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墨書 Inktalez
Old Shao gestured for the others to wait outside while he walked in alone. Jiang He, Xu Yiman, and the others watched from behind the double glass as Li Sanhan sat in a chair, his hands cuffed to it, unable to do anything that could harm Old Shao.
Upon seeing Old Shao enter, Li Sanhan became visibly agitated. If not for the handcuffs, he would have likely leaped in front of Old Shao in an instant. However, Old Shao appeared unfazed; he took a seat, picked up a disposable cup from the table, and poured hot water from a kettle.
"Old man, old man, help me! I didn’t kill anyone. I have money; I can give it all to you if you let me go," Li Sanhan pleaded anxiously.
Old Shao remained silent, taking a sip of the hot water. As soon as he tasted it, he quickly set the cup down, grimacing as if burned. Clearly, he was not paying attention to Li Sanhan.
This scene made Xu Yiman stifle a laugh; sometimes Old Shao really did seem like a child who had never grown up.
But Li Sanhan found nothing amusing about it; he did not want to die here.
"Old man, please talk! No, leader, please say something! How about two hundred thousand or five hundred thousand? That’s all I have; I can give it all to you!" Li Sanhan continued to struggle desperately.
Hearing Li Sanhan's words, Xu Yiman remarked, "So much money..."
This surprised everyone. In that isolated village, anyone who could come up with fifty thousand yuan was considered wealthy enough to buy a wife and was among the richest families in the village. Yet here was Li Sanhan claiming he could produce five hundred thousand yuan—money whose origins were questionable.
Old Shao blew on his cup of water before finally looking up. "That doesn’t sound right, Li Sanhan. I want to help you, but the problem is that we found over ten children's bodies dug up from your backyard. You understand that when something goes wrong, someone has to take responsibility."
Li Sanhan seemed to catch the implication in Old Shao's words. "Of course someone will take responsibility for this; it was all my wife's doing—she killed them all! I’ve never killed anyone!"
"If you want me to help you, you need to tell me the truth," Old Shao said slowly as he picked up the cup again and took another sip of water.
At that moment, Li Sanhan hadn’t eaten or drunk anything. Watching Old Shao drink leisurely only made him feel thirstier. He licked his cracked lips and said, "I’ll tell you the truth! If I tell you everything, will you let me go?"
"And what about you?" Old Shao countered. "What do you intend to do with those children’s remains soaked in alcohol?"
Li Sanhan fell silent for a moment before saying, "I’ve never killed anyone. But if you want to know what I needed those children for, we have to start from ten years ago."
Li Sanhan began recounting a story that even the villagers were unaware of.
Ten years ago, two women were sold into this village. The village chief personally gave them new names: one was called Xinyue and the other New Star. Xinyue was He Caiwei and New Star was Song Xiangmei. The villagers had never seen anyone as beautiful as He Caiwei—she was perfectly developed at her age with a lovely face and ample figure; she was truly a stunning woman.
The villagers envied Wang Er, He Caiwei's first husband. After He Caiwei gave birth to a son for Wang Er, within a year she was bought by another villager. Over the course of ten years, He Caiwei had no idea how many men she had become a wife to.
Until He Caiwei was sold to the Nobleman.
The Nobleman was a hunter from the mountains, often disappearing for a week at a time to hunt. However, He Caiwei needed food and water, and the Nobleman feared that someone might take advantage of his absence to approach his Wife. Thus, he entrusted the village chief, Li Sanhan, to look after He Caiwei, promising him a share of his wealth in return.
Li Sanhan agreed, but as time went on, he found himself drawn to He Caiwei. Although nearly ten years had passed and He Caiwei was no longer the beautiful girl she once was, she was still far better than his own fierce wife, Wang Daifeng.
Eventually, Li Sanhan succumbed to temptation and defiled He Caiwei.
This incident quickly came to light. That night when the Nobleman returned home, he caught Li Sanhan in the act of his vile behavior. Li Sanhan fled in panic back to his home.
In a world where secrets are hard to keep, everyone soon learned that Li Sanhan had violated the Nobleman's woman. Yet the Nobleman dared not utter a word in retaliation.
Later on, the Nobleman continued to allow Li Sanhan to look after his Wife.
Jiang He had heard this story before; it was told to him by Song Xiangmei. In Song Xiangmei's version, it was Wang Daifeng who discovered Li Sanhan's disgraceful act.
Li Sanhan continued to recount the tale.
In truth, the Nobleman did seek revenge against Li Sanhan, but he did so discreetly. After uncovering Li Sanhan's wrongdoing, an enraged Nobleman seized him and swiftly ended his ability to pursue women forever with a single stroke of his knife.
Ignoring the pain, Li Sanhan ran home with his trousers in disarray. Wang Daifeng had long been aware of Li Sanhan's indiscretions but chose not to confront him because she herself had an affair in the village; both were well aware of each other's secrets. However, one must consider their position—she could not simply overlook her husband's betrayal without losing face.
Fuming, Wang Daifeng stormed into the Nobleman's house. But as the Nobleman was still furious, she dared not confront him directly; instead, she took her anger out on He Caiwei by knocking out all her teeth. In doing so, she felt that matters were settled. Although the Nobleman was angry, he could not retaliate against Wang Daifeng, the daughter of the former village chief.
Thus, the situation continued with the Nobleman allowing Li Sanhan to look after He Caiwei. With his manhood taken from him, Li Sanhan could no longer be considered a man and lost any ability to act on his desires.
Though the Nobleman's reputation suffered greatly, he secretly gained many benefits from Li Sanhan's family and chose not to contest it.
The situation eventually calmed down, but Li Sanhan was left utterly incapacitated.
However, things could not end there. Li Sanhan recalled hearing about a secret remedy somewhere—he had heard that ancient eunuchs drank a special wine made from boys' genitals; over time, they would regain their manhood.
Determined to reclaim his masculinity regardless of how absurd it seemed, Li Sanhan decided to give it a try. He purchased a young boy and had him castrated for the purpose of brewing this wine. To avoid detection, he instructed his wife Wang Daifeng to kill the child and bury him in their backyard.
Li Sanhan felt increasingly frustrated and resentful. He hated the Nobleman, but he lacked the ability to kill him. One day, after feeding He Caiwei some thin porridge, his anger grew. If it weren't for her, he wouldn't have ended up in such a predicament. He wanted revenge on the Nobleman and came up with a clever plan.
First, Li Sanhan pretended to be drunk and went to the Nobleman's house, deliberately leaving the key in the lock as he left. His reasoning was simple: the Nobleman and He Caiwei had no children. If He Caiwei ran away, the Nobleman would never be able to afford another wife in his lifetime.
Li Sanhan wanted the Nobleman to experience the pain of losing everything.
That night, as Li Sanhan expected, He Caiwei indeed ran away. However, he did not anticipate that she was not alone; she had rushed to Song Xiangmei's home and taken her away as well. But this was of no concern to Li Sanhan. To avoid responsibility, he returned home and went straight to bed, sleeping until dawn.
When he finally woke up the next morning, he slapped his forehead in frustration, pretending to suddenly remember that he had forgotten to take the key out last night. He hurried off to apologize to the Nobleman.
But when Li Sanhan arrived at the Nobleman's house, he discovered something unexpected. In the yard lay a corpse—a woman's body without a head. The head was placed nearby; it was He Caiwei's headless corpse.
At this point, Jiang He furrowed his brow. This version of events differed significantly from what he had heard. Song Xiangmei had claimed that during a struggle between Li Sanhan and He Caiwei over a knife, she accidentally decapitated He Caiwei. Yet Li Sanhan had merely slept through the night without pursuing He Caiwei at all!
Realizing this, Wang Chao immediately walked into an adjacent interrogation room where a villager from Desolate Village was being held.
"Is there anything else you want to confess?" Old Shao asked Li Sanhan.
"I have nothing more to say; I truly haven't killed anyone," Li Sanhan reiterated once again.
Old Shao finished his drink and said, "Even if you didn't kill anyone directly, you'll still spend the rest of your life in a cell..."
"Weren't you going to let me go?" Li Sanhan replied.
"When did I ever say that?" Old Shao stood up and walked out.
Li Sanhan shouted in a frenzy, "You motherf***er! You're lying! I can't stay here; I don't want to die here! Let me out! Let me out!"
Old Shao had already exited the interrogation room.
Xu Yiman asked, "Is he telling the truth?"
Old Shao remained silent for a moment before responding, "It doesn't seem like he's lying. But even if he didn't kill anyone directly, he's indirectly responsible for deaths—especially those of children. It's unforgivable. By the way, is Zhang Wenhua inside?"
Xu Yiman nodded, "The last child is perhaps Qiuju Niu and her grandson Zhang Wenhua have already met in the afterlife."
Old Shao turned back to look at the interrogation room, where Li Sanhan was still going mad.
"Desolate Village was originally a place where refugees suffering from war sought refuge. They thought they had found a paradise. But two generations later, that paradise has turned into a hell on earth. Every person trapped within has become a malevolent spirit of the village. Does this world truly have a paradise?"
Old Shao looked at Xu Yiman.
Xu Yiman shook her head, "Perhaps there is, or perhaps there isn't."
"There isn't," Shao the Elder replied. "Wherever there are people, there is evil. That's just how it is; how could there be any paradise?"
"But there's still one question," Xu Yiman said. "If everything isn't a curse, then what about the strange knocking we encountered?"
Old Shao smiled lightly, "Actually, Jiang He and I already knew what was going on. Someone wants us to leave, so they are deliberately trying to scare us. But I can't figure out who wants us to leave. After all, that was our first visit; they haven't gained anything yet."
With that, Old Shao left without looking back.
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