[Huh? How did he figure that out??]
[You know what, I'm actually starting to believe the streamer can make it out of the TOD instance alive.]
[Now nobody knows how the story will unfold. Good luck to the streamer.]
[Meanwhile, Zhao Fengyi and the others are still asking villagers everywhere who Xiao Mei is, and our streamer has already zeroed straight in on her mom.]
[I checked the other stream. Hilarious. Not a single villager would answer their questions. They got completely shut down.]
The woman struggled to keep her composure in front of Li Xian. After collecting herself, she asked, "You're an outsider. Where did you hear my daughter's name?"
Li Xian hid nothing. "I saw Xiao Mei mentioned in Li Xiaojuan's note. The two of them must have been pretty close, right?"
As the only two young women in the village, they probably would have gotten along well.
Sure enough, the woman sighed. "You're right. They... were very close when they were still alive."
When they were still alive?
"Then, ma'am..."
The woman interrupted as soon as Li Xian began his question. "No need for 'ma'am.' Just call me Aunt Wang."
"Aunt Wang, is your husband out?"
Aunt Wang sighed. "Her father died young. It was always just the two of us, mother and daughter. Now I'm the only one left..."
Seeing the apologetic look in Li Xian's eyes, Aunt Wang waved a hand. As though she had finally found someone to confide in, she began rambling about her daughter without waiting for him to ask.
"My daughter's surname was Shen, and her name was Xiao Mei. She lost her father when she was little, so she was much more strong-willed than other girls. I always taught her not to let anyone bully her, too. But even so, we couldn't escape the gossip. People gave us a hard time wherever we went."
"When she finally grew up, I wanted to find her a good family to marry into, so life would be easier for both of us. I went to the village chief to arrange a marriage. Since Xiao Mei was pretty, he agreed. But once it was settled, Xiao Mei refused to marry, no matter what..."
Marry?
So Shen Xiaomei was a bride too.
As soon as Li Xian entered the house, he had noticed adhesive marks high up on the wall, with a few barely visible scraps of red paper still stuck to them, as though a paper decoration had not been completely peeled away.
Now it seemed they must have been remnants of the double happiness character put up for the wedding.
In that case, there was more than one way to complete the main quest, "Place the bride's corpse in the coffin in the Ancestral Hall." His own death really was unnecessary.
Song Qingzhang had gradually grown a little bolder, too, and volunteered a question. "Did Xiao Mei marry the village chief's son?"
Aunt Wang nodded. "I couldn't let her keep making a fuss. The whole village knew about the marriage. How could we just break the agreement? How would the two of us keep living in this village if we did? After I told her that, she went quiet, so I thought she'd come around."
"On the wedding day, I was so happy when I sent her off in the bridal sedan chair. I never imagined... never imagined... she'd be gone overnight..."
At this point, Aunt Wang could no longer keep the sobs out of her voice.
Neither of them could find any comforting words to say just then. They could only stand aside and wait for Aunt Wang to calm down.
Only after a long while did Aunt Wang manage to catch her breath, though she was still lost in grief.
"She'd only just gotten married. The good days were finally coming... How could she die?"
"I searched for her for so long. In the end, all I found were the wedding dress and shoes she'd left in the bridal chamber."
"Then the village chief came over and told me my daughter had been taken by the River... River God."
"The River God?"
Li Xian remembered that when he was fleeing and rain suddenly began falling, some villagers had mentioned that name.
What exactly was this River God they spoke of?
Whether Aunt Wang had not heard Li Xian's question or simply did not want to answer, she continued on her own. "I didn't believe that nonsense at the time. The village had been... been peaceful like this for so many years. Why would we suddenly provoke the River God out of nowhere?"
"Xiao Mei must have been hiding somewhere. I just hadn't found her..."
"But that afternoon, it started raining in the village. The villagers who happened to be outside and got caught in the rain... all... died... Even the well we drew water from started to seem wrong..."
After saying this, Aunt Wang suddenly began breathing rapidly, her body trembling slightly, as though she did not want to recall what had happened.
[No sign of her alive, and no body either.]
[So does that mean the River God killed Shen Xiaomei? Somehow, that doesn't sound right to me...]
[After all, it was the village chief who said that. Even if all the villagers believed his explanation, there's no guarantee he was telling the truth.]
By this point, Li Xian had a rough understanding of what had happened.
But he still felt that something was off.
One crucial question remained unanswered.
Who exactly was the River God?
An abstract concept? An actual person? Or some sort of deity or ghost?
And why had the River God become angry?
Was it simply malicious by nature, or had the people of this village... done something?
Aunt Wang was gasping for breath. Li Xian could hardly voice all the questions on his mind, so he said, "Take a moment to catch your breath. There's no rush."
With that, he turned and poured Aunt Wang a cup of water.
The cups and kettle sat on a table against the wall. Directly above it, an iron nail had been crudely hammered into the wall, with an old-fashioned calendar hanging from it.
The calendar was thick, its paper very coarse. The date displayed on it was June 14.
Li Xian remembered seeing calendars like this as a child. Each page bore only a single day's date, and one page was torn off every day. Few people used them anymore, though.
He looked away and handed the cup to Aunt Wang.
Aunt Wang took it and slowly swallowed a few mouthfuls before saying in a hoarse voice, "...Sit down."
Li Xian and Song Qingzhang pulled out stools and sat across from Aunt Wang.
Just as they sat down, Song Qingzhang, beside him, slipped something into his hand beneath the table.
Li Xian took it and discovered that it was an invitation printed with the double happiness character.
"I found it on the floor just now. It had fallen under the cabinet."
Song Qingzhang spoke in a low voice.
The invitation bearing the double happiness character was palm-sized. Inside, the bride's and groom's names were listed: Shen Xiaomei on one side, Zhou Shan on the other. The wedding date was June 12.
Two days ago.
If the woman had torn off the correct pages of her calendar, Shen Xiaomei had married this man named Zhou Shan two days ago, then died that same night.
Li Xian pressed his lips together.
Shen Xiaomei had resisted this wedding in the first place. Had her death really been caused by the River God?
He held the invitation in his hand and pondered in silence.
"What are you looking at?" Aunt Wang's quiet question suddenly rang out.
Li Xian looked up and saw Aunt Wang slowly lower the cup in her hand, her eyes fixed directly on him.
Before you continue