After the death occurred, the children involved all kept silent and dared not tell the truth to their parents.
Therefore, even though the Shi family questioned everyone in the village, they still found nothing.
Shi Qiu's father recalled that night when his daughter sobbed and told him how An Peng had bullied her. His heart ached as if being stabbed by a knife. He regretted his own weakness and incompetence, and also suspected that An's family was involved in his daughter's disappearance.
Determinedly, Shi's father reported the case to the government. Little did he know that the An family had already bribed the government officials. Although the government accepted the complaint, there was no progress for a long time. This dragged on for more than half a year!
A perfectly healthy person simply vanished, leaving no trace of being alive or dead!
Consumed by grief and anger, Shi's father fell seriously ill. Exactly one year after Shi Qiu's disappearance, he passed away...
In contrast, in the An family, Lord An still thrived in his position as a local gentry, and An Peng continued to live a glamorous life.
Although An Peng had felt a moment of unease when she accidentally killed Shi Qiu at first, as time passed, this uneasiness gradually faded away.
The sun still rose in the east and set in the west as usual. It seemed that everyone in the world had turned a new page, except for Shi Qiu. Her time, her life, were forever imprisoned in that dark and damp mill, merging with the cold and heavy millstone...
At this moment, the illusion in front of them suddenly shattered. When everyone opened their eyes, they found themselves back in the exquisite courtyard of the Zhang Mansion. It was already broad daylight, and the long - haired female ghost had disappeared without a trace.
The sunlight shone on everyone, but each person felt as if there was a block of ice weighing on their hearts, heavy and cold...
Recalling what they had just seen, even the experienced celestial masters couldn't help but shiver. It was hard to imagine that such a clean - handed and cold - hearted corpse - hiding case was actually committed by a group of twelve - or thirteen - year - old teenagers! Sometimes, the malice of children was purer and more reckless than that of adults, which made it particularly terrifying.
Zhang Yushu's face was deathly pale. He staggered back a step and could hardly stand steadily.
He simply couldn't accept what he had seen!
The virtuous wife who had shared his bed, given birth to his children, and whom he had once been so proud of actually harbored such a hideous side deep in her heart and carried the life of a young and innocent girl on her conscience!
"Which one... is the real her..." His voice was hoarse, filled with the confusion and pain of a shattered belief.
However, before the anger welled up, an overwhelming sense of guilt flooded over him. He never expected that his polite and casual inquiry and kind smile back then would bring about a fatal disaster for Shi Qiu!
He could no longer hold himself up. Slowly, he squatted down, covering his face with his hands. His shoulders trembled violently, and he choked so hard that he couldn't utter a single word.
How could he face the dead Shi Qiu? And how could he face his wife, who was the murderer? If their daughter Xiaoxiao were to find out about her mother's sins in the future, how could she come to terms with it?
Shen Cuiyu's cold voice broke the suffocating silence: "Rather than speculating blindly here, we might as well go and ask the person herself."
Hearing this, Zhang Yushu's body trembled violently. He stood there in a daze for a long time, as if using up all his strength. Finally, he suddenly stood up, said nothing, and stumbled towards An Peng's bedroom at a fast pace!
Inside the bedroom, although An Peng didn't know exactly what had happened, when she saw Zhang Yushu barging in with a livid face and blood - shot eyes, she knew that something terrible had happened.
"An Peng, over the years, I've always thought I've treated you well. But what about you? Have you been hiding something from me?"
An Peng tried to remain calm, but her voice trembled slightly: "Yushu... What's wrong with you? What do I have to hide from you?"
"Are you still lying to me at this point?!" Zhang Yushu's voice suddenly rose, hoarse with anger and disappointment. "I finally understand why you've been so against my invitation of celestial masters! You're afraid! Afraid that the good deeds you did back then will be exposed!"
An Peng's face changed drastically. Her eyes flickered nervously, but she still tried to argue: "You... What are you talking nonsense about..."
"An Peng." Shen Cuiyu's voice was like ice, interrupting her. She stepped forward slowly, her eyes blazing, staring coldly into An Peng's eyes. She said clearly, word by word: "Do you still remember... Shi Qiu?" Without waiting for An Peng to react, she took a step closer and said menacingly: "She's right behind you, watching you at this moment."
The two words "Shi Qiu" were like two thunderbolts, striking An Peng hard on the head!
The color instantly drained from her face. She was so terrified that she almost jumped up from the bed. Her panicked eyes wandered between Shen Cuiyu and the empty space behind her. Her lips trembled for a long time, and finally she slumped down dejectedly, muttering absent - mindedly: "You... all know..."
Zhang Yushu stared at An Peng for a long time, and finally just closed his eyes in disappointment.
However, Shen Cuiyu suddenly recalled what Zhang Yushu had said before - there used to be a small "god statue" tightly wrapped in red cloth in the An Mansion.
A chilling thought suddenly became clear in her mind. She raised her eyes, her gaze as sharp as a knife, stabbing straight at An Peng:
"The thing you used to worship in your bedroom was not a god statue at all... It was an altar you set up for Shi Qiu, wasn't it?"
These words were like the last straw that finally broke An Peng. Her body trembled violently. Her face turned ashen. Her lips trembled, but she could no longer utter any words of defense. Finally, she closed her eyes in despair, silently admitting everything.
It turned out that about a year after Shi Qiu's tragic death, strange things began to happen frequently in the An Mansion.
An Peng was haunted by nightmares every night. She always felt as if a thousand - jin weight was pressing on her chest, making her wake up gasping for breath. In the dead of night, countless times she had caught a terrifying glimpse of a small, blood - stained shadow silently lingering outside the bed curtain... Night after night, An Peng was tortured by this endless fear and became emaciated and almost insane.
Helpless, An's parents had to spend a fortune to secretly invite a highly - skilled celestial master.
As soon as the celestial master stepped into An Peng's boudoir, he was shocked by the overwhelming resentment and his face changed greatly. He didn't even need to ask much to know that the lingering ghost must have died a very tragic death and had a deep - seated grudge that could not be dispelled without proper measures.
He sighed and said, "The resentment of this spirit has penetrated deep into the bone marrow. Forcing an exorcism may backfire. For now, the only way is to set up a sacrificial altar and have the An family's descendants worship it day and night in an attempt to appease its resentment. This may keep you safe for a while. Remember, the worship must not be interrupted for a single day, otherwise... there will surely be a life - threatening danger."
Thus, a "god statue" that could not be exposed to the light and was tightly wrapped in red cloth was quietly erected in An Peng's bedroom.
It was not a god, but an altar suppressing Shi Qiu's soul, and also a secret ritual that An Peng had to carry out for many years in order to survive.