Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou's speculations can connect all the currently known clues. It is very likely that Grandma Qin and Granny Sun committed the crime together. What was the relationship between the girl who wore the bracelet back then and them? What did she experience in Liuxi Village and how was she persecuted? Only by finding out these things can the secrets of Liuxi Village be completely uncovered.
The 30 minutes that Peach Blossom Spring existed passed quickly, and everyone was teleported out.
Liu the Fourth stared blankly for a moment as the scenery suddenly changed from peach blossoms covering the mountains to familiar farmland, before muttering to himself, "You really do know magic..."
He seemed to have thought of something, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he looked at Xiao Lou earnestly: "You guys are so capable, can you help me think of a way? If Aunt Qin and Granny Sun are only staying in our Liuxi Village for revenge, how can I expose their true colors?"
He scratched the back of his head in annoyance and said, " The Villagers won't believe what I say on my own. Besides, they can't see it. If Granny Sun insists that I'm a fake village chief, the Villagers will definitely believe her, not me."
The village chief has been expelled from the village. The blind man who remained in the village was raised by Aunt Qin and Granny Sun since childhood. He trusts and respects the two elderly people very much. It is difficult to convince Villager based solely on the village chief's one-sided statement. Evidence must be obtained.
Yu Hanjiang thought of something: "If I remember correctly, Niu Niu's mother seemed to have mentioned that her sister-in-law was about to give birth?"
The village chief turned to look at him in surprise: "How did you know?"
They were obviously eavesdropping using an eavesdropping device. At the time, Niu Niu's mother brought her child to see Granny Sun for treatment. She mentioned her second brother and sister-in-law and asked Granny Sun to help deliver the baby. Granny Sun also said that they should make preparations in advance.
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Are you familiar with your second sister-in-law who is about to give birth?"
The village chief hurriedly nodded and said, "I know, Niu Niu's mother's sister-in-law is my cousin, Liu Hui. She married Lin Er from next door the year before last, and became pregnant at the beginning of this year. She's not in good health and has been taking Granny Sun's pregnancy-stabilizing medicine..."
The village chief's face paled at the thought that the medicine might contain human bones, and his lips trembled slightly: "You mean, Granny Sun might target Huihui's newborn child?"
Yu Hanjiang said seriously, "She harmed your entire village and has been taking revenge on you for so long, so naturally she won't let the newborn go."
For a woman in poor health, the hardships of ten months of pregnancy are unimaginable. Liu Hui kept asking Granny Sun to give her pregnancy-preserving medicine. Who would have thought that this old woman would tamper with the medicine, causing her child to be born with a deformity!
Xiao Lou said, " Granny Sun will definitely be there to deliver Liu Hui's baby on the day she gives birth. The baby will be blind if nothing unexpected happens. If the medicine she gave the pregnant woman is ineffective and the baby is not blind, then she will definitely try to blind the baby later."
Liu the Fourth nodded in agreement: "I think it's because something happened to my mom during her pregnancy that I wasn't born blind. So, when I was little, Granny Sun prescribed a lot of medicine for me, saying that I was in poor health and needed to recuperate."
Xiao Lou said, "The medicine contains ingredients that can cause blindness, as well as dead human bones. If we can find this evidence in the prescription she gave for the child, the Villagers will believe you!"
Liu the Fourth clenched his fist excitedly and said, "That's right! And the Autumn Harvest Festival is in three days. At that time, Grandma Qin will bring out her homemade rice wine for everyone to drink. If we can find the bones of the dead in the rice wine, she won't be able to lie to everyone anymore!"
In the seven days of Spade 4, the fifth day happens to be the annual Autumn Harvest Festival in Liuxi Village, a key plot point similar to Heart Room, and many things are bound to happen on this day.
If all goes well, they can catch Granny Sun murdering the baby during her delivery, and catch Old Mrs. Qin using dead bones to make rice wine when she's distributing it to everyone, thus exposing the true colors of these two old women to the Villagers.
Liu Qiao suddenly asked in confusion, "Village chief, the names of the villagers in your village are quite strange. The boys all seem to have names like Lin San, Liu the Fourth, or Liu Wu, which are just randomly chosen names. But the girls have nice names, like your cousin Liu Hui, and Liu Qing, who is studying medicine with Granny Sun. "
Everyone was taken aback upon hearing this. Xiao Lou suddenly realized what was happening and asked, "Who gave you your names?"
Liu the Fourth said, "We were all delivered by Granny Sun, and she also named us..."
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged a glance, already knowing the answer in their hearts.
Granny Sun's hatred for men far outweighs that for women, which is evident in her differential naming practices—the boys are given names like Liu Er, Lin San, and Liu the Fourth, as if they were stray cats she picked up off the street. The girls, Huihui and Xiao Qing, are clearly named with more care than the usual "one, two, three, four" approach.
Yu Hanjiang frowned, crossed his arms, and speculated, " Could the rich young lady who died in Liuxi Village back then have been Granny Sun's daughter? Did she prefer girls?"
Xiao Lou nodded: "I think it's possible. She also taught Xiao Qing medicine. Perhaps Xiao Qing is also a kind of hope for her."
Ye Qi suddenly slapped his forehead and said excitedly, "I just remembered, when we were eavesdropping, Xiao Qing seemed to have knocked over a lot of Granny Sun's medicine jars! Could she have seen that too?"
Xiao Lou also remembered this and immediately turned to ask the village chief, " Xiao Qing seems to call you Fourth Uncle. Is she your niece?"
Liu the Fourth nodded and said, "She's my second cousin's child. My second cousin got married when he was eighteen, and she was born the following year. Xiao Qing is the smartest girl in our village. Granny Sun liked her very much, so he kept her with him from a young age."
Bian, her second brother also strongly supports letting her learn some medical skills from Granny Sun; she's only fourteen this year.
In remote mountain villages, it's common for young men and women to marry early. Xiao Qing's parents are probably around thirty-five, and Xiao Qing is fourteen this year. Granny Sun seems to be intentionally grooming her, constantly teaching her how to distinguish various Chinese medicines and how to diagnose illnesses by taking a person's pulse. During that eavesdropping session, the two got along well, and Granny Sun patiently taught her pulse analysis for three hours.
Xiao Qing accidentally knocked over the medicine jar, and Granny Sun complained that she was "careless." Xiao Qing then joked, "I couldn't see it. I accidentally knocked it over."
Xiao Lou felt increasingly uneasy: " Ye Qi has a point. Could it be that her eyes can also see? Did she accidentally see the dead bones in Granny Sun's medicine jar, which is why she knocked it over?"
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Village chief, do you know if your niece can see?"
Liu the Fourth scratched his head and said, "I don't think so. Xiao Qing is just like me. She often fell down when she was little and it took her a long time to learn to walk. But when she grew up, she learned everything faster than her peers. She can even recognize Granny Sun's weird medicines."
Xiao Lou laughed and said, "The same as you?"
Liu the Fourth paused, then suddenly realized: "Could she be faking it too?"
Yu Hanjiang said decisively, "Whether it's real blindness or fake blindness, we'll find out tomorrow."
Xiao Lou agreed: "We can continue using the twin card."
The village chief looked bewildered: "What card?"
Xiao Lou couldn't explain it to him either, so he said, "Anyway, we have a way to verify whether she is blind."
Yu Hanjiang said, "We'll take action tomorrow. Everyone, go to sleep first."
It was already 2 a.m. They had sneaked into the village to try and get information out of Granny Sun, and after so many unexpected events, including rescuing the village chief, everyone was exhausted and fell asleep leaning against a big tree next to the farmland.
The howling of wolves outside the village could be heard from time to time. The village chief dared not leave the village alone, so he slept under the tree with these " outsiders ".
***
The next morning, when everyone got up to wash, they found the village very quiet.
Normally, around seven o'clock in the morning, the village roosters would crow one after another to tell everyone that "it's dawn." The villagers would get up when they heard the roosters crowing.
But this morning, the whole village was strangely quiet.
The morning sun shone on the village, and the clock had already struck eight, but there was still no crowing of roosters.
Xiao Lou sensed something was wrong and couldn't help but ask, "Why have all the roosters in the village stopped crowing?"
Liu Qiao walked over and said, "All the roosters have been caught by the two Challengers."
Everyone: "..."
Ye Qi turned to look at her in confusion: " Liu Qiao, how did you know?"
Liu Qiao calmly said, "I woke up once at 4:30 in the morning and couldn't fall back asleep, so I flew around the village and found two men acting suspiciously. They knocked out Old Mrs. Qin's Tibetan Mastiff, took away her rooster, and then sneaked into each house and took all the chickens raised by everyone."
Ye Qi's eyes nearly popped out: "They took all the roosters in the village, surely not to eat them?"
If they were really hungry, there were plenty of wild vegetables and fruits on the western hill, and they could also fish in the pond. There was no need to risk going into the village to catch roosters. Besides, the two of them couldn't possibly eat that many roosters.
Xiao Lou was both amused and exasperated: "I think they probably took the rooster away so that the villagers wouldn't be able to get up on time. After all, when we arrived at Liuxi Village, we were given a warning that the villagers are blind and can't feel the sunrise and sunset, so they rely on the rooster and the hourglass for their daily routine."
The village chief chimed in, "That's right. We get up at cockcrow every morning, turn the hourglass in the middle of the village upside down, and when the sand in the hourglass runs out and we can't hear the sound of sand anymore, everyone goes to sleep."
Shao Qingge sighed and rubbed his forehead: "Those two who stole the rooster are really something!"
Since none of the roosters crowed this morning, the villagers weren't woken up; most were still asleep at eight o'clock. It was like setting an alarm clock that didn't go off, causing them to oversleep.
Yu Hanjiang frowned: "These two changed Villager's schedule, probably so they would have more time to go into the village to look for gems, right?"
Ye Qi couldn't help but complain, "Then they should have caught all the dogs in the village too. Wouldn't that have made it easier?"
Liu Qiao said, "Someone has already thought of that."
Ye Qi was taken aback: "You mean the dog was arrested too?"
Liu Qiao nodded: "The village was quite lively last night. Two men captured all the roosters, and a man and a woman drugged all the Villager dogs. Except for Tibetan Mastiff and his men, who couldn't handle them, all the other dogs were drugged and taken to the West Mountain and tied up."
Ye Qi: "..."
What a talent!
In the original Financial Crisis escape room, two young men stole an LCD TV in hopes of going to jail to complete the game. This time, in the Liuxi Village escape room, the Challengers have come up with some truly bizarre ideas, from catching roosters to stealing dogs—these guys are going to any lengths to get through.
It's the second day now, and only one of the seven gems remains. Clearly, everyone is getting restless.
The morning sun shone brightly, and the village was eerily quiet. Standing atop a tree 50 meters high, Liu Qiao could see many Challengers moving back and forth through the village, their expressions tense, clearly searching for gems.
Several Challengers also found their way to the farmland east of the village. After seeing Xiao Lou and his group, two girls mustered up their courage and approached them, asking, "Excuse me, have you found the gem?"
Xiao Lou smiled and shook her head: "No."
The girl looked at him suspiciously: "You five..."
"Aren't you worried if you can't find the gem? There's only one left."
Xiao Lou said, "Of course we're anxious, we're trying to figure something out."
The girl had no choice but to turn around and leave, continuing her thorough search of the farmland.
Seeing this, the village chief was puzzled: "Are those gems very important to you?"
Xiao Lou said, "Yes, the boss told us we must find the gems in the village, or we will be punished."
The village chief couldn't help but exclaim, "Your boss sounds very strict."
Xiao Lou said helplessly, "Yeah."
The Ace of Spades was certainly strict, throwing the Challengers into this remote and eerie little village. It was only the second day, and those who had found the gems couldn't rest easy, while those who hadn't were even more anxious. In a few more days, the competition among the Challengers would become even more intense.
It would be best to resolve the uncertainties surrounding Granny Sun and Old Lady Qin before then; otherwise, if other Challengers discover they have gems in the following days and join forces to steal them, it will be very difficult to deal with.
To pretend they hadn't found the gem, Xiao Lou, Yu Hanjiang, and Liu Qiao went into the village and searched it.
Since it wasn't convenient to bring the village chief along, Ye Qi and Shao Qingge watched over him from the willow tree outside the village and chatted with him.
The village chief marked several important locations on the map of Liuxi Village for them. Xiao Lou, Yu Hanjiang, and Liu Qiao quickly found Liu Hui's house, where she was about to give birth. Liu Qiao flew in using the trees to investigate and said, "Her house is just a row of houses. The bedroom is at the east end, the living and dining room is at the west end, and there is a small kitchen next to it. Lin Hui and her husband are sleeping there."
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "Let's go to Xiao Qing's house."
At Xiao Qing's house, her parents were still asleep, but the fourteen-year-old girl had already gotten up. She walked around the yard, seemingly puzzled as to why her rooster hadn't crowed. She went to the chicken coop, opened the door, and her expression changed slightly.
Just then, Liu Qiao deliberately flew over the tree in front of her. After hearing the sound, she turned around abruptly and met Liu Qiao's gaze.
She glanced at Liu Qiao, who was also looking at her.
Xiao Qing turned her head away expressionlessly and continued searching for her rooster and dog, ignoring Liu Qiao's presence.
Liu Qiao flew back from the tree, walked to the corner of the wall to meet Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang, and said, "You can transform now."
Yu Hanjiang returned the twin card to Liu Qiao after using it last night. The 8-hour cooldown period had ended, and she had just met Xiao Qing, thus fulfilling the transformation conditions. Liu Qiao used the twin card to change her appearance, and sure enough, an identical Xiao Qing appeared before her.
Yu Hanjiang asked, "How is it?"
Liu Qiao said softly, "She really can see."
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged a glance before continuing their search for Granny Sun.
Granny Sun also got up and was brewing medicine. The three of them dropped an eavesdropping device at Granny Sun's house. Hearing footsteps behind them, the three of them immediately used Invisibility Cloak to stay.
At nine o'clock in the morning, the villagers finally woke up and soon discovered that their roosters and dogs were missing. They went to look for the village chief, but he was also gone. So the villagers went to find Granny Sun in twos and threes.
The surrounding area immediately descended into chaos—
"Mother-in-law, our rooster didn't crow this morning. My wife and I both overslept!"
"Me too. When I woke up and went to the chicken coop, all the roosters were gone, but the hens were still there. Did someone steal them and eat them?"
"Grandma, it seems like the hourglass in the middle of the village has been broken; we can't hear the sand."
My dog is missing too!
"Oh right, I just went to look for the village chief, but he's gone too!"
"Quiet down!" Granny Sun interrupted everyone, coldly saying, "I told you long ago, the village chief is suspicious. He must have colluded with outsiders to steal things from our village! Everyone remember this: from now on, if you hear the village chief's voice, no matter what he says, don't believe him!"
A group of people looked puzzled: "Why would the village chief do this?" " Liu the Fourth isn't that kind of person. We grew up together, he's always been a good person, and he often helped our family fetch water..." "Yeah, why would he team up with outsiders to go against us?"
At this moment, Old Mrs. Qin also came over and said calmly in a hoarse voice, "I felt that Liu the Fourth was not right yesterday. I told him that the seven gems in the village were priceless treasures that could be exchanged for a lot of money. I also told him that the seven gems were arranged in an array. I think he must have become greedy and wanted to cooperate with outsiders to steal the gems and sell them for money."
The villagers believed the two men and immediately began grumbling, "Who would have thought Liu the Fourth was this kind of person!" "So disappointing!" "And we even called him village chief!"
Among the crowd, only Xiao Qing remained expressionless, staring blankly into the distance.
Ye Qi Liu the Fourth heard every word of the sounds coming from the eavesdropping device.
His face was pale, his fists clenched so tightly that his nails dug deep into his palms, and his body trembled uncontrollably: "They...they're talking complete nonsense! Aunt Qin didn't tell me at all what priceless treasures those gems were, she only said that the gems were a formation that could break curses. My own family's gems were stolen too, how could I possibly team up with outsiders?!"
Xiao Lou looked at Yu Hanjiang and whispered, "It seems that even if Captain Yu hadn't impersonated the village chief last night, Granny Sun would have kicked him out of the village after the village chief came to Granny Sun to question him because he had become suspicious of him."
The village chief's expulsion is supposed to be a fixed plot point in Spade 4, but their interference caused it to happen ahead of schedule.
Yu Hanjiang said, "Grandma Qin and Granny Sun will try to pin all the blame on the village chief."
Liu Qiao was also wearing an invisibility cloak. The three of them quickly left the scene.
She then said to Xiao Lou, " Professor Xiao, Old Madam Qin should be able to see it too."
Xiao Lou nodded and said, "I noticed. When Grandma Qin and Granny Sun were smearing the village chief, they looked at each other several times."
It is impossible for a blind person to make accurate eye contact with others. Old Mrs. Qin and Granny Sun were obviously accomplices. Their eye contact was clearly for the purpose of colluding and speaking in unison to smear the village chief.
Unexpectedly, there was more than one person in Liuxi Village who could see.
Xiao Qing didn't say anything just now. I don't know what she's thinking. Should she help her fourth uncle or continue to follow Granny Sun?
The initial information provided at the start of the escape room game is extremely misleading. They've already discovered four people who can see, and if the Challengers are careless and mistakenly believe the Villagers ' blindness is truly genetic, they could easily be tricked and eliminated by the Ace of Spades.
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou exchanged a glance and said, "Let's wait and see. Something else will definitely happen on the day of the Autumn Harvest Festival."
Author's Note:
The Challengers stole all the roosters, and the Villagers were like, "???" The alarm clock didn't go off!