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墨書 Inktalez
Ruyi Cosmetic Shop
The east gradually brightened, as if someone had brushed a layer of light pink over the pale blue edges, beneath which countless golden rays were hidden.
Yin Yuan glanced at Wang San Niang lying on the ground and walked out of the Bedroom holding the child.
Chang Tai moved his arms, which suddenly felt somewhat numb for some reason. When he looked up, he met the gaze of the now adolescent Yin Yuan. Yin Yuan smiled at him. Chang Tai was momentarily stunned, frozen in place.
From the youthful features of the boy, he could still faintly see traces of young Yin Yuan, but it was hard to believe that a child had grown into a graceful youth overnight. He rubbed his eyes and saw the boy standing in a beam of morning light with the child in his arms. His throat tightened slightly as he asked, "Who are you..."
"Uncle Chang, don't you want to know what happened in this Bedroom?"
Yin Yuan stepped aside to let Chang Tai see clearly into the room.
"Mother! Where is my mother? She's gone!"
Wang San also woke up. He stumbled around for a moment before laying down his wife, whose body had long since turned cold, and then rushed into the room. Yin Yuan frowned and covered the infant's ears with his hand, then unsurprisingly heard Wang San's piercing wail.
People are like this; they often feel exhilarated when harming others, but when disaster strikes themselves, they become pitiful.
Chang Tai glanced at Yin Yuan again, disregarding any questions, and rushed into the room. With just one look, he saw Wang San Niang lying on the ground with a bloody hole in her chest. The thick smell of blood in the room told him that Wang San Niang had been killed not long ago. He cautiously scanned around but found no trace of Aunt Li, so he covered his mouth and nose and retreated.
"Where is Aunt Li?"
"She was taken back by the people from the Underworld. She stayed in the mortal realm without permission and harmed a living person; she will surely suffer for it. At least she will have to stay in the Eighteen Layers of Hell for a while."
The Underworld, known as Hell in legends, is a place where everyone goes after death. Chang Tai had heard about it from foxes, from the Fox Demon, and even from Li Mao and the Deer Lady. But now, he heard these two words again from the boy in front of him, who stood up casually like someone from a local shop, causing his eyes to darken slightly.
"Who exactly are you?"
Yin Yuan mischievously blinked and said, "Just because I've grown a bit taller, Uncle Chang can't recognize Yin Yuan anymore?"
"You are Yin Yuan?"
"Such an awkward and unpleasant name, could there be someone impersonating me?" Yin Yuan wrinkled his nose and handed the child in his arms to Chang Tai. "I know what you want to ask, don't rush. I'll tell you slowly."
"Wang San Niang was killed by Aunt Li?"
"Does Uncle Chang think I did it?" Yin Yuan raised his eyes. "That's right, Wang San Niang was killed by Aunt Li; I was standing right there. Don't look at me like that. I'm neither a relative of the Wang Family nor an official from the Yamen; I have no obligation to meddle in this matter. Besides, Aunt Li didn't just kill someone randomly; she was seeking revenge. The saying goes that debts must be repaid; if you owe a life, you must return a life. This is only natural. If I hadn't desperately stopped her, Aunt Li might have gone on a rampage and slaughtered the entire village. In fact, I am their benefactor."
Upon learning that the boy before him was indeed Yin Yuan, Chang Tai's wariness eased slightly. He looked into Yin Yuan's eyes and asked, "Do you know something?"
"Aunt Li didn't die of illness; she was conspired against and killed by the people of this village. As for the details, I can't disclose them. The officials and the coroner should be able to find some evidence in the grave where Aunt Li was buried."
As they spoke, the Village Chief emerged from the bedroom with his head down. His face was pale, his lips tinged with a hint of blue, and he murmured to himself, "It's about collecting debts; this is about collecting debts! They're all dead, all dead! We can't escape; none of us can escape!"
"Village Chief!" Chang Tai called out to him unexpectedly and asked, "Aunt Li didn't die of illness, did she?"
"Die of illness? No! She didn't die of illness. She was sick but never truly died. I know what she was waiting for; everyone in our village knows why she clung to life. But we've already done wrong things; we have no choice but to continue making mistakes step by step."
The Village Chief spoke incoherently and stumbled, rolling down the steps in front of the bedroom door.
“Village Chief—”
Chang Tai called out and jumped down, standing in front of Village Chief to block his rolling body.
A glimmer of light flashed in Yin Yuan's eyes, and a playful smile curled at the corners of her mouth as she approached. Leaning down, she whispered in his ear, “Aunt Li has lost her husband and children tragically, so she crawled back from Hell. She wants the lives of everyone in your village; she wants to personally dig out your hearts to see whether they are black or red.”
Village Chief fearfully covered his ears, shaking his head like a rattle drum, repeatedly saying, “Not me! Not me! I had no choice; I truly had no choice. As the village chief, I could only make that decision at the time. She shouldn’t blame me; she should blame the state of the world back then and her Shepherd for living better than others. Silver! So much Silver! Enough to save the lives of our entire village, yet Shepherd secretly took it out of the village. His heart was not with us, so it’s no wonder the villagers wanted his Silver.”
“Did you only want his Silver?” Yin Yuan pressed closer to Village Chief: “Wasn’t it his life you wanted?”
“It was an accident! It was just an accident!”
Village Chief looked up at Yin Yuan, but his tone was panicked, and even as he spoke, his voice gradually lowered under her gaze.
“Just an accident?” Yin Yuan stood up, looking at the faint red being covered by the golden light of dawn: “Do you know that the Silver on Shepherd was obtained from Aunt Li selling all her family’s possessions? Do you know that those who took advantage of the situation to drive down prices were also you? For example, the dressing table you gave to Wang San Niang, the one embedded with a Copper Mirror, which you deliberately bought from Aunt Li at a low price.
That dressing table was something Shepherd and Aunt Li acquired when they married, purchased all the way from Yun Village. Due to the long journey and not wanting to spend on hiring laborers, he had it pulled back by sheep cart, almost tipping over halfway. Though neither he nor the sheep were harmed, that dressing table ended up with a chipped corner.
You may be the Village Chief, but your cheap nature is no different from those villagers. You knew very well that Aunt Li sold these things to buy back her daughter, yet you still heartlessly drove down the price and bought that cabinet for a pittance. You are like this; those villagers are too. Yet in the end, you still envy why Shepherd had those Silver Coins, still complaining why he didn’t use that Silver to buy food to help you? Are you shameless?”
Village Chief lowered his head in silence because he knew deep down that what Yin Yuan said was true.
“Alright then, let’s take a step back. If Shepherd’s death was because you were blinded by those shiny Silver, committing immoral acts. Then what about the child? Why did you also want to harm Aunt Li’s child? Do you know that when Aunt Li discovered Shepherd’s corpse, she chose silence for her child’s sake, yet you still wouldn’t let it go?”
“No! It wasn’t us; it was Guangmao. It was Guangmao who saw Aunt Li go to Wang San's Family’s backyard and worried that past events would be exposed, so he informed us. It was also Guangmao who secretly entered Aunt Li’s home and took that child away.” Village Chief waved his hands repeatedly: “The child’s death was truly an accident; I swear it was really an accident! Even Guangmao, he never intended for that child to die. We just wanted to use that child to threaten Aunt Li, to keep her silent and make her grit her teeth as if she hadn’t discovered anything. As long as she didn’t go out, we were willing to take care of her and her child; we reached a consensus. We truly reached a consensus and were willing to bear all future needs for her and her child.”
"But we didn't expect that the child would wake up right after being brought to Wang San's Family. He looked at us with fear in his eyes, and then opened his mouth to scream. We all knew that at that moment, Aunt Li was just a wall away. If she heard the child's cries, things would become more complicated and worse. In a moment of panic, it was Wang San Niang who covered the child's mouth while Guangmao tightly held down his legs to prevent him from moving or shouting."
"So you suffocated the child?"
"No! We did not suffocate the child." The Village Chief waved his hands repeatedly. "I was there too. I told the child not to panic because wolves had come to the village, and we brought him home for his safety. I calmed him down because if he shouted loudly, it would attract the wolves. After all, he was just a child; he believed me, nodded his head, and closed his mouth. He asked me where Aunt Li was. I had already sent someone to look for her and said they would be back soon."
"Then how did Aunt Li's child die?"
"I don't know! All I know is that shortly after the child quieted down, we heard Aunt Li calling for her child next door. I was worried that Aunt Li would discover the secret in this courtyard, so I sent some people out to pretend they heard Aunt Li's cries and went to check. Then I had someone secretly move the child to Wang San's Family's cellar. When I finally managed to calm Aunt Li down and returned to the cellar to discuss what to do next, I found that the child had already passed away."
"I also conducted an investigation afterward. Some said that Mother Wang, worried about the child shouting, gave him medicine, while others saw Guangmao using something to bind the child, fearing he would cry out, so he choked him to death."
"Poisoning and choking are two completely different causes of death. As the Village Chief, didn't you check at that time?"
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