Chapter 36:

The music box

Jing Qizhen made a quick decision. “Let’s go over and have a look!”

Manman happened to be holding a mobile phone in her hand, and she took a glance at the time on screen. “It’s half past four now. There’s probably more than an hour left before it gets dark.”

Then, she took pictures of all the surrounding areas.

Yan Hong handed the digging tools in his hand to Jing Qizhen, looking as if he would immediately start digging a grave if there was a disagreement.

The three companions speedily walked to the broken tombstone.

Only half of the tombstone was left and there were obvious signs of impact damage on the upper end. The tombstone did not sink in due to loose soil or anything else.

The tombstone was also simply made—thin, dusty rectangular granite with a few words carved into it. Due to exposure to the wind, sun, and rain, the tombstone was covered with soil and grass and the carving was partially covered by the mess.

As for the bottom of the tombstone, the shape of the tomb could not be seen at all. It was completely flattened like there was nothing underneath.

Jing Qizhen reached out and pulled out the surrounding weeds. He then crouched down in front of the tombstone and reached out to wipe the traces of soil on the tombstone, trying to reveal the carving on the granite.

However, because the upper half of the tombstone was missing, even after Jing Qizhen cleaned up all the soil, he could only read the words ‘…Ya’s tomb, where…’ from the remaining half of the tombstone.

Jing Qizhen whispered, “For the four daughters of the Xu family, except for Xu Siya we met, the three girls before her are gone.”

It was unclear which girl was buried there.

Yan Hong: “The weeds here have grown so high and coupled with the traces of soil on the tombstones, it seems this tomb has been here for more than one or two years.”

Manman shook her head in disagreement. “That’s not necessarily the case. The timing of the erosion area is not accurate. Moreover, the vegetation here is too lush and completely different from the vegetation in other places in the mountains. It’s as if the vitality of other plants in the mountain has been sucked up and concentrated here.”

Jing Qizhen took out his phone and took a full picture of the tombstone.

Manman carefully searched around the tombstone, then walked back and shook her head. She conveyed, “I didn’t see the other half of the tombstone.”

Jing Qizhen said, “The tombstone is made of stone, so it’s heavy. Unless there is a mudslide, it’s impossible to move easily. Moreover, we are in a ravine, so even if there is a landslide, the rocks from the mountain will roll down here following the terrain.”

Yan Hong stretched out his hand to touch it. After inspecting the tombstone and measuring its thickness, he suddenly let out a soft ‘Eh’.

Jing Qizhen and Manman immediately turned to look at him.

Yan Hong softly said, “The tombstone is thin and the carving is not very neat. I suspect someone erected this tombstone privately and carved the writing themselves.”

Jing Qizhen stood up and looked around.

The weeds were lush green in the ravine. The sun was setting in the west at that time. When the wind blew into the ravine and swirled in the surroundings, it produced a whistling sound.

Jing Qizhen: “This ravine is full of weeds and there are no paths trodden by villagers in the direction we come from, which means that usually, few people actually come here.”

Mountain roads were inherently difficult to traverse. The three of them only stumbled into the ravine where there were no trails because they were wandering around aimlessly.

Strictly speaking, the ravine was not particularly remote but judging from the growth of weeds, it was true that villagers did not come there often.

Manman folded her arms while her eyes were fixed on the halved tombstone. “It’s not easy to take this tombstone away. Even the damaged half of the tombstone would be hard to be taken away.”

Jing Qizhen breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. “I also think the other half of the tombstone is nearby.”

After a pause, Manman asked directly, “Do you want to dig it up? If we do, we have to hurry.”

Jing Qizhen’s eyes also fell on the tombstone and he nodded firmly. “Dig it!”

Yan Hong never expressed his opinion but Jing Qizhen and Manman made the same decision as him. Finally, he brought the tools down and started digging.

About half an hour later, the content of the tomb was revealed.

They didn’t find any horrifying coffin there but only found a wooden box about a foot square long.

The wooden box must have been painted and varnished and applied with some special treatment as the damage was minimal.

Yan Hong frowned slightly and said in a deep voice, “If I remember correctly, cremation was mandatory in the country in the late 1990s, when I was in middle school. Earlier than that, burial is relatively common and more often than not, there are cemeteries in various villages.”

Jing Qizhen and Manman both grew up in the city and were not knowledgeable in that aspect.

Hearing Yan Hong’s words, Manman stated quietly, “In other words, it is unlikely that something like an urn will be buried here.”

Yan Hong: “…Definitely not.”

Jing Qizhen nodded, breathing a sigh of relief. After placating his emotions, he put on plastic gloves and gently turned the lock of the wooden box twice.

There was only a rusty, irregular ‘click’ sound that rang from inside. Jing Qizhen applied a bit of force in his hand and the lock was broken into pieces. The wood was buried in the soil and was inevitably damaged by moisture, leaving some traces of decay left over by the years.

Jing Qizhen then gently opened the wooden box.

To their surprise, the wooden box was delicately lined with a thick layer of velvet, and in the center of the velvet, there was a smaller, flat square wooden box about three inches long and two inches wide, painted with brown paint.

Right on the top of the wooden box, there was a light-colored pattern about the size of a one-Yuan coin, with a Christmas reindeer with large antlers painted on it. There was a golden keyhole in the front of the wooden box. If they opened the lid, they should be able to see a small stage inside—usually, there was a dancing little figurine rotating in a circle on the stage. At the back of the wooden box, there was a clockwork mechanism that could be twisted.

Seeing the wooden box in the torchlight, Jing Qizhen, Manman and Yan Hong were similarly shocked. They exclaimed in unison, “The music box!”

They originally wanted to find the missing half of the tombstone, but they didn’t expect to find the aforementioned music box in the tomb. Thinking of the news that Lu Lingxi had just extracted from the weird little girl not long ago, Jing Qizhen’s heart involuntarily skipped a beat.

Suddenly obtaining such an unexpected clue, Manman’s breathing became a little unstable. She had to take two deep breaths as her eyes fell on the broken tombstone again. Only then did she manage to remain calm and she whispered, “I don’t know whose name among the daughters of the Xu family is carved on this tombstone, but it definitely is not Xu Siya.”

Jing Qizhen also recalled the clues they received from Little Lu today. “The weird little girl said that the music box was her fifteen-year-old birthday gift but right now, she has the same body shape and appearance as Xu Siya.”

Manman: “I wonder if Grandma Fang has gotten any clues from other villagers.”

They couldn’t find any more clues at the moment. With the other half of the tombstone gone and no information could be obtained from the carving, the specific ages of the four girls from the Xu family were the most likely clue for them to determine the identity of the deceased.

With the gloves on, Jing Qizhen tried to pick up the music box and take it away. But, the moment he touched the music box, he was shocked to discover that it was another item with a special description.

After Jing Qizhen took the music box out of the wooden box, Manman took out a sealed bag, opened it, and held it over.

Jing Qizhen shook his head. Instead of immediately sealing the music box, he motioned for Manman and Yan Hong to touch the music box first.

When Manman saw his gestures, she immediately understood. “Another special item?”

Jing Qizhen nodded.

Both she and Yan Hong were straightforward people, so they touched it directly, and the music box’s description instantly emerged in their minds.

[Name: Christmas Reindeer Music Box]

[Type: Musical Instrument]

[Quality: Blue]

[Use: Turn the key and listen quietly]

[Restrictions: Sound can only travel in a medium, and so does music]

[Remarks: A song born in gratitude, the Christmas nursery rhyme eventually became a famous nursery rhyme sung around the world. A boy gave this music box to his beloved girl. He didn’t know ski and neither did he know sleds, he just wanted to be with her forever. When the music plays, time and space flow, maybe, the time will return to that snowy night…]

“Time and space flow, return to that snowy night?” Manman suddenly frowned. “It feels like it’s talking about going back in time.”

Jing Qizhen: “I remember you mentioned before that certain items could provide clues?”

Manman nodded. “But this thing is not a consumable. It stands to reason that an item that provides clues will be damaged after being used once, while this item seems like it can be used repeatedly. To be honest, I’m skeptical…”

Jing Qizhen nodded thoughtfully. “It seems so.”

Yan Hong seized the time and carefully inspected the somewhat damaged wooden box to make sure there was no interlayer or other hidden clues, before he decisively closed it again and then buried it firmly under the soil.

Jing Qizhen and Manman, who had just been studying the description on the music box, also quickly stepped in to help.

Finally, they erected the damaged tombstone again.

Manman glanced at the time on her phone and reminded, “It’s getting dark soon. We have to leave quickly.”

Jing Qizhen clapped his hands and joked, “If we go back now, we should be able to make the hot pot in time tonight!”

Manman: “We have to visit the village chief to get meat and vegetables but we need to explain to him why we return so late.”

Jing Qizhen smiled and reassured, “I have already thought of an excuse.”

Manman: “Yes?”

Jing Qizhen: “We accidentally got lost again!”

Manman and Yan Hong: …You are such a clever little guy!

On the way down the mountain, Earth suddenly appeared.

The Earth: “Hello, did you miss me?”

Before Jing Qizhen could speak, Earth could not wait to share. “Tang Song and the others outside have made a major discovery! They detected that there are two… different bands of energy!”

Jing Qizhen: “Is this something worth getting excited about?” = =

The Earth: “I don’t think so… Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhth!!! Those damn planets, you bastards!!!”

Jing Qizhen: …Facepalm.

What could he possibly argue with a forgetful planet?