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墨書 Inktalez
Like many small villages in the West, Mianjiang Village has its distinct characteristics—cracked earth and dilapidated cottages.
It is a poor and backward village, where almost all the villagers, except for the village chief, are illiterate.
The soil in the village is not barren, nor is there severe drought. On the contrary, every year, large areas of fruit trees yield abundant harvests. However, the village is surrounded by mountains, making transportation extremely inconvenient. The villagers can only watch helplessly as their fruits rot away in large quantities.
The mountains trap the village, and this isolation cuts the villagers off from modern civilization. In such a place, it is no surprise that there are no schools.
Everything changed on that day.
It was an ordinary afternoon, and the scorching sun mercilessly baked the land. A few well-dressed strangers arrived in the village, accompanied by the village chief.
Each of them was dressed in suits, clearly having come from a big city.
The village chief took them up to Yin Shan, which encircles the village, and even slaughtered two rare oxen and several hens to entertain them, which caused quite a bit of resentment among the villagers.
Fortunately, these city folks left the village that very night.
Just a week after their departure, a significant event occurred in the village—a construction team arrived and began breaking ground on Yin Shan.
It was then that the village chief revealed the identity of those city people—they were entrepreneurs who had come to build Hope School in the village.
As the village chief had predicted, within a month, a two-story school rose from the ground. This meant that the children in the village would no longer be illiterate; they would gain knowledge, and knowledge would surely change their destinies.
On the fourth day after the school was completed, two volunteer teachers arrived in the village. They were Lin Mu Feng and Shu Huan.
On the fifth day, these two teachers, along with the village chief who had a high school education, held a flag-raising ceremony on the school playground, marking the official opening of the school.
This was undoubtedly a good thing. Lin Mu Feng still vividly remembers the scene of the children saluting under the national flag with tears in their eyes and joyfully holding up their brand new textbooks.
However, not everyone welcomed these concrete buildings. Some of the elderly villagers believed that the construction of the school disturbed the "demon god" sleeping within Yin Shan, awakening it to return to the village.
The "demon god" was a legend passed down in Mianjiang Village, said to be the son of Chi You, who specialized in punishing those with sins. It was described as having a white robe, white face, and white hair, with fangs and wielding two daggers. After each killing, it would leave its signature mark—a circle with a cross inside.
The recent murder of Sister Liu was said by villagers to be a punishment from the "demon god" for her crime of theft.
When Shu Huan first arrived in the village, considering she was a woman, the village chief arranged for her to stay in the "Special Room" on the second floor of the teaching building for safety reasons.
The two thousand yuan "Assistance Fee" provided by entrepreneurs for the village was specifically allocated for this "Special Room." Therefore, it was designed to be particularly secure—featuring reinforced glass windows and a thick iron door. Additionally, there was a safe in the room for storing money, with only the village chief holding the key.
The layout of this "Special Room" consisted of a large room connected to a smaller one, which had been converted into a bathroom—though it had no windows, much to Shu Huan's dissatisfaction, as it made it difficult for odors to dissipate.
The large room served as Shu Huan's bedroom. To show respect for her, the village specially assigned Sister Liu to take care of her.
Sister Liu was a widow in the village, struggling to raise her son. Her daily tasks included cooking for Shu Huan, cleaning, and maintaining the toilet.
Although Shu Huan repeatedly insisted that Sister Liu need not trouble herself with her care, Sister Liu remained adamant. Later, Shu Huan learned that the village chief paid Sister Liu a monthly "salary," which explained Sister Liu's eagerness to help.
The villagers' suspicion that Sister Liu stole the "Assistance Fee" is not without reason—twenty thousand is an absolute temptation for her. Moreover, following the incident, the police investigation revealed that the money had mysteriously vanished.
Although she lived in the same room, Shu Huan claimed she had never touched the Safe—yet Sister Liu would wipe that box several times a day—so she had no idea when the money went missing.
The villagers found it quite strange; the Safe was a high-end item, said to be impossible to open without a key. The only person who possessed the key was the village chief, who firmly insisted he had never given it to anyone. With the village's technology (even that of the township, town, or county), it was impossible to replicate the Safe's key (the chief had mentioned that this key was a high-tech product from the city). So, if Sister Liu really did steal the money, how did she obtain the key?
There had been whispers before that Sister Liu was a widow, yet at night, sounds of passion could often be heard coming from her home. Consequently, villagers speculated that there might be an affair between the village chief and Sister Liu. Some even suspected that Sister Liu's son, Da Bao, might be the chief's child.
The village chief indeed treated Da Bao unusually well; even before Sister Liu's death, he had shown him special care. Now that Sister Liu was gone, the chief took Da Bao into his own home and looked after him with great attention.
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