Chapter Nine Three Experts

  It took half a response to come back to my senses, the whole family refused me, saying that the cow was drowned by itself and how could I be asked to buy it for no reason! This is absolutely not acceptable. Auntie Zhang told Village Chief Zhang that Old Wu's water buffalo gave birth to a calf last September, and next time when we go back home, tell him that our family wants it, so as to avoid being snatched away by others.

  I glanced at Ye Fei Jiu, thinking she would give me a black face after hearing what I said, but instead, she was unusually cheerful and smiled sweeter than anyone else, it's really strange.

  The village head's family refused to accept my "kindness" no matter what, because they thought the cow had drowned itself, so it couldn't be accepted for nothing. However, I couldn't not compensate, because this was a water buffalo that Tongtong had killed, only they didn't know about it, and I absolutely couldn't pretend to be blind.

  The cow is gone, we can't stay by the river anymore. We all headed back to the village. On the way, Ye Fei pulled me aside and said my family must have a money tree at home, whenever we need money, we just go shake it, right?

  I said she's crazy, where did the money tree come from? She retorted that I'm not convinced, saying you're so many years younger than me, how do you have so much money? You've told me before that you don't have a father or mother, no relatives at all, and your only sister has been missing for nine years. I just can't figure out where you made all that money from.

  Yefei's words left me speechless, I couldn't possibly tell her how I made my money! All I could do was give a resolute answer. She grabbed onto my clothes and continued to say: "I don't care how you make so much money, but from now on, I'm sticking with you, even if you try to drive me away, I want to learn from you how to make money!"

  I patted Yefei Jiao's head and said, "Alright! First, you have to teach me how to ride a motorcycle, and also take good care of Xiao Jianzi!"

  Yefei Ji heard the excited words and said: "Received!" After finishing, he bent down and pinched a little bit of Xiao Jianzi Feifei's cheek, making this little loli laugh.

  After returning home, Village Chief Zhang went to Wu Litao's house to help. I saw Old Man Zhang was in low spirits because of the loss of his cow, and he was smoking a long-stemmed pipe. As an elderly person, I was afraid that he would get heart disease from being too depressed, so I called him into the room and took out 500 yuan from my pocket to give to him. Old Man Zhang repeatedly declined, but eventually had no choice but to accept the money, telling me not to mention it to Village Chief Zhang or his wife. I promised that I would definitely not say anything, and only then did he feel at ease, taking a white cloth from the cabinet to wrap the money in several layers.

  Mr. Zhang hid the money well after climbing up to the attic along the wooden ladder and then came down, I asked him if he was not afraid of mice? He said no fear, hidden very well. Mr. Zhang said I am really a good person, saying that there are three children at home who are studying, it's quite difficult, saying my heart is as kind as Guanyin Bodhisattva.

  I smile but don't speak, it's only natural that I compensate for your loss of face, however I definitely won't say it out loud.

  It was already past six in the afternoon, and the sky was about to darken. I lay on my bed, lost in thought. I thought of my younger sister Li Mogu, wondering what she had become at the age of 15. I couldn't remember her appearance when she was six years old; my memory was very vague. I also remembered the small copper knife and phoenix bone needle that I had lost, and the people I met this year, such as Zhang Shenpo, San Gu, and Xue Fei's younger sister. I didn't know where Zhang Shenpo was, whether San Gu lived a happy life after remarriage, or how well Xue Fei's younger sister did in her studies.

  Before I knew it, Ye Fei had already called me to eat dinner, and Xiao Jianzi had an extra toy in her hand, a doll. I asked Xiao Jianzi where the doll came from, and her small hand pointed at Ye Fei, who proudly said that she spent an entire afternoon sewing it together.

  Dinner, Village Chief Zhang didn't come back to eat at Wu Litao's house, and Auntie Zhang wasn't in the mood because a cow died at her place, so she only ate two mouthfuls and was full. I wasn't very hungry either, but Ye Fei was gobbling down food like crazy, yet with her height of 165cm and weight of around 100 pounds, I have no idea where all that food went.

  The next day, early in the morning, I took Koseki to a small grocery store to buy snacks, and saw three mysterious people coming to the village, each carrying a large backpack, obviously from the city.

  These three people, two men and one woman, a man wearing glasses is about 50 years old, the other man and woman are in their thirties. They entered the village, asked for directions, and arrived at Zhang Village Chief's home, saying they wanted to stay in the village for a while and hoped that Zhang Village Chief could help them find three rooms. Since Zhang Village Chief's house only had one empty room, he found two more from his neighbors, with a rent of 30 yuan per month, and meals at Zhang Village Chief's home cost 50 yuan per month.

  The 30-year-old woman living in Zhang's house introduced herself as Wang, and it's fine to call her Researcher Wang. The man wearing glasses who lives next door is surnamed Sun, and it's fine to call him Professor Sun. Another 30-year-old man is surnamed Ding, and it's fine to call him Old Ding.

  Wang is a senior researcher at the national special department studying supernatural phenomena, Professor Sun is an aquatic biologist, and Ding is also a senior researcher at the national special department studying supernatural phenomena. Of course, their identities were only known later on.

  They had just come to reveal little information, only introducing their titles, saying that they came down to investigate the river and would have Village Chief Zhang as their guide for the next few days. It turned out that after the police station reported the situation upwards that day, this matter caught the attention of relevant departments, which sent a team of experts to come and investigate.

  Professor Sun and his team just arrived and asked to see the bodies of Wu Litao's mother and daughter. Village Chief Zhang was in a dilemma, saying that after the coffin is closed, it cannot be opened again. At this time, Ye Fei stepped forward and said that humans can't look at each other, but cows can, right? This morning, a cow drowned to death and turned into bones too.

  I thought Professor Sun was knowledgeable, but he was also shocked after hearing it, saying that such a strange thing actually existed. He said that after receiving the notice and reading the report, he thought that at most it was a group of carnivorous small fish, which could completely devour a person in one night. But after hearing Ye Fei's words that a cow became a skeleton in half an hour, it seemed that it was not done by animals. Professor Sun said this and looked at Researcher Wang with a glance.

  Wang researcher immediately suggested to take a look at the skeleton of this cow, the village head said that seeing the water buffalo became a skeleton without meat, it can't be sold and didn't make any money. Professor Sun scolded us after hearing this, saying you guys are really ignorant, only knowing that beef has value, but the value of this cow's skeleton is thousands or even tens of thousands times higher than the beef! It has immeasurable research value!

  Professor Sun and his party immediately asked Village Chief Zhang to take them to the riverbank to salvage the cow skeleton, but Wu Litao's mother and daughter were going out for a funeral, he couldn't get away, so he troubled me to take them to the riverbank.

  Bring it along, anyway I won't go down to the river. Just point out the location to them and let them fish for themselves. The three of us, Ye Fei Cui, Xiao Jian Qi, and I, accompanied by Professor Sun and Researcher Wang, walked towards the riverbank.

  Ye Fei Jiao told them the location of the cow skeleton, which had been dug up and buried in the sand by us. As long as they dive into the water, they can see it.

  Professor Sun nodded as he listened to Ye Fei's words, and after Ye Fei finished speaking, Professor Sun took out 50 cents from his pocket and handed it to me. I was perplexed and asked why he suddenly gave me the money, wondering if it was payment for leading the way.

  Professor Sun shook his head, it turned out that he wanted me to go down to the river and help him pick up the cow skeleton, and then give me 50 cents as a labor fee, which made me laugh out loud.

  But I wouldn't even look at this 50 cents now, even if you gave me 500 yuan I wouldn't be interested. If Professor Sun had asked me politely for help just now, I might have gone. But he actually thought of using 50 cents to buy my labor, making me feel like a beggar, and deep down there is discrimination against rural people.

  I didn't take the 50 cents and said I had an urgent matter at home, so I left first, leaving Professor Sun and the other three people stunned by the river.

  As soon as I returned to the village entrance, I saw the funeral procession coming out. Unlike the shabby funeral procession of four people who carried Chen Baogui that day, this funeral procession had thirty or forty people. Wu Litao at the front seemed to have aged five years, holding a spirit tablet in his hand and walking weakly in front, as if a gust of wind could blow it down.

  Ye Fei quickly covered Xiao Jian's eyes, not letting her look. In rural areas, it is said that the person in the coffin will call away the child's soul, so whenever a funeral procession is encountered on the road, children are not allowed to look.

  I only saw a black coffin covered with a quilt, and didn't see Wu Litao's daughter Xiao Mengkong. I quickly pulled Zhang Village Chief in the team to ask. Zhang Village Chief said that children who died young do not need to hold a funeral, and were wrapped up in a quilt and carried into the mountain to be buried yesterday morning. As soon as the village chief said this, I subconsciously took a look at Xiao Jianqi, thinking that Wu Litao's daughter was also of this age, it's really too pitiful.

  Suddenly I had a strange idea, Wu Litao's daughter Xiao Meng was drowned to death, maybe she is another little water ghost. Can't I collect her soul and then hand it over to Tongtong as a little follower? Wouldn't that be even better?

  After returning home, she sought the opinion of Tongtong, who was also looking forward to having a little follower. However, Xiaomengkong had just died and couldn't be called a water ghost yet, it had to be after the seventh day of her death. But Xiaomengkong was different from Tongtong, Tongtong had been a fish for several years and had eaten over ten young boys, so she could appear on land and control fish in the water. Xiaomengkong hadn't been a fish before and hadn't eaten humans either, and it hadn't been long since she drowned. In this situation, if they forced her soul to come back, she would probably dissipate into nothingness as soon as she left the water. Finally, Tongtong thought of a solution, suggesting that Xiaomengkong's soul could temporarily reside in that pearl after leaving the water.

  But I don't know if the bead can accommodate her, so I asked Tiantian about the situation when she was sucked into the bead in the mountain valley last time. Tiantian said that this bead can indeed absorb spiritual bodies, but since its remains were buried on the back of a stone duck, this bead with spirituality had already taken Tiantian as its master, so it didn't harm Tiantian. With Tiantian's recognition, I believe that absorbing Xiaomeng's ghost into the bead should also work.

  Tongtong told me that last time, the evil old man who raised ghosts sprinkled gold powder on him, and it was like being burned by fire, extremely painful. He drilled into the pearl and inside the water, there was no difference. During that period, he relied on the pearl to stabilize his soul body, otherwise, he might have become very weak, and those dozen or so Tong boys would have been wasted. Not even on the first and fifteenth of the month could they appear in shape, and they could only hide in the water forever.