After Lu Jiuchuan and the other three returned to the inn, Chu Huaying suggested, "We still haven't left Xiao Lou enough clues. The five people who saw the ghost on those nights are only suspicious, but there's no evidence to prove whether they're related to the murderer. I think we should continue to keep an eye on Qin Feng's trail; the mayor's behavior has been very strange."
Gui Yuanzhang asked, " Hua Ying, do you want to follow him?"
Chu Huaying nodded and said decisively, "My physical abilities have been enhanced by the card. Even without the help of Invisibility Cloak, I can follow him silently without him noticing."
Lu Jiuchuan smiled and said, " I certainly trust Hua Ying's tracking ability. I'll leave the task of tracking Qin Feng to you."
Chu Huaying: "Okay, I'll make my move when it gets dark."
Lu Jiuchuan looked at Tang Ci and lowered his voice: "Is the drone on the Zhao family's side all set up?"
"Yes, the person who tidied up the mourning hall for the Zhao family should appear soon."
Lu Jiuchuan added, "There's another person we need to watch out for: the woman who was crying and making a scene at the Chen family's house today. She said her sister had given birth and she came to visit. Qin Feng didn't recognize her and asked if she was from out of town. Perhaps we can find some clues about her sister, Madam Chen Yu, from her?"
Gui Yuanzhang said, "Leave this person to me. I just saw her check into the Fulai Inn."
Tang Ci said, "Then Ninth Brother and I will investigate the remaining five witnesses of the vengeful ghosts."
The tasks were assigned to everyone.
As night fell, the four of them split up and acted separately.
Chu Huaying flew to Qin Feng's residence like a ghost and silently climbed onto the roof.
The study was lit, and Qin Feng, by candlelight, stared intently at the list he had written down, looking lost in thought. He remained motionless, like a statue, for an unknown amount of time.
Chu Huaying waited patiently on the rooftop.
Finally, Qin Feng stood up, frowned, blew out the candle, put on a coat, and turned to leave.
It was late at night, and most people had already...
He lay down. The town was quiet, with only the occasional chirping of crickets. Qin Feng deliberately lightened his pace and quickly headed southeast of the town, with Chu Huaying following behind him like a ghost.
To Chu Huaying's surprise, he ended up at the shop where Second Sister-in-law Xue sold tofu.
He seemed hesitant, pacing back and forth at the doorway.
Chu Huaying was puzzled. While inquiring around the town today, Second Sister-in-law Xue told people that she had seen a vengeful ghost last night. Therefore, Chu Huaying also listened to the neighbors' discussions about this matter. She learned that Second Sister-in-law Xue's husband died a few days after marrying the second young master of the Xue family, and she became a widow, supporting the tofu shop alone.
Qin Feng arrived at Second Sister-in-law Xue's door in the middle of the night. Could it be that the two of them have an impure relationship?
Chu Huaying focused her attention and continued to stare at the doorway.
After a moment, Qin Feng seemed to have made up his mind, stepped forward, and gently knocked on the door lock.
Warm yellow candlelight illuminated the room. A slender woman, wearing a cloak, opened the door. The soft moonlight shone on her face, making her complexion appear somewhat pale. However, the woman had delicate features and was very beautiful, especially her eyes, which appeared exceptionally dark and bright against her fair skin.
She saw the person in front of her and chuckled, "I knew it was you. What, investigating me in the middle of the night?"
Qin Feng looked around: "Can we go inside and talk?"
Second Sister-in-law Xue said, "My husband is no longer here. Is it appropriate for you to come into my house in the middle of the night?"
Qin Feng coughed and said seriously, "I have something important to ask you."
Second Sister-in-law Xue opened the door with a smile, Qin Feng entered the room, and she locked the door from the inside.
Chu Huaying immediately leaped up the tree, jumped lightly, landed on the roof, lifted a tile, and looked inside.
Qin Feng sat in the guest seat. Second Sister-in-law Xue poured him a cup of tea, but he didn't drink it. He looked at her and asked in a low voice, "I came here only to ask you one question."
Second Sister-in-law Xue still had a smile on her face: "Is it about vengeful ghosts?"
"Hmm. Last night, five people said they saw a vengeful ghost with their own eyes. I remember very clearly that there was only one clap of thunder after the rain stopped. You said that when the vengeful ghost appeared, there was thunder in the sky. Is that true?"
"Of course it's true. I was so scared my legs went weak and I quickly went back inside."
" Old Man Liu, Zhang Chengyu, and Lin Yueran also said they saw a vengeful ghost when it thundered. The four of you live in different locations in the east, south, west, and north of the town. How could you possibly see a vengeful ghost at the same time when it thundered?"
"Really? They saw it too?" Second Sister-in-law Xue feigned surprise. "A vengeful ghost can float around anywhere. I don't know how it works. Maybe she can appear in many places at the same time?"
Qin Feng stared intently at her: "Do you know that Old Man Liu has hearing problems and often misunderstands? He lives closest to the Zhao family. Last night, when the Second Miss of the Zhao family got married, a string of firecrackers was set off in the street. Could he have mistaken the sound of the firecrackers for thunder?"
He paused, then slowly said, "I questioned Zhang and Lin this afternoon. They didn't seem to be lying. Besides, Brother Lin's son, Dou Dou, said that there was thunder when the ghost appeared, and children are even less likely to lie. So..."
The woman's expression changed, her smile vanished, and she said coldly, "You suspect I'm lying?"
Qin Feng sighed softly, looking at her with a complicated expression, and said, "Ning Shuang, we grew up together. Can't you just tell me the truth?"
The woman said calmly, " Han Ningshuang is long dead, don't call me that."
Qin Feng was silent for a moment before saying, "Okay, Second Sister-in-law Xue. Last night wasn't a vengeful ghost coming to claim lives at all... you were just pretending to be a ghost to scare people, weren't you?"
A mocking smile played on the woman's lips: "You overestimate me. How could I possibly fly around in the sky?"
Qin Feng said, "But you can make kites—white kites."
woman:"..."
Chu Huaying, hiding on the rooftop, listened to the two's conversation and was greatly surprised.
First, Qin Feng and Second Sister-in-law Xue have known each other since childhood, and Qin Feng found a loophole in the five people's description of the vengeful ghost, ultimately proving that Second Sister-in-law Xue was lying.
Secondly, Second Sister-in-law Xue's real name is Han Ningshuang. She can make kites, and it is very likely that she made a white kite, dressed it in a woman's white clothes, covered it with black hair, and disguised it as a vengeful ghost. Then, she used the wind to send the kite into the sky, making people mistakenly believe that "a vengeful ghost is floating in the sky".
She herself pretended to be one of the terrified witnesses, but in reality, she was the one committing the crime in secret...
The path she followed was the same path that the townspeople had seen the "ghost" on.
The first person to see it was Old Man Liu, who lived nearby. He mistook the sound of firecrackers at Miss Zhao's wedding for thunder.
The second person I saw was the shop owner in the town center; she hadn't heard the thunder.
The third family to be seen was the Zhang and Lin families, who lived to the west and north of Qingfeng Town. As Second Sister-in-law Xue walked towards the northwest with her kite, a clap of thunder sounded in the sky. The northwest was the closest point to the town's exit. She dropped the kite and followed the wedding procession out of town.
However, she overlooked the details of the thunder. Old Man Liu was the first to say, "I saw a female ghost when it thundered," and she quickly echoed him, hoping to reduce her suspicion. However, she didn't expect to make things worse and be exposed by Qin Feng instead.
Second Sister-in-law Xue remained silent for a long time before smiling and saying, "Do you think I have such great ability that I could make all twenty-odd people from the Zhao and Chen families disappear overnight?"
Qin Feng shook his head: "I'm not sure. When we were eighteen..."
We broke up, and in the years that followed, I had no idea where you went or what you did.
A flicker of pain crossed his eyes. He lowered his head slightly and said in a low voice, "I returned to Qingfeng Town to wait for you. I thought you might come back to your hometown for a visit, and then I could find you. But I never expected that what I would find was Xue Zhao and his wife, Madam Xue, whom he had married from another place."
Silence fell over the room.
After a moment, Second Sister-in-law Xue sighed softly and said, " Xue Zhao saved my life. I married him to repay his kindness. At the time, I didn't know he was from Qingfeng Town. If I had known, I would never have followed him back to this place of sorrow." She paused before whispering, "I thought you were long dead."
Qin Feng shook his head with a wry smile: "I was also saved by a kind person."
Silence fell in the room again, as the two seemed lost in memories.
Their conversation was ambiguous, but it was certain that they had known each other since childhood. Moreover, Qin Feng had remained unmarried, and many matchmakers had knocked on his door to propose marriage, but he had rejected them all—the person he was waiting for was Xue, the Second Sister-in-law in front of him, his childhood sweetheart whose real name was Han Ningshuang.
The room was dimly lit, and the two people's shadows swayed gently on the wall.
Qin Feng stared blankly at the shadow on the wall. Han Ningshuang used a bamboo skewer to adjust the wick and said expressionlessly, "For the sake of our childhood friendship, I can tell you that the Zhao and Chen families deserved what they got. Stop obsessively investigating. You haven't forgotten how they treated my mother-in-law, have you?"
Qin Feng's face was deathly pale, and he did not reply.
Han Ningshuang said, word by word, "They chopped off the old woman's hands and boiled them in a pot; they minced her legs and cut off her ears to soak in wine and drink it..."
Qin Feng shouted sternly, "Stop talking!"
Han Ningshuang stopped describing, his expression turning icy.
Qin Feng stood up dejectedly and said, "I hate them too! But those beasts who deserved to die are already dead. Their crimes don't extend to their wives and children. The descendants of the Zhao and Chen families were the same age as us back then. What could a few-year-old child know?"
Han Ningshuang sneered, "Those children, didn't they only survive by eating Grandma's flesh? Why can't they pay for the sins their ancestors committed?"
Qin Feng: "..."
Han Ningshuang said, "A blood debt must be repaid in blood, it's only right and proper. Qin Feng, I advise you not to investigate any further, otherwise, I might take action against you." She paused, then said, "It's getting late, you should go back. Coming to my place in the middle of the night, people will gossip if they see you."
Qin Feng stood up with a grim expression, took a couple of steps, then turned back and asked, "Where did you take those people?"
Han Ningshuang sneered: "I won't tell you. Of course, you can expose me in front of everyone tomorrow, saying that I flew a kite and pretended to be a ghost on the night of July 14th, that I killed more than 20 people from the Zhao and Chen families, and then, according to the rules left by our ancestors, tie me to a wooden frame and burn me alive."
Qin Feng's face turned pale and then red: "You are utterly stubborn! You indiscriminately kill innocent people, how are you any different from those beasts? Do you really think I can't bear to expose you?"
Han Ningshuang turned around, showing him the back of her head, and ignored him.
Qin Feng slammed the door shut and left, his face filled with despair.
Chu Huaying watched this scene from the rooftop, unsure of what to say. She followed Qin Feng home and found him slumped at the table, picking up a brush, dipping it in red paint, and marking each name on the register with a red cross.
Qin Feng blew out the candle and lay down fully clothed. Chu Huaying flew to the street next door, pressed her earpiece, and quickly told Lu Jiuchuan all the information she had seen.
Lu Jiuchuan was stunned for a moment after hearing this: "Could it be that Han Ningshuang is the murderer?"
Tang Ci said, "The so-called vengeful ghost was actually the white kite she flew. In other words, during the famine back then, the 'grandmother' she mentioned was captured by the Hound Organization and tortured to death. She and Qin Feng were probably both children raised by the grandmother. They were lucky enough to escape from Qingfeng Town, but after a few years, they were separated for some reason."
Following Tang Ci's speculation, Lu Jiuchuan said, " Qin Feng liked her and returned to town to wait for her. She was rescued by a young man named Xue Zhao, married Xue Zhao, and became Second Sister-in-law Xue. She returned to Qingfeng Town and launched a crazy revenge against the people of the town?"
"I remember that Drone had photos of everyone in the town." Tang Ci opened Drone and glanced at them, saying, "Based on Second Sister-in-law Xue's age, she was only 9 years old when the famine occurred 20 years ago, and her zodiac sign was… Tiger."
On the surface of the rattle drum, there is a small tiger painted.