INSIDER Chapter 28

The village chief’s body was unexpectedly “intact.”

The term “intact” refers to the difference in how he died compared to Guo Jianping and Yang Cheng. When the village chief died, there were no shattered snake bodies all over the room.

It seemed as if he suddenly lost his breath, leading to speculation that he might have died suddenly. The village chief’s wife, who was the first to find him not breathing, also thought so. However, before she could react and cry out, the village chief’s body began to rot and decay visibly, emitting a foul stench. Maggots crawled out from his decaying flesh, and as the village chief’s wife screamed, a slender, blood-red snake slowly crawled out of his mouth.

After Song Gui remarked that the body was still “fairly intact,” He Mingde, who was about to vomit, covered his mouth and said, “You call this intact?”

Lu Chu and Li Jiapeng also felt uneasy.

Song Gui replied, “At least it hasn’t turned into a pool of blood.”

The group fell silent, their mood further weighed down by the memory of Yang Cheng’s tragic death.

When the village chief’s wife saw Song Gui and the others, she initially intended to drive them away, but was stopped by Song Gui’s words, “If you don’t want more people to die, cooperate with us.” Madam Wang’s words were still fresh in her mind, saying that death was inevitable and that the entire village might not escape such a tragic fate.

What if she was next…

Despite her reluctance, she chose to listen to Madam Wang and allowed the group to investigate. Though tears kept falling as she thought of her deceased husband, whom she had spent most of her life with despite their frequent arguments, she realized that they would have relied on each other in their old age, with only the two of them left to look after each other, until one passed away first, leaving the other to live on in memories.

Even though the village chief’s body was unexpectedly “intact,” they still didn’t know how to examine it or if there were any clues on the severely decayed corpse.

Now, they could only search for clues in the photos.

The village chief’s body was left for his family to deal with. Soon, someone brought a wooden coffin and placed the village chief’s body inside. According to local customs, the deceased are not buried immediately but laid in the main hall with a funeral altar, with an empty coffin paraded around the village before burial three days later, and a memorial tablet placed until the seventh day. Most people wished for him to be buried peacefully.

Song Gui, under the resentful gaze of the village chief’s wife, calmly took out a photo and asked, “Please accept our condolences. We will find the killer as soon as possible, whether it’s a human or a ghost. Also, have you seen this girl in the photo?”

The village chief’s wife reluctantly took the photo and looked at it for a while before saying, “Isn’t this Teacher Guo’s first wife, Lin Lin?”

This matched Lu Chu and Song Gui’s speculations and revealed Guo Jianping’s first wife’s name—Lin Lin.

Song Gui then took out another photo and asked, “What about this person?”

This time, the village chief’s wife thought for a long time before looking at them suspiciously, “She’s also from our village. When Teacher Guo got married, she was among the group attending his lectures. Why does she have a photo with Teacher Guo?”

Lu Chu pondered upon hearing this.

Song Gui raised an eyebrow, “Where is this girl now?”

The village chief’s wife recalled, “She moved out of our village twenty years ago. By the way, she’s a distant relative of my husband…”

Mentioning the village chief, her voice choked with emotion, “What a tragedy…”

Lu Chu and Song Gui exchanged a glance. Lu Chu said, “Auntie, please don’t be sad. We will give you an explanation. Can you tell us this girl’s name and when she roughly moved out?”

The village chief’s wife said, “I don’t remember her full name. In the village, we usually call the younger ones by their nicknames. I vaguely remember her being called Cuimei… She moved out shortly after Lin Lin ran away, before Guo Jianping married Wei Rong.”

“Thank you,” Song Gui continued, “We’ll go investigate other places now. Sorry for the disturbance.”

The village chief’s wife said nothing, wiping her eyes as she went to the main hall, kneeling by the coffin.

——————

It was late at night when they returned to Lu’s house. To avoid any incidents, they decided not to go out again until dawn.

They gathered in a side room, sitting around a wooden table on the bed.

Song Gui asked, “Does anyone have any thoughts?”

Lu Chu said, “Guo Jianping is suspicious.”

Qi Li gave Lu Chu a deep look and said, “I second that.”

Li Jiapeng ruffled his hair until it was messy, saying, “I feel like I’m going crazy. I don’t have any thoughts; I just feel like I’m dreaming, and I can’t wake up from this damn nightmare!”

“Sigh—” He Mingde sighed, “I’m also confused. Brother Lu, why don’t you tell us your guesses first?”

Lu Chu took out the two photos, organized his thoughts, and slowly said, “I found this photo in a book on the podium where Guo Jianping used to teach. I heard from my grandmother about those times. They said his first wife was quite beautiful. Although the man and woman in the photo are not doing anything intimate, there’s an inexplicable sense of ambiguity. Plus, it’s strange for a man to carry a photo with a woman, sandwiched in his most frequently used book. So, I initially suspected it might be Guo Jianping’s first wife. Now, it seems my guess was wrong, but I trust my intuition. The ambiguous atmosphere between these two is not fake. Doesn’t this suggest that Guo Jianping wasn’t as deeply in love with his first wife as the legend says?”

Song Gui nodded, “I think so too.”

“And,” Lu Chu continued, “Wei Rong’s reaction to the photo of ‘Cuimei’ was somewhat reasonable, as they might not have met. But her reaction to the photo of ‘Lin Lin’ was odd.”

“Odd?” Li Jiapeng asked, “What was odd about it? I just remember her screaming non-stop.”

“Completely odd,” Lu Chu said, “According to what we’ve heard, ‘Lin Lin’ left the village twenty years ago, supposedly running away with a rich man, which allowed Wei Rong to marry Guo Jianping. If that were true, even if Wei Rong were insane, she should have reacted with jealousy, disdain, or even hatred when seeing the photo.”

Song Gui stroked his chin and continued, “But she didn’t. Although she screamed, there was no jealousy. Instead, there was extreme fear and terror.”

“Maybe even some inexplicable pity,” Lu Chu said calmly.

“Pity?” He Mingde asked, “Why?”

“I don’t know yet,” Lu Chu shook his head, “The problem now is that the events from twenty years ago are not as we’ve been told. The real question is, what actually happened, and where are the people who know the truth?”

Li Jiapeng collapsed on the bed, covering his eyes with his arm, and muttered, “I just want to go home now.”

He Mingde said nothing.

Song Gui suggested, “Let’s visit Wei Rong again tomorrow. If that doesn’t work, we can question other villagers. We should be able to find out something.”

Lu Chu looked at him and shook his head, “Questioning others is a last resort. We don’t have the time to convince everyone to cooperate with us, and the villagers are probably avoiding us like the plague. We know that Lin Lin’s family moved out of the village in fear after she ‘ran off with a rich man,’ so they’re probably hard to find. Wei Rong’s parents are deceased, and her other relatives only deliver meals to her. We might get some information from them. What I really want to know is if anyone knows where ‘Cuimei’ is now?”

He Mingde frowned, “Her? I think that’s unlikely…”

“Why are you so keen to know?” Li Jiapeng asked, “I think information from Wei Rong is more important.”

“Because I have a hypothesis,” Lu Chu said, “Do you remember the stories we heard? After Guo Jianping married Wei Rong, he initially stayed, but later started going to the city. People rumored he was meeting ‘Lin Lin, who returned after running off with a rich man.’ Given the timeline of ‘Cuimei’ moving out and their photo, I suspect that if he went to meet someone, it might not have been Lin Lin but ‘Cuimei.'”

Song Gui nodded, “You make a good point, but we still lack evidence.”

“That’s why I said it’s just a hypothesis. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”

Song Gui sighed, “Let’s call it a night and discuss it tomorrow.”

“I… I have something to say…” Li Jiapeng quickly spoke up.

He Mingde said, “Speak up.”

“I’m afraid to sleep alone,” Li Jiapeng was genuinely scared, clutching He Mingde’s shirt, his voice trembling, “And I don’t want to sleep in a room with just one other person. What if… what if the person with me is a ‘ghost’?”

“Then what do you suggest?”

“How about the four of us plus Lu Chu sleep in one room…” he quickly added, “I can sleep on the floor!”

Song Gui thought for a moment, “I think it’s a good idea. Given the situation, it’s safer for us to stick together. From my experience with horror movies, splitting up is a death sentence.”

Li Jiapeng forced a smile, “Can you not joke about horror movies now? It’s not funny.”

So they all decided to stay in one room.

Lu Chu asked his grandmother, and she mentioned that there was a folding single bed in the storage room that could be combined with the old sofa. The sofa and the folding bed, when placed together, could accommodate two adults. Village beds were large enough to fit three adults, so no one had to sleep on the floor.

After some discussion, they decided that Song Gui, He Mingde, and Li Jiapeng would share the big bed, while Lu Chu and Qi Li would sleep on the combined sofa and single bed.