in the dark

The two walked closer and closer to the bright place, and saw an old woman squatting beside the fire, holding three sticks of incense in her hand, and murmuring something in her mouth.

She was wearing a reddish-brown coarse cloth dress, her hair was gray, and a simple black headband was put on her head, which looked very energetic. She was quite different from the slovenly and unkempt appearance of most old people. In addition, she had a pair of small cloudy eyes. , making it impossible to find the kindness of the elderly, which makes people feel extremely dark at first glance.

……

The two stood outside the yard for a long time and talked a lot.

……

"Do you really want to do this?" Song Chan asked Song Nan'an, who was beside him, his eyes narrowed on the flames in the distance.

"Yeah." Song Nan'an nodded with affirmative attitude.

I mentioned before that it is difficult to find out whether the suspects are suspected of assisting the murderer in the early stage of solving the case, but adhering to the concept of not being easy to startle the snake, I have never conducted cross-examination in an official and serious capacity.

Although the murderer's motive for the murder cannot be determined up to now, the clue of "child" must be correct, so it is only necessary to subdivide it into several small parts and solve them one by one.

Along the way, Song Nan'an had already thought up a plan, and told Song Chan within a few minutes of looking outside the yard.

And Song Chan's task is - acting.

"Can't you try other methods?" Song Chan struggled, "If you do this, it will be the same as cheating." Don't blame him for not wanting to, anyone else would not want to do it, what if you don't hold back halfway through the performance.

"What method?" Song Nan'an glanced at him.

Song Chan looked at someone who looked like you could think of a better way than this, and bowed his head in silence.

OK, can't figure it out.

Song Nan'an no longer looked at him, but stared at the firelight.

The old woman had already got up, and she walked back to the house, and when she came to the yard after a while, she was holding a small porcelain bowl in her hand. With a "poof", the old woman sprayed all the liquid from the bowl onto the warm yellow flame.

The flickering tongues of flames sprang up and down, burning more and more.

It should be a high concentration of white wine.

"Let's go." Song Nan'an said, and Song Chan followed behind and walked into the yard together.

Seeing that two young men walked into her yard before dawn, the old woman was slightly taken aback.

Song Nan'an glanced at Song Chan, who was helpless but still nodded understandingly.

"Hello, mother-in-law!" Song Chan's voice was quite loud, and he looked full of youthful appearance, with a bit of yuppie in the sunshine.

"Ah... hello." Obviously stunned.

Song Chan could see the deep wrinkles on the face of the elderly mother-in-law in front of him, as well as the sunken lips due to the loss of teeth.

"I don't know if you have some time now? We want to know something." Song Chan smiled gently, following what Song Nan'an told him before entering the courtyard, adding a few gags later, to adjust Adjusting the atmosphere can also relieve the mother-in-law in front of her.

"What's the matter?" The old woman spoke very slowly.

"We are foreigners, and the reason why we came all the way to Yao Town so early today is because we have something to ask." Song Chan said very sadly, "I heard that people in Yao Town helped people beg for a child. To be sure. I really have no choice. I used to go to all the hospitals for this matter. I spent a lot of money, but in the end it was still not cured. So I came here today because I heard your words Fame, I hope you can help me." As Song Chan frowned, he introduced Song Nan'an behind him, "This is my brother, he came here with me specially."

"Come in and talk." The old woman said after glancing at the two of them.

As the saying goes, acting is a complete set.Song Chan's brows have never been stretched, just like the person who has been unable to have a child all year round.

"You are still young, so anxious to have a child?" The old woman poured tea for the two, no emotion could be seen in the small eyes.

"I just look young." Song Chan sighed, "There is an elder in my family who is seriously ill, and I have been looking forward to seeing my child born. A few days ago, the doctor said that time is running out...Me too...Really not Method."

"I hope you can help me! Tell me about the methods that people in your town use to beg their children. Whether it works or not, I will try them all! A dead horse is a living horse doctor!"

The old woman sighed, "This kind of thing also depends on fate. The child won't come before your destiny comes."

Listen to this meaning, do not help?Song Chan was taken aback for a moment, it seemed that he still had to take out the things at the bottom of the box.

"No! You must help me!" Song Chan looked sad, and took out a not-too-thin envelope containing money from his pocket, "This is a little bit of care, I hope you can think about it Method!"

The old woman glanced at the envelope, neither refusing nor accepting it.

Song Chan looked at her expression and put the envelope on the table.

"This is not an easy matter. I'll go and prepare something for you first." The old woman looked away and walked towards the side room with her back bent.

Hey, as expected, money can turn ghosts around.Qian Yiliang immediately changed his attitude.

Seeing that the people had left, Song Chan hurriedly turned around and looked at Song Nan'an, who was watching the play from beginning to end, "Are you laughing?" He asked in a low voice, bitter about the fact that he had no choice but to act in this play .

Song Nan'an shook his head.

Song Chan looked at him several times with an expression of disbelief, and said softly: "It's best!" Thinking of something, he raised his chin and asked a little tremblingly: "Does it look like it?" He urgently needs praise now He needs someone to give him some confidence. Although he doesn't need to shout out such nasty words as the actor, I love you, he can still have a compliment.

Song Nan'an didn't respond immediately, he seemed to be thinking seriously, and nodded after a while.

That's about the same, it would be better if there were no hesitation for a few seconds, Song Chan continued to lower his voice, and asked seriously: "Do you see what's coming?"

Song Nan'an shook his head lightly, and inadvertently tapped the table with his right hand.

"May I ask around later?"

Song Nan'an nodded.

Both of them were very cautious, and the voice of their speech must not be heard by a third person, and they quieted down after speaking, so as not to pass through.After a few minutes, footsteps came from the direction of the side room.

The old woman came out tremblingly, holding a red silk ribbon with runes written on it in her hand, "Here are three red silk ribbons for begging for a child, one for you to carry with you, one for your lover, and the other buried here." Under the pine tree in front of the Earth Temple at the entrance of the town." She then handed Song Chan a piece of paper with densely packed small characters, "Recite this scripture for three meals a day, remember, be sincere."

When Song Chan mentioned the Earth Temple, he paused in his heart, suppressing the surprise in his heart, "This is the way you seek children here?" After speaking, he felt that something was wrong, and hurriedly changed his words, "No, I mean... ...Actually, I did my homework before I came here, this is different from the method I heard, which used...fire."

"There are many methods." The old woman glanced at Song Chan, probably feeling that what Song Chan said revealed her distrust, and replied, "I don't know which one other people use, but I just use this one. "

"Okay, then thank you first." Song Chan didn't dare to ask any more questions, and put the red silk belt into his trouser pocket, "It must be done according to the method you said."

It was already half-light when they went out with the red silk in their pockets, and the two turned around several alleys before they started talking.

Song Chan took out the red silk from his pocket and glanced at it roughly. The three strips were exactly the same, with no difference in length, width, runes, and characters. He asked suspiciously: "She asked us to bury it in the ground?" The temple, why is it also an earth temple? The murderer burned the child and buried it there. Do you think there is any connection between this?"

"It's unlikely." Song Nan'an pondered for a moment, "I mean, this case may only appear to be related to seduction."

"Why?" There was only one vague thought in Song Chan's mind, and he always felt that there were almost some clues that could be connected together.

"You think, the news we heard from Han Po at first was that people who lead people have serious jobs, that is to say, they don't rely on this kind of thing for a living, but since you took the money out just now, her attitude is very different. The shift is evident—”

"They need money! It's not an amateur job at all!" Song Chan's mind changed, and he answered immediately.

Song Nan'an nodded, and added: "Needing money and doing everything possible to make money are the most basic characteristics of ordinary people, and an ordinary person will not encourage others to kill people with bad methods, and people who love money will spare their lives. They will not commit such a crime." Stupid mistake."

"But what is still uncertain is what happened to the other three people involved, maybe there will be exceptions."

"If the other three are also like this, wouldn't the clue be broken?" Song Chan, who was originally excited, sighed after listening to the explanation, shaking the red silk in his hand, "But these people are really pretending to be mysterious, why are you One for me and one for me, I really thought that with a red rag on my body, God could immediately reward a son."

"If I hadn't warned myself to hold back and not do bad things, I would have exposed her right away." Song Chan went on and on, "Hey. Why do you think she is doing such things to deceive the public at such an old age? I don't understand , doesn't she think it's fake?"

"It's just a different growth environment." Song Nan'an took the red ribbon from Song Chan's hand, and said lightly, "Maybe you find it incredible, but they do exist. The only thing science can't deny is the existence of superstition."

Song Chan pondered the meaning of his last sentence, slightly dazed.

"Wait!" Song Nan'an suddenly stopped, his brows furrowed, and he looked at a man standing not far away.

The man was grinning towards them at this moment, the smile was very strange, as if the man had expended a lot of effort to maintain this smile, the whole face was stiff, but there was a sense of dissatisfaction in the stiffness. The childlike innocence that should appear, the man is holding an old dustpan in his hand, and there is a black thing in it.

Song Chan narrowed his eyes slightly, wanting to take a closer look.

"Fuck!" It doesn't matter if you don't look at it, but when you see it, you are startled, Song Chan suppresses the feeling of ignorance in his heart, and suddenly becomes irritable: "The one from yesterday!"

"Hey! You fucking smile at me again, believe it or not—" Song Chan yelled out. Before he could finish his yelling, the man threw down the dustpan and immediately ran into the alley.

"How dare you run!" Song Chan started to chase after him. Running and fighting have always been his strengths, and he has never lost in this area.Sure enough, he caught the man within 50 meters.

At the end, Song Chan didn't use any skills and grabbed the back collar of the man's jacket as if in contempt. He staggered, and both of them stopped, "Run! You should try running again!"

The man lowered his head so low that he was about to hit the ground, his body shaking like chaff.

"Look up!" Song Chan grabbed his back collar and didn't let go, "What? Fate's throat was choked, so he didn't dare to smile at me? Didn't you all laugh a lot just now? Did you hear me when I told you to look up! "

The man was still trembling, and said intermittently: "Laugh...not good...you laugh...hit, don't hit." Each word is separated, as if the logic is not coherent. Besides, the man's tone is also very strange, as if a child.

Song Chan suddenly remembered something, yesterday he guessed that this person was... a lunatic?

Could it be true?

"Song Chan." Song Nan'an called out from where the man was standing before, "Come here." At his feet was the black mass that fell from the dustpan.

Without hesitation, Song Chan dragged the man who was still chanting words towards Song Nan'an. When the black mass on the ground became clearer, he felt more and more frightening!

This is what burned again! ?

"What's going on?" Song Chan's mood was still not calm.

"Ask him." Song Nan'an looked at the man in Song Chan's hand with dark eyes.

"Isn't this a fool?" The second monk Song Chanzhang couldn't figure it out and realized something. He cleverly made the man look up at him and asked, "Can you answer the question?"

The man was still shaking, shaking his head unconsciously, muttering something in his mouth.

"I didn't say big brother, you fucking laughed at me for a day or two, I haven't been scared by you yet, why are you shaking all the time? I didn't beat you or scold you Yes!" Seeing him shaking annoyedly, Song Chan lost his temper.

Song Nan'an frowned, "Let it go."

Song Chan didn't know why, so he raised his eyebrows and asked, "What if I let go of the person and ran away?"

"No, let him calm down first." Song Nan'an's tone was affirmative, "You scared him."

"It's me again." Song Chan became more irritable, but since the man in front of him was a big boss, he put him down obediently.

But letting go is the same thing as letting go. Song Chan put on an expression of displeasure and stood back beside Song Nan'an, looking sideways.

After waiting for an unknown amount of time, the man finally stopped shaking. Song Chan's eyes had already moved a dozen times back and forth between the dark ball and Song Nan'an.

Seeing that it was almost time, Song Nan'an squatted down and looked at the man at eye level, and asked, "What were you going to do just now?"

The man pursed his lips, and then put on an expression that shouldn't appear on the face of a man of his age - grievance, childish grievance on a child's face.