Chapter 136 Strange Events in the Night

At this moment by the river in Kuailiang Village, the villagers had already gathered.

The woman inside the pig cage was as pale as death, having long since stopped trying to struggle.

Sixth Uncle directed the crowd:
"Load the stones into the pig cage and sink it into the river."

The villagers chanted in unison, following his instructions as they placed the heavy stones into the cage.

The bamboo cage containing the woman was pushed out into the river.

The stones inside the cage dragged the woman down, slowly submerging her into the water. On the brink of death, the woman inside the cage began to struggle instinctively.

Ripples spread across the surface of the river, and the surrounding water grew turbid from the sinking bamboo cage.

'Glug, glug,' bubbles gushed upward, and everyone nearby felt an abnormal surge of excitement. In unison, the crowd shouted:
"Purge the clan! Enforce family discipline!"
"Uphold public morality! Drown her in the pig cage!"

The men grew more excited the louder they shouted, while the women, even as they joined in, felt a lingering, latent fear.

On the surface, this ritual was meant to execute Mistress Kuai Fifth, but in reality, it served to intimidate all the women throughout the entire village.

About a quarter of an hour later, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the bubbles in the water gradually vanished, and the cage sank lower. The woman inside should have already drowned.

Sixth Uncle nodded with satisfaction, basking in the respectful yet fearful expressions of the crowd.

"This river is a tributary of the Shangjia River; surely it will wash away the uncleanness upon the Zhuang woman—"

He was just about to say a few more words when suddenly, an unexpected change occurred.

"Sixth Uncle—"

Someone cried out in terror as if having seen something.

'Glug, glug, glug—'

The sound of bubbling water rose from the river. With a peculiar expression, Sixth Uncle turned his head to look toward the center of the river.

The river surface, which had been calm just moments before, began to bubble again for no apparent reason. The bubbles multiplied rapidly, as though something deep beneath the water was struggling violently. The water sloshed with a 'swish, swish' sound, kicking up fierce, churning waves.

At some point, a faint mist had begun to drift out from the small woods along the riverbank in Kuailiang Village.

The villagers, who had been sweating profusely from the excitement of watching the execution, were suddenly enveloped by the rising mist as a mountain wind howled through the riverside trees.

Swept by this wind, the torches held high by the crowd flickered and dimmed. A sudden chill gripped everyone's backs, sending a piercing cold deep into their hearts.

"Sixth Uncle, wh-what is that in the river—?"
"Could there be a giant fish down there?"

Everyone began to chatter amongst themselves:
"That Zhuang woman was nothing more than rotten fish and stinking shrimp; the moment she hit the water, she attracted a giant fish to feed on her—"

The villagers had not yet realized the gravity of the situation and were still trading jokes.

The moment that person finished speaking, the others burst into laughter.

"Something's not quite right."

Someone with sharp eyes had already sensed that something was amiss.

"What could possibly be wrong? Could it be that the Zhuang woman died with lingering grievances and dares to haunt us?"

A woman scoffed dismissively:
"She committed a grave offense; how could she possibly have the face to? If I had done such a shameless thing, I'd have no face to meet anyone even after death—"

"Hahahaha—"

Mid-laughter, someone suddenly interjected:
"It really doesn't look right."

One after another, two more people voiced their unease. For reasons unknown, the rest of the laughing crowd felt a sudden tightness in their throats.

Sixth Uncle's expression also grew serious.

The 'glug, glug' sound beneath the water grew increasingly loud, and the bubbles churned furiously. The entire river surface resembled a pot of boiling water.

Beneath the surface, shadowy forms seemed to slowly enlarge and float upward.

'Gulp.'

The villagers, who had been shouting slogans and laughing just moments before, fell silent in an instant. Amidst the extreme quiet, only the sound of the boiling river could be heard.

Someone swallowed a mouthful of saliva, the sound gratingly harsh in the stillness.

'Thump, thump, thump—'

The villagers' heartbeats began to accelerate, and the timid ones were already subconsciously backing away.

"What is that—?"

Finally, someone could no longer endure the eerie silence and pointed at the river, asking.

"Is, is it a fish?"
"Is it a fish, Sixth Uncle?"

Sixth Uncle was the most respected elder in the village, and everyone deferred to his judgment. Now that such a situation had arisen, everyone instinctively focused their attention on him, waiting for him to speak.

The old man also saw the shadows gradually dispersing and rising in the river.

Having lived a long life—having already reached an age where half his body was practically in the grave—his perception of danger far surpassed that of these ignorant young people.

By now, he realized that tonight's operation had likely gone awry.

Yet, despite his worldly experience, Sixth Uncle was ultimately just an old village man with limited horizons.

Believing he had done nothing wrong, he felt no fear. Seeing that the surrounding women and children were somewhat frightened, he bellowed:
"Ignorant women and children, stop howling! Whatever it is, we'll know once we go down into the water and take a look."

In the past, the moment he gave such an order, someone would have eagerly volunteered to step forward.

But tonight, the village was carrying out an execution; a woman had just been pushed down into that very river, drowning a human life.

With someone having just died in the water, everyone considered it inauspicious and was unwilling to go in.

Seeing that no one responded after he spoke, Sixth Uncle felt a flicker of annoyance and grew furious:
"A pack of useless cowards."

After finishing his tirade, he called out:
"Kuai Fifth, Kuai Pengju, Kuai Pengcheng—"

He named several people in succession. The designated Kuai Fifth suddenly backed away, weeping:
"Sixth Uncle, I don't dare—"

"Kuai Fifth, you useless piece of trash!"

Sixth Uncle suddenly flew into a rage:
"You couldn't keep your own woman in check at home, and now that trouble has broken out, everyone has helped you clean up the mess. We're just asking you to go into the water and take a look, and you don't even have the guts for that? What good are you, you piece of trash?"

Stung by this scolding, the fierce-looking Kuai the Third could no longer sit still. He stepped out from the crowd, glaring bitterly at his useless younger brother:
"Sixth Uncle, I'll go."

He shoved the torch in his hand into Kuai Fifth's grasp, rolled up his sleeves, and took the lead, striding into the water.

'Splash, splash.'

His footsteps churned the water.

Tonight's water was bone-chillingly cold. Kuai the Third was in the prime of his youth and full of vital energy, yet the moment he was submerged, he shuddered, and the soles of his feet began to cramp.

'Hiss!'

He drew a sharp breath, forcefully working his foot back and forth until the piercing, stabbing pain gradually subsided.

Taking advantage of this brief moment, the villagers saw that he had entered the water without incident, prompting the two men named by Sixth Uncle to follow him in.

By now, the dark shadow beneath the river surface had floated even closer. Hand in hand, the three men waded toward the shadow in the middle of the river.

The people on the riverbank watched with bated breath. A worried-looking woman shouted to Kuai the Third:
"Husband, be careful."

"Don't worry, there's nothing to it," Kuai the Third replied.

As the group approached the edge of the shadow, driven by the biological instinct to anticipate danger, all three men instinctively paused for a moment.

The dark shadow in the river stopped rising the moment they drew near, simply drifting within the water like floating river weed, swaying slightly with the residual ripples of the current.

And the bubbles that had been ceaselessly erupting like boiling water had vanished without a trace.

Only concentric ripples remained on the surface, slowly expanding outward toward the riverbank under the illumination of the torches.

They waited for a moment. Nothing happened.

No news was good news.

The tight muscles around Sixth Uncle's mouth relaxed, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

Kuai the Third also breathed a sigh of relief.

Tonight's affair was, after all, a family matter of his. Now that such an unexpected complication had occurred, it felt somewhat ill-omened no matter what.

Since things had progressed this far, the villagers had already been given a fright; if they dragged it out any further, the others might grow displeased.

With this thought in mind, he mustered his courage and reached out to touch the shadow.

The other two men who had entered the water were considered bold, but for some reason, both felt a lingering dread toward the dark form.

They had not expected Kuai the Third to be so daring as to reach directly into the water to touch it. Just as they were staring in astonishment, Kuai the Third let out a long breath and spat:
"Bah, it turns out the pig cage just floated back up."

As soon as these words left his mouth, the villagers, who had been holding their collective breath, let out a massive sigh of relief in unison:
"Phew, you scared me to death!"
"So the pig cage just floated up."
"I thought the river had spawned some kind of mutated fish or water demon—"

The villagers began to chatter amongst themselves.

'Whoosh—' A mountain wind swept by, shaking the tree crowns and stripping countless leaves from their branches, sending them fluttering down to the ground with a 'rustling' sound.

Sixth Uncle, however, was beginning to feel that something was deeply unnatural.

Unlike the relieved villagers, the moment he heard that the pig cage had floated up, his heart tightened, and he hurriedly asked:
"Third, how could the pig cage float up? Could the cage have come undone, allowing the Zhuang woman to seize the opportunity and escape?"

The cage held a living human being, and fearing she wouldn't die, the villagers had even stuffed two massive stones inside it.

Those stones had been hauled by several strapping men of the village and weighed at least several hundred catties. With a woman tied inside, it should have plunged straight to the riverbed. How could it have floated back to the surface after just a brief moment?

At this thought, Sixth Uncle's face darkened, and he demanded sternly:
"Who tied the latch of the bamboo cage?"

His implication was: who had been soft-hearted and secretly set the Zhuang woman free?

"It was Kuai Baichuan!" someone shouted loudly.

"This fellow is always staring at the Zhuang woman on ordinary days; could he have harbored thievish intentions and wanted to spare this cheap woman's life—?" No sooner had the person finished speaking than Sixth Uncle glared viciously at a particular man.

That man was short and unremarkable in appearance. Hearing his name called, he retreated several steps. His gait was somewhat uneven and limping, as if he had a disability. Hearing the accusation, he waved his hands repeatedly:
"Sixth Uncle, I'm being wronged! I knew this Zhuang woman committed adultery; I despised her enough as it is, why would I ever help her?"

He was so agitated that spittle flew from his mouth:
"Such a disgraceful scandal happened in Kuailiang Village, I wanted her dead more than anyone! That cage knot was tied extremely tight; it was impossible to untie!"

"Who knows—" a woman remarked dismissively.

"I reckon you lot always keep your eyes glued to her anyway, like cats catching the scent of fish—"

Stung by this remark, Kuai Baichuan grew furious:
"You can't even keep your own man in check, are you just jealous that your Kuai Pengju keeps sneaking glances at her?"

"I'll tear that mouth of yours to shreds—!"

Amidst the bickering and quarrelling, the night wind swept past once more—'Whoosh—'

With this gust of wind, the torches held by many of the villagers were instantly extinguished, plunging the surroundings into darkness.

"Ah!!!"

This sudden turn of events terrified the people of Kuailiang Village, and they screamed at the top of their lungs.

Fortunately, these torches were specially crafted; after the wind passed, the suppressed flames reignited.

When the light returned, everyone's faces were ashen.

"Sixth Uncle—"
"Alright, stop arguing."

Sixth Uncle's hands were beginning to tremble as well.

Tonight was far too uncanny. He spat onto the ground and shouted:
"Third, drag that pig cage ashore. I want to see for myself if that Zhuang woman figured out a way to escape from the cage."

"Alright," Kuai the Third replied.

He reached out to pull it. The bamboo cage was inherently heavy, and after soaking in the water, it was even more burdensome. Grabbing the gaps in the bamboo weave with one hand, he gave it a couple of forceful tugs.

The current was churned into a vortex, firmly suctioning onto the bamboo cage.

As if deep within the murky depths of the water, another force was wrestling with him, trying to prevent him from dragging the pig cage away.

Refusing to yield to superstition, Kuai the Third called out:
"Pengju, Pengcheng, give me a hand."

The two men, whose faces still bore traces of fear, hurriedly responded when called.

The three of them joined forces, gripping the cage and chanting in unison as they exerted themselves to drag it toward the bank.

With three strapping men pulling together, aided by the buoyant force of the water, they slowly towed the bamboo cage closer to the crowd.

When they were about two Zhang away from the rocky shore, the bamboo cage finally broke the surface of the water.

Through the muddied river water, the people on the bank could clearly see the scene inside the cage.

The door of the pig cage had not come undone as they had anticipated.

Inside the bamboo cage, a woman's tightly bound, curled-up figure was huddled.

At this moment, the woman was completely naked, her long hair tangled like sea grass around a body so deathly pale it seemed devoid of a single drop of blood, presenting a somewhat terrifying sight.

Two massive boulders weighing hundreds of catties were also pressed inside the cage, which explained why Kuai the Third had been unable to pull the pig cage by himself earlier.

Logically speaking, a pig cage like this should have sunk straight to the bottom of the river. Why on earth would it suddenly float to the surface?

"Truly bizarre," Sixth Uncle muttered to himself.

With that, his expression darkened as he asked Kuai Pengju:
"Pengju, is she dead or not?"

Kuai Pengju, who had been addressed, was standing on the left side of the pig cage, positioned quite close to the direction of the woman's head.

When Sixth Uncle called his name, the man shuddered violently.

During the farming off-season, he usually enjoyed exchanging vulgar banter with the women of the village. While the Zhuang woman was still alive, he had frequently stolen glances at her and even fantasized about getting his hands on her.

When her scandalous affair was exposed and the villagers proposed stripping off her clothes so she would have no face left to live on in this world, he had been most enthusiastic, even seizing the opportunity to take advantage of her then.

Yet now that the Zhuang woman was stripped bare, for some reason, he had entirely lost the courage to gaze directly at her body.

"Sixth Uncle, I don't know—" he replied.

Sixth Uncle scolded him irritably:
"What a spineless piece of trash! If you don't know, reach out and check her breath."

The Zhuang woman's head was not far from him; he could touch her face simply by reaching out his hand.

Yet Kuai Pengju turned his head to look at the woman inside the bamboo cage. That pitch-black hair was spread out seductively beneath the water, resembling aquatic weeds proliferating wildly in the depths, as if they would entangle his body and drag him down into a bottomless abyss.

A nameless terror suddenly welled up from the bottom of his heart, and he shook his head repeatedly:
"Sixth Uncle, I don't dare."

"Well, well, well, Kuai Pengju! Normally you prowl around every corner of the village, eager to take advantage of any woman you see, and you've never stopped coveting the Zhuang woman—now you say you don't dare?"

Even though tonight's events were somewhat strange, the ritual had progressed this far without any further major incidents.

Ignorant of the deeper peril, the villagers even laughed and bantered with Kuai Pengju:
"Now that she's stripped bare, this is probably something you used to pray for. What are you afraid of?"

"What? Pengju, you actually dared—?"

Hearing this, Kuai the Third flew into a rage at the side, while down in the crowd, Kuai Fifth tucked his hands into his sleeves, shrinking his head and neck, not daring to utter a peep in response to the crowd's teasing.

"Don't talk nonsense! When did I ever—?"

Kuai Pengju retorted with visible discomfort:
"I never did—"

His eyes darted about, betraying his guilt the moment he spoke. A middle-aged woman on the bank grew instantly furious upon seeing this expression:
"You actually harbored such thoughts toward a cheap creature like this? Aren't you ashamed of being so filthy—?"

"Enough, stop arguing!"

Sixth Uncle was driven to distraction by the chaotic bickering of the crowd.

He always felt that tonight's affairs were far too bizarre, yet the present moment seemed overly calm, which felt quite wrong.

Still, being nothing more than an old mountain villager with limited exposure, even though he sensed danger, he could not articulate what it was.

Seeing that everyone was still squabbling at such a critical juncture, he shouted impatiently:
"All of you, shut your mouths! Pengju, brush aside the Zhuang woman's hair, look at her face, and check her breath and pulse to see if she's dead or alive."

He grew anxious and uneasy:
"Finish it quickly so we can pack up and go home."

"It's getting late—"