Chapter 239: Auntie's House

Feng Yongfu stared blankly at Zhong Kui: "Great Immortal, that dead person, wasn't that just what Dong Nansheng used to hold the urn of ashes?"

Zhong Kui smiled: "If the urn of ashes wasn't even taken away, where would the dead person come from?"

Feng Yongfu lowered his head and muttered: "After all these years, I actually never figured this out."

"It's normal. That Dong Nansheng deliberately sought you out, and his series of actions made you all assume the deceased was with him; it is very easy for people to have fixed mindsets. There is nothing more suitable for destroying evidence than a kiln near the crime scene." As she spoke, she walked toward the kiln and peered inside. The interior of the kiln was not completely visible; the long, narrow tunnel blocked most of the light, and even in the daytime, only a little light leaking down from the chimney could be seen. "Strange, such an excellent place to hide a body, why didn't he continue to use it when dealing with Feng Yongshou?"

"How tall is your younger brother?" Qi Fei, who was to the side, suddenly asked Feng Yongfu.

"Uh, about the same as me, around 1.75 meters."

"I'm thinking about a question: if the person was killed by Dong Nansheng, according to Feng Yongshou's account, this person was thin and small, so how did he move the not-so-small Feng Yongshou out without being discovered? And even brought him to Nancheng, which is so far away, to bury him?" Qi Fei threw out the question.

"Hmm, very interesting." Zhong Kui circled the kiln. "Perhaps, it wasn't hidden here at the time because there was no corpse yet."

"Feng Yongshou was still alive when he left here." Qi Fei immediately chimed in with tacit understanding.

"Then the question arises, why would Feng Yongshou follow this person?" Zhong Kui said, her gaze falling on Feng Yongfu.

And Feng Yongfu made a request that only someone from Sanwu Town would make: "Great Immortal, can you communicate with the spirit of Yongshou? So many years have passed, only he himself knows the answer."

"Three nines return to the void, the soul is completely scattered; I cannot communicate with his spirit." Zhong Kui said calmly.

Qi Fei shot her a subtle look, wanting to say that she really could make anything sound perfectly reasonable.

"Did Feng Yongshou mention anything related to Nancheng before he went missing?" Zhong Kui asked, as if she couldn't see Qi Fei's look, continuing to ask Feng Yongfu on her own.

Feng Yongfu thought for a moment, looking troubled: "I never thought that Yongshou would die in Nancheng. So many years have passed; if you ask me whether he mentioned anything related to Nancheng, I really can't say."

The corners of Zhong Kui's mouth lifted: "As long as the method is appropriate, even the most distant memories can be recovered."

As she spoke, she raised her hand, and the silver pendant on her wrist swayed slightly in the sunlight. Feng Yongfu's gaze followed it, and under Zhong Kui's guidance, he slowly entered a hypnotic state...

Feng Yongfu seemed to have returned to a certain morning twenty-seven years ago. In the courtyard, sunlight spilled onto the bluestone ground dampened by dew. His diligent and introverted younger brother had already risen early, holding a broom to sweep the courtyard, preparing to start the day's work.

"Yongshou, up so early? Why not sleep a little longer?" Feng Yongfu stepped forward to greet him, knowing that his younger brother had been distracted lately because of that matter at the Huang Daxian Temple, and couldn't help but be extra concerned.

Yongshou indeed looked low-spirited, only burying his head in sweeping the floor, not answering his words.

Just as Feng Yongfu was preparing to walk away considerately, Yongshou behind him called out to him: "Brother, if one day I did something very wrong, would you still acknowledge me as your brother?"

Feng Yongfu turned around, walked a few steps to Feng Yongshou, and reached out to pat his shoulder: "What silly things are you saying? From childhood to adulthood, you have always been the one more promising than me; how could you do something wrong?"

Feng Yongshou was silent; his complexion looked sallow due to his recent days and nights of unease.

Watching him look as if he had more to say, Feng Yongfu continued to show concern: "About that matter you mentioned last time, I've also been thinking, could it be that you saw it wrong? Look, if someone had died in this Huang Daxian Temple, how could there be no trace at all? You said that person called Dong Nansheng, maybe it's just a coincidence that he looks like him?" He said "coincidence" with his mouth, but in his heart, he actually thought that perhaps Feng Yongshou was overly sensitive and had developed paranoia, but he was just afraid that saying so would make his brother unhappy, so he deliberately spoke more tactfully.

Feng Yongshou listened and looked as if he had more to say, his thumb scraping hard on the broom handle. After a moment, he suddenly said: "Brother, I've thought about it; after Qingming, I want to go stay at Auntie's house for a few days."

"Talking nonsense again. Auntie passed away several years ago, and she didn't even find an uncle for you when she left, so where are you going to stay?" Feng Yongfu was left bewildered by his brother's words.

A smile was forced onto Feng Yongshou's dejected face: "That's true, I can never go back."

Never go back... These words lingered in Feng Yongfu's mind like a curse, along with his brother's haggard face, like a whirlpool, pulling him down incessantly.

"Listen to me count three, two, one." In the chaos, he heard Zhong Kui's voice, followed by a firm "Wake up!"

He opened his eyes. The sunlight from twenty-seven years later spilled into the same courtyard, only everything was no longer the same.

Two lines of tears flowed down his cheeks: "I saw Yongshou. He said he wanted to go to Auntie's house."

"Auntie?"

"Yes, Yongshou was closest to Auntie when he was a child. When Auntie was alive, she lived in Nancheng. When Yongshou was in school, he would go to Auntie's house in Nancheng to stay for a while during summer vacation. But when he told me that time, Auntie had already passed away for several years.

At that time, I just thought he was in a bad mood and talking nonsense, sigh!" Feng Yongfu said, stamping his foot in regret.

"Looking at it this way, he did indeed bring up the idea of going to Nancheng," Qi Fei said while listening from the side. "However, saying he was going to the house of an aunt who had already passed away, that doesn't sound normal."

"This sounds like some kind of stress response," Zhong Kui said.

"You mean, psychological confusion caused by witnessing a murder?" Qi Fei asked.

And at this moment, Feng Yongfu had not fully walked out of the memory from just now. He muttered: "Yongshou asked me if he did something wrong, would I still acknowledge him as my brother. But he was clearly the victim; not being able to save someone wasn't his fault..."

Hearing this, Zhong Kui's gaze was as sharp as a knife: "Feng Yongshou proposing to go to his deceased aunt's house, rather than a reaction to being frightened, is indeed more consistent with a regressive defense after committing a mistake, a symbolic atonement completed through longing for a deceased relative." Afterward, her gaze fell once again on that kiln. "Lao Feng, from beginning to end, the tragedy at the Huang Daxian Temple and that mysterious person named Dong Nansheng were all things your brother said."

Feng Yongfu frowned in confusion upon hearing this: "That is how it is said, Great Immortal, but what do you mean? Could it be that my brother lied to us? But why would he do that?"