Linbiangui Village-Infinite Streaming Chapter 24

Old Woman of Changlin

“Since we’ve managed to contact Xiao Gang, we won’t bother you any longer.” Wu Zeng patted the dust off his trousers, stood up, and said, “Sister Chen and Uncle Liao haven’t slept well these past two days. You should both get some proper rest.”

With that, Wu Zeng left the living room and went into the courtyard to look for Chen Jin.

“Wait for me!” Li Ming Ming quickly closed her notebook, greeted Uncle Liao and Sister Chen, and hurried after him.

The living room suddenly became quiet. Sister Chen felt an inexplicable panic. Her son today was heartbreakingly well-behaved, which was unlike him. Could it be that he had suffered some grievance outside?

Sister Chen gripped her phone tightly, her knuckles white from the force. After much hesitation, she dialed the WeChat call again, but no one answered.

Uncle Liao sat beside her, watching everything with a worried expression, but unable to do anything. “He’s working now, he won’t have time to answer calls. Try contacting him later.”

“Sister Li, I have another question I’d like to ask.” Chen Jin stood backlit in the shadow of the doorway, quietly waiting for Sister Li to calm down from her hysterical state. “I don’t know the details of the other missing people, but I know Xiao Gang’s situation. Xiao Gang has only been missing for a little over a day, and his parents haven’t publicized the matter. How did you come to know about it?”

Chen Jin’s voice was calm and even, devoid of any accusatory tone, yet it made Sister Li tremble.

Sister Li’s eyes darted back and forth across Chen Jin’s face. She twisted the corner of her clothes with her hands and retreated two steps. She bit her lower lip, remaining silent, looking as if she hadn’t prepared a response.

“Could it be that you knew Xiao Gang was going to disappear long ago?” Chen Jin’s volume suddenly increased by two degrees, startling the rats hidden in the corner, which scurried away.

Chen Jin approached step by step, forcing the other party to look at him. Sister Li had nowhere to hide and finally lowered her head in a gesture of concealment. “You were also the first to know about the disappearance of Brother Wang’s son. Does that mean you predicted everyone’s disappearance?”

“Nonsense!” Sister Li’s calloused hand suddenly pushed Chen Jin away, and then she walked out the door, muttering curses.

Wu Zeng strode over, only seeing Sister Li push Chen Jin away and flee in panic. His eyes were dark and unreadable. He walked straight to Chen Jin. “Xiao Gang has been found. Let’s go.”

With that, Wu Zeng grabbed Chen Jin’s wrist and walked out the door. By the time Li Ming Ming arrived, she didn’t even see the backs of the two leaving.

The two quickly exchanged important information in just a few sentences, and the crux of the problem emerged—it was the card parlor on the street. Whether it was Sister Li’s husband, Zhang Guo Wei, or Sister Chen’s son, Xiao Gang, both first became involved with the card parlor, incurred gambling debts, and then chose to go out to work, which was followed by their disappearance.

Sister Li staking out the card parlor late at night and visiting Sister Chen’s house in the morning, first, corroborated the link between the card parlor and going out to work, and second, perhaps indicated that she knew something. But the strange thing was, since someone knew about the oddity of this card parlor long ago, why didn’t they directly publicize it to prevent further incidents, or why didn’t they just shut down this small card parlor run by women?

The key issue now was to find Sister Li and get a clear answer.

The walls outside were covered with moss. It had rained lightly in the morning, and the air was humid.

Sister Li walked along the small path by the fields as if fleeing. Her footsteps were uneven. She was running too hastily, causing her foot to slip, and her left foot plunged directly into the field. Red mud immediately clung to it.

While Sister Li struggled to pull her leg out, the two men took advantage of the opportunity and caught up in a few steps.

Chen Jin was kind enough to reach out and pull her up, but Sister Li showed no gratitude. Instead, she gripped Chen Jin’s hand tightly, her eyes filled with the fierce, sinister look of someone whose secret had been exposed.

After regaining her footing, Sister Li immediately shook Chen Jin off forcefully and shouted defensively at the two men, “What exactly do you want!”

Five red finger marks instantly appeared on Chen Jin’s arm, showing the sheer force she had used.

Chen Jin was slightly annoyed. He reached out and grabbed Sister Li’s shoulder to restrain her, preventing her from slipping away again. “If there’s no problem, why are you hiding?”

“You ungrateful wretch!” Wu Zeng took a step closer, his voice laced with ice shards. “Killing you is easier than slaughtering a pig, believe it or not?”

Sister Li was instantly terrified and collapsed onto the muddy ground. She was small in stature, and the two tall figures enveloped her, the pressure almost suffocating her.

“Xiao Gang has been found.”

“What?!” Sister Li was greatly alarmed, her voice sharp and strained with tension. “Impossible!”

“Why are you so certain?” Chen Jin crouched down, his gaze fixed on her.

Sister Li’s lips trembled up and down. Finally, she slowly uttered four words, “The curse of the Jing Maiden…”

Chen Jin never expected that after all that hesitation, she would come up with a curse. The reason was as stiff as an old man’s dentures. “Don’t give me this nonsense. Why are you constantly monitoring the situation of the missing people in the village? What is your motive!”

“It is the Jing Maiden’s curse!” Sister Li suddenly let out a roar like a trapped beast. “It’s the dirty thing brought by the people of Changlin! She cast the spell. Go ask her! Why keep forcing me?!”

Aunt San Rong?

Sister Li began to sob on the ground, even lying down to gasp for breath, disregarding her appearance. For a person of her age, whether good or bad, being reduced to this state was quite pitiful.

Chen Jin felt a pang of self-reproach. Although this world was illusory, in this very second, he suddenly realized that perhaps he was being too harsh on a middle-aged woman. Moreover, there was no direct evidence linking her to the missing people. The principle of innocent until proven guilty applied.

Chen Jin helped her up and watched her limp back, not saying another word.

The two exchanged a look. Regardless of whether it was true or false, they had to ask the person mentioned.

The sky above the village entrance was hazy. The old woman was still sitting in her courtyard.

Chen Jin now had a tangible fear of the village boundary. He stood at the old woman’s doorway, keeping as far away from the village entrance as possible. The cocoon-like growth on his abdomen began to itch faintly. He unconsciously scratched it through his clothes, but it was merely scratching an itch through a boot.

He wondered if the old woman still remembered the scene where the three of them exposed their secrets years ago.

“What’s wrong?” Wu Zeng had somehow circled behind Chen Jin. His concerned voice sounded close to Chen Jin’s ear. Startled, Chen Jin spun around and met the other man’s worried gaze.

“Nothing…” Chen Jin stopped his movement, his mind recalling Sister A Ping’s words: Don’t disbelieve it. Otherwise, why were you the one who crossed the village boundary last night, and not him? Think carefully about what appeared on your body after you crossed the boundary.

Did Wu Zeng also have these things on him?

“Aunt San Rong?” It was evident that Wu Zeng, whenever he needed something from anyone, regardless of gender or age, would always act refined and polite, striving to give the other party the maximum sense of being valued, which made it easier to extract information or obtain what he wanted. He walked into the courtyard, pausing with each step, holding a jar of plum jam he had pulled out from somewhere. The toothless old woman could eat it easily. The crystal-clear jam looked appetizing even through the glass jar.

However, before Wu Zeng could speak further, Aunt San Rong picked up her cane and angrily struck him back. The long, protruding cane came at him like a storm, catching Wu Zeng off guard.

Wu Zeng easily dodged by taking a long step back, but the force of his retreat was too great, splashing mud onto his feet.

Facing the old woman’s sudden hostility, Wu Zeng didn’t get angry. He simply tossed the plum jam forward. The cylindrical glass jar rolled “gudu gudu” along the slope of the ground, stopping just beside Aunt San Rong’s feet. “Aunt San Rong, this is jam freshly made in the village this year. Please have a taste.”

“You little brat! Call me Grandma!” Although Aunt San Rong was old, her voice was full of vigor. She waved her arm, making a shooing gesture at Wu Zeng. “You stepped on my vegetables! Watch where you’re walking!”

Wu Zeng looked down at the ground and indeed saw some tender vegetable seedlings planted near the courtyard entrance. Normally, few people must visit, allowing the vegetables to be planted so casually. His attention had been focused on the old woman herself, and he hadn’t noticed the small seedlings at the entrance.

“Grandma San Rong! I didn’t notice just now. We’ll buy new seedlings right away for you to plant…” Before Wu Zeng could finish his compensatory words, Chen Jin interrupted him with an elbow jab.

“Grandma San Rong, the roots weren’t completely crushed. They can be saved.” With that, Chen Jin squatted down and dug up some fresh soil from nearby, firmly packing it around the two slightly tilted seedlings. The small plants, which had been drooping, instantly stood upright. “We’ll come and water them for you these next few days. They’ll recover quickly.”

Wu Zeng stood beside him, grinning and patting his trousers, while constantly marveling at Chen Jin’s miraculous recovery skills, providing maximum emotional support.

Aunt San Rong remained silent, her cloudy eyes scrutinizing Chen Jin. After a long moment, a strange smile spread across her shriveled lips. “Who brought you here?”

Chen Jin was puzzled. Normally, he came on his own. Abnormally, he was brought by the obsession of this world, but how could he say such a dimension-breaking thing?

Chen Jin clapped the dirt off his hands and slowly said, “I am a graduate student at Mingda University, specifically…”

“Bullshit!” Aunt San Rong snorted and threw her cane onto the ground with a “pa” sound.

Wu Zeng stepped forward, his right arm bent back, shielding Chen Jin, and stared at Aunt San Rong with a strained expression.

Chen Jin shook his head at him, walked back to the old woman, picked up the cane from the ground, and respectfully presented it to her. “I am researching the oral ancient texts of ethnic minorities. If you don’t know about this matter in the village, no one else will.”

Aunt San Rong didn’t take it. She turned, twisted open the jar lid, and used her little finger with a long nail to scoop out a piece of plum jam, which she slowly sucked on, her expression one of enjoyment. “Not bad. What do you want to ask?”

Although the old woman was eating plum jam, she was sucking it with a strange sensation, as if she were sucking marrow and drinking blood. Chen Jin felt a chill, but he forced himself to be bold and get straight to the point. “I want to ask specifically about the legend of the Jing Maiden.”

Aunt San Rong slowly raised her head, chewing on something. “Didn’t those people in the village tell you about me?”

“I trust what you say more than what others say.”

Aunt San Rong placed the open jar at her feet. A line of black ants traced the sweetness of the plum jam on the ground. “Then come closer.”