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墨書 Inktalez
"Who stole your child?"
As soon as Yin Yuan asked this question, he couldn't help but want to slap himself.
The child's belongings were found on the hillside behind Wang San's family, and now Aunt Li was clinging to Wang San, which was quite obvious. The matters concerning Aunt Li's family were likely related to Wang San. But looking at Wang San in the courtyard, who was still carrying his wife's corpse with a bewildered expression, Yin Yuan felt that he didn't seem like the kind of person who could commit such an act. After all, Wang San looked too incompetent.
He gently patted the baby in his arms while looking at Aunt Li, the corner of his mouth curling slightly towards the courtyard: "Are you sure this is something Wang San did? With his character, he might not even be able to kill a chicken, let alone murder someone and bury a body."
Aunt Li was breathing heavily, her dead white eyes fixed tightly on the baby in Yin Yuan's arms.
"Stop staring! Staring won't help you; instead, tell me why you suspect Wang San. Maybe I can help you out."
Yin Yuan stepped forward and saw Chang Tai rushing into the house with a sword. He waved his hand lightly, and time suddenly froze.
"Look, your time is running out. My presence and my powers can only allow me to listen to your ramblings for a little longer."
"It's Wang San! It was definitely Wang San and those people from the village!"
Aunt Li almost screamed, her neck skin violently twitching before tearing open a hole that oozed some foul liquid.
Yin Yuan covered his mouth and nose and took a step back.
"Slow down; you're already half-dead. Your voice can barely hold up as it is. If you don't take care of it, you might not be able to speak at all."
Aunt Li seemed to realize that her throat was losing strength and awkwardly reached out to cover it. Unfortunately, being dead meant her limbs weren't as nimble as when she was alive; she could only stretch halfway before giving up. She looked at Yin Yuan for help but saw that he had no intention of assisting her, so she let her arm fall back to its original position.
"Well! If this keeps up, everything will be revealed. I'm not a Taoist nor do I deal with exorcising demons or catching ghosts, but with all this commotion you're causing, if the people from the underworld don't hurry to take you away, how could I justify my mother's Ghost Card? Most importantly, I'm here; if I'm just watching for fun and it gets back to the Underworld Lord, I might end up being blamed for poor parenting."
Yin Yuan was rambling on, while Aunt Li listened in confusion. She glanced outside at Chang Tai and the Village Chief, who seemed to be getting ready to move again, and hurriedly let out a breath from the hole.
"You see, your time is running out."
Yin Yuan continued, casually waving a hand, and time froze once more, the space solidifying again. The Infant in her arms seemed to sense this strange change, squinting its newly opened eyes and letting out a giggle.
Aunt Li looked at Yin Yuan's beautiful face, her eyes gradually returning to their normal state.
Yin Yuan knew that Aunt Li had given up; after she cast the Spell, she had surrendered, even relinquishing her desire for revenge.
"Well, if your story is interesting, I will help you take revenge."
Yin Yuan dozed off for a moment, found a chair to sit on, and then lowered her head to play with the child in her arms.
"That night, when I returned home from the Back Mountain, I found my door wide open."
"Maybe your Son woke up in the middle of the night and went out looking for you."
"Impossible!" Aunt Li lifted her face. "I remember clearly that before I left, I locked all the doors and windows because I was afraid that if the child woke up and couldn't find me, he would run outside. Also, you saw how small this village is. I was nearby at home; if my child called for me after waking up, there’s no way I wouldn’t hear him."
"You make a valid point; please continue!"
"Though I am a Woman, I am not a fool. Whether it's the front door or the Bedroom door, I locked them from the outside. No matter how capable my child is, he could never open them from inside. The only possibility is that someone took my child while I was out. Furthermore, when I returned and passed by Wang San's Family, their lights were clearly on. But when I discovered my child was missing and rushed out calling his name, their lights were off. Doesn’t that seem strange?"
"It is indeed very strange!"
"The child is gone, and I have a faint feeling that it was Wang San who did it. So, under the pretense of searching for my child, I knocked on their door. When Wang San saw me, he panicked and desperately tried to stop me from entering their home. Later, I saw Wang San's mother sneaking out of the house. Who else could have stolen my child if not them? Who else?"
Aunt Li's emotions flared up again, and the hole in her throat widened. Yin Yuan, seeing this, felt a pang of sympathy. He searched around the room and found a bowl on the bedside with some wide noodles in it. He picked up a piece and tossed it onto Aunt Li's neck. With a tearing sound, a dark mist emerged, and Aunt Li winced in pain but soon realized her throat had been healed.
"It’s temporary; it won’t last long. Speak quickly."
"Thank... thank you!" Aunt Li looked gratefully at Yin Yuan and continued, "I knew in my heart that the disappearance of my child must be the doing of Wang San's Family. So I wanted to go inside to search, but they blocked me and wouldn’t let me in. Later, the Village Chief arrived. After hearing my story, he went in to help me look."
"Did the Village Chief find your child?"
"No!" Aunt Li shook her head. "The Village Chief searched every house but couldn’t find any trace of my child. He told me to look elsewhere and even suggested I ask some villagers for help. At that time, I believed him and was quite grateful. Only later did I realize that they were all in cahoots! They are all in cahoots!"
"What about evidence?" Yin Yuan raised an eyebrow. "Did you see anything? My Uncle Chang, the top Constable of Divine Capital Luoyang, told me that cases need evidence. If you have proof that your child's disappearance is related to the Village Chief or anyone in this village, I will have Uncle Chang arrest everyone here."
"Evidence! Am I not evidence myself?" Aunt Li exclaimed, stretching her neck out long. "I can tell that you are different from the people in this village; you are not one of the Common People. Can’t you see that I have been harmed?"
"I am neither a Constable, nor a Coroner, nor a doctor; how could I possibly know?"
Yin Yuan snorted lightly, sounding quite justified.
"Do you know about Dodder?"
"Of course!" Yin Yuan narrowed his eyes. "Could it be that your death is related to this herb?"
Aunt Li nodded.
"I have been meticulously cared for by these villagers over the years. But what they call care is actually surveillance, because they are afraid—afraid that I will continue searching for my child, afraid that I will uncover the truth they have worked so hard to hide. Just recently, I accidentally overheard an argument between two people and realized that these villagers are far more terrifying than I had imagined."
"Truth?"
"Yes! The truth! The truth about my child’s father’s disappearance, as well as the truth about my child's disappearance." Aunt Li slowly backed away until she leaned against the doorpost, her frail body resting against it. "Back then, I was desperately searching for my two daughters who were sold by my ex-husband, Dong Qing. To find those two daughters, I sold everything of value in my home and handed all the silver to him, asking him to use it to redeem my daughters. Perhaps we spoke too loudly, and Wang San Niang next door overheard us.
At that time, the famine had just passed, and everyone was struggling, while our family was relatively better off. Wang San was a good-natured boy, but his mother was a formidable character; he listened to her every word. She instructed him to keep an eye on their father, and he did just that. When she told him to snatch something from their father, he went ahead and did it. Once something was taken, it couldn’t be returned; if they kept it all for themselves, their father wouldn’t survive."
"So Wang San and his mother acted ruthlessly?"
"It wasn't them who acted; it was others." Aunt Li gasped for breath. "Just after Wang San and his mother took the things and were discussing how to deal with their father, he spotted a familiar face—young Guang Mao. He intended to seek help from Guang Mao, but this matter ended up being reported to the village chief. It was then that I understood why Wang San Niang had been so secretive when my child went missing and why she tried so hard to prevent me from entering her bedroom; it was because the village chief was there at that time. They were both a widower and a widow who had already become close in private."
"Wow! That's quite a revelation! I never expected the village chief to still be stirring up such scandalous affairs in the village at his age."
Aunt Li forced a bitter smile and continued, "That night, I don't know what they discussed in the ancestral hall. All I know is that everyone in the village reached an unspoken agreement—to make my child’s father disappear from this world and then divide the silver among themselves. You can imagine how terrified I felt when I heard this; I knew that with my own strength alone, I couldn’t do anything to them, so I planned to escape first."
"And then you were discovered?"
"Yes, I was discovered! They pretended to care for me and said they would make me some porridge, but instead forced me to drink an entire bowl of dodder seed porridge. My child’s father used to be a shepherd when he was alive; I naturally recognized this dodder seed. It is a good medicine when taken in moderation; however, an overdose can cause severe nausea, vomiting, or even convulsions. If someone is already unwell, it can lead to blurred vision, throat bleeding, or even death. That’s how they poisoned me." Aunt Li said as she lowered her head and opened her abdomen with her hands. "Would you like to take a look?"
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