Chapter 193

The people who went to call the village head ran back soon. They shouted at the crowd there, “The village head is here. The village head is here.”

The villagers looked this side and indeed they saw a middle-aged man coming towards them.

“Village head,” these people greeted him right away.

The village head just nodded and walked over to Mr. Hu’s bedside. He did not move the corpse. After all, it was rotten and could not be touched.

After the village head checked Mr. Hu’s body, he turned to Xu Ran, “Who are you? Why did you come to our village?”

Xu Ran cupped his hands to the village head, “My name is Xu Ran. I’m from the Xu Village in Lingshui Town. I came to your village to buy fruit trees. By the way, I came to visit Mr. Hu. He used to stay at my house last year, and before last Spring Festival, he said that his son would ask him to go back home to enjoy his life. Thus I sent him back to his home. Today I wanted to pay him a visit. However, no villager had ever seen him. I felt it strange and came over for a check. Village head, you can ask these villagers about it. They have been with me all the time since I came into the village.”.”

After listening to Xu Ran’s description, the village head looked at the several people behind Xu Ran. They were indeed from the village and they were indeed nice people.

The village head asked the people behind Xu Ran, “Is that the case?”

Xu Ran also turned around and looked at those people. One of them nodded, “That’s the case. He has been with us ever since he came to the village.”

From what the several villagers had proved, the village head believed Xu Ran’s words and at seeing the door bolt in his hand, he asked, “What’s that in your hand?”

Xu Ran raised his hand, “Well, this is the door bolt that was taken down from the door. Look, village head, there is a missing piece in the bolt. However, it just so happens to fit the piece held in Mr. Hu’s hand. Thus we doubt that Mr. Hu was killed by someone. We can see from the blood at the door and the half piece of wood in his hand.

The village head replied, “We know now there is a murder in the village. You are an outsider after all, so you must stay in the village for the time being!  I will get someone to report it to the Yamen, and you will be able to leave after the investigation.”

With that, the village head asked someone to go to the Yamen for the report of the case.

Xu Ran had no objections about the arrangement. He was just about to talk to someone when he remembered that he had left Liu Tong and the carriage at the entrance of the village.

Xu Ran thus said to the village head, “Village head, my spouse is still at the entrance of the village. Can I go and tell him about the situation first? Besides, it’s fine for me to stay, but I wonder if you can help find a house for us couple. We’ve spent a few days on the way and we haven’t even had a hot meal up till now.”

Actually, the village head also thought of this problem. He knew that for the two new comers, if they were to stay in the village, they would have to find a place to live. Mr. Hu’s house was not available now. Obviously, these two visitors’ food and accommodation in the village was a problem.

Anyway, it was he who kept them to stay. The village head was aware of the situation of the people in the village, so he thought for a moment and then offered, “If you don’t mind, just live in my house. I still have a vacant room for you.

Xu Ran nodded, “Well, thank you so much, village head. We’ll have to disturb your family in the following few days, but I still have one more request. I wonder if the village head will agree to it.”

“What is it?” The village head asked.

Xu Ran said, “You see, village head. I’ve told you that I came to the village to buy fruit trees. I wonder if your village has any fruit trees. I hope I can walk around the village. Don’t worry, village head, I will definitely not leave the village. I do hope the government can find out the murderer as soon as possible and comfort Mr. Hu’s spirit in heaven.”

The village head thought for a moment and then said, “As long as you don’t leave the village, it will be fine.”

Xu Ran cupped his hands and replied. “Thank you, village head. Please arrange for someone to guard this place! I’ll go to the village entrance to meet my spouse first. I’ve been away for a while now. I’m afraid he’ll be worried.

“All right. I’ll go with you. I’ll bring you to my house by the way,” the village head said before walking out together with Xu Ran.

It seemed that the village head was not surprised by what had happened to Mr. Hu except when he first came in and saw Xu Ran.

His attitude made Xu Ran feel a little weird.

Xu Ran looked at the crowd of people behind him and found that they seemed to be accustomed to it. Hence he didn’t ask much about it, but just reminded himself to be careful of the village head.

When they went out, they saw that there were already many people standing outside the door. Xu Ran guessed the the reason why none of them went in was probably because the people who had entered earlier had said something so that none of them dared to move their steps further inside.

Xu Ran noticed that Liu Tong, who was leading the carriage, was also standing in the crowd. At the moment, quite a few people around him were looking at the carriage thoughtfully.

Xu Ran went up to Liu Tong and apologized, “Tongtong, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to leave you for so long.”

Liu Tong shook his head, “It’s okay! I know that you are worried about Mr. Hu. When I came with the crowd, I heard someone say that Mr. Hu is dead. What has happened? Wasn’t he still okay when you sent him back?”

Xu Ran answered, “Mr. Hu is indeed dead. His body is rotten and even can be smelled from outside the room. It seems that he is dead for at least two months.”

The surprise on Liu Tong’s face was clearly seen, “How can it be? None of the people here found it out?”

Xu Ran wanted to get close to Liu Tong and tell him about his guess, but he gave up because he suddenly realized he had just come out of the room and that he must have been full of the smell.

Thus he just said to Liu Tong, “Tongtong, their village head has sent someone to report to Yamen. He told us to live in the village first and not to leave. We can only wait until the case is settled. The village head said that we can stay in his house temporarily. Let’s go and find him first!”

Liu Tong did smell something from Xu Ran. He thought that Xu Ran really needed to take a bath to change his clothes. He nodded, “Okay, let’s go!”

On the way to see the village head, Xu Ran didn’t take the Big Black and kept some distance with Liu Tong. Liu Tong knew the reason and kept silent.

There, the village head was being badgered by the villagers with questions. Xu Ran walked over and interrupted them, “I am sorry, village head. Will you bring us to your house now? I’m full of the smell now, so I need to take a bath right away.”

Those several people, who had gone into the room together with Xu Ran and had stayed inside for a long time also noticed the smell on them after Xu Ran’s reminder. They frowned and said that they would go home to clean themselves.

The smell was really strong. Anyone close to them could smell it, so the village head did not say anything further to stop them.

He arranged for people to keep watch on the scene, then he let the others go back home. At last, he took Xu Ran and Liu Tong to his house himself.

The village head’s house was also very shabby. Most surprisingly, it seemed he was the only one living in the house.

Xu Ran considered that as they would stay here for a few days, he should know about its general situation. Hence, he asked, “Village head, how many people are there in your family? How should we address them?”

The village head seemed very reluctant to talk about this topic. He might be thinking that Xu Ran had just arrived and didn’t know anything. He said in a somewhat impolite tone, “I’m the only one in my family and the others are  gone, so you won’t meet anyone else here.”

Both Xu Ran and Liu Tong were stunned. Xu Ran immediately reacted and apologized to the village head, “I’m sorry, we don’t know it.”

The village head waved his hand, “It’s all right. It has all passed. Besides, you aren’t from this village.”

This really meant that he forgave them both only because they were not from this village. Thus Xu Ran thought that if this was the village head’s nature, it showed that the village head was really a difficult person to get along with.

The village head told them to keep the Big Black in the yard, and then bring their luggage into the house with him.

When they came this time, they brought a lot of money with them. They wanted to buy fruit trees, but now they felt the money was a little burning in their hands! Not to mention that something like this happened, the village head who knew nothing about what was going on made Xu Ran quite worried.

Liu Tong noticed his worry and reached out to hold his hand. Then he patted his own chest.

Xu Ran hurriedly touched his luggage, but he didn’t feel what he wanted. He glanced at Liu Tong to show that he understood his meaning.

Indeed, whether the money was placed in his bag or on his body, it was not as safe as to put it on Liu Tong.

After entering the house, the village head said to Xu Ran, “You just stay here these days and eat with me. If you need to do something, you can do it as long as you don’t leave the village. But you have to feed your horse yourself.”

Xu Ran nodded. “Thank you, village head. We will feed our horse ourselves. I am sorry that we’ll have to disturb you in the following days.”

Xu Ran took out a tael of silver from his arms and gave it to the village head. “Village head, this is the money to pay for our food and accommodation these days.”

The village head took the money and weighed it in his hand. His skillful action reminded Xu Ran of the debtor or the trafficker he had seen on TV.

However, although Xu Ran was puzzled, he did not think about it. After all, he believed him because he was the village head.

Xu Ran then asked, “Village head, may I prepare some hot water for myself to take a bath? The smell in Mr Hu’s house was too strong. I have the smell all over my body.”

The village head nodded, “Yes, wait a minute. Let me prepare the hot water for you. You’d better stand in the yard right now. Otherwise, the house will be smelly too.”

Xu Ran nodded and didn’t say anything further. After all, the smell was really too strong.

Liu Tong tidied up their luggage in the house. When everything was done, the village head had also got the hot water ready. Liu Tong gave Xu Ran clothes and let him take a bath.

They arrived at the village in the morning, and it was almost noon now. Thus it was almost lunch time. Liu Tong thought that since they lived in the village head’s house, they couldn’t be lazy and do nothing, so he told the village head that he was going to cook lunch.

The village head refused without hesitation, “No need. I’ll prepare lunch myself. You can go and rest.”

Since the village head said so, Liu Tong couldn’t insist. Thus he went to the yard to have a look.

He also noticed that the village head was quite weird. His life seemed to be extremely bitter, but he was the village head after all. Plus, he was the only one at home. As long as he was more diligent, he would never be like this!

Xu Ran and Liu Tong both had doubts in their hearts, so they both took precautions against the village head.

As they were in the other’s house, Xu Ran didn’t take a bath for long. He washed his clothes by the way. Then went to the yard to talk to Liu Tong while drying his hair there.

Soon, the village head came to tell them supper was ready.

There were only three bowls of porridge and a plate of pickles on the dining table.

Both Xu Ran and Liu Tong were stunned. It was really a long time since they last ate such a poor meal. Unless someone at home caught a cold, Xu Ran would not prepare so little and simple food. Anyway, it was really not good to eat porridge at noon.

Seeing that Xu Ran and Liu Tong were in a daze, the village head said, “That’s it. You guys will have to make do with it these days! The village is poor, so there aren’t many people who can eat rice in the village here. Even this porridge is rare.”

Hearing this, both Xu Ran and Liu Tong could say nothing. After sitting down, Xu Ran said, “Village head, are you so late in every meal? Can you be full by only eating porridge and pickles?

The village head replied, “Usually, even the porridge is mixed with brown rice. Today, you two are guests, so I didn’t put any brown rice in the porridge.”

Xu Ran took a mouthful of porridge and said, “Village head, we can eat whatever you have in your usual life. We won’t care about it.  As long as we can fill up our stomachs, it’s ok. We used to eat brown rice before.

Although Xu Ran said that, he had never eaten brown rice before. It was the fool who ate it. After his transmigration, he used to eat a few such meals, but soon he ate rice.

Liu Tong gave Xu Ran a worried look. He naturally knew that Xu Ran had really not suffered much. Perhaps the worst was when he just woke up.

Xu Ran smiled at him, indicating that he was fine.

Hearing Xu Ran’s words, the village head did not object, “All right, I’ll make brown rice tonight! As long as you can make yourself full, it will be fine.”

Xu Ran was sure that the village chief was really poor.

After they finished lunch, someone from the village came to inform the village head that someone from the Yamen had come.

Xu Ran thought to himself that the speed of the officials in the Yamen was really not fast enough. If they really wanted to save a person, they should not have been so late.

But in fact, it was not the Yamen people’s fault for being so late. The person who went to the Yamen to report the case was going there on foot. It thus took a lot of time for the report to get to the Yamen. And the Yamen people had to walk to the spot…

Fortunately, Mr. Hu didn’t need to wait for the Yamen officials to save his life any longer. He just needed an investigation for his cause of death.

But after waiting for so long, could they really find out the truth?

With this confusion in mind, Xu Ran came to Mr. Hu’s house again with the village head and Liu Tong.