After drinking and laughing, the group chatted for a while and then started to disperse. Before long, only Sha Biao, Zhang Ge, Director Han, and I were left at the table.
This meal, from midday to late afternoon, took quite a while. Seeing the time, Zhang Ge suggested taking me and Director Han back to his house to rest.
However, just as we were about to leave, an old man in his fifties suddenly barged in from outside. As soon as he entered, he shouted to Sha Biao, "Not good! Leader, come to my house quickly!"
"What happened?" As the headman of the Miao village, Sha Biao was obviously accustomed to such situations. During regular days, whenever there was a minor issue, the Miao people would come to him for help. Therefore, initially he didn't take it seriously, but smiled and said, "Take it easy, tell me slowly, the sky isn't falling."
"Sigh..." The old man seemed incredibly anxious, and with a choked voice, said, "All the dozen or so sheep in my house have died!"
"What? Hearing this, Sha Biao's expression changed drastically, and he immediately stood up and asked urgently, "How did they die? When did it happen?"
"I don't know! They just died for no reason. It should have been last night or this morning! I was in a hurry when I went out in the morning, I didn't notice. When I got back home at noon, I found all the sheep lying on the ground!"
"Alas, this is unbearable! These dozen sheep were meant to be sold in the new year to cover my grandson's school fees! Now what..."
"Don't worry, take me there first!" Without the old man saying anything, Sha Biao was aware of the seriousness of the situation. Except for a very few who had prospered by making wine or batik, the majority of the Miao people in the village were living in poverty. Those dozen or so sheep were virtually the entire annual income for the old man's family! Their sudden deaths had left everyone in a state of anxiety.
As the headman of the Miao village, he naturally felt responsible and had to handle this matter properly.
"Hmm?" At this moment, I couldn't help but notice something strange in the old man's eyes. Ever since he appeared, I had been observing him and noticed that not only his forehead was dark, but his overall appearance was inauspicious. This was clearly an omen of "blood calamity," right?
I had mentioned before that when I first met the old man Zhang, he had forced me to read a lot of metaphysical books, including the "Book of Changes," "Four Pillars of Destiny," and "Liu Ren," and many of them were related to physiognomy and fortune telling.
Therefore, even though I hadn't formally studied physiognomy, I understood some basic physiognomy principles, at least more reliable than some swindlers under a bridge.
"Well then, I won't keep you any longer, you've seen it yourself, I need to go out right away, I'm sorry for leaving!" After saying this, Sha Biao left hastily with the old man.
"Let's go! Let's go and see, maybe we can help!" Over there, Sha Biao had already reached the door, and I finally snapped out of my thoughts and quickly said to Zhang Ge and the others.
"Huh? Did you notice something?"
Mr. Zhang clearly saw the gesture I just made with my fingers, and he knew that I must have noticed something, so he immediately became interested and quickly asked, "Could it be the work of a ghost again?"
"I don't know! We'll know when we get there!"
I had no idea about this. Not to mention that I didn't understand fortune-telling at all, even if I did, I wouldn't dare to calculate too carefully. Divination is a way to reveal the secrets of the heavens, which is also a way to defy the heavens. A slight mistake can lead to irreparable consequences. Those who have the ability will never easily tell fortunes. Even if they do, they will only give a rough estimation and will not dare to be too detailed.
Without time to explain, I quickly took Zhang and Director Han with me and went out.
We caught up with Sha Biao and the other two, and when they heard that I was going to help, Sha Biao naturally welcomed me. Through the conversation on the way, I finally learned that the old man's surname was Wu, and he was also a Miao person, but he did not live in a Miao village. Instead, he lived in a mountain hollow about one or two kilometers away from the Miao village and made a living by herding sheep.
After crossing a small mountain hollow, the lonely little courtyard of Old Wu's family suddenly entered our sight.
However, strangely, I vaguely saw a faint red light coming from Old Wu's house from a distance. This red light was not obvious and ordinary people could not perceive it at all. Even a practitioner would need to approach a certain range and sense it through the aura field.
"Their family is hiding treasure!"
Almost subconsciously, I had such a thought in my mind. According to the Daoist belief, the rising red glow was definitely a sign that treasure was about to emerge!
Could it be that this treasure had brought the "bloody disaster" to Old Wu's family?
But that didn't make sense. Since the sheep in their family had already died, it meant that someone already knew there was treasure here. Since they had come, why hadn't they taken the treasure?
With a skeptical look on my face, our group finally arrived at Old Wu's house.
As soon as I entered the courtyard, I discovered something interesting: a golden carp was kept in a large jar in the courtyard. Judging from its size, it must have weighed at least four or five kilograms. There was also a fat cat lying next to it, lazily basking in the sun. When it saw strangers coming in, it stood up like a watchdog, wagging its tail high and meowing continuously at us.
"I see!"
Seeing this situation, I suddenly realized, feeling amused. No wonder the visitors hadn't taken the treasure. It turned out that in this unremarkable courtyard of Old Wu's, there were hidden talents!
What did it mean to have hidden talents?
Actually, this was a kind of Feng Shui layout. Firstly, there was the carp in the jar. As the saying goes, "the carp leaping over the dragon gate," so the carp in the jar naturally became the "hidden dragon in the water". And the fat cat, not to mention, a tiger is originally a member of the cat family. Seeing the fat cat lying lazily there perfectly fulfilled the “crouching tiger” part of the saying.
Hmm... this Feng Shui layout was simply a mess, but with the dragon and tiger reigning over the house, even an evil spirit with certain abilities would not dare to trespass.
Glancing at the sheepfold, I saw that it was located outside the courtyard and not within this Feng Shui layout. Presumably, the other party couldn't enter the courtyard, so they vented their anger on those sheep.
Ah, Old Wu was really unlucky. If he had built the sheepfold in the courtyard, there would have been no trouble!
Shaking my head, I followed Sha Biao to the sheepfold and began to inspect the bodies of the sheep with him.
Strangely, after checking for a long time, we found no trace of any kind, nor did we find any wounds on the dead sheep.
It was Director Han who, being a professional criminal investigator, checked the dead sheep thoroughly and finally pointed to a dark spot the size of a thumb on each sheep's leg, saying, "Here it is!"
We quickly gathered around and indeed found a thumb-sized dark spot on each dead sheep!
As we carefully examined these dark spots, Director Han continued, "They should have died from poisoning; it looks like they were bitten by some kind of poisonous creature! The meat from these sheep can't be eaten. Let's bury them quickly!"
"What? This..."
Upon hearing this, Old Wu couldn't help but sit on the ground in a panic. At almost fifty years of age, he began to wail on the spot: "Damn it, what sin have I committed!"
"Alright! Stop crying, listen to Director Han and bury the sheep first!"
Old Wu's lament immediately made Sha Biao feel disturbed and he quickly said, "I will try to get some subsidies for you from the village. Even if you're poor, you can't deprive your child of an education. He has to continue studying..."
"Really?"
Upon hearing this, Old Wu stopped wailing, nodding repeatedly, "Okay, okay, okay, I'll go dig a hole and bury the sheep!"
"As long as my little one can go to school, I'll do anything you ask me to do..."
Murmuring to himself, Old Wu was ready to dig a hole to bury the sheep. Being someone who had herded sheep all his life and hadn't seen much of the world, Old Wu naturally obeyed Sha Biao without question, even if there were no subsidies. The village head had already given the order, so he had no other choice but to follow.
"No rush!"
At this moment, I couldn't help but smile slightly and stopped Old Wu, saying, "First, take us to your house and let's see if there are any treasures. If we can find them, it'll be worth more than just a dozen sheep, even a dozen cows!"
"Huh?"