This is the second time Jiang Xixi has come to Bulaotun, this time, she is no longer like last time, alone to come, behind her, followed by more than a dozen Xin'an Mansion officials, they are not usually used knives and sticks, but shovels and hoes, used for digging, every peasant household is indispensable to such tools.
"My lord, can you start?"
The official who took the lead waited for her to speak.
Jiang Xixi glanced at Aunt Zhang, who was standing next to her and sobbing, and nodded at him, "Dig, you can't let go of every inch of land, including the bottom of the house, all of them will be dug up for me." ” "Yes."
A deafening roar made Aunt Zhang's body tremble a few times, and she watched as the servants rushed into the courtyard, shoveling out all the vegetable seedlings that they had carefully cared for, and then going deeper layer by layer, shovels and hoes went down together, poking open the soft soil at the top layer, and marching towards a more solid layer of soil below.
Aunt Zhang trembled and waited silently, but she didn't know what she was waiting for, until a servant shouted at Jiang Xixi: "My lord, there is a discovery."
Only then did she feel that the sweat all over her body seemed to come out in an instant, soaking layers of clothing.
Jiang Xixi walked quickly towards the courtyard, her eyes narrowed, staring at the thing buried in the dirt that had not seen the light of day for a long time.
"My lord, this is a bone, a human bone."
As he spoke, the servant reached out and picked up the yellowed bone, but as soon as he held it, the fragile thigh bone snapped open and fell back into the dirt where he had been sleeping for a long time.
With a "bang", Aunt Zhang's body slammed into the ground, she didn't seem to be able to bear the nightmarish scene in front of her, and she fell backwards and fainted.
Jiang Xixi was just about to help her up, when another exclamation came from the house, "My lord, there are also discoveries in the house." ” With these words, a servant ran out of the Zhang family's house with a panicked face, and in his hand, he held a horn, the horn of a huge goat.
Seventeen bones were neatly placed in front of the Zhang family's courtyard, and it took two whole days to sort out the bones, because some of them were broken, and some of them had even been mixed with the soil, and they needed to be shaken little by little with a sieve to distinguish the broken bones from the soil particles.
Of course, there are relatively fresh bones, and the rest of it is there, but the abdomen is gone, as if it has been devoured alive by something.
The bones belonged to Cui Yu, the weak, delicate and white little girl, who was now staring at a pair of big hollow eyes, the undersides of which were filled with mud, and from time to time a maggot or two popped up.
Jiang Xixi's gaze moved from these bones covered with white cloth to Cheng Muyou, who had a serious face, "My lord, what do you think?"
” "Have all these people been identified?"
Jiang Xixi lowered his head, "Except for Cui Yu, the others have not yet been identified, because the body has been buried for too long, and they can't distinguish what they looked like before they were born." ” "Didn't the son of the Wen family say that there were often people who fled in Bulaotun before, and these bones may be those who fled," Cheng Muyou seemed to say to Jiang Xixi and seemed to be talking to himself, "And the man named Li Meng who disappeared around here ten years ago will also become one of the bones?"
” "The subordinates should let people notify Li Meng's family now, see if they can identify him, if there is something special about Li Meng, maybe he can still be identified through the bones, but those who fled will be difficult to do, they are already unknown, and they don't know where their relatives are now, I am afraid that they will not be able to verify their identity."
"Ten years ago, the situation was turbulent, and these people were afraid of being implicated, so they fled here, but they didn't expect to get out of the tiger's den and enter the wolf's den, and they couldn't avoid it."
He said gloomily, "It's a pity, you have to record the morphological characteristics of all the bones, even if no one can recognize them now, there is no guarantee that no one will come to look for relatives in the future, maybe you can let them return to their roots at that time, and you don't have to be a lonely soul in this vast world." ” Seeing the sadness he said, Jiang Xixi also sighed, "My lord, is that Zhang Rui really a sheep monster who only eats people, and these people all died under his hands?"
” Cheng Muyou just wanted to answer, but the courtyard door next to him was suddenly pushed open, and Granny Zhong covered her face with her hands, separating herself from the bones wrapped in white cloth, while trotting forward with two small feet.
Seeing this, Jiang Xixi hurriedly stopped her, Granny Zhong saw that she couldn't hide, so she could only reluctantly come over, she saluted Cheng Mu, "My lord, I am timid and timid, I hide when others kill chickens on weekdays, but I didn't expect that there are so many bones hidden around me, hey, how can I live here again." ” Cheng Muyou stared at her for a while, "Dead people are not terrible, you see, they have been neighbors with you for so many years, and they have not bothered you, but they are living people, and they are more worthy of vigilance." ” Granny Zhong glanced at the bones, and quickly shrunk her neck and turned her head, "The adult speaks in a literary manner, and the old woman can't understand it, but that Zhang Rui is a scholar, can he really do such a murderous thing without blinking?"
” Cheng Muyou took a step forward, "Old woman, have you been living in this Bulaotun?"
” Granny Zhong pinned a few strands of messy hair on her forehead behind her ears, "The old woman was born here, grew up here, got married and had children here, I'm afraid I will spend my whole life here." ” "Then why don't you leave, it is said that the feng shui here is not good, so many villagers have moved to the city."
Granny Zhong shook her shoulders and sneered twice, "Not good?
How bad could it be?
The old man and the stinky boy are all dead, and the old woman is left alone, who wants to take this life, what is the difference between one day earlier and one day later?
” He was silent for a while, and then asked, "I wonder if you have seen anything strange around here?"
” Granny Zhong waved her hand again and again, "Except for the fact that there are more people dying here, there is nothing different from other places," she put the bamboo basket back on her back, "My lord, if there is nothing else, the old body will go first, but these bones, please remove them quickly, pile them here, I don't even dare to go out of the door." ” Cheng Muyou nodded, watching her rickety back gradually drift away, just wanted to turn around, but saw the mother-in-law Zhong stop and turned around, "My lord, strange things are not nothing, a few nights, I heard the sound of 'da-da-da' hooves in the courtyard of the Zhang family, and once, I saw a pair of sheep's horns the size of tree branches flashing in front of the window, but it is strange to say, this Zhang family does not raise sheep, why is there a big goat in the courtyard for no reason." ”