Except for stealing

Chapter 12

It was already noon when we left the village chief's house, Shen Yiqing felt a little heavy in his heart, he tugged at the corner of Pei Yan's clothes, and said, "Pei Yan, our trip may have been in vain."

They came here for the disappearance case. Now it seems that this case may have nothing to do with the disappearance case.

Pei Yan took his hand and said, "I know only after I've been to Jia Ping's house."

The two didn't go directly, but went back to the entrance of the village. The horse was still grazing leisurely with its tail wagging, with a bundle hanging on it, which contained a day's worth of dry food for the two of them.

Since coming out of that inn last time, both of them have been very cautious about eating.

Finding a clean place by the river, the two unpacked their bags and took out dry food for lunch.

Shen Yiqing had a bad appetite today, staring at the slowly flowing clear lake in a daze, and only took two or three bites of the dry food in his mouth for a long time.

Pei Yan leaned over, took a bite of his pancake, and tasted it carefully.

Shen Yiqing glanced at him, and said listlessly: "If you have one, you still rob me."

Pei Yan raised his hand to rub the top of his Fafa, with a bit of force, causing him to stagger.

Shen Yiqing grabbed his hand angrily, put it near her mouth, and bit it down.

He was not strong, Pei Yan felt a little itchy, so he lowered his head and kissed him on the forehead.

Shen Yiqing shook off his hand, bit her lip and glared at him.

Pei Yan said: "I know you feel uncomfortable, but this pancake didn't offend you, it still expects you to eat it."

Shen Yiqing bit her lip lightly, endured it, couldn't hold back her smile, and said, "How do you know it expects me to eat it?"

Pei Yan: "It's still hot, it's not because I expect you to eat it."

They bought several vegetable pies before they came, and Pei Yan picked the most central one for him to eat, of course it was not cold yet.

Shen Yiqing was so frustrated by his disturbance, took a bite of the pancake, and stretched out her hand to him.

Pei Yan didn't understand, so he asked, "What are you doing?"

Shen Yiqing snorted softly: "Show me, is there any bleeding from the bite?"

Pei Yan's expression changed upon hearing this.

Shen Yiqing thought he was in pain, and leaned over to hold his hand.

However, Pei Yan grabbed his hand, blinked those charming eyes at him lightly, and said, "It's bleeding, you have to let me bite it back."

Shen Yiqing: "..."

He was so teased by the children like Pei Yan that he wanted to laugh, but he didn't take his hand back, and said proudly, "I'll let you bite it back."

As soon as he finished speaking, Pei Yan really started to bite, and bit hard, Shen Yiqing frowned instantly.

He glared at Pei Yan, and suddenly exclaimed "Ah!"

Pei Yan immediately let go, looking at the clear bite marks on his white hands, lowered his eyes, unable to see the expression clearly.

He brought his hand to his lips, blew carefully, and said, "I'm sorry."

Shen Yiqing raised his hand and slapped him on the back of the head, jumped up from the ground, and said, "Chasing!"

Pei Yan: "..."

Pei Yan looked at Shen Yiqing, but saw that he didn't care about the pain, and looked at the jungle behind him.

He followed Shen Yiqing's line of sight, and saw a wild dog holding a white thing in its mouth, saliva dripping down the corner of its mouth on the ground, and a pair of fierce eyes were staring at them, seeing them get up , let out a ferocious growl from his throat.

And when he saw what was in its mouth, Pei Yan was slightly startled, it turned out to be a skull, it was white, like a new death.

Pei Yan picked up the saber on the ground, chased after it, and said, "You wait for me here."

Seeing his movement, the wild dog took a few steps back vigilantly, then turned around and rushed into the bushes in the forest.

Shen Yiqing took a step forward subconsciously, Pei Yan didn't look back, but seemed to have noticed his movements, and said, "Don't follow."

Shen Yiqing stopped.

Pei Yan chased the direction of the wild dog, and jumped into the forest in the blink of an eye. After the leaves of the dense vegetation brushed and shook, Pei Yan had disappeared.

Shen Yiqing hesitated on the spot for a moment, then returned to the spot and sat down.

He ate his pancake, then looked at the half-eaten piece that Pei Yan had eaten, picked it up and ate it.

There was a scorching pain in his hand, he only remembered that Pei Yan had bitten him just now, he raised his hand to look.

The sun shines on the sparkling river surface, reflecting light and shadow on both sides of the river.

The dazzling halo shone on Shen Yiqing's hand, he looked at the red and swollen bite marks, frowned and muttered: "It's not a dog either..."

He moved his hand closer, looked at the bite mark that was bigger than other places, and raised his eyebrows lightly: "That canine tooth is so sharp?"

He packed his bags and whistled, and the horses in the distance came running over.

Shen Yiqing hung the burden on it, touched the horse's head, and said, "I'll go and see, you wait here."

The horse took two steps in place and rubbed against his hand.

Shen Yiqing walked towards the direction Pei Yan left.

Shen Yiqing has always been observant, walking along the creases of grass leaves.

The forest is not dense, the trunks are not too thick, and it only takes about 30 to [-] years to grow. The sunlight can easily shine in through the sparse forest leaves, so the shrubs under the trees grow fiercely.

Shen Yiqing's clothes were cut by several thorns, and he walked slowly in, and after walking for about a quarter of an hour, he didn't see Pei Yan.

Suspecting that he had made a mistake, he squatted down to push aside the bushes, and saw a strip of white cloth hanging from the barbs of the bushes.

Shen Yiqing felt a little relieved, got up and continued to walk forward, the terrain was all the way up, and he was going up the mountain.Shen Yiqing quickened his pace, walked for another quarter of an hour, and suddenly found blood on the blades of grass.

His heart skipped a beat, he took a few quick steps, and saw a wild wolf corpse behind a tree.

He raised his head and gasped for air. The corpses of wild wolves laying in disorder in front of him were all killed by a single blow.

Shen Yiqing walked along the bloodstained road, walked a hundred or so steps, and saw Pei Yan at a glance.

Pei Yan was squatting halfway beside the cliff, there was a gap about ten feet high between the cliff and the ground, Pei Yan was looking inside with his head down, he didn't know what he was looking at.

Seeing that his white clothes were spotless, Shen Yiqing heaved a sigh of relief, walked over to him, and called, "Pei Yan."

Pei Yan turned her head and said with reproach, "Why are you here?"

Shen Yiqing went to him and squatted down, and also looked in. There was a smell of smell in the gap. Except for the narrow entrance of the cave, the inside was very spacious. Maybe it was the den of those wild wolves, piled up four or five feet away from the entrance of the cave. There is a small pile of broken bones, and the cave is dark, so it is hard to see whether they are human bones or not.

Shen Yiqing tilted her head and looked at it for a while, and said, "How do you get it out?"

Pei Yan stood up, walked under a big tree, flew up on tiptoes, raised a knife in his hand and landed, a thick branch fell down.

Shen Yiqing was startled: "Use this to fish? I think some of the bones are broken into pieces, and I can't fish them out."

Moreover, it is easy to break the bones again when they are taken out, and it may not be possible to take them all out. .

Pei Yan trimmed the branches neatly with a knife, and said, "Dig a hole, get in and take it out."

Shen Yiqing: "..."

Shen Yiqing's eyes followed his movements, raised his eyebrows and said, "Isn't it faster to dig with your knife?"

Pei Yan cut the ends of the branches into sharp thorns, tied them in a row, walked over, and handed them to Shen Yiqing.

Shen Yiqing: "..."

Shen Yiqing didn't want to dig a hole, she held the shovel made of a very sharp branch with her fair fingers, turned her face away, and said, "I didn't eat just now, and I don't have the strength."

Pei Yan laughed, and said: "I made it for you to play with, just watch from the side."

Shen Yiqing: "..."

How old is he, can he still play in mud?

Even so, when Pei Yan pried open the soil with a knife, Shen Yiqing poked the soil with the utensil in his hand.

Because of the rain, the ground here is very soft, and it is easy to poke into it.

Shen Yiqing saw that Pei Yan dug a hole not long after, and the white clothes were covered with mud.The little boy curled his lips, squatted on the ground, and condescended to help dig the hole.

Pei Yan stopped, grabbed Shen Yiqing's wrist, and said, "You don't need to dig, I'll do it soon."

Shen Yiqing said angrily: "Is it hindering you by playing in the mud?"

Pei Yan was taken aback, then laughed, and coaxed softly: "Okay, I don't care about you, I hurt my hand carefully."

Shen Yiqing ignored him, and his men kept moving. Although they dug very slowly, they helped a little.

Not long after, a gap was dug out at the entrance of the cave for one person to enter and exit.

Shen Yiqing saw Pei Yan walking in with a bow, and couldn't help saying: "Be careful."

Pei Yan didn't answer.

The smell here is really pungent, a stuffy tide and the smell of beasts, mixed with a strong rancid smell, most people can't bear it, let alone him.

He looked around for a week, and saw that in addition to this pile of white bones, there were many scattered bones in the dark inside of the cave. He squatted down to check, and it was indeed human bones.

Shen Yiqing waited for a long time, saw him coming out, quickly helped him, and said, "How is it?"

"I picked out the human bones."

Shen Yiqing: "..."

Shen Yiqing slowly shifted her gaze to the hand supporting him, and hurriedly shook it away.

Pei Yan squatted down, put the bones on the ground, and said a little aggrieved: "Yiqing despises me."

Shen Yiqing kicked his calf and glared at him: "If you keep pretending to be pitiful, I will..."

Pei Yan lowered his head, suppressed a smile, and said in a pitiful tone, "That's all?"

Shen Yiqing couldn't help laughing: "I'll just throw you in the river and wash it well, it's so dirty."

Pei Yan looked up at him with a smile on his face: "Yiqing help me wash?"

Shen Yiqing blushed, kicked him again, changed the subject and said, "Look at the bones."

The bone was broken badly, with many tooth marks on it, it may have been bitten by wild wolves, but it was not so broken by wild wolves.

"It's too clean. There is no flesh and blood on it. Even the bone marrow has been pried open and drained, leaving only this skeleton." Pei Yan said as he managed to put together the bones into a human shape.

The skeleton is not complete, it was picked up piece by piece by wild wolves, and I don't know where it was found.

Shen Yiqing didn't dare to approach, and said, "Could this be Lu Mao?"

Pei Yan: "Looking at the appearance of this bone, it looks like a boy of twelve or thirteen years old."

Shen Yiqing: "If it was Lu Mao, how did he die? How could he become a bone in just one month?"

Pei Yan shook his head: "I can only see that this corpse has gone through a lot of hardships and was sawn off to take out the bone marrow... The sternum is broken, as if it has been crushed."

He frowned and looked at the scattered bones, hesitantly said: "...I don't know how he died."

Shen Yiqing's complexion suddenly changed: "Do you still remember that the village chief's wife said that Lu Laoqi dragged Jia Xiaotu's bones out of the coffin and whipped the corpse?"

Pei Yan was also taken aback, he and Shen Yiqing looked at each other, and both saw the surprise in each other's eyes.

Pei Yan stood up slowly, and said, "Let's go take a look at Jia Xiaotu's grave."

Now that the case has been investigated, it can be basically concluded that this has nothing to do with the disappearance case they investigated, and further investigations will only be for an unbearable truth.

The graves in Fengcun are all buried in the valley. It can be seen that the younger generations often come to take care of them, and there are few weeds.

Walking all the way, it turns out that most of the signs standing in front of the grave are surnamed Lu.

Jia Xiaotu's grave is easy to find. The soil on the top of the grave is still very new. The grave that was opened has been reburied at this time, and the outside has been trimmed neatly.

Not surprisingly, the tomb was empty.

Shen Yiqing looked at the empty coffin buried under the loess, his eyes trembled slightly.

Pei Yan sighed and said, "There is nothing in this coffin."

Shen Yiqing nodded slowly: "There is nothing in this coffin from the beginning to the end."

Except for the skeleton dragged out by Lu Laoqi.

The coffin was very clean, and the mattress underneath was even brand new. If Jia Xiaotu was really buried here for three years, there would at least be signs of decay.

This shows that the corpse was put in later.

Explain that Jia Xiaotu has never lived here.

This is an empty tomb, it has been there since three years ago.

Then why did Jia Ping and his wife build an empty tomb?

Shen Yiqing and Pei Yan looked at each other with horror in their eyes.

This may explain...they prepared this grave three years ago - for Lu Mao.

Jia Ping's house and Lu Laoqi's house are two different things. The front door is clean without any weeds. It can be seen that the owner is very diligent.

Pei Yan knocked on the door, but no one answered.

He frowned slightly, and knocked on the door again.

Still no one answered.

Instead, a scent came out, like stewing meat.

"Who are you?"

Suddenly, a suspicious voice came from behind.

The two turned around, and saw a fifty-year-old woman holding a basket and looking at them, sizing Pei Yan up and down twice, her eyes were a little wary: "Are you looking for Jia Ping?"

After digging a hole and digging a grave, Pei Yan's white clothes were already in a state of distress, and he really didn't look like an ordinary person.

Shen Yiqing clasped his fists in salute, showing the obedient smile that he would face his mother's close friends, and said: "My aunt, you are polite, we are members of the government, and we are here to find Jia Ping."

The aunt let out a sigh of relief, looked at Pei Yan's handsome face and his messy clothes, and said, "I thought it was a thief."

She looked at Shen Yiqing suspiciously: "What did the government ask Jia Ping for? Could it be that you really believed Lu Laoqi's nonsense?"

Shen Yiqing shook his head: "We just have something to ask, but..."

He turned his head to look at the closed door, and said, "This family doesn't seem to be at home."

"No," the aunt said strangely, "Jia Ping's daughter-in-law asked me to come get the meat at this time yesterday."

Shen Yiqing felt inexplicably cold, and asked: "What meat?"

The aunt said: "Pork, their family has three big fat pigs, and the meat is delicious."

Pei Yan clenched the knife slightly: "Have you eaten?"

The aunt shook her head: "I didn't eat it, and Jia Ping's wife didn't ask me to eat it."

Shen Yiqing's chest jumped rapidly: "Then why did she ask you to come and get it..."

Before he finished speaking, the door behind him suddenly opened.

A burst of heat gushed out from the courtyard, mixed with the greasy smell of oil and the smell of half-cooked stewed meat, which made Qing Qing's stomach churn.

It was a woman who opened the door. Her body was haggard, her eye sockets were bruised, and her eyes were numb. Shen Yiqing suddenly remembered what the village chief's wife said. This Jia Ping's wife really does not look like a living person.

When she saw Pei Yan and Shen Yiqing, she spoke in a straight tone: "Who are you two?"

The aunt came over and said with a smile: "They are from the government."

Jia Ping's wife didn't seem to be surprised, or it was difficult to see other expressions on her face, she said calmly: "Is there something wrong, my lords? Why don't you come in and talk about it."

A huge low table was set up in the yard, and on it lay a big white pig, which had just risen and had just been shed.

The aunt said in surprise: "These three pigs have been killed, how can I be willing?"

Jia Ping came out of the house: "My wife and I are moving out, it's not easy to take pigs with us."

After a pause, he turned his gaze to Pei Yan and Shen Yiqing, looked at his wife, and asked, "Who are these two young masters?"

Shen Yiqing saluted with fists in his hands, and said, "We are members of the government."

"Oh," Jia Ping rubbed his hands cautiously, and said, "Come in and sit, come in and sit."

This is really a kind and honest man, he looks very honest.

The yard is quite spacious and tidy, and looks much richer than Lu Laoqi's family.

Shen Yiqing looked around for a week, took the tea from Jia Ping's wife, smiled at her, and said, "Thank you sister-in-law."

Jia Ping's wife nodded to him calmly, walked behind Jia Ping, and stood silently, like a shadow.

Shen Yiqing put down the teacup and said, "This yard is really clean, it's big and bright."

The aunt laughed and said: "Jia Ping is hardworking and can make money, and his wife is also hardworking, so life is naturally good."

Pei Yan looked at the big fat pig in the yard and said, "It's so big, can two people finish it?"

Jia Ping smiled naively: "I can't finish it."

The aunt said: "The two of them are generous. If they can't finish eating, they will distribute it to each household. Pork is so expensive now, and they don't want money."

Pei Yan narrowed his eyes slightly, stared at Jia Ping closely, and said, "I don't know if Pei has such a good fortune?"

"This..." Jia Ping looked back at his wife and said hesitantly, "I'm afraid it's inconvenient."

The aunt took a sip of tea, got up and smiled at Jia Ping's wife, "I'll take the meat and leave. There's still a lot of work at home."

Jia Ping's wife nodded and led the aunt into the house.

Shen Yiqing saw that the figures of the two people had disappeared, and set his eyes on Jia Ping, and said, "Did you just say you want to move?"

Jia Ping nodded: "Yes, I'm going back to my hometown."

Logically speaking, he is less than thirty years old, but the creases at the corners of his eyes are very heavy. It can be seen that he is very yearning to move, the creases are wrinkled when he talks, and he smiles as if he is relieved.

Pei Yan: "Where is Brother Jia's hometown?"

Jia Ping pointed to the west: "Go west for a hundred miles, and you will arrive there after you climb over a mountain."

After talking like this for a while, Jia Ping's wife came out with the aunt.

Pei Yan stood up and said, "Can you show me the meat in the basket?"

The aunt and Jia Ping's wife looked at each other, lifted the cloth on the basket, and asked a little strangely: "What's so good about this raw meat?"

Pei Yan came over, looked down for a while, and saw that the basket was indeed pork.

He suspected that he was thinking too much, because he had just experienced what happened in Zhao County, and he was always very careful with meat.

Jia Ping's wife sent the aunt out of the door, but she didn't come to speak, but walked to the pig that had just been slaughtered, and easily picked up the kitchen knife standing on the table with her bony hands. Pork belly cut open.

She didn't care if some blood splashed on her face.

For some reason, Shen Yiqing felt a little cold looking at the knife that was shining coldly under the bright sunlight.

Pei Yan suddenly got to the point.

He stared at Jia Ping sharply, and said, "Where were you the day Lu Mao was lost?"

Jia Ping was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head, and said in a low voice, "Sure enough, it's for Lu Mao."

He raised his eyes, looked directly at Pei Yan calmly, and said: "My lord, that day I went to feed the bees with my wife."

Pei Yan was expressionless, and said, "Did you see Lu Mao that day?"

Jia Ping didn't make any waves: "No."

Pei Yan: "Lu Laoqi dug up your son's grave that day, don't you hate him?"

The sound of chopping meat in this peaceful courtyard rang in people's ears, but it seemed to be chopping on people's tense hearts.

After a brief silence, "Hate," Jia Ping looked at Pei Yan calmly, and said flatly, "I wish they all the Lu family and Manchus would die, but that would be too cheap for them."

Pei Yan's face was cold and stern, his tone was majestic and oppressive: "So you killed Lu Mao and buried him in the grave that was prepared long ago?"

Jia Ping was silent.

Pei Yan continued: "You asked Lu Laoqi to dig out the bones of his parents and children with his own hands, whipped the corpses and humiliated them in public, and then you threw Lu Mao's bones into the forest and fed them to the wild wolves."

The meat chopping knife stopped suddenly, and Jia Ping's wife looked at her, and gently put down the knife in her hand.

Facing Pei Yan's pressing questioning, Jia Ping didn't panic at all, he stood up and even picked up the dust that didn't exist on his body.

He returned to his simple and honest appearance, looked at Pei Yan, then at Shen Yiqing, and said: "If your lord believes that I have killed someone, just kill me."

Hearing this, Shen Yiqing's heart "thumped".

Not afraid of his anger, but afraid of his calm.

This reaction shows that this matter is likely to be related to him.

Shen Yiqing stood up, eyes slightly sore, said: "You shouldn't be like this."

As soon as the words fell, there was a sudden violent knock on the door.

The chaotic noise outside the door was ear-piercing, and one could tell from the sound that many people had come, yelling menacingly: "Jia Ping, open the door for me!"