The town was not big, but it looked particularly lively during the Spring Sacrificial Rite.
Perhaps because it was a remote town, they, as outsiders, seemed to be different from the pedestrians on the streets.
Qinghu had found an inn to lodge in, so they did not stay outside for long before getting to the inn Qinghu booked.
Getting out of the carriage, Lin Mengya looked around.
In all respects, this town was a very ordinary place, and she could not tell anything unusual about it.
Fortunately, she was patient. Before the end of tonight, she would find out the person, who secretly urged Mrs. Huang to do this kind of ruthless thing.
“Lass, as you expected, after leaving our place, Mrs. Huang directly went to the Wang Family in this town to argue with Witch Wang, a well-known witch here, even before going home. Mrs. Huang was so tough that she turned the Wang Family upside down,” Qinghu said.
Witch Wang? Lin Mengya raised her eyebrows slightly.
Nevertheless, on second thought, she found it was reasonable for a witch to do this kind of thing.
She would like to meet Witch Wang and see what she was capable of!
“Let’s visit Witch Wang tonight. She, who did this kind of thing, must be up to no good,” Lin Mengya said.
Since she decided to take up the matter herself, it meant that she would definitely find out the truth.
As night fell, Lin Mengya and Qinghu headed for Witch Wang’s family with some inexpensive gifts.
She heard from those Qinghu sent out that Witch Wang was quite resourceful.
Although Mrs. Huang made a scene, no one knew how she managed to convince Mrs. Huang to get out of her home with a livid face at the last moment.
In addition, Witch Wang had some achievements and especially enjoyed some prestige in helping people seek good marriage and children.
To put it bluntly, she was a quack and matchmaker with a glib tongue.
But the locals considered her extraordinary, and they were used to visiting Witch Wang and asking her to tell their fortune no matter what happened in their families.
Witch Wang was the most well-informed person in the town, so her words were quite convincing.
However, Witch Wang was obsessed by the lust for money and lacked professional ethics.
If a playboy took a fancy to a young lady, Witch Wang would bring them together illegally from time to time.
As such, people from decent families in the town all stayed at a respectful distance from Witch Wang, while those, who had no occupation or knew small tricks, had close contact with her.
Lin Mengya was not surprised at all when she learned that the person giving Mrs. Huang advice behind the scenes turned out to be Witch Wang.
“We will get her home after turning the corner. My subordinates have been hiding in the dark,” Qinghu said in a low voice.
He would like to handle this kind of trifle, but he didn’t know what Lin Mengya was thinking that she insisted on doing it herself.
He could only shake his head and leave it to be handled by her.
The two of them arrived at Witch Wang’s home. Before Qinghu knocked on the door, the door was suddenly opened from inside and there was a crack between the door and its frame.
It was dusk at this moment.
The door was opened itself, and they found it was quiet inside.
Both of them found it strange. Qinghu, who smelled a rat, narrowed his eyes.
“I’ll go and take a look,” after giving Lin Mengya an instruction in a low voice, he got inside through the crack of the door like a nimble fox.
After a short moment, he floated back like a ghost with a serious expression.
“What happened?” Lin Mengya asked, knowing that something must have happened inside, otherwise, Qinghu would not have returned with his face darkening.
However, just as Qinghu wanted to speak, he heard something.
He waved his hand, picked Lin Mengya up, flew into the air, and quickly disappeared from Witch Wang’s home.
Meanwhile, his subordinates, who had been following them, tacitly hid Lin Mengya’s wheelchair and covered up their traces.
In this way, even if some people came here, they would never find out about their visit here a moment ago.
“What’s wrong? What made you so panic-stricken?” Lin Mengya asked.
Qinghu did not put her down until he galloped with her in his arms all the way back to her room in the inn.
“All the people inside were dead, and even those I sent to guard there were missing. Just now, I heard the footsteps of lots of people heading for Witch Wang’s home. Given their steady and heavy footsteps, I don’t think they are common people,” Qinghu said.
After hearing his words, Lin Mengya felt a little heavy-hearted.
Speaking of this, before they set out, one of Qinghu’s subordinates, who had guarded outside Witch Wang’s home, had come back to report to them, but they were all gone in such a short time.
Although she did not see it, since Qinghu claimed that they were all dead, the Wang Family presumably had been exterminated.
“They were all dead? Was Witch Wang among them? How did they die? Is it possible that your subordinates were implicated?” She asked.
This series of questions put Qinghu in a difficult position.
In fact, he only saw a few people lying this way and that in the courtyard of the Wang Family.
Moreover, they were completely dead, each with a big hole in the chest.
He didn’t have the time to see clearly what caused their wounds and whether Witch Wang was one of them.
“They’ve worked as spies for many years. Even if they had an accident, they would have left us a secret signal. Maybe they saw the appearance of the murderer, so they went to track the murderer. The person, who managed to kill the Wang Family under their noses, must be formidable,” Qinghu said.
He knew his subordinates well. As spies, they were not very good at martial arts, but they were skilled in hiding themselves and evading attacks.
As long as they did not voluntarily reveal themselves, there were probably very few people in the world able to see through their disguise.
Lin Mengya nodded. Unexpectedly, she failed to follow up the thread she had just found, and the situation became bewildering again.
After a light sleep, Lin Mengya thought that the extermination of the Wang Family would inevitably cause a mighty uproar in this town.
However, when they had their meal on the first floor of the inn, they did not hear any discussion of it.
Could it be that the authority had prevented the news from being spread?
When Lin Mengya was thinking about this, an old man in his sixties sitting at a square table not far away from them was chatting with the other person sitting at the same table in a low voice, “Alas, do you know that all members of Witch Wang’s family also died last night?”
The person he was talking to was also a local, so he certainly knew this news.
However, the person, who was not very interested in this, tried to change the topic as soon as the old man said that.
The old man was extremely stubborn.
He sighed before saying, “I don’t know what outrageous thing they have done. Last night, Master Huang’s concubine also died of an acute illness. I’m afraid there will never be days of peace in our town.”
Master Huang’s concubine? Lin Mengya immediately thought of Mrs. Huang, who had made a scene in Witch Wang’s home.
She inadvertently glanced at the old man. Meanwhile, the person sitting at the same table with the old man perhaps thought it an unlucky thing, so he flicked his sleeves and left after excusing himself.
Lin Mengya immediately exchanged glances with Qinghu. He nodded, picked up a plate of pork cooked in soy sauce they had not eaten on the table, and walked up to the old man’s table.
“Sir, I’m wondering who Master Huang’s concubine you mentioned is?” Qinghu asked.
Hearing himself asked by a strange voice, the old man looked up.
When he saw that it was a handsome man holding a plate of fresh pork cooked in soy sauce, he involuntarily considered the man as a busybody fond of inquiring about gossip.
Seeing that the old man did not blame him for eavesdropping, Qinghu naturally realized that the old man must be a straightforward person.
As such, he sat down naturally at once and summoned a waiter to order a few more side dishes and meat buns.
“Alas, as an old man, I’m talkative. I appreciate that you can have a talk with me. Speaking of this, Master Huang took the concubine, who was said to be dissolute, three years ago. Although she was beautiful, she was not very well-behaved. I heard that Master Huang’s legal wife once managed to make the concubine suffer a miscarriage in a fit of anger. Now the concubine died of an acute illness. I don’t know what evil she has done to offend the deity,” the old man said.
Hearing his words, Qinghu realized that he was probably talking about Mrs. Huang, Mrs. Tian’s daughter.
However, he could tell that the old man seemed to be implying something.
He involuntarily pretended to be curious and asked politely, “Offend the deity? It’s a common thing to die of an acute illness. Do you know any inside information?”
Their voices were so low that if Lin Mengya hadn’t been the closest to them, she wouldn’t have heard any of their words.
The old man looked left and right before saying, “As an outsider, you don’t know what is going on in our town. Besides Witch Wang’s family and Master Huang’s concubine, there are a total of 12 families dying in a year. I heard that several families were found to be killed not far from our town. They died so miserably that those, who have seen their corpses, probably will have nightmares for the rest of their lives. Some people said that someone in our town has offended the Mountain Deity, which caused our punishment. Anyone wanting to leave here must get the Mountain Deity’s permission. There is a temple for the Mountain Deity behind our town. Everyone wanting to leave here has to go there to pray and draw divination sticks. It’s strange that it’s easier for the families with only unmarried sons or daughters marrying into families out of this town to get the Mountain Deity’s permission, but such families have moved out long before, leaving us here waiting for death.”
