Wu Da Sangmen’s eyes widened, anger flashing in them. He snarled, “What do you mean by that? If you don’t explain yourself today, I’m not done with you.”
Zhang Dabiao quickly stepped between us, fearing he might suddenly attack me. “Brother Wu, my younger brother he…”
Before Zhang Dabiao could finish, Wu Da Sangmen shoved him aside. “Who’s your Brother Wu? I kindly hosted you, and now I’ve made an enemy. Don’t think we country folk are easy to bully. If you can’t explain this clearly, I’ll have you walk in standing up and carried out lying down.”
I also changed my attitude towards Wu Da Sangmen. If I hadn’t secretly kept a contingency, I would have been tricked by Wu Da Sangmen.
“Threats are useless. Facts speak louder than words. I hope you can still be so bold later.”
Li Jian stroked his goatee, his tone peculiar as he looked at me. “They say it’s hard to paint a tiger’s bones, and to know a person’s face but not their heart. What a heartless, ungrateful wretch. I’ve seen it with my own eyes today. Others host you kindly, and not only do you not appreciate it, but you bite back. Boss Fang, you believe what this person says?”
“That’s right, Aunt Fang. This kid is full of bad intentions. If you ask me, we can’t trust him. Let’s just take him back, let him eat and drink his fill, and then send him to the police station.” Li Rui deliberately emphasized “eat and drink his fill,” his ulterior motives clear to everyone.
Wu Chengfu also began to cry injustice, though his target of grievance wasn’t Fang Huixin but Wu Da Sangmen.
“Third Uncle, what did I tell you? None of the outsiders are good people. You didn’t believe me. You believe what outsiders say, and now look at the consequences of believing outsiders! If you continue like this, you’ll be killed by outsiders. You offer a warm face to a cold backside, and they don’t appreciate it. You’re really…”
Before Wu Chengfu could utter the last syllable of “fool,” Wu Da Sangmen glared at him, instinctively shrinking his neck and stepping back a few paces. It seemed the beating he’d received earlier was still fresh in his memory.
Watching the four of them put on a show, I almost burst out laughing. If Bai Ling’er hadn’t suddenly appeared at Wu Da Sangmen’s house and told me where the body was, how would I have known where Fang Yuan was?
I looked at Wu Da Sangmen with a slight smile. “Village Chief Wu, what do you say?”
Wu Da Sangmen’s expression shifted several times. Finally, he gritted his teeth. “Fine. If you want to search, I’ll let you search to your heart’s content. If we don’t find it at my place, I’ll let you search every family in the village, one by one, until you’re satisfied. What do you think?” Su Dan Novel Network
I pretended not to catch Wu Da Sangmen’s hidden meaning and nodded. “That’s a good idea, but Boss Fang doesn’t have much time. I’m afraid we won’t have time to search house by house. It’s enough to search your place; there’s no need to trouble other families. It wouldn’t be good.”
Wu Da Sangmen snorted coldly and turned, striding back towards his house. Zhang Dabiao and I walked side by side, following him at a leisurely pace.
“Brother, what exactly are you up to? Why do you suspect Brother Wu?”
I rolled my eyes internally. I glanced back to confirm that Fang Huixin and the others following us couldn’t hear our conversation before explaining, “Bai Ling’er is at Wu Da Sangmen’s place. It told me the person is in his house.”
Zhang Dabiao stumbled, but his agility saved him as he quickly regained his balance. He hurried to catch up with me and asked in surprise, “Bai Ling’er came? When did that happen? How come I didn’t know?”
I inwardly cried out, *You were too busy drinking and chatting to notice anything!* But what came out of my mouth was, “It only came looking for me when you went out to chase Wu Da Sangmen.”
“So that’s how it is.”
As we spoke, we arrived at Wu Da Sangmen’s house, just as his wife was coming out to dump dirty water. Seeing such a crowd suddenly appear, she looked flustered, and the basin in her hand clattered to the ground. She was a completely different person from her calm demeanor moments before.
This further confirmed Bai Ling’er’s words: the person was hidden in Wu Da Sangmen’s house.
“Hus… husband, what… what’s happening? Why are there so many people here all of a sudden?”
Wu Da Sangmen glared at her. “You silly thing with long hair and short sense. Haven’t you seen guests at the house? Hurry inside and don’t embarrass me here.”
Facing Wu Da Sangmen’s reprimand, his wife didn’t utter a sound. She picked up the basin from the ground and turned to go inside.
Wu Da Sangmen looked at me with a cold face. “My house is just this small. You can search anywhere, search anywhere.” With that, Wu Da Sangmen grabbed a chair and sat by the doorway, gesturing for me to proceed.
“Since Village Chief Wu agrees to let us search, my brother and I won’t be polite. Brother Zhang, you search over there. If you see any hidden cellars or anything, don’t miss them, and don’t be polite. I’ll check their storeroom.” Without regard for Zhang Dabiao’s awkward expression, I turned and headed towards the storeroom.
This wasn’t because Fang Yuan was truly hidden here, but because when I was discharged from the hospital, I saw Bai Ling’er sneak into the storeroom. I could only hope it was reliable, otherwise, I would be in serious trouble this time.
If Sui Wan’er hadn’t entered Fang Yuan’s body and changed her fate, rendering my Soul Seeking Technique useless, I wouldn’t have had to beg Bai Ling’er, that little glutton.
With the thought of being fleeced again, I pushed open the storeroom door. The items inside were piled haphazardly. After searching for a while, I couldn’t find Bai Ling’er.
I started to get anxious. Fearing that the people outside would hear, I could only call its name softly.
“Bai Ling’er… Bai…”
“What are you yelling about? Don’t you know I’m growing? I need a lot of water. I can’t sleep now. How are you going to compensate me?”
Bai Ling’er’s voice came from above. I looked up and saw it coiled on the roof beam. The beam was only about a palm wide. If it hadn’t appeared on its own, I might not have found it even if I searched until morning.
Hearing it mention compensation made my teeth ache, but now that I needed its help, I had to lower my stance. “How do you want to be compensated?”
“Three roasted whole lambs. No bargaining.”
I smiled wryly and nodded. I knew it would want food again.
“Deal. As long as you help me find the person, I’ll buy the lambs and roast them for you myself when we get back.”
Bai Ling’er leaped lightly onto my shoulder. “She’s hidden behind the cabinet in their main house. There’s a secret door there, leading to a small room behind it.”
“That’s it?”
I looked at it doubtfully. If it were that simple, I would have sensed Sui Wan’er’s lingering obsession on Fang Yuan when I arrived. But I had sat at Wu Da Sangmen’s house for a while without any detection. Bai Ling’er must have left something unsaid.
“How could it be that simple? There’s an Yin creature guarding the door. It’s hard for outsiders to find it.”
“An Yin creature? Is it the one chasing you that night?”
Bai Ling’er shook its little head. “It is. But it’s not human. It’s a guy I really hate, extremely, extremely hate.”
I became curious. What kind of Yin creature would make Bai Ling’er say the word “extremely” so many times?
“Then what is it that makes you hate it so much? Tell me, and I’ll deal with it for you.”
“Hmph.” Bai Ling’er’s anthropomorphic eyes showed disdain. “You? Deal with it? It would be good if it didn’t deal with you.”
“Uh…” I was speechless at Bai Ling’er’s retort. “Then what do we do? It’s not like I can come back empty-handed, right? You saw that woman outside. If we don’t find the person for her soon, she’s going to get angry.”
Bai Ling’er’s eyes flickered. “Another lamb, and I’ll tell you what it is, and then tell you how to deal with it.”
Damn it! It was still thinking about getting benefits for itself at a time like this.
I reluctantly agreed to its unreasonable condition.
“Deal! But no more conditions.”
Bai Ling’er’s small eyes narrowed into slits, and it smiled. “Go find some dogs, the fiercer the better. As long as you bring the dogs into the house, I guarantee it’ll run faster than a rabbit.”
“Is it that simple?”
“What did you think?”