It was just dawn, and the people in the village seemed to have already gotten up, Peng Li just opened the window and looked, the people in the village were busy, and even the children were not free. Peng Ligang buttoned his shirt and said to Li Shiyu: "Shiyu, get up quickly, we will also go to see their ancestor worship ceremony in a while, and by the way, we will take a look at Zhang Xiangui's corpse, I always feel that something is revealed." ”

"Do you still have to worry about this? Didn't you say that you didn't care about their village, you forgot how you agreed to me last night? Li Shiyu was getting dressed, and when she heard Peng Ligang say that she still wanted to investigate last night's case, she ripped off the underwear she was wearing and threw it on Peng Ligang, looking at Peng Ligang with an angry face.

Peng Li just picked up the bra on the ground, walked to the edge of the bed and sat down, and slowly helped Li Shiyu put it on. said unhurriedly: "Shiyu, this matter is related to this life, I thought about it all night last night, but I couldn't convince myself not to care about it." No matter how heinous the deceased is, he also has the right to live, and no one has the right to deprive him of his right to exist unless it is a legal sentence. “

Li Shiyu tied her corset, walked off the wooden bed and put on her skirt silently, she thought that she said to Peng Ligang last night when she didn't care about this matter anymore, Peng Ligang would definitely agree to herself. didn't expect Peng Ligang to be so unswerving, and it was useless for him to continue to persuade him, so he decided to stay by Peng Ligang's side and don't part with him no matter what happened.

The two got dressed and walked out of the house, and Li Shiyu took Peng Ligang's hand and came to the square in the middle of the village. The square is actually nothing more than a large clearing, and directly opposite the clearing is the hill behind the village. In the center of the square, a small platform was erected, about a meter high, and a wooden table resembling a coffee table was raised, but the wooden table was so low that it resembled a Japanese low table, and there were many items of fruit and meat on it, which seemed to be used to worship the ancestors.

"This may be the last ancestor worship ceremony in our village, I am afraid it will not be easy to see it in the future, I hope the ancestors will not blame us is true." Someone suddenly spoke behind Peng Ligang, his voice was a little vigorous, it was a man's voice.

Peng Ligang and his wife looked back and found that it was an old man in his sixties, dressed in white. He has long hair, his sideburns are gray, and his eyes are a little red and swollen, as if he has cried. Peng Ligang opened his mouth and asked, "Who are you?" “

"This is the oldest Wen Dai in our village and the village chief's generation, and it means grandfather, you can also call it that." Su Ya didn't know when she also stood beside Peng Ligang and introduced the old man in front of her.

"What did Wen Tai mean when he said that this was the last ancestor worship ceremony in the village? Will they not be held again? Peng Ligang asked.

Wen took out a box of cigarettes from his pocket and handed one to Peng Ligang. Peng Ligang glanced at it, it was a two-dollar pack of acacia birds, it was common for Peng Ligang not to smoke this kind of cigarette, not that Peng Ligang disliked that this kind of cigarette was cheap, but that he was not used to smoking. Peng Ligang subconsciously stretched out his hand, usually when they go in and out with the leader, they hand over cigarettes Peng Ligang must pick them up, if they don't pick up, it is very likely to offend others, Peng Ligang didn't answer at this time, it was also a little inappropriate, so he had to take it hard.

Wen Xi lit his cigarette, and stretched out the lighter to light it for Peng Ligang, Peng Ligang hurriedly stretched out his hand to excuse himself, took out the lighter from his pocket and lit it. Wen took a puff of cigarette and said: "Isn't your company going to buy our village and develop some tourist village, our whole village will move away, and we will no longer be able to do this ancestor worship ceremony in the future." ”

This Wen is one of the people who agreed to move the village, which was Peng Ligang's first reaction at this time.

"Even if you move out, you can still come back when it's time for the ancestor worship ceremony, and our company will definitely agree to this, and this may become one of the special projects of the tourist village, maybe we will have to pay you to do it at that time." Li Shiyu's business acumen unconsciously showed up at this time, and he preemptively said before Peng Li could speak.

"Hehe, I'm getting old, and people are getting confused, I forgot what I said just now, you two just sit next to you and watch, if you are bored, go to the village for a walk." Your meal will be prepared at noon, and there will be no fire in our village today, so please forgive me. Wen suddenly changed the subject, pretending to be an old man.

Peng Ligang was helpless against his practice of relying on the old and selling the old, so he was fortunate to watch Wen Xi smoke and leave. Su Ya took Peng Ligang and his wife to the edge of the house, moved two chairs out of the house, and asked Peng Ligang and them to sit down. Peng Ligang suddenly remembered that Wen Tai said just now that he would not cook on the fire for a day today, and Peng Ligang asked Su Ya why this was the case.

Su Ya said softly: "This is the rule of ancestor worship in the village, one is to show the sincerity to the ancestors, bathing on an empty stomach. The second is to repent to the ancestors, repent of the wrong things done during the year, and ask the ancestors for forgiveness. “

"It's about to start, and the people in the village are coming one after another." Peng Ligang pointed to the people coming up in the square.

Su Ya smiled at Li Shiyu and his wife, and then walked towards the crowd. The people in the square were all dressed in white, and Peng Ligang roughly calculated that there were about 40 people, most of whom were women, more than 10 young men plus elderly men over 60 years old, and the rest were children around seven or eight years old.

"Husband, do you feel that the people in their village seem to be unified in age, and they all seem to be divided. First of all, Village Chief Li and his generation seem to be in their sixties, and the age gap between them should not be more than two years old in terms of appearance. Next is Li Keming's generation, their generation seems to be about the same age, and their next generation is also the same age, the children are almost seven or eight years old, why is it so good to be unified? Li Shiyu looked at the crowd in the square and said.

Li Shiyu didn't ask Peng Ligang if he really didn't notice this matter, Peng Ligang looked at the people in the square carefully, it was really like what Li Shiyu said, the age was very clear, but this was not a special thing, and it couldn't explain anything.

The people in the square had already begun to worship their ancestors, and all the people knelt on the ground, facing the mountain behind the village, bowing their heads and muttering something in a low voice. Peng Ligang didn't understand much, and he couldn't understand what was being said, after all, he was already very good at learning these ordinary conversational dialects.

The people in the square knelt for two hours and didn't move, Peng Ligang looked a little boring, stood up and said to Li Shiyu: "Let's go to the village for a walk, it's too boring to sit like this, just go and see Zhang Xiangui's body, maybe you can know what the real cause of his death is." ”

Although Li Shiyu was reluctant, she still left with Peng Ligang. Zhang Xiangui's body was placed in his house, and he went there last night, although he went at night, but fortunately, Peng Ligang still remembered the way, so he soon came to Zhang Xiangui's house.

Zhang Xiangui's body was placed in the lobby, and the corpse was covered with a white cloth. Peng Ligang asked Li Shiyu to wait for him outside the lobby, he found a piece of cloth from behind the door that was not clean, lifted the white cloth, and a burst of corpse smell mixed with the smell of burning wafted in, Peng Ligang almost vomited without holding back. The corpse was severely burned, almost to the extent that his parents couldn't recognize it, Peng Ligang checked the torso of the corpse for a long time, but he didn't find any special circumstances, Zhang Xiangui didn't seem to be hurt very much.

Peng Ligang carefully examined the corpse's head again, although the degree of burn was very serious, but there was almost no place for the part to ignite except for the hair that could be burned. The corpse was burned even to the head, apparently the murderer poured alcohol on the corpse's face as well as on the head. Peng Ligang checked for a long time, but he didn't find any signs of his head, it seems that Zhang Xiangui was not knocked out by the murderer before his death.

Could it be that the murderer put sleeping pills in the wine that Zhang Xiangui drank? Peng Ligang had an idea at this time.

"It shouldn't be possible, since Zhang Xiangui is addicted to alcohol, then he must be drunk all the time, the murderer will not have the opportunity to drug in the wine, and the amount of medicine that can make a person sleep to death is not an ordinary dose, and it is impossible for ordinary people to buy so many sleeping pills." Peng Ligang thought about it for a while, and then denied the conclusion just now.

Just when Peng Li was hesitating, he suddenly found that there was a little dent in the middle of the corpse's neck, and this trace seemed to circle the entire neck, because it was not very obvious, and it would not be obvious if you didn't look carefully. In addition, the corpse was burned once, and the muscles of the whole body were contracted, so this trace was even less obvious. But it is precisely because it has been burned once, and the tightening of the muscles also makes this mark indelible.

Zhang Xiangui was strangled to death by the murderer, Peng Ligang finally found out the real cause of Zhang Guigui's death, covered it with a white cloth and walked out of the lobby. Peng Ligang walked up to Li Shiyu and said to him: "Zhang Xiangui was strangled to death with a rope, and the murderer was afraid that the real cause of death would be discovered, so he wanted to burn his body with fire. In this way, everyone will think that he accidentally burned himself to death because he was drunk, and in addition, it can also be a good way to cover up what the real cause of Zhang Xiangui's death is, and the murderer can escape. “

"Then why did the murderer kill Zhang Xiangui? Didn't everyone in the village say that although he likes to drink, he doesn't have any enemies, could it be that Zhang Xiangui offended someone outside the village, and they quietly sneaked into the village to take revenge on him? Li Shiyu asked.

"As for the murderer's motive, I don't know yet, but I think his death must have something to do with some secret in this village. As for the murderer, I don't think it will be someone from outside the village, there is only one way into the village, and if an outsider enters, someone will come in and report it immediately. Didn't you notice that Xiao Qi and Xiao Qi didn't go to worship their ancestors today, I think the two of them should go to the wooden bridge at the entrance of the village again. Peng Ligang held his chin with his left hand and said thoughtfully.

"The two of them are guards?" Li Shiyu seemed to understand Peng Ligang's words.

"I think it should be, there are very few young men in the village, and most of them are not in the village, and the rest are some old and young women and children, and it is not good for them to go to the entrance of the village to guard, and it is very tiring to keep watch all day. So it's only these kids, and they're not easy to get people's attention, so I guess it's definitely not people from outside the village who come in and commit murder. Peng Ligang said analytically.