"You live downstairs and you haven't seen it with your own eyes, so how do you know that it's a woman who washes a man's feet, cuts his toenails, and massages him?"

"When a woman cuts a man's toenails, the man sometimes snores, although the sound is not loud, but when you hear it, you know that it is the sound of the man's snoring; The sound of nail clippers grinding toenails is noticeable; During the massage, the bed will ring. ”

Zhao Zimeng, Xiao Lao, Ling Hu Yunfei, and Xiang Daimo looked at each other for a moment: This situation is very important.

"After the woman trimmed and polished the man's toenails, she massaged the man - at this time, in addition to the sound of the bed, there was also the sound of the man snoring."

"At this time, it is easiest for people to fall asleep peacefully." Xiang Daimo said, "Using this method to treat insomnia has a very good effect. ”

"There are two other situations that I don't know whether to talk about or not."

"Tell me."

"On the night of April 11th, there seemed to be something going on upstairs."

"What's the matter?"

"Usually, the couple usually rests around nine o'clock, and at about eleven o'clock that night, there is a sound of walking upstairs, and the sound of walking seems to be more busy. I couldn't hear the sound of unraveling, and after a quiet while, the footsteps sounded again. There was the sound of a chair falling on the floor, suddenly and loudly, and the sound of mopping the floor, which was very quiet, but still audible. ”

"I'm a very sensitive person, and my ears are very bright, so why do I mop the floor in the middle of the night? I wondered at the time, I thought it was one of the couples who was sick, and I couldn't hold it anymore, so I went to the hospital to see a doctor. ”

"Why do you think that?"

"Later, I heard footsteps going downstairs — or going upstairs."

"When?"

"Around eleven o'clock – I looked at my watch. But the next morning, through the crack in the door, I saw the couple going downstairs together, and I didn't think about it anymore. ”

"You just said 'quiet for a while', how long is that time?"

"It's like thirty or forty minutes."

"Do you hear them coming down the stairs at night?"

"I'm not sure, yes, I heard footsteps, but if it's going downstairs or going upstairs, I'm not sure."

It was also on the night of April 11 that Fan Dengbiao found the wooden boat of the pickle factory going and returned, and the specific time was between 11 and 12 o'clock.

"It's incredible how much time has passed and you can remember the exact time." Zhao Zimeng was still a little puzzled.

"I have a habit of keeping a diary, I started to keep a diary when I was in middle school, and then it became a habit, one of the things I have to do every day before I go to bed is to keep a diary, and I write down what happened that night in my diary. Wait a minute, I'll go upstairs and show you. ”

The woman didn't wait for Zhao Zimeng to answer, and went straight up the stairs.

In less than two minutes, the woman walked downstairs with a diary in her hand.

The woman walked up to Zhao Zimeng and Mrs. Huiping, opened the diary, and handed it to Zhao Zimeng's hand—the place where it was opened was folded in advance.

Xiao Lao, Ling Hu Yunfei, and Xiang Daimo leaned their heads over, and the contents of the diary were:

April 12, weather, rain.

Recently, my sleep has been bad, last night's sleep was especially bad, the night was woken up several times, it is difficult to fall asleep after waking up, usually, the two upstairs are resting at more than nine o'clock, last night, they seem to be resting at more than nine o'clock, but more than eleven and twelve o'clock, upstairs twice moved. If this happens tonight, I'm going to have to find a different meditation room for Master Huiping. ”

Zhao Zimeng closed the diary and handed it to the woman's hand: "What did you determine the time based on?" ”

"I heard the alarm bell of the janitor of the pickle factory, lit the light and looked at my watch, and the time was about ten o'clock."

"Can you hear the sound of Master Gao's alarm clock in the meditation room?"

"The only thing I was not satisfied with when I lived in the marry-ma-chant was the sound of the pickle factory janitor's alarm clock, which rang many times every night, from nine o'clock to six o'clock the next morning. I didn't get used to it at first, but then I got used to it. ”

"The second thing you said was ——?"

"Look at the diary—here—" The woman flipped the diary to one of the pages and handed it to Zhao Zimeng's hand. ”

Zhao Zimeng and Xiao Lao read it carefully:

April 13th, weather, fine.

Last night, I slept well, I slept upstairs at about nine o'clock, and there was nothing wrong all night. Curiously, before going to bed, the woman neither washed the man's feet, nor trimmed and polished the man's toenails. In the past, every night, women had to wash men's feet and trim their toenails.

Zhao Zimeng and Xiao Lao also felt very strange.

"On the night of April 12th, the woman did not wash the man's feet and trim his toenails, and what happened after that?"

"After that—until they left the Ma Po Nunnery, I never heard a woman wash a man's feet or trim and polish his toenails."

Zhao Zimeng's brows furrowed, and he couldn't figure it out. What's the mystery here?

Bidding farewell to Mrs. Huiping and the woman, Zhao Zimeng and his entourage walked to the big wooden boat.

The bottom of the large wooden boat is facing upwards, and the hull is supported by two wooden shelves fixed to the boat, and several iron rings are fixed to the wooden shelves, which are used to tie the ropes.

The bow and stern of the large wooden boat were each fastened with a finger-thick iron ring, on which was tied a chain seven or eight meters long, and the other end of the two iron chains was joined together and wrapped around the trunk of a tree, and a large iron lock was locked on the chain.

"Master Gao, please recall carefully, on the night of April 11th, when you got up to look at the ship, did you find anything unusual?"

"I can't remember what day it was, but every hour I would go up to the dock to see it, and as long as the boat was still there, I went to sleep in peace. No anomalies were found. Because of the alarm clock, I didn't worry about sleeping out of time, so as soon as I put my head on the pillow, I fell asleep quickly - and I slept deeply, so I couldn't hear anything other than the sound of the alarm clock. However, there is one thing that I can say, that is, I don't know whether to talk about it or not. ”

"Gao Defeng, you say it quickly." Director Zhen said.

"Director Zhen, I also told you about this matter."

"Don't beat around the bush, talk about it."

"You're too busy to take my words seriously," Gao Defeng said, walking toward the east wall, "and I told you one day that a few tiles had fallen off the wall, and you said you would send someone to repair it when you were free." ”

Director Zhen patted his head: "I remember, there is such a thing." ”

Gao Defeng walked up to an ancient ginkgo tree and stopped: "Look—"

Earlier, the author once explained that the wall of the pickle factory is more special, and the blue brick wall is the top of the small palace.

Everyone looked in the direction of Gao Defeng's finger, and the small black tiles on the wall did fall several pieces, and where the tiles fell, there were a few traces of rain on the wall, and there were many broken tiles on the ground.

"More tiles are falling outside." Gao Defeng said as he flicked the tiles on the ground with his foot. ”

Everyone walked out of the back door with the high wind, and on the other side of the roof of the small hall corresponding to the falling tiles, four or five tiles really fell, and the water stains on the wall were larger.

"Master Gao, when did this happen?"

"It's been more than three months! I can't remember exactly when, when I was usually bored, I would walk here, one evening, when the sun was about to set, I slipped here, and I saw several tiles falling off the wall, and the next day, I told Director Zhen. ”

"I've forgotten about it. Someone must have climbed over the wall from here to enter the pickle factory and steal something. ”

Zhao Zimeng doesn't see it that way, it should be an indisputable fact that someone has climbed over the wall, but the purpose of going over the wall should be to steal the key - to steal the string of keys hanging next to the window of the gatehouse. There were two keys on that set of keys, one for the back door and the other for locking the boat - the man's main purpose was to steal the key to the locking boat.

Seventy or eighty centimeters away from the place where the tiles fell, there are two old locust trees, they grow obliquely, one locust tree is almost lying on the ground, the treetop points directly to the dock, and the trunk and treetop of the other locust tree are obliquely above the fence, and the person who climbs over the wall should enter the pickle factory with the help of this old locust tree.

"Master Gao, you should always remember the approximate time!"

"Probably in late April and early May!"

"The end of April, the beginning of May." , this time is relatively close to the time when Fan Dengbiao saw the wooden boat of the pickle factory disappear and reappeared.

"Do you know Wang Hongbao and his wife who live in Ma Po Nunnery?"

"Yes, the couple often walks on the riverbank, and whenever they meet me, they will take the initiative to say hello, sometimes turn to me, and sit in my house for a while. This person is very talkative and kind-hearted, as long as it is a New Year's holiday, he will send me two bottles of wine to drink. ”

"When I left Ma Po Nunnery, he gave me two bottles of Erguotou - Bodhisattva Heart! He saw me alone and lonely. The woman is also very easy-going, and she doesn't think the smell of my house is strong at all. What a rarity! Even the people in our factory don't want to come and sit in my room. ”

"He was right, the people in the factory thought that the smell in his house was strong, so they never went to his house."

There is no need for Director Zhen to explain, the comrades have already felt this strong taste.

"Except for Wang Hongbao and his wife and the people in the factory, has anyone else come to sit with you?"

"No, not anymore."

After bidding farewell to Director Zhen and Master Gao, everyone went to Liuyedu along the river embankment, the stone slope protection on both sides of the river has been almost built, and the river section east of Xihuamen Castle and west of Liuyedu is dredging the cofferdam.