Lin Shuyue once again faced the evil of minors. The glaring 80% good and evil value made Lin Shuyue feel very dazed.
Faced with so many people coming into the orchard to search, Third Grandpa was never afraid. On the way here, he even chatted with Bai Wenhua and others, talking and laughing all the way, as if he was leading Lin Shuyue and the others to the orchard for a visit.
It was just that when his grandson appeared, he was still nervous for a moment, but soon he relaxed again. He glanced at the big dogs tied under the pear tree and said, "We won't pick the fruits today. We have to wait a few days. I asked you to pick the ripe fruits. Did you pick them?"
He was looking at the dogs, and Lin Shuyue was also looking at the dogs. One of the dogs was missing half of its ear. Lin Shuyue had seen these dogs half an hour ago, but at that time, they were not tied up.
Luo Anping was a little nervous. He pursed his lips and said, "I've picked them. I've picked a whole basket. Grandpa, let's go to the town to sell them later."
The grandfather and grandson discussed the matter together without worrying at all that their crime would be discovered.
Lin Shuyue looked in the direction of Luo Anping and whispered to Bai Wenhua in Cantonese: "There is something unusual in the northeast corner."
Lin Shuyue has also been involved in many cases, and Bai Wenhua believes in her judgment, so he took the lead and walked towards the northeast corner.
The northeast corner is far away from the village, and behind it is a big mountain. There are few trees on this side of the mountain, and fewer stones than other places, but there are many low bushes.
Compared to the cleanly cleared grass under the pear tree in front, the weeds under the pear tree in the northeast corner are overgrown, which seems very deliberate and very suspicious.
Bai Wenhua asked, and the third grandfather said, "This is the shady side. These pear trees don't get much sunlight, so the fruits are sparse and they don't grow big. We don't take care of them. We plan to cut down the pear trees here in two months, build a chicken coop here, and raise some chickens in the orchard."
Third Grandpa's pear orchard covers a total of more than ten acres, including the hillside and the mountain, with hundreds of fruit trees. There are two or three trees that he doesn't want to take care of, but no one thinks there is anything unusual, not to mention that everyone is from the countryside. This location does not get sunlight all year round, and the bushes nearby are a few centimeters shorter than other places with plenty of sunlight.
Lin Shuyue looked up too much. Compared with the pears delivered to Luo's house yesterday, the pears on these trees were indeed much smaller, but this was not Lin Shuyue's purpose.
Under her radar of good and evil, there are three more people besides their group, and the positions of these three people overlap with theirs. After ruling out the outrageous possibility that the three people are in the sky or on the tree, the only possibility left is that they are underground.
Then the question arises again. The grass here is so dense and there is no sign of the soil being turned over. How did the three extra people get underground? Lin Shuyue set her sights on the mountain behind the pear orchard. There was also a fence between the orchard and the mountain. The gaps between the wood and the wood were large. It was difficult for fat people to get through, but it was very easy for thin people and minors who were still young and had not yet grown up to get in and out.
Lin Shuyue was 100% sure that the entrance to the cellar was on the mountain.
Lin Shuyue climbed over and crawled through the two fences. As soon as one foot stepped on the mountain, Luo Anping, who had been silent and pretended to be shy and blushed when he looked at people, spoke. He spoke in poor Mandarin to stop Lin Shuyue from going up the mountain: "Don't go over there. There are many snakes on this mountain."
It is normal to have many insects and snakes in rural areas. On the way from Pengcheng to Lihua Village, Lin Shuyue and her companions saw quite a few snakes crawling in the grass on the roadside, in the river, and even on the main road.
Lin Shuyue was not afraid of snakes. She smiled at Luo Anping and said, "I'm not afraid."
As Lin Shuyue spoke, she walked forward. When the third grandfather saw her, he said, "Anping, follow your sister up there and protect her. Don't let her get bitten by the snake."
Luo Zhengjun and Lin Shuxing had known each other for two or three years before they got married. He was also very familiar with his sister-in-law, Lin Shuyue. He knew Lin Shuyue's personality very well. If she didn't find something, she would definitely not insist on going up there. He kicked his eldest brother, gave him a look, and said cheerfully, "Don't bother, don't bother, I'll just follow Ah Yue up there."
Brother Luo is five or six years older than Luo Zhengjun. The two brothers have always gotten into trouble together since they were young. Now that Luo Zhengjun kicked him, he knew what he meant: "Wait for me, wait for me, I'll go up too."
The two brothers took one side each and pushed Luo Anping aside. Bai Wenhua followed them up. When they went up, some people followed them, while others left cursing. It was just dawn when they came to look for people, but now the sun is almost overhead. Every household has farm work to do, but the village party secretary is bored and insists on listening to the outsiders chanting.
Lin Shuyue and the other two walked in the front, going up the mountain in a fan shape. Luo Anping stood with Third Grandpa. Several times he wanted to rush forward, but Third Grandpa held his hand very hard, so hard that Luo Anping felt like his hand was going to break.
He looked at Third Grandpa with eyes full of resentment. Third Grandpa looked at him with threatening eyes and shook his head at him. Luo Anping had to rely on Third Grandpa to live. Under the threat of Third Grandpa, no matter how many thoughts he had in his mind, he would hold them back and dare not show them at all.
Lin Shuyue had been keeping an eye on the grandfather and grandson, and when she saw this scene, she understood.
If Luo Anping is an evil ghost, then Third Grandpa, who has the ability to control him but has always let him go and even helped cover up his crimes, is an accomplice ghost!
After all, digging a tunnel from this mountain to the bottom of the pear garden is obviously impossible for a minor like Luo Anping to do.
Lin Shuyue walked a few steps to the left. The terrain here was relatively flat, and it was the best entrance to the bottom. Lin Shuyue stood still. Compared with other places, the soil here was particularly soft, and there were more leaves scattered on it than in other places.
Bai Wenhua came up, and Lin Shuyue stepped aside. Bai Wenhua was a soldier in the mountainous area of the southwest. He had walked countless mountain roads. As soon as he stepped on it, he knew that this place was not right.
He swept his feet left and right, and after the loose soil was swept away, a piece of wood was revealed.
The village party secretary was standing next to Bai Wenhua. When he saw the wooden board, he was shocked: "Who put the wooden board on the mountain and covered it with soil? Is there something wrong with it?"
The village party secretary's words made Lin Shuyue look at him twice more. The village party secretary was in his forties and looked ordinary. His good and evil value was 5% when scanned by the good and evil radar. But he had great prestige in the village, which could be seen from the fact that he went up the mountain to look for someone today.
He gave an order, and no matter what the villagers thought or said, they all came, even Uncle Luo Zhengjun, whose good and evil value was 15%.
Lin Shuyue tried to hold back, but couldn't help asking Luo Zhengjun, who had walked up to him at some point, "How did Uncle Fugen become the village party secretary?"
Luo Zhengjun said: "His father used to be the leader of the production team, and his grandfather was the village chief. He can read and graduated from a high school."
After Luo Zhengjun said this, Lin Shuyue understood.
Lihua Village was very poor. Going back 30 years, in the 1960s and 1970s, most families could not even afford to eat enough. The tuition for one semester was two or three yuan, not to mention the food for going to school at the village committee ten miles away. Therefore, in a backward village like Lihua Village, being able to graduate from a high school was already a sign of superiority, not to mention that the village secretary had a father who was a team leader, and the father of the village chief before liberation.
Thinking about it this way, it is understandable that he is so naive. After all, if he was not so naive, he would not have been fooled by Bai Wenhua's drinking last night and regarded Bai Wenhua as his elder brother, and he would not have mobilized the whole village to look for someone just because Bai Wenhua said a word today.
Bai Wenhua ignored the words of the village party secretary. He exerted force and the wooden board was lifted up, revealing a dark hole. The hole was about one person tall and there was a thick layer of leaves underneath.
Now, everyone was in a state of panic, and the village party secretary could not even say his silly words. The thick layer of leaves was obviously not the trap from before.
He was not a real fool. He looked at his third grandfather. The smile that always appeared on his face had fallen. He didn't say a word.
Luo Zhengjun jumped into the cave. There was a locked wooden door on one side of the cave. Luo Zhengjun pulled hard and pulled down the wooden door, which was not solid to begin with. He bent down and got in. After him, several villagers also jumped in.
Three minutes later, one of the villagers came out and shouted angrily: "Tie up Third Uncle and that little beast. Xiaofang is downstairs. Xiaojun, who disappeared before the New Year, and Zhengchang's wife are also downstairs."
These words were like a bolt from the blue. The people on the shore surrounded Third Uncle and Luo Anping.
Everyone in the village has the surname Luo, and five generations ago, everyone had the same ancestor. When you go out, even two families that are enemies will defend each other. The third grandfather is older and more capable, so everyone in the village hopes that in two years, they can grow pear trees with him and become rich together.
But this does not mean that the Third Grandfather can do whatever he wants in the village, especially to the close relatives of the families who have lost their children and wives.
When they thought of the tragic situation of losing their children and wives over the years, anger rose from the bottom of their hearts. Some of them ran to the village with quick steps. They wanted to inform the people who stayed in the village about this matter.
As they were running away, several young men who had just gone down the cave to check had already jumped up. They rushed over regardless of anything and knocked Third Grandpa to the ground with one punch. Luo Anping was not left behind. Third Grandpa protected Luo Anping and took most of the beating for him.
Lin Shuyue looked at them and jumped into the pit. As she walked, she took off the shirt that she was using as a sun protection jacket.
After walking through a corridor about two meters long, she arrived at an open area. Lin Shuyue turned on the flashlight on her mobile phone, shone it around, and soon saw three people huddled in a small compartment.
Except for Xiaofang who was just abducted this morning and was still fully clothed, the other woman and the boy were completely naked.
They were very thin, with skinny bones. Both of them had a long chain around their necks. In the corner of the wall, there was a wooden stake that reached the top of the wall, and the chains were tied to it.
With the light shining, the two became even more frightened and leaned closer to the wall. Her approach made the two whimper. Lin Shuyue spoke. She didn't speak the local dialect, so she spoke slowly in standard Mandarin while quietly walking towards them: "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, we are here to save you."
Hearing the woman's voice, the two people stopped moving. Lin Shuyue approached the woman, wrapped her body with a shirt first, then turned on the flashlight to look at the chain around her neck, which was fastened with wire. When she came out, she had no backpack and no tools in her hands. She did have some in her system backpack, but it was obviously not available at the moment.
Without tools, it was obviously unrealistic to open the chain with bare hands. Lin Shuyue looked at the boy next to her. He was very thin and only about ten years old. When he noticed Lin Shuyue's gaze, he hid to the side.
Lin Shuyue took off her short-sleeved shirt and put it on his head.
At this moment, Lin Shuyue was extremely grateful that the weather in Lihua Village was cool in the mornings and evenings. Last night, Zeng Xiaoyi and Bai Pingping had been fighting over the quilt, so she could only wear a sleeveless vest over her underwear to keep warm. This morning, she was too lazy to change, so she just put on a short-sleeved shirt, and put on a shirt when she went downstairs.
The two people didn't speak, and Xiaofang didn't dare to say anything either. The four of them just fell silent. After her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she looked around. This compartment was very small. In the northwest corner of the outer room, there was a wooden door. The wooden door had been opened. Lin Shuyue walked over to take a look. It was a corridor about 1.6 meters high.
After Lin Shuyue walked a few steps inside, she heard footsteps of someone coming down. She turned around and went back to the small compartment. As soon as she came down, two flashlights shone in.
Lin Shuyue stood in front of the two people who were hiding behind her, blocking most of the visitors' sight.
"We are the police, don't be afraid."
As soon as the policeman finished speaking, a man stepped out of the crowd and ran behind Lin Shuyue: "Xiaolan, Xiaolan, are you Xiaolan?"
Lin Shuyue knew him. He was the man who had just been crying with Xiaofang's mother by the pond.
His actions frightened the woman named Xiaolan. She kept hiding behind Lin Shuyue, clutching Lin Shuyue's clothes tightly, and she started crying at the same time.
Lin Shuyue held her hand, which was as thin as a chicken claw, and scolded her: "You scared her. Men, get out first."
After Lin Shuyue finished speaking, the policeman also said: "You go out first, and just two people will be left behind."
Ten minutes later, Xiaofang was carried out by her mother. The police asked people to find pliers and other tools to cut the chains that had locked them for a long time. They were free, but they were not very happy. The two people who had been locked up underground for many years looked at people with a dull look in their eyes.
The boy, Xiaojun, hadn't said a word from the beginning to now. Xiaolan cried a few times, and she stopped crying after her husband was forcibly dragged out by fellow villagers. Lin Shuyue's clothes were still on them. The women in the village came and brought blankets from the family closest to the pear orchard. The blankets were wrapped around the two people, one big and one small. The two people's shoulders, which had been shrinking, finally relaxed a little at this moment.
There were two policemen from the town. One was younger and escorted Lin Shuyue and the others out, while the other was older and stayed in the cellar to continue the investigation. From the information they learned, there were definitely more than three people locked underground by Luo Anping and his grandson.
After many years, Xiaojun finally saw the light of day again. When he saw the familiar faces of his grandparents, parents, he burst into tears. His crying became louder and louder until he started wailing. Xiaojun's parents cried so hard that they could hardly breathe as they looked at their twelve-year-old son who was so thin.
Xiaolan's gaze fell on the face of her husband Luo Zhengchang. His eyes were red and swollen. He stood one meter away from Xiaolan. He wanted to get closer but didn't dare to come over because he was afraid that Xiaolan would hide from him.
"Zhengchang." Xiaolan murmured, and Luo Zhengchang walked over quickly, no longer able to control himself, and hugged her in his arms.
The scene of the two families made some people with shallow eye sockets start crying.
Lin Shuyue's gaze fell on the grandfather and grandson Luo Anping, who were covered in wounds and handcuffed by the police.
Luo Anping suddenly shouted loudly: "It's none of my business. I know nothing. My grandfather did it."