"Huh?"

The boy paused, nodded obediently and waited for him to speak.

Zhou Shize saw that several students outside were walking away, so he slowly squatted down and looked at the boy's innocent eyes, and asked in a low voice, "Ning Xin, do you remember the sister who lives next door to your house?" ”

"Sister?" The boy was slightly stunned, then seemed to remember something, and smiled a little, "Is it Sister Bai?" Of course I remember, my sister used to give me a lot of delicious food, and it was good for me......"

"So you know, what happened to her?"

The boy's smile was sluggish, and his little face, which was not good at concealing, showed a little uneasiness and entanglement, but he didn't dare to speak.

Zhou Shize's heart moved, he was just investigating, but now it seems that it is really possible to ask some clues.

The girl surnamed Bai used to take classes with him, she was well-behaved and cute, and she was also very studious, although she was a woman, she had a good talent and was very appreciated by him.

It's just that a month ago, she suddenly didn't come to class.

He went to her house to ask, but the answer he got was a mixture of sticks and a few bruises on his shoulder.

He knew something was wrong!

After that, he secretly observed that the girl seemed to have disappeared out of thin air, and was never seen again. However, her family did not have any intention of reporting the crime, but they were a little more silent on weekdays.

And after that, he studied the case file left by his predecessor, and found that every few years, a young girl suddenly disappeared, and his whereabouts could not be found.

"There must be a conspiracy behind this!"

With his keen intuition, Zhou Shize judged this, I don't know how much dark dirt is hidden in this barbaric and backward small town, if it weren't for the fact that the official yamen didn't have any power here, he would definitely come to investigate!

And now, he can only secretly investigate the truth, and he must also be careful not to be detected by those who have a heart. Otherwise, this secret organization probably doesn't care about the life of a small county order at all.

At this moment, the boy in front of the meeting hesitated, he took the pastry made for him by his wife from the table next to him and handed it to the other party: "Come, the teacher will never tell others, as long as you say it, this pastry will be eaten for you......"

Probably unable to resist the temptation of the pastry, the boy took it cautiously, and then whispered in his ear, "It was eaten by the mountain god......"

"Mountain gods?"

Zhou Shize was a little stunned, looking at the figure of the boy jumping away outside the door, and gradually fell into deep thought.

He had been here for a while, and he naturally knew about the existence of the so-called mountain god.

It is the custom of the mountain people, from ancient times, they regarded some natural disasters such as mountain fires and natural disasters such as thunder or flash floods as the wrath of the gods, so they imagined that there was a mountain god in charge of the mountain range, and if they dared to have the slightest disrespect for the mountain god, they would send calamities to destroy the villages and towns.

Whether there is a precedent for this is obviously impossible to verify, but now there is still a temple dedicated to the mountain god in this town that relies on the mountains to eat the mountains, and sacrifices are held there during festivals, and on weekdays, hunters will go up to the mountains to hunt and worship in advance, praying that the mountain gods will bless themselves with a harvest from this trip.

Even when the new official took office, that is, when Zhou Shize took office on the first day of taking office as the county commander, he had to worship the mountain god, saying: "Give the mountain god a look", so that he could be an official justifiably, otherwise no one would recognize you.

It can be seen that the people here believe in the mountain gods.

It's just that this belief is converted, but at most, everyone pooled money to renovate the temple and buy incense and the like, and sacrificed the living and the like, but I have never seen it. What's the deal with this "being eaten by the mountain god"......

The doubts in his heart were even worse, Zhou Shize wanted to ask more, but unfortunately this kid didn't know more, and he only vaguely heard some words from his parents.

Knowing that there must be a greater hidden truth in this, Zhou Shize was a little hesitant in his heart at this time.

"Should I continue to investigate?"

The sense of justice in his heart is naturally true, but the current situation is extremely grim.

Judging from just some clues in his investigation, it can be seen that there is a huge whirlpool behind the case, and a little carelessness may eat him alive.

And at this moment, he is just a county commander with an empty official position, and he doesn't even have a single official under him, how can he fight against these enemies?

I'm afraid that in the end, it will only bring disaster to myself and my wife......

It's just that if he doesn't investigate, let these lives die for no reason, and he himself won't be able to cross this threshold in his heart......

He studied hard for more than ten years, is it just to become an official in the imperial examination? The words of the sages in the book are still vivid, so that he never dares to relax.

This concern has been lingering in his heart until he returns home, and his wife can see that something is wrong at a glance.

It's just that she didn't say it explicitly, but took care of him more gently, and it wasn't until she fell asleep that she leaned on his shoulder and whispered: "Xianggong, I don't understand your man's big things, but please remember that no matter what happens, Yu'er will always be by your side......"

Zhou Shize's heart was touched, and he held his hand to caress her soft hair, and he had already made a decision in his heart.

He'll look it up!

In order to be worthy of the black gauze hat on his head, and worthy of the sage book that he has read for so long, he will definitely seek justice for those innocent deaths!

In the darkness of the night, there was a heavy fog in the town at some point, but the fog was thick but not too thick. Only a glimmer of moonlight above the head sprinkled through the mist, adding a bit of quiet and profound mystery.

In the middle of the night, the husband walked alone in the dark alley, knocking on the gong and shouting a few words such as "the weather is dry, be careful of the candle", and his voice was a little hoarse for a while, and he coughed a few times before he got better.

It is always bold to be a husband, otherwise he would not be wandering on the street in the middle of the night, seeing that there is no one around, there is only the sound of "woo" wind around, and the timid are afraid that they will not be able to walk at all.

He took out the small flask tied to his belt and drank two sips of wine, and felt that his body was warmer, so he moistened his throat again, and continued to walk down the street while shouting.

It's just that at this moment, I don't know if it's the effect of alcohol, he looked at a group of people coming faintly in the depths of the fog in the alley on the right, and it seemed that he was carrying something, but the strange thing was that he rubbed his eyes, and he still couldn't see the appearance of the group, and his body seemed to be surrounded by a layer of faint mist, which made it impossible to see the truth.