"This bridge is set up as a Feng Shui Formation. That corpse was probably not a passerby who drowned but was placed by him. He’s raising corpses here by using this stretch of river."
"Raising corpses?" Tan Wenbin’s mouth fell open. "Wow, that sounds pretty hardcore."
Run Sheng asked, "So, Xiao Yuan, what do we do?"
"There are two options. One, I could break his setup, and the corpse will float up. The other is to go directly to his house."
Run Sheng was about to ask how to find it but stopped himself.
Binbin couldn’t hold back and asked, "How do we find it?"
Li Zhiyuan pointed at the stele near the bridge pier: "The name of the person who d money for the bridge is written there."
Tan Wenbin touched his head, "Right, damn, how come I feel so stupid."
Run Sheng grunted in agreement.
Building bridges and roads have always been regarded as acts of acquiring virtue, especially in the villages where financial allocations are insufficient. Often, the village has to figure out a way to fund part of it. If it’s evenly spread across the village that’s one thing, but if funded by a single donor, their name is usually inscribed on the monument.
Li Zhiyuan approached the stele; written on it was a single name, proving that the bridge was funded by one person... Zhou Yong.
"We should ask the village chief. This person should be living in the village. It’s unlikely he’d throw a corpse here and then travel far away."
"I know where his house is." Run Sheng pointed in a direction, "His house is at the north corner of the village."
Tan Wenbin: "Is his family wealthy?"
Run Sheng shook his head: "They live a life that’s even harder than ours. Not many, but his family is one of them."
Li Zhiyuan pondered for a bit: "Let’s go to his house then. Lay things out and make them clear, to avoid having us fish the body out only for him to dump another one."
Tan Wenbin blinked and muttered softly, "It’s a corpse, not fry."
Run Sheng explained: "What Xiao Yuan means is, if we only deal with the corpse and not the person, it could lead to more trouble later on."
The three of them, guided by Run Sheng, made their way toward the north corner of the village.
On the way, Tan Wenbin asked, "Should we call my dad over?"
Run Sheng: "Do you want your dad to know you’re staying at Mr. Shan’s house not to study but to retrieve corpses?"
Tan Wenbin lowered his voice, "But this is a murder case, isn’t it? It’s a job for the police, right?"
"Brother Binbin, it’s not necessarily a murder case. He’s ’raising corpses,’ which you can understand as using the Feng Shui Formation to preserve the bodies. If he killed someone, there would be no need for all this trouble."
"Brother Runsheng, be ready for anything special when we get there. If something happens, act immediately to ensure our safety."
"Mhm, don’t worry, Xiao Yuan, I know what to do."
Liu Yumei, Uncle Qin, and the others are considered "family," so this was the first time Li Zhiyuan has encountered a colleague outside his own circle, and he was somewhat nervous.
Zhou Yong’s house was even more decrepit than Mr. Shan’s. At least Mr. Shan had a broken courtyard; Zhou Yong’s place didn’t even have a fence and was actually a mud house.
Nowadays, villagers are striving to build two-story houses. Living in a mud house without even a brick-and-tile bungalow truly indicated one of the lowest standards of living in the village.
Tan Wenbin was puzzled, "Such a person, and he funded a whole bridge?"
Run Sheng: "He used to work at Xingren Agricultural Machinery Factory. Later, his wife and child got sick, and he couldn’t work. He had to stay home to farm and take care of them."
Tan Wenbin: "Are his wife and child still here?"
"They’re still around. Last time I rode my bike past his front door, I saw his wife and child sitting outside in the sun."
Speaking of which, Run Sheng turned his head to look at Li Zhiyuan, "It was that time, Xiao Yuan, when you were waiting at home for me, and I went to the town market to buy rice and flour for the Grandmaster. I passed by his house, and I saw them."
The three walked onto a dam where a well was covered with a large conical hat, which was cleaned quite well, of course, because there wasn’t much of anything.
The door to the house was shut. Tan Wenbin licked his lips and pushed against it without success, then pushed again, hearing the clanging of a lock.
He looked back at Li Zhiyuan and Run Sheng, shrugging, "Seems we’re not here at the right time; the person must have gone out, the door is locked from inside."
Li Zhiyuan glanced at him and countered, "Doesn’t it strike you as odd that the door is locked from the inside?"
"What’s odd about that? We also lock the door from the inside at my place...Oh, right, how could that be?"
Locking wooden village doors isn’t the same as locking doors in urban apartment buildings.
"Brother Binbin, try calling out again."
"Alright." As Tan Wenbin knocked on the door, he called out, "Hello, is anyone home? Anyone there?"
No response from inside.
At that moment, Run Sheng sniffed the air, then spread his hands out, "Binbin, be quiet for a second."
Seeing this, Li Zhiyuan quickly backed up a few steps.
He knew how sensitive Run Sheng’s nose was.
"Xiao Yuan, there’s a faint smell of decay."
Tan Wenbin eagerly asked, "Is it a corpse?"
Run Sheng shook his head: "It’s hard to say, the smell is too faint, could also be something else."
Tan Wenbin speculated, "Could it be, someone locked the door from the inside and then committed suicide?"
Then, both looked toward Li Zhiyuan.
Li Zhiyuan pointed to a nearby window, "Let’s go in and take a look. If we find a body, then we call the police. If not, we apologize and compensate."
Tan Wenbin went to the wooden window and tugged on it, "It’s also locked."
Run Sheng came over, pushed him aside, grabbed the edge of the window, and with a pull, the whole window came off.
Then, Run Sheng squeezed himself through and entered.