Detective Di Renjie's legend of Wu Dynasty

Chapter 779 Shangling Village

A thunderstorm sounded in front of the window.

Suddenly, Zhong sat up and screamed sharply: "Come on!"

A servant girl ran in, and Zhong clutched the quilt and huddled beside the bed, terrified: "Ghost, there is a ghost!"

The maid was taken aback, looked around, but there was nothing around, she hurriedly lit the lantern, and said timidly: "Ma'am, where is there a ghost? There is nothing in this hall."

Mrs. Zhong sat up and looked around, the hall was silent.

She reached out and touched her cheek, which was also very clean.

She breathed a sigh of relief, and murmured: "It's a nightmare. Well, you go!"

The maid retreated.

A muffled thunder rolled outside the window.

Zhong raised her head, looked out the window, and couldn't help letting out a long sigh.

……

The rain stopped and the sky was overcast.

The official road paved with blue stones came to an end, and in the distance, a small village loomed in the distant clouds.

There was a dead silence all around, without the slightest sound.

Wang Mang, Di Renjie, Li Yuanfang, Zeng Tai, Wu Yuanmin and several guards immediately stood at the head of the village and observed quietly.

Zeng Tai said softly: "Is this Shangling Village?"

Wang Mang glanced at Di Renjie and the others, nodded and said, "According to what Old Man Liu and his son said, it should be."

Wu Yuanmin timidly said: "Why is there no sound at all, it's really scary..."

Di Renjie glanced at her and said in a low voice: "Xiao Hong, you must not talk casually when you enter the villa in a while. Do you understand?"

Wu Yuanmin asked curiously: "Why?"

Li Yuanfang said impatiently: "Don't talk if I tell you not to talk, why ask so many questions!"

Wu Yuanmin glared at Li Yuanfang and said, "If you don't say it, don't say it, why are you so fierce?!"

Li Yuanfang shook his head.

Wang Mang and Zeng Tai looked at each other, and they shook their heads with a smile.

Several people got off their horses and handed over the reins to the guards. Li Yuanfang ordered in a low voice, and the guards led the horses into the woods beside the road.

Di Renjie and his party walked towards Zhuangzi in the distance.

The whole village was deserted, and on both sides of the dirt road were dead trees that had been chopped off by lightning and hung upside down.

There was deathly silence, and the air seemed to have frozen here.

Although it was broad daylight, there was still an eerie atmosphere.

Wang Mang, Di Renjie, Li Yuanfang, Zeng Tai and Wu Yuanmin walked slowly on the dirt road, the sound of their footsteps echoing in the valley.

Wu Yuanmin shivered all over his body and said, "This, here..."

Li Yuanfang on the side hissed, and she quickly shut up.

Li Yuanfang said softly: "Sir, it doesn't look like there are people living here!"

As soon as the words fell, Wang Mang pointed forward and said softly: "Sir, look!"

Di Renjie, Li Yuanfang, Wu Yuanmin and Zeng Tai looked in the direction of his finger.

I saw a few piles of dark things on the empty field in the village in the distance. Because of the distance, I couldn't see clearly.

Di Renjie whispered: "Go and have a look."

Several people walked quickly to the empty field.

A few stacks of straw were piled up in disorder in the open field, and beside it was a dilapidated stable.

Di Renjie, Wang Mang and others walked over quickly.

Wang Mang stepped forward to look at Di Renjie and said, "Sir, it's a straw pile."

Di Renjie looked around and said, "It's strange, since no one lives in the village, who piled up the straw..."

Zeng Tai said: "Mr. is absolutely right. Straw is used by ordinary farmers to light fires, fertilize and feed livestock. Where there are people living, there will be straw."

Di Renjie looked around and said, "Everyone, spread out your search and don't let go of any clues.",

Wang Mang, Li Yuanfang and Zeng Tai nodded and answered yes.

Wu Yuanmin said to Li Yuanfang: "You search here, I search there."

Li Yuanfang said: "Hey, you don't need to search, just stay where you are. Otherwise, even if there are clues, you will destroy them."

Wu Yuanmin snorted and said, "You look down on people!"

Wang Mang and Zeng Tai looked at each other and said with a smile, "Xiao Hong, you can stay here."

Wu Yuanmin pouted and turned around.

Li Yuanfang gestured to Wang Mang and Zeng Tai, and the three searched carefully.

There was a broken stable not far away, and Di Renjie walked into the stable to observe carefully.

The stables are built with the simplest sand poles and reed mats, and a manger is nailed with broken wooden boards outside.

One side of the roof of the stable had collapsed and seemed to be crumbling.

Di Renjie quickly searched with his eagle eyes.In the twinkling of an eye, the unusual bit by bit in the stable can be seen in full view.

He walked slowly to the sand pole supporting the stable, and stretched out his hand to peel off the bark outside the sand pole, revealing the new white stubble inside.

Di Renjie took a deep breath, walked to the collapsed roof, looked intently, and saw that the broken reed mats and wooden supports were also newly nailed.

He turned around and walked to the manger, looked inside, and found that there was a shallow layer of feed beans at the bottom of the trough.

A smile appeared on Di Renjie's face, and he reached out to pick up a few beans from the trough.

At this moment, Wang Mang's voice came from outside: "My lord, come and see!"

Di Renjie raised his head and saw Wang Mang squatting beside the haystack, pointing to the ground.

Di Renjie walked over quickly: "Jing Yang, what's the matter?"

Wang Mang pointed to the ground and said, "My lord, look at the footprints!"

Di Renjie looked down, and sure enough, there were several footprints on the mud beside the haystack.

Di Renjie squatted down and looked, the footprints were facing the direction of the village.

Di Renjie stood up, nodded slowly and said: "When I checked the stable just now, I found that the reed mats and sand poles used to build the stable were new, which means that this stable was built not long ago. It's just old."

Wang Mang, Zeng Tai and Li Yuanfang looked at each other and said, "Oh?"

Di Renjie continued: "The collapsed shed roof was also made on purpose, and there is actually leftover feed in the manger."

Di Renjie opened his hand, and put a few grains of beans in his palm.

Zeng Tai nodded: "The newly built stables, straw and beans, plus the footprints here, teacher, I can be sure that their lair is nearby."

Di Renjie said slowly: "Not only that, but also these five strange haystacks."

Li Yuanfang and Zeng Tai looked at each other, puzzled and said: "My lord, what's so strange about this haystack?"

Di Renjie pointed at the haystack with his hand: "Didn't you realize that these haystacks are stacked too high?"

Li Yuanfang and Zeng Tai took a closer look and said, "It seems to be higher than ordinary haystacks in the countryside, but my lord, what does this mean?"

Di Renjie said: "We all know that when farmers take grass from the haystack, they usually use a long wooden fork to pierce the straw on the top of the haystack, instead of directly pulling it from the bottom."

Zeng Tai said: "Pick it directly from the bottom of the haystack. After a while, the haystack will collapse."

Di Renjie said: "Yes. Look at the height of the five haystacks in front of you. Ordinary people cannot reach them with a long wooden fork."

Wang Mang, Zeng Tai and Li Yuanfang compared each other, nodded and said, "Yes, it's too high."

　Preview of the next chapter: What will Wang Mang, Di Renjie and others discover?Is there anyone in Shangling Village?Stay tuned!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)