Bai Xinghua's words reminded me that her home was indeed relatively clean, inside and out, and cleaned every day. This is rare in rural households.
At this time, I don't know why, suddenly I thought of something.
I remember that when Zhu Qun was caught, He Wei once confiscated two strange books. They were the techniques of raising corpses and raising insects. Later on, I got my hands on these two books and carefully read them. The methods inside were extremely cruel and harmful to the heavens. So I just took a look at them and put them down later. Then I hid these two books in a very secret place where no one could guess if I didn't say it.
Based on what I saw from those two books, I knew that ordinary insect-raising families are extremely clean; this feature is consistent with Bai Xinghua's characteristics.
Moreover, Bai Xinghua has many other features that match the image of an insect-raiser.
She is from Yunnan Province; her surname is Bai so she should be Miao people who are a large family of insect-raisers.
She said before that she couldn't marry again which also matches the characteristics of an insect woman. As far as I know, insect women are passionate but extremely loyal; once they get married they will plant love insects for their partner so if the man cheats he will suffer backlash until death while if they themselves cheat then their fate would be equally miserable ending up dead horribly."
"Bai Xinghua said she couldn't remarry because of this reason? However now Oil Pine has already died so theoretically speaking her contract should have been lifted by now too right? If she really is an insect-raiser then she should know how to break free from any remaining contracts so why can't she remarry?"
"This is a doubt point which cannot be explained yet."
"Besides all these things mentioned above there are still some other characteristics of Bai Xinghua that match the image of an insect-raiser. For example, she is proficient in yin and yang ghost affairs; her hairpin can extinguish souls and kill ghosts which are not abilities that an ordinary woman should possess. Therefore, if nothing unexpected happens, even if Bai Xinghua is not an insect woman then at least she is not an ordinary woman either; she could be considered a witch."
"Of course, even if Bai Xinghua is really an insect-raiser it doesn't matter much to me as it does not affect my impression of her. What I am worried about is that if she really is a female insect then there may never be any possibility between us because the contract with love insects was too scary. Although I don't have much ambition in life but after all I am still a protagonist so no matter what there should be one or two hundred times for me to experience romance right? If I were planted with love insects by her then wouldn't my fate be sealed?"
"Haha, just kidding. At this moment, what I really thought was that if Bai Xinghua was indeed a female insect then her behavior would become suspicious.
Why did she come to our place? Why did she hide her identity? She lived frugally alone without seeking fame or fortune; what exactly was the reason behind this? Also Oil Pine's death - was it really accidental?
After thinking about these things for a while, I couldn't help but feel uneasy and subconsciously asked Bai Xinghua: "Sister-in-law, can I ask you something?"
"Well, go ahead," said Bai Xinghua wiping the sweat from her forehead and looking at me.
I hesitated for a moment before finally asking: "Do you remember the situation back home? Sister-in-law didn't you ever think about going back to take a look? And also, how did you and my cousin get together? I mean, my cousin is just an ordinary person while sister-in-law is so beautiful. This has always been a mystery to me."
"Why are you suddenly asking about these things?" My words made Bai Xinghua startled. She couldn't help but turn her head to look at me and after a long time she said: "These things are not easy to explain in detail; please don't ask anymore.
Sister-in-law, do you have any difficulties? Do you have enemies over there? Is that why you're not going back?" I asked.
White Apricot Flower smiled helplessly and said, "You really have a wild imagination. Enemies? I'm just an ordinary person. Besides, our place is remote and backward, very poor. Life there is hard; we often suffer from famine and can't eat enough food. Your place is much better; although it's tough, at least there's food and drink available. You can also go out for a walk when nothing else to do. Life here is so good! Of course I prefer to stay here."
"Is it really that simple?" Her words seemed far-fetched to me because I didn't think she was the type of person who would seek pleasure.
"Okay, let's stop talking about this now. Help me with the dishes," White Apricot Flower said as she got up and scooped the vegetables from the pot into a bowl for me to carry into the main room.
Seeing her deliberately avoiding my questions made me stop asking further but deep down inside I still wanted to find out what was going on so an idea popped up in my mind unconsciously.
After dinner, pretending to say goodbye to her, I quickly ran towards the wilderness in the north of the village before finally sneaking into a chaotic graveyard where eventually found myself beside a half-collapsed stone tombstone where after groping around inside for some time managed to retrieve a small black plastic box.
Opening it revealed two books: one on corpse cultivation techniques while another on raising gu insects.
I took out the Gu-raising technique and put it in my pocket, then covered the box and put it back. With the Gu-raising technique in hand, I returned to White Apricot Flower's house wall. After hesitating for a moment, I quietly threw the book onto her doorstep.
With the book placed, I stepped aside and observed quietly, ready to see White Apricot Flower's reaction. Soon after, she came out with a small basket on her arm as if she was going to collect some firewood. As soon as she left the door, she saw the book on the stone platform.
Her expression was obviously curious as she approached and picked up the book. Just flipping through one page made her exclaim in surprise before quickly turning through all of its pages. When she confirmed what was inside that book, her eyes widened nervously while hiding it behind herself; looking around anxiously like something major had been discovered.
White Apricot Flower's reaction roughly confirmed her identity for me.
Just when I thought this way in my heart, White Apricot Flower had already run back into her house at lightning speed without even taking her basket with her. Once inside, I heard her shout loudly outside: "The road leads to heaven; we each go our separate ways! Since I have already left Da Wu Mountain and tribal disputes behind me once and for all time now - whether you are brothers or sisters from within our tribe or disciples of Blood House Gate - listen well: do not force me again! If you push too far then be careful because I won't hold back!