, then asked, "Do you know the reason?"
"The shopkeeper said something happened to her family. Her parents passed away one after another. They thought she killed herself because she was too sad." Mo Xi said, "They had a son, but the son got married a long time ago. Later, they didn't have much contact with each other. They didn't visit their parents when they were sick."
"… So Miss Su had an elder brother …"
"Yes. But they weren't related. Miss Su was adopted. The two elders weren't in good health these years. After their biological son started a new family, she was the only one who supported them. There were no other relatives in this family. After Miss Su died, there was no one left in the family. Her body was cleaned up by the neighbors. "
Gu Mang lowered his eyelids and looked silent. After a while, he said, "But when we went there that day, the house was decorated like an ordinary house. It didn't look like a funeral house where someone had just passed away."
"Because it's unlucky to die in an empty house, the neighbors buried her without stopping the coffin." Mo Xi said, "No one was willing to take care of the things in the house. The silks and satins ordered by the officials were still piled up inside. They knew that the embroidery girl died halfway through her embroidery. They were afraid that it would bring bad luck, so no one wanted to take them."
This was probably the longest speech Mo Xi had ever said since they met, but Gu Mang wasn't in the mood to joke. Instead, his frown deepened.
Gu Mang still shook his head, "We saw her that night, and I didn't feel anything wrong with her. What about you? Do you think there's anything strange about her? "
"No."
"That's strange. Even if she's a ghost, even if we didn't use magic at that time, why didn't we feel anything? We can't fail like that, right? "
Mo Xi said, "I've thought of a few possibilities."
"Let's hear them."
"First, the person we saw that night wasn't the real Miss Su, but someone else in disguise."
"What about the second?"
"Secondly, Miss Su didn't actually die. For some reason, she pretended that she had committed suicide. She also knew that no one would clean up the house after her death, so she continued to hide there."
"Third?"
"Thirdly, Miss Su is indeed dead, and there is no one else in the house. What we saw that night was indeed her ghost, but because of some unknown magic, she was able to hide her evil aura very well. If we didn't look carefully, we would have thought that she was no different from an ordinary person. "
Gu Mang nodded as he listened. "Is there a fourth one?"
"No," Mo Xi said, "I have something else to tell you."
Gu Mang sighed and said, "Wow, you're such a pitiful injured person. You can even come up with something by lying in your room and resting. Tell me, what else do you want?"
"It's about the missing couple, Lin Yun and Bai Rouxia, whom Elder Qianling ordered us to investigate." Mo Xi paused and looked serious. "Lin Yun is Miss Su's brother."
"What?!" Gu Mang was really shocked this time. "How do you know?!"
"The innkeeper told me." Mo Xi said, "The embroidery room we stayed in was called Lin Xiuge. It used to be managed by a couple with the surname Lin. Lin Yun was their biological son who got married long ago. As for Su Qiao, she was the daughter of a butcher who was on good terms with them." After a pause, he continued, "Do you remember Su Qiao said that this village was full of miasma and people could easily get sick and die?"
Gu Mang nodded and said, "I remember."
"Su Qiao's biological parents passed away when she was four or five years old because of this reason. The Lin couple couldn't bear it, so they adopted her. That's why I told you that this pair of brother and sister were not related by blood. So Lin Yun should be her adopted brother. "
Mo Xi paused and closed his eyes. Then he continued, "The disappearance of the Lin couple and Miss Su Qiao's death all happened this month. I don't think it's a coincidence."
Gu Mang muttered, "I don't think so either."
Mo Xi looked up. "Besides, I don't think you were just 'strolling' when you went out."
"Yeah, I wasn't …" Gu Mang answered absent-mindedly and suddenly froze. Then his black eyelashes fluttered and he looked at Mo Xi hesitantly.
Mo Que crossed his arms and crossed his long legs as he stared at him menacingly.
"Bring out the Ghost Puppet you hid in your Qiankun Bag."
Gu Mang's expression changed a few times like the lanterns in the Lantern Festival. In the end, he put on a scoundrel smile, but his feet stepped on the ground uneasily. He pretended to be deaf and dumb. "What?"
"The Ghost Puppet, the one that sealed the resentful spirit under the old peach tree. You don't have to hide it. When I woke up, I already knew you were lying to me. "
"…" There was nothing more to say. Gu Mang laughed dryly. "Shidi, look at you. Why can't I hide anything from you? Ah ha, ah ha ha ha ha."
Mo Xi said coldly, "It was in my body for so long last night. Do you think I couldn't sense it?"
Gu Mang had no choice but to pick up his Qiankun Bag and pour it out on the table. Clattering, he poured out a messy pile of talisman paper, concealed weapons, a pile of soft sweets and leftover wheat straw candy wrappers, but there was no sign of the wooden man. Gu Mang sighed and shook the bag twice. He said, "It's useless to hide. You'd better come out and apologize to Master Mo by committing seppuku."
The wooden puppet had no choice but to let go of its tightly clenched hands. It fell out of the Qiankun Bag with a thud and lay on the table. After a while, it got up from the table and began to knock its wooden head on the table like crazy. "Master, spare me! I don't want to go to the first and eighteenth floor of the Subduing Demon Pagoda! The other floors can be discussed! Master, you're a young hero. You're well-dressed — "
Mo Xi said, "Stop."
How could the wooden puppet stop? It held the principle that as long as it kowtowed a thousand times, no more than ten thousand times, it would be able to keep its little life. The more it kowtowed, the more energetic it became. The banging sounds soon woke up the people in the room next door. They didn't know what was thrown from the room next door, but it hit the wall with a "dong" sound.
"Don't you two know how to be gentler? Your bed is shaking like this. Aren't you afraid it'll collapse?? "
Gu Mang: "…"
The wooden puppet: "…"
Mo Xi's face was black. He slammed his wrapped hands on the table heavily. The wooden puppet was so scared that it fell on the table and trembled. It glanced at Mo Xi's injured hand. Blood was seeping out from under the snow-white gauze. Then it glanced at Mo Xi's gloomy face. Its eyes were like a quenched knife that made people flinch.
Mo Xi gritted his teeth and said, "Do you not understand human language?"
"I understand, I understand, Master! I was wrong! "
Mo Xi didn't want to waste his breath on it, so he looked up and asked Gu Mang, "What did this thing tell you?"
"Actually, it's nothing …" Looking at Mo Xi's eyes, Gu Mang hesitated for a moment and sighed. "Forget it. Okay, it's like this. I wanted to hide it from you and find out the whereabouts of Lin Yun and her husband myself."
Mo Xi's eyes were sharp, and there was a faint sense of danger in his dark brown eyes. "Why?"
Gu Mang was startled. "… Do you still need to ask? I caused you to suffer such a serious injury. If I let you run around and laugh by yourself, then I'm not a human. "
Mo Xi stared at him silently for a long time. Then his tense back slowly relaxed. He turned his head away and said softly, "My injury has nothing to do with you. It's my own carelessness. "
His side profile was cold and hard, and his expression was stubborn. His eyebrows were as cold as falling snow. Gu Mang looked at him and sighed in his heart. This person's character was made of iron. Not to mention that he was already investigating, even if he really went to the embroidery room behind his back, he would offend this Master Mo in the end.
"Alas, I didn't think it through. I'll tell you. Don't be so cold anymore. It's really scary."
So he told Mo Xi everything he knew. Finally, he turned to the little wooden man and asked, "Where have you seen the name Lin Yun? Can't you remember?"
The little wooden man shook his head sadly, but he promised, "I'm trying to remember!"
Mo Xi said coldly, "Then you'd better hurry."
The little wooden man was obviously a piece of wood, but he couldn't help but shiver.
Gu Mang said, "By the way, Shidi, I plan to go to the embroidery room again tonight. You can come with me, but this time you can't act rashly. Can you promise me?"
"… Okay."
"Then let's make a hook."
Mo Xi glanced at him coldly.
Gu Mang froze and tactfully scratched his face with his hand that was halfway down. The corners of his lips curled up as he chuckled. Just as he was about to say something to Mochime, the little wooden man suddenly shouted from the side, "Hey! My God! "
Gu Mang's soft and bright black eyes and Mo Xi's cold black eyes turned to him at the same time. The little wooden man choked under their different cold and warm gazes, then he said carefully, "That … two immortals, I remember where I've seen the name 'Lin Yun'."
This was a hill that was buried by several nearby villages and towns. Just like its name, this hill was filled with unmarked graves. Buried here were the nameless corpses of those who had died in foreign lands, the bodies of sinners who had received heavy sentences, and the helpless beggars who had no ancestral grave.
"When I died, I was thrown here by the people of Apricot City. They dug a hole and buried me." The little wooden man worked hard to crawl along the mountain path as he said, "Later, my bones were moved to the ancient peach tree. But when I have nothing to do, I come here to stroll. There's a lot of Yin Qi here, so I feel very comfortable."
Mo Xi asked, "Where is Lin Yun's grave?"
"We're here, we're here. His grave just appeared this month. Few people come to the unmarked graves, and it's rare to see a grave with a tombstone. Although it's only a small wooden tablet, it's already a rare object. I've looked at it many times out of curiosity before, and even sat on his grave to bask in the moonlight for a night. "The little wooden man talked endlessly," Damn, how could I forget before? "
Not long after, they arrived under a crooked jujube tree. The soil there had obviously been recently dug up. At the very front of the mound was a sign that was crookedly inserted. There were only four simple words written on the sign — —
Gu Mang and Mo Xi looked at each other. Mo Xi bent down, put his hand on the grave, closed his eyes to sense it, and then stood up.
"How is it?"
He shook his head, "There are no signs of violence. I can't feel his soul."
Generally speaking, the souls that could be sensed and summoned by cultivators were malicious ghosts, or new ghosts that had just died. Other ghosts would float to the underworld after the first seven days, and reincarnate. Since Mo Xi said so, then Lin Yun's soul should no longer be in this unmarked grave.
But Gu Mang thought for a while, and then said, "Well, let me try."
Seeing Mo Xi's doubtful eyes, Gu Mang explained, "Seven days after a person's death, although his soul is no longer there, the corpse will leave behind a residual memory. Our Yan Bie Hall has a spell that is specially used to trace back this residual memory." He paused for a moment, and then said, "But it depends on the person. If the deceased didn't want others to know about him, we can't read these secrets."
"But if Lin Yun had some things that he didn't want others to know …" Gu Mang's eyes fell on the small wooden tablet. He didn't say anything more, but sat down on the grave.
"Let me try first," he said. "But I haven't completely mastered this spell, so I'm not familiar with it. If you wake me up, my memory may be confused. So unless I open my eyes myself, don't wake me up. "
After getting Mo Xi's agreement, Gu Mang sat cross-legged with his hands in a mudra, and slowly closed his eyes.
"Today, I abandon my old body, and return everything to the void. Outside the new grave, I sit idly and talk about my life. Ask what the monarch thinks, what the wise monarch remembers, if the bones of the spring have regrets, don't be afraid of the wild grass. "
As the last word fell from his lips, a light breeze suddenly appeared on the unmarked grave, as if countless whispers emerged from the ground, and rushed towards Gu Mang. Gu Mang's body was covered in a layer of blue spiritual fire. After a moment, the flame completely merged with Gu Mang.
The surroundings gradually brightened.
Gu Mang stood in Lin Yun's residual memory. It was dusk, and a seven or eight-year-old boy ran back to the embroidery workshop crying. He was covered in mud, like a skinny monkey that had just rolled around in the paddy field.
"Father! Mother! Wuwu! "
The woman weaving at the edge of the machine hurriedly stood up, and the man who was busy inside also poked his head out. When he saw the boy's miserable appearance, he laughed and scolded, "This little good-for-nothing, did you fight with Su Qiao again?"
"I didn't fight with her! I just wanted to take her to the city to see a monkey show, but who knew that she wouldn't listen to me, and said, and said … "The boy sobbed for a while, and then burst into tears," She even said that playing with me was better than playing with a monkey! She kicked me into the paddy field, and even threw stones at me!! "
Gu Mang thought of what Mo Xi had said, and thought that this boy must be Lin Yun, and these two must be Lin Yun's father and mother.
Lin Yun's father laughed, "You're older than her, and you're still a man, but she chased after you and hit you every day. You're still crying, I feel ashamed for you." As he spoke, he scratched his face twice.
Lin Yun's mother turned around and glared at her husband, "Alright, can you stop making sarcastic remarks? Come, Yun 'er, follow me to the backyard to take a bath. Look at you, you're so dirty. Su Qiao is really outrageous. She's just a girl, but she's as naughty as a bandit. When her mother recovers, I'll definitely go to her house and talk about it. How can a girl be raised like this? Let's see who dares to want her in the future. "
Lin Yun's father was still smiling, and winked at Lin Yun, "As long as she's beautiful, it's fine. Son, don't you think so?"
Lin Yun choked, and blew out a snot bubble with mud on it, but didn't say anything.
Gu Mang saw that his neck, which wasn't covered by mud, had turned red.
The mother and son walked to the backyard hand in hand, and Lin Yun's father seemed to have thought of something, and shouted at the top of his voice, "Hey, my son's mother, sister-in-law's illness hasn't recovered yet?"
"No, I just went to see her yesterday, and she's still crooked at home. If she's recovered, would Su Qiao run around like a monkey? Later, I'll kill a chicken and stew it. You can take it to their house to nourish them. I think Su Qiao's father has been very tired recently, and he always coughs when he speaks. It'll be troublesome if both husband and wife get sick. "
Lin Yun's father laughed happily, "My wife is cruel and kind. Alright, tell me when you're done stewing it, and I'll send it to their house."
After a pause, he suddenly asked his son, "Hey, Yun 'er, why don't you send it to Su Qiao's house?"
"I …" Lin Yun's face was so red that it almost came out from under the mud. Finally, he said hesitantly, "I'll go, I'm not afraid of her."
After he finished speaking, he followed his mother to the backyard, and disappeared by the door frame.
The surroundings gradually darkened, and when the light came again, Gu Mang found that he was no longer in the embroidery room, but standing on the outskirts of Lotus Town.
It shouldn't have been too long ago, and Lin Yun's family was still wearing summer clothes, standing under the scorching sun.
But this was already the scene of a funeral.
A girl who was younger than Lin Yun was wearing mourning clothes, and it was Su Qiao. Su Qiao was wearing mourning clothes that were too big for her, like a cloth bag. She knelt in front of the grave and cried loudly, her thin shoulders shaking.
The villagers who came to help sighed and whispered, some women wiped their tears, some were full of sympathy and kept shaking their heads.
"How pitiful, such a small child, both her parents are gone, how will she live in the future?"
"Hey, what can we do? She got that kind of disease … Fortunately, the girl is still young and didn't help to kill the pig, or else she would be stained by the blood of the sick animal, and then all three of them would be gone."
"The little girl's life is too hard …"
In the crowd, Lin Yun looked up and quietly pulled his mother's sleeve, "Mother."
Lin Yun's mother touched his head, moved her teary eyes away from the girl, and lowered her eyes to wipe her tears, asking, "What's wrong?"
"Mother … Let's … Let's bring sister Qiao back to live." He said carefully, "Otherwise … Otherwise, where can she go?"
"This …"
"You and father were discussing it yesterday, I heard it. Mother, although our family isn't rich, if we leave sister Qiao alone in her original house, the house will be empty, and her parents won't be there, how pitiful. " Seeing his mother's hesitation, Lin Yun said, "Let her live with us, she's nimble and can help you. If you … If you're afraid of not having enough food, I, I can eat less. "
Lin Yun's mother looked at him with tears in her eyes.
Lin Yun was almost pleading, "You really don't have to take care of her, I'll take care of her …"
His voice faded, and the light dimmed again.
Gu Mang thought in his heart, 'How strange, according to what the innkeeper said before, Lin Yun didn't have any contact with his parents after getting married, it sounded like a cold-blooded and unfilial son.' But in this memory, not only was Lin Yun not heartless, he was very kind, and even seemed to like his sister Su Qiao very much, but Su Qiao didn't care about him.
Then what happened later …
Gu Mang didn't have time to finish thinking, the light around him began to twist again, but this time the scene didn't settle down quickly, he could only see some blurry, flashing fragments —
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
