Chapter 118: Gossip Turns Into Murder Case [seeking Monthly Votes]
“What’s the matter?”
Liang Liang said: “Er Pang said he saw Gao Qi’s mother in the reed marsh yesterday.”
Shang Wan was somewhat surprised. Gui Shi had actually secretly returned.
“Er Pang went to the reed marsh to pick wild duck eggs and suddenly heard strange sounds, so he followed the sounds and saw Gao Qi’s mother fighting with a man.”
“Fighting?” Thinking of a certain possibility, Shang Wan’s expression was a bit odd. “They were both wearing clothes, right?”
Liang Liang blinked his eyes, not understanding why Shang Wan was asking this question.
Carefully recalling what Er Pang had said, Liang Liang nodded. “Wearing clothes.”
Shang Wan breathed a sigh of relief. Good that she hadn’t corrupted the child.
She asked: “Did Er Pang see clearly who that man was?”
“No, Er Pang only saw a back view. The voice sounded very familiar, so it should be a villager.”
Shang Wan nodded, figuring that man was the adulterer.
Originally she had only taken it as gossip, but who would have thought the gossip turned into a murder case the next day.
Gui Shi was dead.
She died in the reed marsh, and it was Er Pang that unlucky child who discovered her.
The day before yesterday he picked two wild duck eggs, yesterday also two, and after tasting the sweetness, today he went again to try his luck.
Unexpectedly, he didn’t pick any wild duck eggs but saw a female corpse with bare upper body.
The child was immediately scared and burst into loud cries, alarming the adults washing clothes by the riverside.
Everyone followed the crying sounds and found Er Pang collapsed on the ground. Not far away, Gui Shi was lying on her side, her eyes wide open in death.
Her upper clothes were pulled down to her waist, exposing her plump skin and flesh. A sharpened wooden stick pierced from her front chest through to her back, blood flowing down her skin and flesh, staining the ground beneath her red.
“It’s Gui Shaofen!”
“Didn’t she go crazy and run out of the village? How did she die here?”
“There’s been a murder! Quickly notify the village chief!”
The adults were also startled. Someone shouted that there was a dead person and ran to the Lin family to notify Village Chief Lin.
Hearing there was a dead person in the reed marsh, the village immediately buzzed. Everyone, whether idle or not, hurried toward the reed marsh.
Gao Laotai heard that Gui Shi had died in the reed marsh and fainted from shock.
“Gao Qi, Gao Qi! Your mother is dead, hurry and go see!”
Someone entered the room and shouted for Gao Qi, only for a bowl to smash toward them. If the person hadn’t instinctively dodged, their face would surely have been bloodied.
The porcelain bowl smashed against the door and shattered into several pieces.
The person quickly jumped aside. “Gao Qi, what madness are you having? I’m kindly notifying you, why smash me?”
“Aah!”
A pair of wooden chopsticks flew next. The disheveled man on the kang had bloodshot eyes. He opened his mouth, but could only emit hoarse roars, not a single word.
The person was scared by his ferocious appearance and didn’t dare stay in the room longer. They helped the fainted Gao Laotai to another room and hurriedly left.
With such a big commotion in the village, Shang Wan couldn’t possibly not hear it. Everyone has curiosity, so the family tidied up and hurried to the reed marsh to see.
Ma Jieyong felt itchy like a cat scratching in his heart and glanced at his master several times.
He also wanted to go watch the excitement.
He Sizhi glanced at him. “The host family paid wages, so we should work. It’s not time to rest yet.”
Ma Jieyong sighed. Gao Yan said softly, “There’s been a murder. The matter is definitely not small. When it’s time to rest later, we can run over and make it in time.”
With these words, Ma Jieyong reined in some of his eagerness to fly to the reed marsh, sped up his work, just to rest earlier and go watch the excitement sooner.
When Shang Wan and her group arrived at the reed marsh, the spot where Gui Shi met with trouble was already surrounded by layers of people inside and out.
Shi Tou stood on tiptoes looking inside, but due to his height limit, he couldn’t see anything.
“Su!” Yuan Yuan reached out her small hand to tug Shi Tou’s pants, her little baby voice urgent. “Hug!”
Looking at Yuan Yuan’s fair and tender little face, Shi Tou hesitated a bit.
What dead person was a little baby girl going to see? What if she got scared and had nightmares?
Yuan Yuan was very persistent, her small hand pulling so hard she nearly tugged Shi Tou’s pants off.
Shi Tou grabbed his waistband tightly and looked at his sister with a bitter face.
Shang Wan thought for a moment and said to Yuan Yuan: “Good cub, if you get scared, no crying.”
“Okay!” Yuan Yuan nodded her little head vigorously.
Cub not afraid, cub not cry!
“Hug her.” Shang Wan signaled Shi Tou with her eyes.
Xiao Huan worriedly said: “Sister, really let Yuan Yuan see?”
Shang Wan nodded: “Yes.”
Seeing that Lu Chengjing had no objection either, Shi Tou then reached out to pick up Yuan Yuan and lifted the little one to sit on his neck.
Yuan Yuan, whose view suddenly rose high, excitedly patted Shi Tou’s head, slap slap slap, like patting a watermelon.
Though her little meat hands were soft, they hurt when hitting.
Shi Tou bared his teeth in pain. “Yuan Yuan, if you pat uncle again, he’ll become dumb.”
Hearing this, Yuan Yuan quickly stopped her patting small hands and switched to obediently hugging, even lowering her little head and pouting her little mouth to blow on her uncle’s head.
The cool wind on his head gave Shi Tou goosebumps.
He shivered, held Yuan Yuan and walked forward, asking as he went: “Yuan Yuan, what did you see?”
Yuan Yuan blinked her big eyes and spat out one word: “Head!”
“And?”
“Red!”
“Person!”
Shi Tou: “…”
Forget it, he’d better squeeze in and see for himself.
Some villagers saw Lu Chengjing and Shang Wan and shouted: “The Xiucai Scholar and Xiucai Scholar’s Wife are here.”
The villagers successively made way for a path, making it convenient for Shang Wan to push the wheelchair in. Xiao Huan and Shi Tou hurriedly followed.
In the inner circle, Village Chief Lin was discussing something with Old Man Wu and a few others. Seeing Shang Wan and Lu Chengjing, they all looked over.
Shang Wan raised her eyes to look at the corpse not far away.
Gui Shi’s corpse hadn’t been moved. Her wide-open eyes had been closed, her originally bare upper body was covered with a blue outer shirt, the ground beneath her was dyed reddish-brown with blood, and there were blood splatters on the surrounding reed leaves.
“Auntie, how did she die?”
The woman who had arrived early gestured to Shang Wan. “Oh my, such a thick wooden stick, sharpened to a point at the end, pierced from the chest to the back, her body covered in blood. Scary to death.”
As she spoke, she covered her face. “Her upper clothes were all off. I reckon she was here secretly meeting a wild man. Truly immoral behavior, not learning any lesson at all. See, got killed by the wild man, right?”
Shang Wan was puzzled. “Auntie, how do you know the murderer was a wild man?”
“Just a guess.” The woman said righteously. “I always guess accurately.”
Shang Wan: “…”
While Shang Wan was talking with the woman, Lu Chengjing was invited to join Village Chief Lin and the others’ conversation.
Although Village Chief Lin didn’t like Lu Chengjing, he couldn’t care about that now.
A murder case had suddenly occurred in the village. They needed to quickly find the murderer, or his days as village chief were numbered.
He proactively asked for Lu Chengjing’s opinion. Lu Chengjing countered: “What clues are there currently?”
“There are signs of fighting around, and several large footprints by the corpse.” Village Chief Lin said. “A woman’s feet couldn’t be that big. It must be the murderer’s.”
“Not necessarily.” Lu Chengjing shook his head. “Perhaps left by curious villagers who came forward to check.”
Gui Shi had clothes draped over her, so someone had definitely approached the corpse.
Lu Chengjing asked: “Whose clothes are on the corpse?”
