Chapter 165: Old Residence

"After you told me about this, I have already asked the elderly in the village. The good news is that someone does remember this person Xu Chunxia. Bai Sansi, the cousin of Bai Congshan, was just released from prison last year. When I told him that the police were investigating this person Xu Chunxia, he expressed his willingness to cooperate." Chang Ying seems to be a very enthusiastic person.

"That's great! Where is this person?" Qi Fei asked immediately.

"He is right there." Director Chang pointed to a corner of the Bai Clan Ancestral Residence.

The stone steps in front of the Bai Clan Ancestral Residence were scorched by the sun. An old man in a faded blue Zhongshan suit, wearing a military green hat, curled up in the shadow of the eaves, picking mountain walnuts in a bamboo winnowing basket with charred fingernails. Beside him, a piece of foam board had "Twenty yuan for three catties, authentic seasonal mountain walnuts" written sloppily in red paint.

"Bai Sanshui? I am Qi Fei, a criminal police officer from the Nancheng Police Station. There is a case from forty-two years ago, and I hope you can cooperate with our investigation." Qi Fei walked up to the old man and showed his ID.

The old man looked at Chang Ying on the side, clearly trusting her more.

"Old Bai, it's the matter about Xu Chunxia that I told you about," Chang Ying added immediately.

Hearing Chang Ying speak, Bai Sanshui dusted off the walnut shells on his body, looked at the sun starting to tilt in the sky, and said: "This matter has to wait until the tourists are all gone."

"Why do you have to make it so mysterious?" Qi Fei frowned and said.

Bai Sanshui looked at him sluggishly: "If you are not afraid of causing panic, you can talk about it now." As he said this, he looked at Chang Ying, "If it weren't for Director Chang being quite difficult for the sake of the village, these old past events wouldn't need to be told to you at all."

Listening to these two or three sentences from Bai Sanshui, it is clear that he is a tough nut to crack.

"Okay, listen to you." Chang Ying patted Qi Fei on the back, signaling him to be patient, and said to Bai Sanshui, "There is still time, if not, go to my office and sit for a while."

"We have to stay here." Bai Sanshui took a cigarette from his ear and, ignoring the no-smoking sign on the pillar behind him, lit it himself.

The smoke rings exhaled by Bai Sanshui rose lingeringly in front of the no-smoking sign, and a small copper knife suddenly picked up an unpeeled small walnut in the winnowing basket.

Zhong Kui's bright and ethereal eyes appeared behind the walnut, looking at the naturally dry and cracked hard shell: "Mountain walnuts, bloom in March, mature in September. This last year's stock was waxed and said to be seasonal. Back then, the people in Bai Family Village used this routine to force buying and selling mountain goods, right?"

Bai Sanshui's cigarette butt shook suddenly, and the ash fell on his work pants leg.

Zhong Kui neatly put away the small copper knife, and the walnut fell back into the winnowing basket, bouncing twice: "Do you know why the Wuyin Eighteen Gates set the Life Gate in the Xun position? Your ancestors expected that their descendants would suffer from hysteria."

Qi Fei didn't quite understand what this meant, but vaguely felt that it offended Bai Sanshui. Sure enough, he noticed the blue veins on the back of the old man's neck bulging instantly.

Zhong Kui suddenly leaned over and whispered in his ear: "At the third quarter of the Xu hour, the ghost wife combs her hair, the Yin register is not cancelled, and the life-claiming never stops. Don't you think Bai Congshan being shot dead is retribution?"

"You, how did you..." Bai Sanshui's face changed drastically, and he stood up abruptly. As the bamboo winnowing basket overturned, walnuts rolled all over the ground, attracting the side-glances of tourists.

In the distance, the drum beats of the Nu Opera suddenly came, like the crying of a female ghost, mixed in the wind, sometimes near and sometimes far.

Bai Sanshui staggered to hold onto the stone pillar, looking at the woman in front of him in horror, only to find that she was wearing an out-of-place cheongsam, her face as white as snow paper, and many terrible thoughts suddenly flooded his mind.

"Who are you..." Bai Sanshui rubbed his eyes and looked at Zhong Kui again, as if he had hallucinations.

The sunset happened to shine through the carved windows of the ancestral residence, casting spider-web-like shadows on Bai Sanshui's face.

Qi Fei certainly knew that Zhong Kui was "playing ghosts," but he really needed Zhong Kui to get back the snub he suffered from Bai Sanshui.

"Talk about it when it gets dark. I don't know if we are afraid or you are afraid?" Zhong Kui approached step by step. Bai Sanshui had completely fallen into his own imagination, and the initial arrogant appearance had long since vanished.

"Xu Chunxia was sacrificed, this matter has nothing to do with me!" Bai Sanshui lowered his voice. The mountain wind suddenly blew with the gloomy energy of dusk. Accompanied by this sentence, it made people's backs feel cold.

Zhong Kui's fingertips gently brushed over the patterns of the copper knife. The drum beats of the Nu Opera suddenly became urgent, startling a group of mountain crows on the eaves. The hem of her cheongsam embroidered with dark gold intertwined patterns was lifted by the mountain wind.

"A poor girl who didn't even have a name on her household registration, where did you find her?" Qi Fei questioned.

Bai Sanshui looked at the crowd leaving the ancestral residence one after another and said: "The Nu Opera has started, they have all gone to watch the play, follow me."

It seems that he has a reason to avoid the crowd to talk about Xu Chunxia.

When Bai Sanshui crossed the threshold of the ancestral residence, he trance-like saw those feet wearing embroidered shoes appearing lifelessly on the bluestone slab under the patio of the ancestral residence. He hurriedly used his military green cuffs to wipe his eyes, but rubbed off the sealing mud of memory...

The sky gradually darkened, and he skillfully felt the light switch that was added later.

The energy-saving lamp lit up, dispelling some of the gloom of the old house.

Bai Sanshui said: "Xu Chunxia is a child bride snatched by Bai Congshan. I know where she is."

Hearing that he could find the remains, Qi Fei couldn't help but be full of expectation: "That's great, take us to see it quickly!"

Bai Sanshui stood still and didn't move, standing directly under the patio of the old house. The residual light from the top fell on his face, making this old face look particularly gloomy.

His blackened fingers pointed to the bluestone slab under his feet: "You will never find her again. Bai Congshan burned her into ashes and mixed them in the mud under this slab, saying that if the old Bai family wants to make a fortune, they must borrow some living person's Yang energy."

Now everyone understood. No wonder this Bai Sanshui didn't want to tell them about Xu Chunxia when there were many people just now.

He continued: "I know the origin of Xu Chunxia. Her parents' family owed Bai Congshan a debt, and this child was snatched to Bai Family Village as soon as she was born. Let alone registering her household later, even the name Chunxia was taken by Bai Congshan. Nothing more, he said that women cannot enter the ancestral residence of the Bai family, so he used her mother's surname, Xu.

Bai Congshan did too many evil things, maybe it was really retribution. His son was raised to fourteen years old and died before he officially married Xu Chunxia.

I don't remember how old this Xu Chunxia was at that time. In my impression, she was a few years older than Bai Congshan's son, just a young widow who didn't talk much.

Originally, she was just an extra mouth to eat when she was alive. The Bai family was not short of money and didn't care about her.

Until the 1980s, when the whole country began to crack down, the Bai family could no longer run rampant as before. Bai Congshan had a hard time and began to believe in numerology and superstition..." ===== CHAPTER 166 =====