I have a weird dynasty

Chapter 124: Lake Bottom Stone Pupa (Total Rewards and More)
Bailong County did not have a special office for the Suppression of Evils. There was only one day tour envoy and a dozen ordinary runners, who usually worked in the Bailong County government office.

After Sang Que arrived and handed in the documents, a very young man came out soon after. He looked only a few years older than He Buning.

Most of the people on the day and night tours of the Zhenxie Division are young people, and very few can survive to middle age.

The young day tour envoy did not look down on Sang Que because she was a woman. "I am Xu San, the day tour envoy of Bailong County. Didn't Miss Mulan come with the others?"

The document stated how many people were coming, and Xu San was very happy that someone could come to investigate the matter in Pinghu Village. In just the past month or two, the fog there had covered the entire Pinghu area, and many people had disappeared in the three surrounding villages.

It also affected the villagers' fishing. The day before yesterday, a group of villagers blocked the gate of the county government office and asked the Suppression of Evils Division to deal with it.

In this world, if you can't survive, you will die. If you are driven away by sticks by the people from the county government, the worst that can happen is death. So the villagers were forced into a corner and they were not afraid of the people from the county government at all.

In this world, the power of incense and vows is very important, and incense is provided by people, so the court has requirements for the population of each county. Increasing the population of the county is also an important indicator for the promotion of county officials.

If villagers cause trouble, they can only be driven away, not subjected to severe punishment.

Because of this, Xu San was already extremely worried.

Xu San invited Sangque and Xiachan into the county government office to take a short rest.

After waiting for half an hour, Qin Ze came to the county government alone and said that the other two went to other places to inquire about Pinghu Village.

Xu San immediately sent someone to call Zhang Yuanzhong over.

"Wait, can we go directly to Zhang Yuanzhong's house to check?" Sang Que suggested.

Xu San looked at Qin Ze. Sang Que thought Qin Ze would mock her again, but unexpectedly, Qin Ze's attitude towards her suddenly became kind.

"Listen to Miss Sang and go to Zhang Yuanzhong's house."

Qin Ze even forced an ugly smile at Sang Que, but Sang Que remained expressionless and ignored him.

Xu San personally led them there. When they arrived outside Zhang Yuanzhong's yard, the neighbors all looked over curiously. Sang Que observed carefully and found that the walls of the courtyards of the residents here were not high, and every household was drying fish.

Most of their kitchens are built outside. There is a large water tank under the shed. A platform is built on the water tank, with incense burners, food, and a small boat statue on it.

There was someone in the boat, who looked like an old man, but his face was covered by a bamboo hat and could not be carved at all.

Such a normal statue made Sangque feel a little uncomfortable.

"Zhang Yuanzhong! Zhang Yuanzhong!"

Xu San knocked on the door. After a while, a boy about ten years old ran out, wearing dirty clothes and with an unwashed face. He opened the door for Xu San.

"My father is asleep and hasn't woken up yet," said the boy.

Xu San frowned, "This lazy guy, why is he still sleeping at this hour? Is he drunk again?"

Xu San pushed the door open and saw the boy standing by the door, holding the corner of his clothes timidly.

Sangque and Xiachan walked at the back. Xuanyu kept licking his lips while looking at the dried fish in the next yard. However, Sangque had told him not to steal food, so Xuanyu could only lick his lips.

Xu San went in and carried the drunk Zhang Yuanzhong to the yard, then scooped a bucket of water from the kitchen vat and poured it on his face.

There is also a shrine above the water tank in the Zhang family’s kitchen, but no one has worshipped there for a long time and it is covered with cobwebs.

Zhang Yuanzhong woke up immediately, "Hey, this is, isn't this Mr. Xu San, what brings you here?"

While Xu San was scolding Zhang Yuanzhong, another little girl of about six or seven years old ran out of the house. She was also dirty, ran over, grabbed the boy's hand, and whispered "brother".

"Miss Sang." Xu San called Sang Que. Sang Que asked Xia Chan and Xuan Yu to play with the two children outside, and followed Qin Ze and Xu San into the house to question Zhang Yuanzhong.

Zhang Yuanzhong was drunk, had a stubbled face and was unkempt. He responded to their questions with a nice attitude, but after a while he started crying.

"…It's all my fault. I didn't have the ability to make money, so Yingniang despised me. She was so angry that she left the child and went back to her parents' home. If I had known that day would happen, I would have knelt down and begged her, and she wouldn't have left like that…"

Qin Ze sat next to him and said, "Your wife has a bad temper."

Zhang Yuanzhong sniffed in grievance, and Sang Que frowned as he listened.

After talking for a long time, Zhang Yuanzhong just kept saying how pitiful he was and how much he loved Ying Niang, and he didn't mention anything about Pinghu Village.

Sang Que couldn't help interrupting and asked, "Is your wife Qiao Ying from Pinghu Village?"

Zhang Yuanzhong nodded.

"Has she ever returned to Pinghu Village since she married you?"

Zhang Yuanzhong shook his head, "I've never been back."

Sang Que thought for a moment and said, "If I heard correctly, then Qiao Ying married you ten years ago. At that time, Pinghu Village was still normal. But after Qiao Ying went back this time, when you went to pick her up eight days later, you discovered the heavy fog, right?"

Zhang Yuanzhong nodded again.

Sang Que looked at Xu San, "Before he reported it to the Evil Suppression Bureau, did anyone else notice the fog?"

Xu San shook his head. "He was the first to report it. But before that, it is possible that someone else found it but disappeared in the fog. So the exact time when the fog appeared cannot be determined."

Sang Que was thinking about it. Yu Da from the Xiesi of Wangshan Town said that the ghost fog in Pinghu Village might be related to Yin Tong, but now she felt that it was related to Zhang Yuanzhong's wife Qiao Ying.

Sang Que asked the two some more questions about Pinghu Village. Qin Ze sat quietly beside them and listened. A small puddle of water gathered under his feet. Zhang Yuanzhong and Xu San looked at him from time to time.

According to Xu San's story, Pinghu Village was named after Pinghu, the largest of the lakes in the south. The village was also the largest in that area. There were more than 300 villagers, who had made a living by fishing for generations. There was nothing special about it.

"What kind of ghost is worshipped in Pinghu Village?" Sangque asked.

Xu San said, "There are four large villages around Pinghu Lake. Each village worships a different ghost, all of which are related to water. They can protect them from being disturbed by water ghosts when they fish in the water."

"Pinghu Village worships the 'Qingjiang Envoy', which is a longevity turtle. Perhaps because of this turtle's special qualities, Pinghu Village has more longevity than other villages."

At this time, Qin Ze spoke up, "To be honest, my ancestors were from the village west of Pinghu. When I was a child, I heard an elder in my family say something. I don't know if it is related."

Qin Ze glanced at Sang Que, seemingly trying to show goodwill.

"I forgot how many years ago, but there was one summer when it didn't rain for several months. It was said that the water in Pinghu Lake was almost dry. Then a house appeared at the bottom of the lake, and the house was full of stone pupae."

"Later, the Evil Suppression Bureau quickly took over. No one knew what else was in the house, but the person who first discovered the house said that there was movement in the stone pupa. He said that he saw with his own eyes that the face of a stone pupa split open, revealing the eyes of a person underneath. The eyes were surrounded by fish scales, and the eyeballs were still moving."

"Not long after that, the person who discovered the house jumped into the lake and died. He only told my grandfather and a few other close friends about this incident, and very few people knew about it. So I wonder if the ancient house at the bottom of the lake has appeared again?"

People in the Xuan Dynasty never spread strange gossip, so Xu San and Zhang Yuanzhong didn't know about this.

However, as soon as Qin Ze finished speaking, Zhang Yuanzhong's face gradually turned pale and he began to tremble all over.

He swallowed hard, "I...my mother Ying seemed...seemed to have dreamed about that house and the stone pupa!"

That's all for today, see you tomorrow~