The villain is ill

Seeing the three people, those who had already sat up stood up to greet them. The head of the main table, an old man with a white beard and a white face, stood up on crutches, "Second boy, where did these young men come from?"

Fan Laoer raised his voice and said respectfully: "Grandpa, these three are knights who lost their way, and they will stay at our house tonight."

"You don't need to be so loud, I'm not deaf and I can hear you." Mr. Fan said, and then smiled: "Since you are a guest, please take a seat quickly, second child, and get some more bowls and chopsticks."

"I'll get it, I'll go." A thin woman wearing an apron hurriedly responded, and hurried out of the main room.

After the woman went out, Fan Er hurriedly greeted her, "Please sit down, please sit down."

After Mr. Fan sat down first, Chu Mo and the others sat down next to him one by one, and the rest of the people sat back to their original positions. The woman quickly brought three clean bowls and chopsticks and placed them in front of the three of them.

"Thank you." Chu Mo took the bowl and chopsticks with a smile.

The woman smiled shyly, waved her hand to signal that you are welcome, and turned to go to another table.

"I don't have any good wine or food to entertain you. I'm really ashamed. Please don't be disgusted with mediocre food." The old man greeted with a smile, "Use your chopsticks, you're welcome."

"You're being polite, old man." Qingtang said, while stretching out his chopsticks to pick up vegetables, he asked, "Are you living a long life this year?"

"The little old man is 120 years old. Thanks to the perseverance of the villagers, he is now the village head of our Xiaoxiang Village." Mr. Fan said with a smile, "All three sons have survived, and only these grandchildren are left behind. I don't know how many more years I can live with my old bones."

"Grandpa, what are you talking about? You are highly respected, and Mr. Qian'er also said that your life expectancy is two hundred." Fan Lao Er interjected, making the old man laugh out loud.

The dinner was full of joy, and at the end of the meal, Mr. Fan was talking and talking, Qingtang accompanied him to talk, and Chu Mo and Qingchuan followed Mr. Fan to the back room.

On the way, Qingchuan approached Chu Mo and whispered, "I think Qingtang is a bit strange."

Chu Mo asked: "How do you say?"

"Maybe I learned it from my elder brother. He usually has a certain amount of advances and retreats with everyone. We are the only people he knows well. But today he is so close to this old man. Isn't it strange?"

Seeing that Qingchuan was scratching his head and scratching his head, Chu Mo reminded him, "Do you know what Qingtang's common name is?"

Qing Chuan is not a fool either, after a little digging, he immediately understood, and he couldn't help but feel refreshed, "You mean, this old man Fan may belong to Qingtang?"

Chu Mo ignored him, and turned his gaze to the corner of the courtyard wall, where there was a small door, most of which was covered by hanging vines, which looked quite hidden.

"That's the backyard, which was originally used for children, but now we don't have any children in our house, so we closed it now." Fan Laoer said, "The front is the room, please come with me."

Qing Chuan said: "That's right, I didn't see the child at the table just now, what's going on?"

Fan Laoer sighed, "It's a long story. In the early days, our family actually had several children, but three years ago, they went out to play while the adults were farming. The youngest sister slipped into the Banyue Pond, and the rest rushed to play. They rescued them, but they didn’t know how to swim. It was busy farming at that time, and no one found them, and they were all gone when they were picked up.” Raising his hand to wipe the corners of his eyes, Fan Laoer smiled, “I made you two laugh.”

Chu Mo asked: "When I entered the village just now, I saw that many people had talisman papers on their doors. What's the reason?"

"This matter is also weird." Fan Laoer stopped leading the way, looked around, and clenched his hand holding the lantern, "Let's go into the house and talk to you later."

As he said, he quickened his pace, and crossed the yard in a few steps, "Our house only has these two guest rooms, both of which have been tidied up. The humble house is simple and simple. Please leave the three of you here tonight." Fan Laoer pushed open the bedroom door, Invite two people to enter, and then light the candles.

Under the light, this is a simple but clean bedroom. There is only a made bed and a cabinet in the room. Fan Lao Er took out two stools from behind the cabinet to wipe them clean and put them in front of them, "Please sit down."

After Qing Chuan sat down, Chu Mo motioned Fan Lao Er to sit down, and walked to the side to open the window.

Fan Laoer slightly gave way, and then sat down at Qing Chuan's invitation, but he only touched half of the stool, which seemed a bit reserved.

Qing Chuan never looked at people, saw him sitting down and hurriedly asked: "Second brother Fan, tell me quickly, what is the matter with the talisman paper in this village?"

"This talisman was drawn by a wandering Taoist priest who came to the village last month. It is said that it can drive away evil spirits and avoid ghosts, and keep the family safe." Having said this, Fan Laoer sighed deeply, "Our Xiaoxiang Village has always had the same water and soil customs. It’s great that there is a Banyue Pond that never dries up, so that our villagers can live and work in peace and contentment. Unexpectedly, since three months ago, the children in the village have disappeared one by one.”

Qing Chuan looked at Chu Mo standing by the window, his eyes full of doubts. He clearly remembered that the mission Chu Mo read before mentioned the death of the child, not the disappearance.However, he didn't ask Chu Mo immediately, but only looked at Fan Lao Er, "Then the children have been found?"

"Found it." Fan Laoer's originally stooped waist was even more bent, "The first child floated up from the pond on the third day after his disappearance. His whole body was swollen from soaking, his belly was ripped open, and the contents of his stomach were unknown. Where did it go? From then on, every few days, a child would disappear, and within a few days, he would come out of the pond again."

At this point, Fan Laoer was already a little choked up, "There are 130 households in our village, and there are only [-] children under the age of ten. Now, in three months, fourteen of them have been fished out, and all of them died miserable. , the intestines were ripped apart, and he died a miserable death. This is so good!"

Qing Chuan couldn't bear to hear it, and asked, "Do you know who did it?"

Fan Laoer shook his head and said: "At first, the villagers suspected that it was a pond ghost, but Xiaoxiang Village has been protected by this pond for hundreds of years, so they didn't believe it at all. Later, they reported it to the officials, but they didn't find out what happened, so they let it go. I also invited monks Taoist priests exorcised evil spirits, but it was useless. Those talisman papers were drawn by invited Taoist priests. It cost a lot of money, but the children still floated up from the pond one by one. If this continues, our village will be destroyed. It's about to end!"

Qing Chuan pondered for a moment, and was about to speak, when Chu Mo asked, "What are the similarities between dead children?"

Fan Lao Er thought for a while and said: "Except for the first child who just turned ten years old, the children who were fished out later are all seven years old, all boys." After finishing speaking, he looked at the sky, got up and lifted the lantern by his feet , "It's late, you guys rest first, I won't bother you."

Chu Mo nodded, but did not keep him, "Go slowly."

After Fan Laoer walked away, Qing Chuan asked Chu Mo, "Mo Mo, why do you ask those children's ages?"

Chu Mo said: "It's nothing, just to confirm one thing."

"What's the matter?" Qing Chuan stood up and looked at Chu Mo.

Qing Chuan is of medium build, not too tall, one ear door shorter than Qing Tang, but half a head taller than Chu Mo, Chu Mo stepped back half a step, "Have you heard of the Fourth Ninth Festival?"

"No." Qing Chuan denied, "What is that? A kind of sacrifice?"

Chu Mo nodded, "Yes. It is recorded that there was an ancient clan named Li Man. Whenever the patriarch passed away, as a token of respect and mourning, a seven-day lamb was sacrificed to him every seven days. This continued for 49 times, and the deceased Resurrection, leaving a piece of advice for the clansmen, so it is called the Forty Nine Ceremony."

Qing Chuan calculated silently in his mind for a moment, "More than three months, fourteen children, no, thirteen children, one child every seven days, seven-year-old children all had their intestines broken, and their internal organs disappeared." He took a deep breath, "Who is so vicious? Use children as sacrifices."

Without answering Qing Chuan's question, Chu Mo started to chase people away, "You and Qing Tang should sleep in the next room, I live in this room."

Qingchuan's mind was churning, and he didn't think there was anything wrong when he heard the words, so he nodded and said, "Okay, then I'll go out first, just call me if you need something."

Watching Qing Chuan close the door and leave, Chu Mo turned off the lights, opened the window and jumped out.

The moon was dark and the wind was high, with only the rustling sound of the wind blowing the leaves. The lights in the front hall were on, and the excitement had not yet dissipated. Chu Mo followed the way he came and walked to the porch near the small door and stood still, reclining his figure.

"Master, what are you doing here?" Jin Feng asked curiously after holding back all the way.

"Shh."

Jinfeng reluctantly shut her mouth.

Not long after, there was a creaking sound, and the small door under the vines was pulled open, and a person appeared behind the door with a small white paper lantern. It was the thin woman who had gone to get the bowls and chopsticks earlier.

She carefully pushed aside the vines, bent down and got out from the gap, then turned around and carefully pulled the door over and locked it,

After the woman disappeared, Chu Mo showed his figure, but did not break into the door. He noticed that there was a security circle on the door, and the entire small courtyard behind the door was isolated from the outside world, and the formation method was very subtle , if he hadn't stepped into the golden core stage, he might not have been able to notice that there was a magic circle here.

"Hiss! There is a hidden circle in this small village that can't be hidden from my old man." Jinfeng was taken aback, "Master, this family is not simple, and there must be secrets in this yard. It's too much to scare the snake, how about I help you?" You go in and have a look?"

"Go."

With Chu Mo's consent, Jin Feng excitedly spread its wings and flew over the courtyard wall. It is now just a touch of spirit, not restricted by the formation, so it will not be blocked, but it came back soon, with a somewhat depressed expression , "Master, there is nothing inside, only a few broken houses that no one lives in, and I haven't seen any tunnels or other institutions."

"It's okay." Chu Mo was not surprised, "What else is there besides the house?"

"Nothing." Jinfeng tried to recall, "Oh, yes, there is a well in the yard, which is covered by a big bluestone. Could the secret be in the well? I'll go and see."

Jin Feng's figure disappeared again, and came back within a short while. This time, it jumped directly into Chu Mo's wrist, concealed his figure, and was silent for a moment before speaking, his voice was full of resentment, "That bluestone is pressing down, I Can't get in."

"How?" Chu Mo asked.

"Just now I wanted to go in directly, but was blocked by the bluestone slab, and then I tried to lift it, but it didn't move after a lot of effort." Speaking of Jinfeng, I felt a little wronged, "Master, that piece There must be something tricky about the slate."

As soon as he finished speaking, Jin Feng found that Chu Mo had come to the small door. It was about to remind him to be careful when touching the formation, but he stretched out his hand and twisted it lightly, and the lock fell automatically.

Push again, and there is a creak.

The door opened.