Chapter 63: Guanyin Weeps Blood X Wooden Puppet

  The Fourth Story: Joint

  So I contacted Chen Haixuan again, and Chen Haixuan said: "That day, the box should not have had a corpse in it. The reason why I hid Qing Jiang inside was that I found out that the double-faced monster baby with a strong murderous aura was looking for Qing Jiang, so for safety reasons, I had to hide her inside. However, I did not put any other unregistered corpses."

  I was suddenly confused, had I really misremembered or had I lost my memory or had I seen an illusion. The clue to the noblewoman's investigation was suddenly cut off.

  Another week passed and Gui Ruo Lan and Chen Qiuyang finally returned to the Wicked Society.

  "Ah, Thirteen, with such great weather, why don't you go outside and soak up some winter sunshine? It's good for your skin and can help boost your metabolism. You look like you haven't been out in ages, don't be such a homebody!"

  I'm too lazy to deal with this annoying guy, I found that when Chen Qiuyang has nothing to do, he becomes extremely feminine and it's getting worse and worse. When I saw him drinking tea, he actually revealed his ring finger while holding the teacup. I'm really afraid that next time I see him, he'll be wearing a skirt, high heels, and lipstick in front of me.

  Ailian wore a super short skirt, sexy fishnet stockings, but propped up her legs on the sofa... The flesh-colored mole on her neck had all fallen off, so she was in a good mood. She said: "Thirteen, since there's no business to attend to, I plan to take a few more days off."

  I said: "Weren't you guys always on holiday before?"

  "I'm just back to tell you that I've made an appointment with my sister for a manicure, bye." After finishing speaking, she completely ignored me and flew away like the wind.

  Chen Qiuyang looked at the slender figure of Kui Rulan and sighed, "Rulan is so masculine, who will dare to marry her in the future? I'm really worried that she won't be able to get married."

  I laughed and said, "If she can't get married, you can marry her! I said Chen Qiuyang, aren't you almost 30 years old? Why are you still single? Don't you like girls?"

  "Thirteen, you're so annoying! I won't talk to you anymore, annoying!" Chen Qiuyang's face turned red with embarrassment as she also ran away.

  The Wujia Society only has me left now, and I don't have many friends in my daily life either. I also don't like going out to participate in activities, so I haven't made any new friends. Suddenly, I feel quite lonely.

  Zou Guanjia returned from the vegetable market, saw me who was about to get moldy, put things in the kitchen and came to my side, saying: "Thirteen, are you feeling bored?"

  "To be honest, it's really boring."

  "There is no case to investigate at the moment, but you can't let yourself become lazy just because there's nothing to do. Here's what I'll do, I'll give you something, and if you can figure out the answer, you'll get an honor."

  I was quite curious, and hastily nodded in agreement. Zou Guan's family quickly pulled out a sheepskin scroll the size of a palm from his western-style pants, handed it to me, and said: "This is a treasure-hunting game. The answer is hidden in the text above. If you can figure out the mystery hidden in the text and find the treasure, you will get further intelligence about the Green Snake organization."

  I was shocked and stared at Zou Guan Jia, saying: "Do you know that I know about your exchange of information with the Green Snake organization?"

  "I knew that of course. But thirteen, you've become more and more mature, finally learning to control your emotions. So, I'll give you this sheepskin scroll, which contains part of the answers you want to know."

  I couldn't wait to unroll the soft sheepskin scroll, but there was no route map, no pattern, only a line of words: Xia Guanyin weeps blood.

  These five words are utterly inexplicable, and due to the lack of punctuation, I can interpret them as: Xia Guanyin, blood tears. Xia, Guanyin, blood tears. Xia Guan, sound weeps, blood... There is no way to decipher it, more obscure than the blood vessel diagram left by Zhu Ling on that notebook.

  I let out a dejected sigh and said to Zou Guan Jia, "I'm really not good at solving riddles. I just can't find the treasure with these five words. You might as well tell me directly."

  Unexpectedly, Zou Guan said: "I don't know the answer either. This was given to me by the Green Snake organization, saying that there are secrets hidden inside. This old bone of mine can't figure out the mystery inside, so I'll give this task to you. Anyway, you're also bored to death."

  I slammed the sheepskin scroll onto the glass coffee table and said, "I'm at a loss, I just can't figure out why Guanyin had to shed blood tears."

  "It doesn't matter, they gave me a one-year validity period, you can just remember that. One year's time, it's long enough."

  Zou Guanjia finished speaking and went to the kitchen to cook, walking while saying: "Today's dish is a nourishing stomach-warming spleen-tonifying soup - monkey head mushroom huai shan stewed with old chicken. Your intestines are not good, you should drink more later."

  Zou Guan's family is indeed a master of cooking soups, which I recently discovered. Every day's stewed soup is different. In the past few days, I have drunk: Carp and celery soup, Party参淮山胡椒pig stomach soup, Persimmon蒂参须lean meat soup, Lychee干砂仁lean meat soup, Lotus root red bean beef brisket soup, Red date北芪鲈fish soup... All of these soups are very beneficial to the intestines and stomach. I think whichever aunt marries into Zou Guan's family will be extremely happy.

  I was bored for two more days, and on the third day, a Rolls-Royce suddenly appeared at the entrance of the No Evil Society. After the car stopped, four bodyguards lined up in a row first, and then a very handsome flower boy came out from inside.

  I couldn't believe my eyes, because the handsome man who walked out of the car was none other than Chen Xue Xia, the super star whose popularity has been sweeping across China from north to south and whose Weibo posts would receive tens of thousands of likes even if he just posted a single sentence.

  Chen Xue Xia started to gain popularity after starring in the youth film "Big Times" in 2013, then released an album and a book. Recently, he participated in the reality TV show "Grade Two", where he received unprecedented praise for being genuine and enthusiastic towards every child, making him extremely popular.

  Such a big star actually came to our Wuyi Society, it really made me feel honored. After he entered the Wuyi Society, he asked his four bodyguards to wait outside and let me and him enter the inner room. He didn't have any of those big star airs, very down-to-earth, actually we are about the same age.

  He said to me: "I've read reports about your organization, so I came to find you and ask for your help in investigating something."

  "I said: 'Of course we can. I don't know what you want us to investigate.'"

  Chen Xue Xia's face drew near, and I couldn't help but say that some people are really born to make others jealous. His features were even more handsome than they appeared on TV, with every facial feature perfectly proportioned, not a single millimeter out of place - he was literally the epitome of a beautiful boy straight out of a Japanese manga.

  He said: "I'm going to Nan Sha next week to film a movie, I'd like to invite you all to come with me. Of course, I'll tell outsiders that you're my assistants."

  "Shall we go to the scene together?"

  "Yes, actually the content of what I entrusted you to investigate is very complicated and can't be explained in just a few words. If it must be said, I think it should first relate to an experience from my childhood."

  ——

  In 1997, Jinshan Village, Dajin Mountain Town. 7-year-old Chen Xue Xia was playing alone with mud and sand at home. At dusk, the mountain village seemed particularly peaceful and quiet. The nearby dogs were barking loudly, and the villagers who returned from the fields with tools in hand were tired but in high spirits, chatting and laughing as they walked back.

  Suddenly, a small peach pit was thrown in front of Chen Xue Xia.

  Chen Xue Xia raised his head and saw a bright head slowly appearing on the wall. It was Chen Xiao Jian from next door, who had climbed up the wall with a mischievous look on his face. His round eyes darted back and forth as he beckoned to Chen Xue Xia to come over.

  Xue Xia Chen ran to the wall and said to Xiao Jian Chen: "Xiao Jian, you're climbing the wall again, be careful or your dad will see you and hit you with a stick!"

  Mischievous Chen Xiaojian stuck out his tongue and said, "I'm not afraid of him. Hey, Xue Xia, I heard that the neighboring Shuiniu Village is performing a puppet show tonight. Do you want to go watch?"

  "Last night I asked my dad to take me there, but he refused because he wanted to watch TV at home."

  "No way, tonight is the last night, if we don't go see it now, we won't be able to see it anymore. Hua Hua went to see it yesterday and came back telling me it's really good, there's Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and even dinosaur puppets! Anyway, she said it's extremely good-looking, and there's a He Xiangnu puppet that's particularly beautiful, its clothes can even float up!"

  "But my dad doesn't have time to take me there!"

  "You're so obedient, we can just finish dinner and go see it, Shuiniu Village is not that far."

  "Sneak out? My dad won't let me go out alone."

  "You're such a good boy, I'll teach you. After dinner, just tell your dad that you're coming to my house to play, and I'll tell my dad that I'm going to your house to play. That way, we can go watch the puppet show together."

  The two good friends made plans and after dinner, they left the house and headed to Shuiniu Village together. The sky had already darkened, and there were owls making strange calls all around, Chen Xue Xia was very scared, closely following behind Chen Xiao Jian. Fortunately, Chen Xiao Jian often ran wildly around the village at night and had a lot of experience, he also had a flashlight.

  Under the orange-yellow light of the flashlight, they walked out of Jinshan Village and walked along a long river embankment for 30 minutes. After getting off the river embankment, they arrived at the drying field in Shuiniu Village.

  As soon as they arrived at the sun-dried rice field, the sound of human voices rose, and people were everywhere. The lights on the sun-dried rice field shone brightly, illuminating the faces of everyone who came to watch the puppet show with a white glow. The electric lamps were surrounded by swarms of flying insects, dense like heavy raindrops. In fact, most of the people who came to watch the puppet show were adults bringing their own children, so as far as the eye could see, there were only dense crowds of adults and children.

  In the middle of the sun-drenched field, a huge tent was set up. The thick blue fabric had "Guangjie Wooden Puppet Troupe" written on it.