chapter 23
By this time, I had gradually calmed down.
I noticed that Li Xiumei was very cooperative with us, which meant she had a great grievance she wanted to speak out about.
But for some reason, she couldn’t speak.
Her mouth kept making those strange noises.
Maybe she wanted to talk so badly that, inexplicably, a large amount of cement suddenly gushed out of her mouth, pouring out in a stream.
Meng Yifan and I were so startled we nearly jumped up, and even Seventh Master, who was chanting scriptures, widened his eyes in shock.
Although Xiao Qing was now possessed by a Ghost, no matter what, she was only possessed-the body was still alive.
How could a living person spit out cement from their mouth?
I remembered what Seventh Master had said before: a Ghost is actually a kind of energy field, without a physical form. It harms people by affecting their brain functions through magnetic fields, causing hallucinations.
So what we were seeing now-the ‘cement spitting’-should just be a hallucination.
Meng Yifan was so frightened by the scene that he immediately turned to ask, “Seventh Master, what’s happening to her?”
Seventh Master couldn’t continue chanting and hurriedly said to us, “She was probably silenced before she died-her tongue was cut out and her mouth was filled with cement. Someone wanted to make sure she would never speak again.”
Meng Yifan and I gasped in shock.
Li Xiumei may have deserved her fate, but the person who killed her was truly vicious.
Not only did they kill her, but they also cut out her tongue and filled her mouth with cement.
This was a classic case of ‘silencing’!
“Li Xiumei, if you can’t speak, don’t force yourself.”
“I’ll ask you directly, just nod or shake your head.”
I quickly tried to comfort her, afraid she might lose control: “Tell me, was the person who harmed you Lv Zhengxian?”
Lv Zhengxian was the prime suspect, so that’s why I asked.
Unexpectedly, this name seemed to provoke her.
The previously sealed windows and doors in the living room suddenly let in a gust of wind, as if a blizzard had swept in during deep winter, chilling me to the bone.
Meng Yifan and I were terrified, unable to suppress our fear.
Seventh Master hurriedly reminded us, “Keep asking! Distract her!”
But I was so scared I lost my composure. The next question I had prepared slipped out even more bluntly: “Did he kill you because of the Massacre Case fifteen years ago?”
As soon as I asked, ‘Xiao Qing’s’ lychee-like eyes glared straight at me.
“Was the Massacre Case forced on you by Lv Zhengxian?”
I quickly changed my question, but she kept staring at me.
This time, she reached out and grabbed my neck, throwing me aside.
I crashed heavily to the ground, nearly knocking the wind out of myself.
I thought to myself, I’m speaking from her perspective, trying to help her. I said it was Lv Zhengxian who forced her to do it, so why is she attacking me?
“Sister Xiumei, you’ve misunderstood. I wasn’t blaming you.”
“You did the right thing. That family deserved to die. If you want, you can kill my whole family too.”
I cried, scared to tears by her.
I had never been frightened to tears before, but I was truly afraid of her now.
Meng Yifan originally wanted to help me up, but when he saw ‘Xiao Qing’ blocking the way, he didn’t dare approach.
Seventh Master shouted at me in a low voice, “You’re the one who misunderstood her!”
I was stunned.
I misunderstood?
Could it be that the Massacre Case wasn’t forced on Li Xiumei by Lv Zhengxian?
Even if it wasn’t, I was still speaking up for her. There was no reason for her to attack me.
Was it the previous question?
“Lv Zhengxian wanted to harm you, not because of the Massacre Case fifteen years ago?” I asked in disbelief.
At this moment, Xiao Qing started craning her neck again, nodding at me while making a ‘ka-ka-ka’ sound from her throat.
I was a bit confused.
Since Li Xiumei, the ghost herself, admitted that the person who killed her was Lv Zhengxian-and not only did Lv Zhengxian kill her, he also cut off her tongue and filled her mouth with cement, a typical silencing act-wasn’t this all because of that shocking Massacre Case?
But now, Li Xiumei said it wasn’t because of the Massacre Case.
So what could have made Lv Zhengxian treat his own wife so cruelly?
I looked at Meng Yifan, hoping he could help me figure out the answer.
But that useless guy, all he did was burn paper, cry, and tremble.
With no other choice, I had to turn to Seventh Master, the old hand.
But even Seventh Master was frowning deeply, unable to come up with an answer.
I was extremely troubled, unable to figure out what could be more important than the Massacre Case, what could force Lv Zhengxian to silence her.
Suddenly, I remembered that photograph-the family portrait.
There was a very inconspicuous detail in that photo.
There were three people in the picture: Lv Zhengxian, Li Xiumei, and the little girl.
In the photo, Lv Zhengxian’s right hand rested naturally on the girl’s shoulder, showing that he liked the girl.
If he didn’t like her, he wouldn’t have adopted her.
But Li Xiumei’s hands hung stiffly at her sides, looking unnatural. Even though she was standing close to the girl, it seemed she didn’t want to touch her.
Her body language conveyed one thing: she deeply disliked the girl.
“You and Lv Zhengxian adopted a girl. That girl was the only survivor of the Massacre Case.”
I mustered my courage and probed, “But you didn’t like that girl… The reason Lv Zhengxian harmed you was also because of that girl…”
The possessed Xiao Qing suddenly froze, as if recalling something.
I pressed on, “In your original plan, you didn’t intend to leave any survivors, but Lv Zhengxian kept that girl alive and even adopted her…”
“You were the mastermind behind the Massacre Case…”
It was a bold guess, but not without reason.
If Li Xiumei wasn’t the mastermind, she wouldn’t hate the girl so much just because Lv Zhengxian kept her alive-unless, in their original plan, or rather in her plan, the girl was supposed to die too, but Lv Zhengxian went against her wishes, which is why she grew to dislike the girl.
But if that’s the case, Lv Zhengxian wouldn’t need to silence Li Xiumei just because she hated the girl, let alone use such cruel methods.
It seemed my reasoning had gone wrong somewhere.
But before I could sort it out, something unexpected happened.
A shadow suddenly darted out of the master bedroom without warning, knocked out Seventh Master who was chanting scriptures with a single blow, and then swiftly kicked over several Command Flags and most of the candles.
After doing all this, he turned to flee.
I reacted quickly, grabbing one of his legs and tripping him to the ground.
But he was fast too-his other leg kicked at me, knocking me down as well.
By the time I got up, he was already gone.
I stared blankly at his retreating figure, having no idea how he appeared in the master bedroom.
I wanted to chase after him, but the situation didn’t allow it.
Because the possessed Xiao Qing had completely lost control…