Go all out

Chapter 16: An Old Photo

Tian Zhan glanced at me and gave me a look—clearly signaling me to keep quiet. After all, this would cause panic among the villagers. Seeing that I wasn’t speaking, the village chief shook his head with a smile. “I knew you two wouldn’t say anything. Come on in—let me take a look at the villagers’ records.” My heart leapt with joy, and I hurried inside the village chief’s house with Tian Zhan. The village chief pulled out a notebook—one used for the census—and a few minutes later, he told us there were three people who happened to be exactly forty-six years old. One had already bought a house in the city and rarely returned to the village; this person was unlikely to be my mother’s target, so we could rule him out. The other person the village chief mentioned was a man surnamed Yang—strangely enough, he also lived alone. However, after mentioning the second person, the village chief just smiled and said nothing. “What about the third one?” I asked curiously. Tian Zhan seemed to sigh as he looked at the village chief and said slowly, “The other one is the village chief himself.” “That’s right!” the village chief said with a smile. I was taken aback for a moment. So, did that mean both the Yang family and the village chief would be my mom’s next targets? But I’d just taken a close look at the village chief’s face myself, and I had a feeling my mom wasn’t going to go after him. Why do I say that? Because I’d secretly analyzed the village chief’s facial features before. In the Twelve Palaces of his face, the Palace of Illness indicated that he had an internal illness—a rather serious one, likely related to his liver. Combined with the slightly sallow hue of his Life Palace, this suggested that the village chief wouldn’t live past fifty-five. In other words, he would die of illness, but he definitely wouldn’t die at forty-six. The village chief knows this himself, which is why he always treats himself to the finest food and drink. However, as I analyzed this, a sense of astonishment and doubt arose in my mind. Didn’t the facial analysis of Chen the Carpenter and Uncle He, who died last night, also suggest that they wouldn’t die so early? Could this be a sudden twist in fate? To put it simply, when my mother intervened, was she defying the heavens? Causing the death of someone whose time had not yet come—that is defying the heavens. Thinking of this, I couldn’t stay calm. “Why aren’t you two saying anything?” the village chief asked, somewhat puzzled. Tianzhan and I exchanged a glance, and I spoke up, “Village Chief, Uncle He died last night.” “What?” The village chief was immediately taken aback. He stared at me with wide eyes. For a split second, I thought I caught a glimpse of unconcealed terror in his expression, followed by a sense of relief. I was completely baffled. Why did the village chief look as if he knew he was going to die? In less than a few seconds, the village chief seemed to have aged several years. He sighed, “All right, you two go home. I’m going to check on the He family. Oh well, Old He is gone too…” After saying this, the village chief set off at a brisk pace toward Uncle He’s house, but I stood frozen in place. Why did the village chief use the word “also”? Could the village chief know something? I recalled what happened a while back when Carpenter Chen died—the village chief had rushed over to find my master, his expression filled with terror. But why did he seem so resigned just now upon hearing this news? It almost seemed like a sense of relief? Tian Zhan paused for a moment and said, “I have a feeling the spirit’s next target is the village chief!” I fell silent. Of course, I knew exactly who Tian Zhan was referring to as the spirit monster—I had that same feeling too. But the village chief really hadn’t done anything to offend my mom, had he? Why would my mom want to kill even the village chief? Tian Zhan kept his eyes fixed on the village chief, who had already walked far away. He suddenly glanced inside the village chief’s house and actually walked into the village chief’s bedroom—the village chief had left in such a hurry that he hadn’t locked the door. I hurried inside. “What are you doing?” “Nothing. I’m not stealing anything—can’t I just take a look?” Tian Zhan said with a straight face. “That’s not right,” I shook my head. “Don’t you think the village chief’s reaction just now was a little strange?” Tian Zhan suddenly said. So Tian Zhan had also noticed that the village chief’s reaction had been off just now. “It was a little strange.” “It’s not just a little strange—it’s very strange. When he heard that Uncle He had died, his first reaction was fear, and then he looked like a prisoner facing execution in ancient times—despair, pure and simple.” I was speechless—I’d thought I saw a sense of relief. “So, I want to see if there are any clues in the village chief’s room.” “All right.” “Let’s look around together, then.” “Mm-hmm.” The two of us quietly and discreetly searched through the village chief’s room. After a while, I even felt like we had a knack for being thieves, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at myself. The village chief’s room was very simple, furnished just like an ordinary home—a bed, a wardrobe, and a TV. It was pretty straightforward. Tian Zhan and I searched for a while but didn’t find anything. However, Tian Zhan did find a photo in a hidden compartment inside one of the drawers. He let out a soft “Hmm,” and I naturally walked over out of curiosity. It was a black-and-white photo—a pretty old one, actually. In the picture, four people had their arms around each other’s shoulders; they looked like close friends. It’s just an ordinary photo—why would the village chief hide it away so carefully, as if he didn’t want anyone to see it? Shaking my head, I stared closely at the photo. Although the photo was a bit blurry, probably from dampness, I could still vaguely make out the faces of three of the people in it—they looked like the recently deceased carpenter Chen and Uncle He. As for the fourth person, it was none other than the village chief! But the face of the person standing on the very edge was extremely blurred—I couldn’t tell who it was at all. I was instantly struck by a sense of alarm and suspicion. Two of the people in this photo were already dead—could the village chief be next? Or was this photo just a coincidence? What puzzled me even more was: why wasn’t Uncle Zhang—who had died first—in the photo? Although I couldn’t identify the fourth person in the photo, it definitely wasn’t Uncle Zhang, who had died first. Uncle Zhang was a full head shorter than the village chief, whereas the blurry figure in the photo was about the same height as the village chief. “Is the person in this photo the one the village chief just mentioned—the one surnamed Yang?” I asked, pointing to the blurry figure in the photo. “No, Uncle Yang used to live very close to my house, and he isn’t that tall.” Tian Zhan shook his head, then his eyes flashed with a sharp gleam. “Looks like this isn’t as simple as it seems.” Not that simple? I was a bit surprised by Tian Zhan’s remark, but neither of us spoke up. After a moment of silence in the room, I finally said slowly, “So, does that mean the village chief is next?” “It should be! Didn’t the village chief go to Uncle He’s house? Let’s follow him and see,” Tian Zhan said after a moment’s thought. “Mm-hmm.” I nodded, and the two of us put the photo back where we found it, then quickly set off after him. Worried about the village chief’s safety, we ran pretty fast. After about seven or eight minutes, we arrived back at Uncle He’s house. Just as we tiptoed closer and peered inside through the window, we froze in surprise. Uncle He’s body was still lying on the floor, but the room was empty. The village chief wasn’t there—hadn’t he just said he was coming to Uncle He’s house? Tian Zhan and I exchanged glances, both feeling a bit puzzled. Could the village chief have gone somewhere else along the way? “It looks like the village chief is hiding something from us,” Tian Zhan said, his eyes darting about. I nodded. The village chief’s reaction to hearing about Uncle He’s death had indeed been a bit unusual. “So what do we do now?” I asked. “Doesn’t your master need medical expenses every day? You go back to the shop and open up for business. I’ll go wait for him at the village chief’s house,” Tian Zhan said after a moment’s thought. I looked at Tian Zhan and said nothing. “Why are you staring at me? Do you think I’m going to send you away so I can kill your mom?? Am I that kind of person?” Tian Zhan rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed by my lack of trust. “No.” “Well, that settles it, then.” “But I’m still going to follow you,” I said earnestly. “You…” Tian Zhan glared at me, but in the end, he had no choice but to give in. I smiled slightly. Tian Zhan looked exasperated, so the two of us headed toward the village chief’s house once more. We arrived quickly; his door was still open, but the village chief wasn’t inside. Tian Zhan and I waited for the village chief to return from a large tree nearby. He must have gone to find someone to dispose of Uncle He’s body; besides, my mom probably wouldn’t be able to do it in broad daylight. With that in mind, the two of us waited from morning until noon. I was absolutely starving, so I told Tian Zhan to wait there while I went back to make two servings of egg fried rice and brought them over. After we finished eating, we continued waiting, but even by the afternoon, the village chief still hadn’t returned. I made a point of checking Uncle He’s house again. The village chief still wasn’t there, and there were no other footprints at Uncle He’s doorstep—which meant the village chief had never even been to Uncle He’s house. Where on earth had he gone? Walking back to the village chief’s house again, Tianzhuan shook his head at me, and I climbed up a tree to keep waiting. “Xiao Tian, has your mom come to see you lately?” Tian Zhan suddenly asked. “No.” I shook my head, but Tian Zhan didn’t look convinced, so I had to emphasize, “Really, she hasn’t.” It was true. Ever since my mom took human form to visit me last time—which was the first time I’d ever seen her—she hadn’t appeared before me again. Maybe it was because of what my master said that night. “All right, I believe you! But let me ask you this: if your mom kills again and breaks the rules between humans and spirits, would you blame me if I took action against her?” Tian Zhan looked at me intently. I froze for a moment. It was true—my mom had indiscriminately killed innocent people; she’d already taken three lives. She was indeed beyond redemption. But no matter how despicable she might be, she was still the mother who gave me life when I was a child! “No,” I shook my head. “Then you’ll do everything in your power to stop me, right?” “No, I wouldn’t.” Seeing me shake my head again, Tian Zhan furrowed his brow. He stared at me for a moment, his expression suddenly becoming somewhat complex. “So you want to die with your mother?” “Yes. My mother gave me life, so I won’t stop you from killing her—but I’ll die with her.” My gaze was unwavering. Finally, Tian Zhan sighed. “Ah, acting like this is the biggest obstacle you could put in my way…” I didn’t say anything. We sat in silence for a long time, when suddenly my phone rang. I saw it was a call from the hospital and answered it with a puzzled look. An urgent voice came through the line. “A family member of Li Jiu?” I nodded and murmured “Mm-hmm.” That was my master’s name. “Please come over right away. Something’s happened to Li Jiuyi at the hospital.” The call ended, and I was startled. How could something have happened to my master at the hospital??