Peach Haven Village (16)

Second question: Had Blind Zhao lied? Blind Zhao had provided three pieces of information. First, there was a priceless treasure on the underside of Third Lady's coffin lid. Second, taking that treasure would bring no negative consequences. Third, Third Lady's coffin was inside the grotto at Third Lady Temple.

Third question: The statue had eyes that could shed tears, so why did it have a mouth but say nothing? At the very least, it ought to accompany the tears with some crying.

The moment he thought of crying, crying came—a low sob soon sounded.

In that instant, Ding Shi's hair stood on end like a hedgehog's quills. This thing could read minds? Ding Shi was not afraid of the crying itself. Crying was just crying. Mind-reading, on the other hand, was deadly.

Two seconds later, his hair settled back down, because the crying came from outside the main gate. It drifted in and out, faint and elusive, sounding both restrained and choked with sobs.

Ding Shi climbed down from the table and crept to the gate. Peering through the crack, he saw someone in bridal robes in the darkness more than ten meters away. He could not tell whether the figure was sitting or standing somewhere low. Ding Shi blinked hard, but still could not see clearly.

The altar table was wooden. Ding Shi heard a faint sound and turned around, but the room was too dark, and he did not dare turn on his flashlight. He watched the darkness for a while and found nothing unusual, then turned back to peer through the crack again. He had heard the sound of pebbles outside, as though someone had kicked one while walking.

Another faint sound came from the altar table, like the creak of something heavy stepping on the wooden surface. Ding Shi waited quietly for several seconds, then suddenly turned and shone his flashlight at Third Lady's statue. Nothing was wrong.

After watching silently for five seconds, Ding Shi turned back outside, only to find that the figure in red was gone. Had it left? Or had it come inside?

No. This was too sinister. He had far too little information and intelligence to act rashly.

With that thought, Ding Shi backed toward the rear hall, constantly sensing for the slightest changes in the dark world around him. Unfortunately, there were none. He crawled out through the dog hole, put the wooden board back in place, wrapped his clothes around the iron nails, and hammered them back in.

There was some noise, but it was not a major problem.

Once he had cleaned up, Ding Shi immediately withdrew. As he passed Haitang's house, however, he noticed that one room was still lit. Suspicion arose in his heart. Could the woman crying outside the temple have been Haitang?

Blind Zhao. He still had to find Blind Zhao.

On the fifth day, after breakfast, the vampire village chief assigned a new task: help Uncle Zhao, a household receiving the Five Guarantees, renovate his roof.

Ding Shi was stunned on the spot. What made the village chief think he knew how to renovate roofs? It was not only hard labor, but skilled work too. Fortunately, the village chief had more to say. Ding Shi only needed to help transport two cartloads of tiles from the village entrance to Uncle Zhao's home.

Uncle Zhao's house was five hundred meters from the village entrance, with two hundred meters uphill. The killer was that the task was timed—it had to be completed before ten in the morning.

Ding Shi first went to Uncle Zhao's house. Two roofers were drinking porridge and eating breakfast as they waited for the tiles to arrive. Ding Shi went over and took out two packs of Big Front Gate cigarettes he had bought at the small shop. "Masters, could I trouble you to move the tiles yourselves?"

One of the roofers refused. "How can that work? We agreed beforehand. The village office provides the tiles, and we only handle laying them."

Ding Shi withdrew two two-dollar bills from his bank card and placed them on the table. "The village chief's intention." The unspoken meaning was: do the village chief a favor.

The two roofers looked at each other. One of them pocketed the bills and said, "All right. Leave it to us brothers."

With the village chief's task settled, Ding Shi pushed his bicycle to a shop to inflate the tires, then rode to Blind Zhao's home.

Blind Zhao was sitting in a grandmaster's chair in the courtyard. A radio and a cup of tea sat beside him. His eyes were closed, a cigarette hung from his lips, and he looked utterly at ease.

Hearing the knock at the gate, Blind Zhao pretended not to hear it. Then Ding Shi's voice came through. "Uncle Zhao, I know you're home."

Blind Zhao sighed, struggled up from the grandmaster's chair, walked to the gate, removed the bolt, and pulled it open. "What is it?"

Ding Shi struck first. "You lied to me about Third Lady."

Blind Zhao looked innocent. "Every word I said was true. You went to Third Lady Temple?"

"I did, but I didn't find the grotto or see the coffin."

"Come in and talk." As Blind Zhao walked, he said, "What I told you was definitely true. But you should understand that with so many people in the village, almost no one has seen Third Lady's coffin in the past hundred years. How could it possibly be easy to find?"

Ding Shi pressed, "Where exactly is it?"

Blind Zhao said, "I already made it very clear. Inside the grotto at Third Lady Temple."

Ding Shi asked no more questions. He sat in another chair, picked up the water pipe on the table, packed it with tobacco, and thought as he worked.

Blind Zhao sensed something was off. "What's the problem?"

Ding Shi lit the tobacco, took a light puff, and looked at Blind Zhao. "I originally wanted to ask whether the Third Lady Temple in the village was fake."

Blind Zhao's heart jolted, though he remained calm on the surface. "Then why didn't you ask?"

Ding Shi answered, "I went to Third Lady Temple yesterday and confirmed that it was real."

Blind Zhao was somewhat confused. How had he determined that the fake Third Lady Temple was the real one? But he could not ask that, because he had concealed the location of the real Third Lady Temple.

Ding Shi had the same concern. He could not say that he had sneaked into Third Lady Temple last night. Blind Zhao was also from Peach Haven Village and might consider his actions sacrilegious. Yet Ding Shi had to explain some things before he could question him further.

Ding Shi lifted the pipe stem and blew. A clump of tobacco ash flew out. He set the water pipe back on the table, looked at Blind Zhao, and asked, "Uncle Zhao, can Third Lady cry?"

To his surprise, Blind Zhao sprang from the grandmaster's chair, his face changing drastically. "Y-you, say that again."

Ding Shi asked, "Can Third Lady cry?"

Blind Zhao exclaimed, "You saw Third Lady crying? The Third Lady in the temple?"

Ding Shi recalled it for a moment, then nodded. "I think she shed tears."

Blind Zhao stood frozen for a moment. His trembling hand picked up the water pipe, but he could not pack the tobacco properly no matter what he did. Ding Shi had to pack it for him and light it.

Ding Shi scrutinized Blind Zhao. "What's going on?" As expected, none of them were honest men.

Though it was daytime and the sun hung high in the sky, Blind Zhao's eyes were filled with terror. "I don't know."

Ding Shi waited until Blind Zhao had calmed down somewhat before questioning him again.

Blind Zhao told Ding Shi that, back then, an expert had used magic to suppress Third Lady. The villagers were instructed to hold a ritual once a year and use a hundred years to dissolve Third Lady's baleful aura. After a hundred years, Third Lady would become the local earth deity and protect everyone in Peach Haven Village. By the count, this year happened to be the hundredth year.

Blind Zhao's question was this: Had Third Lady shed tears because the hundred-year ritual was complete and she was happy to become a deity? Or had the ritual been disrupted, making Third Lady, on the verge of godhood, shed tears out of resentment? If it was the former, Third Lady should have shed tears of gratitude on the final day. Therefore, Blind Zhao guessed that someone had most likely sabotaged the ritual.

Ding Shi asked, "What will happen if the ritual is sabotaged or cannot be carried out on schedule?"

Blind Zhao looked at Ding Shi and answered, "I don't know. I need to find the village chief. Take me to the village chief."