Peach Haven Village (15)

Ding Shi stepped forward and struck up a conversation with the villagers, quickly blending into the crowd. The villagers were preparing sacrificial supplies, and Ding Shi noticed several things he could not quite understand. If you wanted to return to the old ways, using lanterns made sense. If you wanted to be closer to modern times, using lightbulbs also made sense. But what did it mean to wrap lightbulbs in lanterns? Were they trying to fool ghosts?

Whatever it meant, this was Ding Shi's first time seeing Third Lady's statue. It seemed to be a one-to-one replica, made of wood, though Ding Shi had no idea what kind. The statue's facial features were somewhat blurred. She wore a red bridal gown and sat in a chair with both hands on her knees, gazing straight ahead.

Ding Shi slipped into the rear hall to scout the place out, but he did not see the cave Blind Zhao had mentioned. The rear hall was just an ordinary rear hall. Parts of the wooden walls had rotted away from years of rainwater soaking them, and craftsman villagers were repairing them. The ground was bare earth, with no sign of any mechanism.

Could Blind Zhao be messing with him?

Ding Shi decided to come back at night. After all, there were several suspicious points. First: there might be a secret passage beneath the statue. Second: two carpets had been laid in the rear hall. Third: the rear hall connected to the back mountain, so perhaps removing a few wooden wall panels would reveal the cave.

With his mind made up, Ding Shi returned to the village chief's house for lunch and an afternoon nap. At three in the afternoon, the village chief woke him and assigned him three tasks. First: two villagers had gotten into a conflict over releasing water through the field ridges. Second: a chicken had stolen and eaten Auntie Li's vegetables. Auntie Li had stepped on the unfortunate chicken and killed it, so Auntie Sun came to her door demanding an explanation. Third: visit the Night Patrol Team and inform them that they could resume work as usual tonight.

Ding Shi smoothly completed the first two tasks. When visiting the Night Patrol Team, he informed them that they could work as usual tonight, but they were not to leave the village office.

This bug could not be exploited, and the system judged the task a failure. Fortunately, he only lost two points of the village chief's satisfaction. Ding Shi still did not know what the village chief's satisfaction could be used for.

After dinner, at the village chief's request, Ding Shi went to visit the recovered Sun Qi. Still shrouded in the shadow of Ghost Granny, Sun Qi looked as though she had seen family when she saw Ding Shi. With tears in her eyes, she tried to hug him and seek comfort. Disgusted by her tears, Ding Shi deftly dodged aside and instead asked Doctor Qian, "What medicine did you give her? Can I get a dozen?"

Doctor Qian said that Sun Qi had merely been frightened and had no serious physical problems. The biggest issue now was that Sun Qi refused to leave Doctor Qian's home, following her wherever she went. It seemed she had truly been scared out of her wits last night.

The villagers did not have any cognitive errors. They knew about Ghost Granny, which was why every household had shut its doors last night. Some might not have believed it, but in rural areas back then, people generally took the attitude of preferring to believe it existed rather than risk believing it did not.

Only after Ding Shi repeatedly assured her that Ghost Granny had disappeared did Sun Qi calm down a little. She made an unreasonable request: she hoped Ding Shi would sleep with her that night.

Ding Shi naturally could not agree. Never mind whether he would be the one losing out—after all, taking a loss was a blessing. More importantly, he had important business tonight. How could he let a woman of merely average looks delay the speed at which he drew his blade?

The fourth day, eleven at night.

Ding Shi easily climbed over the low wall of the village chief's home. The moon was feeling shy tonight, hiding behind thin clouds, and the light was far worse than it had been yesterday.

Dressed in black, with a claw hammer tucked into the back of his belt, Ding Shi did not dare turn on his flashlight. Relying on his memory, he felt his way along the path toward Third Lady Temple. It was late at night, and every household had already put out their lights and gone to sleep. Ding Shi had made friends with the two dogs during the day, so when he passed their owner's home, neither of them barked.

The gates of Third Lady Temple were shut. The key was with Haitang, who went with Zhang San every day to open the doors and burn a stick of incense. Ding Shi had not considered stealing the key. Instead, he went around to the rear wall of Third Lady Temple. Using the claw hammer to pull out several iron nails, he removed several wooden wall panels that had been patched in today.

Looking at the pitch-black opening, Ding Shi seriously hesitated for two seconds. Then he thought of a sacred saying: I'm already here. Gritting his teeth, Ding Shi crawled into the rear hall of Third Lady Temple.

Turning on his flashlight, Ding Shi first inspected the two carpets on the floor of the rear hall. There was nothing wrong with them. It seemed the villagers had told the truth—they were carpets for the singing troupe to kneel and sit on during sacrifices.

Stepping over the threshold, Ding Shi reached the front hall. He did not rush to touch the statue. Instead, he first checked the surrounding area. To avoid being discovered, he kept the flashlight beam as low as possible, practically feeling his way through the front hall inch by inch.

Nothing in the rear hall, nothing in the front hall. That only left the altar table and the statue upon it.

The flashlight shone on Third Lady's face, and Ding Shi was startled. Why had the statue's facial contours become so clear? There was no trace of carving at all. It looked just like a real person.

Ding Shi took out the Bell Card with his left hand and gripped the bell in his palm. He circled from Third Lady's left side to her right, his eyes fixed tightly on her statue. Though he was not entirely certain, Ding Shi felt that Third Lady's eyeballs had turned from left to right.

This isn't scientific! Then again, Ghost Granny was not scientific either. No, that was not right. Newton had studied science in order to prove mysticism. They said that many great scientists came to believe in mysticism in their later years.

Even though Ding Shi was bold as a bull, he did not dare step closer now. He could only continue observing Third Lady's statue from side to side. He even recited a poem: "From afar, it is a statue. Up close, it is a real person. The more I look, the more human it seems. So it turns out..."

Ding Shi circled from the right side back to the left and finally confirmed one thing: Third Lady's eyes reflected light. That left two possibilities. The first was mysticism. The second was a mechanism.

Should he go up and take a look?

I'm already here.

Ding Shi nimbly climbed onto the table and slowly approached Third Lady on the altar table. The closer he got, the more something felt wrong. When he was within arm's reach, Ding Shi stretched out his hand. His left index finger touched the corner of Third Lady's left eye, and his fingertip felt liquid. He shone the flashlight on his hand and rubbed the liquid between two fingers. Ding Shi guessed that it might be tears.

At that moment, Ding Shi had only one thought: the villagers had stuffed a living person inside the wooden statue.

There was one most direct way to prove whether it was tears—lick it and see whether the liquid was salty or bland.

Ding Shi was still hesitating over whether to make that sacrifice when he clearly saw two tears flow from the corners of the wooden Third Lady's eyes. He was not afraid at that moment. Instead, he felt somewhat angry. Did Peach Haven Village really use living people as sacrifices?

Ding Shi touched Third Lady's eyes. Third Lady did not blink; she only wept. The sensation beneath his fingertips told Ding Shi that Third Lady's eyes were absolutely not real human eyes.

Ding Shi brought his own eyes within five centimeters of Third Lady's, trying to find the water-spraying mechanism, but it was all in vain.

Ding Shi sat cross-legged in front of Third Lady, considering several questions.

The first question was why Third Lady was crying. One: Third Lady knew he was about to steal an important treasure, so she cried. Two: she had been smoked by too much incense during the day, and even the wood could not help but cry. Three: there was no third reason. He could not think of any others.

Even if Ding Shi placed himself in a world of mysticism and treated the wooden statue as Third Lady's true form, he still did not understand why Third Lady would shed tears. She was Xie Sanniang, not Du Shiniang.