The old lady gave gentle instructions for a long time. Finally, she touched her son's face and smiled happily and contentedly.
"I am already very satisfied to see you before I leave." She squeezed her son's hand tightly, "Be well, I will feel relieved when I am down there."
She looked back into the distance and saw the road that she had not had time to walk on when she died. It had already appeared in the distance, and two ghost messengers were standing at the end of the road.
Yuan Yongxiang opened his third eye and naturally saw the two blurry figures. His heart trembled and he shouted in a low voice, "Mom."
The old lady patted her son's hand and said, "If we are destined to be together, we will be mother and son again in the next life."
Yuan Yongxiang felt a pain in his heart, and he almost bent over in pain. Too many memories of his past interactions with his mother came to his mind.
He thought, if there was an afterlife, he would never make the same mistake he made in this life, and would protect and take good care of his mother so that she would have no worries for the rest of her life and would not have to endure the wind and rain and worry about him like she did in this life.
Chen Ling waved to the ghost messenger in the distance, asking them to wait for a moment, as he had something else to ask the old lady.
They were too far away, and the ghost thought the young man was calling them over. In an instant, he came closer from a distance and appeared out of thin air and stood in front of Chen Ling.
Chen Ling thought the two were here to greet Jiang Yu, so after a polite greeting, he said, "You three can chat, I'll talk to the old lady alone."
The two ghost messengers' faces were already very pale, and they turned even paler after hearing what he said, as if a layer of stiff white putty had been painted on their skin.
The two bowed respectfully: "Sir."
Jiang Yu nodded and waved for them to stay aside. He listened openly to Chen Ling talking to the old lady from a few steps away.
Chen Ling: "Old lady, let me ask you first, how did the Shen brothers and sisters give you the lake water to drink? Did they let you drink it directly, or did they mix it with other things?"
"It's mixed with normal drinking water." The old lady had experienced many ups and downs, and knew what the young man was thinking at a glance. She said, "You want to ask me how I know? When I was a child, my family was poor. We didn't have a well or running water at home, so my parents went to the river to fetch water."
She narrowed her eyes and said slowly, "The water smelled earthy and sometimes you could even smell the sand. I felt something was wrong the first time they gave me water to drink, but Shen Mingyue said the water purifier at home was broken, so I didn't think much about it. It wasn't until later when it was about to fail that I realized I was being victimized."
When talking about the past, the old lady couldn't stop talking.
A healthy and living person was killed by someone. No matter how open-minded one is, it is impossible not to feel resentment. Chen Ling waited quietly for her next words.
The old lady sighed, a hint of disappointment in her eyes, "Mingyue was nice to me on weekdays, but she started to distance herself from me more than a month ago. Many times I could even feel that she was on guard against me."
"I remember that day, I was not feeling well, dizzy, sleepy, and nauseous, so I wanted to go downstairs to find my aunt and ask her to help me call the hospital. But I accidentally discovered that Shen Mingliang and Shen Mingyue were hugging each other and sitting in my son's study."
This incident still shocks the old lady greatly.
In her opinion, regardless of whether they are related by blood or not, since the two are on the same household registration book, any violation of the rules would be immoral and a despicable act.
Seeing that she was very angry, Chen Ling raised his hand to pat her back to help her calm down.
The old lady took a few breaths and continued, "I didn't go in. I just stood outside the door and eavesdropped. I heard how affectionate they were and how they teamed up with people in the company to trick my son. At the end, they talked about me, saying that I stayed at home every day and prevented them from dating."
The events of that day seemed to be painted on a canvas, every detail was vivid, and she remembered every detail very clearly.
The old lady said, "So they dared to have a secret meeting at home because they thought I would be unable to get out of bed. They put sleeping pills in my food without my knowledge!"
"I was so angry that I lost my mind and couldn't help but rush in... Shen Mingyue was terrified at the time and soon knelt on the ground, hugged my legs and begged me not to tell Yongxiang about it."
"I can't let a woman like this stay at home." The old lady's dark eyes flickered, and her voice became distant and light. "I asked her to turn herself in with Shen Mingliang, and then take the initiative to file for divorce with my son. In exchange, I can keep her scandal secret."
It can be guessed that later on, the Shen brothers and sisters became murderous, and Shen Mingliang returned to Blue Lake Town to fetch lake water, and then Shen Mingyue mixed it into the drinking water and let the old lady drink it.
If the old lady had not been soft-hearted and had not believed the couple's delaying tactics, many things would have been different.
After telling the story of the past, the last bit of resentment in Old Mrs. Yuan disappeared.
Chen Ling asked hurriedly: "Excuse me, before you died, did you feel or see anything?"
The old Taoist said that lake water can end a person's life and allow people to leave with a smile.
Laughter is a very subtle word. You can laugh when you are happy, and you can also laugh when you are unhappy.
For the dead, if their smile is hideous, evil, eerie and terrifying, it is a bad omen, and anyone with a bit of common sense would not dare to let a dying person drink the lake water.
The only plausible explanation is that the deceased had a peaceful smile, which would not make people feel too scared.
It is said that before a person dies, his or her mind will quickly review his or her life. Since it is a peaceful and calm smile, what he or she will see will be beautiful things.
As expected, the old lady said, "I have been worried about my son all my life. When he was a child, I was afraid that he would fall and be bullied by his classmates. When he grew up, I was afraid that he would not do well in school and would end up like me, doing hard labor and earning a living with my own hands... Later, when he graduated and started a family, I was afraid that he would ruin his health due to socializing."
"Maybe God wanted to make up for my unjust death. Before I left this world, I saw my son live a smooth life with a happy family."
She smiled in the direction of Yuan Yongxiang, and her face seemed to have suddenly become ten years younger. Her amiable and kind face was reassuring.
Seeing his mother was about to leave, Yuan Yongxiang ran after her, and finally stopped by the roadside, watching his mother leave quietly.
I don’t know how long he stood there. Yuan Yongxiang took a few deep breaths and raised his hand to wipe his eyes, as if all the sorrow had been taken away with his mother’s departure.
He looked at Chen Ling and said in a hoarse voice: "Mr. Chen, when do you think it would be best to move the grave? Let's set a time first."
Chen Ling took out his mobile phone and looked at the lunar calendar time, then wrote and drew on the notepad on his phone to calculate the best time.
A quarter of an hour later, he said solemnly: "Three o'clock in the afternoon seven days later is the auspicious time."
"Then I'll come at the time you asked. I'll prepare the rest myself." Yuan Yongxiang smiled at Chen Ling, "Then I'll trouble you, Mr. Chen."
Chen Ling shook his head, saying you're welcome. "I'll call you in seven days."
"Okay." Yuan Yongxiang pinched his fingers, hesitated for a few seconds, and couldn't help asking, "Mr. Chen, I wonder how Shen Mingliang and Shen Mingyue will be dealt with."
The old lady could have killed the man herself, but she didn't. Not only that, she also advised Yuan Yongxiang to let go of his hatred and not seek revenge deliberately.
Chen Ling: "Mr. Yuan, good deeds will be rewarded and evil deeds will be punished. Shen Mingliang not only committed economic crimes, but also used witchcraft to kill your mother. He will be punished for both crimes. He will not have an easy life in the second half of his life."
Compared to being killed on the spot, decades of imprisonment and hardship are probably the most painful.
As for Shen Mingyue.
Judging from the current situation, her mental condition is very bad and she may spend the rest of her life in a mental hospital.
Yuan Yongxiang nodded and said with a wry smile, "To be honest, Mr. Chen, if my mother hadn't told me not to pursue the matter too much, I would have wanted to kill the couple with a knife myself."
"The separation of loved ones is like removing bones and scraping flesh. Anyone would have the same idea as you. But Mr. Yuan, the terrible thing about hatred is that it can fascinate the mind. Don't let hatred completely bind your heart."
Chen Ling patted his shoulder and pushed him down hard: "Your mother is in heaven and will protect you. If you miss her, you can go to her grave to pay your respects. She can feel it."
Yuan Yongxiang: “Thank you.”
At this time, it was already very late and the entire sky was a deep blue.
Chen Ling and his group slowly walked out of the cemetery. Yuan Yongxiang left with his assistant, while Chen Ling and the other two planned to rush to Blue Lake Town.
Wu Weiwei was in charge of driving. He took out his cell phone and searched using the navigation system, and discovered that Blue Lake Town was actually hundreds of kilometers away.
Chen Ling: "So far? How about we take a car or a plane?"
Wu Weiwei lowered his head and pressed a few times on his phone, and said distressedly: "There is a plane, but the airport is more than 100 kilometers away from Blue Lake Town, and there is no direct bus. I have to change buses three times."
"By this calculation, it's better to drive." Chen Ling said.
Jiang Yu crossed his arms, raised his chin slightly, and made a decision for the two of them: "Let's go. I'll drive when we get to the rest stop."
Lanhu Town is under the jurisdiction of Lin'an City and is a well-known town with difficulties. Young people feel that there is no future in staying at home, so many of them have left their hometown. The few who stayed behind either do small business in the town or farm in the countryside to accompany the elderly.
After changing drivers at the first rest stop, Jiang Yu was the one driving the whole time. As soon as they entered the town, the young man who had been dozing with his eyes closed was awakened by the noise outside the window.
Through the glass, he saw many people outside carrying small backpacks or bags going to the market. The street was full of shouting and it was very lively.
Wu Weiwei handed him a wet tissue: "Just wipe your face first, we're already in town."
The cold and wet tissue brought a refreshing feeling. Chen Ling stuffed the used wet tissue back into the bag and temporarily put it in his pocket. Then he leaned over the back of the driver's seat with both hands and said, "Brother Jiang, are you tired after driving all night?"
"Not tired." Jiang Yu raised one corner of his lips, "Don't you know my physical strength?"
Chen Ling thought to himself, how would I know? You should ask my poor hands.
Wu Weiwei looked at his brother Chen strangely, then turned to look at his brother Jiang. Both of them were serious and it was impossible to tell whether they were making dirty jokes just now.
He cleared his throat, thinking that his thoughts were not pure enough and that he must have overthought. He changed the subject and said, "Brother Jiang, where are we going? Should we call Li Hongyu first?"
Li Hongyu arrived more than ten hours ago, so he must have a lot of information. Chen Ling nodded at him and said, "You fight."
Wu Weiwei quickly flipped through the address book on his phone, but before he could press a button, Li Hongyu's name appeared on the screen.
"Hello?" Wu Weiwei said with a smile, "I was just about to call you."
Li Hongyu: "I heard from Senior Brother Fat that you guys are also coming to Blue Lake Town."
Wu Weiwei glanced at Chen Ling and said, "We've already reached the town."
Li Hongyu: "I have read the details of the Yuan family's case. You are heading for the lake, right? If so, you may have to drive for more than half an hour to get there. The lake is near a small village under Blue Lake Town. Because it is all rural dirt roads, the navigation has not been entered yet."
Wu Weiwei hesitated and said, "... Then I'll turn on the hands-free mode and you'll give me directions?"
Li Hongyu: “Okay.”
The village is located in the southwest of the town, with its back against the mountains and a small dark green lake directly in front of it. This layout of being surrounded by mountains and water is actually quite good, but for some reason, the village always gives people a lifeless and depressing feeling.
If you look carefully, you will find that the whole village is covered by a very light mist.
Following Li Hongyu's manual navigation, Jiang Yu turned the steering wheel and parked the car on a flat dam outside the village.
As soon as he got off the car, Li Hongyu's head popped out from under the dam.
The dam was a large oval with several rakes thrown on it, and a few rotten sweet potatoes and a straw mat scattered on the ground.
"This place is used by the village to dry grain." Li Hongyu's voice floated over, "But the weather here is bad, it's always foggy, and it's very humid inside and outside the house."
He walked up the dirt road connected to the dam and nodded in greeting to Chen Ling in a very official manner.
Chen Ling walked up to him and looked over his shoulder at the men in black suits standing below: "What are they doing down there?"
Li Hongyu: "We have just collected water samples and are analyzing them."
Chen Ling: "Is it so scientific?"
"Yeah." Li Hongyu explained, "There was a misunderstanding before, and it was a bit of a joke. Everyone is worried that hallucinogens have been put in the water again this time, so we're testing it first."
Chen Ling captured a key word, hallucinogen.
He asked, "You already know that the villagers will see something after drinking the lake water?"
"I just found out." Li Hongyu said, "An elderly couple died in the village last night. Their spirits lingered in the funeral hall and refused to leave. They were filled with a very strong negative energy, so I called them here to ask them about it."
Chen Ling asked: "What did they say?"
Li Hongyu frowned: "They said they saw themselves winning the lottery and being buried in a pile of money."
Chen Ling was stunned: "They love money?"
"Love, but life is not easy." Li Hongyu told everything he knew, "The couple were both from landlord families when they were children. They had a good life for a few days, but then the domestic situation changed, so they wandered to Lanhu Village and became a family through the introduction of a matchmaker in the village."
"I heard from the villagers that the two would go to the lottery station in town to buy lottery tickets whenever they had money."
Chen Ling: “Have you ever won?” If you have never won and never tasted the sweetness, why would you be so obsessed with buying lottery tickets
"We have won." Li Hongyu, "More than ten years ago, we won three thousand yuan. Since then, the two of us have been obsessed with winning the jackpot every day."
Chen Ling: "Both husband and wife had the same dream?"
Li Hongyu affirmed: "The same one."
Chen Ling pursed his lips and muttered to himself, "Mrs. Yuan treated her son as her life, so before she died, she saw her son live a happy and fulfilling life. This old couple's biggest obsession in life was to win the lottery, so before they died, they saw the lottery winning..."
It's obsession. It's a wish.
It’s also a demon in the heart.
Especially for the old couple who just died, they had already rooted the idea of winning the lottery in their lives, and regarded it as a goal and the only way to acquire wealth.
"What did you say?" Li Hongyu couldn't help but ask after hearing him mumbling.
Chen Ling described what Old Lady Yuan saw before she died, but what surprised Li Hongyu the most was his theory of "inner demon".
"Even if it's inner demons, the lake water is a medicine that can cure them." Li Hongyu said, "At least they didn't die with regrets."
Chen Ling: "But you also said that the soul refuses to leave after death. Since it has not left, you naturally know that what you saw before you died was nothing but an illusion."
Including Old Lady Yuan who has already passed away.
Before she died, she was relieved that her son had a smooth life. When she "woke up", she found that her daughter-in-law was a beast in human form and her son would most likely be alone from then on. Did she really have no regrets
Li Hongyu was stunned for a moment, feeling lost, "I was thinking wrongly. The gap between the dream and reality is too big. How can I not feel regretful?"
"Let's wait and see." Chen Ling was a little confused. He felt that this incident was related to the previous ones. It seemed that he was missing a link that could connect the three events.
Li Hongyu nodded, and suddenly remembered something. He asked, "By the way, where are you staying tonight?"
Chen Ling said, "What about you guys?"
"We live in the village." Li Hongyu said, "Some people in the village went out to work, and their houses were left idle. The village chief called the owner and asked for his consent, so we paid and rented one."
Chen Ling: "Let's discuss it again."
Li Hongyu had other things to do, so he met the person, exchanged information, and then returned to the Special Investigation Department team. But before leaving, he glanced at Wu Weiwei and couldn't help but smile.
Wu Weiwei was puzzled and hurried back to the car, using the rearview mirror to look at himself.
“…” He screamed a few times, jumping up and down, “Why are there saliva marks on my face? I clearly wiped my face!”
Chen Ling glanced over and with a "puff", the saliva mark just happened to draw a white line along the right side of his jawbone. He had to slightly raise his chin to see it.
"Who told you not to wipe it carefully?" Chen Ling took out a wet wipe from his bag and threw it over. He turned around to look at Jiang Yu and found that the man's face was a little tense.
The old ancestor had no expression, his eyes were much more gloomy than usual, making people nervous. He swallowed and asked in a low voice: "What's wrong?"
Jiang Yu pursed his lips into a straight line, and after a few seconds he whispered, "There's something wrong with the lake water. I'm afraid a lot of people are buried there."