To be honest, Yun Que'er didn't want to face all this. But looking at Ji Chengxuan's face as gloomy as the dry latrine at the village entrance, she still chose to confirm and check.
When the text converted from the voice popped up on the display screen, Yun Que'er gasped.
"Did you really guess right?"
Ji Chengxuan nodded gravely. "I've been telling you to trust me."
Yun Que'er closed her eyes tightly. As expected, it wasn't good news.
But... these two kids were actually supposed to protect cultural relics?
It would be more bearable for them if they were just to lose their lives.
The specific tasks for the two of them were a bit different. Yun Que'er was supposed to hide in a corner of the school at night, while Ji Chengxuan was supposed to take a tape recorder to support her.
Thank goodness. At least this time Ji Chengxuan's task clearly told him that he was going to meet up with Yun Que'er. Otherwise, he would have been standing there with the tape recorder, completely at a loss as to what to do.
But the biggest problem now was that they didn't have a tape recorder at all.
The Ji family's conditions were already quite good, but tape recorders were in short supply in this era. Not to mention in their village, there might not even be two in the whole county.
"This is simply an impossible task," Yun Que'er said dejectedly.
"Don't be so pessimistic," Ji Chengxuan said. "I actually remember that there's a family in our village that has a tape recorder."
Yun Que'er's eyes lit up. "Who?"
Ji Chengxuan rubbed his fingers and paused for a moment before saying,
"The village head."
"..."
Yun Que'er leaned back again. "Let's just forget it. Not to mention that the village head doesn't like us in the first place. Even if he's willing to lend it to us, who knows what's going on in his family now? The tape recorder might not even be there."
But Ji Chengxuan stood up. "Let's give it a try. It's better than doing nothing."
He looked at Yun Que'er. "It's already six o'clock in the evening. It'll be completely dark soon. Since it doesn't clearly say what time 'night' is, I think you should go and wait earlier... Do you want to go by yourself or go with me to borrow the tape recorder first and then go together?"
Just thinking about that shabby and empty school made Yun Que'er's scalp tingle.
Even if she was delirious from the fever today, there was no way she would go to that kind of spooky place alone.
Yun Que'er quickly got out of bed. "I'll go with you!"
The two kids walked out of the house one after the other. Yun Fujin, who was cooking, was very surprised.
"Where are you two going? Que'er, are you feeling better?"
Of course she wasn't better. Although the fever had gone, Yun Que'er still felt dizzy and her nose was blocked.
But she had to complete the task today. Otherwise, it might be more than just getting a cold from the rain.
"I'm fine, big brother. I'm going to Ji Chengxuan's house for dinner. If it's too late, I won't come back. Don't worry about me," Yun Que'er said, coaxing and deceiving.
Yun Fujin was worried. He took two steps forward without even putting down the spatula in his hand.
"You just had a fever. Maybe you shouldn't go out. How about I make you some soup tonight?"
"No no no! Big brother, don't go to so much trouble!" Yun Que'er quickly pushed Ji Chengxuan and ran away as if she was afraid that Yun Fujin would catch up with them.
Yun Fujin looked at Yun Que'er's back in confusion. Why was she in such a hurry? Even if she was greedy for a meal at Ji Chengxuan's house, there was no need to be so rushed as if she was going to hell.
The two of them stood at the village head's door, hesitating whether they should go in. By this time, the villagers who had been working in the fields had all returned home. Seeing these two kids standing there motionless, they thought there was some excitement at the village head's house and couldn't help but come over.
"What are you two doing here?"
Yun Que'er quickly waved her hand. "Nothing. We're just looking around."
She pulled Ji Chengxuan and ran away.
The person looked into the village head's yard but couldn't see anything special. He muttered "Weird" and walked away.
Yun Que'er was still whispering to Ji Chengxuan in the corner. "Should we go in or not? It's getting late. Hurry up!!!"
Ji Chengxuan took a deep breath, as if he had finally mustered up the courage.
Meeting an enemy was indeed an uncomfortable thing.
But now there was no better way, so they had no choice but to go in.
Since something had happened to the village head's family, the door had been almost always closed. The village head's wife never thought that anyone would come to visit.
When she heard the knocking on the door, she thought she was having an illusion. After a while, when the sound didn't stop, she finally walked out of the house in confusion and opened the big iron gate of the yard.
Seeing that it was Yun Que'er and Ji Chengxuan standing outside, the village head's wife was stunned.
The village head's wife had lost a lot of weight recently. It was obvious that she had become skin and bones. It was hard to tell whether it was because her family had lost power and she had developed a heart disease, which had tortured her and made her haggard day by day, or because she couldn't get any benefits and couldn't eat delicious food, and couldn't go back to the days of frugality, so she looked emaciated.
Anyway, she had become so thin that she was almost unrecognizable. Coupled with that surprised expression on her face, she looked like a skeleton covered with a layer of skin. It was both terrifying and a bit comical.
It took a long time for the village head's wife to finally regain a little bit of her senses.
"What are you here for? To watch the joke?"
The village head's wife said bravely, but her eyes couldn't help but dodge.
"We have something to do, but we're not here to watch the joke," Yun Que'er said.
The village head's wife looked at Yun Que'er with a strange look in her eyes. She didn't believe Yun Que'er's words and sneered contemptuously.
"You? Come on. You little girl are always so eloquent. You can even turn black into white. You say you're not here to watch the joke now. Who knows what you'll do after you go in? My old man is already miserable enough. Even if he did something wrong to you before, he's already been punished. Do you still want to force him to death?"
The village head's wife paused for two or three seconds and then said,
"Moreover, your family managed to get my old man removed from his position as the village head. I guess your father will be the next village head soon, right? So what else is there to talk about? Are you not even going to leave us a way out?"
After hearing the village head's wife's long speech, Yun Que'er suddenly understood why the village head had finally trapped himself.
It was because they thought too much. Trying to plan every step carefully would only lead to bad results.
"If I wanted to watch the excitement, I would have come a long time ago. I wouldn't have waited until today," Yun Que'er said. "Moreover, my family has never thought about having a family member become the village head. It's all your own guesswork."