Chapter 754: Outside the long pavilion, beside the ancient road, lush green grass stretches to the sky

Chapter 754: Outside the long pavilion, beside the ancient road, lush green grass stretches to the sky

In the game, the Tian family appears harmonious, but in reality, undercurrents surge beneath the surface.

On the outside, the Tian family seemed prestigious, but their financial situation was quite dire, as all of Tian Xiangrong's early wealth came from tomb raiding and selling cultural relics.

However, after Tian Yu's marriage, Tian Xiangrong gave up his illicit activities. Without the income from selling relics, the Tian family gradually found themselves living beyond their means.

During this period, Tian Xiangrong also tried to find legitimate ways to increase the family's income, asking people to find work for his son, converting the first floor of their house into a public phone booth, and even developing a habit of buying lottery tickets, hoping these efforts would improve the family's economic situation.

But despite Tian Xiangrong's many attempts to change the Tian family's financial situation, there was still no improvement.

He spent a lot of money smoothing things over for his son's job, but received no reply.

The public phone booth he operated brought no income to the family, and the lottery's grand prize never landed on him.

Watching their savings dwindle, Tian Xiangrong knew he couldn't wait any longer, so he once again contacted Wang Jincai, the general store owner with whom he used to raid tombs, and decided to take a desperate gamble and pull off one more heist.

Soon after this, Tian Yu died of epilepsy. Tian Xiangrong's wife, He Guilan, then believed that everything was due to Tian Xiangrong's tomb raiding diminishing their family's 'yin virtue', which resulted in their son's death.

But in reality, it was because of the Tian couple's own feudal superstitions, using various folk remedies to treat Tian Yu's epilepsy since childhood, and never taking him to a major hospital for treatment, which ultimately led to Tian Yu's condition becoming untreatable.

Ironically, in the game, Tian Xiangrong repeatedly claimed that he was not superstitious.

Unwilling to believe that his son's death was retribution for his actions, Tian Xiangrong attributed his son's death to Ye Jingshan, the doctor at the town's health clinic. He stormed into the clinic and broke Ye Jingshan's ribs.

Because of this, Zhao Xiaojuan, out of guilt, often secretly visited Ye Jingshan, and they became friends.

Later, the Tian couple met a shamaness, and He Guilan believed that this shamaness could summon spirits, allowing them to see their deceased son.

From then on, every week, the Tian couple would offer sacrifices to this shamaness, speaking to their deceased son through her.

Meanwhile, Tian Fangfang met the new visiting Chinese language teacher. In Fangfang's eyes, this new Teacher Chen was very different from previous teachers; she was gentle and kind, made Fangfang happy, and taught her origami.

This Teacher Chen was Chen Qingsui, who, in order to investigate her grandfather Tian Xiangrong's illicit trade of cultural relics, disguised herself as a visiting teacher and intentionally approached Fangfang, using her as an entry point to deeply investigate the Tian family's situation.

After the Tian couple met the shamaness, the atmosphere at home became increasingly strange. Zhao Xiaojuan feared that this peculiar atmosphere would affect Fangfang and wanted to take her away from the place, but the elderly couple kept stopping Zhao Xiaojuan with various excuses.

Soon after, the so-called shamaness was arrested by the public security organs.

The Tian couple was frantic, spending all their family's money to obtain the so-called 'inviting a deity' method from the shamaness.

Through this method, their son's soul could possess their daughter-in-law's body, allowing them to see their deceased son.

For this purpose, they began to constantly play tricks in the house, attempting to break down Zhao Xiaojuan's mental defenses, giving her the illusion that Tian Yu's soul had returned home, making it easier to invite their son's soul into their daughter-in-law's body.

Zhao Xiaojuan, at her wit's end, sought help from Ye Jingshan.

Ye Jingshan, who had been trafficked into Qingtan Town as a child, listened to the desperate Zhao Xiaojuan explain the situation. He felt as if he saw himself trapped. He wanted to save her, to let her see this beautiful world in his stead, so he offered her advice.

He suggested she pretend to be possessed by Tian Yu and use his identity to persuade her in-laws to let Zhao Xiaojuan take her daughter, Fangfang, out to study.

So Zhao Xiaojuan recorded false information in her diary, bought cigarettes in front of Wang Jincai while claiming to be Tian Yu, and even did things she had never done before.

On the other side, Chen Qingsui, having heard the news, also contacted Zhao Xiaojuan and explained her intentions. The two then reached an agreement.

Zhao Xiaojuan would help Chen Qingsui obtain evidence of her father-in-law Tian Xiangrong's illicit trade of cultural relics, and Chen Qingsui would help Fangfang and Zhao Xiaojuan leave Qingtan.

Everything should have been perfect, but in this matter, there was also someone who witnessed everything yet completely failed to understand it all – Tian Fangfang.

Ever since Tian Yu's death, coupled with impersonating Tian Yu's possession, Zhao Xiaojuan was under immense mental pressure, needing sleeping pills to fall asleep. But Fangfang accidentally saw the pills and asked her mother what they were.

Zhao Xiaojuan told Fangfang, 'This is medicine to forget worries. Take it, sleep, and all worries will disappear,' but children shouldn't touch it.

Just before Zhao Xiaojuan could take Fangfang away from Qingtan Town, the Tian couple became increasingly impatient with their desire to see their son. Especially, how would Tian Yu possess Zhao Xiaojuan once she left?

Tian Xiangrong learned that as long as the original soul was completely separated from the body, the summoned soul could permanently attach itself to the body. This meant killing Zhao Xiaojuan so his son's soul could possess her.

So, on September 15th, the day of the incident, He Guilan asked Zhao Xiaojuan to buy cough medicine. Taking advantage of her absence, the Tian couple mixed rat poison into the sleeping pills, intending to use the opportunity to kill Zhao Xiaojuan.

Fangfang, wanting her family to 'forget their worries,' secretly put the sleeping pills into her family's meals.

So when Zhao Xiaojuan returned home, all she saw were three poisoned corpses.

Zhao Xiaojuan, seeing Fangfang's death, was consumed by despair, hung herself, and left a suicide note.

Organizing all the clues, a cruel truth was finally revealed.

Playing to this point, Song Ren's heart was a mix of emotions, yet some confusion remained: what role did Ye Jingshan play in this incident? And what about that arson case?

Carrying these questions, Song Ren pushed the story forward.

Leaving the Tian family house, Chen Qingsui suddenly said she had left something behind and asked Lin Lixun to wait for her.

At the same time, the phone in the Tian family's public phone booth rang again.

Answering the call, the voice on the other end was a recording of a conversation between the newspaper and Chen Qingsui, stating that the ledger involved too many connections, some reaching high-level figures, and some names could never be disclosed.

This meant that most of Chen Qingsui's efforts had been in vain. The newspaper also warned her that once the ledger was exposed, many people would come looking for the Tian family and related individuals, and that she should protect herself.

But what truly startled Song Ren was the phrase 'stay safe' in that sentence; he could clearly hear the emphasis in the voice on the other end of the phone. And Lin Lixun's psychic ability, did this imply…?

Song Ren's heart sank, and he recalled a訃告 he had seen on the bulletin board at the beginning of the game, combined with Chen Qingsui's hidden identity as a journalist and visiting teacher…

At this moment, Song Ren had a bad feeling, and the subsequent developments seemed to confirm his suspicions.

Walking out of the Tian house, Lin Lixun waited for Chen Qingsui, but she never emerged. The evening was drawing in, so he decided to report the Tian family case information to the police first.

On the way, he saw a missing person notice on a utility pole: 'Chen Qingsui, a visiting teacher in Qingtan Town, went missing on September 23rd. She was last seen wearing a blue skirt and a white blouse, with a red hair tie and carrying a red umbrella.'

This matched Chen Qingsui's previous appearance exactly, and he had seen a red umbrella in the Tian family's house earlier.

On the rural notice board, there was also an obituary: 'Chen Qingsui, a visiting teacher in Qingtan Town, passed away due to unforeseen circumstances at the age of 27.'

Walking further, he came to a small river where several elementary school students were floating lanterns. They said the villagers believed Teacher Chen accidentally fell into the water on the rainy day of the 23rd, so they were floating lanterns to guide the drowned person back.

Lin Lixun paused, silent for a moment, then stepped forward and offered to help. After floating the lanterns, to the melody of the children's song 'Songbie', he seemed to see Chen Qingsui again amidst the myriad stars.

'This is an empty plot behind my house.'

'When I was little, I was playful and accidentally fell into a dry well on that plot. It was already night, and at first, I was scared, and no one heard my cries. But suddenly, I realized that the starry sky I saw from the well was so beautiful, so beautiful that I forgot my fear.'

'Then, a rope was suddenly thrown down, I don't know by whom. I climbed up step by step along the rope, and the closer I got to the wellhead, the wider my view became.'

'By the time I finally climbed out, the person who threw the rope was already gone, but my entire vision was filled with a brilliant galaxy.'

'I thought this was just an unforgettable experience, but after spending some time in Qingtan Town, I understood.'

'The children here are actually just like I was in the well back then, only able to see this one patch of starry sky. I want to be the one who throws the rope, to take them to see a wider world.'

After she finished speaking, Lin Lixun found himself and Chen Qingsui in a deep well with a rope beside them. Chen Qingsui told Lin Lixun to go up first and then pull her up.

Climbing up the rope, he saw the scenery Chen Qingsui had seen. But when he looked back down, she was gone, leaving only the well water reflecting the galaxy.

Lin Lixun then fell unconscious again, waking up in the infirmary. Zheng Ming and the police's forensic doctor were there. So, was this the real world now?

Song Ren mused inwardly.

Combining the clues found earlier, all the truths were finally fully revealed.

The bizarre fire incident that initially led Lin Lixun and the others there was orchestrated by Ye Jingshan, the clinic doctor.

Dr. Ye Jingshan, who had advised Zhao Xiaojuan, could not accept that his advice had instead caused her to suffer the posthumous accusation of infanticide.

So he deliberately left traces of his practice, intentionally hinting to the police and patients that he had a smoking habit, bought a large amount of fireworks, and guided the police to discover the source of this strange fire. The burnt corpse was not actually Ye Jingshan, but Wang Jincai, who had died of illness.

He wanted to use these deliberately left clues to make the police believe that the Tian family's deaths were his act of poisoning them in revenge against Tian Xiangrong.

"Look at this great mountain, with its grayish-green texture, as if thick ash from burnt fireworks has buried the entire town."

At the end of the game, Ye Jingshan was successfully apprehended.

Fireworks exploded in Qingtan Town. According to local custom, it was said that these could guide the souls of the deceased back home.

And by the river at the very end, Lin Lixun found Chen Qingsui's unsent resignation letter and that sticker photo.

The story finally settled on a reedy riverbank. Lin Lixun held onto his sole remaining memories with Chen Qingsui, gazing at the fireworks the town set off for the deceased, silently bidding her, or them, farewell.

As the farewell music of 'Outside the long pavilion, beside the ancient road, lush green grass stretches to the sky…' played, the game concluded. Though only three and a half hours long, it left Song Ren with a profound sense of melancholy.

(End of Chapter) <>