The Red road

"Be careful of Gu Yunqing?" Feng Yusu cautiously lowered her head to glance at the two bodies lying by the river, then raised her eyes and met Ye Miaozhu's gaze, and the two looked at each other in surprise.

Ye Miaozhu was furious: "Yun Qing died in front of me, how can I be careful?"

"Xie Si Ning is dead too, and she even called her aunt. How can you be careful?" Ning Zhe raised his hand to take Feng Yusu's phone and said, "Two minutes to prove that you are Zhang Yangxu and not something else. No more time."

There was silence on the other end of the line.

Gu Yunqing's body was still lying on the laundry slope by the river. The mechanical watch on his wrist did not malfunction due to the water ingress and was still ticking. The second hand was circling intermittently, and the transparent time was falling drop by drop.

"One minute." Ning Zhe said.

There was still silence on the other end of the phone, with only the rustling sound of the corners of clothes blown by the evening breeze. Ning Zhe looked down at the time: "1 minute and 20 seconds."

"Ningzhe, there are three versions of the demolition contracts coordinated for the residents of the land where your old house is located."

When the time reached 1 minute and 47 seconds, Zhang Yangxu's voice finally came from the loudspeaker.

"In version A, residents can obtain housing about three times the original residential area in designated buildings after demolition, and can enjoy discounts for the remaining area."

"Version B, a large cash compensation at a flat price."

"For version C, residents can choose a house with an area close to their original house within the range provided by the developer, plus a certain amount of cash compensation."

Ning Zhe nodded: "Yes, I went home to look at the compensation contract. My grandparents are illiterate and I'm afraid they will be cheated."

But he changed the subject and said again: "But this is not enough to prove that you are Zhang Yangxu. How about telling me something I don't know?"

In fact, what Zhang Yangxu just said was enough to prove his identity, but Ning Zhe felt that this was not enough. He wanted to verify his own guess on Zhang Yangxu.

"You can't sign Version B," Zhang Yangxu said calmly, "The large cash compensation is the most difficult of the three versions, so we prepared the least number of Version B contracts. Long before the bidding began, all the large compensation contracts had already been internally decided through various channels, so you are doomed to not win."

"Wow, you bank robbers haven't even bought hoods and stockings yet, and you've already divided the loot." Ning Zhe applauded him: "Tell me, Mr. Zhang, why should we be careful of Gu Yunqing?"

"Let's have a face-to-face meeting."

"OK."

The place Zhang Yangxu agreed to meet was still the street in front of the ancestral hall. After witnessing two strange and sudden deaths in succession, both Feng Yusu and Ning Zhe were extremely wary of this place. On the contrary, Ye Miaozhu seemed a little indifferent.

"If you don't go now, you will have to go sooner or later." She said, "After today, the taboos will change tomorrow. Can you not go to the ancestral hall to check the almanac?"

This is true, but her indifferent attitude still surprised Ning Zhe. Well, if a person is not afraid of death, then there is nothing to be afraid of.

The twenty-third day of the fourth lunar month, 02:33 in the morning.

Ning Zhe came to the South Street of Hejia Village, where the clan ancestral hall dedicated to the snake god was located. Zhang Yangxu had been waiting at the door early.

Feng Yusu followed Ning Zhe and Ye Miaozhu reluctantly. She was weak in nature, and she became even more cowardly when she found out that Xie Si Ning, who followed Zhang Yangxu, was a dead person. She was unwilling to return to the ancestral hall at this time no matter what.

Ning Zhe did not force her to go with him. He just said, "It's up to you," and then set off with Ye Miaozhu to keep the appointment.

In the end, the fear of being left alone overwhelmed the others, and Feng Yusu had no choice but to catch up, lagging behind a few steps.

After the three of them approached the ancestral hall, the nervous Feng Yusu finally breathed a sigh of relief. Only Zhang Yangxu was at the door of the ancestral hall, and no one else was seen.

"Hey, where's Xie Si Ning?" Ning Zhe waved and asked.

Zhang Yangxu smiled bitterly: "You ask even though you know the answer."

"I see. Congratulations on surviving." Ning Zhe understood immediately: "Tell me, how did you survive from that thing?"

Zhang Yangxu didn't rush to explain. They confirmed each other's identities before asking, "First, I want to confirm one thing. Madam Bai called me earlier and said that you saw something by the river... Was it Si Ning?"

"That's right." Ning Zhe did not deny: "We found Xie Si Ning's body in the river."

Zhang Yangxu breathed a sigh of relief, closed his eyes, and said, "Sure enough...Okay, let's exchange information. I'll go first."

At the entrance of the ancestral hall, Zhang Yangxu recounted his and Xie Si Ning's entire experience since they left the ancestral hall until now:

After Feng Yusu's reminder call to him was hung up halfway, Zhang Yangxu's heart was full of doubts.

At 00:30 in the morning, Zhang Yangxu and Xie Sining left the ancestral hall and walked along the river. They did not find anything unusual on the quiet road. There were only some red paper scraps scattered in front of the doors of several houses. They were left after the firecrackers exploded. Hejia Village had set off a lot of firecrackers yesterday.

After walking for a while, Xie Si Ning suddenly looked embarrassed and told Zhang Yangxu that she was in a hurry.

Women's physiological structure is different from men's, and they can't hold back their urination. Zhang Yangxu didn't ask her too much, so he leaned against the willow tree by the river to let Xie Si Ning go first. After solving the physiological problem, the two continued to walk upstream.

Afterwards, Zhang Yangxu and Xie Sining headed north and arrived at the central area of Hejia Village.

Along the way, they found that the further north they went, the denser the firecracker paper scraps were on both sides of the street. The road was covered with red flowers, as if they were seeing someone off, or as if some wedding was being held.

From afar, Zhang Yangxu's sight passed across the wide street and saw an antique and luxurious mansion. The main gate alone was more than 3 meters high, and the wall was more than 5 meters high. Zhang Yangxu had always been very accurate in estimating elements such as the height, angle, floor area and orientation of a building.

On the door of the mansion was hung a large, yellow-painted, black-background traditional Chinese character: "He Mansion".

Seeing that the agreed gathering time of one and a half hours had passed, Zhang Yangxu did not try to enter the He mansion to continue exploring, but chose to return to the ancestral hall first and call Ning Zhe and others to make plans together.

The two of them walked back along the street, which was lined with red paper scraps on both sides, chatting casually.

Then, Zhang Yangxu received a call from Feng Yusu on the road. The woman told him to be careful of Xie Si Ning in an extremely terrified tone, saying that she and Ning Zhe saw something by the river... But before she could finish her words, the call was forcibly hung up.

"After the call was hung up, I immediately thought of the time when Si Ning and I stopped by the river on the way to He's house. If Feng Yushu's call was not a joke, then it means that something happened to Si Ning while I was waiting for her to urinate by the river."

"What happened at the river led to her death, and her identity was taken by something else."

Zhang Yangxu finally said, "Ningzhe, there must be something strange about that river."

"No, there isn't. There may be other reasons why Xie Si Ning died by the river, but it should not be directly related to the river itself." Ning Zhe spread his hands: "Gu Yunqing and Ye Miaozhu have already tried with their lives."