?eeeeee "Yidan? What are you doing here? Do you want to scare me to death?" I couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. Looking at his back, I wasn't ready to approach because I felt something seemed to be in front of me. It's something I instinctively don't want to get close to.
And my sister-in-law’s hand seemed to be pulling me from behind. But I knew that even if I turned around suddenly, I wouldn’t see her.
"Is it Brother Tian...;...;Brother Tian...;...;Don't go back."
Zhang Yidan spoke to me in a trembling voice. He did not turn around. In his back, he was wearing dirty clothes, as if he had been soaked in muddy water, and his shoes were made of paper.
His voice didn't sound right to me. His face looked a little ugly: You kid? Are you planning to pretend to be a ghost to scare me?
Looking for a figure? I really wanted to kick him so that he wouldn't be so fucking scary next time. But when I wanted to get closer, a gust of cold wind happened to blow right in front of me. The fog blocked it instantly. My sight.
I stopped immediately. And when the fog dispersed, where was the shadow of Zhang Yidan still there?
I lowered my head and thought. Could it be that I was hallucinating? Or was Zhang Yidan squatting nearby to catch voles every day these days? Are you just kidding me?
It feels like there is still only half a journey away from Xiaoyi Village. Although I think what happened just now is a bit supernatural, but I have no intention of returning to Ganlong Village because when I turned around. I once again noticed something pulling at the corner of my clothes? And it was stronger than the one heading back to Xiaoyitun.
Even if I can know the existence of danger? But sometimes I have to choose one of the two dangers which is relatively small.
so. I could only bite the bullet and go back to Xiaoyitun.
Standing where Zhang Yidan once stood? Is there a puddle of wet yellow water? I don’t know where the water came from on the relatively dry road? The fishy smell is a bit pungent? It seems that Zhang Yidan may have become smelly. Feeling unhappy in the ditch? You want to make fun of me.
My sister-in-law’s warning? Zhang Yidan’s mysterious disappearance gave me an ominous omen for this night walk. As we walked along, I began to pay attention to the surrounding environment.
But we walked for another half hour. No more weird things were discovered? I felt a little relieved.
In front of me, the thick fog gradually appeared like a two-meter-wide stone bridge. The big stone I was carrying in my heart finally let go.
Is that an ancient bridge called 'Siqiao'? I heard from the old people in the village that it already existed when Xiaoyitun was built. They all said it was before the founding of the People's Republic of China. I think it was when Xiaoyitun or Yizhuang was built. .
But no matter how old it is, there is a village on the other side of the bridge. I can vaguely see the dim lights of the village.
I stroked the ancient bridge. I still remember when I was a child, I swam in the river under the bridge with Zhang Yidan and other friends. At that time, the water in the creek was so clear that you could see the pebbles on the bottom of the water.
Under the night light, I looked nostalgically towards the bottom of the bridge. This sight made my hair run cold!
Under the bridge, a group of people dressed as monks carried bamboo poles to the shore to fish out the corpses, while several children lined up and ran across the river, jumping and chanting nursery rhymes.
"Thousands of flowers? Tens of thousands of flowers? Fluttering? Sprinkling? Piling up? Making snowmen? Not afraid of cold? Not afraid of freezing...;...;"
Some of these corpses were children, women, and old people. They were a little white after being soaked in the water. Some even had maggots crawling on their faces. The squirming death was very scary. After they were fished out, the monks took them out. They were stacked into a hill, and another group of monks performed rituals, sprinkled them with talisman water, and then buried them.
Behind me, my sister-in-law suddenly pulled at the corner of my clothes. I was about to approach, but I suddenly stopped. I was so shocked that I couldn't move.
A burst of cold water mist blew by. I looked under the bridge again, only to find that there was nothing!
The water is still gurgling across the bridge? Those monks and children are as if they never existed? I am extremely suspicious? Is it because I am too tired and hallucinating? Or is the fog giving birth to the legendary mirage?
But what's going on with the nursery rhyme? This mirage can carry sounds thousands of miles?
"Brother Tian! Why are you still standing there? Go back to the village quickly."
While I was struggling with the strange phenomenon under the bridge, a girl’s voice called me from the other side of the bridge.
I was startled by the shout. I turned my head sharply and breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out to be my childhood follower Yu Xiaoxue.
She was still a girl with a runny nose back then? But now she has the appearance of a beautiful girl? If I remember correctly? She should be sixteen or seventeen years old this year? She even wrote to me before and said she wanted to work in Guangdong? She was beaten by me Stopped her because she was not old enough and didn't have an ID card? After all, I can't let the only remaining 'fruit' in the village go out and be harmed by bad guys.
I was looking at her in fear, but I found her father standing at the door of her house. That was Uncle Yu Gen. Uncle Gen looked at me with dull eyes and said nothing.
Xiaoyitun was still a wasteland when my grandma arrived. It gradually became popular over the decades, so there are many people with foreign surnames coming from all over the world.
"Why are you here?" I said hello and walked towards the door of their house. I wanted to say hello to Uncle Gen.
Xiaoxue ran over and said to me sadly: "Brother Tian, why did you come back? My mother-in-law has been gone for two days? Let's go to my mother-in-law's house." Holding the Guang Tou Ba.
After hearing this, my heart sank instantly. It seemed that what was supposed to come had come. Grandma really went.
My eyes were uncontrollable and I wanted to shed tears. But I quickly pinched my eyebrows to hide it. If I felt like crying, I might as well cry in the mourning hall.
Uncle Gen didn't go with us? He just stood silently and looked at me from a distance. I don't know how Uncle Gen, who originally greeted me with greetings, became taciturn.
The sky has completely darkened. When passing by, I found that the lights in every house were on early, but the doors were still closed. This is not surprising, because there are no street lights in the village. After dark, almost no one wants to move around.
But apart from Uncle Gen, I also found that other neighbors were standing at the door from a distance to watch me enter the village. I was still some distance away from them, so I didn’t say hello. I thought you would know that I was back.
I hurried to the door of my grandma's house. There were white hangings on the door, and the mourning hall was also decorated. There was a horse made of paper at the door, and there were also paper figures of a man and a woman.
Other than that, no one was around. If it were the usual rules, there should be three or five tables set up. Relatives and neighbors would gather together to talk, drink tea or something.
But I thought, grandma was a goddess respected by the neighbors, and there might be someone else who passed away.
There are two door gods painted by grandma on each of the two doors. They look twisted and twisted, but the writing is very vigorous and powerful. There is also a white paper with grandma's last name, first name, and date of birth and death written on the doorpost. I After just one glance, I realized that it was also written by grandma herself. The handwriting was extremely sloppy.
It seems that what she predicted about her own death is true.
In the hall, a coffin covered with red paper lay quietly. That was the treatment that only old people who died normally would receive.
No one is keeping a vigil inside? The incense in front of the coffin has been burned out? Before I could feel sad, my heart skipped a beat? The incense in the wake cannot be broken? Is there no one to burn the incense?
I glanced at Yu Xiaoxue. She shook her head and looked a little pale: "Brother Tian? Just now...;...; No? I just ordered it a few minutes ago. I saw you at the entrance of the village and picked you up. Why? Gone?"
Grandma's house is located in a higher position in the village. There are no neighbors next to it, so it can see the entrance of the village. Yu Xiaoxue found that it was normal for me to go home.
It seems that today's businessmen have a very bad conscience. Do they make money from dead people? Even the incense is fake? It burns too fast.
I hurriedly stepped into the house, but the moment I stepped in, I couldn't help but shuddered all over. I felt like there was a dark wind blowing from all directions, and my wife's sister seemed to pull me.
But I had no choice. My grandma passed away. Is it necessary to burn incense for her? I knelt down in front of the coffin without hesitation and lit four incense sticks.
After it was extinguished, three rods were placed in the front ash pot and one was placed in the back ash pot.
Nothing unusual.
I breathed a sigh of relief. It seems that my sister-in-law is not entirely right. Is there nothing wrong with me?
After I stood up, I chose the straw mat on the left side of the coffin and sat down. Yu Xiaoxue looked around, saw me sitting down, shrank her neck and walked in, and then sat on the right side of the coffin.
Although we didn’t express mourning directly, it was not inappropriate for Yu Xiaoxue and I to watch the funeral together. When an old neighbor passed away, we would occasionally sit by the coffin and chat with the victim’s friends.
Besides, her family has a good relationship with ours. When I was away, Yu Xiaoxue often pestered her grandma and called her 'grandma' because grandma's house was never short of sugar and biscuits. Yu Xiaoxue was a snacker and secretly ate grandma's offerings to the gods. Sacrifice is a common thing.
Grandma's death left a hole in our hearts. We suddenly lost our backbone. Although we hadn't seen each other for a long time, there was nothing we could talk about.
It was eerily quiet inside and outside. I could feel the Yin Qi gathering little by little, so I was ready to say something to break the silence.
But suddenly, I saw the three cigarettes in front of me becoming turbulent. I frowned.
The three incense sticks burned very irregularly. The left side was longer and the right side was shorter. But the middle one burned the fastest. When I saw it, it was the shortest. The words "incense of evil" immediately came to my mind. I felt something was going to happen.
"Grandma...;...;I came back late? Don't be angry? The incense burns quickly? Be more considerate." I think the deceased old man cut off the incense during the wake? It is inevitable that he will be angry? He strokes the cold coffin to comfort him? However, I discovered something that shocked me:
There were no nails in the coffin.
Cold? A feeling of fear came from inside? It made my heart beat suddenly? Why were there no nails? Did the person who presided over the funeral forget it?
"Brother Tian...;...;I'm a little scared...;...;I want to sit next to you...;...;" Yu Xiaoxue looked at me in fear and said.
"Well? Then come here." I tried to calm myself down, not to mention Yu Xiaoxue. My heart was beating like a drum, and I felt that the yin energy around me was too strong.
It’s been two days and the coffin hasn’t been nailed yet? There’s no one around the house? It’s like no one knows that grandma has passed away.
When other elderly people died in previous years? They would never be so deserted. Someone should be in charge of the funeral.
I also noticed that there was no trace of anyone cooking a big pot of rice nearby? Did no one ever come to visit my grandma after she passed away?
This is definitely not a good sign.
I watched Yu Xiaoxue walking towards me. My heart tightened all of a sudden. After all, I had warned my wife and sister so much that everyone was in panic.
Fortunately, my sister-in-law didn’t pull my clothes this time. Yu Xiaoxue didn’t seem to be in any danger to me.
"Xue? Where have everyone else gone?" I looked around. There were white papers all around, making the hall miserable.
Bang!
Before Yu Xiaoxue could answer me, two old doors were suddenly blown into each other by the wind. Not only was I startled, Yu Xiaoxue even jumped up. She screamed in surprise and hugged my arms.
