The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 306 Statue of Gods
As soon as they entered, Wu Shulan didn't dare to delay for a second and closed the door, the old-fashioned bolt lock being inserted with a "bang".

It seems that Wu Xingzhou's matter has put a lot of pressure on her.

"Xiao Cai, I'm telling you, this is the last time I'll talk to you about this, otherwise they won't let me off the hook." Wu Shulan said, leading them through the narrow and messy corridor, lifting the tattered bamboo curtain and leading them into the dimly lit room.

Qi Fei looked around the old house. Used cups, chopsticks, bowls, and plates were scattered on the table, all for one person. He said, "You live alone?"

"Of course, if I had nothing to worry about, I wouldn't have bothered talking to you for so long," Wu Shulan said with a wave of her hand, and sat down on the dirty rattan chair without any ceremony.

Suddenly, several barks came from outside, and Qi Fei knew that night was about to fall.

In the dim light, Wu Shulan skillfully found the switch on the side, and a dim light came on, making the cobwebs and dust on the wall even more noticeable.

"Tell us about the day Wu Xingzhou's body was discovered," Qi Fei said, pulling over a wooden stool, wiping the dust off, and sitting down in front of Wu Shulan.

“I’ve already said the same thing to Xiao Cai.” Wu Shulan sounded a little impatient, but still cooperated by recalling the events of that day. “I don’t know what bad luck I had, but it happened to be my turn to volunteer on duty that day. I remember it rained heavily all night, and it didn’t stop until late at night. Just like my previous shift, I arrived at the ancestral hall before dawn, around four o’clock.”

There was nothing particularly important happening that day; usually, no one comes to the ancestral hall unless there's a sacrificial ceremony. I usually just sweep the courtyard, wipe off the dust, and refill the incense and offerings. But to my surprise, as soon as I entered the courtyard, I saw someone 'kneeling' in the main hall of the ancestral hall.

The main hall was dark at the time, with only the light of incense and candles. It was so dim that I couldn't see the person clearly; I only saw a dark mass. I thought he had been forced to kneel all night as punishment and had fallen asleep.

"I've encountered situations before where elders in the family were angry and made their descendants kneel before the ancestral tablets as punishment. I wondered whose unfortunate child it was, and without thinking much, I grabbed a broom and went over to wake him. His head was facing inwards, like he couldn't get up from kowtowing, facing the ancestral tablets," Wu Shulan said, gesturing as she spoke. "Then I gave him a push, and he fell to the side, like a roly-poly toy. I immediately recognized him as Wu Xingzhou, the eldest grandson of our clan. He didn't move at all. I realized something was wrong, so I picked up a candle from the shrine and shone it closer. Oh my god, what I saw horrified me—his eyes and mouth were full of blood! He was dead!"

As Wu Shulan spoke, she gestured with her hands to her face as if her own eyes and mouth were bleeding. In the dim light, she seemed to have returned to the Wu family ancestral hall that day, her face full of terror.

"And then you called the police?" Qi Fei asked.

"I was so scared at the time that I didn't even know how I dialed 110. I just kept repeating that someone had died. After I hung up, I remembered to call Brother Dayue. His son had died. This was a huge deal."

I didn't expect Brother Da Yue's reaction to be different from what I thought.

Upon hearing this, Qi Fei leaned forward and asked, "How is it different?"

"Heh, let me make it clear first, I didn't say this because they later expelled me from the clan register. Anyway, in the old society, women couldn't be included in the clan register, so I don't care."

When I got through to Brother Dayue on the phone, I didn't dare to tell him directly that his son was dead. I just said that Wu Xingzhou had an accident at the ancestral hall and asked him to come quickly. Unexpectedly, he asked me instead if Wu Xingzhou was dead.

Isn't it strange? If I were a parent and someone told me my child had an accident, I definitely wouldn't think it was because they were dead. The tone of that person was as if they already knew Wu Xingzhou was dead.

"And then, look!" Wu Shulan winked at Cai Ding and continued, "Little Cai and the others know that Brother Da Yue brought so many people, and they came right away with the attitude of trying to take the dead body from you. It's obvious that they don't want the police to get involved."

The first thing Brother Da Yue did after he was released was to call me over and give me a good scolding, blaming me for notifying the police. He said that Wu Xingzhou's death was a matter for the Wu clan and had nothing to do with outsiders.

Hearing this, Qi Fei frowned deeply, and Wu Shanqiu couldn't help but complain, "What era are we living in? The ancestral hall is not above the law. Wu Xingzhou died so suspiciously, doesn't his father want to investigate the cause of death?"

Wu Shulan shook her head: "You're a city girl, you wouldn't understand many things here. Yesterday, Brother Dayue just invited a shaman to perform a ritual to help Wu Xingzhou pass on to the afterlife."

It is said that Wu Xingzhou's cause of death was that he had foolishly bought a Buddha statue from outside while traveling a while ago. He brought it home but did not properly worship it and just threw it in a corner. This was the retribution for offending the gods.

Now, Brother Dayue spent a lot of money to bring that Buddha statue to the Wong Tai Sin Temple for special worship, saying that this will ensure peace and prosperity for the Wu family.

"Great Immortal?" Upon hearing this term, Qi Fei felt his heart skip a beat. "Could it be Zhong Kui from your town?"

“Of course, there are no other spirit mediums in our town. Brother Dayue made a special wish in the donation box to invite a spirit medium to come out of the mountains, and the spirit medium actually saw through Wu Xingzhou’s mistake of bringing back a Buddha statue from outside. It’s really amazing.” Wu Shulan looked convinced, but Qi Fei didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He knew Zhong Kui too well. This little thing was nothing more than her doing her “homework” in advance to fool Wu Chongyue and the others.

“A Bodhisattva statue…” Cai Ding murmured to himself, “I remember when we examined Wu Xingzhou’s body, he was holding a Bodhisattva statue tightly in his arms. Could it be the Bodhisattva that Zhong Kui was talking about?”

"It's easy to find out. Wasn't it said that it's already enshrined at the Wong Tai Sin Temple? We'll go check it out now." Qi Fei said, standing up and turning to Wu Shulan, "Will you come with us?"

Wu Shulan shook her head vigorously, her soft yellow hair flying everywhere: "I'm not going out. Don't come looking for me about this anymore. I don't want to get involved."

As darkness fell, the two blood-red lanterns at the entrance of Wong Tai Sin Temple were lit.

The door was wide open, as if it had been waiting for Qi Fei and his companions to arrive. A breeze blew through, carrying the scent of incense. The curtain in front of the Wong Tai Sin statue in the center of the temple was stirred, as if the statue's face had moved slightly, watching the three people enter the temple.

"Ahem, you've finally arrived." An aged voice came from behind the statue, and the two people besides Qi Fei cried out in fright at the same time.