Chapter 23: Traces

I wasn’t thinking about whether I was skipping school or not, I just walked quickly ahead with a gloomy face, and Su Rou followed behind, almost unable to keep up.

I was obviously giving him a very ‘beautiful’ mood by accompanying him to play truant. After this beautiful mood, Su Rou obviously discovered that something was wrong with me. He followed me panting, saying, “Sanwa, if you have something to say, just say it. Are you imitating your master? Hanging on halfway is uncomfortable.”

I slowed down, took a deep breath, and said to Su Rou very seriously, “Worm, that worm, two of them haven’t been found. My master thinks they might have gone into the animals. The cow in the Qian Gui family died so strangely. What do you think? I have to go and take a look. If it’s serious, I have to tell my master.”

“Then hurry up.” When Su Rou heard this, he was even more excited than I was. He turned around and ran. It was surprising that he was so fat and strong, but he could still run so fast.

After running a few steps, Su Rou stopped and looked at me seriously, saying, “Sanwa, you won’t take action without permission this time, will you?”

“No, I can’t handle it. Last time was luck. It also contaminated my tiger claws.” I was a little cold when I thought about it last time. My master said that not all bugs are that powerful. The one I met was the king of bugs, but even that king of bugs was only parasitic for a while before I pulled it out. This bug had eaten and drunk enough on the cow…

I didn’t dare to think about this. After agreeing with Su Rou, I simply trotted with him all the way to Qian Daguai’s house.

The door to Qian Dagui’s house was wide open, and there were many people standing in the courtyard. This is how it is in the countryside. When something happens to a family, many people come to watch the fun. What’s rare is that I also saw the village cadres in the courtyard.

At this time, Qian Daguai was holding the village cadre’s hand and crying, his wife was pale and a little haggard, sitting on a stone bench, looking scared.

I squeezed past with Su Rou and just happened to hear Qian Dagui say to the village official, “I’m a miser, and I’m distressed that the cow died, but who doesn’t treasure their cow in the countryside? Seeing the cow die like this is heartbreaking. You must help me find out what happened. Otherwise, I can’t be satisfied.”

The village official didn’t know why, and his face didn’t look good. He said, “We have to investigate. We have to investigate this. I’m worried that other cows in the village have also been harmed. Damn it, was this done by a human or something else?”

At this point, Su Roucun went up and said, “Uncle Qian, can we go see the cow? I’ve liked cows since I was a kid. I heard about this, and it’s not easy for me to hear.”

The boy’s expression was very sad. Qian Daguai was in a difficult stage, and undoubtedly Su Rou’s words resonated with him. He waved his hand weakly and said to Su Rou, “The cow is very miserable. You go and see it. As long as you see it, you won’t have nightmares.”

Su Rou said, “Uncle Qian, don’t worry, I’m not afraid.”

After that, Su Rou squeezed his eyebrows and winked at me, and the two of us ran to the cattle pen. There were a few other people here, and I knew them all. They were some of the bravest people in the village.

But their faces were all very ugly, and they were still discussing something. Anyway, they looked very uneasy.

I didn’t have the heart to listen, so I grabbed Su Rou and walked up to him. I only glanced at him, and Su Rou immediately turned around and squatted down, saying, “Sanwa, I can’t take it anymore. I think I’ll throw up the two steamed buns I ate.”

I couldn’t help but feel a wave of nausea in my stomach. I recited the mantra in my mind and calmed my nerves for a while before I recovered.

The cow’s body fell to the cow pen, its eyes wide open, but filled with death, looking particularly gray and hopeless.

Dozens of flies were flying around the cow pen, which was also unsightly, because the originally clean and tidy cow pen was now a large pool of blood, which was almost dry, so the pieces mixed in the blood were particularly obvious.

What is most upsetting is that there is a large hole in the cow’s stomach, and the area around the hole is rotten, as if it had been blown open, and the intestines are flowing out of the hole.

If it were just that, it would be fine, after all, disembowelment is just that kind of sight, but the problem is that the intestines that came out were all torn and shredded, as if something had gnawed on them, and through the hole, you could still see some internal organs.

After calming down, I gently kicked the crispy meat, who was crouching on the ground and retching, and said, “You can throw up here. I’m going to go over and take a look.”

Su Rou was dry heaving when she heard me say this, and immediately vomited.

I looked and saw that the two steamed buns were in it.

“Sanwa, are you messing with me?” Su Rou’s face was full of bitterness.

I didn’t bother to respond to him, and walked straight into the cattle pen. This behavior made several adults nearby gasp, and one of them directly said, “Which family’s child is this? He’s got a lot of guts. He’s not afraid of the smell of blood.”

“Yes, he’s got a lot of guts. He looks like the son of the Chen family.”

“The old Chen family that moved to the county seat?”

“You said the whole family left, but why didn’t they take the only boy with them?”

I couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat. I suspected that I was born in a gossipy town, where even men have such a strong ability to gossip.

I didn’t bother to pay attention to the noise of these people. I squatted down in front of the cow’s corpse. The reason I did this was to see if there were any clues. I glanced at the hole and saw that the cow’s stomach was almost rotten, and I could even clearly see the cow’s stomach. There were many small holes in the tough cow’s stomach.

I held my breath, and even though my heart was calm, I couldn’t stand the pungent smell of blood. Fortunately, I could hold my breath for a long time.

I squatted down on the ground and looked carefully, but I didn’t see anything. When the cow fell, it had trampled a lot of the hay on the ground. I pushed the hay aside and looked carefully. Finally, I found a trace.

It was like a snake had crawled across it, and it was as thick as my wrist!

It was a worm!

I stood up immediately and walked out of the cattle pen. My composure was forced, and I couldn’t show the slightest abnormality here.

I was very confused and scared. Looking at Qian Daguai, who was crying in the yard, I suddenly became very worried about the family. Where was the bug? Could it be hiding in their house, waiting for an opportunity to strike?

But I really didn’t have the courage to investigate where the bug had gone. But under the circumstances, I felt that I couldn’t leave. Think about it, a huge bug appeared in the middle of a group of people in this courtyard. How terrifying is that?

The master once said that many things have to be kept from the common people. This is a kind of good-intentioned deception. At least this kind of deception can make them feel at ease and live a safe life. So Taoism is not concerned with worldly affairs, but in fact, many true Taoist descendants have a responsibility to bear, which has been the case since ancient times.

I walked up to Su Rou, picked up the guy who was already spitting out bitter bile, and said, “How ugly! Wipe your face.”

The crispy meat glared at me weakly, wiped his mouth directly with his sleeve, and then started yelling, “Who did this? Who did this?”

“Only a son of a bitch would harm you. Didn’t I just go in there? I wanted to see if the bug left any traces.”

“What kind of traces?” Su Rou’s thoughts were immediately drawn to it.

“The marks on your wrist are so thick. Just think how big the last worm king was!” My face was very ugly, and so was Su Rou’s.

I continued, “Su Rou, I’m afraid the bug is still hiding in this house.”

“Ah?” Su Rou jumped back, looking as if he wanted to leave immediately.

I grabbed him and said, “I’m not a bug, why are you jumping away? I can’t leave, I have to stay here and watch, you know what I mean?”

“You mean I have to run errands, right?” Su Rou grabbed my neck and said, “Last time it was dangerous for you, and you almost killed me. This time you’re ordering me around again. Tell me, don’t you see that I’m all meat? Are you trying to kill me?”

I grabbed his hand and said, “I’m staying here anyway. There are so many lives at stake. You do what you want.”

Su Rou slapped his forehead, glared at me fiercely, and ran away.

I smiled and knew that the kid would go.

Back in the courtyard, I picked an empty stool and sat down. People kept coming and going in the courtyard, and everyone was talking about this strange thing. In particular, some women even screamed at the sight of the cow, which made me feel a bit overwhelmed.

Originally, the yard was full of people, and I wasn’t too noticeable, but when it was almost 11 o’clock, there were no more people, and I was sitting there, attracting attention.

Qian Daguai and the village official who had not left noticed me at the same time.

Qian Daguai didn’t have the heart to say anything to me, but the village cadre came over and said, “Little boy, I see you’ve been here for a long time. Why are you still sitting here at this time?”

I was stunned, thinking that the village official must have seen me with my school bag on my back, preparing to educate me for skipping class.

“I saw the cow die in a strange way. I heard that you had called a veterinarian, and I wanted to see what he said.” I quickly found an excuse. Fortunately, I was bored and listened carefully to what they said.

“The vet is in town, but he won’t be here until this afternoon. You can’t just skip school because you’re curious. Go to school now, or I’ll tell your principal. I’m very familiar with the principal of the middle school in the township.” The village official’s face was very serious.

This is the kind of person from that era, who still maintains an inexplicable enthusiasm. This enthusiasm is touching, but the problem is that it is now causing me trouble.

I really have to stay here!

“Hurry up and go. I’ll let you off for the morning, but you still have to go to class this afternoon,” the village official snapped.

Now, I really felt cold sweat. What should I say? It’s been almost three hours since the dog’s meat went in, and why hasn’t my master been called?