I Have Yet to Become a Doll Today

Lizheng’s surname was Zhao.

Lizheng’s wife’s surname was Ma.

Hence, next to Lizheng’s name, they wrote: Zhao, Mrs. Ma, married into this village from Ma Family Village…

Even if her name wasn’t written, all the information about Mrs. Ma was crystal clear. Where she was born, which family she married into, and how many sons and daughters she had were all indicated on the roster.

Then looking at Li’s Mrs., besides knowing that she was Li Laitze’s wife, there was no other information about her.

Fu Miaoxue read through a few more pages and murmured, “Yes, it’s strange indeed…”

“Either she’s from this village or she married into this village from another,” Shen Mo analyzed, “Given that the Li Family needed the villagers’ help with funeral arrangements, it’s likely that Mrs. Li had no relatives in this village. It’s very likely that she came from another place, she might even have been bought.”

With confusion, Du Lai said, “If she was bought, Li Qianggui was 70 years old when he died. After so many years, resentment should have subsided, right? Moreover, both Li Qianggui and Lizheng are dead now. If Mrs. Li had any grievances, they should have resolved.”

“…Look at this.” Bai Youwei turned another page, “It’s that old woman we saw earlier, she doesn’t have a name either.”

Li Laitze’s neighbor, an old man with the surname Liu, hence, the old woman was only referred to as Mrs. Liu.

But Mrs. Liu had a bit more information than Mrs. Li: Mrs. Liu had three daughters who got married off to different villages.

Apparently, this place was really poor. Every family with daughters would rather marry them off to other villages.

They flipped through the roster back and forth several times, gathered quite a bit of scattered information, yet none could be pieced together to form a complete clue.

Fu Miaoxue furrowed her brow, seemed a bit irritated and complained, “Is playing the official game always this mentally taxing? Why won’t the body transporter woman stop?”

After thinking for a while, Du Lai suggested, “Perhaps it’s because she died alone and was not properly buried? Why don’t we go take a look at Mrs. Li’s grave.”

Bai Youwei nodded, “We should not only check Mrs. Li’s grave but also Li Qianggui’s. If Li Qianggui’s grave remains intact, the ‘body transporting’ hypothesis doesn’t hold up. Is Mrs. Li really ‘transporting the body’? Is she really transporting Li Qianggui’s body?”

“Stop it!” Fu Miaoxue rubbed her arm, “Your words are giving me goosebumps!”

Bai Youwei glanced at her arm, “…Hehe.”

“Can’t I just express how I feel?” Fu Miaoxue hid her hands behind her back, looking displeased.

“Let’s go.” Shen Mo looked at the clouded sky and said, “I hope we can find it before the rain.”

Shen Mo then pushed Bai Youwei’s wheelchair and Du Lai took Fu Miaoxue by the hand. The two women quieted down as they all headed towards the gravesite.

…

The tomb was located on a hill not far from the village.

It was where they had originally descended from the hill.

As they climbed up the hill path, they could see several graves every few steps, simple mounds of earth with tombstones, or stones weighing down pieces of yellow paper.

The sky had darkened. It was gloomy, and it felt like it could rain any minute.

Considering Li Qianggui died last year, his grave shouldn’t be too old. Shen Mo and Du Lai split up to search for it.

After some time, they finally found Li Qianggui’s tombstone in a desolate patch of weeds —

The tomb had been dug up.

The decayed straw mat, now visible from the damp soil, concealed a faint presence of white bones underneath.