Seven corpses, young and old, lay side by side under the straw mats, the youngest of whom was no more than three years old.

Liu Ruyan inserted the shovel into the soil, clapped her hands, and stepped forward to take a closer look, only to see that these people described them as withered, as if they had died of a long illness.

"Judging from the clothes, these corpses are not the missing Langzhong, they should be from the village, and there are seven deceased, three generations of grandchildren. The clothes on the body are intact, there are no traces of trauma on the surface, and it is preliminarily judged to be due to illness. ”

Liu Ruyan turned her face and said to him: "This family of seven should be out of order, and after his death, he was hastily buried here by the villagers, and there was no tombstone. ”

Shen Yanchu was a little puzzled: "What caused the whole family to die of illness, could it be the hunger epidemic?" ”

She shook her head, "Probably not." ”

In her previous life, she passed through Youzhou and had not heard of any famine nearby. Although Taiping Village is not a rich place, it still has enough food.

She asked Shen Yanchu to fill in the soil, and the two walked around the village cemetery again, and found that many new graves had been built nearby, and some of them did not even have a tombstone.

"There is no doubt that the epidemic is coming, and now the winter cold is coming, often accompanied by typhoid fever, no wonder Langzhong is urgently needed here." Liu Ruyan said to herself, took off the cloth towel, and let out a sigh, "In a remote village like this, every few months, you can wait for a Lang Zhong who raises the bell to go through the alleys. ”

She sighed and said quietly: "In my opinion, Yang Linpo's Huang Zhi is just a cover to attract Jianghu Langzhong to enter the village. ”

Shen Yanchu looked up at the sky: "It's not early, it's time to go back." ”

The village is not large, and it is only a short walk from the river to the village.

The two of them walked all the way and felt that the village was unusually quiet.

Now that the New Year is approaching, but the doors of all houses are closed, and the villagers who occasionally pick firewood can be seen, and they are gone in the blink of an eye.

Liu Ruyan looked around, and suddenly pointed ahead: "On a snowy day, there are still bamboo flats on the roof." ”

Shen Yanchu raised his eyes to look, and saw that around the corner in front of him, there was a hut built, which was just like those houses in the village.

It's just that the snow-covered roof is still covered with bamboo, and it should be dried goods such as mountain mushrooms, and it is covered with a thick layer of snow, which is particularly abrupt.

"We have the custom of drying New Year's goods in the north for many years, but we haven't seen the sun recently, and there have been several heavy snowfalls one after another, but the owner of the house has not taken back these New Year's goods." Liu Ruyan was puzzled, "Not only that, but we have come all the way, and several rooms are like this one after another, just like ......"

"There's no one in the house." Shen Yanchu said suddenly.

"Yes, it's like there's no one in the house, except for those who died of illness, where did the rest go?"

She thought about it, where would the villagers go if they were not in the house, and what connection would they have with the missing Langzhong?

When she returned to the village, Liu Ruyan was already hungry, and she didn't bother to say hello to the host, so she plunged into the kitchen.

She lifted the lid of the pot, and there was only half of the cold and hard steamed bun left in the pot, and she rummaged back and forth in the bamboo flat, and finally let her find some radish and mountain mushrooms, and made do with a bowl of somen noodles.

As soon as the noodles were served, Shen Yanchu appeared in the kitchen on time as if he had smelled it.

She concentrated on eating noodles without raising her head, and her voice was slurred: "There are still noodles left in the pot." ”

The villain is raised, and it is fed regularly.

Shen Yanchu ate everything slowly, she finished eating the noodles first, scooped up the ladle of water and washed the dishes and chopsticks, and then yawned and walked to the bedroom: "I'm sleepy today, I'll go to sleep first." ”

Halfway through a side room, the door was hidden, and from time to time there were a sobbing or two.

She slowed down and peered into the room.

But seeing that the candlelight was dim, Sister-in-law Lin sat on the ground, next to a black coffin.

She was immediately silent, but she still let the people inside hear the movement and looked at her, and when she saw the people standing outside, Sister-in-law Lin was also surprised.

Liu Ruyan didn't pretend not to see it anymore, so she showed a hint of apology to Sister-in-law Lin, and asked in a concerned voice, "What's in this coffin?" ”

Sister-in-law Lin stood up suddenly, and said excitedly: "No one, it's empty here!" ”

"Oh-" Liu Ruyan responded.

There was only a coffin in the house, but there was no mourning hall, and the other party did not lie.

Sister-in-law Lin continued: "Dr. Liu also knows that our village is remote, so he will prepare a thin coffin, so as not to have a place to live after death. ”

As she spoke, her voice took on a crying tone.

"Yes, yes." Liu Ruyan didn't know how to be relieved, and dropped the sentence "God has the virtue of a good life", and fled back to the west house.

As soon as I entered the door, I saw Shen Yanchu sitting at the table.

He didn't look up, just took a cup, made a cup of hot tea, and handed it to the person who entered the door.

Liu Ruyan took the tea with a good temperature, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

After getting along for a few days, she found that Shen Yanchu seemed to be bland, but he was delicate and treated people very well.

It's not bad to keep him around.

After drinking a cup of warm tea, Liu Ruyan said slowly: "I saw that the peasant woman prepared a thin coffin, if I guessed correctly, it should be prepared for her own child." ”

Shen Yanchu raised his head suddenly: "How do you say this?" ”

"Tablet." Liu Ruyan said what was in her heart.

"There are tablets in the room with coffins, I have looked at them carefully, and they are all set up for the elders in the family, so the Lin family is the only one left with the husband and wife. But the strange thing is that this couple has passed the age of establishment, how can they not have a son and a half daughter? ”

"It's weird." Shen Yanchu walked to the window lattice, and a lone star shone in the night.

He closed the window: "Maybe after tonight, the truth will come out." ”

"When it comes to their own heirs, they can't wait too long."

Liu Ruyan put down the cup and gently tapped the wooden case with her fingertips: "These villagers may have some kind of epidemic disease, and they rushed to the doctor, so they came up with the idea of using Huangzhi as a bait to attract some Jianghu Langzhong into the village, and even Bai Zhi was alarmed." ”

Shen Yanchu also sat down at the table: "If you find the sick villagers, you can find the whereabouts of Angelica Angelica." ”

"That's true, but you can't sit still." Liu Ruyan didn't want to wait, so she simply took the initiative, "I'll meet them again." ”

She said she would go.

Inside the house, Shen Yanchu made a cup of tea, and his slender fingers picked up the cup, and the mist was shrouded, blurring his face.

"Knock knock—"

There was a knock at the door, Sister-in-law Lin got up in her clothes and asked busily, "Who?" ”

"It's me, Liu Langzhong, I'll leave the village early tomorrow morning and come to talk to my eldest brother and sister-in-law."

Sister-in-law Lin was stunned: "Didn't you say that you have to find someone before leaving?" ”

The figure outside the door shook slightly: "No, I have to go back if I have something to do, if I see the doctor surnamed Bai, I have to trouble the eldest brother and sister-in-law to pass the word for me." ”

Sister-in-law Lin glanced at the man, hesitated for a moment, and then responded to Liu Ruyan: "Oh, okay." ”

When she was far away, the man crept out of bed and pulled something out of the cage.

"Master, what are you going to do?" Sister-in-law Lin grabbed the man's arm.

The man threw the woman away with his backhand and whispered, "If you don't do it again, they'll be leaving!" ”

"But ......"

"But what, do you want to watch our son wait for death, or do you want to see these two men so handsome that you can't bear to do it?"

The woman closed her eyes, remembered her young child, and sat down on the ground as if deflated.