"What do you think?"
"Let's find Yun Yi first."
After leaving Xiù hé Zhuang, Hu and Lü began to discuss.
Because a shop assistant let slip, Hu Jia and the others learned that Yun Yi had left the embroidery shop two years ago. It was rumored that she had some disagreements with the boss, so after she left, the shop was forbidden to mention her name.
For this reason, Hu Jia and Lü Qingqing went directly to the shop owner, Zhang Qing. After identifying themselves, Zhang Qing sighed and said that he had concealed Yun Yi's matter because she was considered unlucky.
After all, it was a wedding dress shop, and newlyweds sought good fortune. But who would dare to buy clothes made by an embroiderer who had crawled out of a pile of dead bodies, no matter how good her skills were?
Often, even when customers had already chosen clothes, they would refuse to take them upon hearing about such a person in the shop. No matter how he explained that the clothes were not made by Yun Yi, those customers still refused.
With no other choice, Zhang Qing dismissed Yun Yi.
All of this sounded reasonable, as merchants were driven by profit. As for Yun Yi's whereabouts, Zhang Qing claimed to know nothing. However, the shop assistant mentioned that after Yun Yi left, her husband had come to the shop to find Zhang Qing and had beaten the boss quite badly at the time.
However, Zhang Qing only explained this as a misunderstanding, saying that the other party resented him for firing Yun Yi. For the sake of the shop's reputation, he eventually gave them some money to settle the matter.
Hu and Lü walked side by side, trying to find any clues from the information they had gathered.
But soon, their contemplation was interrupted by the clamor of the street. Not far away, a stilted building caught fire. By the time Hu and Lü arrived at the scene, the fire had been completely extinguished, leaving only black marks on the left outer wall of the building.
"Ghost fire! It appeared out of nowhere."
"What a sin! This is punishment from the ancestors."
The people at the scene chattered incessantly, while Hu Jia and Lü Qingqing calmly surveyed the surroundings, finding nothing out of the ordinary.
It was clear that the arsonist was nowhere to be seen.
"What do you think that ghost fire was all about?" Lü Qingqing finally remembered her own task of catching the person spreading rumors.
"Do you believe in ghosts and gods?" Hu Jia asked her.
"I believe in myself," Lü Qingqing replied with a smile.
"Actually, I'm quite interested in this matter. How did the arsonist start the fire? It makes me very curious," Hu Jia said, looking at the black marks on the wall.
"Then why don't you investigate?" Lü Qingqing found this question inexplicable. Aren't you a detective? If you have doubts, then resolve them.
"No time." Hu Jia pouted.
What?
"You don't have time? Are you perhaps thinking this case is too minor and you don't want to investigate it?" Lü Qingqing teased him.
"To me, cases have no distinction in size; there's only the difference between being solved or not," Hu Jia stated solemnly.
"Then why aren't you investigating the person spreading these rumors? Because of the rumors, the grave relocation work has been consistently obstructed," Lü Qingqing said, not disbelieving Hu Jia, but simply finding it strange.
"I don't take on two cases at the same time. I prefer to finish and sort out one thing before moving on to another."
"But what if both cases are very urgent?"
"Don't I have you for that?"
Lü Qingqing was speechless.
What a terrible habit!
...
In the evening, as soon as Lü Qingqing entered her home, her younger brother Duo Bao ran up to her.
"Sister, the teacher taught me two new characters today."
"What characters?"
"'Gang' and 'Gang'."
Saying this, Duo Bao used a wooden stick to write the two characters on the ground, stroke by stroke.
Lü Qingqing doted on her younger brother. Although the child was only 10 years old, he was very intelligent and sensible. Ever since their parents passed away early at home, the siblings had relied on each other.
"Is there anything special about these two characters?"
"The teacher said that the place where the mass graves used to be was called 'Seven Star Cistern' before, and it was later renamed 'Seven Star Ridge'. He told us not to write it incorrectly."
"Why was the name changed?"
"Because there were no more cisterns?"
No cisterns?
Seeing his sister's confused look, Duo Bao proudly recounted the story he had heard.
It turned out that the Tong Yuan Gate area, being too high in elevation and thus difficult to retain water, had historically been a severe area for water shortages in Chongqing.
To resolve this predicament, the local government specially invited a master to guide them in constructing seven large stone water cisterns outside the city gate, arranging them in the Big Dipper formation with the handle pointing towards Nan Ji Gate. It was claimed that these seven large water cisterns could prevent the fire demon from entering the city. From then on, the place was named "Seven Star Cistern."
Later, with urban development, these stone cisterns were destroyed. Furthermore, since the burial ground was naturally a ridge, people began to refer to "cistern" as "ridge."
"Everyone is spreading rumors that because the government forcibly relocated the graves, it angered the ancestors, and thus the great fire descended to punish us. If the relocation continues, more ancestors will be angered, and then the fire will burn down Chongqing city," Duo Bao recounted the story he had heard.
Seven Star Cistern?
Seven Star Ridge?
Grave relocation, rumors, ghost fire, ancestors?
Whether it was ghost fire or the rumors about the water cisterns, they all revolved around one thing: grave relocation. The arsonist was using the belief in ghosts and gods to incite public fear, thereby achieving the goal of preventing the government from relocating the graves.
But why would someone do this?
After all, there was money to be gained from grave relocation.
Let's not talk about disturbing the ancestors by moving their remains. The people buried in the mass graves were all from poor families generations ago. If their ancestors' protection were truly effective, would their descendants still be so impoverished?
Therefore, the reason behind it must not be this.
That night, Lü Qingqing tossed and turned, unable to sleep. She vaguely felt that a problem was right before her eyes, just within reach if she tried a little harder.
...
As soon as it was dawn, Lü Qingqing found Hu Jia.
"Think about it, everyone who does something must have their reasons. What kind of reason would make someone orchestrate such a large-scale event to prevent grave relocation? It must involve something life-threatening. And what is currently related to Seven Star Ridge and could cost someone their life? It can only be the matter of the incomplete skeletal remains."
This was the answer Lü Qingqing had pondered all night.
Hu Jia's eyes lit up. "So, we should focus on investigating those who are unwilling to relocate the graves. We might find the answer."
Investigating the disseminators of rumors is not as effective as investigating the creators of rumors!
Perhaps it was because the case had a new direction, but Hu Jia appeared particularly energetic that day, running around and jumping about, making it impossible for Lü Qingqing to keep up with his pace.
He quickly turned his attention to Tang Kai, the person who had led the trouble at the foot of the grave mountain.
This man was 30 years old, ran a small business, and lived in Lin Jiang Gate. His parents had passed away within the last ten years, and his wife had also died two years ago.
Currently, he was a lone individual, but precisely because of this, he was able to live comfortably on his own.
Therefore, his obstruction of grave relocation was, theoretically, understandable. He didn't lack money, and his family was buried in the mass graves. Most importantly, his home had experienced ghost fires twice, which had reportedly terrified him. Since then, Tang Kai had actively joined the ranks of those obstructing grave relocation.
However, no matter how plausible the reason, Tang Kai remained a suspect.
Why?
Because he had suddenly come into money.
It wasn't like he had become immensely wealthy, but rather, he used to barely scrape by, and now he was living more comfortably.
That night, Hu Jia listed him as a target for surveillance.
Initially, Lü Qingqing wanted to participate, but Hu Jia insisted she go back, under the guise of letting her rest more.
Lü Qingqing didn't have much of an opinion about this; Hu Jia was sufficient for tracking an ordinary person.
However, she did not expect to meet him again an hour later.
Late at night, Hu Jia was chasing someone.