Chapter 1 The Name

As soon as the name was spoken, the atmosphere in the room tightened. Several people stared at Wu Ma's face, but Wu Ma seemed unfamiliar with the name. She frowned, her forehead full of wrinkles. After a long while, she shook her head. "Never heard of it."

Lei Mingyu interjected anxiously, "Wu Ma, please think carefully again. This is very important."

But Wu Ma stubbornly shook her head, her tone certain. "Never heard of it. I've never heard of any families named Lu among the friends the master usually associates with."

"Perhaps not Master Wu's friend," Jiang Cheng said after thinking. "A scholar going to the capital for the imperial examinations. Do you have any impression?"

"Scholar..." Wu Ma's entire face twisted together, clearly deep in thought. Jiang Cheng softly prompted from the side, "Around the time Miss was to be sacrificed to the River God, did a scholar come to the Wu family mansion, or did any strange people visit?"

After a few seconds, Wu Ma's expression suddenly changed, and her body trembled. Everyone immediately knew they were onto something. Jiang Cheng didn't press further, and his first reaction was to wave his hand at the people behind him, signaling them to shut their mouths since they couldn't help.

"You mentioning it like that reminds me of something," Wu Ma finally said. "A while before the young lady was sacrificed to the River God, a young man did come to the Wu family mansion."

"But he wasn't invited, but... but was picked up." Wu Ma recalled.

"Picked up? What do you mean?" Jiang Cheng was anxious inside, but his tone was slow and comfortable.

"This has nothing to do with the young lady. This young man was picked up by Li Dali, who chops wood in the backyard. Li Dali is responsible for providing firewood for the mansion. He has to go up the mountain to chop wood every day."

"As a result, that day, he didn't bring back firewood, but carried a young man on his back, saying he found him in the back mountain. At that time, the young man had many injuries and was unconscious."

"According to Li Dali's speculation, this person should have accidentally entered the back mountain. Because the roads on the mountain were slippery those few days, he lost his footing and rolled down, which is how he ended up like that."

"It should be said that this young man was lucky. My master was kind-hearted, and those few days happened to be fasting days, so he invited a doctor to come and treat him. After a few doses of medicine, that person actually woke up."

"After resting quietly for a few days, he could walk on the ground. The young man thanked the master profusely, saying that he was a candidate going to the capital for the imperial examinations, and because he was not familiar with the local terrain, he accidentally entered the back mountain. The mountain road was difficult, and he accidentally rolled down. When he opened his eyes again, he was in the Wu residence."

"What happened then?" Seeing that Wu Ma was silent, Jiang Cheng continued to ask.

"Later... I don't know much about what happened after that," Wu Ma recalled, "I only know that after he recovered, he was anxious to leave, saying that he must not delay the imperial examinations."

"As a result, not long after he went out, he encountered heavy rain, and his old illness broke out midway. He fainted on the side of the road. This time... this time it was still the young lady and her party returning from offering incense who discovered him on the road and picked him up again."

Speaking of this, everyone heard the problem. This scholar was discovered and picked up by the Wu family mansion twice, and both times he was unconscious. This luck was too good, right?

After pondering for a moment, Jiang Cheng seemed to have grasped the point, but before he could speak, an old and dull voice suddenly sounded. It was Yu Chengmu walking over. "Is this scholar's body so weak that... as long as it rains, he won't go out?"

Wu Ma recalled for a moment, not very certain. "I am in the backyard, and I don't have much contact with this young man, but I heard people say that this person's body is very weak, and he seems to be particularly afraid of dampness and cold. Even if it is drizzling outside, he must borrow an umbrella from the gatehouse in advance for the few steps from the backyard to the front yard, and refuse to get wet at all."

As soon as these words were spoken, Yu Chengmu narrowed his eyes, and Jiang Cheng also understood. This young man refused to get wet at all, not because he was weak, but because paper cannot be wetted, after all, his body was a paper figure!

It was the paper figure that Du Caoyu saw in the paper craftsman's house!

Gradually, some seemingly unrelated clues were gradually connected. This lifelike paper figure must have come from the hands of a paper craftsman, and if you want the paper figure to be lifelike, the paper craftsman alone is certainly not enough. There must be other Yin practitioners helping in this.

Now the problem arises. So many Yin practitioners gathered in this unknown small mountain village, what are they going to do?

Profiting from money can be directly ruled out. With such superb skills, it is not too easy to get some gold and silver jewelry.

Seeking revenge?

Jiang Cheng didn't think so, and there was no need to make it so complicated. For the time being, he had no clue, Jiang Cheng suppressed his thoughts, things will always be clarified, it won't be too long.

After asking some more things, but Wu Ma's understanding was limited, the group thanked them and planned to leave. Bringing up old things again, Wu Ma's emotions once lost control, muttering to herself that she used to be from a big family, but later her family declined and she was sold into the Wu family. Because her body was weak since she was a child, she couldn't do heavy work. It was the young lady who pitied her, so she had a light job.

"Miss Wu is a very good person, we will definitely investigate the truth of the matter." Fatty grabbed Cheng Ma's hand when he was leaving, as a promise to her.

First, he returned to the village's conference hall. Jin Liang's injuries had been treated almost completely. When they entered the door, Jin Liang sat there drinking tea as if nothing had happened. Seeing everyone approaching, Jin Liang stood up and said politely: "Thank you for your hard work."

"How is the boss's injury?" Chen Hao asked, seemingly concerned.

Jin Liang raised his re-bandaged broken arm and smiled: "It's nothing serious, thank you for your concern, Brother Chen Hao. Did you guys find anything this time?"

The village chief said that he was going to deal with the Yizhuang matter, and left first. The group took Jin Liang and walked slowly along the dirt road in the village, walking and perhaps knowing that Jiang Cheng had also seen the paper man's matter, this time Yu Chengmu didn't hide it, and took the initiative to clarify the matter.

"So that's how it is," Chen Hao touched his chin and echoed, but from his indifferent expression, it was obvious that he had already thought of it. Fatty swallowed and thought to himself, these people add up to 200 minds, if you are not careful, you will be tricked so that even your ashes are gone.

"It seems that this matter is more difficult than we initially expected." Yu Chengmu said in a deep voice, "If you want to make that paper man move, and also speak and move like a living person, it is definitely not something that a paper craftsman can do alone. There must be other Yin practitioners involved, such as the corpse painter who draws the soul before drawing a person."