Fantasy Farm

Chapter 5 - Little piggies

…should be sensible

translator: baumkuchen editor: sora harukawa

Under the watchful gaze of the police officers, Lu Qingjiu brought out a few stools from inside the house, and even brought out a few snacks, letting them sit and rest as they waited for the people and equipment to arrive from the police station.  

“When did you come back here?” The younger police officer sat down, but the older police officer didn’t move, he still watched Lu Qingjiu with some suspicion in his eyes.

“I only came back a few days ago,” Lu Qingjiu said, “Before that I worked in A city.”

”What did you come back for?” The older police officer looked Lu Qingjiu up and down.

“I used to live here when I was younger,” Lu Qingjiu said, “Work was too exhausting in the city, so I figured I’d just return home to farm.”

The older police officer then questioned Bai Yuehu and Yin Xun, and after getting his answers he didn’t speak again. He placed his attention on the mouth of the well, with his expression became more and more severe, as if thinking of something particularly distasteful.

Yin Xun saw him and got a shock. He faced Lu Qingjiu and said: “What is this police officer thinking about to make his expression so scary…”

Lu Qingjiu shook his head, expressing that he didn’t know.

His neighbour Uncle Li had heard the siren and became concerned, so he came over to ask about what had happened. Lu Qingjiu reassured his neighbor that he was the one who called the police and it was because something seemed to have fallen inside his well.

“Oh, that well in your home,” Uncle Li said, “It’s very inauspicious.”

“Why do you say that?” Next to him, the younger police officer had heard Uncle Li’s words.

“Before Qingjiu came back to live here, there would frequently be the sound of something falling in. At that time I had thought it was a person, and came to check, but found that there wasn’t anything in the well… After a while, I stopped bothering.” Uncle Li seemed to feel that the police officer’s expression wasn’t right, and added in a small voice: “Could it be that you guys found something inside?”

“It hasn’t been confirmed.” The young police officer waved his hand, indicating that Uncle Li shouldn’t make a fuss. “Quickly go back.”

“It’s nothing Uncle Li, you should head back first,” Lu Qingjiu added.

Only then did Uncle Li turn around and leave.

Lu Qingjiu glanced to the side and met eyes with the younger police officer. Unsurprisingly, he saw a hint of fear in the younger police officer’s eyes. This youth clearly hadn’t been a police officer for too long, as he still wasn’t calm enough when faced with these sorts of situations.

In contrast, the older police officer was much calmer, his expression remaining cool and collected the entire time. Only when the backup sent by the police station arrived did he leave the side of the well.

At this point it was already close to midnight. The entire village had become silent and still, only leaving the sound of insects rustling in the grass.

The newly arrived police officers brought with them the necessary professional equipment and personnel, and quickly prepared to go down the well for salvage.

Originally, Yin Xun had been dozing off. As a result, the yell of “There’s a corpse!” from the person who had went down the well gave him a huge shock, causing him to wake up in an instant.

“Oh my god!” Yin Xun looked towards the well in shock and horror. “There’s really a corpse?!” He’d thought that at most it would be a dead animal of some kind.

The atmosphere quickly became frantic. The people outside of the well forcefully pulled up the rope, pulling out the corpse. Because it had been submerged in water for too long, the flesh on the corpse had almost completely rotted away, leaving bright white bones. There was even some thick algae on the uppermost part that at a quick glance looked just like long black hair.

This was the first time either Yin Xun or Lu Qingjiu had ever seen a corpse. They both held their noses and retreated back a few steps. Only Bai Yuehu didn’t have any reaction. He calmly continued to eat his melon seeds, looking completely at odds with everybody else’s nervousness.

“It’s the corpse of a female,” the on-site police officer did a quick examination of the corpse and reported, “She’s been dead for about a year. For more details we need to bring the corpse back so we can do a more detailed examination.”

“Do you still remember what happened last year?” The older police officer suddenly turned around and asked his colleague next to him a question.

“What are you saying?” the colleague said, “No way, how would the corpse have ended up here?”

“There’s a possibility.” The older police officer then turned to face Lu Qingjiu and questioned, “How long has it been since you last returned?”

“Many years,” Lu Qingjiu replied honestly, “About two to three years I think, this house was left abandoned all this time.”

The older police officer nodded. “You all should go sleep first then. We still need to look over the scene. Tomorrow you’ll have to come to the station to make a statement.”

Lu Qingjiu nodded his head.

With regards to this corpse, the police seemed to already have a lead, and dismissed Lu Qingjiu from first place on the suspect list. Given how rotted the corpse was, the person had been dead for at least a year, and according to Lu Qingjiu, he hadn’t come back at all during that time frame. Of course, they still needed to undergo a more thorough investigation, but right now the most important thing was figuring out who exactly this corpse used to be.

Even though the police had released them to go back and sleep, Yin Xun expressed that he didn’t want to return home, and remained resolute in his wish to keep Lu Qingjiu company for the night.

Lu Qingjiu gave him a suspicious look. “Is it that you’re scared of the ghost?”

“Heh heh, how could I be scared of ghosts,” Yin Xun said, “I, Yin Xun, am already so old, I don’t fear anything!”

Lu Qingjiu: “…Since you’re not scared can you stop hogging the blanket.”

Yin Xun: “No! My back feels cold!”

Lu Qingjiu: “…”

In the end he gave up on fighting with Yin Xun for the blanket, and silently went to grab another one.

That night Lu Qingjiu didn’t sleep very well. Whenever he closed his eyes, he could still see the gory image of the corpse as it was drawn up the well. &voyj;As a result, after he got up the next day, he was rather listless. After he came back from making a statement at the police station, he was yawning non-stop.

The inner courtyard had been cordoned off by the police to protect the crime scene, even though from a time standpoint this crime scene already didn’t have much value. It had just been too long ago, as most of the evidence would have already been disposed of.

After a few days, the police released access to the inner courtyard. Lu Qingjiu also found some time to visit the police station to issue a follow-up statement.

After getting back from the police station, Lu Qingjiu went by the neighbors’ house to get Li Xiaoyu to fetch some ragweed for his pigs. As Li Xiaoyu excitedly went off, his father curiously asked after the state of Lu Qingjiu’s inner courtyard.

“There was really a corpse?” Uncle Li was originally smoking, so when he heard this news he almost dropped his cigarette out of shock. “Then that sound I heard that time…”

Lu Qingjiu gave two dry laughs, inwardly thinking that it would be better not to think too much about the details. The more you thought about it the more horrified you would be.

Aunt Li warned: “You should be more careful. If anything else happens after this, remember to invite a witch over to cleanse the place. Aiyo, this really is bad news.”

Lu Qingjiu nodded, expressing that he understood.

When he was on his way back from the police station, he’d bought a few pieces of fresh beef and seasoning, preparing to marinate it to be eaten whenever. As for lunch, he could only improvise a little, so Lu Qingjiu diced up some of the beef, and after chopping, he stir-fried them in a wok, before adding in carrots, onions, and peas. After cooking over a large flame, he put in the leftover rice, and directly steamed it in the wok. After steaming, the rice would be ready.

As he was cooking, Bai Yuehu stood next to him, watching and occasionally lending a hand.

When the rice was done steaming, Lu Qingjiu brought out the wok and directly divided it into three portions. He finished preparing the meal by topping it with a liberal sprinkling of soy sauce and mixing well.

Their meal of vegetables, meat, and rice was simple and filling, but with them mixed together it became full of flavour, allowing the three to eat happily.

“Qingjiu, don’t forget to water the crops later,” Yin Xun’s voice was muffled, “When these kinds of crops have just been planted, they absolutely can’t lack sufficient water.”

“I’ll do it.” Surprisingly, Bai Yuehu spoke up.

“No need.” Lu Qingjiu tried to decline.

“I’ll go.” Bai Yuehu remained resolute. “You can just stay in the house marinating the beef.”

Lu Qingjiu originally felt a little bad about having Bai Yuehu do such rough work, but upon further thought, Bai Yuehu originally wasn’t a human. Maybe he found doing this sort of work easier. Hence, Lu Qingjiu didn’t say anything further, and nodded, agreeing with his request.

After taking a short nap, Lu Qingjiu called his service provider and asked them to help him activate his internet and cable TV. The service provider promised him that someone would be sent over the next day.

After finishing his phone call, Li Xiaoyu, who’d went out to gather ragweed, returned. Lu Qingjiu went with him to feed Xiao Hei and Xiao Hua. When Xiao Hua saw Lu Qingjiu, it happily grunted twice as if it was expressing its thanks. Li Xiaoyu stayed by the side of the pigsty chatting aimlessly with Xiao Hua, and occasionally reached out to pet Xiao Hei’s short fuzzy fluff. In time this fluff would become coarse fur, but right now it was still fluffy and nice to touch, like a cute kiwi.

Xiao Hua was too proud to allow Li Xiaoyu to pet it, but its sister Xiao Hei was completely unopposed, and even rolled over to expose its pink and tender belly for Li Xiaoyu to rub. Seeing how happy Li Xiaoyu was, Lu Qingjiu decided to head back first, as he still had a lot of tasks to complete.

After returning to the house, Lu Qingjiu washed the rest of the beef he’d bought that morning and cut it into large pieces. Afterwards he placed it in cold water in a pot and heated it over a big flame to remove the blood. He then placed the blaunched beef with a filter bag containing seasoning into a pressure cooker, and then left it. This method of cooking was relatively simple, but the flavour of the final product would definitely not be bad. Lu Qingjiu casually placed a few chicken feet, pig trotters, and the like inside to cook as well. Later at night when they didn’t have anything to do, the lou mei made from these could replace melon seeds as snacks.

Having been back in his old home for a while now, Lu Qingjiu had become accustomed to this slower pace of life. He didn’t need to hurry to get things done as he did in the city, and they normally were rather simple tasks.

When Bai Yuehu returned from watering the crops, he was stained with mud. Lu Qingjiu asked him to take off his clothes so they could wash their clothes together in one go, however Bai Yuehu hesitated.

“Or do you have some magical method to wash clothes?” Lu Qingjiu looked at Bai Yuehu with anticipation. “Do you, do you?”

Bai Yuehu: “…There is a way.”

Lu Qingjiu exclaimed: “Really?!”

Faced with Lu Qingjiu’s star-filled eyes, Bai Yuehu was a little hesitant. “But there is a side  effect.”

“What kind of side effect?” Lu Qingjiu asked.

“After using magic I tend to get hungry,” Bai Yuehu said, “It’s troublesome.”

Lu Qingjiu: “Oh… Then it’s better if I wash them.” He originally wanted to say if you’re hungry then just eat, but then he thought of that time Bai Yuehu ate that giant gecko, and realised that he shouldn’t assume that just few bowls of rice could make Bai Yuehu full.

Lu Qingjiu urged Bai Yuehu to take a shower, and brought his dirty clothing over to the outer courtyard to wash. As he washed, he planned on going to town in a few days to buy a washing machine, or else he’d end up wasting a lot of time washing clothes

After his shower, Bai Yuehu changed into a set of clean clothes and came over, once again quietly sat by Lu Qingjiu, watching him do his work. He didn’t seem to like moving, and just lazed around every day. If it wasn’t necessary, he was even too lazy to say a few extra words. As of now, his eyes were half-closed, looking as if he was about to fall asleep at any moment.

The braised beef in the house had finished cooking and started exuding a tempting aroma. Bai Yuehu’s nose twitched, and he looked over in the direction of the house.

Lu Qingjiu felt like he was just like a little kid who was forever hungry for meat. He smiled and said, “It’s braised beef, but it’s not done yet. We’ll be able to eat it tonight. We still have some of the melon seeds Yin Xun brought over, do you want to go get some to stave off your hunger?”

Bai Yuehu said, “Don’t wanna.”

Lu Qingjiu asked, “Why?”

Bai Yuehu: “I’m lazy…”

He said he was lazy in such a proud manner that Lu Qingjiu couldn’t help but laugh. He said, “All right, then just sit here. Tomorrow, I’ll go to the market and buy a few more different kinds of snacks. This courtyard is so empty, so I’ll also buy a few small chicks…”

Bai Yuehu said: “As you wish.” He laid down on the chair, once again half-closing his eyes. The warm sunbeams shone down onto his face. When Lu Qingjiu looked over at him, his eyes flashed a beautiful golden colour, but when Lu Qingjiu tried to take a closer look, Bai Yuehu had already closed his eyes.

Lu Qingjiu hung the clothes up to dry. He suddenly thought of something, so he turned and went over to the pigsty. There, he saw that that brat Lu Xiaoyu had climbed over the fence into the pigsty and had actually fallen asleep with the two piglets. His left hand hugged Xiao Hua while his right was slung over Xiao Hei, painting the picture of one person and two pigs sleeping together in satisfaction.

Lu Qingjiu looked at Xiao Hua and Xiao Hei, and then over at the little pink pigs on the other side. He felt something wasn’t quite right, as upon closer inspection he found that Xiao Hua and Xiao Hei’s side of the pigsty was abnormally clean. The hay looked as if it had just been replaced and it didn’t have any weird smell. Even so, you shouldn’t sleep in the pigsty.

Lu Qingjiu called: “Li Xiaoyu, Li Xiaoyu!”

The kid was awoken by Lu Qingjiu. He blearily opened his eyes and stroked the head of Xiao Hua who was nestled in his embrace. He sleepily said: “Lu-ge…”

Xiao Hua grunted once in response to Li Xiaoyu’s petting, then buried its head in the child’s chest.

“How did you fall asleep in here!” Lu Qingjiu said, “This is a pigsty…”

“Oh, I was telling stories to Xiao Hua and Xiao Hei and accidentally fell asleep.” Li Xiaoyu was a little embarrassed and hurriedly sat up, wanting to climb out of the pigsty. Xiao Hua and Xiao Hei woke up due to his movement and started grunting at Lu Qingjiu in dissatisfaction.

Lu Qingjiu said: “Even if you’re sleepy you shouldn’t sleep here. Be good and quickly come out.”

He stepped into the pigsty and carried Li Xiaoyu out. Patting off the hay stuck to his clothes, Lu Qingjiu said, “You should go home and sleep.”

Li Xiaoyu placed his chin onto Lu Qingjiu’s shoulder. He didn’t say anything, but he stealthily looked over at the two pigs and winked.

Lu Qingjiu didn’t notice any of his movements.

After sending Li Xiaoyu back home, Lu Qingjiu pushed up his sleeves and returned to his pigsty. He said to Xiao Hei and Xiao Hua: “Don’t mess around with someone else’s kid everyday. He hasn’t finished his homework, and you guys aren’t two or three day old pigs. Why is it that you guys aren’t sensible at all? Can you guys do the right thing or not?”

Xiao Hua: “…”

Xiao Hei: “…”

“Don’t pretend to not understand.” Lu Qingjiu knew that his family’s pigs were very smart. Seeing them stare at him with faces full of helplessness, he couldn’t help but vent: “How did you lure a child into the pigsty? If I see this happen again, I’ll –”

Xiao Hua: “Snort.” What can you do?

‘Parent’ Lu Qingjiu set down a strict rule: “I won’t let him get ragweed for you guys anymore.”

The moment his words fell, the air became silent in an instant. Indignant tears welled up in Xiao Hei’s eyes, and Xiao Hua angrily turned away from Lu Qingjiu.

Lu Qingjiu: “…”

He knew his family’s pigs were smart, but what was with this feeling of bullying kindergarteners…

Lu Qingjiu then lectured his family’s pigs for a while, with the general gist being don’t just play around with other kids everyday, do something more educational, meaningful, and proper. As to what exactly that would be… To tell the truth, he also didn’t know, he’d just casually said it, that’s all.

After educating his family’s pigs, Lu Qingjiu returned to the house. Bai Yuehu was still sleeping soundly in the courtyard, and Yin Xun had arrived at some unknown time. He was sitting under the shade of the trees in the outer courtyard, with a bag of fresh green pears  next to him. When he saw Lu Qingjiu approaching, he picked one up and casually threw it over. Lu Qingjiu caught it, dusted it off and took a bite. “Did you grow this?”

“Nope, my neighbor’s pear tree bore fruit. They sent me a whole bunch, so I brought over a bag for you,” Yin Xun asked, “Is that all right?”

“En, what fruits are you growing at your place?” Lu Qingjiu asked.

“Cherries,” Yin Xun said, “But I don’t really take care of them. They’re sour as hell, even I don’t want to eat them.”

“Go sell them then,” Lu Qingjiu said.

“I’m lazy, and there aren’t that many,” Yin Xun said.

In this area cherries were very expensive, but although the price was high, there was no market. Since they were too expensive, there weren’t many people willing to buy them. Moreover, his cherries were very sour, so there especially wouldn’t be anybody willing to buy them. Hence, he was too lazy to waste his effort.

“Bring some over, I can make cherry jam.” Lu Qingjiu said, “In the summer, we can mix it in with water to drink.”

A smile formed on Yin Xun’s face. “That would be great.” Even though the cherries were sour, when used to make jam, the sourness would add a distinctive flavor. Especially in the sweltering summer heat, if you mixed it in with water and added ice, it would be amazing to drink.

Lu Qingjiu asked Yin Xun to go wash the pears while he would go check on the braised beef. Yin Xun nodded.

The braised beef was pretty much done. Lu Qingjiu tasted it to check if the flavoring was completely infused into the meat. He decided on making beef noodles to eat tonight.

As he was in the midst of preparing the beef noodles, Lu Qingjiu’s phone rang. He looked at the unknown number displayed on the screen, and answered the phone.

“Hello, is this Lu Qingjiu?” The person on the phone asked.

Upon hearing the person’s voice, Lu Qingjiu recognised him as the one of the police officers from a few days ago.

“It’s me. Is there anything wrong?” Lu Qingjiu asked.

“I’m calling to let you know, the corpse has been identified. The victim’s name was Fu Ziying. Do you recognise this person?”

“No,” Lu Qingjiu said, “I’ve never heard this name before.”

“Alright then.” The police officer sounded a little disappointed.

“Do you have any leads on who the murderer is?” Lu Qingjiu asked, slightly doubtful.

The police officer hesitated for a moment: “Think about it carefully, see if you’ve missed anything. Actually, I shouldn’t be telling you this, but…”

Lu Qingjiu quietly listened.

“Actually about half a year ago, someone kept calling the police to report that someone had been murdered in Shuifu village.” The police officer continued, “They kept calling for about a month. At the time we thought it was just a prank, because we couldn’t find a corpse.”

Lu Qingjiu was a bit muddled: “Then does that informant have some connection to the murderer?”

The police officer said: “…That’s the problem.”

Lu Qingjiu asked: “What problem?”

The police officer said: “The informant called themselves Fu Ziying…”

When Lu Qingjiu heard this, goosebumps formed on his arm: “It can’t be?”

“At that time we were also unable to see the phone number of the informant, but the recordings still exist. We took the recordings and asked Fu Ziying’s family, and they confirmed it was her voice,” the police officer said quietly, “But the coroner was very sure that this corpse has been dead for at least a year.”

Lu Qingjiu: “…Could it be, that isn’t Fu Ziying’s corpse?”

“No, the DNA test confirmed it,” said the police officer.

Lu Qingjiu’s hair stood on end: “So the dead Fu Ziying… reported her murder herself?”

The person on the other end of the phone remained silent. It was clear that the police officer also couldn’t take this kind of supernatural twist.

“That can’t be, then why didn’t she report her death from the very beginning?” After mulling over it for a bit, Lu Qingjiu found it odd. “Why did she wait half a year…?”

“In the recording of the phone call, there’s another vital clue,” the police officer said, “At that time, she claimed that the victim was a male, so we suspect…”

When he spoke of a man, Lu Qingjiu immediately thought of the scene he’d seen that afternoon. In front of the well, there had been a man, with his back faced towards him, using a rock to hit a woman’s face. He asked: “Can I ask, how did Fu Ziying die? Was her head beaten in with a rock?”

The police officer asked, confused: “How did you know?”

Lu Qingjiu laughed dryly: “During this period of time, I’ve been having strange dreams…”

To tell the truth, if not for the supernatural happening of the dead reporting a death, the police officer would have suspected Lu Qingjiu of committing the crime. He asked: “Then what did you dream of?”

Lu Qingjiu replied: “I dreamt of a man being engulfed by hair, and being dragged into the well with it.”

When he finished speaking, the conversation between the police officer and Lu Qingjiu descended into silence. After a moment, Lu Qingjiu laughed bitterly and said: “Hey, there wouldn’t be the corpse of a man still in my well, right…”

The police officer: “…Wait for us, we’ll be right over.”

Well in the words of my editor (slightly paraphrased), this chapter sure was a trip Poor Lu Qingjiu…

Anyways, I’ve decided to try something different with the titles~ Since in the original, the author kinda splits the titles between the ‘title’ and the ‘chapter summary’, I’ve been mulling over how to deal with it while maintaining that original split, especially since it isn’t always a continuous sentence, or doesn’t even go together (e.g. chapter 2) In the end, I decided on doing it like this (as you can see, title in the header, …continuation in the post) Is it clear that it’s a continuation of the title? Please let me know what you think~

Time for the food porn:

Fried rice is such a staple, but it’s always so good (¯﹃¯*) I just ate dinner (at the time of writing this) but now I’m hungry again… orz

The beef noodles will have to wait for next chapter, heh heh~