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墨書 Inktalez
The rain poured down heavier, forcing me to return to the village chief's house. Without A Hu's company this time, I could observe more closely the house that seemed out of place in this impoverished village.
Zhang Shouren was watering his bonsai in the yard. When he saw me return, a meaningful smile spread across his face. "Officer Li has already been to the Zhou family?"
I nodded. I wanted to learn more details about Zhou's disappearance case.
"Come inside," he said, setting down the watering can. "This rain isn't going to stop anytime soon."
Following him back into the reception room, I noticed a redwood box on the tea table that hadn't been there before. Zhang Shouren gestured for me to sit down and took out a stack of yellowed papers from the box.
"This is the village's household registration file," he said. "I thought you might want to take a look."
I took the file and quickly flipped through it. However, in the records from that year, I found some anomalies: a child in the village was marked as having moved away, but there was no indication of where they had gone.
"Village Chief Zhang, where did these children go?"
His expression stiffened slightly. "At that time, the village was too poor; many people left for work."
"Did they take their children with them?"
"Some did; others entrusted them to someone else for schooling." He lit a cigarette for himself. "Back then, policies weren't strict, and many things weren't recorded in detail."
I flipped back a few pages and saw a familiar name in the records from that year: Li Zhi—my own name. The file indicated that I had stayed in the village as a temporary resident for three days, followed by a hasty mark indicating my departure.
"Officer Li," Zhang Shouren suddenly spoke up, "I've always felt regret about your case."
I looked up and met his gaze. "Do you remember my case?"
"Of course," he replied, exhaling a puff of smoke. "I was here investigating missing persons at that time as well. What a pity..."
"What do you mean by 'what a pity'?"
"It's a pity we couldn't solve it before you left," he said meaningfully. "Some cases are perhaps better left unresolved."
I felt my blood boil. "What do you mean by that?"
"Just what it says," he extinguished his cigarette. "Officer Li, you're quite persistent—too persistent, in fact. I advise you to know when to stop."
"Are you threatening me?"
"How could I?" He smiled lightly. "I'm merely reminding you. This is Changling Village; we have our own rules here. Outsiders who don't understand these rules can easily get into trouble."
Just then, footsteps approached from outside. A Hu walked in and whispered something into Zhang Shouren's ear. The expression on Zhang Shouren's face changed.
"Officer Li, I'm sorry; I have something urgent to attend to." He stood up. "Feel free to continue looking through the files if you'd like." He paused meaningfully before adding, "But some files are best not to delve into further."
After they left, I immediately flipped to the later pages of the year. In the month my mother went missing, there were three records of people moving out of the village. Besides my mother, there was also a girl named Xiao Yu.
Suddenly, I noticed a corner of a yellowed piece of paper peeking out from between the files. Carefully pulling it out, I saw it resembled the kind of symbolic paper found in Zhou's room, but the symbols on it were more complex. The back of the paper had a small note written: "Ritual Record of the Year of Wuzi."
Just as I was about to study it closely, footsteps suddenly sounded outside the door. I quickly shoved the symbolic paper into my pocket and restored the files to their original state.
When Zhang Shouren walked in, his expression was grim. He glanced at the files: "Did Officer Li finish reading?"
"Almost." I closed the files and thanked Village Chief Zhang for his cooperation.
"You're welcome." He took the files and casually placed them in a drawer. "By the way, I heard you booked a hotel in town? Would you like to move in with me? The road from the village to town is not easy to navigate, especially at night."
"Thank you for your kindness, but no." I stood up to take my leave. "I still need to organize today's investigation records."
As I stepped out of the village chief's house, the rain had stopped, but an unsettling dampness lingered in the air. I took out the symbolic paper from my pocket and examined it closely in the daylight. Suddenly, I noticed a small dark red stain on the edge of the paper, resembling dried blood.
As evening approached, smoke began to rise from chimneys throughout the village. I glanced at my watch; there were still three hours until my appointment with Zhou Jing. For some reason, I couldn't shake off the feeling that there were more unknown secrets hidden within those files that the village chief had reviewed.
In the distance, the sound of a bell echoed from the ancestral hall again, this time particularly clear. I suddenly recalled those inexplicable records of people moving out of the village and wondered whether this bell was tolling for the dead or warning of impending danger.
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