After the fairy disappeared

Chapter 1326 Ah Hui
In troubled times, it is safer to travel with a large group.

"Did anything happen to you outside?"

"That's not clear. There are so many people in the village, and they all have long legs. I can't possibly know all their whereabouts. But..." Old Man Chen blinked, "Chen Fuang's wife probably knows. A few days ago, a neighbor heard them arguing fiercely."

"What's the cause of the quarrel?"

"His wife scolded him for looking for a woman."

"..."

Dong Rui asked curiously, "How did his wife know?"

How would the family of a small peddler like Chen Fuang know what he had done outside?
"Shall I take you there and ask him in person?"

Li Xianwei also followed.

Chen Fuang's home was on the west side of the village. His wife was dark and slightly plump, three years older than him, and looked like an ordinary peasant woman. The house was not big, and the furniture was old. He Lingchuan glanced and saw a patched quilt exposed in the slightly opened wooden door.

There were two boys at home, and they were called back to their rooms by Chen's wife.

Although he was named "rich", Chen Fuang's family was not well-off.

When Chen's wife heard Old Man Chen explain the three men's intentions, she burst into tears and wailed, "He died tragically, leaving us three orphans and a widow. There is no way to survive in the future!"

Old Man Chen knocked on the table: "These two officials are here to investigate the case, you must cooperate well."

There was one thing he didn't say. At least Chen Fuang died peacefully, while the other unlucky people who were torn apart by monsters died "miserably."

"What's the point of matching?" Chen's wife burst into tears. "The person is dead. What's the point of investigating afterwards? How are the three of us going to live in the future?"

Her crying was particularly sharp at night, and even He Lingchuan couldn't stand it, so he took out two silver ingots from his arms and put them on the table: "I have a few questions. As long as you answer them truthfully, the silver will be yours."

A single light is as dim as a bean, but it cannot diminish the charming color of silver.

When Chen's wife saw the two ingots of silver, she paused for a moment. Old Chen hurriedly tried to persuade her again: "Your parents are here, and your two brothers are also here at the farm. With these two people taking care of you, you three mothers will not suffer any loss in the future. What are you afraid of?"

Chen's wife then sobbed and said, "Ask, ask."

Before He Lingchuan could speak, Dong Rui spoke first: "Why did you quarrel with Chen Fuang the day before yesterday?"

Chen's wife's expression suddenly turned from gloomy to thunderous: "He found a slut!"

"Where?"

"The team brought it back from outside a few days ago."

He Lingchuan and Dong Rui looked at each other and said, "You mean, the Chen family team brought back a woman from outside? How old is she?"

"He's in his early twenties, half crazy, but very coquettish, and he has a five or six-year-old daughter." Chen's wife pointed at Old Man Chen, "He knows about it, too."

Lieutenant Li rolled his eyes. How could a half-crazy person be so coquettish? This was purely his imagination. Old Man Chen was calm and said, "I didn't bring her back. I've only met her twice. How can I know her better than you do?"

Dong Rui didn't listen to their nonsense: "Where are the two women now?"

"I do not know."

"You don't know? Two living people just disappeared like that?"

"That night the monster attacked, dozens of people were killed. Are these two still needed?" Chen's wife said bitterly, "They might have been dragged away by the monster and eaten."

He Lingchuan pointed at the silver on the table and asked, "What exactly is going on?"

For the sake of the money, Chen's wife reluctantly said, "When the convoy came back from Liu County and stopped at Hutoupo to fetch water, the mother and daughter sneaked onto the convoy. No one noticed until the convoy returned to Chenjiazhuang."

"What are their origins?"

"I only saw her once. She was in the shabby house in the west where hay was piled, grinning foolishly at passers-by. Others told me that she was more often confused than sober."

West? He Lingchuan was very sensitive to directions tonight.

"But when she was conscious, she told Mrs. Wu who was kind enough to deliver food to her that she came from a small place called Maodun... I think it was called Maodun." Mrs. Chen didn't know where that place was. "She was married, but her husband died, so her in-laws sold her two daughters and then sold her too. I guess, at that time, she was a little..."

Chen's wife pointed to her temple and continued, "In less than five years, her second man fell off a cliff and died."

"and then?"

"Then her mind became unclear again, and her words were all mixed up. One moment she said she had escaped with her daughter, and the next moment she said she had picked up her daughter on the roadside. One moment she said her in-laws wanted to sell them again, and the next moment she said there was a monster chasing them."

"A monster is chasing us?" Dong Rui raised his eyebrows at He Lingchuan. "Isn't this the key point?"

"We didn't know there were real monsters at the time. We just thought she was talking nonsense!" Chen's wife curled her lips. "Maybe in her mind, her in-laws who wanted to capture her and sell her were monsters. At that time, I told this idea to the sisters-in-law in the village, and they all thought it was right."

The boy in the room was about to sneak out to pee, but when he came out, his eyes were attracted by the monkey on Dong Rui's shoulder. Hearing this, he suddenly looked up and said, "Xiao An said that the monsters have been chasing them for a long time. Every time they relax, the monsters will come out of the darkness--!"

He made his hands into claws, as if to pounce: "——Pounce out!"

"Xiao An?"

"That little girl." Chen's wife pointed to the inner room and scolded her son, "Go in! Why do you, a child, interrupt the adults when they are talking?"

"It's okay." Dong Rui waved to the boy and took out a handful of candy. "Come, have some candy. By the way, tell me what else Xiao An said?"

The boy saw the monkey on his shoulder also peeling the candy coating with very deft movements, and he immediately became interested: "Give me the monkey and I will tell you."

Chen's wife said angrily: "Don't be rude to the official!"

Don’t offend others for the sake of an ugly monkey and ask them to take back the silver on the table!
The boy twisted his neck and said, "I want the monkey, or I won't tell you anything!"

Chen's wife was about to slap him, but Dong Rui pointed at the boy and whispered something to the ghost ape.

No one else could hear it clearly, but the ghost ape suddenly jumped onto the boy's shoulders, pressing him so hard that his back bent.

The weight was really heavy, but the boy was so happy that he reached out and touched the monkey twice, then pulled the hair on its neck. Chen's wife was startled and slapped his hand away: "Don't mess around!"

The owner of this ugly monkey is still watching.

The ghost ape didn't care, since it couldn't pull the little thing out anyway. It grabbed a candy from the table and peeled it slowly.

Dong Rui urged: "Speak now."

"Xiao An said she was from Xingyun Village, where there was a very large and tall ginkgo tree at the entrance of the village. One night, there was a sudden noise outside, and the village was full of fire and adults' shouting. It was the first time she heard adults crying and shouting like children."

(End of this chapter)