I become a god in another world

Chapter 359 Old Case Revisited
Chapter 359

As soon as Kuai Manzhou finished laughing, his smile froze again.

She stopped smiling and stared at Zhao Fusheng blankly:
"Will you be mad at me?"

After the child asked this question, emotions such as anxiety, fear and self-loathing began to surge in his heart.

The black energy in her eyes was like misty ink, which quickly stained the whites of her eyes. The evil spirit of a ghost surged out, and her black hair moved without wind.

Zhao Fusheng stared at her.

It was already the end of November, the middle of winter. Wan'an County was located in the border area. Although it was not as cold as the north, it was still cold. However, when Kuai Manzhou traveled, he always wore the same dress, had long hair, and was barefoot.

She is a ghost rider, and a very powerful one who can ride two disaster-level evil ghosts. Everyone in the Demon Suppression Bureau is very afraid of her.

Wu Shaochun and the two Fan brothers were afraid of her, and Zhang Chuanshi rarely dealt with her.

Everyone kept their distance from her. The child seemed not to interact with others on a daily basis, but because she lost her home at a young age, she was much more sensitive than others - she must have sensed these hidden cautions.

She receives a salary every month.

Pang Qing nominally only gave her five cents to coax her, treating her like a child, but if she really wanted money, Pang Qing would never dare to refuse to give it.

But Kuai Manzhou didn't want it.

She initially took five cents and handed it to Zhao Fusheng, and later asked for three cents to play with.

She often took out these three cents and shook them, probably because they were special.

Kuailiang Village mainly collects and sells white perilla. Kuai Si's wife mentioned that white perilla is expensive. After collection and drying, one flower is worth three cents. Zhao Fusheng guessed that this was probably because Kuai Manzhou couldn't let go of the three cents.

After entering the Demon-Suppression Division after the incident in the village, the child did not change his clothes, did not wear shoes, and had his long hair loose, maintaining the same attire as on the day the incident occurred in the village.

Perhaps it was from that time that the innocent and young Kuai Manzhou had already "died".

Zhao Fusheng couldn't help but wonder: When Kuai Manzhou asked if he would be angry with her, was he asking her, or was he asking Mrs. Zhuang Si through her? Or was he asking the villagers who died in Kuailiang Village?

She paused for a while, and the child already had a spooky aura.

Zhao Fusheng looked at her quietly and broke the silence:
“Do you think you did something wrong?”

"I--"

The child was unable to react to her answer and stood there in a daze.

"I don't know—I just wanted to ask if you were mad—"

Zhao Fusheng said:

"What did you do to think I'd be mad?"

"I, I almost lost control in the He family's yard, I - I almost killed someone -" Kuai Manzhou answered blankly.

Zhao Fusheng asked patiently again:

"So you lost control?"

The child shook his head in confusion:

"No, Wu Shaochun—"

"You're not really out of control, why should I be angry?" Zhao Fusheng asked back.

Kuai Manzhou was stunned for a moment.

After a long time, she tilted her head:

"But, but I almost killed someone."

"Almost."

After Zhao Fusheng finished speaking, he smoothed her flying long hair.

The hair that was flying because of the evil spirit seemed very obedient between her fingers and was slowly lifted by Zhao Fusheng behind the child's ears, revealing her pale little face.

"Do you care if I'm angry?" she asked again.

"I don't--" The little girl was a little stubborn at first, but she nodded her head honestly a few times.

Zhao Fusheng smiled slightly and held her in his arms:
"Man Zhou, you are not wrong, I am not wrong, we are all right—"

Before she finished her words, the child in her arms turned into blood mist and disappeared on the spot.

……

The night passed.

Wu Shaochun slept particularly soundly that night.

His mother once said that the bigger the event, the more important it is to eat well and sleep well first. In the past, he would sleep best before shipping goods to Huanggang Village.

Instead, I became more vigilant during the transportation of goods, fearing that I might be harmed on the road, and I had trouble sleeping all the way.

He solved the ghost case in the He family yard tonight, and Wu Shaochun slept well. He still has important things to do tomorrow.

Zhao Fusheng had instructed him to record the entire case and go to the homes of Captain Fang and Magistrate Pang to print it out - perhaps if he had time, he would even ask Magistrate Pang to teach him how to read.

Wu Shaochun sensed in his dream that someone in the He family's yard was worshipping him, and the power of the stove ghost was slowly increasing with these people's worship.

After dawn, Pang Qing, who had not slept all night, greeted a little envoy with red eyes.

Kuai Manzhou stood in front of him and explained to him seriously:

"It's not me who has less than ten cents in salary."

Pang Qing was confused by this, but he forced a smile and nodded:
"It's definitely not you. Your salary is recorded in the account book..." His words made the child look satisfied. He nodded, shook his head, took the three cents and left.

……

The morning passed in the blink of an eye, and by evening, Magistrate Pang led two dusty men into the Demon Suppression Division.

“My Lord, my Lord——”

As soon as County Magistrate Pang entered the gate of the Demon Suppression Bureau, he started shouting loudly.

His words attracted the attention of other people in the courtyard. He failed to call out Zhao Fusheng first, but instead called out Zhong Yao and the other two who remained in the government office, as well as Fan Bisi.

While it was daylight, Pang Qing was still counting the accounts.

The silver was scattered all over the ground, which made an old man with a wretched face following behind County Magistrate Pang stare with eyes wide open and rub his eyes uncontrollably.

"Why is County Magistrate Pang here?" When Fan Bisi asked, his eyes fell on the person following behind County Magistrate Pang.

These were two elderly men. One of them was dressed more respectably. Although his clothes were a little wrinkled, they looked quite new. He was wearing thick-soled black cloth shoes.

The other was not so particular.

The old man was rather skinny, short, with a slightly hunched back, and was wearing an old, ill-fitting civil servant uniform.

His hair was gray and sparse, revealing a tanned forehead. He looked at people with a sly look in his eyes, and his gaze was fixed on the silver in front of Pang Qing, his saliva almost dripping.

As soon as Fan Bi Si looked at this man, the old man immediately suppressed his greed, became timid and uneasy, and hid behind another old man.

But when the more respectably dressed old man saw Pang Qingshi, he wanted to say hello but didn't dare to.

"Manager Pang, Manager Pang." After hesitating for a while, the man finally mustered up the courage to greet him.

Pang Qing was distracted and exhausted from doing his accounts when he heard this man calling him. His eyes fell on the old man. He was a little confused at first, but he had been an official for several years and had a good memory, so he quickly remembered this man's identity.

"Yes, it's the mayor of Changtiao Town, Kong Youde?"

"Yes Yes Yes."

When Kong Youde heard him call out his name, he immediately grinned:
"I didn't expect Manager Pang would still remember me. I met Manager Pang the last time I came to the Demon Suppression Division to report on the Fengmen Village case."

After he finished speaking, he sighed:
"Your Excellency is really considerate of the people. Last time when I was handling a case in Fengmen Village, you even reported ten cents to me. Thanks to Manager Pang, no one made things difficult for me—"

As soon as Kong Youde said this, Pang Qing's hands holding the account book began to tremble.

Kong Youde, who was speaking, had not yet realized what had happened, but County Magistrate Pang, who had accompanied Pang Qing to check the account books in the past few days, immediately understood what had happened.

"When—" Pang Qing held the account book tightly and asked.

After asking, he thought again:
"Yes, it was around the middle to late last month."

"Manager Pang has a good memory." Kong Youde was even happier when he saw him reply, and said:

"Last time, you went to Fengmen Village to handle a case and ate at Zhang Sande's house. Afterwards, you gave me ten cents in compensation. On the 20th of last month, I went to the county to report the incident. I was planning to come here to ask about it, but Manager Pang immediately let me take the money away."

Speaking of this, Kong Youde still sighed:

“It still feels like a dream to me.”

"..."

Pang Qing's eyes went dark and he was dizzy for a long time. When he came to his senses, he asked the people around him:

"Look, is there any record of this amount on the 20th of last month?"

While Pang Qing was checking the accounts, County Magistrate Pang winked at Kong Youde, then looked at Fan Bisi:
"This is Kong Youde, the mayor of Changtiao Town. He has brought along people related to the Fengmen Village ghost case last month." After saying that, he asked:

"Is the Lord in the palace now?"

Fan Bisi understood immediately.

He was also present when Zhao Fusheng wanted to summon the people from Changtiao Town yesterday. He nodded when he heard this:
"We are in the mansion. I believe they have heard everything. Take them to the right wing and wait for a while."

Magistrate Pang responded and led Kong and Zhang to a side room.

Zhao Fusheng had indeed heard about this matter before County Magistrate Pang led his men into the gate of the Demon Suppression Division. With Kuai Manzhou by her side, the entire Demon Suppression Division was filled with her eyes and ears.

Before meeting these two people, she first asked someone to invite Meng Po.

When she arrived at the right wing, Magistrate Pang's eyes lit up when he saw her, and he bowed deeply:
"My Lord is here. Yesterday, my Lord asked me to send someone to Changtiao Town to invite someone. Now that the person has arrived, I will bring him here for my Lord."

After he said this, he hesitated again, as if he had something to say but didn't know how to start.

Zhao Fusheng saw his inner embarrassment and smiled when he heard it:
"I'll talk to them, you go do your thing."

County Magistrate Pang was overjoyed when he heard this and said quickly:
"Thank you for your consideration, sir. Envoy Wu Ling promised me that he would go to the back of my government office to print for my stove today..."

Zhao Fusheng waved his hand, and County Magistrate Pang went out happily.

As soon as he left, Old Man Zhang, who had been a little restrained before, immediately pulled his collar uncomfortably, but as soon as he pulled it, he stroked it with heartache.

"Sir..." As soon as Old Man Zhang opened his mouth, he heard footsteps coming from outside, and then the door of the wing room was pushed open. Meng Po stood at the door, looked inside the room, and then said:
"Sir, do you want to see me if you have something to do?"

"They are from Changtiao Town. This is the mayor, and this is..." She introduced the identity of Old Man Zhang. When Meng Po heard this, her face changed.

She closed the door, went into the house, found a stool to sit on, and clenched her hands nervously.

Zhao Fusheng said:

"Stop talking nonsense. I came here to ask you something."

Old Man Zhang and Kong Youde also put away the smiles on their faces and nodded nervously.

"What I want to ask is the red shoe ghost case in Fengmen Village 43 years ago." After Zhao Fusheng finished speaking, he motioned to Old Man Zhang to tell Meng Po the whole story of the case.

Old man Zhang didn't dare to hesitate.

In fact, when he heard Zhao Fusheng from the county summoning him, he knew in his heart that Zhao Fusheng wanted to ask him about the Red Shoes Ghost Case 43 years ago. He had been recalling the details of the case in his mind since last night.

As soon as Zhao Fusheng finished speaking, although he didn't know why Zhao Fusheng asked him to say it again to the old woman in front of him, he still told her everything he knew.

This time when I talked about it again, I was much more detailed because I had prepared in advance.

He started by telling the story of Xu Dalaizi getting married, and then moved on to the story of the couple returning to her parents' home for a wedding banquet and happening upon the bride jumping into a well.

Old man Zhang spoke for two or three quarters of an hour before he finished telling the story of how the evil ghost appeared and wreaked havoc in Fengmen Village, and was later suppressed by Xie Jingsheng.

After listening to him, Meng Po remained silent for a long time.

Zhao Fusheng was silent for a moment, letting her calm down, and then he said:
"43 years ago, the time matches." But because Old Man Zhang did not directly see the bride who was forced to marry by Old Man Wu, he only learned some information about the bride through the conversation between Xu Laizi and his wife at that time, so the information became vague.

"But we can make a rough inference based on the footprints and time—"

When Zhao Fusheng said this, Meng Po kept nodding:

"I know, I know. It's good enough to have a glimmer of hope. I will obey your arrangements in everything. I will do whatever you say. As long as I can get a glimmer of news, I will know what happened to her. If, if she is unfortunate..."

When Meng Po said this, tears welled up in her eyes.

But she just shed tears, then she pursed her lips and revealed a fierce look:
"If I knew who it was, if he was still alive—"

"Don't be impatient yet."

Zhao Fusheng comforted her, then turned to look at Old Man Zhang:
"Since last month, have you been on business in Changtiao Town and walked in Huanggang Village?"

Old man Zhang was also smart. He vaguely understood something from the conversation between Zhao Fusheng and Meng Po.

He suddenly became curious and wanted to find out whether Meng Po had anything to do with what happened 43 years ago.

However, he had suffered at the hands of Zhao Fusheng before, and was very wary of this young adult. He also knew that it would be best to answer her questions first to avoid suffering later.

Thinking of this, he suppressed the feeling of being scratched by a cat in his heart and said respectfully:
"Sir, I was given a job last month because of your kindness."

He clasped his hands together, arched his upper left cheek, and made a funny and inappropriate salute gesture:

"I went to Huanggang Village and started asking about Wu Laocai's whereabouts."

When he talked about serious matters, Meng Po clenched her fists, pressed them tightly on her knees, and stared at Old Man Zhang without blinking, afraid to miss a word he said.

It's strange to say, she looks kind and not fierce at all, but when she stares at him, Old Man Zhang feels his scalp tingling, as if he has encountered some ferocious beast.

He involuntarily moved his stool and sat closer to Zhao Fusheng, then continued:

"After asking around, I found out that Mr. Wu had passed away more than 20 years ago."

Meng Po gnashed her teeth when she heard him say this:

"How did he die?"

Old man Zhang shrank his neck and glanced at Zhao Fusheng, but saw Zhao Fusheng nodding at him, motioning him to speak, so he said:
"I heard from the villagers that he is old and has reached the end of his life span."

"That is to say, he died of old age--" Meng Po murmured.