A Bouquet of Crocus

Chapter 3

"Excuse me, may i know what happen?" Zhang Shi asked to the flocking old men, a clear disquieted expression revealed on their tousled faces, their actions were anything but relaxed.

"You don't know?" One of the old men squinted his wrinkled eyes then heaved a sigh. "I suppose you must be from neighboring village?"

Startled by the question, Zhang Shi stuttered, "Y-yeah.. we are from the neighboring village!"

Zhang Shun knew his brother didn't catch the glare he gave, so he squeezed the hand he had been holding instead and only then did the stupid brother realized his agitation. Zhang Shi had always been impulsive and blunt, and it had caused countless blunder that were not easily forgiven by simple beatings.

This Reckless gleaning was the forgivable one, but it still broke their promise of not taking action without discussing first. Zhang Shi returns his brother's cynical plain gaze with a nervous smile.

The old men were judging their appearance, the twins were too clean and beautiful to be a peasant from the similarly poor neighboring village, and were actually oozing with an aristocratic aura. Thus 'Exiled nobles' were their conclusion, it didn't made them had any evil ideas because they knew exiled nobles were just as penniless as them.

The men were exchanging uneasy gaze until one of them exhaled deeply and decided to explain, "Since around a month ago the residents of this village have gone missing one after another. At first we thought they were being kidnapped... until we found a corpse. The corpse was very hard to identify because it was so skinny, disfigured, and shriveled.. it was sucked dry from blood and meat, it was just profoundly disturbing and gruesome. In the end someone recognized the corpse, and it turns out to be one of the missing villager..

"That kind of corpse, is definitely not the work of a human..."Horror was filled in the man's eyes, "We won't ever find someone who goes out of their house the previous night, at first they will definitely disappear if they go out at the hai period (21.00), and as time goes by it gets nearer to the xu period (19.00).."

Another younger man said, "This village is so remote and poor anyone barely know so no one come to our aid.. maybe this village will just disappear eventually and anyone wouldn't even notice.." his smile was full of irony.

"Don't jinx it!" the elder scolded.

The younger man just drooped his head bitterly while biting his own lips. The atmosphere shrouding the men were so gloomy and lugubrious, as if restlessly waiting for death.

The twins exchanged gaze, as if able to do telepathy they were able to decipher what the other has to say even without uttering any. Their bright amber eyes radiating a subtle fury only visible to each other. 

Zhang Shun turns to those funeral eyed old men, looking very sympathetic, "We are very sorry to hear that... and we are also sorry to be unable to provide you any help.. If only we were stronger...", the twins looked very apologetic.

The men were dumbstruck, then a light husky laugh wiped off their depressed silence. Venrie and the twins were dumbfounded by the sudden unexpected laughter. Neither fake nor ridiculing the laugh sounded, making the three blatantly showed question mark on their faces.

The stiff expression on the old men's tousled faces soften, the laughter ceased and replaced with a warm wrinkled smile. The elder pats the twins heads, "We wont ask for a young boy like you to face death! We inform you so you could be cautious and look out for yourselves. But well.. it's rich for outsider to look frustrated to be unable to help us.. that goodwill alone made us feel a bit happy, thank you".

The twins pouted at their own powerlessness. 

In such a remote small poor village, to be able to eat everyday and lives humbly was already a bliss. Yet it had to bear such brutal and endangering problem.