Chapter 24: The Midnight Sacrifice

"I remember that when we watched the video of Hongmei's marriage in Lijia Village, the groom and the groom in the photo were not the same person." Teacher Jin said.

"Hongmei did get married in Lijia Village, but later Xiao Ai told us about Hongmei's deeds is another version." Xu Tian said.

"Xiao Ai did say that Hongmei came to Caogang Village, Xiao Ai didn't explain this matter completely last time, according to Xiao Ai's meaning, she doesn't know what Hongmei has experienced on this island." Xu Tian said.

As he was talking, Mr. Jin shone his flashlight on a writing desk, and on the writing desk was placed a pen holder, in which were three dusty pens.

Next to the pen holder is a large brown paper notebook on which several large characters appear to have been written in a fountain pen.

Xu Tian approached the notebook and pointed the flashlight at the notebook, only to see that it was written: List of intermarriages.

Xu Tian and Teacher Jin glanced at each other in the dark room, and a light flashed in their eyes.

Mr. Jin opened the notebook, and there were several unknown names written on the first page, of which the left side was written with a man's name, and the right side was written with a woman's name.

There were three names that were × with a red pen, and there were a few small characters written next to these three names.

"What does this mean? Villagers want to get married without knowing what to do? And then the person knows that they are close relatives, so stop from it? Xu Tian analyzed.

"That's what it means so far, but that's just our assumption." Teacher Jin said, turning the page back again.

On the second page, there are also the names of several people, male left and female right, one of which is the name of Lao Ma, and there is a female name on the right of Lao Ma who has been beaten ×.

On the third page, the names of five young men, including Xiao Wu, are written, and all five young men have been beaten ×.

"This book is full of dust, and no one has touched it for at least a few years, if you speculate according to the contents of the book, the person whose name is written in the book knew a few years ago that these people were going to intermarry?" Xu Tian said.

"There is a custom of marriage in the countryside, and we will find out when we return to the village, but this person who records the list of intermarriages in the book must have an inevitable connection with the murder." Teacher Jin said.

Xu Tian didn't plan to take the notebook, but took a picture with his mobile phone, and recorded all the situations in this house and in the forest before into the notebook that the mysterious man gave to Xu Tian.

Teacher Jin and Xu Tian walked out of the house and continued to walk, the snow here was very deep, and every step forward was extremely difficult.

After walking for about half an hour, Mr. Jin looked at the time, it was close to midnight, but at this time, the two of them had already walked to the realm of the grave of the dead.

There are many old wreaths and funeral items buried in the surrounding snow, and the road leading to the grave of the dead is almost entirely filled with these seeping things.

Just as they were about to approach the dead man's grave, Xu Tian and Teacher Jin suddenly smelled a smell of burning paper, and it seemed that there was indeed a person squatting there burning paper two hundred meters ahead.

The two walked up quickly, and when they approached, the man stood up and walked towards Xu Tian and Teacher Jin.

Out of politeness, Xu Tian and Teacher Jin did not shine their flashlights on that person's face, but judging from the silhouette of that person, it should be a woman.

"Who? How dare you break into the grave of the dead in the middle of the night? A familiar voice shouted.

Xu Tian remembered this voice, it was Yingfeng he had seen before.

"It's us." Xu Tian deliberately shone the flashlight on his face and said.

Ying Feng in front was startled when she saw Xu Tian shining a flashlight on her face, which was unexpected by Xu Tian.

"We're here to investigate the case, but why are you here in the middle of the night?" Xu Tian asked.

"Don't you see? I'm burning paper for these martyrs. Ying Feng said.

"Martyrs? It's all Japanese buried here, right? Are you Japanese? Xu Tian asked.

"! Don't listen to Lao Gao's nonsense, he doesn't know anything, including the other villagers, they are all pigs with low intelligence. Ying Feng said.

"Hey! You don't have to be so vicious, right? Xu Tian said.

"Originally, those villagers are easily brainwashed by rumors, just like today's journalists casually write an article to smear a certain star, almost 70% of people read the surface text and directly follow the scolding in the comment area, and there are even many people who have not read the article, only read a title and start scolding, such pigs are everywhere in the world." Ying Feng said.

"Your analogy really makes me powerless to refute, but you must know that sometimes if you want to maintain peace and stabilize the mood of the people, such an approach is essential, I believe that the ancestors in the village must have their reasons for hiding the dead man's grave, but I don't know if their truth is black or white." Xu Tian said.

"Isn't that obvious? I've already revealed to you such words, don't you have a judgment in your heart whether it's black or white? Ying Feng said.

"Well, if you want to make the facts public, then tell us everything you know, and that's the wisest thing for you." Xu Tian said.

"There's nothing to say, my father and I came to this village to guard this dead man's grave, and as for other things, I don't know anything." Ying Feng said.

"You're lying." Xu Tian said.

"Why do you say I'm lying?" Ying Feng questioned Xu Tian and said.

"Because you burned it so much that it wasn't sacrificial paper money at all." Xu Tian said.

Ying Feng was suddenly surprised, and at this time, Teacher Jin had already rescued Ying Feng's unburned paper from the fire.

"What is this?" Teacher Jin asked while standing behind Yingfeng.

Ying Feng suddenly tilted her body and wanted to run, but Teacher Jin was in a hurry and grabbed Ying Feng's arm.

But at this moment, Teacher Jin suddenly felt that Yingfeng's entire body had become heavy, and Yingfeng seemed to be falling to the ground involuntarily.

"What's going on?" Xu Tian hurriedly stepped forward and dragged Ying Feng who fell.

When Xu Tian lifted Ying Feng's face up, Ying Feng had already begun to bleed from seven orifices, and she had already lost her breath.

Teacher Jin hurriedly shone the flashlight on the surrounding snow, but Teacher Jin looked back and forth for a long time and did not see other people's footprints.

When Teacher Jin searched back, Xu Tian had already found Yingfeng's fatal wound, and there was a wound on Yingfeng's right wrist that had turned purple.

"Damn! We're a step too late! Xu Tian complained.

"It should have been poisoned before, but I didn't see other people's footprints in the place where Yingfeng burned the paper just now, maybe this is not the place where Yingfeng was poisoned." Teacher Jin said.

"Grave of the Dead...... Let's find out what's going on! Xu Tian took out his mobile phone to take a few photos of Yingfeng's corpse, and walked in the direction of the dead man's grave.

When Xu Tian and Teacher Jin walked to the Dead Man's Grave, they found that the snow around the Dead Man's Grave had been cleared, and there were many tributes placed in an open space, and there was only a stone pillar the size of a calf next to it, on which were written the three words Dead Man's Grave.

"Someone is cleaning here, it shouldn't be Yingfeng, at least it can't be Yingfeng just cleaned up, because when we saw Yingfeng, she didn't show any signs of exercise." Xu Tian said.

"Look at Yingfeng's unburned paper, it seems to be a portrait of a person." Teacher Jin handed Xu Tian the half-burned piece of paper and said.