Chapter 151: Chapter 125: Widow

Lying in bed, Sang Que couldn’t sleep. She felt she needed to quickly find someone in the Deceit Dynasty who could help her with this matter.

Everyone has things they are good at and not good at. She simply focused her limited energy on martial arts, honing her skills to the utmost, so her weaknesses were indeed a bit pronounced.

After joining the Evil Suppression Bureau, there would definitely be no shortage of investigations and document reviews.

Martial arts require a lot of daily practice. Only after accumulating enough time can one make breakthroughs, so she couldn’t let trivial matters take too much time away from her training.

Sang Que thought of Liu Tianyou; he was quite suitable. Surviving in the Hidden Realm for five months was already beyond ordinary people.

After returning, she would ask Kou Yushan to write him a letter to see if he would be willing to come to Wangshan City. She could share half of her monthly salary with Liu Tianyou and have him handle these matters.

After thinking of a solution, Sang Que sighed with relief, got up from bed, and looked at the census records on the table.

“This hardship will only last a while longer! The sooner it’s resolved, the sooner I can get the incense burner!”

Cheering herself up, Sang Que returned to the table, calming herself to think of solutions.

Pinghu Village has over three hundred people, the census records are updated annually, recording births, deaths, disappearances, marriages, and relocations. Each book here represents one year, there are about fifty volumes.

She needed to review the census records from the period before and after the appearance of the ancient house beneath the lake to see if there were any significant changes in the village population.

Sang Que took out a blank paper, using her vermillion pen to draw grids, first calculating the timeline based on Qin Ze’s afternoon explanation, and then found the corresponding census records, starting from the year before the ancient house appeared, and copied the annual population, birth rate, death rate, and disappearance rate into the table.

Beginning is always the hardest. Once started, after finding the rhythm and method, Sang Que’s concentration was very high.

This was also why she could complete her summer homework overnight.

On the bed, Xuan Yu waited until Xia Chan’s breathing steadied, then crawled out of Xia Chan’s arms, jumped onto Sang Que’s table, and squatted in front of Sang Que, watching her copy numbers curiously, silently accompanying her.

“It seems there’s no problem.” Sang Que chewed on the pen cap, “The numbers of births and deaths don’t match, marriages and such are random without any pattern, but there are indeed a lot of elderly over fifty in Pinghu Village. Can worshipping the Longevity Turtle really make you live longer?”

Sang Que went over her recorded numbers again, unable to find any issue.

“If it was that easy to find out, it wouldn’t have been left for me to see.”

Meow!

Xuan Yu nodded in agreement, Sang Que raised her hand to smack it, Xuan Yu lifted its paw for a high five with Sang Que.

Sang Que smiled, grabbing Xuan Yu into her arms and giving it a good rub, easing the pressure and anxiety, clearing her mind significantly.

Holding onto Sang Que’s hand, Xuan Yu pretended to nibble, meowing softly. Sang Que recalled the horror movies she watched with her best friend Jiang Zao, finding that in cult and sacrificial contexts, the ones with the highest death tolls were always children and women.

Sang Que re-examined her records. She initially wanted to see if there were any sacrifices involving the Evil God in Pinghu Village, to check if the yearly death toll of women and children was consistently higher.

Instead, she found that the number of women and children in Pinghu Village wasn’t decreasing, but often increasing.

Sang Que’s eyes lit up. She placed Xuan Yu back on the table and went through the census records once more.

The candle flames flickered in the lamp, and the sound of the night watch echoed from the county government.

It was already one o’clock in the morning.

Sang Que put down the census records, furrowing her brows, needing some time to think to articulate what she had discovered.

She initially checked the women and children of Pinghu Village, finding that the women who married out would bring their children and transfer their records back to Pinghu Village a few years later.

No reason was given, but since this era had no concept of divorce, they could only be widowed.

These widows brought their children back to the village, and when added to the children born the same year, the total number matched the number of elderly over fifty who died that same year.

Previously, the death number included young people who disappeared due to the influence of Evil Spirits and died. Since these widows returned at irregular times, Sang Que hadn’t noticed this.

Now, excluding those accidental deaths and missing young people, only looking at those over fifty and comparing it to the number of new children, the discovery was shocking.

Take last year for instance, a widow returned with a child in the first half of the year, two babies were born in the village then, and by the second half, three elderly passed away one after another.

When no widow returned, the number of newborns in the village still matched the number of elder deaths.

Starting from the year the ancient house was discovered at the lake’s bottom, Pinghu Village’s total population never fell below three hundred. Before its discovery, there was a year they were reduced from three hundred and fifty-five to just a hundred and twenty due to a plague.

Her statistics might not be accurate enough, and the census records likely had omissions. She couldn’t deduce the patterns or causal relationships within these.

But she speculated, since the women who married out mostly became widowed after giving birth, then brought their children back to the village,

Could Qiao Ying have faced similar circumstances, and if she didn’t return, Zhang Yuanzhong would die?

She loves her child, and since Pinghu Village might harm the child, she returned alone without bringing the child.

If that’s the case, Qiao Ying’s actions made logical sense.

Qiao Ying and the ancient house at the lake’s bottom are key to the village ghost mist incident. To resolve it, they likely must first find Qiao Ying, then explore the ancient house.

With a direction set, Sang Que felt at ease; there wasn’t much to do late at night, so she tidied up the items on her desk, had Xuan Yu stand guard, and went to bed.

Early the next morning, Sang Que shared her findings with Qin Ze and the other two, as well as Sun Traveling Xu San from Bailong County.

After they listened, Qin Ze sat in a chair, gently rubbing his thigh.

“It seems we must investigate Pinghu Village. The Evil Spirits I control are water-related, so I’ll handle the underwater arrangements. However, my current condition isn’t very stable; if I use the Evil Spirits’ power, there’s a high possibility of losing control underwater. I wonder if Brother Xu San has a method to temporarily suppress the Evil Spirits in me?”

Qin Ze agreed to join the Evil Suppression Bureau partly because he became a Yin Walker and had to be under the Bureau’s control, and partly because he wanted to survive, with hopes of becoming a Yin Walking General.

Xu San’s face showed difficulty. “Our Sun Travelers’ incense masks are inherited through ceremonies, I can’t lend them to you. In the short term, I also can’t help you suppress the Evil Spirits.”

Sang Que thought of ways to deceive Evil Spirits, but Qin Ze didn’t even glance at her, never considering she might know about these matters.

Xu San thought for a moment, then said, “Give me a day to prepare some things. Tomorrow morning, I’ll go with you to Pinghu Village. By then, Miss Sang along with Brothers Wan Biao and Zhao Qi will look for Qiao Ying, while Brother Qin Ze and I will explore under the lake.”

Wan Biao and Zhao Qi were the two men who were with Qin Ze. Wan Biao’s asymmetric eyes marked him as a rugged man; Zhao Qi had a fair face, more like a scholar than a soldier.

Xu San was a local of Bailong County, born to a fisherman’s family, worshipping Suoweng. He was skilled in water, capable of short dives without Water Ghost disturbance.

After the decisions were made, everyone prepared accordingly. Sang Que intended to visit Yao Zhen once more, trying to see if she could gather more information.

Yao Zhen previously told her that after entering Pinghu Village, she mustn’t consume anything there, a rule of utmost importance, which indicated Yao Zhen had been to the village and returned safely.

However, before setting off, Sang Que stopped Qin Ze.

This morning, Qin Ze already had Wan Biao, who previously spun tales with her, apologize to her. Regardless of whether they respected her now, at least they showed the attitude to cooperate.

She was indeed not skilled in diving underwater; encountering Water Ghosts there spelled death. This task relied on Qin Ze.

Therefore, to ensure a smooth qualification, she decided to share the method of Taming Evil with Qin Ze, aiding him was also aiding herself.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep