Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 16 Mountain God Sister
When we returned to the ground, it was already dawn and the long night was finally over.

The same goes for the bird in the cage.

Under the gaze of Ren Yuan, the civet cat and the leopard, she pushed open the cage door and finally walked out of the cage where she had been imprisoned for three years. Then she flapped her wings and tried several times, and finally flew into the sky!
Looking at her beautiful figure flying freely in the sky, each wing radiating the light of freedom, the civet cat and the leopard hugged each other excitedly, tears streaming down their faces.

She flew over the dark hills, scattering tiny drops of nectar, washing away the filth left by the monsters. The withered plants regained vitality, tender green grass broke through the soil, and new leaves grew on the dead trees. Even the dead animals gradually regained their breath and looked around in confusion.

"Sister Mountain God is back! Come with me to worship the Mountain God!" The civet cat shouted while riding on the leopard's back, following the bird's figure.

The birds and beasts were overjoyed when they heard this, and they got up and followed closely.

Ren Yuan also followed the birds in the sky and the beasts on the ground and came to the depths of the dense forest, where he heard the roaring sound of water ahead.

When he passed through the dense forest, he saw a snow-white waterfall pouring into a blue lake, splashing thousands of pieces of jade.

There is a large rock protruding above the lake, and a graceful girl stands on it. She wears a flower crown on her head, has long black hair, and a pair of eyes as bright as morning stars, with a smart and playful look and a graceful and moving smile.

She was wearing a hibiscus, with a vine tied around her waist, her skin was as white as snow, her legs were long and straight, flowers were under her feet, and there was a light mist around her. A red leopard was her mount, and civet cats followed her around. Birds and beasts all worshipped her. She was truly not from this world.

Her beauty is incomparable to that of human beings, but she is neither as high and mighty as the fairies in the sky, nor does she arouse people's primitive desires like the charming fairies. Instead, she is the kind of mountain elf who is "both charming and smiling", lively and cheerful, kind and pleasant, yet elusive and hard to grasp.

Ren Yuan stared at her intently, and she also looked at Ren Yuan with a charming smile, thanking him deeply:

"A Yao thanks Brother Yuan for saving my life."

"Sister, you don't have to be polite. We are just helping each other." Ren Yuan felt a little embarrassed and quickly looked up at the sky. When he moved his eyes to the horizon, he found that the leaden clouds like maggots on the tarsal bones had disappeared. He asked, "Hey, have the locusts flown away?"

"No." Sister Mountain God shook her head and said, "I just saw them landed in the countryside, eating up the crops."

"Sister, are you capable of killing them now?" Ren Yuan asked hurriedly.

"I will do my best," the mountain god sister frowned and said, "but there are too many locusts. It will take some time to prepare."

"How long?" Ren Yuan asked.

"I haven't shown up for a long time, it may take the whole morning." The mountain god sister replied.

"Okay, I'll go back to the village first." Ren Yuan said in a deep voice: "Revenge is not over yet!"

"Take back my share of revenge. Let's split up." The mountain goddess was worried that Ren Yuan would act alone, so she told the civet cat and the leopard, "Civet cat, red leopard, you two should accompany Yuan."

~~
Xiejiazhuang.

After daybreak, those who had escaped came back.

Because countless locusts fell from the sky and swept outside the village like a sandstorm, they could only flee back to the village to seek shelter... In the past few years, Xiejia Village and the Xie family's land have never suffered from locust plagues, so people said that the old lady of the Xie family was the reincarnation of a locust spirit, so locusts only plagued other people's land and would not come to her Xie family's territory.

But when Master Ma and the farm's housekeeper Xie Fugui bravely pushed open the door to the inner courtyard, they saw that the courtyard was in a mess with collapsed walls and houses.

After calling out a few times but hearing no response, the two men called the farmhands, who quickly cleaned up the ruins of the main house. Soon they dragged out the bodies of the owner, the eldest and third young masters, as well as a burnt locust spirit from the rubble.

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Now there was no one left to make the decision. What the hell should they do?

Butler Xie gave Master Ma a look, and the two of them went into the backyard, closed the door and began to whisper.

"Old Ma, the owner of the manor has lost his family and the second young master is missing. Only the two of us, one civil and one military, can take charge of the family for the time being." Butler Xie took out an exquisite silver wine pot, took a sip and handed it to Master Ma, and asked:

"What do you think about this?"

"Hiss..." Master Ma drank half a pot of wine, wiped his mouth and said, "Strange. Many people died in the owner's family two years ago, but not in this way." "Yes, we were both there at the time." Butler Xie agreed and said, "That time, the second master, the third master, the first wife, and several young masters were all sucked dry. This time, the owner and the third young master bled all over the floor, and the eldest young master didn't bleed a drop."

"Yes, I checked." Master Ma whispered, "The owner of the manor was stabbed in the back and killed. The third young master was stabbed in the waist, but it was not fatal. He was stabbed in the chest and died."

"So, it wasn't the old lady who did it this time?" asked Butler Xie.

"Of course. Didn't you see that the old lady is also dead?" Master Ma nodded and said, "So the murderer is someone else."

"Who could it be?" Butler Xie asked deliberately.

"Who else could it be? That kid named Ren." Master Ma said without hesitation, "He called the owner of the manor and the third young master in one after the other. One died inside and the other died at the door. It would be strange if he didn't kill them."

After a pause, he continued, "Besides, he must be feeling guilty, so why would he run away?"

"Yeah, that makes sense." Butler Xie nodded repeatedly and said, "It seems something went wrong last night, and the owner of the manor and his family were killed by him."

"That's not right." Master Ma said angrily, "It's a pity that he deceived me at that time, otherwise I would have captured him and sent him to the authorities to avenge the owner's family."

"You are really loyal." Butler Xie glanced at him.

"Of course. The owner of the manor has been very kind to me. I will go to the county to report to the authorities and ask the county lieutenant to capture the fugitive!" Master Ma said as he was about to go out.

"Wait." Butler Xie stopped him and said quietly, "Have you considered the consequences of doing this?"

"What are the consequences?" Master Ma was stunned.

"..." Steward Xie looked at Master Ma, who was in full training, and wondered if this fellow had trained his brain into a block. He had no choice but to make it clear:

"Although Xiejia Manor is under the name of the manor owner, to put it bluntly, it is the property of the Xie family. And County Lieutenant Xie is also a member of the Xie family. If you report to the authorities, he will send someone to take over the manor immediately."

"Ah, I understand!" Master Ma slapped his thigh and said, "How can we have a good life then?"

"That's the logic." Butler Xie thought to himself that you finally understood. "If we don't report it to the authorities, we two brothers have the final say in the village. Although the truth will eventually come to light, the county town is a hundred miles away, so it won't be a problem to keep it a secret for a month or so."

As he spoke, he patted Master Ma's pectoralis major with the back of his hand and raised his eyebrows, "How much can we do in such a long time?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Master Ma nodded vigorously like a pug, almost drooling. After a while, he regained some sense and asked, "But you also said that the county will know sooner or later. How can we get past the county lieutenant then?"

"It's simple. Just pretend to be confused." Butler Xie said with wisdom, "The owner of the manor announced in public last night that the cousin has become the second young master, and asked him to preside over the funeral of the eldest young master. It is clear that he wants him to take over."

After a pause, he smiled and said, "Now that the owner and the old lady are gone, of course we have to wait for the second young master to come back and take charge. But after waiting for so long, the second young master just doesn't come back. What can we do?"

“But the truth will be revealed once the coroner performs the autopsy,” Master Ma worried again.

"Then we can grind the bones to dust and scatter the ashes. We can prove it." Butler Xie said coldly, "Just say that the Second Young Master ordered the cremation."

"Okay, that guy will never come back anyway, so just put the tiger on his head." Master Ma clapped his hands and laughed.

"How about it? Is my idea feasible?" Butler Xie asked with a smile.

"It's feasible, of course it's feasible. Wouldn't this ensure our wealth for the rest of our lives?" Master Ma smiled widely and praised Butler Xie for his clever move.

The two were talking excitedly when they heard the servant outside loudly report: "Two brothers, the second young master is back, go and greet him!"

"Ah..." The smiles on their faces froze instantly.

(End of this chapter)