Ita Era

Chapter 18 Peach Blossom Village (Sixteen)

The second question: Did Blind Zhao lie? Blind Zhao provided three pieces of information. First, there was a treasure on the back of the coffin lid of San Niang's coffin. Second, taking the treasure would not have any negative consequences. Third, San Niang's coffin was in the grotto of San Niang Temple.

The third question: The statue has eyes with tears, but why doesn't it speak? It should at least make some crying sounds.

When you want to cry, the sound of crying comes; a low sob then rises.

In that instant, Ding Shi's hair stood on end like a hedgehog's quills: This thing can actually read minds? Ding Shi wasn't afraid of the thing's crying; crying is just crying, but mind reading is deadly.

Two seconds later, my hair stood on end, because the crying was coming from outside the door. It was faint, indistinct, like suppressed sobs or quiet tears.

Ding Shi jumped off the table, tiptoed to the door, and peeked through the crack. In the darkness a dozen meters away, he could see a person dressed in a wedding gown, but he couldn't tell if they were sitting or standing. Ding Shi blinked hard, but still couldn't make out anything.

The table was made of wood. Ding heard a sound and turned his head, but the room was too dark for him to turn on his flashlight. After looking in the darkness for a while and finding nothing unusual, he turned back and continued to peek through the crack in the door, because he heard the sound of pebbles outside. It seemed to be someone kicking a pebble while walking.

Another sound came from the table, like the creaking of a heavy object being stepped on the wooden surface. Ding Shi waited quietly for a few seconds, then suddenly turned around and shone his flashlight on the statue of the Third Sister. No problem.

After staring silently for five seconds, Ding Shi turned to look outside, only to find the person in red was gone. Had they left? Or had they come in?
No, this is too strange. I still don't have enough intelligence and information to take action rashly.

Thinking this through, Ding Shi retreated to the back room, constantly sensing the subtle changes in the dark world. Unfortunately, nothing changed. Ding Shi crawled out of the dog hole, placed the wooden plank, and using his clothes as a barrier, drove the nails back in.

There is sound, but it's not a big problem.

After tidying up, Ding Shi immediately left. Passing by Haitang's house, he noticed that a light was still on in one of the rooms. Ding Shi became suspicious; could the woman crying outside the temple be Haitang?
We still need to find Blind Zhao.

……

On the fifth day, after breakfast, the vampire village chief assigned a new task: to help Grandpa Zhao, a recipient of the "Five Guarantees" (a government welfare program for the elderly and disabled), renovate his roof.

Ding Shi was shocked. Where did the village chief get the idea that he could renovate roofs? This wasn't just hard work, it was also technical. Fortunately, the village chief had a second part to his question: all Ding Shi needed to do was help deliver two cartloads of roof tiles from the village entrance to Grandpa Zhao's house.

Grandpa Zhao's house is 500 meters from the village entrance, with a 200-meter uphill climb. The problem is, this task has a time limit and needs to be completed before 10:00 AM.

Ding Shi first went to Grandpa Zhao's house. Two bricklayers were eating porridge for breakfast, waiting for the tiles to be delivered. Ding Shi approached them and took out two packs of Daqianmen cigarettes he had bought at the convenience store: "Gentlemen, could you please carry the tiles yourselves?"

One of the bricklayers refused: "How can this be? It was agreed before that the village committee would provide the tiles, and we would only be responsible for laying them."

Ding Shi swiped two 2-yuan bills from his bank card and placed them on the table: "This is what the village chief wants." The subtext was: give the village chief some face.

The two bricklayers exchanged a glance, and one of them put away the banknotes and said, "Alright, we brothers will take care of it."

Having completed the village chief's task, Ding Shi pushed his bicycle to the shop to get it pumped up, then rode off to Zhao the Blind's house.

Zhao the Blind was sitting in a grand chair in the courtyard, with a radio and a cup of tea beside him. He closed his eyes, smoked a cigarette, and looked quite content.

Hearing the knocking, Blind Zhao pretended not to hear it, and Ding Shi's voice followed: "Uncle Zhao, I know you're home."

Zhao the Blind sighed, struggled to get up from the armchair, walked to the door, removed the latch, opened the door, and asked, "What is it?"

Ding Shi preemptively said, "You lied to me about Third Sister."

Zhao the Blind said innocently, "Everything I said is the truth. Did you go to the Temple of the Third Sister?" Ding Shi replied, "Yes, but I didn't find the grotto or the coffin."

"Come in and talk," Zhao the Blind said as he walked in. "What I'm telling you is definitely the truth. But you also have to understand, with so many people in the village, almost no one has seen Third Sister's coffin in the last hundred years, so it's not that easy to find."

Ding Shi pressed further, "Where exactly?"

Blind Zhao: "I have made myself very clear. It is in the grotto of the San Niang Temple."

Ding Shi didn't ask any more questions. He sat down in another chair, picked up the water pipe on the table, stuffed it with tobacco, and pondered.

Zhao the Blind Man, having discerned something amiss, asked, "What's the problem?"

Ding lit a cigarette, took a light puff, and looked at Blind Zhao: "I was going to ask you if the Third Sister Temple in the village is fake."

Zhao the Blind was startled, but remained calm on the surface and asked, "Then why didn't you ask?"

Ding Shi replied, "I went to the San Niang Temple yesterday and confirmed that it is real."

Zhao the Blind was a little confused. How could he be sure that the fake San Niang Temple was the real San Niang Temple? But he couldn't ask that, because he had concealed the location of the real San Niang Temple.

Ding Shi shared the same dilemma. He couldn't reveal that he had sneaked into the San Niang Temple the previous night, since Zhao the Blind was also from Taoyuan Village and might consider his actions blasphemous. However, Ding Shi needed to explain some circumstances before further questioning could proceed.

Ding Shi pulled up his pipe, blew on it, and a speck of tobacco ash flew out. He put the water pipe back on the table, looked at Blind Zhao, and asked, "Uncle Zhao, will Third Sister cry?"

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Blind Zhao sprang up from his armchair, his face changing drastically: "You, you say that again!"

Ding Shi asked, "Will Third Sister cry?"

Blind Zhao asked in surprise, "You saw Third Sister crying? You mean the Third Sister from the temple?"

Ding Shi thought for a moment and nodded: "It seems like she shed tears."

Zhao the Blind stood there for a moment, his hands trembling as he picked up the water pipe, but he couldn't get the tobacco in properly. Ding Shi had to help him stuff the tobacco in and then light it.

Ding Shi looked at Zhao the Blind: "What's going on?" Sure enough, neither of them were honest people.

Although it was daytime and the sun was high in the sky, Zhao the Blind's eyes were filled with fear: "I don't know."

Ding Shi waited until Zhao the Blind Man calmed down a bit before asking him questions.

Blind Zhao told Ding Shi that a master used magic to suppress the Third Sister years ago, and the villagers were instructed to hold an annual sacrifice to dispel her evil influence over a hundred years. After a hundred years, the Third Sister would become the local land deity, protecting everyone in Peach Blossom Village. According to the calculation, this year happens to be the 100th year.

Zhao the Blind's question: Was it because the centennial ceremony was complete that San Niang shed tears of joy at becoming a goddess, or because the ceremony was disrupted, and San Niang, about to become a goddess, shed tears of resentment? If it was the former, San Niang should have shed tears of emotion on the last day. Therefore, Zhao the Blind speculates that, most likely, someone disrupted the ceremony.

Ding Shi asked, "What will happen if the sacrificial ceremony is disrupted or cannot be carried out as scheduled?"

Zhao the Blind looked at Ding Shi and replied, "I don't know. I need to find the village chief. Take me to the village chief."

(End of this chapter)