Liu Mengwei was not good at this kind of needle-in-a-haystack search, so she gave Lin Xuerou's paintings to Ling Feng and asked professionals to give advice. Unexpectedly, new news soon came.

However, it's not about the girl in the picture. The imprint on the corner of the right eyebrow, with the name "Jasmine", should not be difficult to find. What's more, now is the era of big data, and almost everyone's identity information is recorded, but she is like a drop of water in the sea, disappearing.

Ling Feng asked Ma Xiaochao to cooperate with Liu Mengwei to find information in the archives.

Ma Xiaochao tried to search in the system with various keywords, frowning and eliminating them one by one.

"No, it doesn't look like any." Ma Xiaochao rubbed his short hair, looking anxious and helpless.

"I also tried a few homophones and harmonic words, such as the 'Mo' that didn't have to have, beautiful and smart, but I found a few people, but the physiognomy and characteristics didn't match. Professor Liu, are you sure that all these information characteristics are correct? ”

Liu Mengwei was also a little at a loss: "Is there all the information here?" ”

Ma Xiaochao thought for a while and said: "The more recent the data, the more complete it must be, if it is an archive from decades ago, there must be a lot of missing, after all, there was no informatization at that time." Our country's household registration system only began in the 50s of the 20th century, and such a huge work will inevitably have some mistakes in the actual operation process, and some lawbreakers will fish in the waters. ”

The real breakthrough was not the obvious mark and name, but the picture of the carriage parade.

Some local veteran comrades of the police force looked at the painting for a long time, exchanged some with each other, took photos again, and sent them to some of their old friends, and only after repeated confirmation did they say: "This is the parade of floats for the Flower Dynasty Festival, we were still popular here more than 20 years ago, I remember that I also participated in it a few times when I was young, and then I don't know how it gradually declined." Now we don't have anyone here to hold this kind of festival. ”

The Flower Dynasty Festival is a folk traditional festival that flourished in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and has different celebration times and methods according to the local customs and climate differences in different regions. In the Ming Dynasty, Feng Yingjing's "Moon Order Guangyi" recorded: "Nuyi, the god of the main spring and summer longevity, that is, the god of flowers." "The Flower Dynasty Festival is the season of appreciating flowers, visiting spring, sacrificing to the god of flowers, and praying for abundance. The northern flower letter is late, the festival will be later, the southern flower letter is early, the festival will be earlier, and there is no fixed time, but it is generally in the second lunar month, and the flower festival of Yunhe City is set on the fifteenth day of the second lunar month according to the agreement of the local people.

But the flower festival is not an official festival after all, there is no unified time, and there is no unified way, so it can only take root in the small village Xiaoluo, although it cannot grow into the prosperous peony of the big country weather, but it can spread with the wind like a dandelion, and then adapt to local conditions, grow freely.

Just as you can tell which village he came from by subtle differences in pronunciation in the same dialect, you can also know where he grew up by the way he celebrates the same festival and customs.

Only one village in Yunhe City will put on a white horse on the day of the Flower Dynasty Festival, pull a cart, and fill the cart with evergreen plants such as green bamboo, pine branches, and evergreens, and then decorate the car and this horse with peach blossoms, cherry blossoms, rhododendrons, spring greetings, begonias, and unknown wild flowers and herbs on the hillside. This dress is far from over, and there is one most important person missing from this carriage - the villagers will choose a girl under the age of 16 in the village to become the flower goddess of the flower festival, and she will ride on this incense cart and circle the village three times. At that time, the villagers will throw flowers at her, praying for a good year and joy, and also hoping that she can convey the wishes of the villagers to the flower god.

At the end of the day, the carriage stops at the Flower Temple, where the Flower Lady's maids stay for one night, hoping to communicate with the gods in their dreams.

Liu Mengwei and Ma Xiaochao followed the clues to find this village, which is in the southwest of Yunhe City, about ten kilometers away from the city center. The village here originally had its own name, but with the urban planning and the changes of the times, people gradually stopped calling it by its original name "Xibaozhuang", but divided it into a larger area, forming a unified administrative district. As a result, this village was eroded by the sea little by little, and sank into the deep sea little by little, like countless isolated islands on the sea.

Xibaozhuang is the village that celebrates the Flower Dynasty Festival with a parade of floats, and Dongbaozhuang adopts the form of a flower boat parade because there is a river on the side of the village.

"And then? Why didn't anyone celebrate the holiday anymore? Liu Mengwei and the others found an old man who used to live in Xibaozhuang.

The old man recalled: "Where are there young people in the village now, and if there are any, they don't want to celebrate the festival, and we can't expect us old arms and legs to run around." Even if it is barely done, no one participates and no one watches, so what's the point? And not to mention this kind of local festival, I think the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Spring Festival are becoming more and more boring! ”

Festival is the tentacle of a national culture, it is the arc light shot out of the time and history that has passed, shining on the ancients and the present people.

"Moreover, in the year when our village last held the Flower Dynasty Festival, an incident happened. Later, everyone didn't want to celebrate the holiday anymore. The old man named the key factors that would determine the life and death of the holiday. Liu Mengwei was shocked, keenly aware that they seemed to be close to the core.

Twenty years ago, there was a murder in that sacred temple of the god of flowers, in which the girl who was chosen to be the maid of the god of flowers died.

"I'll just say you're confused, you still don't believe it!" The old lady who had been listening to them suddenly interrupted them, and the work in her hand did not stop, looking capable and agile, and she was full of anger when she spoke: "Upside down, it is obvious that she killed someone, how did she become killed by someone?" ”

Two old men, you say a word, I say a word. Hearing this, Liu and Ma's mouths opened wider and wider. Unexpectedly, they followed this painting, found this village, followed the vine, and turned out an old case from 20 years ago.

Even if something has just happened in front of you, the memory can be skewed. What's more, after so many years, the noise and murmur in the torrent of memory have imperceptibly eroded the initial melody, which can turn a waltz into a sonata, and can also turn a bold word into a graceful song. If you want to restore the whole picture with the most recent version, I'm afraid it will be a thousand miles wrong.

Liu Mengwei listened to the argument between the two of them, and she didn't plan to ask for any more details, knowing that this incident had happened was enough for her. Because, since it involves a murder, even if 20 years have passed, there is a high probability that the information of that year is still preserved in the archives of the police station. What was written on paper was what it was before, and what it is now.

"So, there will be no more flower festivals in the back of your village?"

The old lady said, "The Flower Temple has seen blood, who would go to that kind of place?" Is it a blessing or a blessing! ”

"What about the Flower Temple?" Liu Mengwei asked.

"Flower Temple?" The old lady looked at the old man, as if to confirm the information with him: "Demolished, right?" No one wants to go anymore, and it slowly falls into disuse. It doesn't matter if it's demolished, if the dead are demolished, it's all buried in the soil! ”

"Yes, it's demolished." The old man also nodded: "Later, I engaged in development, built houses, built roads and bridges, but all of them were gone." If you had asked me to go back to the same place, I might not have found it. Even here, where we've lived for decades, has changed dramatically. Everything has changed, and there is nothing constant in this world. ”

The old lady snorted lightly: "It's obviously your Alzheimer's disease, and you can't remember anything." ”

Not to be outdone, the old man was not to be outdone: "What's the use of remembering so much, I remember everything about my son and daughter, and remember where the door of the house opened, it's enough." Like you guys, you have to listen to the bustle of every household, and you have to write it down and tell it to others. ”

"Where is that Flower Temple?" Liu Mengwei asked.

"It's the east of our village, about a dozen miles away." The old man gave a vague answer. The old lady added to him: "Yes, there is a big pine tree at the door, I heard that it was planted together in the year when the flower temple was built, if it is still there, it is estimated that it will be more than a hundred years by now." ”

"It's long gone, and if it were, I would still recognize that place. If the house collapses, it can be rebuilt, and if the tree is cut down, it will never be found again. ”