My brows were furrowed, and I spoke in a deep voice again.
"Aunt Liu, you don't seem like you're tired."
Liu's widow was even more flustered, her voice trembling, as if she were asking for help.
"I'm really tired... It's so late, you should go back and rest... What's up? Can we talk about it tomorrow?"
Something inexplicable made me slightly raise my gaze.
Liu's widow was not tall, so when my gaze went over her head, I could immediately tell that something was wrong.
There was a person standing in the shadow of the room...
Perhaps due to the angle and lighting, I couldn't make out the person's appearance clearly.
This is Liu's mistress?
The matter was almost concluded.
For a moment, an intense sense of unease surged through my heart.
Originally, I should have turned around and left.
Even though the old Qin head yearned for the disappearance, I couldn't do anything about it. How could I kill him?
From now on, there's no need to get involved with matters concerning Liu's widow.
But at this very moment, Lao Gong's head suddenly shot up, and with a loud thud, it collided with the door!
Liu's widow gasped in surprise and stumbled backward several steps!
The door swung open all the way, and moonlight flooded into the dimly lit room.
The scene before me made my heart skip a beat.
Xueyin exclaimed in surprise and covered her mouth!
An icy coldness seeped into every bone and muscle in my body.
There stood a slender woman in the room, dressed in a beautiful grass-seed dress, with her hair tied up and wearing a face full of ornamental makeup.
But her entire body was extremely cold.
The foundation couldn't conceal the pallor of her skin, her mouth slightly parted due to dehydration, and even her teeth were visible.
Isn't that Liu's widow?
"Dead?"
Xueyin's expression was extremely uneasy.
My eyelids could not contain the wild flutter, yet I did not answer Xueyin.
Stepping forward to stand in front of Liu's widow, I reached out and checked her breath.
Liu's widow had long since been dead, with no signs of breath, and a faint stench of death still lingered...
"Who killed her?"
For a moment, a heavy sense of oppression surged up in my chest.
Xueyin's unease became increasingly palpable as she shook her head.
Old Gong's head hung over the night jar, pouted, and displayed an expression of heartbreaking affection.
Then, his head turned one hundred and eighty degrees, staring straight at the back.
I shuddered again and finally realized something.
In front of me was the dead body of Liu's widow, and the Liu's widow we saw earlier, wasn't she a ghost?
These two days, when she was performing the opera, it was a ghost performing the opera!
Liu's widow didn't want me to come in, she didn't want me to see her dead body!
I suddenly turned my head and followed Old Gong's gaze.
On both sides of the doorway, there was nothing but emptiness; not even a shadow of a ghost was visible.
"She ran," I whispered.
Xueyin's expression tightened, and she quickly pulled out a bamboo mouse with her index finger, pushing it into its pointed beak.
She was about to activate the bamboo mouse to track the trace.
But then, a hacking coughing sound, "huā huā," rang out!
The cough was not a weak cough of a sick ghost, but rather sounded like an old man, quite hoarse.
The sound approached from a distance, as if the person coughing was entering the courtyard through the gate.
Xueyin's face changed slightly, and she immediately put away the bamboo mouse, her eyes filled with unease.
"Old man... Wang Binian..." She spoke in a whisper as soft as a mosquito.
In an instant, I was soaked in cold sweat from the back, and my heart was even more startled!
"Old man..."
Xueyin had questioned the ghost that Wang Binian had raised.
That ghost had said... Wang Binian was killed by an old man!
At that time, I always thought it was Wang Binian who had offended someone.
Now it seems that... the old man is related to Liu's widow?
So, did Liu's widow also get killed by him?
My thoughts were as quick as lightning, and the hacking coughing sound, "huā huā," rang out twice again.
Even, I heard footsteps, as if the old man was climbing upstairs.
Xueyin's eyes were more tense than ever. Her thin lips moved slightly, mouthing her question to me: the old man was probably very fierce...
I was tense all over, with my fingers holding two thin hairpins.
My eyes gave Xueyin a signal, asking her to stand behind Liu's widow's body.
She was more uneasy, but still did as I asked.
I lightened my body and raised my breath, taking two or three steps to reach the right side of the door.
The old man killed Wang Binian at noon and dismembered him.
Absolutely a ruthless person!
And, he killed Liu's widow to protect her, and then killed Liu's widow later.
That's not just ruthless; it's even perverted.
I have no chance to deal with him, and in this situation, the most effective method is actually a drum.
But Xueyin was beside me, which would easily result in harming the enemy and self.
I can only engage in combat first to test his abilities!
The footsteps grew closer, indicating that the person had climbed up to the second floor and was gradually approaching the door.
I dare not stick my head out to look, as that would surely expose my figure. I can only quietly lie in wait.
After a few seconds, I first saw half of a silhouette.
The reason it was half was because as soon as he reached the position where my vision could see him, he suddenly stopped moving forward.
Then, he actually turned around, took two steps forward, and stood at the edge of the corridor.
His back was facing the door, and his gaze should be looking over the courtyard.
At this distance, if I suddenly launch a murderous attack, the probability that he can dodge is extremely low!
But... why would he suddenly make this action?
Noticed something amiss indoors, deliberately showing a weakness to lure out the snake?
I was thinking about this just then.
The next second, a squawk-like singing sound echoed.
Melancholic and with a touch of freshness.
The voice was extraordinarily familiar. Wasn't that Liu's widow's tone?
From his silhouette, I could see that the old man's head was slightly swaying, as if he was satisfied with appreciating something.
The feeling of disgust and chill became even more intense.
What kind of mentality is this?
To kill someone first and then treat them like a toy to amuse oneself?
My inner struggle was intense, I wanted to charge out and fight directly!
But my intuition told me... things might not be that simple...
My gaze was fixed on the old man's back, but I also cast a glance at Liu's widow's body with my peripheral vision.
Xueyin did not stick her head out. From my perspective, I couldn't see her figure.
Liu's widow's stiff, dead face seemed to have a slight upward curve at the corner of her mouth, as if she was smiling.
The opera tune from the courtyard changed from melancholic to sharp, as if the song had reached its climax.
The hacking coughing sound and drumming applause rang out!
Mixed in, there were dry cheering sounds.
Time... it passed just a little bit at a time.
The old man had not turned back into the house and had not stopped singing his tune.
When the night color reached its peak, the rooster's crowing could be faintly heard.
The singing suddenly stopped.
The old man's figure, without a sound, disappeared without a trace...
He came and went with traces, but when he left, there was no trace at all.
I had been standing stiffly all night, my calves were cramping, and the fingers that held the hairpins had become stiff.
Walking out from behind the door, I walked slowly to the position where the old man had stood before.
Looking down from here, I could perfectly see the center of the courtyard.
Footsteps approached, and it was Xueyin who walked cautiously to my back.
"Liu's widow... helped us to detain him..." She looked confused, "Why?"
I was silent for a few seconds before I shook my head: "Although the old man killed Wang Binian for her, he also killed her. Liu's widow still remembers our good intentions, otherwise it wouldn't be dragging him, but directly leading the old man to kill people."
"Let's go back first. We need to inform Mr. Shao and Ling Dao Ren about this matter," I said solemnly.
"What about the body..." Xueyin asked again.
"If we disturb the bones, the old man will definitely come knocking on our door. There's still something wrong here. By daybreak, the old man disappeared... but earlier, he killed someone at noon..." My brow furrowed even more, and I was full of doubts.
"Judging from the courtyard, he should be a ghost... but how can a ghost appear at noon? He's not an epidemic ghost."
