After transmigrating into the book, I helped my mother reconcile with her divorced husband.

Chapter 258 The Bride Who Fell into the Well (Part 2)

On her wedding night, the bride's inexplicable suicide by jumping into a well sparked much discussion. Some said she was lost on her way to the groom's house and accidentally fell in; others said she was forced to marry a Miao man and had a lover at her parents' home, so she jumped into the well for love; still others said she was bullied by the people at the banquet that day and, unable to bear the humiliation, jumped into the well.

Regardless of the truth, the bride died, turning a joyous occasion into a funeral. According to local custom, the bride was buried in the Miao family's ancestral graveyard.

On the night of his return, Miao Han heard urgent knocking on the door. Opening it, he saw his neighbor, a woman from next door. She was expressionless, repeatedly muttering, "She's here. She's come to see Xiao Bao!"

Xiao Bao is the child of the woman next door, and also the only witness to the bride's suicide by jumping into the well.

Miao Han asked his sister-in-law, "Who's here? And who is 'she' referring to?"

The eldest sister-in-law's eyes were fierce as she roared hoarsely, "She's here! Xiao Bao is lying! We're all going to die, we're all going to die!"

The roaring woke Miao Han's mother, who, without even dressing properly, urged her son to go to the backyard. Miao Han realized what was happening and, ignoring the unruly neighbor, rushed to the backyard.

The Miao family's backyard was originally unlocked, but after the bride threw herself into the well, a brass lock was added, and the key was hung on the wall outside the bedroom door. When Miao Han went to get the key, he found it was missing. Hearing the sound of a lock being opened, he turned around and saw that it was the neighbor's sister-in-law turning the key on the lock.

When asked, his mother shook her head, saying she hadn't seen Sister-in-law Miao take the key from the wall and didn't know when she entered the yard. Before Miao Han could think further, Sister-in-law Miao had already unlocked the brass lock hanging on the back door. She didn't push the door open, but instead let out a chilling, sinister laugh as she looked at the unlocked lock.

Holding my breath, I walked over, pushed open the door, and in the bright moonlight, my neighbor's little boy stood alone on the edge of the dry well...

A night breeze blew by, and Liu Ying couldn't help but shiver, rubbing her arms as she asked, "Are the backyards of the two houses connected? If they are, why doesn't Sister-in-law go through her own backyard? If they aren't connected, how did Xiao Bao get there?"

“I know.” Lu Zhiyuan raised her hand: “The countryside is different from the city. There are very few high walls between the courtyards. This backyard is probably separated by a fence. Therefore, when Xiaobao relieves himself in his own backyard, he can see the bride throw herself into the well and can also squeeze into the Miao family’s backyard through the gap under the fence, but Xiaobao’s mother can only go through the front gate.”

Lu Yun continued, "Madam is right. There is indeed a fence separating the backyards of these two houses. The poorer the place, the more trouble there is. Take this fence, for example. Even an inch off or a inch slanted can cause a quarrel. It's not just their two houses; other houses in the village also have fences."

Lu Zhiyuan: "What happened next? Did Xiaobao jump into the well?"

"He jumped, but that's not the point. The point is that Xiao Bao was wearing an extremely oversized wedding dress when he jumped into the well." Lu Yun held the sword and drove the carriage, his body swaying slightly with the movement of the carriage.

After Xiao Bao jumped into the well, his mother, Miao Da Sao, disappeared.

First, his daughter-in-law committed suicide by jumping into a well on her wedding night, followed by the neighbor's child. Miao Han's mother, who witnessed all of this, fainted. Miao Han had to take care of his sick mother, find someone to rescue his child, and also look for his suddenly missing neighbor.

That night, the whole village was in chaos.

The village chief was woken up from his sleep. Rubbing his eyes, he came to Miao Han's house. After listening to Miao Han's stammering description, his face darkened. Just like the night seven days ago, he told Miao Han to go down into the well with another person whose birth chart was stronger and whose zodiac sign was compatible with his.

Upon seeing Xiao Bao, the two of them were so frightened that they nearly lost their minds.

Xiao Bao lay at the bottom of the well, dressed in a red wedding gown, in the exact same posture as the bride who had jumped into the well that day, even the wounds on his body were exactly the same. His hair was loose, covering his face like a red veil.

After daybreak, the village chief arranged for someone to report to the authorities while gathering the able-bodied men of the village to be led by Miao Han to check on the Miao family's ancestral graves.

The bride's grave was dug up, the thin coffin was scattered to the side, and the bride was gone.

"What do you mean by 'disappeared'?" Liu Ying rubbed her arms again and said seriously, "The lady said that there are no ghosts in the world, but ghosts are in people's hearts. The bride is dead, completely dead. A dead person cannot crawl out of a coffin. Therefore, someone must have stolen her body. The person who stole her body is the murderer who caused the neighbor's strange behavior and Xiao Bao's suicide by jumping into the well. Just like in Spring Breeze Town, the evildoers are not ghosts, but people hiding behind the ghosts."

Lu Yun touched his nose.

"The grave was dug up by animals, and there were animal tracks all around the burial mound. The coffin looked like it had been smashed open from the inside, but there were no traces left inside. The bride had vanished without a trace, and the constables and coroner found no footprints matching the bride near the grave."

Liu Ying lowered her voice: "Is there really a ghost?"

Lu Yun shook his head: "Maybe yes, maybe no. All I know is that seven days later, Xiao Bao's mother, the older sister-in-law who lived next door to Miao Han, wore the same red wedding dress and jumped into the same well."

Lu Zhiyuan: "The same red wedding dress, the same well, and the manner of death is exactly the same?"

Lu Yun handed over a file: "Based on what's recorded here, it's exactly the same."

Lu Zhiyuan took the file, opened it, and skimmed through it, muttering as she read, "This crime is quite difficult to detect."

Wearing the same clothes is easy, dying in the same well is easy, dying in similar ways is also possible, but even having the same fractures is a bit difficult... no, not difficult. If these people fell into the well after they died, and the fractures were caused before they fell in, then everything makes sense.

The well they saw was fake; it was staged by the murderer. The real victim was already lying in the well, arranged by the murderer in the way he wanted people to see.

In the dead of night, a woman dressed in a red wedding gown fell to her death into a well that had been abandoned for many years. Even the bravest person would feel panicked and fearful, and wouldn't notice anything other than the deceased. The murderer didn't need to actually fall into the well; he only needed to use a rope to hide somewhere inside to achieve his goal.

But what is his goal?

Lu Zhiyuan asked Liu Ying to bring her a pen and ink and wrote the character "he" on the file, along with a question mark.

Unaware of what Lu Zhiyuan was doing, Liu Ying held up a glass lamp to illuminate Lu Zhiyuan's path while tilting her head to look at the files and asking Lu Yun, "Where did you get this? Did you know we were going to that Miao village all along? Tell me honestly, are you in cahoots with those who were spying on us?"

Lu Yun turned to look at Liu Ying, and seeing that Lu Zhiyuan was also staring at him, he coughed technically: "I'm innocent. I don't know those people at all. I just picked up this file while investigating the case in Chunfeng Town. Madam said that there are similar rumors in various places, and many people use ghosts and monsters to commit illegal acts. It just so happens that the Ministry of Justice has some unsolved cases that match these rumors, so I picked some of them."

Lu Yun lowered his head and pinched the tip of his nose: "This case occurred relatively close to Chunfeng Town, and it came earlier than the case in Chunfeng Town. I was thinking that perhaps we would pass by there? Perhaps this case is related to Chunfeng Town? Perhaps Madam wanted to investigate? At the very least, it could be a story to pass the time on the road. How could I have known that someone would lead us to Miao Village?"

Lu Yun abruptly stopped the car, then belatedly realized, "Could this be a trap set by some heartless person? Let's not go. Let's turn back to the main road and continue along the original route."