Chapter 39 - Lonely Village by the River (5)
dead?
Hearing the words, Jiang Xiuxiu hurriedly chased out.
The scream came from the Wang family’s yard. When Jiang Xiuxiu rushed out, she could see the female player staring at the haystacks outside the house.
Her face was very pale, and her voice was almost trembling: “There are corpses in here… There are dead people in here!”
Corpse?
Jiang Xiuxiu followed her gaze and found that the female player seemed to be digging these straws just now.
The straw was dug to the depths, revealing a rotting corpse.
In fact, she and Ye Ming also planed this straw yesterday. After all, when you sleep at night, the floor is too hard and too cold. If you put some straw, it will be softer.
Unexpectedly, there is still a body that has been dead for many days.
It has decayed to the point where it can’t be recognized, but Jiang Xiuxiu can recognize it based on the clothes on it, it is a female.
And it should be young, this kind of dress is the most popular among girls in their teens and twenties.
Seeing this, Jiang Xiuxiu narrowed his eyes.
This person is probably not Wang Xiaoyue, after all, she is married.
If the end of marriage is to die here, then the bodies of the three female players who disappeared last night should also appear together.
So, who will she be?
She returned to Wang’s house and hurriedly walked to Wang Xiaoyue’s room.
She circled around Wang Xiaoyue’s award certificate on the wall, and finally her eyes fell on the old elementary school textbooks on the bookcase.
On the side and front of these textbooks, the words “Wang Xiaoyue” are written.
But when Jiang Xiuxiu picked up the book and turned it over carefully, in the corner of a certain page, he saw a line of small pencil characters——
“Wang Xiaoyue and Wang Xiaoyun will always be together.”
Wang Xiaoyun?
Jiang Xiuxiu was slightly startled, and wrote down the name.
She thought that when the players entered the game before, the system proposed that the purpose of the students played by the players was to explore the truth about Wang Xiaoyue’s disappearance.
She just thought that Wang Xiaoyue was forcibly married, so she couldn’t get in touch.
But now it seems that the truth may not be so simple.
Unsurprisingly, this person named Wang Xiaoyun will be Wang Xiaoyue’s sister.
Considering that the Wang family’s family background is not good, the two sisters are likely to live in the same house.
There is no school in the village. If Wang Xiaoyue is studying, she must spend most of the year in school accommodation.
In this way, the one who has been living in Wang Xiaoyue’s room should be Wang Xiaoyun, not Wang Xiaoyue herself.
After the Wang family moved, they took away a lot of things, including furniture and other items that could be sold.
Therefore, Jiang Xiuxiu hurriedly glanced before, and didn’t pay much attention to it, thinking that the Wang family was only a child.
So, who died in the haystack?
Jiang Xiuxiu was a little confused, but she didn’t think for too long, and continued to look around in Wang Xiaoyun’s room.
As mentioned earlier, there is not much information left by the Wang family. Jiang Xiuxiu searched for a long time, but found nothing like a diary.
As for the textbook, it is very important, and Wang Xiaoyue did not dare to paint on it.
But after a lot of hard work, she managed to pull out the small note written by the Wang sisters from the gap between the bed and the wall.
The news recorded on the note is very simple, and it is all about the topics of some little girls, such as who will play the princess and who will play the queen today.
It can be seen that the relationship between the sisters is quite good.
It was almost difficult for Jiang Xiuxiu to find that when the two were arguing, and occasionally there was an argument, the other person would quickly apologize, and the two were reconciled.
Taking these useless notes away, Jiang Xiuxiu took a closer look and found a slightly more important—
[Sister Xiaoyun, don’t be sad, I will go home from school later, carrying my parents behind my back, quietly teaching you how to write and count. 】
This is a note written by Wang Xiaoyue.
Just, “Teach you to write and count with your parents behind your back”?
Why hide from their parents?
Jiang Xiuxiu looked at the textbooks that only had Wang Xiaoyue’s name written on it, and then looked at the certificates of awards on the wall full of Wang Xiaoyue, and gradually had guesses in her heart.
As a rural family, the Wang family was unable to provide for their two children to study.
Especially with two girls.
The biggest possibility is that they chose Wang Xiaoyue and gave up Wang Xiaoyun.
The elder sister went to study, and the younger sister stayed at home and helped the family work.
After making sure that there was no other information to be found, Jiang Xiuxiu left the room and showed Ye Ming what he got.
After reading it, Ye Ming pointed out the inconsistency in almost an instant: “This pair of sisters is not right.”
“I think so.”
Taking advantage of no one around, Jiang Xiuxiu said, “The one who can read must be the one in this family whose parents have put more effort into it… If the old man is right, Wang Xiaoyue married because of some kind of local Customs, then the sacrificed should not be her, but her sister Wang Xiaoyun.”
Although the old man kept saying that “marrying” was to enjoy happiness, Jiang Xiuxiu was not stupid and knew that she must be lying.
This is definitely not a good thing, otherwise the Wang family would not have left the place where they lived for most of their lives because of this, and resolutely moved away.
“interesting.”
After listening to Jiang Xiuxiu’s analysis, Ye Ming laughed.
His dark black eyes looked at the notes in his hand with interest, as if looking through them to something else: “I don’t know yet, there are so many secrets here…”
“Which of them died in the haystack?”
Ye Ming seemed to be very curious about this matter, he blinked, and then asked.
Jiang Xiuxiu listened to his question, shook his head, and said, “I can’t see it.”
The person hidden in the haystack had been dead for at least a month, and when he was pulled out, there were only a few skeleton racks and a suit of clothes left.
She wanted to check it out later and try to find something, but maybe the other players were scared and disposed of the body.
By the time she passed, the body had disappeared, and she didn’t know where it was taken.
“But I think the secret between the two of them will definitely help us,” Jiang Xiuxiu continued, “Investigating the truth about Wang Xiaoyue’s disappearance is a task assigned to us by the system, and it is also another reminder. “
Ye Ming’s question just now was precisely Jiang Xiuxiu’s headache.
The one who can be sent for marriage will definitely not be the one who died in the haystack.
To investigate the truth about Wang Xiaoyue’s disappearance, we have to find out whether she is the one who died in the haystack or the one who got married.
If it is marriage, what does the so-called “marriage” in the village mean?
These are what their players need to know.
After confirming the direction of action, Jiang Xiuxiu and Ye Ming briefly ate a meal and walked towards the village for the next time.
They wanted to go to the place where the previous group of villagers went up the mountain, but when they saw that there were two strong villagers guarding the intersection of the path, they gave up.
The next afternoon passed quickly.
Jiang Xiuxiu took some time to replace all the original straws with new ones, and after cooking some meals, before she knew it, it was night again.
At dinner time, other villagers in the village again brought toiletries and food.
Jiang Xiuxiu still refused to eat, but apart from them, four or five players were already shaken.
It has to be said that most parts of China are now guaranteed to eat meat at every meal.
These players who can afford holographic cabins and play holographic games must have no shortage of money at home.
In such a difficult environment as the game, not only can they only eat vegetables, but also have to cook by themselves, which is too embarrassing for them.
In particular, the Wang family did not have much food, and everyone was not very full.
The female players were still a little vigilant, and the male players who were not considered by the “bride” completely let go of their courage after two days of starvation and devoured them.
Under Jiang Xiuxiu’s order, Ye Ming did not go to eat.
After they finished their supper shabbyly, they went back to the woodshed to sleep.
It was getting dark quickly in the village, and after a while, the woodshed was plunged into darkness.
Staring at the ceiling, Jiang Xiuxiu gradually began to ponder.
In the afternoon, she also went to the river bank to take a look.
Just like yesterday, the strange wedding procession was still roaring along the river bank.
In that sedan chair was the paper bride she had seen before.
I don’t know if she will dream about it again tonight…
In the wild thoughts, sleepiness slowly swept up.
After a while, Jiang Xiuxiu fell asleep again.
…
Maybe it’s what she thinks that will come. Not long after Jiang Xiuxiu fell asleep, she found out that she was dreaming again.
It’s just different from the first dream. This time, there is no Wang Xiaoyue and no paper bride.
In the dream, she was standing in the woodshed where she and Ye Ming were resting, and outside, there were several villagers who could not see their faces.
Compared with the loneliness and coldness of the Wang family courtyard in reality, the house in the dream is much more lively.
A group of villagers dressed in festive red attire gathered in the yard and lit up all the corners of Wang’s house.
Bright red lanterns hang all over the yard, just looking at it, it really has a bit of a wedding atmosphere.
Could this be Wang Xiaoyue’s memory before marriage?
“The bride is here!”
After seeing Jiang Xiuxiu appear, those aunts who couldn’t see her face swarmed up and surrounded her: “Come on, it’s time, go and clean up!”
“I am not your bride.”
Facing them, Jiang Xiuxiu was extraordinarily calm: “You have found the wrong person, I am not.”
“Why not?” said an old man, “In the daytime, you have personally accepted the dowry from the adult, so according to the rules, you should marry him!”
“bride price?”
Jiang Xiuxiu thought for a while and asked, “Is it the food and things you sent to the Wang family during the day?”
“Yes!” the villager next to him replied, “Since you have enjoyed the betrothal gift, you must fulfill your responsibilities. You escaped for a day before, but now you can’t escape anymore!”
After speaking, they also pointed to the door.
Jiang Xiuxiu took a look and saw three male players who had eaten the food given by the villagers during the day and took the quilt given by the villagers. They were wearing exquisite wedding gowns and heavy makeup, standing there numbly.
Jiang Xiuxiu: “…”
No, they don’t even mind the gender of the bride! ?
Jiang Xiuxiu was shocked and didn’t know what to say.
The aunts next to them saw the opportunity, holding a bright red and gorgeous wedding dress, and they came to put on Jiang Xiuxiao!
However, how could Jiang Xiuxiu let them succeed?
Seeing this, she quickly stepped back and refuted it loudly: “You are talking nonsense! I didn’t take any of the things you sent today, and I haven’t eaten the food. If you don’t believe me, ask yourself!”
She had already seen that there was something wrong with these villagers, and she didn’t go to get those things at all!
Seeing Jiang Xiuxiu say this, the villagers’ movements suddenly stopped.
Everyone looked over, their invisible eyes fell on Jiang Xiuxiu’s body, matched with the blurred face in the dream, for a while, it was inexplicably scary.
Jiang Xiuxiu watched this scene, took a deep breath, and stared back without fear.
These villagers in the dream should be similar to the ghosts she encountered in the first two games.
If they want to hurt her, they must meet the condition of “receiving a dowry”, but she really didn’t touch those things.
She didn’t believe it, under such circumstances, what else could they do to her!
“She did not accept the dowry.”
Just as the two parties were in a stalemate, suddenly, a faint voice came from outside the courtyard.
The voice was very calm, with a little gentleness, as if the spring breeze was blowing through the willow tree, which made people feel a little warm: “There is no trace of the dowry on her body.”
Hearing this voice, the other villagers looked at each other in dismay.
On the other hand, Jiang Xiuxiu narrowed his eyes and looked towards the source of the sound.
This voice may not be recognized by others, but it is absolutely impossible for her to admit it wrong.
Xu Bai…he is also the boss of this round of the game!
At this moment, outside the courtyard of the Wang family, stood the marriage team that Jiang Xiuxiu was very familiar with.
It’s just different from her memory. This time, in addition to the bride’s sedan chair, there is a groom on a horse right in front of the team.
The first thing she noticed was the hand holding the reins.
Thin and slender fingers, beautifully trimmed and rounded nails, and pale skin against the dark red clothes.
Further up, there is a young man dressed in the usual groom’s costume.
He has long dark black hair, pale skin, clean facial features, and quiet black eyes.
Seeing Jiang Xiuxiu looking over, he tilted his head with a smile on his face.
It was Xu Bai.
And after Xu Bai finished saying those words, the whole yard became quiet for a while.
“…Sir, what should we do then?”
After a long while, a villager asked timidly.
Since a wedding is going to be held, the bride can’t be without.
She didn’t accept the dowry, could it be that they were going to let her go?
Xu Bai smiled slightly: “Then… buy and sell strongly.”
Jiang Xiuxiu: “…”
Jiang Xiuxiu: ! ? ?
Wait, what does this mean! ?
When Jiang Xiuxiu heard Xu Bai’s words, a bad premonition rose in his heart in vain.
In the next second, she watched helplessly as the villagers gathered a pile of furniture fabrics, gold and silver jewelry, and even chickens, ducks, fish, and geese from somewhere, and rushed into the firewood room where Jiang Xiuxiu was!
Those things instantly filled Jiang Xiuxiu’s room, filling the humble courtyard.
It was clearly overgrown with weeds, a barren and shabby yard, and against the backdrop of so many precious items, it had a splendid smell.
Looking at the stunned Jiang Xiuxiu, the corner of the bridegroom’s mouth raised on a tall white horse: “Continue.”
Jiang Xiuxiu: ? ? ?
No, why do you still bring this! ?