NOVEL NEXT Chapter 263: The Case
"Hey! Brother Xu, look what my dog has dug up!"
Shang Shaoyang squatted down, beneath him was a pit three feet deep, where even the tree roots had been laboriously cut away.
What important thing must this be, buried so deeply?
Shang Shaoyang leaned down, just about to reach for the old box in the pit, when he suddenly shivered.
"How odd, why does this place feel so chilly, like someone is clawing at me with tiny hands..."
Shang Shaoyang glanced around suspiciously, seeing no one else besides Xu Qing and Chen Liu'Er.
Xu Qing took a look at the little girl clinging to Shang Shaoyang's arm, who had climbed out of the pit, and said nothing.
Beside him, Chen Liu'Er, full of confusion, said, "Sweetheart, when did you get into the pit? I didn't see you jump in!"
"..."
Shang Shaoyang watched Chen Liu'Er talking to the air, feeling the surrounding even more eerie, with a sense of familiarity that was hard to describe, like taking shelter from the sun in Xu Qing's shop at noon...
"Little Liu'Er, be honest, don't lie, there's nobody else here! Brother Xu, can you see anything?"
Xu Qing shook his head.
"Really can't see?"
Shang Shaoyang pursued.
"Can't see," Xu Qing said, consistently looking at the air in front of Chen Liu'Er.
Looking again at his own little dog, it was already hiding under his robe, only its head peeking out towards the same direction and barking continuously.
"..."
Shang Shaoyang felt that among the three people present, at least one was being played for a fool!
"Brother Xu, can you tell me the truth?"
"What truth do you want to hear?"
Xu Qing withdrew his gaze and leaned forward to look at the old box in the pit, thoughtfully.
"What does the little sweetheart actually look like? Human or ghost?"
Xu Qing pondered for a moment, then said, "She looks very sweet, a little girl of about two or three years old."
"Why can't I see her?" Shang Shaoyang opened his eyes wide, seeing nothing but Chen Liu'Er.
Xu Qing responded calmly, "A child's heart is pure and pristine, they can see things ordinary people can't, it's not strange that Chen Liu'Er can see her."
"Then why can you see her too?"
"Because my heart is just as pure."
Xu Qing spoke without any blush or breath.
Shang Shaoyang felt the words choking in his throat, unable to utter a single word.
As if his heart was the issue!
"Inside this box..." Shang Shaoyang retrieved the old box with peeling lacquer, hesitating.
By common sense, a box containing important items would not be so dilapidated, yet the box before him seemed like something casually picked out from a pile of discarded items, holding wasteful stuff.
Xu Qing used his eyes to stop Shang Shaoyang from opening the box and then turned to Chen Liu'Er, saying, "Chen Liu'Er, turn your back, and don't turn around until I tell you, understand?"
Finally, Xu Qing spoke another sentence to the little girl who invited Chen Liu'Er to the old locust tree:
"Sweetheart, turn around with your brother Liu'Er, don't sneak a peek, be good."
Except for Chen Liu'Er, the little girl had no friends, she might not listen to outsiders, but for some reason, upon hearing Xu Qing's words, she instinctively felt a sense of intimacy, a sense of familiarity.
Thus, she subconsciously nodded, and holding Chen Liu'Er's hand, the two children turned around and understandingly closed their eyes tightly.
Having promised Xu Qing they wouldn't peek, they had to follow through or the sweetheart would no longer be sweet.
Here, Xu Qing and Shang Shaoyang squatted in front of the small box, with their backs turned to Chen Liu'Er and the girl.
Blocking the box, the two exchanged a glance, Shang Shaoyang took a deep breath, drew his sword, and began to pry open the lid bit by bit.
When the box lid fell to the ground, dust flew up, Xu Qing and Shang Shaoyang saw clearly what was inside the box.
Inside the old box barely three feet long, lay a little girl, appearing two or three years old. If she stood, she might be more than three feet tall, but the box was less than three feet, how could it contain this child?
Xu Qing noticed two small legs, four to five inches long, placed separately beside the little girl's corpse, one tiny leg wearing small embroidered shoes, the foot of the other exposed, swollen and bruised, and the whereabouts of its shoe unknown.
Looking again at the little girl's face, aside from being slightly pale, there were no other abnormalities. Her eyes were closed naturally, without smile, without sorrow. At a glance, she seemed as if she were in a deep sleep, peaceful and untouched by dust.
However, upon closer inspection, there was a faint layer of unwashable pallor on her face, like a cold light shrouding the death of this young life.
Shang Shaoyang had seen dead bodies before, but never a little girl so young, with severed legs, placed in such a narrow, enclosed, and dilapidated box.
His wife was newly pregnant, and the extra sensitivity brought by impending parenthood was far stronger than that of an ordinary person!
"Is she the friend, Sweetheart, that little Liu'Er made?"
Shang Shaoyang asked, hesitantly breaking the silence, lowering his voice as if not wanting the two children behind them to hear.
"Yes, Sweetheart seems to be her nickname, I don't know her real name. Chen Liu'Er often brought her to my shop, I tried asking the two children but got no useful information."
Xu Qing carefully lifted the little girl's corpse, her ice-cold body wrapped in a white floral dress, revealing an incredible tranquility and fragility, as if she were just sleeping too sweetly...
"Brother Shang, please."