Start with a red name

Chapter 27 True and False
Xue family, main room.

"He's fine. He wasn't assaulted. He was just knocked unconscious by a heavy force. He'll be fine after a few days of rest."

A woman briefly explained the situation and went back to the inner room.

Chen Rongshan walked out of the house. After confirming the condition of his wife and daughter, his emotions had calmed down a lot.

He looked at Geng Xuan and asked:

"Ah Xuan, you are the first one to notice something unusual. Do you know how this thief sneaked into our neighborhood? And how did he end up at Xue Tuozi's house?"

Lao Shacai and Li Fangzhu, who had also rushed over after hearing the news, also looked at Geng Xuan. They also had the same doubts in their hearts.

Geng Xuan did not answer immediately. Instead, he remained silent for a moment before saying to the others:

"Master Chai, Fangzhu, Uncle Chen, what happened tonight will definitely shock the entire Changpingfang, and it may even be spread outside our Fang by gossipers.

I hope you can minimize my role in this matter before the news spreads."

As he spoke, Geng Xuan met Li Fangzhu's gaze and said:
"Master, didn't you say that there might be some hidden reason behind my father's death?
I don’t want to be noticed for what happened tonight!”

There was a flash of realization in Master Li's eyes, but the look he gave Geng Xuan had a different meaning.

Perhaps this is what they call "one should look at a man with new eyes after three days of absence". The man's father died, and the cause of death was mysterious. He has to shoulder everything by himself. Isn't it reasonable to have some changes?
While Master Li was still amazed at Geng Xuan's change, Chen Rongshan spoke first, saying:
"Ah Xuan is right. We can't involve you in this matter."

As he said this, he looked at Master Li Fang:
"Also, I hope you can come out and tell everyone to be more virtuous and not spread Zeng Rou's name around. If I find out, I will tear their mouths off with my own hands!"

This time, Master Li Fang did not dare to hesitate any longer and nodded quickly.

He knew that Chen Rongshan would do what he said, and he was very angry. Anyone who tried to gain advantage through words would bring disaster to his whole family.

Master Li quickly stood up and said, "Wait a moment."

After a while, Geng Xuan could only hear Master Li's loud voice coming from far into the house.

When he entered the room again, he could only hear the noisy voices around him fading away quickly.

Master Li sat down again and said to Chen Rongshan and Geng Xuan:
"Not many people really know what happened tonight. They are just following the crowd and making wild guesses. I have already warned them, and I will give some instructions to the women in the room later. Everyone will keep tonight's events to themselves.

From now on, if anyone dares to talk nonsense without any evidence, I will tear their mouths off with my own hands without you having to do anything!"

Chen Rongshan nodded.

So, the three of them focused their attention on Geng Xuan again.

Geng Xuan said: "I basically know what happened. However, some of it is still my guess, and I would like to take this opportunity to confirm it again."

"How to confirm?" asked Master Li.

"We have to go somewhere first."

"where?"

"The grave where Xue Tuozi is buried."

"..." Three people.

A moment later, the four stood in front of a newly built grave.

The grave mound that had just been built had now been opened again, revealing the intact cover of the coffin.

The old killer looked at Geng Xuan for final confirmation.

“I’m really going to open it!”

Geng Xuan nodded.

“Crack—bang!”

The coffin lid was lifted aside by the old killer. He looked into the coffin and his pupils suddenly shrank.

Not only him, but also Li Fangzhu and Chen Rongshan were also stunned by the real situation inside the coffin.

Only Geng Xuan was the least shocked, because the scene inside the coffin confirmed what he was thinking.

Under the hazy moonlight, two bodies were squeezed into a small coffin.

The male corpse was at the bottom, and the relatively thinner female corpse was at the top, looking like she was snuggling tightly in the male corpse's arms.

The three people who were very familiar with the people in the neighborhood recognized at first sight that the male corpse was Xue Tuozi, and the female corpse was Xue Pozi, who should have been paralyzed in bed and unable to move.

When everyone was sighing that the two of them were separated by the Yin and Yang, they didn't know that they had already slept in the same coffin, accompanying each other in the underworld.

"Now that the story is basically complete, I will tell it from the beginning," said Geng Xuan.

No one spoke, Geng Xuan spoke to himself:

“The day before yesterday, when I came back from the market, I saw many vendors gathered at the gate because of the new market rules. They were very excited and forced all the vendors who were going home to stay behind, hoping to build up their momentum and oppose the implementation of the new rules.

The other vendors were forced to stay due to personal reasons, with the exception of Xue Tuozi.

At that time, he was pushing a wooden wheelbarrow back from outside. Others wanted to recruit him to join them, but he ignored them and continued pushing the wheelbarrow forward. He even bumped into a few people and was cursed at.

Because of this incident, I paid special attention to him and felt that there was something wrong with this person.

But firstly, this was just my feeling, and there was no real evidence. Secondly, that night, news of Xue Tuozi’s death came, and I saw it with my own eyes, so I didn’t think about it anymore. ”

"It wasn't until today when I came back from training in the mountains, when it was almost dark, that I saw Chen Yu curled up in a ball sleeping at the gate of my house. I felt something was wrong.

As soon as I woke her up, she said she was hungry.

I asked her where her mother had gone, and she said she had gone to Grandma Xue's house.

Her aunt left just after she woke up from a nap.

I knew at that moment that something must have happened to my aunt."

As he spoke, Geng Xuan looked at Chen Rongshan, who remained silent but clenched his teeth and fists, and said, "I think if it was Uncle Chen, he would have made the same judgment, right?"

Chen Rongshan did not answer immediately, but nodded slowly after a while.

"Zeng Rou would never leave Xiao Yu alone at home for such a long time and even forget to have dinner.

This kind of thing happened, it can only mean that something must have happened to her!"

Geng Xuan said: "Because I had doubts about Xue Tuozi, I thought the situation was even worse.

I was afraid that I was not strong enough and would not only fail to save people but also get myself and Chen Yu involved, so I went to ask Master Chai for help. At that time, there were many things I couldn't explain clearly, and most of them were guesses. Fortunately, Master Chai didn't even listen to my detailed explanation and took action immediately.

Fortunately, Master Chai took action to help, otherwise the thief would have gotten away."

Lao Shacai nodded slightly from time to time to show his approval of what he said.

Master Li nodded, and while thinking, he said softly:

"In other words, the Tuozi Xue who went to the market the day before yesterday and pushed a cart back home was not the real Tuozi Xue, but someone from outside pretending to be him?
Well... there was a big cleanup at Kangle Village the day before yesterday. Some were killed, some were caught, and some escaped. This person should be the one who slipped through the net.

He couldn't stay in Kangleji anymore, or maybe he was being chased with nowhere to escape, so he simply assumed Xue Tuozi's identity, which not only allowed him to avoid being hunted down by Kangleji, but also allowed him to stay in our Changpingfang.

If my guess is correct, the real Xue Tuozi should have been hiding in that wooden cart, and he should have been dead by then.

After returning home, the fake Tuozi Xue didn't even eat and just lay down on the bed to rest. This was probably to avoid communicating with Mrs. Xue and to avoid exposing any flaws.

In the middle of the night, Mrs. Xue got up and found that the Tuozi Xue was dead in bed.

I think the fake Tuozi Xue took advantage of Mrs. Xue's sleep and switched places with the real Tuozi Xue.

When we heard the news and rushed over, the fake Xue Hunchback was probably hiding somewhere in the Xue family."

At this point, Master Li looked at Geng Xuan and asked, "When I examined the cause of Xue Tuozi's death, you suddenly asked him about the specific time of his death. Did you already have some guesses?"

Geng Xuan was somewhat frightened by Master Li's analysis, and he dared not underestimate him at all.

Facing his question at this moment, Geng Xuan shook his head: "I didn't think so much at the time, I just had some doubts and wanted to verify it."

Master Li nodded.

The old killer suddenly pointed at the female corpse in the coffin and asked in confusion, "But what about this old woman Xue? I don't think anyone would be stupid enough to put her in with the hunchback Xue, right?"

Geng Xuan was stunned, looking at the serious face of the old killer, without any pretense, and thought to himself, is this the secret of how you can enjoy a peaceful old age despite having committed so many sins?

He did not speak, Chen Rongshan shook his head and said:

“Initially, there should have been only Tuozi Xue in the coffin, and the old woman Xue we saw was also real.

Things probably changed in the second half of the night.

Everyone had dispersed at that time, except for a few people beating drums and gongs in the yard. There was no one in the main hall to keep vigil, and Mrs. Xue was lying on the bed. That was the best opportunity for the fake Tuozi Xue to take action.

Mrs. Xue must have been killed at that time and put into the same coffin as the hunchback Xue. When the coffin was buried the next day, all traces were covered up completely.

The old killer was surprised and said, "So, the old woman Xue who was lying on the bed was pretended to be this thief?"

Chen Rongshan nodded, clenched his teeth again, and said nothing.

Master Li Fang said:

“Since this person was able to disguise himself as Xue Tuozi and enter Changpingfang, deceiving everyone, it would not be difficult for him to disguise himself as Xue Pozi.

Besides, he has been lying on his bed since that night and hasn't gone anywhere. During this time, only a handful of people have actually come into contact with him, and they were all women from various families. How could they have noticed anything unusual?"

The old killer nodded suddenly, "Zeng Rou is kind-hearted. On such a hot day, she didn't forget to deliver food and water many times when she was helping in the kitchen. I didn't expect that she would be targeted by a poisonous snake."

Geng Xuan nodded slightly, but Chen Rongshan said nothing.

However, Master Li looked at Geng Xuan again and said, "Everything has basically been sorted out, but Brother Xuan, I still have a doubt. If it is inconvenient, you don't have to tell me."

"You ask." Geng Xuan said, but he already knew what he was going to ask.

"You and Tuozi Xue are not familiar with each other, right? So many people didn't notice anything strange at the time, so why do you think there is something wrong with him?"

Of course, there is something wrong with his red name.

Geng Xuan thought so in his heart.

Of course, there was no way he could give this reason.

Since he had decided to "confess", he could not avoid this question and he had already thought of an excuse.

He glanced at the three people and asked instead of answering, "Master, Uncle Chen, Master Chai, have you noticed that different people walk in different ways?"

"I like to think about this sometimes. Plus, Xue Tuozi himself is a little special, so I can remember his walking posture from behind more clearly."

This was of course nonsense. How would he know what the characteristics of Xue Tuozi's walking were?

But Geng Xuan said it openly at this moment, not afraid of anyone questioning him. If you have the guts, make him stand up and confront me!
After hearing what he said, the three of them were thoughtful at first, and then suddenly realized.

Once this principle is explained, everyone will understand.

You may not realize it if you don't think about it too much, but if you think about it carefully, everyone's walking stride, the rhythm and size of the arm swing, the degree of body coordination, and even the lightness or heaviness of the footsteps are all different.

People who are close to the person can even tell who is coming just by the sound of footsteps. Some people even can judge the person's emotions at that time.

This is an experience that everyone has had to a greater or lesser extent, so once Geng Xuan said it, everyone understood.

The old killer patted Geng Xuan on the shoulder and praised him fiercely:

"You kid, you seem like a dull person on weekdays, but I didn't expect you to be so active.

Zeng Rou was able to be saved this time, and the villain was executed on the spot. Although we cannot publicize it, you can't escape the credit for the first merit!"

As he said this, he looked at Master Li Fang.

Master Li nodded quickly: "Of course, the monastery will not forget Xuan'er's performance tonight, and will definitely express his gratitude!"

After discussing it, the few people decided that it would be a good idea to let the couple from the Xue family rest in the same grave. There was no need to find a new coffin and hold a joint funeral - of course, the most important reason was that there was no one left in the Xue family.

The coffin lid was closed again and the dug grave was quickly rebuilt.

Just as he was about to say goodbye, Geng Xuan suddenly said, "Actually, I have a question too, and I'd like to get it out."

The three of them turned their heads to look at him.

"You said, this person went through so much trouble to hide in Changpingfang under the identity of Mrs. Xue, how could he be so unwise as to attack my aunt today?"

After he said this, several people looked puzzled.

Only from the fact that this person took advantage of Xue Tuozi and Xue Pozi, switched the real and the fake twice, and successfully occupied the Xue family as Xue Pozi and lived there, we knew that he could not be a fool.

But then he did something like this. Is this something a smart person could do?

(End of this chapter)