After leaving the tent, Ye Xun glanced at his host's face and said weakly: "There are only four days left. Is the host confident in finding out the cause of the disease?"
Liu Ruyan pondered for a moment and then said: "It's too early to give up now. I'll go meet the leader again."
Since the villagers of Taiping Village follow his lead, perhaps they can get some new clues.
Guo Shiquan committed several serious crimes for killing the doctor and is now imprisoned in a farmhouse not far away.
There was a musty smell in the room. Guo Shiquan was sitting against the wall and heard movement outside the door. The next moment, the door was pushed open and a "young man" walked in.
"Is that you?" Guo Shiquan narrowed his eyes and looked at the person standing in the light. He clenched his fists and stood up angrily.
He rushed towards Liu Ruyan, but was caught by the iron chain on his leg. He struggled desperately, roared, and yelled at Liu Ruyan: "You quack, you liar!"
Liu Ruyan looked at him calmly and stood unmoved at the door: "I am a liar, what about you, a murderous executioner, or a prisoner?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the man became so angry that he bit his back teeth and cursed fiercely. He wished he could tear the person in front of him to pieces and let her experience the unbearable pain.
When Shen Yan first entered the room, he heard these filthy words. He found it too noisy and a stream of Qi popped out from his fingers. Guo Shiquan suddenly fell to the ground.
He raised his face and when he saw this frosty man, he was so nervous that he didn't even dare to express his anger.
Tsk, persimmons are so soft to pinch.
Liu Ruyan got a stool and sat opposite him: "I heard that your Guo family were the first group of villagers to be infected with the epidemic."
Thinking of his wife and daughter who passed away not long ago, Guo Shiquan became excited again. His eyes turned red and he locked his gaze on the young man sitting in front of him, wanting to scold him again.
How could Liu Ruyan allow him to jump around? She took out a spring dagger from her arms and bounced it open with a "clop" sound: "If you don't want the whole village to die with you, just shut up."
Guo Shiquan immediately fell silent and watched her slowly wipe the blade with a cloth.
Liu Ruyan said without raising her head: "What was unusual about Mrs. Guo during her lifetime?"
"Is she familiar with Yun Niang?"
"Before she contracted the epidemic, had she been to the river and seen anything strange?"
Liu Ruyan asked three questions in a row, and finally said slowly: "This epidemic is strange. If the source is not found out, any prescription will only treat the symptoms but not the root cause. Please think carefully before answering."
All the words he had yet to say were choked back in his throat. He really obeyed her wishes, lowered his head and thought for a moment: "I remember that my wife was the same as usual, and she didn't feel anything unusual."
Liu Ruyan raised her head and glanced at him: "Not detailed enough."
"She comes from a woman's family. She stays at home every day to pick up food and then sends it to the fields."
Guo Shiquan was a rough man and did not care about women's private affairs: "As for this Yun Niang, I occasionally meet her when I go into the forest, but I am not familiar with her. That girl is a talkative girl."
"On the contrary... my wife often goes to the river outside the forest, because water from the river is needed for field irrigation, and she has to carry some water back." Guo Shiquan said, "But before she got sick, she used to go by the river.
I saw a weirdo, he looked very attractive."
Hearing this, Liu Ruyan's eyes lit up and she quickly asked him: "Is she a woman wearing gray linen clothes, with unkempt hair and a dirty face, looking like a female ghost?"
Hearing the word female ghost, Guo Shiquan tensed up: "Yes, she looks like Yun Niang who drowned last year. That woman was standing on the other side of the river at that time, just when the sun was setting... It was her, Yun Niang
came back!"
Guo Shiquan's strong body squatted in the corner with a ferocious look on his face: "When a few of us went to catch her in the house before, Yun Niang protected the wild beast in her belly and bit me. I knocked her out and took it. The stone was tied and sunk in the river. But this was all what Li Zheng asked me to do, and it really has nothing to do with my Guo family!"
Liu Ruyan's expression changed slightly: "You mean, it was Li Zheng who ordered it?"
Guo Shiquan nodded repeatedly and insisted: "That's right, it's Li Zheng. Everything was ordered by him. He said that this woman didn't follow the rules of women and deserved to die."
It seemed that things were developing beyond her expectation.
"Is there a new clue?" Shen Yan lowered his eyebrows and thought for the first time when he saw her.
Liu Ruyan took back the dagger and said with a calm expression: "I didn't expect that this seemingly honest Li Zheng, who received a salary from the court and did not ask for orders from the people, was actually the mastermind who instigated murder."
Ye Xun was also silent: "No wonder he ran away from the village with his family. It turns out he was a thief with a guilty conscience."
After Guo Shiquan calmed down, she continued to ask: "After Yun Niang died, was there anything unusual in Li Zheng?"
"What's abnormal?" Guo Shiquan recalled carefully, "Nothing happened to Li Zheng's family. His wife even gave birth to a big fat boy for him. For this reason, Li Zheng invited the villagers to his home for dinner and wine. The banquet lasted for three days. banquet."
"When did it happen?"
"Almost a month ago."
That was what Liu Ruyan thought about before the epidemic broke out, and she had a preliminary guess in her heart.
Afterwards, she asked some more questions, learned what food and drinks were served at the family banquet, and left the farmhouse.
Shen Yanchu walked side by side with her and pointed out the problem: "The first villager to get sick had gone to Li Zheng's house to have a drink."
"Yes, but what puzzles me the most is the rumor that the female ghost is seeking her life. It seems that we have to go to Yang Shulin again," she said.
The dark nights in the north are especially long in winter.
After Liu Ruyan drank a whole pot of hot ginger tea, she took off her fur clothes and traveled lightly with Shen Yanchu.
By the time she reached the river outside the poplar forest, it was getting dark.
The warm sunshine for several consecutive days has caused the thin ice, which was not thick, to begin to melt. At night, some broken ice floated on the river. Looking from a distance, it seemed that the scenery on both sides of the river was fragmented, and the wind rippled the reflection. eccentric.
Liu Ruyan shrank her neck, secretly sighing that she shouldn't have given up her fur coat. If she had known better, she would have worn thicker clothes when going out.
Beside, Shen Yanchu was holding an oil paper lantern, shining a little light in this lonely and cold night.
He walked three steps ahead so that she could discern the muddy path under her feet. The two of them followed the river and walked deep into the forest.
There was silence all around, and the two of them were speechless.
Liu Ruyan folded her arms and felt chills. To divert her attention, she looked at the barrage that flashed across the screen.
"Who can tell me the spoiler: there is really a female ghost here?"
"Don't worry, based on my experience watching TV dramas, except for the occasional dead body, there are no ghosts."
Speaking of this, someone posted another barrage: "The world where the heroine lives is similar to our Chinese civilization from a historical and humanistic perspective, but it is very different in details. Generally speaking, it is an atheistic world."
"Can you please explain upstairs, what is going on with the female ghost by the river?"
…
In just a blink of an eye, Shen Yanchu, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped.
She didn't notice for a moment and bumped into him head-on.
Shen Yanchu hugged her at the right time to help her stabilize her body.
"What are you thinking about?" He looked at the person in his arms and stared at her eyebrows.
"I didn't mean anything." She refused and immediately lowered her head, fearing that he would notice something strange.
"Lie." He pointed out, "Your mind is not here."
She exclaimed: "I even covered my face, how can I still see through this?"
Shen Yanchu slightly raised the corners of his lips, his tone was calm, but his words were harsh: "You are stupid by nature, it's actually not difficult to judge."
I remember the devil said that a person's seven emotions can be seen with the naked eye, but she couldn't even cover her face.
Liu Ruyan coughed and said, "Brother, you can't tear yourself apart even if you are in trouble."
But someone wanted to ruin it: "The reason why you are willing to stay and help Bai Zhi is so that he can owe you a favor so that he can treat you in the future."
Liu Ruyan couldn't help but mutter: "Why do you always see through me?"
Shen Yanchu stared at her, and the eyes of the "young man" in his sight lifted slightly. Those eyes were clean and clear, and as the tips of the eyes rose upward, they were as bright as the rays of the sun.
Between the two of them is a pear-white oil paper lantern, spinning gently in the breeze, casting a hazy halo.
The clear moon reflects the snow.
Cold water ripples.
The flickering lights.
Liu Ruyan raised her hand lightly, withdrew from his warm embrace, and walked forward with her head buried in her chest: "Just don't say it, maybe it's not a good thing to say."
Behind her, out of sight, the fingers in his sleeves suddenly loosened, and a smile appeared on his lips.
He is just a young man with an undecided temperament. He is obviously afraid of the cold and does not say a word.