"Uncle Tang, what do you mean? First..."
My words stopped abruptly.
Because, Tang Quan looked particularly painful and tormented.
Sometimes, Lao Qintou would ask me to dig up specific fresh corpses.
When someone is buried, I will hide in a hidden place and wait. Except for the funeral, most of the family members of the deceased are in the same pain as Tang Quan is now.
"Master, come with me." Tang Quan stood up shakily again and walked towards the door on the left with his head hanging down.
I followed.
The room is about seven or eight square meters.
The overall decoration is pink and white, which is popular among girls. Compared with the sloppy and messy living room, this place is exceptionally neat and spotless.
The faint fragrance of yellow orchids filled the house.
The girl's bedroom should have been cozy, but now it was only gloomy.
The desk on the north wall holds a memorial tablet and an incense burner.
In the posthumous photo, the girl is wearing a ponytail, her long hair hanging on her shoulders, her innocent cheeks that are still childish, and her eyes narrowed like a crescent moon when she smiles.
That plain face gradually enlarged in my eyes!
Waves of crisp words echoed in my ears!
"Brother Xianshen, you have been crying for a long time, don't be sad."
…
"Dad said that as time goes by slowly, everything must be moved forward."
…
"I am already earning money from my summer job, which can help support my family."
…
"You kid, you've lost your destiny and your companion's mind. It's hard to tell the difference between a human being, a god and a ghost."
"I'm dead, but I won't die in peace!"
In the end, the lingering words became Old Qin’s unwilling roar before his death!
I stared at the photo of the deceased.
My heart felt as if a huge boulder was pressing down on me and I was suffocating.
Yes, on this late autumn day, the streets are covered with fallen ginkgo leaves. How can there be any summer work?
How could Tang Qianqian hide from my sight and appear behind me silently?
After she held me, my hands and feet became cold and I felt sleepy!
Is it really because I didn’t get any rest?
The driver asked me for my address repeatedly because he couldn't see her at all!
Tang Qianqian had long "said" that she was dead...
I didn't see it.
I didn’t even hear it!
Tang Quan’s scars were also revealed!
For a moment, my heart hurt again.
I came out of the Xu family without any friends, until I met Tang Qianqian, her words and deeds gave me a little bit of warmth.
But this warmth was like the fine sand between the fingers, disappearing in an instant...
He took two steps forward, raised his hand, and touched the cheek of the girl in the photo with his index finger.
The cold feeling was just like when I held her hand!
"Why?" My voice was extremely hoarse: "She is so young, did anything happen to her?"
Tang Quan stared at the photo of the deceased, his expression even more painful and annoyed. His eyes were red and his voice became hoarse: "It's all my fault..."
"I'm just a loser who fails to achieve anything and fails more than anything else!"
He held it hard with his left hand and used it to smash the crooked right leg.
With a muffled groan, beads of sweat broke out on Tang Quan Quan's head, and he began to breathe heavily.
My face was as cold as ice and I didn't stop him.
After panting for another long while, Tang Quan finally told the whole story with great difficulty.
Nine years ago, his leg was broken by my uncle, and his wife suddenly became seriously ill.
He sold his business to treat his wife's illness, but in the end he lost both his life and money, leaving only their father and daughter to depend on each other.
The family has no source of income and life is becoming more and more difficult.
When Tang Qianqian was in high school, she worked as a part-time student to support her family.
It was okay at first, but then I stayed up all night and no one was seen on weekends.
The money she got back increased, which made Tang Quan feel even more uneasy.
Before the summer vacation, he secretly followed Tang Qianqian and discovered that she went to his home KTV with several female classmates after school every day.
He felt like a bolt from the blue.
After Tang Qianqian came home that night, he beat her very fiercely!
I finally found out the reason. It was a job introduced by a certain director’s son, and many female classmates worked together.
The next day, Tang Quan reported the case, and Tang Qianqian identified the director and his son.
The two were arrested on the same day!
The KTV involved was closed down for rectification, and the principal was replaced.
At that time, Tang Quan felt relieved and even more fortunate.
My daughter is sixteen or seventeen years old, what can she understand?
Fortunately, nothing more irreversible happened, which was a wake-up call for him.
But not long after, Tang Qianqian disappeared.
He went to school every day to make trouble, and went to the KTV that opened after the incident, but nothing happened.
He didn't see Qianqian until he received a call from the police.
At that time, she had just been fished out of the water, and she was beyond recognition...
Tang Quan suspected it was a revenge killing, but the director and his son were already imprisoned.
He asked the school to give an explanation, but the school refused to pay attention, saying that it was during the summer vacation and Tang Qianqian was a problematic girl. They could control her once, but how could they control her the second time?
When I found the KTV again, the other party directly called the police, saying that Tang Quan made things out of thin air and deliberately caused trouble.
At this point, Tang Quanquan was ashen as death, and said tremblingly: "I regret it, I shouldn't have gone to the police."
"Those are the people I can't afford to offend... Wouldn't it be nice to stop Qianqian from going again?"
"Qianqian is dead, my heaven has collapsed a long time ago. If I didn't want revenge, I would have followed Qianqian!"
"Every night, I sharpen my knife!"
"But, I don't know who the enemy is!"
Tang Quan's voice was filled with tears, his teeth were gritted, and his body was shaking.
My eyes were hot and bloodshot.
He lowered his head and looked at Tang Qianqian's green pheasant face in the photo.
In my mind, her smile after wiping my tears lingered in my mind.
Blood surged to the top of my head!
Then I reached out and touched the cheek of the girl in the photo, Aokiji, and another wave of coolness hit me, allowing me to stay calm for a little while.
Looking around the entire room, "Tang Qianqian" was not here.
After she lured me back, she left.
Turning around and walking out of the room, Tang Quan immediately followed me on his heels, looking extremely panicked: "Master, where are you going?"
After walking through the dirty and dirty living room, I opened the front door. On the lonely and quiet old road, the wind made the sycamore leaves rustle, and the shadows with teeth and claws kept twisting, like evil ghosts about to pounce out!
"Master...are you...going to leave?" Tang Quan became even more anxious.
"I won't leave." I shook my head.
Tang Quan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Stopping at the main entrance, I put down my backpack and took out two things.
A palm-sized brass gong and a copper clapper wrapped in yellow cloth, with shiny glaze on the top.
"Is this...?" Tang Quan's eyes were blank.
I held the string above the gong in my left hand, held the clapper tightly in my right hand, and struck it suddenly!
The dull voice, accompanied by the sharp and harsh sound of the gong, penetrated the night sky!
"At dusk in the time of Xu, when the human essence is exhausted, the first watch has arrived, and the chickens and dogs have returned home!"
Another bang!
"The night of Haishi is deep, and the gods wander in the world at night. The second watch has arrived, and the living people have fallen asleep!"
On the third sound, the gong's surface buzzed, seeming to form overlapping shadows.
"At midnight, all ghosts disperse, at midnight, the family spirit returns to its place!"
"Tang Qianqian, go home!"
The sound of gongs and voices mixed together, forming an echo that rippled through the streets.
Tang Quan saw everything clearly.
He echoed in a trembling voice: "Qianqian, go home! Dad and the young master are waiting for you!"
The sharp whine of the wind was like a ghost crying and a wolf howling!
The fog suddenly became thicker, and for a while, the vision was blurred.
There was a slight clicking sound, as if someone was walking barefoot in the mist, approaching us.
"Qianqian is back?" Tang Quan became excited.
My pupils narrowed and I stared at the thick fog.
There was indeed a shadow there.
But the shadow is tall and slender. Although it can't be seen clearly, it doesn't look like Tang Qianqian at all!
I pushed Tang Quan into the door, held the bag in one hand and returned to the house.
"Bang!", I closed the door.
"Young Master...this...is Qianqian!" Tang Quan's face was filled with confusion.
Tuk-tuk, there was a knock on the door.
A crisp voice came: "Dad... Master, open the door, I'm going home."
"It's really Qianqian!"
Tang Quan burst into tears and stretched out his hand to pull the door open!
I put a hand on his shoulder and shook my head warily.
"It's not Qianqian!"
Tang Qianqian, why did you call me Young Master?
Ever since she was little, she has always called me Brother Xian Shen!
"Brother Xianshen, it's so cold...can you open the door?"
Suddenly, the shouting became extremely soft, as if the girl was trembling.
