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墨書 Inktalez
Yuan Jun arrived at Er Dan's door, intending to knock, but at that moment, Jiang He stopped him. Instead, Jiang He walked up to the door of the room where Er Dan was sleeping and kicked it hard. The sound echoed loudly; although the wooden door wasn't very sturdy, the bolt was thick, and Jiang He couldn't kick it open.
Jiang He looked at the door, noticing his footprint left behind.
"Kick the door," Jiang He said, glancing at Yuan Jun.
"What?" Yuan Jun asked.
"Put some force into it!" Jiang He urged.
Yuan Jun looked at Jiang He, observing the thin man in his thirties, filled with questions. He never understood what this man was up to—like just moments ago when he suddenly crouched down to examine footprints on the ground, or when he boldly approached the door without knowing what was behind it, just like now.
Yuan Jun glanced at Old Shao; after all, it was Old Zhang who had instructed him to follow Old Shao, not Jiang He.
Old Shao nodded, and only then did Yuan Jun kick the door.
Yuan Jun's strength and technique were far superior to Jiang He's. With two kicks, a large hole appeared in the door.
Jiang He muttered to himself, "It's clear that whatever is inside has more strength than you. I have an eighty percent chance of believing that its size isn't very big; otherwise, it would have been able to smash through the wooden door like you did instead of just leaving a dent."
Before Yuan Jun could react and continue kicking inside, a hand suddenly reached through the hole and grabbed his foot.
This startled Yuan Jun so much that he shouted out loud.
From inside, a voice cried out, "What do you want? Why are you kicking my door? You need to pay for my door! You need to pay for my door!"
It turned out that after those kicks, Er Dan had finally woken up.
Old Shao had an answer in his heart: you can never wake someone who pretends to be asleep. Er Dan must have been asleep just now.
Suddenly, Old Shao burst into laughter, for it was true that those who are carefree often sleep soundly.
"Er Dan, open the door," Old Shao said. "We'll compensate for the door."
With that, Old Shao took out a hundred yuan.
Seeing the hundred yuan in Old Shao's hand, Er Dan's expression changed from sorrow to joy, and he smiled happily as he took the money.
Holding the hundred yuan, he opened the door.
"Er Dan..." Old Shao was about to ask him some questions, but Er Dan walked straight past both Old Shao and Jiang He.
Everyone watched as Er Dan approached Xu Yiman.
He held out the hundred yuan and placed it in Xu Yiman's hand, saying excitedly, "Look, I have a hundred yuan. I'm giving it to you."
Xu Yiman looked at Er Dan, who was grinning foolishly at her, feeling somewhat at a loss. She replied, "This is your hundred yuan. Why are you giving it to me?"
Er Dan suddenly became shy, towering at one meter eighty but acting bashfully like a bride. He said, "Mom said that when I get married, I should give my money to my wife. Mom, I'm such a fool; others will definitely think I'm silly and bully me. Mom, just let me marry someone already! But you passed away before I could even get married."
Xu Yiman rolled her eyes. She couldn't understand why a fool like him had taken a liking to her. Remembering how the villagers had teased her before made her even angrier. "Who said I want to marry you? Dream on!"
Er Dan wasn't upset at all; he chuckled foolishly and said, "Mom said that if you have money, you can marry a wife. Look, I have money now."
Xu Yiman furrowed her brows and said, "Is this all you have to marry a wife? What about the rest of your money?"
Er Dan scratched his head and replied, "This is all the money I have. After my mother died, the village chief took the family's money. He said he would manage it for me and help me find a wife later."
Xu Yiman cursed, "What a scoundrel."
Upon hearing this, everyone understood that Er Dan's money had definitely been taken by Li Sanhan. However, no one realized that Li Sanhan would never help Er Dan find a wife. Poor Er Dan would remain in the dark about this for his entire life, and judging by his age, he was almost thirty.
Looking at Er Dan's silly grin, Xu Yiman felt most of her anger dissipate.
After all, Er Dan was a fool; who would argue with a fool?
"Why are you cursing at me?" Er Dan asked.
Xu Yiman had no choice but to explain, "I wasn't cursing at you; I was cursing the village chief who took your money."
Er Dan chuckled again and said, "The village chief is a good person. He always brings me food. I don't have a wife; if I had one, she would cook for me. This is my mother's. I have money; when will you marry me?"
Xu Yiman sighed in exasperation and replied, "How about this? Come back to me when you've saved up one million."
She knew that even if everyone in the village pooled their resources and didn't eat or drink for a hundred years, they would never save up that million. By saying this, she was rejecting Er Dan, but with his intelligence, he wouldn't understand.
"One million?" Er Dan scratched his head again, his eyes spinning. "One million? How much is that? I only know one hundred."
Xu Yiman explained, "That's ten thousand one-hundred bills."
"Ten thousand?" Er Dan looked at his fingers. "How much is that?"
Xu Yiman didn't want to waste any more time with the fool. "Anyway, once you have that much money, we'll talk."
Er Dan scratched his head and said, "Alright, but I don't know how much that is. So when I have that much money, will you marry me?"
"Why do you like me so much? I really don't understand," Xu Yiman asked.
Er Dan chuckled and replied, "Well, if you're going to marry someone, you should marry someone with a big backside. A big backside can bear sons."
"And what if you have a son?" Xu Yiman's temper flared again.
"If I have a son, if I have a son..." Er Dan scratched his head and said, "If I have a son, I'll find him a wife."
Old Shao walked over to Er Dan and patted him on the shoulder. "Er Dan, did you hear any sounds while you were sleeping last night?"
Er Dan nodded. "I heard you all kicking the door, so I came out."
"What about before that?" Old Shao asked. "Did someone crash into your door?"
Er Dan seemed to be thinking for a moment before he replied, "I don't know; I didn't hear anything."
Then Er Dan started scratching his big belly again, looking quite comical.
Old Shao continued, "Has anyone died in your village?"
Er Dan nodded, "People die, my mother died, and many others have died. Every time someone dies, I get to eat meat. I really like it when someone dies in the village."
Hearing Er Dan's words, Old Shao realized that this matter was not simple. It was normal for people to die in the village, but many deaths were unusual. The chilling statement from Er Dan, "I like it when people die; then I can eat meat," was particularly unsettling.
"How can you be happy when someone dies in your village? Where do you go to eat meat?" Old Shao asked.
Er Dan patted his belly, "When someone dies, a woman will come. She dances around the dead person, lights a fire, and speaks words I don't understand. Then we can eat. Everyone treats me well; I sit at a table by myself with a bowl full of fatty meat, hehe."
As he spoke, Er Dan's saliva began to flow; it seemed he was craving the fatty meat.
"Aren't you sad when villagers die?" Old Shao observed that Er Dan did not seem like someone without feelings.
If this question had come from Jiang He, Old Shao would have believed it more readily.
Er Dan shook his head, "Not sad. I haven't seen those women before. A wife is supposed to have children; if she can't have children, then she should die. Those women didn't want to have children, and some even ran away."
Everyone knew they had reached a critical issue.
It was clear that the women Er Dan referred to were likely those who had been abducted.
"After those women die, some villagers turn into ghosts. Those ghosts come out at night and can eat people. I've never seen a ghost, and I'm not afraid of them. In this world, ghosts don't harm good people; we are all good people, hehe."
Looking at Er Dan's silly demeanor, everyone couldn't help but feel a sense of melancholy.
They finally understood why Er Dan was not afraid of ghosts.
Some theists are quite strange; when things are going well for them, they never think that it is the divine helping them, but when misfortune strikes, they suspect that they have angered a ghost. They kneel in temples and buy statues of deities, always hoping that the divine will assist them rather than considering what they can do for the divine. When they commit wrongdoings, they wish for the deities not to see, yet once they do something good, they hope that these deeds will be recorded in their Merit Book.
In the eyes of these people, the divine is merely a tool for their own use.
"You know whose daughter-in-law is from outside the village?" Old Shao finally asked this crucial question.
"I can't, I can't," Er Dan blocked his mouth.
"Why can't you? Who's stopping you?" Old Shao stepped forward.
At that moment, a sound suddenly came from the front door. A hand reached through the doorway and vigorously shook the latch until it eventually opened the door.
A group of people rushed in from outside, all holding flashlights.
Leading them was Li Sanhan, who spoke up, "Did someone hear a banging on the door? What's going on?"
Old Shao looked at everyone and said gravely, "Is there something unclean in your village?"
Li Sanhan laughed.
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