It seemed someone had gone missing.

Our host hurried to put his clothes and shoes on as he called out, “Go, look around for her. Old Wu’s daughter can’t have gone far!”

He saw me right then. He moved closer to warn me, “Kid, there’s some problem in our village. You guys should stay in the house. Don’t run around.”

“What happened? Do you need our help?” I kindly suggested. Actually, I wanted to go with them to check the routes around the village and see if I could catch some clues.

Uncle Wang immediately rejected the idea. “No need. It’s a private matter of our village. We don’t want outsiders to get involved!” He looked at me with unveiled hostility.

I suddenly remembered what Zhao Wuyang had told us. The villagers had been rather hostile during their previous visit to Wuyan Village. Zhao Wuyang went as far as saying that the villagers ‘hated’ them.

The old man soon went out with the other villagers; we were asked to stay in the courtyard. Before he left, he deliberately called his wife aside and muttered something. Then, his wife made an excuse about needing to air dry chilies to sit in the yard and watch our every move.

I got the opportunity to see the madwoman.

She was sitting by the threshold, her eyes blankly staring at the void. She was wearing dirty clothes, and a long iron chain had one end locked around her neck and the other end fixed to the doorframe. The madwoman seemed to have become livelier as soon as she saw strangers. She flashed us a silly smile.

Li Mazi nudged me. “Little brother, you’re quite the charmer! You’re welcomed everywhere you go! See? She’s smiling at you. You can stay here as the family’s new son-in-law. Perhaps you can inherit a piece of land later. As for me…” Li Mazi took out a pocket mirror and carefully checked his image. “The value of my beauty isn’t as high as yours. It’s unwise for me to stay here. I should go back home. Don’t worry about your little shop. Just leave it to me…”

The more he talked, the more arrogant he became. He swung his arms in delight, inadvertently catching the sunlight’s reflection with the mirror; it produced a flash that happened to shine on the madwoman’s face.

The madwoman was stimulated by this. She screamed in an odd manner due to the extreme fear. She quickly crawled back into the room, not daring to go out again.

The old woman was startled. She rushed to the door and looked around. “Why did you cry? Come out, come out here! Why are you hiding under the table?”

After scolding the girl, the old woman returned to the yard and continued to dry her chilies. She didn’t really mind the reaction of the panic-stricken girl; it seemed she was used to it.

Li Mazi was bewildered. He asked me since he didn’t have a clue, “What happened to the madwoman? I didn’t do a thing. She scared me.”

Zhao Wuyang explained, “The world of patients with mental illnesses is really different from the one where normal people live. We can’t treat them or understand them with normal means.”

I stared absentmindedly at the pocket mirror in Li Mazi’s hand.

She had somehow been stimulated by that mirror. Did it remind her of something? Perhaps the girl had gone crazy because of that strange bronze mirror.

The old fellow returned from the search mission at around noon time. He looked truly worn out. His wife walked over to welcome him. “How was it? Did you find the girl?”

The old fellow simply responded with a nod. He didn’t want to talk at the moment.

His wife was so worried that she didn’t catch the hint. She was thrilled as she asked, “You guys found her! Where was she?”

The old fellow frowned, sending a glance to the mud-walled room where we were staying. “Why don’t we talk inside the house?”

Then, they rushed to their room and closed the door.

They were very cautious and treated us as if we were a band of thieves.

Well, even if you guys don’t want to talk, there’s bound to be a pair of loose lips somewhere...

I took out two packs of cigarettes from Li Mazi’s backpack.

“Little Brother Zhang, you want to use my cigarettes to earn favors again? What should I smoke when you give all my cigarettes away?”

I smiled at him. “Puff the air then.”

The old fellow didn’t stop us when he heard that we wanted to go out, possibly because they had found the missing girl. However, he told us not to go to the mountain since it was easy to get lost there, and that we should head back early. Zhao Wuyang and I responded with a nod and then left.

Li Mazi was mad at me, so he decided to stay in the room and take a nap.

Zhao Wuyang had been in this village before. It only took him fifteen minutes to show me around on his second visit.

“See? This village is very small. I thought Zhang Qinghai had lost his mind when he brought us to this place for sightseeing.”

It seemed that Zhao Wuyang was reminded of his friends who had been skinned alive. His face had a somewhat forlorn expression. I patted his shoulder to comfort him.

Zhao Wuyang lifted his head and talked with a tinge of resentment in his voice. “All of this happened because of Zhang Qinghai.”

I was surprised by his answer. Then, I looked him in the eyes with a smile. “You know what? I’ve encountered a lot of strange items over the years, and most of them contained resentful energy. The deceased become resentful souls if they pass away with unresolved resentments. What happened to you guys had something to do with Zhang Qinghai, but the relationship was not that big. The problem mostly lies with you guys.

“Take yourself as an example. You’re not brave, and you always worry when you do something. You can’t make a decision if there’s no one supporting you. You said that you like to travel, but I think you just went along with what other people said when they asked you. Have you ever traveled alone and admired something that you really wanted to see?”

Zhao Wuyang was baffled.

“And Xue Peng had that coming because of his greed. Dirty money is dangerous. When he touched the goods from that grave, he should have had the notion that he wouldn’t have a nice end. I don’t know the actual reason in Xiao Sisi’s case, but I’m sure there was something along these lines. All of you had a weakness that Zhang Qinghai caught. He made use of your weaknesses to complete his plan!”

Perhaps my words had been too harsh; Zhao Wuyang kept silent for the rest of our walk. I felt a little guilty, worrying that I had been excessive with my criticism.

After all, who was I to criticize them?

I felt embarrassed, so I looked around, pretending to take in the surroundings. We met a young villager on the way. He was shouldering a hoe while seemingly heading to work on the field.

I smiled and approached him. “Brother, excuse us, do you know any places with beautiful landscapes around here? I’m hoping to take some good photos.”

I respectfully offered him the pack of cigarettes while I spoke.