Linbiangui Village-Infinite Streaming Chapter 13
byAunt Jiu Delivers Sausage
Wu Zeng ate with great relish, and the tourists at the same table were also tempted to pick up their chopsticks.
“Then what about this young man?” Uncle Cai looked at Chen Jin.
“I eat pork skin,” Chen Jin slowly uttered four words, then ignored Uncle Cai.
The image of the cold-faced young man was useful; Uncle Cai did not pester him further, casually exchanged a few more words with Wu Zeng, and then left.
Not far away, Aunt Jiu, who was helping stuff sausages, still looked forlorn. She frequently turned her head to look at Chen Jin and Wu Zeng, though it was unclear what she intended to do.
Participating in the Pig Slaughter Festival once was enough to understand the whole picture; doing it again offered no novelty. Moreover, knowing that this ghostly event was problematic, no one could relax as they had the last time.
Chen Jin found the food tasteless. He casually surveyed his surroundings, careful not to let his gaze linger too obviously. After all, if even a little old man like Uncle A Dong could notice something was amiss, he certainly couldn’t reveal anything in front of these cunning wrongdoers.
Wu Zeng saw through Chen Jin’s caution, smiled, stood up, and pulled him into the dancing circle in the center of the venue. Everyone inside was dancing wildly, and no one would find any movement strange.
Stiffly joining the line, Chen Jin approached the earthen kiln. The master tending the fire was tossing fuel into the kiln, and among the items, there was a pair of children’s shoes. Looking closely, they were clearly the ones worn by the chubby boy who had attended the Pig Slaughter Festival a few days prior.
“Don’t put all of them in yet. Those two young men are here for the second time,” Uncle Cai stood by the fire, watching the two people in the dancing circle from afar. “Do them first.”
“Understood, Uncle Cai.” Gao Fang, the man tending the fire, nodded, his hands still continuously adding things to the earthen kiln.
If Sister A Ping’s words were true—that eating the sausage could lead to a grass addiction, allowing the villagers to control them, ultimately leading to drug trafficking—then what would happen to the tourists who had just finished eating?
When the event ended, the tour group tourists got into the minivans and left immediately. The independent travelers slowly walked down the mountain. The two of them mingled in the crowd, pretending to be highly interested.
“Are you still going to watch the sacrifice tomorrow?”
“I feel like it’s pointless. Let’s just go back.”
“Then it’s about time. Let’s pack up and head back to catch the bus.”
The Pig Slaughter Festival had failed to capture the interest of the young couple walking beside them; they were already planning to return to town.
“Excuse me, where did you buy your bus tickets?” Chen Jin asked, somewhat surprised.
The boy pulled the girl closer to him. “We bought them from the driver when we got off the bus.”
No wonder they couldn’t get tickets!
“We haven’t been able to buy tickets,” Wu Zeng smiled and nodded at the couple. “Would you mind telling us what time your tickets are for? We’ll try our luck at the station.”
Wu Zeng smiled brightly and radiantly, trying his best to charm the world.
The boy kept his hands in his pockets without moving. He turned to look at the girl beside him. Only after she nodded did he reply, “4 o’clock.”
After descending the mountain, people scattered once again.
“Where did the sausage come from?” Chen Jin asked.
Wu Zeng’s sausage naturally wasn’t from the Pig Slaughter Festival; Chen Jin just didn’t know when this guy had pulled off the switch.
“Like this.” Wu Zeng reached behind Chen Jin, circled his hand, and somehow retrieved Chen Jin’s phone, shaking it left and right in front of him. “Here you go.”
Chen Jin’s expression froze slightly. He had this kind of skill? He’d make a fortune if he went abroad!
“I’m going to look around by myself. You wait at the Guesthouse,” Chen Jin snatched his phone back. “Call me if anything happens.”
“Don’t you remember how people in those American dramas die quickly when they split up?” Wu Zeng protested against separating.
Chen Jin opened his mouth and silently mouthed five words. By the shape of his lips, it was clearly: “You are too conspicuous.”
Wu Zeng ate the sausage intending to infiltrate the enemy. Although splitting up now might be necessary, going alone made them vulnerable. But only this way could they thoroughly uncover the truth of the matter.
At the Guesthouse, Uncle A Dong was still sitting at the table playing on his phone, smiling lewdly.
“A Dong, I need to ask you something,” Wu Zeng knocked on the table.
“Hey, Brother Zeng!” A Dong was clearly afraid of Wu Zeng’s aggressive actions and put down his phone.
“Do you know how many people have successfully left?”
Uncle A Dong hesitated. “O… once.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know exactly who it was, because in the last world, I was a tattoo artist…”
This dead fatty was quite clever.
Chen Jin followed a few tourists onto the street.
Today was not market day, so there weren’t many vendors on the street. The few tourists wandered around, found it boring, and soon wanted to leave.
“Let’s go back to Yue Dong, this isn’t fun.” Unexpectedly, this group had ridden motorcycles into the village. Three people squeezed onto one men’s motorcycle. The throttle twisted, and they sped away, heading straight out of the village.
Just as Chen Jin thought he wouldn’t be able to catch up, a thought struck him: to leave, they must pass through the village boundary. So these people…
Chen Jin immediately ran toward the village entrance. When he arrived, the old woman was still sitting quietly in her small courtyard, but this time there were no traces at the boundary.
The old woman’s courtyard was open, and Chen Jin, standing by the roadside, could see everything inside. The old fishing net in the corner was particularly noticeable.
The people of Changlin lived by fishing.
Since she sat here all the time, did she know something? Chen Jin hesitated for a long time before speaking, “Grandma…”
However, before he could finish the address, the old woman sprang up, rushed toward the boundary, and once again exploded into pieces.
Turning back, a brand new old woman reappeared.
Chen Jin was speechless. He turned and returned to the Guesthouse.
Nothing happened all day, and they still couldn’t buy a bus ticket. Had the sausage bait been misplaced?
Late at night, Mengle Village was silent, with only the sound of cool wind passing and branches colliding.
“Take your sausage and go ask him!” Uncle Cai stood in front of the earthen kiln, holding a plate of freshly made sausages, and forcefully shoved it into Aunt Jiu’s hands.
“Why are you making me go? I’ve never done this before!” Aunt Jiu looked distressed.
“Didn’t he help you on the street? It’s easier to deal with someone you know!” Uncle Cai waved his hand, not allowing her to refuse. “If you don’t go, don’t expect me to give your son any more grass!”
Aunt Jiu seemed to finally make up her mind. She held the sausages, her expression solemn, and walked away, looking back three times with every step. Her destination was the Guesthouse where Chen Jin and Wu Zeng were staying.
“Knock, knock, knock.” Chen Jin woke up with a start. The knocking sound came from the room opposite him.
The broken door in Chen Jin’s room hadn’t been fixed, so he was using a table to prop it shut. Because of this, the already poorly soundproofed room now allowed him to hear the sounds next door clearly.
Chen Jin had already turned off the light and gone to sleep. Hearing the noise next door, he dared not move or make a sound.
“Who is it?” Wu Zeng’s lazy voice came through.
“Young man, it’s me.” Aunt Jiu’s voice trembled.
“Auntie, what brings you here?” Wu Zeng opened the door, and Aunt Jiu stood in the doorway.
There was a moment of silence; it was unclear what Aunt Jiu was thinking.
“Auntie, what do you need from me in the middle of the night? It’s getting late,” Wu Zeng spoke politely, but his meaning was clear.
“Is it convenient to come in and talk?” Perhaps due to excessive nervousness, the aunt held the sausages with one hand, while her other hand seemed lost, unsure where to place it. She finally mechanically reached up to brush the hair from her forehead.
“Oh, you coming into my room this late… isn’t very appropriate,” Wu Zeng smiled awkwardly. “I don’t want to be misunderstood by the person I like.”
The person he liked? Chen Jin’s eyebrows unconsciously twitched.
“No, it’s about the sausages! I can tell you everything I know!” Aunt Jiu spoke earnestly, her speech speeding up considerably.
Wu Zeng nodded silently, stepped aside to let the aunt into the room, and then closed the door.
The next second, Chen Jin’s phone received a silent call from Wu Zeng.
In the afternoon, in Wu Zeng’s room. “Remember to turn off your phone’s ringer. Don’t they show it in TV dramas? So many secrets are exposed because of a ringtone.” Wu Zeng pressed his finger on Chen Jin’s phone, slowly helping him turn the volume off.
“What can you tell me?” Wu Zeng leaned against the edge of the table, resting his hands on the surface, asking casually. His legs looked long and straight, and he looked as relaxed as if posing for a magazine cover.
“They…” Aunt Jiu placed the sausages on the floor. “They told me to give you this poisoned sausage.”
“Oh?”
“But I don’t want to harm you. You’re a good person.” Aunt Jiu was overly nervous, stammering as she spoke, her eyes darting around.
“They grind dodder and milk cap mushrooms into a paste, then use the earthen kiln to refine it into grass poison. This poison is more addictive than other drugs, but it’s less likely to cause permanent disability, and it sells very well overseas. However, the poison must be fired in our village’s earthen kiln, making our village the sole source of supply. To transport the goods more safely, they mix a small amount of the poison into the sausages to control isolated foreign tourists. If those who develop a grass addiction don’t follow their orders to traffic the drugs, they…” Aunt Jiu’s eyes widened, as if recalling something terrifying. “They… they will dismember the person.”
“So your purpose for coming tonight is to wait for my grass addiction to flare up and then take me to see those people?”
“No… no, I don’t want to harm you.” Aunt Jiu suddenly became agitated. “Look, you ate the sausage this afternoon and you’re fine now, which means you haven’t gotten addicted. Hurry and leave now, hurry and go!”
“Since you don’t want to harm people, why are you working with them?”
Aunt Jiu flinched as if pricked by a hot iron nail, shivering all over, and then fell silent.
Chen Jin listened quietly. The truth must be close now.
“I don’t want to either,” Aunt Jiu finally spoke slowly after a long time. “I don’t want to harm people, but my child developed a grass addiction. If he doesn’t eat it, he simply won’t survive.”
With that, tears filled her eyes.
How ironic. It was motherly love intended to secure food for her son, yet what she secured was deadly poison, and the work she did was murder.
“Since they sent you here, they naturally want me to be brought to them. How can I disappoint their good intentions?”