On the wedding day, my wife was abnormal

Passing the stone archway that stood like a giant tombstone in the wilderness east of the village and exuded an ominous aura, Lin Zhen and Cheng Xuan rode their horses along the narrow road that was trampled into solid mud and entered Xilin Village.

The entrance to the village was blocked by a newly built earth wall and stones, leaving only a narrow gap that was barely wide enough for one person and one horse to pass through.

Passing through this man-made barrier, the interior of the village is revealed.

In stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of Wuqing County, Xilin Village exudes a deep sense of depression and decline.

Under the eaves of the low adobe houses hung worn winnowing baskets and farm tools. The walls of many houses were mottled and peeling, revealing the yellow mud and grass stalks inside.

The village roads are narrow, winding and bumpy.

Although it was already afternoon, the village was unusually quiet. There were no children playing, and few chickens crowing or dogs barking.

Occasionally, villagers would lean out of their doorways carrying firewood or buckets of water. When they saw the two strange nobles on horseback breaking in, they would subconsciously show a hint of surprise and embarrassment at first. But when they saw that the newcomers were not dressed like ordinary merchants, especially when their eyes involuntarily glanced at the huge shadow in the east of the village, the expressions on their faces instantly turned into deep fear and panic!

They either immediately lowered their heads, quickened their pace and hurried back into the house, or shrank stiffly behind the door, leaving only a wary gaze peeking through the crack of the door. The whole village was filled with a suffocating vigilance and silence.

The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the silent village a bleak orange-red color, but it could not dispel the inextricable gloom hanging over the village.

"This village..." Cheng Xuan, riding on her horse, frowned and broke the silence with a whisper, a hint of discomfort in her voice, "Why does it feel so stuffy?"

She was used to the hustle and bustle of the city, and the suppressed atmosphere of panic in the dead silence made her very uncomfortable.

"It's probably because of fear and shame." Lin Zhen's voice was low, his sharp eyes swept across the closed doors and the quickly dodging figures, his tone was filled with a hint of understanding and heaviness.

"The earth-shattering scandal of twenty years ago, coupled with the government-built memorial archway that was condemned by both humans and gods, has stuck to the village like a piece of shit. It has brought shame to the entire Xilin Village and made it a laughing stock for the surrounding area. Villagers dare not mention it, and they don't want to. To do so is humiliating and might even implicate themselves."

Cheng Xuan nodded, not quite understanding.

The two walked inward along the only slightly wider main village road.

The villagers' avoidance and silence became more obvious.

Some elderly people who were sitting at the doorway basking in the sun, saw them coming and stood up tremblingly. They leaned on their crutches and slowly moved back into the house, their movements showing a deliberate alienation.

Several half-grown children who were playing on the roadside were pulled back into the yard by their parents, and the door was slammed shut, leaving behind a series of panicked sobs that were blocked by the door.

"It feels like the villagers are avoiding us. Who can we ask?" Cheng Xuan felt powerless and asked Lin Zhen in a low voice with some annoyance.

Lin Zhen's eyes wandered among the low houses.

He knew that he was looking for elderly people who had experienced the events of that year and were old enough.

The older you are, the more concerns you may have, but your memory may also be relatively clearer.

He finally reined in his horse and stopped in front of a relatively remote farmhouse with a clean and tidy yard.

In front of this family's door, an old woman with sparse gray hair and deep wrinkles on her face was sitting on the doorstep with a hunched back, fumbling to peel millet in the last rays of sunlight.

Her movements were extremely slow, and her knuckles were deformed from fatigue, like dead vines.

This old and indifferent look actually gave Lin Zhen the possibility of asking questions.

Lin Zhen turned over and got off the horse, and Cheng Xuan followed him down.

He walked a few steps in front of the old woman and stopped, bowed slightly, and tried to soften his tone: "Old lady, I'm sorry to bother you."

The old woman seemed to be a little hard of hearing and did not look up immediately.

Lin Zhen raised his voice: "Old man!"

The old woman then raised her head tremblingly and looked towards the source of the sound with her cloudy eyes.

When she saw clearly that they were two young men in smart clothes and with extraordinary looks and demeanor, her face instantly revealed the panic and helplessness of an ordinary person seeing a distinguished person. She quickly put down the millet in her hand and wanted to stand up, but it was a bit difficult.

"Ah... Sir, Miss, who are you looking for?" Her voice was hoarse and trembling, a characteristic of the elderly.

"We're not looking for anyone," Lin Zhen squatted down, trying to look the old man in the eye to make his posture less oppressive, "I want to ask you about some old things."

"Old things?" A trace of confusion flashed in the old woman's eyes, and she murmured, "I'm confused... I can't remember anything..."

Lin Zhen got straight to the point, his voice clear: "Old Master Zheng... and his daughter-in-law Liu... do you have any impression of them?"

"Zheng family?!" These two words were like a drop of water thrown into a boiling oil pan!

The old woman's cloudy eyes suddenly shrank!

The wrinkles on the face seem to deepen instantly!

An indescribable fear and strong resistance exploded from her face covered with age spots!

She waved her hands almost subconsciously, as if to drive away something ominous, her voice trembling sharply: "No! I don't know! I don't recognize them! What Zheng family... no... no! I don't know anything! You've got the wrong person!"

She frantically tried to pick up the basket on the ground and hide in the house, her movements staggering with a heartbreaking fear.

Sure enough!

Lin Zhen understood, but did not give up.

He stood up and did not stop the old woman. He just stood by the door and said in a calm but unquestionable tone, "Old lady, we are not here to expose anyone's scars, nor to cause trouble. We are here to investigate the injustice of the Zheng family."

"A wrongful conviction?"

These two words abruptly stopped the old woman from fleeing in panic!

She held onto the door frame and turned around slowly and extremely stiffly. The muscles on her wrinkled face twitched, and her eyes were filled with incredible shock and a huge sadness buried deep in her heart!

She stared at Lin Zhen intently, her lips trembling violently, and a "ho ho" sound came from her throat, but her voice was so weak that it was almost inaudible: "Zheng Dalang was wrongly accused?!"

Lin Zhen's heart moved!

This old man knows the inside story!

He immediately stepped forward, his voice becoming even more steady and forceful: "Old man, do you know that Zheng Dalang was wrongly accused?! Is there something else behind that incident from twenty years ago?!"

His sharp gaze was like a searchlight, fixed tightly on the old woman's cloudy eyes, which were now surging with intense emotions.

The old woman, called "Mrs. Zheng" by the villagers, began to tremble violently under Lin Zhen's gaze!

The old hands clung tightly to the wood of the door frame.

Twenty years of fear and repression seemed to leak out instantly like a punctured air bag because of the word "wronged".

Huge sadness and uncontrollable guilt surged up!

She collapsed completely, slowly slid down to sit on the ground against the door frame, and finally sighed.

"Alas, that poor fellow. I don't agree with what you said. I used to be a maid in Zheng Laocai's house. After Zheng Laocai died, I got married. Zheng Dalang's death was unjust... It was so tragic..."

She hugged her knees and wailed like a child, moving everyone who heard it. "Patricide...adultery...all bullshit! Bullshit!! Those are all accusations the government has pinned on me!"

Cheng Xuan stood behind Lin Zhen, watching the old man suddenly burst into great grief. He no longer had the arrogant or indignant look he had before, and his eyes were filled with only sympathy and shock after being hurt by the truth.

Her hand gripped the hilt of the sword tightly, her knuckles turning white, but this time it was not an impulse of anger, but a speechless silence crushed by the heavy truth.

Lin Zhen squatted down and waited patiently for the old man to vent the emotions that had been pent up for twenty years and were almost on the verge of collapse.

"Old man," Lin Zhen said in a low and soothing voice, "Do you know the truth? Did you see it with your own eyes?"