Chapter 51 Eight Children Buried Underground
Others say there is no smoke without fire.
Zhao Zihao would not say such things for no reason, but it was obvious from his expression that he did not want to continue talking.
I drank some wine and looked at him seriously.
He avoided my gaze, and his expression made me feel embarrassed to ask further.
But Zhao Zihao paid attention to the people around him and found that no one was looking at him, so he lowered his voice and spoke to me again.
"I heard from my grandmother that eight students died in this school. Those eight students were buried underground."
My eyes widened at his words.
What is this operation?
Let’s not talk about how the student died. Since the school is located in this village, the students should be from this village.
Since he is a child of the village, he should have his own ancestral grave.
Why don’t they bury them in their own ancestral graves but in this school?
"This matter is very complicated, and I can't explain it to you in a short time. You can go to my house tonight, I will sort it out, and then tell you about it. Don't drink too much. I'm afraid that you will be drunk tonight and you won't be able to hear what I say clearly."
After Zhao Zihao said this, he left the willow tree.
I stood there looking at Zhang Xiaotao. We were both speechless for a moment and looked at each other.
Of course he didn't know about these things, because Zhao Zihao said that his grandparents didn't like gossip.
I rarely share this with him.
"I've never heard of it. I'm going there tonight too. I've long felt that something strange happened in this school, otherwise it wouldn't have been abandoned for so long." Zhang Xiaotao touched his nose, feeling a little embarrassed.
I nodded. I knew he was not gossiping, but he just wanted to explore.
The drinking at the party lasted until late at night, and I found an excuse, saying that I was not feeling well, and left.
Zhang Xiaotao and I sneaked into Zhao Zihao's home. His grandparents had passed away a long time ago, and now he lives alone.
We can talk about school matters here in a more private manner, and the villagers are all drunk tonight, so I don't think anyone will come to eavesdrop.
"These are the notes I compiled in the early years. I also want to know what happened in the school, especially those eight children."
Zhao Zihao placed a thick notebook in front of me. After opening it, I read along the timeline.
As early as twenty years ago, this school faced bankruptcy.
Because there are not many students here, most of the children follow their parents who work outside the city to study in the city.
Most of the people who stay in this village don’t even have the opportunity to go to school because their parents don’t make money in the city.
Although this school does not charge high tuition fees, ordinary textbook fees and the cost of children's meals at school still need to be paid.
The remaining children who are studying in school are those whose parents have earned some money in the city, but it is not enough to pay for their studies in the city, so they stay in the village.
Gradually, the children who could study in the village became the wealthy people in the village, and this school naturally became a school for the aristocracy.
The notes record that it was a summer day, and it was supposed to be summer vacation, but because the third-year junior high school students were preparing to take the entrance exam for high school in the city, everyone spontaneously stayed in school to review.
It was this action that cost them their lives.
"I checked. The day they died was the 14th day of the seventh lunar month, which is the day when the Yin energy is the heaviest. Many people would associate the gates of hell with ghosts and gods, but I think someone did it on purpose."
Zhao Zihao pointed to the date on the notebook. There were red circles next to the notes, encircling eight names.
"These eight names are those eight children, and they all have one thing in common, which is the date they were born."
In order to get to the bottom of this matter, Zhao Zihao deliberately went to every household to ask, and finally got the answer that the eight children were born on Qingming Festival or Double Ninth Festival.
These two festivals are traditional Chinese festivals.
The so-called Spring and Autumn Festivals in the past referred to these two festivals.
"But this doesn't mean that someone did it on purpose. Do you know how these eight children died?" I looked at Zhao Zihao in confusion.
Zhao Zihao looked at me and Zhang Xiaotao, lowered his voice and said softly, "Food poisoning."
What?!
Food poisoning?
"But here's the problem. There were nearly 200 children taking extra classes at school that day. So I don't understand why these eight children were poisoned to death. The school has a cafeteria, and the cafeteria lady is also from the village. She should know very well which food in the village will make people feel uncomfortable or even poisoned to death."
Zhao Zihao's expression suddenly changed, his brows furrowed, as if he was thinking about something.
I was suddenly speechless. His analysis made a lot of sense and I had no way to refute it or find new questions to ask him.
Zhang Xiaotao looked at Zhao Zihao in confusion: "What about that aunt later?"
"I heard she died, also from food poisoning."
???
What does it mean?
Did he commit suicide because he knew he had done something wrong?
still……
wrong!
etc!
Suddenly a white light flashed in my mind. Things shouldn’t be that simple.
If Zhao Zihao's reasoning is correct, then there should be a bigger plot.
"Have you found any useful clues?" I asked Zhao Zihao.
He seems to be very concerned about this matter, and he knows a lot. I think if we follow him in the next few days, we can gain a lot and avoid taking detours.
He shook his head. "Everything I know is in this notebook. There are also some rumors in the village. It is said that one person dies in the school. But these are village legends. I don't know if they are suitable for you to use."
I nodded.
Even if that’s all, today’s harvest is huge enough.
Moreover, these things are not that difficult to organize. Zhao Zihao has already sorted out the timeline and so on for us. I just need to follow the contents of the notes and I don’t think there will be any problems.
"Can I take this with me?"
He shook his head. "It's better not to. There are not many people in the village who can read, and they can recognize the words I write. I am the village secretary."
I looked at Zhao Zihao with some surprise. He was very young, probably less than 25 years old, but he was already the village secretary?
"You can either take a picture with your phone so that you can use it whenever you want to check it. They don't believe these things. If you believe them, I hope you can succeed."
