This speculation undoubtedly made everyone’s heart sink.
How did Foolish Sister become foolish? Was she like this since childhood?
Or was she traumatized by something?
Dinner time arrived. The meal was quite rich, but given the speculation, no one had any appetite, except for Zhao Ming.
Zhao Ming sat down before anyone else, picked up his chopsticks, and scanned the spread.
Suddenly, he exclaimed with delight, "Oh? We’re having fish tonight?"
He immediately snatched a large chunk of fish with his chopsticks and was about to pop it into his mouth when he noticed everyone watching him in silence.
Even the village head hadn't picked up his chopsticks.
Sensing something, Zhao Ming turned and offered the piece of fish toward the village head’s bowl.
The village head pulled his bowl away and gave a faint smile. "Eat it. This fish was brought by Axu."
Zhao Ming didn't stand on ceremony anymore and popped the fish into his mouth.
"Delicious! This fish is so tender!" he praised repeatedly.
Following the custom of respecting elders, the others only began to eat after the village head and Uncle Zhang had started.
Jiang Younian was about to reach his chopsticks toward the fish, but Xie Nanzhou silently nudged them toward a plate of greens.
"Eat more vegetables. You need the vitamins."
Jiang Younian chewed the lettuce, but his eyes remained glued to the fish, which looked and smelled exquisite.
Noticing his gaze, Xie Nanzhou looked at the person eating as if it were tasteless wax and asked in a low voice, "You want it?"
"Yeah."
Jiang Younian muttered an "um" and buried his head back into his rice.
He understood that Xie Nanzhou had his reasons for everything. If he wasn't letting him eat that dish, there had to be a problem.
"I'll make you some when we get out of here."
Xie Nanzhou whispered in Jiang Younian's ear, then turned and piled a large serving of vegetables into his bowl.
Sure enough, the sharp-eyed Kong Que noticed Xie Nanzhou blocking Jiang Younian, so she didn't touch the fish either and quietly stopped Brother Tai as well.
Uncle Zhang saw what was happening and gave Xiaoyou some other vegetables. "Eat up, little one. You need to eat more vegetables to grow tall."
"Why aren't any of you eating the fish? Do you not like it? Well... then I'll just eat it all~"
Zhao Ming’s greedy gaze remained fixed on the plate.
Since no one else had touched the dish, he was the only one eating it. Soon, only the fish tail remained.
He feigned embarrassment with a bit of hollow politeness.
He put on a sanctimonious act, claiming he was just finishing the tail so as not to waste food.
Only after the cleaned plate was placed back in the center of the table did he find a moment to speak, his mouth still greasy.
"Village head, can we have this fish every day? It’s so good!"
"My god, you really have no shame! The village head is letting us stay here, and we should just eat what we're given. How dare you make demands!"
Kong Que couldn't listen anymore; how could someone be this shameless?
They were guests in someone else’s home—they should be grateful just to have a meal, let alone make demands.
The village head picked up a grain of rice that had fallen on the table, put it in his mouth, and then smiled at Zhao Ming.
"That's simple, young man. It just requires you to be diligent—go to the lake and catch the fish yourself every day."
The lake?
Jiang Younian suddenly lifted his head, his chewing coming to a halt.
Xie Nanzhou continued eating, appearing unruffled.
The others reacted soon after, one by one dropping their chopsticks.
"Which lake?"
Zhao Ming looked at the benevolent-looking village head, startled.
"Not far. The lake right outside the door."
Zhao Ming’s lips trembled as he pointed at the clean plate.
"The... the fish tonight... was it... from... that lake?"
"Indeed. It’s the only place in our village with fish."
"BLECH!!!!!"
"BLECH!!!!!!"
As soon as the village head finished speaking, a series of retching sounds filled the room.
That lake—wasn't that the same lake Chen Dan had been dragged into?
Chen Dan’s corpse might still be soaking in it right now. Who knew what that fish had been feeding on?
Zhao Ming vomited violently, bringing up everything he had just eaten.
The scene was truly nauseating, and those who hadn't finished eating also put down their chopsticks and moved away from the table.
It wasn't until there was nothing left to throw up that Zhao Ming, still doubled over, slumped on the floor, retching up water.
The fish had been brought back by Axu. Jiang Younian remembered seeing Axu standing by the lake that morning, completely unharmed.
"Village head, is no one allowed near the lake?"
The village head glanced at Jiang Younian, then stood up, went to the incense table, lit a stick of incense, and placed it into the burner, looking pious.
"You all would do best to stay away from that lake. I went to look for people today, but I couldn't reach the rescue team. We'll have to wait another two days."
With that, the village head leaned on his cane and hobbled upstairs. "By the way, if you need to use the restroom, go early. We lock the doors after dark."
Leaving Zhao Ming to clean up the mess, the others helped clear the dishes and headed upstairs to rest.
"Let's go find Axu tomorrow and see if we can get anything out of him."
Jiang Younian lay back, his arms pillowed behind his head.
"Fine. Get some sleep."
Xie Nanzhou took off his coat, pulled back the quilt, and lay down perfectly straight.
He fell asleep in a second. Jiang Younian shook his head in resignation and stuffed his backpack under his head to use as a pillow.
Since there was only one pillow on the bed, he couldn't exactly cuddle up to Xie Nanzhou to share it.
Jiang Younian adjusted the backpack a few times, but it still felt like something was digging into him.
He tossed and turned, eventually shaking Xie Nanzhou awake.
"What's wrong?"
"Something is digging into me." As he spoke, Jiang Younian pulled the backpack over and rummaged through it.
He found a hard, small square object in the inner lining.
The inner lining of the backpack had a tear, and something must have slipped inside—no wonder it didn't fall out last night.
After finding the hole, Jiang Younian fished the object out.
"What is it?"
Xie Nanzhou sat up and leaned in close to Jiang Younian.
In his hand, he held a rectangular plastic badge, about a finger's width and two knuckles long. It had a pin on the back, now covered in rust.
It was fortunate that Jiang Younian had only felt it poking him; if it had actually pierced him, he would have needed a tetanus shot.
"This... looks like a student ID badge?"
Jiang Younian held the badge up, examining it carefully. It must have been white once, but now it was yellowed, and most of the writing was illegible.
Only the outlines of the characters for "Name" and "University" could be vaguely identified.
As for which university or what the student's name was? Not a single character could be made out.
Only in the name field, after the surname, was there a remaining corner—one horizontal stroke and two vertical ones, forming a "grass" radical at the top.
"This is... something that came out of the backpack. This must also be a clue related to the Lake Lady."
"This is the Lake Lady’s student ID! The Lake Lady was a student at some university!"
Jiang Younian had a sudden epiphany, his mind racing. A student? Then...
"I get it! The book on the incense table downstairs belongs to the Lake Lady! So, when the village head said he wasn't worshipping a book, he was actually worshipping the owner of the book—the Lake Lady!"
Xie Nanzhou nodded in agreement. "So, the Lake Lady’s surname is one that begins with a 'grass' radical."
"Exactly!"
Jiang Younian was overwhelmed by the sudden breakthrough.
The lack of real progress today had been demoralizing, so this unexpected surprise was a massive boost.
"Sleep now. Tomorrow, we'll go and have a word with that Axu."
"Got it."
Jiang Younian agreed wholeheartedly, but once he lay down, his mind was flooded with various deductions based on the current clues.
He couldn't calm his racing thoughts at all.
"If you don't sleep, I'm going to knock you out."
Xie Nanzhou opened his eyes in the darkness, his bright pupils showing no sign of sleepiness.