Chapter 9 9. The truth comes out

After some thinking, Jiang Xiaolou felt that he had to talk to Chen Peiqi about a problem, so he called him—the two exchanged their mobile phone numbers when they parted in the morning.After hearing his brief introduction of the situation, Chen Peiqi was also quite surprised, and immediately said that he would come to the police station to find him, but Jiang Xiaolou remembered that he said that he didn't like going to the police station, and besides, he was about to leave work, so he invited him to a restaurant Meet and drop by for lunch. After hanging up the phone, Jiang Xiaolou greeted the team leader, then came out of the police station and went straight to the restaurant. When he arrived, he found that Chen Peiqi had arrived and was ordering food.

"What do you want to eat?" Chen Peiqi asked him. "Whatever." After Jiang Xiaolou finished speaking, he handed the wooden sign to him, and then explained the situation and his own speculation on the matter to him. Chen Peiqi looked at the wooden sign repeatedly, and murmured for a while, "So that's what happened! I finally understand..." Jiang Xiaolou looked at him quietly, and didn't rush to speak, he knew he would go on talking, sure enough, Chen Peiqi looked up at him and said: "This wooden sign is the 'identity card' of the disciples of Xia Maoshan! "

"ID card?" "I'm just making a metaphor. I told you that they don't usually live in Fengmen Village. They may be doing some kind of ordinary work in the city like you and me. Because they don't often meet, some members even They don’t know each other, so when there is a message to be sent or something needs to be contacted with someone, how can you tell if the other party is your brother?” "Check the opponent's wooden sign." Jiang Xiaolou took it and said. "Yes, if I'm not mistaken, everyone who went down to Maoshan with a wooden sign like this had one on them. The old horse and the others picked up the piece, which was probably lost by a disciple from Xiamaoshan. After all, it was theirs. "Old Nest"." Chen Peiqi picked up the wooden sign again, looked at it for a while, then shook his head and said, "I'm just wondering, since this thing is not very important, why do they still pursue Lao Ma and others so hard?"

"Maybe if you lose the wooden sign, others won't recognize his identity?" "It's absolutely impossible. If you lose your ID card, you can get a replacement, but this thing. So..." He looked up at Jiang Xiaolou, "There is only one possibility." Jiang Xiaolou also thought about it, and opened his mouth and said, "It's not the wooden sign they're after." After a pause, he continued, "I've been wondering too, Liu Chao didn't hide the wooden sign somewhere that others couldn't find it. , at least at the beginning, since those people follow them almost all day, there is no reason why they can't find it."

"But why didn't they say what they were looking for?" "Maybe both parties misunderstood—Liu Chao and others thought they wanted the wooden sign, but they probably didn't know that Cui Bo had picked the wooden sign, and they just wanted something else in return, but Liu Chao— At least Liu Chao didn’t even know there was such a thing.” Chen Peiqi nodded thoughtfully, "But we don't know what they lost." "Someone always knows, at least one of those three people knows. But let's put this question aside for the time being. I came to you to ask you if there is any witchcraft in Xiamao Mountain that is needed... How should I put it, Zhang Mingxing is involved in two cases, and the cases happened at the same time, so it is difficult for me not to connect them."

"Do you want to know why the people from Xiamao Mountain kidnapped the girl?" "That's what it means. My personal guess is that maybe the witchcraft they are about to perform must have several girls with special birth dates present. Potter's blood...you know what I mean?" "Understood, I didn't expect you to like watching "Harry Potter" too." Jiang Xiaolou shrugged: "Shall we discuss this issue later?" "Yes, but I really don't know any witchcraft that requires a girl to complete, and it has to be a girl born on the same day."

"Does that friend of yours know? That Taoist priest." "Maybe, let me ask." After speaking, he took out his mobile phone, dialed the number, listened to his ear for a while and put it down, "I can't find anyone. Maybe he went to the mountain to do a dojo. I'll contact him later." "As soon as possible, the day after tomorrow is their day of sacrifice. If I can't explain why, our leaders will probably not agree to send people there. We can't just go there by ourselves, right?" Chen Peiqi nodded, and said with a smile: "Solve two cases in one go, you are really going to become a famous detective."

Jiang Xiaolou smiled and shook his head: "Let's wait until the case is solved." Coming out of the restaurant, Jiang Xiaolou saw that it was still early, and decided to go home before going to work. He originally promised Ji Ruxuan to go home for lunch, but he failed to keep it. He always went back to comfort her.However, Jiang Xiaolou was not sure if she would run back to her mother's house in a fit of anger - she would often do this before, and then wait for him to pick her up in person.So he called her on the way home. "You still remember to call you, Detective Jiang." As soon as the call was connected, Ji Ruxuan yelled, "You come back and take your things and move to the work unit, I will pack them for you!"

Jiang Xiaolou laughed "hehe": "Today is really a special situation, I..." "This excuse has been used ten thousand times, you want something new." Her tone softened a bit, and seeing the opportunity, Jiang Xiaolou hurriedly said a lot of good things while the iron was hot, and finally coaxed her. "In order to express your apology, you went to buy a bowl of Malatang and brought it back to me. In order to wait for you, I haven't eaten yet." "All right, I'll go buy it right away, by the way, what did you cook for lunch?" "I did—later, there's a knock at the door."

A few seconds later, Jiang Xiaolou heard the sound of the door opening. He was about to ask who was coming, when he suddenly heard Ji Ruxuan's scream, which was very short, followed by a "snap", as if the phone fell to the ground, but the phone Without hanging up, Jiang Xiaolou came back to his senses and called out Ji Ruxuan's name: "What's the matter, hello, where's the person?" A man's voice suddenly sounded on the other end of the phone: "Go to hell and find her..." The phone hung up. Jiang Xiaolou was stunned for five or six seconds, and suddenly ran towards his own direction like crazy, murmuring his girlfriend's name subconsciously: "Xuanxuan, Xuanxuan, you will be fine, you will be fine... "

The door of the room was wide open, and everything in the room was as before. There were even two plates of prepared cold dishes on the dining table—the hot dishes must be warmed in the microwave, Jiang Xiaolou knew, but the cook was gone.The red mobile phone that originally belonged to her was lying quietly on the floor near the door in the living room. Jiang Xiaolou slumped on the sofa, his eyes were broken, he was panting heavily, like a person who lost his heart, he just didn't understand why his 'heart' was lost, and where was it?Who is the man who stole his 'heart'? He suddenly remembered the previous cases of missing girls. Could it be... Ji Ruxuan was also kidnapped by people from Fengmen Village?But her date of birth is not the same as that of the missing girls, so why was she still kidnapped?If it wasn't these people who did it, who could it be? Jiang Xiaolou took a deep breath and told himself to calm down, he must calm down, but he couldn't do such a simple thing. As a policeman, he has experienced many thrilling things, but he has never Feeling like this now, panic, fear, cold hands and feet, his brain can hardly turn, and he can't use his always powerful logical thinking ability to think about the matter in front of him.He closed his eyes painfully. After about ten minutes like this, he finally reluctantly accepted this unacceptable reality, stood up from the sofa, and walked around a few rooms, but found no suspicious signs, only the mobile phone, which was finally " The kidnappers' held it, and there may be fingerprints on it.Jiang Xiaolou found a small plastic bag, carefully put the mobile phone into it, and then flew downstairs with the bag. When he arrived at the police station, Jiang Xiaolou went straight to Gao Fei, briefly explained the situation to him, and handed him the plastic bag containing the mobile phone for fingerprint scanning. She will be interrogated daily for at least a week after her arrest. The two policemen who were in charge of interrogating her were yesterday, they blocked Jiang Xiaolou from the door, and one of them said: "Forget what happened yesterday, but today you can't break the rules anymore!" "Xiao Liu, let him in." Gao Fei didn't know when he appeared behind Jiang Xiaolou, and said to the two criminal policemen.Of course his words were effective, the two criminal policemen didn't say anything, they stepped back, leaving room for Jiang Xiaolou to enter the house. Jiang Xiaolou walked straight over, squatted down in front of Zhang Mingxing, and asked, "Let me tell you straight, my fiancée disappeared, did your people take her away?" Zhang Mingxing frowned and looked at him, then suddenly smiled. "So you are the policeman they said. To tell you the truth, we selected her early. It's really hard to find a girl born on the seventh day of August in the Year of the Rabbit." It really was them!Jiang Xiaolou said coldly: "Don't you only want girls born in 1986?" Zhang Mingxing said slowly: "Our ancestors not only eat tiger meat, but also drink rabbit blood. It is not easy to find a rabbit, but because you are a policeman, we are worried about accidents, so we decided to wait until the last day. Now, even if I put everything Let me tell you, it's too late." Jiang Xiaolou grabbed her by the collar, this was the first time he had been rough with someone since he grew up. "Where did you get her? Tell me quickly!" "So what if I tell you, when you find her, she will already be a corpse. Ha ha, but it is her honor to be chosen by the ancestors, her soul will not suffer in hell..." Jiang Xiaolou seemed to hear the sound of his own heart being broken, he let go of his hand in a slump, stumbled out of the interrogation room, and walked towards the door. "Hey, Xiaolou..." Liu Momo let out a soft cry, and was about to catch up, when Gao Fei stretched out his hand to stop him, "Let him be quiet for a while." "I just wanted to persuade him." Gao Fei watched Jiang Xiaolou's figure disappear outside the door of the office hall, sighed and said: "If he listens to people's persuasion, he is not Jiang Xiaolou." It was night, Liu Chao lay down very early, but it was the same as yesterday, and he didn't fall asleep until the middle of the night, but tonight he had a dream.Unlike usual dreams, this time, he actually knew that he was dreaming. In the dream, he was still sleeping on the bed in his own bedroom, unable to move his whole body, only his eyes were still his own. He opened them wide in fear, and his eyes moved around in a limited angle, as if he was searching for something. He subconsciously knew Something bad might happen next, and he was terrified, but there was nothing he could do but wait. After an unknown amount of time, the bedroom door was finally opened, slowly, as if afraid of waking up something, and then two figures floated in from behind the open door—it was indeed floating in the air, at first glance Seeming as if there was a rope pulling them in front, Liu Chao fixed his eyes on the two of them. With the bright moonlight coming in from the window, he saw that it was Cui Bo and Yaoyao who came!These two people are dead! They were still wearing the same clothes they used to wear when they were alive, and their appearance and grooming were the same as usual, except that their faces were a little pale, and it was unclear whether it was the moonlight or their own. The two came all the way to his bed, stopped and looked down at him. Liu Chao felt that his heartbeat was about to stop. Given his previous experience, he didn't know whether it was really the ghosts of the two who came at this moment, or the man in black pretended to be them, but no matter what came, it was not a human being.Liu Chao wanted to tell them to go away, but he couldn't open his mouth—it wasn't because he was speechless because of fear or nervousness, but because he really couldn't open his mouth, as if his mouth was stuck with brown sugar.He watched helplessly as Yaoyao lowered his head and showed him a weird smile. "Look, how beautiful the moonlight is tonight, tomorrow is the fifteenth day." After a pause, she continued: "Let's be friends, we are here to report to you, they have lost their patience, tomorrow night, they will come to kill you, the first is Qin Nalan, and then the old horse , You and Song Qing, you are all going to die. No matter where you hide, it is useless, Cui Bo and I are living examples." "You have to trust us, this is your last chance, give it back, and it will pass - don't worry about it, if you want to save your sweetheart, friends, and yourself, you have no choice. Tomorrow night, they will be waiting for you in Fengmen Village, take something to find them, my friends, I hope you are alive and well." After saying these words, the two turned around and drifted out of the door as quietly as when they came. Finally, the door was slowly closed, and everything seemed to have never happened. A few minutes later, Liu Chao woke up automatically. In a cold sweat. He didn't fall back asleep until dawn. He smiled when the first ray of sunlight shone through the window in the morning.Ever since he came back from Fengmen Village, he has never shown such a relaxed smile like this moment, because he knows that when the sun rises tomorrow, his friends—especially Qin Nalan, will live back to freedom Life, in their life, there will be no more Fengmen Village, no more people in black, no more depression and panic, it's like having a nightmare, and finally, when they wake up from the dream, all the bad things disappear. He has never been an optimist, so he doesn't really believe in Yaoyao's promise to him in the dream, but she is right in saying: I have no choice, for Qin Nalan, for her to continue living in this world. In this world, he had to take this risk. Even if he didn't have the dream last night, he had already decided to do it. He was afraid of death at first, but as long as he thought that doing so would bring back the new life of his sweetheart, he wouldn't do it at all. Fear, if a person is not even afraid of death, what else can make him worry and be afraid?Therefore, at this time, Liu Chao felt relaxed. He was just a little bit reluctant to part with Qin Nalan. They had just tasted the sweetness of love together, but they were likely to be separated from now on. Of course he didn't want this to happen, but this result was at least better than the two of them embracing death together. As a man, Liu Chao feels that he has the responsibility to protect her safety, otherwise he is not qualified to talk about love. He remembered a time when he attended a friend’s Western-style wedding. Before announcing the couple’s marriage, the officiant read a passage like this as usual: Love is tolerance, love is kindness, and love is not abandoning each other at any time... The memory is still fresh, but now he feels that he should add another sentence: When your other half is in danger, you should protect her safety without hesitation, even if you pay the price of your life for it... and true love What is death in comparison? Liu Chao smiled again. He felt that although he had no talent, he was at least a qualified man. At seven o'clock, when Qin Nalan and Song Qing got up and went downstairs, Liu Chao had already prepared breakfast - three servings of fried rice and a pot of cowpea porridge.Seeing the unbelievable expressions of the two, Liu Chao scratched his head in embarrassment: "Actually, I can cook, but I'm usually lazy, and it's rare to get up early today, so..." "It's useless to just say it, I have to taste it." Song Qing said, taking a bite of the fried rice, "Well, the taste is okay, I really didn't see that you still have this specialty." Qin Nalan narrowed his eyes and looked at him, and said softly: "In that case, I will leave all my breakfast to you from now on." "As long as you are willing to eat, I am willing to serve." Liu Chao said pretending to be relaxed, but sighed in his heart: This is the first time you eat my food, but it may be the last time. "By the way, Liu Chao, that Taoist priest hasn't called you yet?" Song Qing asked suddenly. Liu Chao shook his head: "So we can only follow what we said earlier, we will stay in a crowded place 24 hours a day today, let's let today go." Qin Nalan looked at him and said, "Then let's go to the park in a while. There must be a lot of people there this weekend, so it's just for fun. I haven't been to the park for a long time." Song Qing nodded in agreement: "After dark, go to the bar that is open all night. I will treat you to a drink all night." "Okay, but I may not have time to accompany you during the day. Jiang Xiaolou asked me to go to his unit to help organize things, at least in the afternoon." Qin Nalan frowned and looked at him: "But, you alone—" "Don't worry, no matter how powerful those things are, they don't dare to go to the police station to make trouble. Besides, it's still daytime. Just pay attention to your own safety. I'll come to you when I'm done. I'll call when the time comes." Qin Nalan had no choice but to nod, secretly grabbed his hand under the dining table, and squeezed it hard. "You must come to us early!" "Definitely!" Liu Chao said, looking at her affectionately. After breakfast, Liu Chao got up and left.Qin Nalan escorted him all the way to the gate. Liu Chao was afraid that he would be reluctant to leave, so he hurriedly got into his BYD. He drove this car for a purpose, and he didn't have time to take the bus. When the car turned around slowly, Qin Nalan was still standing outside the courtyard gate and looked at him silently. Her tender gaze almost made Liu Chao cry, but he still smiled and stuck his head out of the car window. "I'm leaving, I will miss you!" He shouted at her, then started the car and sped forward, the wheels kicked up a cloud of dust. Of course, Liu Chao's destination was not the police station, it was just a cover to let him get away, so that he would have enough time to rush to Fengmen Village, and there was still some time to get there before dark.He took out his mobile phone and called his father while driving. He didn't say anything, but reminded him to stop smoking and drinking and pay more attention to his health. After hanging up the phone, he hesitated and dialed Li Jie's mobile number. It has been more than two months since we had no contact. Hearing her familiar voice again, Liu Chao felt as if he had passed away. He asked her to meet at the gate of a movie theater they used to frequent, which was not far from Li Jie's residence. , since breaking up, Liu Chao has never been here again. He drove to the place, and after about one cigarette, Li Jie also arrived. She was still so beautiful, but her long hair became short and dyed back to black. As soon as she met, she took Liu Chao's hand, looked up and down several times, and said with a smile: "You seem to have lost weight, is it because you miss me?" "Li Jie, I actually..." "You must miss me, but you are too embarrassed to find me, right? I actually miss you too, but I seem to have told you that I will not take the initiative to contact you, so I have been waiting for you to come to me, although It's been a long wait, but I finally got it, Liu Chao!" She suddenly stepped forward and hugged him tightly, choked up in his ear and said: "How many times I can't help but want to call you and hear your voice, but I keep insisting, I'm afraid you will forget me Yes, and I have changed a lot during this time, I am no longer so fond of playing, I spend all my free time doing cross-stitch, I think, when a picture is embroidered, you will come to me, Liu Chao, I've been waiting for you, hey, it's just that the old habit of talking has not changed, hehe, why don't you talk?" Liu Chao took a deep breath, summoned up his courage and said, "Actually, I asked you out this time to tell you... I have a girlfriend, a new girlfriend." He felt Li Jie's body in his arms visibly trembling, then pushed him away hard, and looked at him with an unbelievable look: "I don't believe it, are you trying to get angry with me on purpose? Are you still angry with me?" , it means you still care about me, right?" "Li Jie, I think..." He grinned, wanted to laugh but couldn't, so he said frankly, "I'm sorry, believe it or not, it's over between us." "You lied to me!" Li Jie yelled, causing many passers-by to look over, but she didn't care, tears kept streaming down her cheeks. "It's true, I don't want to irritate you, I have a good relationship with my current girlfriend, just like we did when we started." Li Jie wiped away her tears, and said coldly: "Can you guarantee that you will be together forever? Will you one day miss us like we are today? Liu Chao, what is love? When you love, everything is It's good, when she doesn't love, she has to stand here and listen to you say these heartless words, and then go away sad, right?" "I don't know if she and I can grow old forever," Liu Chao stared into her eyes and said seriously, "I can't even guarantee that we will be together tomorrow, but I will try my best to love her, just like I did to you at the beginning." In that way, if I break up with her one day, it can only be said to be God's will, but I will not regret the feelings I gave to her, and I will not regret loving you so much, but Li Jie, we really have no chance... I came to see you today, I never mean to provoke you, I just want to say goodbye to you, I know it's vulgar to say that, but if we can, we're still friends..." "We can't be friends." Li Jie lowered her head dejectedly, and let out a wry smile, "I waited for two months and seven days, but I didn't expect this result...It was my fault before, and now I'm trying to get rid of those shortcomings. Changed it, but...it's too late, isn't it?" "As long as you don't plan to become a nun, it's not too late." Liu Chao tried his best to make the conversation more relaxed. "Yes, there are a lot of people pursuing me, and I will have a boyfriend soon." "Then... I wish you happiness." "I don't know how to say blessings, and you don't want to look for me again, but I will never forget you, and I will never forget you!" She stepped forward to hug his neck again, did not cry, but Liu Chao could feel it. Her whole body was shaking.Finally, she let go of him and looked at his face quietly, as if she wanted to engrave his appearance in her heart. Neither of them spoke again. After a long time, Li Jie finally turned around and walked slowly into the distance. She never looked back. The car was driving fast on the expressway. Near noon, Liu Chao arrived in Qinyang, saving more than half the time compared to taking a long-distance bus, without any delay. He parked the car on the side of the road (the mountain road cannot drive), and went Walked up the mountain road leading to Fengmen Village. It is difficult to have a mobile phone signal in the mountains. Of course Liu Chao knew this, so he called Jiang Xiaolou as soon as he entered the mountain. "I don't have time to chat with you, so talk quickly." Jiang Xiaolou's voice sounded a little hoarse, and Liu Chao wasn't sure if it was a problem with the mobile phone signal, but his tone was obviously impatient, which made Liu Chao Chao was very surprised. In his impression, Jiang Xiaolou had never spoken to anyone in this tone, let alone treated his long-time friend.Therefore, he guessed that Jiang Xiaolou must have encountered something very unpleasant. "what's wrong with you?" "Nothing, are you okay?" "I want to say goodbye to your old friend, because you may never see me again, and then I entrust you to take care of Qin Nalan more in the future - he is my girlfriend now. These two things." Liu Chao Finish in one breath. "What do you mean?" Before Liu Chao could answer, he continued, "Did you go to Fengmen Village?" Liu Chao was startled, he didn't expect Jiang Xiaolou to be so predictable, he didn't want to tell him. "You are still so smart, you can guess right." "Stop talking nonsense, where are you now?" "I'm almost there." Jiang Xiaolou was silent for a while, and said in a very stern tone: "Aren't you dying!" "I do not know what to do." "You idiot! Listen to me carefully, things are not what you think..." The voice stopped abruptly here, and then only the sound of "Zi Zi" remained, and Liu Chao "Hello" several times but disappeared Responding, I brought the phone closer to my eyes and saw that there was no signal at all.Maybe it was because I was walking too fast, and I had reached an area where there was no signal. He wanted to walk back and call Jiang Xiaolou again to find out what he wanted to say, but after thinking about it, Jiang Xiaolou must be thinking about his safety and didn't want him to go to Fengmen Village alone.Anyway, the things that should be explained have been explained, and if we continue to talk to him, Liu Chao is really worried that he will be persuaded by him. Besides, the time is relatively tight now, and he really doesn't want to go back. So he will lose the signal and become a mobile phone that is completely electronic. Put it back in your pocket and continue on your way. Several long hours passed, and when it was getting dark, he finally crossed the Xiaoyao River Valley and came to the place that had appeared in his nightmares many times: Fengmen Village. Fengmen Village, where ghosts lurk and ghosts gather.