Ex-Wife is a Big Villainess

The slanting sun sank, and twilight quietly gathered, as the frigid winds unique to winter began their wild onslaught, carrying sharp snowflakes.

Jiang Shouzhong returned to the cabin, the sky already dark.

Groping in the darkness, he took out a flint to light the oil lamp on the table, instantly breaking the dimness inside, casting the man's solitary shadow against the wall with the warm, faint light.

Jiang Shouzhong gathered some firewood and coal to start the stove.

The room gradually began to warm up, dispersing the condensed chill.

"Ah, it's indeed a bit better to have someone at home."

The alone and lonely Jiang Shouzhong suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of emptiness and couldn't help but sigh.

He recalled the scene from over half a year ago, sitting in front of the stove with his ex-wife Hong'er and Sister Ye, as if it was a painting framed in a dream, distant and unreal.

Back then, he could never have imagined such a swift turn of fate.

More than a year and a half ago, when he found himself in this strange world, a young woman named Ye Zhuchan had saved him, and he settled in a place called Anhe Village.

Life passed pleasantly and leisurely.

Not long after, he married a young girl named "Hong'er," and the two spent the most beautiful moments together in Anhe Village. But then one day, unexpectedly, his wife left behind an absurd letter of divorce and vanished without a trace.

A month later, the shocking massacre of Anhe Village occurred.

From that moment, they were "separated by life and death."

Because his name too was on that death list.

According to the official announcement, eighty-two households in Anhe Village were slaughtered by a Demon, and the instigators behind this were from the Demon Clan of Thousand Beasts Forest.

But no one knew that there was still a survivor from Anhe Village – himself.

Who then changed his name to Jiang Mo.

After the village suffered the Demon attack, although he couldn't find Sister Ye's body, the probability of survival under that carnage was almost zero.

Especially with the subsequent devastating flood and mudslide, which nearly swallowed the entire village.

After it swept through, only severed limbs and crushed bones and flesh remained.

To look for a body then became impossible.

If it weren't for his luck that night, going alone to the Mountain God Temple to drown his sorrows and being saved by a mysterious figure, he probably wouldn't be sitting here now.

As for that mysterious person...

"So, the Ran Family hasn't come over at all?"

A scraping, deliberately disguised hoarse voice appeared suddenly in the room, interrupting Jiang Shouzhong's thoughts.

Jiang Shouzhong jumped in fright.

Upon seeing the mysterious person who had saved him now inside the hut, he muttered quietly, "You could at least knock before entering, it's so rude."

A tall shadow stood in the dim cabin.

The visitor was shrouded in a black hooded cloak, his specific shape obscured, with a golden bird-shaped mask featuring a pointed beak and feathered design on his face.

His shadowy, gray-black figure in the gloomy cabin seemed almost ghostly, chilling to the onlooker.

But Jiang Shouzhong had grown accustomed to it.

He even sometimes teased the other as "Birdman."

He thought if his boss, who loved to nickname others, saw this, he might come up with an even more interesting name.

"The Ran Family hasn't come over at all?"

The masked Birdman repeated.

Jiang Shouzhong made a cup of tea for his visitor and said self-mockingly, "Basically, they come over once a month, it's the maid of Miss Ran, just giving me some Silver Coin."

The masked Birdman did not take the teacup, and instead walked over to the stove and said indifferently, "Qingchen will be going to Qingzhou soon, find a way to go with her."

"Why?"

Jiang Shouzhong asked, frowning.

The moonlight-like sharp light flickered through the eye holes in the bird-shaped mask. His tone was authoritative, "You don't need to ask why, just follow my arrangement."

Jiang Shouzhong was silent, adding two pieces of coal to the stove.

Perhaps noticing Jiang Shouzhong's displeasure, the masked person's hoarse voice softened a bit, adding, "There has been a case in Qingzhou that is somewhat connected to the massacre at Anhe Village."

These words made Jiang Shouzhong abruptly look up.

Two icy glints shot from his dark pupils, and he clenched his fist subconsciously. "Are you sure?"

The original reason he had followed this woman's arrangements to come to the Capital, besides repaying her for saving his life, was because... the massacre at Anhe Village was fishy.

It was likely connected to some powerful official at the court.

Because in his search for Sister Ye's body, he had inadvertently discovered a bead.

According to her, the bead was named Court Bead.

Unlike the Court Bead worn by officials in Qing Dynasty of his world, the Court Bead from the Da Zhou Dynasty was a special gift from the emperor, not to be worn by anyone below a noble of merit or an official of the second rank or higher, and it was imbued with true dragon fortune, impossible to replicate.

Although it was a special gift from the emperor, over so many years and through several generations, quite a few had been bestowed.

To investigate each one would indeed be like finding a needle in the river.

Moreover, the bead's inscribed characters were damaged, leaving no clues to this day.

But Jiang Shouzhong wasn't discouraged.

Even if the investigation process was very long and difficult, and the enemies he would face were powerful, he was determined not to let Sister Ye and the other villagers die in vain!

This was also the main reason he had joined the Liushan Division.

It was just unfortunate that at that time he didn't yet possess the ability to "converse with the dead" and couldn't uncover more truth.

Like today, a man in a green robe who had been dead for two days, perhaps because of lingering concerns and his soul not dispersing, appeared voluntarily to talk to him after discovering Jiang Shouzhong's ability to "communicate with spirits," hoping to find shelter for his granddaughter.

And then there was Zhang Lang, whose soul also lingered.

Jiang Shouzhong frowned and said, "But Miss of the Ran Family isn't fond of me; she has been married for half a year now, and we've only met twice. It's unlikely she'll take me to Qingzhou."