The young man was completely dumbfounded, and so were the viewers in the live stream.
"...You mean, my dad was actually still alive when he was buried?" The young man was dazed, then the next second, he jumped up from the stool, exclaiming, "But, but I've already sent my dad up the mountain!"
In their area, because of the custom of burying elders in the mountains, burial is also called "sending someone up the mountain." His dad was not only buried, but the grave mound was piled up very high.
The man took a breath, revealing a smile more painful than a grimace, and asked Xu Gui, "Then is my dad dead now?"
Xu Gui: "Currently, he seems to be alive, but after a while, that's uncertain."
Hearing this, the young man felt a sense of relief at first, then tightened again. His mind was blank, his hands and feet were at a loss, and he didn't know what to do. Finally, after pacing around twice, he suddenly looked at Xu Gui and asked her,
"Master, what should I do?"
Xu Gui: ?
Xu Gui sighed, then looked up and said loudly and clearly, "Of course, you should call your family back home first and ask them to dig up the grave!"
The young man suddenly realized, "Oh, okay." He hurriedly went to make the call.
Meanwhile, Xu Gui thought for a moment and, just to be safe, called the police—anyway, if anything happened, calling the police was always the right thing to do; this was a principle she learned in the orphanage, ingrained in her very being.
But who could have imagined she'd ask the police for so many things? Less than twenty-four hours after her last call, she was already dialing the police again.
*
The police arrived quickly, while the young man was still desperately trying to communicate with his family back home on the other end of the phone.
"...My dad really isn't dead! You guys need to dig up his grave quickly! If he stays in it any longer, he'll really die!" the young man shouted. "I got a call from him this morning; he asked me to save him. He's definitely not dead."
The person on the other end of the line said, "...Hutu, your dad is just worried about you. He's not having a peaceful death. I told you to observe the seven-day mourning period for him before he leaves."
Hutu: "..."
Hutu?
Confused.
Xu Gui couldn't help but take a second look at the young man—that name really wasn't a bad choice.
"…That's how it is," Xu Gui said to the police officer, having already briefly explained the situation. "His father was very likely buried alive, and his condition is very dangerous!"
The police officer pondered, seemingly trying to determine the truth of the matter. Meanwhile, Hu Tu suddenly shouted, "This really isn't a dream! Look, I even have call records here. This one is from my dad!"
He held up his phone for Xu Gui and the others to see. In the call records, there was a call from someone whose contact was labeled "Dad" at 4:35:23 AM.
Looking at the phone, Hu Tu seemed to have grasped some crucial evidence. She shouted into the phone, "I'm not dreaming! My dad is really alive! Mom, hurry and find Uncle and the others. Before he dies, dig up his grave!"
Hu's mother was silent for several seconds before saying, "It seems your dad really died with his eyes open. Should I find a Taoist priest to perform a ritual for him? Son, I can't talk to you anymore. I need to find someone to perform a ritual for your dad so he won't keep bothering you and Miaomiao!" Before
the call ended, everyone heard the person on the other end mutter, "That damned bastard! He was a troublemaker for the kids while he was alive, and now he's dead and still can't rest in peace. He's infuriating!"
*Beep!*
With the sound of the phone hanging up, the muttering stopped.
Hu Tu: ? ?
Xu Gui and the others: "..."
Hu Tu felt like her head was about to explode. She turned to look at Xu Gui again, but this time, before he could speak, Xu Gui had already turned to look at the two policemen standing beside her.
"Officers, we can only ask you for a favor!" she said.
Hu Tu's mother firmly believed that Hu Tu and his sister were possessed by an evil spirit, haunted by their father's spirit. It seemed she couldn't be expected to find someone to dig up the grave. As for the rest of Hu Tu's hometown, most people felt that digging up someone else's grave was against morality, so this matter could probably only be handled by contacting the local fire department.
Fortunately, Xu Gui and the others had called the police, and with their help, they wouldn't have been able to contact local officials for a while.
Soon after, the two police officers hung up the phone and looked at Hu Tu: "...The staff there said they'll send someone to the mountain to dig up the grave immediately."
They felt rather strange—it was clearly a good deed, but the words "digging up a grave" sounded rather improper. Hearing
this, Hu Tu felt relieved and thanked them profusely, "Thank you, thank you! Thank you so much! Should I go back now?"
Xu Gui: You're asking me?
"…I think you really should go back," she said. At least you should see your father dug up from his grave, right?
Hearing this, Hu Tu immediately seemed to understand, nodding repeatedly, "Okay, okay, I'll go back now."
Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly stopped, turned to Xu Gui, and said, "Master, can you come back with me? I…I'm a little scared."
He spoke the last sentence softly.
Xu Gui looked at him blankly.
Hu Tu whispered, "If my dad is still alive, that would be best, but if he's really dead and is just a ghost, I won't be so scared with you here, Master."
Xu Gui: "…"
She suddenly understood. This muddle-headed man had only half-believed what she said; he hadn't completely believed it. In other words, he still thought that his father might be restless after death, and his ghost was haunting him and his sister.
Hu Tu: "Master, help me! I'm too scared to go back alone!!"
*
At this moment, Xu Gui's live stream had over a million viewers, and remarkably, almost all of them were real people, with no fake viewers. Looking at the current scene, who could remember that when she first started streaming, she only had a few thousand viewers?
These million-plus viewers were now enthusiastically discussing Hu Tu's family situation in the live stream, the chat was filled with comments:
[Is the streamer accurate? Burying one's own father alive—if that's true, the man must be traumatized!]
[Those questioning the streamer's fortune-telling ability are clearly new viewers. Long-time fans know that Xu Gui's fortune-telling is incredibly accurate; so far, she hasn't made a single mistake, has she?]
[I have a bad feeling. Hu Tu's father was buried alive for at least twenty-four hours. Is he even alive? ] [
As expected, spending too much time online allows you to see all sorts of things, even things like burying someone alive.]
Donations *1, *2, *N...
The high school student remained silent, only quietly making donations.
...
Under Hu Tu's fervent anticipation, Xu Gui finally agreed to go on this trip with him.
The two police officers, realizing the seriousness of the situation, offered to drive them there. The police car sped towards Hu Tu's hometown with sirens blaring. Twenty hours had passed since Hu Tu's father was buried alive.
While Xu Gui and his group were heading to Hu Tu's hometown, a group of anglers were expertly clearing the bushes around a wild pond on the outskirts of City A, preparing to fish.
This group was none other than Old Wu and his fishing buddies.
"…Old He, are you sure there are fish here?" one angler asked doubtfully. "This pond doesn't look very big… Come to think of it, how come there's a wild pond on this mountain?"
The man called Old He replied confidently, "Absolutely."
He then explained, "A couple of years ago, mountain spring fish were all the rage, and many people started opening ponds on the mountain to raise fish, using the gimmick of using mountain spring water. But that fish only lasted two years, and then it disappeared. Those fish farmers gradually abandoned the mountain ponds."
The wild pond they were seeing now was a result of that.
"There's more than just this one wild pond around here. Look around, there are several..." Old He continued, "Someone caught fish here before. Don't underestimate this small pond; the fish here are truly 'mountain spring fish.' Look over there, isn't there a mountain stream flowing down? Fish raised in this kind of flowing water taste amazing."
"It's precisely because of these wild ponds that we don't know what kind of fish we can catch. The anticipation and mystery are off the charts."
Wang Chengde, who was at odds with Old Wu, glanced at Old Wu and said arrogantly, "Enough talk, everyone start baiting and fishing. Don't forget our bet! Whoever catches the most special thing is the winner!"
He snorted, "Then everyone will have to sincerely call this person 'Big Brother.'"
Old Wu could tell that Wang Chengde was referring to him, but he was too lazy to pay attention to him—he was someone who had caught the king of fish before, and he wouldn't listen to a defeated opponent like this.
There were indeed many ponds scattered around, but many had dried up, and some were just small puddles, barely showing any fish, so they couldn't really be called ponds anymore. Considering all that, there weren't many ponds left suitable for fishing.
Everyone had already found their preferred ponds and were ready to start fishing. Old Wu remembered what the master had said: "Walk about twenty meters to the left, and you'll see a place with fish..."
"I'll go check that out," he said to the others, heading straight to the left.
Wang Chengde had been watching him closely. Seeing that he seemed to be heading straight for his goal, he couldn't help but frown suspiciously—how did this guy seem to know which ponds had fish? Had he scouted the area beforehand, trying to cheat? The more Wang Chengde thought about
it, the more uneasy he felt; the more he thought about it, the more suspicious Old Wu seemed.
He'd felt something was off yesterday, and couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he tried. He couldn't understand how Wu Yongfa, with his lousy fishing skills and bad luck, had managed to catch such a big fish and so many small crucian carp yesterday. It was as if the goddess of fishing was on his side.
Wang Chengde was very unconvinced, which is why they made a bet today.
"I want to see what you're up to, old man!" Was it just good luck, or did something else?
Thinking this, Wang Chengde picked up his fishing gear and quickly followed Wu Yongfa to a wild pond some distance away from the others. Watching Wu Yongfa examine the small pond as if confirming something, Wang Chengde became even more certain of his guess:
this old man Wu was definitely up to something.
Therefore, seeing Wu Yongfa put down his fishing gear, looking like he was about to fish in the wild pond, Wang Chengde immediately put down his own gear as well.
Wu Yongfa was taken aback when he saw him, giving him a silent look.
Wang Defa, though blustering, said weakly, "Why are you looking at me? Our bet didn't stipulate that we couldn't use the same pond, did it?"
Old Wu's lips twitched slightly. "Then do as you please."
He looked at the spot where he had just found the fish and discovered there was more than one. Besides a large black-backed grass carp, there was a group of miscellaneous small fish. He thought to himself, "The master is indeed a master, truly amazing! He can even calculate the best fishing spot like this."
Old Wu picked up his fishing gear, especially the bait. He could see there were quite a few fish in this pond; he needed to bait it well and catch as many fish as possible.
Meanwhile, Wang Defa also noticed something strange about this pond. Why were there so many fish?
Generally, in abandoned ponds like this, the fish usually hide at the bottom and are barely visible to the naked eye. But the fish in this pond seemed very active, with most of them even emerging from the bottom and swimming in the water.
Wang Defa couldn't help but glance at Old Wu, saying sarcastically, "Wu Yongfa, Wu Yongfa, this isn't very interesting."
Old Wu: "?"
"Are you having an attack? Are you getting dementia? Should I take you to the hospital?" He asked three questions in quick succession.
Wang Defa retorted angrily, "You're the one having an attack! You're the one with dementia!"
Old Wu chuckled and said, "You're not having an attack. You're just talking nonsense, spouting gibberish, saying things no one can understand."
Wang Defa said angrily, "Did I say something wrong? Didn't you cheat?"
"I cheated?" Old Wu asked incredulously.
Wang Defa said, "Isn't that right? If you hadn't scouted this area beforehand, why would you have gone straight to this wild pond as soon as you got up the mountain? Hmph, I've seen the wild ponds on this mountain. Other wild ponds don't have this many fish, and they're not this active. They're all hiding underwater!" "
He had an expression that said, 'I've found evidence,' and said with certainty, 'Only the fish in this wild pond are not only not hiding underwater, but they're all so active. If you didn't put them in there on purpose, what else could it be? You're cheating!'
Old Wu: '...I can only tell you that I didn't cheat.'
Wait, having a master calculate the fishing spot, is that cheating? Old Wu's gaze suddenly shifted, and he felt a little guilty—he really hadn't thought about this before.
'Ahem!' He coughed lightly and said, 'Anyway, I can tell you that the fish in this wild pond have nothing to do with me. I didn't put them in. If you don't believe me, there's nothing I can do.'
Wang Defa gritted his teeth: 'You just think I don't have any evidence, right?'
'Hmph!'
He put down his fishing gear, took out his fishing rod and bait, and said, 'Then let's watch and see who catches the most fish!'
Old Wu kindly reminded him: 'Our bet this time is clearly about who can catch the most special thing, not about who catches the most.'" "
However, the word 'special' is hard to define. What kind of fish qualifies as special? The biggest? The most numerous? Or the rarest?"
Old Wu pondered, then asked Wang Defa a couple of questions. Wang Defa was taken aback.
"You have a point," he said. "We don't have a set standard for what's special." So, what kind of fish qualifies as special?
Oh well, never mind, let's just fish first.
...
There were indeed quite a few fish in this wild pond, and they weren't hiding under rocks or mud, so soon both Old Wu and Wang Defa had caught some.
After catching a few fish, Wang Defa dismissed the idea that Old Wu had dumped the fish into the pond. Wild, unraised fish are different from farmed fish; the former might not be as fat, but their belly scales have a thick, golden sheen, making them quite unique and easily distinguishable from farmed fish.
But if it wasn't Wu Yongfa's doing, what was the fish in this pond?
As Wang Defa pondered this, he suddenly felt the float move. Snapping out of his reverie, after some hesitation, he pulled up the rod and saw a large turtle on it.
Wang Defa: ?
After removing the turtle, he didn't immediately put it in his tackle. Instead, he stared at it for a while, then suddenly asked, "Wu Yongfa, do you think this turtle counts as something special that I caught?"
He looked intently at Old Wu.
Old Wu was taken aback, then thought, "It seems...it does count. Our bet didn't say that what we caught had to be a fish."
Hearing this, Wang Defa suddenly burst into laughter, overjoyed. He proudly declared, "Then it seems I've definitely won this bet! Look at this giant turtle, so delicate, so beautiful, so big!"
Old Wu: "..." Crazy.
Old Wu focused his attention on his fishing rod. Suddenly, he felt a sudden weight on it. After a few tugs, he started reeling in the line, and then he realized something was wrong.
"Wang Defa! I think I've hooked a big one!" he exclaimed excitedly.
Still excited, Wang Defa: ?
Old Wu hurriedly said, "Come help me! I can't hold on much longer, this fish is so heavy!"
Wang Defa snapped out of his daze and quickly grabbed a landing net and came to Old Wu's side.
What Old Wu had caught this time was clearly a huge catch; his fishing rod was bent into a bow. If it weren't for the good quality of his rod, it might have already broken.
Seeing that Old Wu was having trouble pulling the rod, Wang Defa quickly came over to help him. The two of them exerted tremendous effort and finally managed to reel the thing in.
However…
looking at the mud-covered object, clearly a suitcase, Old Wu and Wang Defa exchanged bewildered glances—what a big catch! How did they end up with such a strange thing?
"What is this? A suitcase?"
"It looks like there's something inside. Should we open it and take a look?"
…
Then, two minutes later, the sound of two people vomiting violently echoed around the pond.
*
Half an hour later, accompanied by wailing sirens, several police cars pulled up at the foot of the mountain where Old Wu and Wang Defa were fishing. Soon after, the area was cordoned off by the police, and no one was allowed to leave.
That evening, the topic, "Fisherman catches a female corpse while fishing in a wild pond?" suddenly became a trending topic.