Xue Liangliang was the first to speak: "Xiao Yuan, is there something on the three of us that isn’t on you?"
Li Zhiyuan nodded: "The facial expressions on you three right now are quite unfavorable, indicating that you’re encountering serious misfortune. Although the theory of fortune and Feng Shui isn’t entirely accurate, it at least suggests that you have encountered something unwholesome. I originally thought I would be the same, but oddly enough, I am not."
"Binbin, give me your notebook and pen."
"Brother Liang, here."
Xue Liangliang flipped to a page, drew a square frame, then drew two figures at both the top and bottom, representing the four of us.
At last, he drew a door on the left side of the frame.
"Let’s use the process of elimination.
After we got off the train, we first went to eat together, then got onto Zhu Yang’s truck. During that time, Xiao Yuan was always with us, and the only strangers we contacted were those three, apart from Zhu Yang were the mentor and apprentice at the repair shop.
So this part can be excluded, we should look further back."
Tan Wenbin asked: "Why can’t we continue looking back, like, for example, the night we were in the truck?"
"Because things had already begun by then; Zhu Yang’s disappearance can be taken as a marker; moreover, since Xiao Yuan mentioned that it’s the three of us encountering misfortune, does the punctured tire count? If it’s counted, then the timeline can be extended further back, perfectly covering the time all four of us were together in the truck, do you understand?"
"It seems... I understand."
"Then we can focus on the time on the train."
"But there were too many people on the train."
Xue Liangliang shook his head: "Not really, because most of the time, we stayed in the soft sleeper berth, and the soft sleeper berth is an absolutely clean area, because Xiao Yuan was fine.
Moreover, I clearly remember, the three of us, we never went out together.
So, it would only be possible when each of us individually went out that we encountered the intersection of contacts."
"How about we each recount our experiences stepping out of the soft sleeper? Should I include going to the toilet?"
"Run Sheng, you go first." Xue Liangliang pointed at Run Sheng, "You went to smoke right after boarding the train, if I remember correctly, afterwards you didn’t go to smoke again, right?"
Run Sheng scratched his head, pondered a bit, and responded: "I guess?"
Xue Liangliang slightly frowned, then decisively raised his hand:
"I wasn’t wrong, you only went for a smoke once because halfway through I asked why you weren’t going to smoke anymore, you said the incense you brought this time was really good and was to be saved for meals, not to be smoked casually."
"I..." Run Sheng was somewhat perplexed, "I think I did say that."
"What’s wrong with you?" Tan Wenbin reached out and touched Run Sheng’s forehead, "You don’t have a fever?"
Li Zhiyuan silently watched Run Sheng, then turned his head to look at Xue Liangliang.
Xue Liangliang continued: "On the train, every time Xiao Yuan left the lower bunk to go to the toilet, you accompanied him, so we can exclude this path.
That means, it was only that time when you initially boarded to smoke that you could have encountered something dirty.
Now, focus on the people and items you saw then, no, narrow it down a bit, who did you have physical contact or interact with? Start with that."
Run Sheng struggled to recall as he stutteringly narrated.
Until he mentioned giving candy to a little girl who was ’crying hungry’ to her grandma, Xue Liangliang and Tan Wenbin both raised their hands signaling to stop here.
Xue Liangliang: "I gave a box meal."
Tan Wenbin: "I gave a breakfast meal."
Li Zhiyuan looked at the two of them: "Describe in detail what this old grandma was wearing."
After listening to the two’s descriptions, Li Zhiyuan pursed his lips and said:
"We probably found it because when I saw that old grandma, there was no little girl beside her, instead there was an urn wrapped in cloth."
In a strict sense, Xue Liangliang’s method of elimination wasn’t meticulous, with many loopholes, but it’s a fairly common pragmatic way of thinking; first, ignore the details in the largest possible scope to try to eliminate issues, and if not found, then deal with the details painstakingly.
Xue Liangliang closed the notebook, saying: "It was that little girl. Xiao Yuan has the true ability to navigate the Underworld, so the little girl dared not let herself be seen or... Xiao Yuan is not easily deceived by ’appearances.’"
Tan Wenbin confusedly asked, "But, we clearly gave her something to eat, why would she still harm us? Isn’t that biting the hand that feeds?"
Xue Liangliang looked towards Li Zhiyuan.
Li Zhiyuan attempted to analyze: "Applying the social moral standards of the living to that kind of filthy thing is inappropriate. Moreover, stepping back, the little girl might not have intended to harm you, but her actions resulted in harm."
Tan Wenbin pointed to his own face, then to Xue Liangliang and Run Sheng: "Then what does she want, because we gave her food, does she want us to keep giving?"
Xue Liangliang asked: "Xiao Yuan, I remember you once solved these kinds of issues using the method of setting up an offering table, can we do the same this time?"
Tan Wenbin patted his thigh: "But our luggage and food are all on the truck, now that the truck is missing, where do we get offerings from? We do have incense."
Xue Liangliang: "There are quite a few things hanging outside the village; to solve this immediate trouble, I can risk going into the village alone to fetch some items for the offering table, I’ll leave behind money."
Li Zhiyuan: "No, if this was just a hungry ghost, it would bring misfortune, but not to this extent. She wants food, not to drain the lake to catch all the fish, merely to cling onto you unless..."