Li Zhiyuan shifted his gaze away; this time, he couldn’t blame Binbin for being a coward, as he himself could hardly stand the sight of those eyes.
"Xiao Yuan, it’s impossible to continue stripping it away unless we scoop out the rice or try lifting her out."
"No need, leave it ."
Li Zhiyuan sniffed. He detected a nauseating smell.
"Brother Runsheng, do you smell that?"
"Eh, no, just the faint stench of a corpse. Xiao Yuan, what do you smell?"
"I smell a hint of fragrance."
Li Zhiyuan shook his head and looked toward the water tank. The water in the tank had probably not been changed for quite some time, and due to the darkness in the room, it wasn’t clear but rather looked somewhat black.
Tan Wenbin immediately shook his head like crazy and yelled out to Run Sheng: "Brother Runsheng."
Run Sheng didn’t hesitate. Wearing a tank top, he didn’t need to roll up his sleeves; he simply dipped his entire arm into the tank and started stirring and rummaging.
Eventually, he pulled out his soaking wet arm and flicked the water off: "There’s nothing inside."
Tan Wenbin suggested, "Then, shall we step out for now?"
Run Sheng glanced at him: "You were the one clamoring to come here, and you’re also the one quick to fear at the sight of it."
Tan Wenbin: "Isn’t that just how normal people respond?"
Li Zhiyuan walked towards the bedroom, Run Sheng followed, and Tan Wenbin took one more glance at the eyes in the rice vat...
Then immediately turned around and hurriedly chased after them.
There were two beds in the bedroom, one large and one small, both shrouded in blue mosquito nets, with bamboo mats spread out on them.
There was a neatly folded quilt on the large bed, and a blanket laid on the smaller one.
Under the mats of both beds there were several layers of thick quilts used as mattress pads, which made the beds softer and more comfortable to sleep on.
Run Sheng pointed to the area under the bed and the surrounding wardrobes: "Xiao Yuan, I’ve checked these places. Nothing unusual."
Tan Wenbin pointed at the quilt and shouted, "The quilt, the quilt, why is there such a thick quilt in the middle of summer?"
Run Sheng approached, lifted the mosquito net, and pulled the quilt over, unfolding it to reveal nothing but a thick quilt.
"Brother Runsheng, lift the mats on both beds."
Run Sheng peeled back the mat on the small bed first, revealing several layers of cotton wadding.
When it came time to lift the mat on the large bed, Tan Wenbin hurried over and lifted it himself. Then, holding onto a corner of the mat with one hand, he stood on tiptoe and started trembling as if going in circles.
He was... spasming with fright.
Under the mat of the large bed was also thick cotton wadding.
But in the middle of this wadding was a person, a grown woman, and she was very thin.
Most of her body was covered with cotton wadding, with only her face, belly, and feet exposed.
The woman’s eyes were open, completely stuffed with cotton, looking somewhat swollen.
And at the eyes, the cotton was bulging upwards, as if new cotton had sprouted.
"Put it down, Brother Binbin."
Binbin loosened his grip, and the mat fell back down, covering the wadding and the woman inside once again.
Immediately after, Tan Wenbin approached Li Zhiyuan. Li Zhiyuan stepped aside, forcing Tan Wenbin to move towards Run Sheng and hug him; he needed the comfort.
He was close to tears; in fact, tears had already gathered in the corners of his eyes.
With a tremulous voice tinged with sobs, he asked, "Xiao Yuan, what do we do now?"
"Brother Binbin, don’t be scared."
"I’m not scared..." Tan Wenbin took a defiant deep breath, but was pushed away by Run Sheng the next moment.
Unsteady on his feet, he fell backward onto the large bed’s mat.
The thought of what lay beneath made Tan Wenbin leap up like a spring.
"I’m scared, I’m scared!"
Li Zhiyuan patted Tan Wenbin’s arm: "Don’t be scared, Brother Binbin, let’s go call your father."
To be fair, when Tan Yunlong’s image sprung to his mind, Tan Wenbin’s fear truly subsided quite a bit, even if his dad took off his belt in front of him, he still felt that it was a blisteringly warm and affectionate gesture.
Li Zhiyuan was the first to exit the mud hut, while Run Sheng grabbed the window they had taken off earlier, intending to reinstall it, but Tan Wenbin inside shouted to wait.
Then ’click’, Tan Wenbin locked the wooden door from the inside.
Following this, he crawled out through the window, telling Run Sheng to put the window back in place.
"Hehe, Brother Xiao Yuan, I locked the door and wiped down the key and lock, so now there won’t be any fingerprints from Brother Runsheng picking the lock, reducing our trouble."
Tan Wenbin felt quite professional with this move.
"When your dad comes, Runsheng can pick the lock. Moreover, you didn’t just wipe off Runsheng’s fingerprints, you wiped off all the fingerprints."
"This..." Tan Wenbin realized he had made a foolish, pointless mistake.
"Let’s go, we need to call your father."
Ideally, someone should have stayed to watch over the scene, but none of them seemed suitable to be left alone, so in the end, all three walked out together.
After walking a good distance away, they heard someone calling from behind: "Hey, Marquis Runsheng! Marquis Runsheng!"
The three turned to see the village chief riding a bicycle on the road they came from, waving from a distance: "Marquis Runsheng, did you find it, did you?"
Run Sheng raised his hand and shouted back: "Not yet!"
At this moment, in the three’s field of vision, the village chief coming on the bicycle suddenly made a gesture as if turning to the left, raising his hand to greet, saying something with a smile.
This is normally how people respond when greeting others on the road from the houses by the roadside.
And that direction, that location, was exactly Zhou Yong’s home.
The three shifted their heads to look towards Zhou Yong’s house.
Although it was a bit far,
They could still faintly make out a mother and daughter sitting on the embankment.