One could imagine Zhao Xiangmei’s resentment that she even went after the dead bodies. Bei Qian studied the stone plaque for a long time. His eyes lingered on the bloody message. The elder looked very experienced.
“Was Zhao Xiangmei a local of Little Ravine Village?” Bei Qian turned to ask the village head.
“No.” The village head shook his head. “The old Village Chief Qian picked her up from outside. No one knew from where.”
For the travellers, the situation was not optimistic. A traveller had already been killed, but so far, they hadn’t obtained any useful information about the ghost. Other than her name and her gender, they knew nothing about her. The NPCs for this mission were quite… unreliable. They only kept stressing how scary and terrifying the ghost was.
“We…” The village, who came with the news, probed, “Can we leave now?” He was uncomfortable even just standing there. If not for the village head’s order, he wouldn’t even be there that day. The village head glanced at him. He was telling him that he was not the decision-maker but the expert that came from outside. Therefore, the man turned to look at Bei Qian with puppy eyes.
By then, Bei Qian had already copied down the curse on a piece of cloth. He stood up, looked around and said, “Let’s go.”
The man instantly turned and left. The village head and the tanned man hurried to follow. They moved so much faster than when they came. Jiang Cheng walked at the back of the team. When he was about 10 meters away, he suddenly turned back to look. It was an instinct that compelled him to do so. He could sense a resentful gaze staring at him. Venomous, twisted, mad… these were the words Jiang Cheng would describe the feeling he got.
His eyes slowly moved to the pool. Under the black water, there was a pair of crimson eyes. When Jiang Cheng met the eyes, a strange feeling rose in his heart. It was like… something had been bound within him. He quickly averted his gaze. He ran to catch up to Chen Xiaomeng. He patted the girl’s shoulder and pointed at the centre of the pool. “Look. What is that?”
But… Chen Xiaomeng didn’t look at where he was pointing. Instead, she regarded him with an amused gaze. Then, she leaned in to whisper into his ear. “Mr. Hao Shuai, congratulations. You’re the winner.” As a smile was about to bloom on her face, a gasp exploded in her eyes.
“Idiot!” Chen Xiaomeng cursed under her breath. At that moment, Jiang Cheng was smiling. He looked at Chen Xiaomeng, puffed out his chest that was stuffed with steamed buns and sauntered away proudly.
“Dragon… Lady.” Jiang Zhongyi came to Chen Xiaomeng and asked nervously, “Did you see anything? I saw there were…”
“I saw nothing.” Chen Xiaomeng turned and left.
Jiang Zhongyi watched Chen Xiaomeng leave. He had no idea how he had offended her. He was so confused.
The journey back was uneventful. There was a stretch of slippery road. Lee Lu tripped and accidentally bumped into a tree. She twisted her right left. Either the mountain had a different time flow, or the nightmare realm’s time was different from normal. When they returned to the village, it was almost late afternoon.
The village head said that he still had something to do, so he ordered the tanned man to send the travellers back to the courtyard. He also added that someone would send food over later.
“Will there be meat?” Jiang Cheng captured the village head and asked.
The village head’s face turned awkward. Then, he nodded with determination. “Yes.”
Jiang Cheng let him go.
After they returned to the courtyard, they didn’t rest but gathered in a house to have a meeting. Zhou Rong helped the wounded Lee Lu very gentlemanly. The latter blushed as she thanked him profusely.
Bei Qian took out the copied curse and spread it on the table. “Zhao Xiangmei was not a simple person,” His first statement grabbed everyone’s attention. Jiang Zhongyi was still resistant to the message even though it was in copied form. His expression was strange. “Are there any issues… with these words?”
“I’m guessing Elder Bei Qian meant that not only did Zhao Xiangmei know words, but she might also have received a great education.” Zhao Rong scratched his chin.
“Indeed.” Bei Qian nodded. He looked around and continued, “Even though the handwriting is a mess, I can tell the writer’s calligraphy background from the strokes. Plus… I noticed a few obtuse words in the curse.” He slowly straightened up. “Considering the era and environment we’re in, what kind of young lady could receive such a wonderful education?”
Yu Man narrowed her eyes. “Someone from the city.”
“More than that.” Bei Qian said, “She should be from a scholarly and rich family.”
“But why would such a person be involved in human trafficking?” Jiang Zhongyi didn’t believe it. “Plus, Zhao Xiangmei didn’t sound like the name of a rich family’s daughter.”
“That’s simple. Zhao Xiangmei is a fake name.” Chen Xiaomeng replied, “As for whether a rich family’s daughter would be involved in human trafficking… I fail to see any correlation.” Then, she gave Jiang Cheng a side-eye and scoffed, “After all, there are many well-dressed animals.”
Jiang Cheng looked at her dumbly as if he didn’t understand her.
Before the situation escalated, Bei Qian pulled the attention back to the case and steadied his reputation. He regarded Jiang Cheng seriously and asked out of politeness, “Mr. Yi, do you have great ideas that you would like to share with us?” He didn’t really expect or even want a response from Jiang Cheng.
Jiang Cheng seemed to have found the chance he had been waiting for. He rubbed his hands and licked his lips, “Since you’ve asked so politely, then I shall oblige…”