"You mean you saw Yun Qing in the ancestral hall?" Ye Miaozhu's voice trembled with excitement. "When did this happen?!"
Zhang Yangxu pondered for a moment. "As soon as I witnessed it, I hid in the alley opposite the ancestral hall, staying alert for about fifteen minutes. Only after I was sure that the 'Gu Yunqing' inside had vanished did I call Madam Bai to warn you all to beware of Gu Yunqing."
Ning Zhe looked at Feng Yushu. "Auntie, check the call log."
Feng Yushu immediately unlocked her phone. The call had ended shortly after 2:00 AM.
"Exactly about fifteen minutes after Gu Yunqing's death," Ning Zhe concluded swiftly. "In other words, while Zhang Yangxu was watching the 'Gu Yunqing' in the ancestral hall leaf through the almanac, the real Gu Yunqing was dying right before us."
Such a coincidence begged the question: could there be a causal link? Ning Zhe thought for a moment. "Let me map the timeline."
01:30–01:45 AM: Zhang Yangxu converses with the impostor Xie Sining, exposes her by piling questions, and the 'ghost' disappears.
01:55–02:00 AM: Zhang Yangxu returns to the South Street ancestral hall and sees 'Gu Yunqing' alone inside consulting the almanac.
01:55–02:00 AM: Ning Zhe and the others inspect a corpse by the river and witness Gu Yunqing's sudden death.
02:00–02:13 AM: Zhang Yangxu makes the call warning them about Gu Yunqing.
"Since the one who died before us was the genuine Gu Yunqing, the figure in the hall must be fake," Ning Zhe summed up. "The ghost, having disguised itself as Xie Sining, then assumed Gu Yunqing's identity, went into the hall to consult the almanac—while the real Gu Yunqing died."
Ning Zhe looked skeptical. Was there a connection? Ye Miaozhu pressed her lips together and clenched her jaw, desperate to know what had caused Gu Yunqing's death. "The almanac had already been turned to today; today's fortunes were clear. Why did the ghost assume Yun Qing's identity to consult it again? To see tomorrow's omens?"
"Who knows?" Ning Zhe shrugged noncommittally.
At that moment, Zhang Yangxu interjected, "Cut the act, Ning Zhe. You know what this means better than any of us."
All eyes turned to him. Ning Zhe smiled. "I'm not sure what you mean, Mr. Zhang."
Such nerve. Zhang Yangxu felt that Ning Zhe, barely eighteen and still in his final year of high school, behaved more like a crafty veteran of life's hard knocks. He looked at the silent Feng Yushu behind Ning Zhe. "Madam Bai, remember when we first arrived at the hall? Sining and I were inside consulting the almanac, you planned to sneak in through the side door—where was Ning Zhe?"
"When I stood before the Snake God statue, the almanac showed the lunar date of April 23. That means someone had entered earlier and turned it to today. Who was that?"
Feng Yushu's eyes widened in shock. Zhang Yangxu continued, "Ning Zhe was the first among us to enter the hall, so only you can explain what I'm about to show."
Ning Zhe remained unnerved as Zhang Yangxu opened the hall's doors. Under everyone's gaze, he walked to the large offering table before the Snake God statue and lifted the deep-red cloth draped over it. Beneath lay the body of a well-built man in a tank top, shorts, and sneakers.
"Lin Zhiyuan?!" Ye Miaozhu gasped.
Zhang Yangxu was surprised. "You know him?"
Ye Miaozhu nodded. "Lin Zhiyuan is from Gubi Town and works elsewhere as a fitness coach. He often returned home during holidays, buying medicine and supplies from the village clinic where Yun Qing and I interned." She remembered his persistent attempts to flirt and add her on WeChat—a far cry from Gu Yunqing's gentle, reliable nature.
Unfortunately, Gu Yunqing was already dead. "I never expected he'd be caught up in this," Ye Miaozhu murmured, looking at Lin Zhiyuan's corpse with mixed emotions.
Zhang Yangxu then asked, "Could you examine his body?"
"All right." Ye Miaozhu shot Ning Zhe a significant glance, then knelt to examine the body. "Like Gu Yunqing and Xie Sining, Lin Zhiyuan shows no signs of injury or poisoning, no ligature marks—same cause of death for all three." She paused. "But unlike Sining, his body wasn't soaked in the cold river. His postmortem cooling was normal. An experienced doctor can easily estimate his time of death."
"About two hours ago—around midnight," she concluded and looked around. "Does that fit?"
Zhang Yangxu nodded. "Fits perfectly. Sining and I entered just after midnight, and before us, Ning Zhe was already there."
Feng Yushu, standing behind Ning Zhe, covered her mouth in disbelief. Her legs trembled with fear, nearly collapsing.
"Are you suggesting I killed Lin Zhiyuan?" Ning Zhe smiled serenely, betraying no emotion.
Zhang Yangxu shook his head. "I didn't say that."
"Then what do you mean?"
"I just want to ask—was Lin Zhiyuan's death because of the almanac?" Zhang Yangxu lowered his voice. "You were the first to enter and turn the almanac to today, then came Lin Zhiyuan."
"Maybe he came after you, maybe alongside you. Maybe he was curious, maybe you instigated him. In any case, he tried to turn it to tomorrow—just like the Gu Yunqing impersonation ghost did."
Then he died. "Tell me, is that how it happened?" Ye Miaozhu asked.
Ning Zhe lightly applauded, his expression approving. "Exactly as you said."
His easy admission sent Zhang Yangxu and Ye Miaozhu into stunned silence, only Feng Yushu exhaled in relief. If "turning the almanac to tomorrow = death," then the ghost's murderous logic made sense.
In Hejia Village there are two rules: the almanac's fortunes affect one's luck, and the Snake God's death omen is instantly fatal upon contact.
That mysterious entity roaming the village, assuming the identities of the deceased, has no direct killing power—it is the Snake God that slays.
Chapters in advance there: patreon.com/Thaniel_a_goodchild