In the morning, Zhang Jinsheng came to thank me, saying that his sister had woken up and looked good, had drunk two bowls of ginger soup, and was now being watched by his brother-in-law. As he spoke, he took out the gold ring he had found in the tomb and forced it on me as a thank-you gift.
"Lao Zhang, you are looking down on us. Is this little favor worth giving us such an expensive gift? Keep this thing, and after you sell it, invest the money into a bigger business. Don't engage in tomb-robbing anymore." I pushed the thing back with a stern face.
Zhang Jinsheng was so grateful that he swore that he would never do tomb robbing again and would focus on business and live a good life. But we helped him so much and he felt bad that he couldn't repay us.
I smiled and said, "If you want to repay us, it's very simple. You can ask your sister-in-law to make some pancakes for us and a pot of beef soup. We two brothers can have a few sips and that's all."
"That's easy, that's easy. I'll go buy some beef right now." Zhang Jinsheng said as he was about to go out.
I said, "Wait. Who wants to drink so early in the morning? Let's go in the afternoon. If everything goes well for us, we might be back before the evening, and then we can go to your house for dinner."
Zhang Jinsheng was stunned: "What are you going to do?"
"We want..." Shen Bing said without hesitation.
I coughed twice, touched my nose and told him, "I'm afraid the evil spirit in your sister will come back, so I have to go to Celi Village to find out what's going on."
When Zhang Jinsheng heard this, worry appeared on his face again, and he quickly said, "I know the way to Celi Village, so I'll take you there."
It would be fine if he took us there, so we wouldn't have to ask around and waste time. After all, we were going to the real Celi Village, not Baihua Valley, so there shouldn't be any problems in broad daylight. So the three of us went out and bought some steamed dumplings and ate them on the way as breakfast. The distance of seven or eight miles was not far, so there was no need to rent a car. We arrived in less than an hour on foot.
Standing outside the village and looking over, the whole village was in a peaceful state, nothing unusual. It was just that with the old lady and the Moon Shadow Evil, there was a sense of evil in my heart.
The village is not big, with only 70 or 80 households. Zhang Jinsheng told us that he didn't know why, but the surrounding areas were relatively prosperous because of Mangshan, but this village was very poor. Many young people went out to work, leaving behind many old, young women and children. An honest man like his brother-in-law didn't dare to go out because he was afraid of the outside world. If his sister hadn't been possessed by evil spirits, he wouldn't have moved to Caozhuang Town.
I asked if there were any legends about Celi Village. Zhang Jinsheng shook his head and said he had never heard of any legends. In the eyes of people in this area, this village is like an ancient and primitive place. People's thinking is also very feudal. Many people are unwilling to deal with them and know very little about this village. If their family was not very poor, they would not have married their sister here.
Speaking of his sister marrying Zhang Jiushan, it was because Cao Minglu's mother worked as a coal miner, because the old lady's family was from Celi Village. Zhang Jiushan was her relative, and at that time, their father married his daughter to him to reduce the burden on the family. But every time Zhang Jinxia went back to her parents' home, she never mentioned anything about the village, just like Cao Minglu's mother, who never mentioned the pros and cons of the village. Everyone thought that they didn't want to talk about the poor life in their village, so as not to be embarrassed in front of everyone, so no one asked.
I touched my nose and said, "So you and Cao Minglu are relatives."