"Master Bao."
Shu Guan also called the old man and walked over.
The person squatting in front of the grave is, of course, not an old cripple who has resurrected and climbed out of the grave, but a thin old man with sparse gray hair, big buck teeth, and narrowed eyes. When he stares at you Sometimes, it always makes people feel inexplicably upset.
The old man's name is Wang Dabao. Like the old lame man, he is one of the oldest people in Taoyuan Village and a cobbler in the village.
The name "Second Cobbler" sounds like a craftsman who sews furs, but in fact it is not. In China, where Shuguan traveled through time, there were such people in the previous rural areas. If translated into a more modern language, the so-called "Second Cobbler", It is the undertaker, that is, the person who arranges the appearance, clothing, and body of the deceased before burial.
Sometimes, if the deceased died due to an accident, such as a broken arm or leg, these cobblers would help the deceased to sew the broken body back together, hence the name cobbler.
This is not something ordinary people can do.
If you don't have a strong psychological quality, let alone sewing up the body of a dead person, just simply cleaning up the body will probably make many people panic.
Wang Dabao has been doing this in the village for decades. Over the years, almost all the dead people in the village have been put into coffins by his hands, including the old lame man a few days ago.
Such a person is naturally very courageous. When he was young, almost no one in the village called him Wang Dabao, but they all called him Wang Daer.
However, it was such a person. Looking at the grave of the old lame man, Shu Guan found that there was a hint of fear in Wang Dabao's eyes.
"What's the matter, Mr. Bao, what's the matter?"
Shu Guan walked to Wang Dabao and squatted down like Wang Dabao in front of the old cripple's grave.
Wang Dabao turned his head and looked at Shu Guan, then immediately looked away, hesitant to speak.
Shu Guan's heart moved, and he remembered that Wang Dabao seemed to have been trying to say something to him yesterday, but at that time, he was still immersed in great sadness and was in a trance, so he didn't pay attention to what Wang Dabao said to him.
So Shu Guan smiled and said:
"This time, I would like to thank you, my grandpa, for your help with my grandpa's funeral. After my grandpa's funeral, I will go up the mountain to hunt a wild boar for you, my grandbao."
Although the old cripple was respected by everyone in Taoyuan Village, after hearing the news of his death, many people came to help with the funeral arrangements as soon as possible.
But Shu Guan felt that there was no reason for people to help in vain, so he kept all the people who came to help this time in his heart, and waited for some time to return these favors one by one.
For example, Wang Dabao's work as a cobbler in the village is not free, and he will receive something as payment.
Just because they didn't mention it this time doesn't mean you can just pretend it's okay.
But after listening to Shu Guan's words, Wang Dabao shook his head repeatedly.
"Mazi, this is not what I am looking for you for... This is not what I am looking for..."
Then he gritted his teeth and continued as if he had finally made up his mind:
"There is one thing. I went back and thought about it all night, and I thought I should mention it to you."
"What's up?"
"...You know...when the lame brother left, I washed his body with my own hands..."
When he said this, Wang Dabao paused again, his breathing became rapid, and his eyes once again showed that confused and frightened look.
Shu Guan did not ask any more questions, but waited quietly, because he could see that Wang Dabao was in a strange and frightened mood at this time, and it would be bad if he asked too quickly.
But Shu Guan couldn't help but have a cloud of doubt in his heart. What on earth did Wang Dabao want to do with him?
Then he knew immediately.
"...Brother Cripple...Brother Cripple...He seems to be short-sighted."
Shu Guan was suddenly startled.
He didn't expect that such a sentence would come out of Wang Dabao's mouth.
These words are generally used to curse people, meaning that a person is stupid.
But although the old cripple was honest and heartless during his lifetime, no one in Taoyuan Village would think that the old cripple was heartless. In fact, the old cripple was recognized as the smartest person in Taoyuan Village.
And Wang Dabao's expression at this time didn't look like he was taking advantage of the old cripple's death to come to Shu Guan to say bad things about him.
Shu Guan looked at Wang Dabao blankly, not understanding what Wang Dabao meant at all.
After Wang Dabao said the words just now, he seemed to be relieved because he finally revealed a secret in his heart, and he was no longer so embarrassed, so he pointed to his left chest again and said. One sentence.
"When I was washing his body that day, I found that Cripple Brother didn't seem to have any serious intentions. His place... was empty, there was nothing."
"Mazi, you have to believe me. I have touched many people's bodies in my life. I can basically tell the location and size of a person's internal organs just by pressing them with my hands. I dare to swear that I will never do it." Incorrect!"
At this moment, Shu Guan finally understood what Wang Dabao was talking about.
The first thing that flashed through his mind was the old cripple's deeply deflated left chest. In fact, when the old cripple was taking a bath in the yard when he was a child, Shu Guan also saw the old cripple's body. It was really a deformity. And the ugly body, especially the sunken part of the left chest, the deepest part of the sunken body is only a finger's thickness away from the back.
It's really not like a normal heart can grow in a chest like that.
It's just that Shu Guan has never thought about this problem before, because how can a person live without a heart.
At this moment, he forced a smile and said to Wang Dabao:
"Maybe grandpa's heart is on the other side."
He pointed to his right chest.
"Master Bao, you may not know that some people's hearts are on the right side..."
"No, I know, I've seen people like this."
Wang Dabao directly interrupted Shu Guan's words.
"So I checked Brother Cripple's whole body. There is nothing wrong with Brother Cripple's liver, spleen, stomach, and kidneys. He just doesn't have... a heart."
At the end of the sentence, Wang Dabao's voice trembled again, but his tone was extremely firm.
Shu Guan's body froze.
For a while, in front of the old lame man's grave, one could hear needles dropping quietly.
Wang Dabao didn't speak anymore, and neither did Shu Guan.
Shu Guan didn't think Wang Dabao was lying to him, because there was no need, and he didn't think Wang Dabao would make a mistake, because in this matter, Wang Dabao was a professional. A man who had been a cobbler for decades had to distinguish a dead man. The internal organs of the body are very easy and simple things.
Therefore, the old lame man should really have no heart in his body.
After a long time, Wang Dabao finally spoke again.
"Mazi, do you think a person can still live if he doesn't even have a heart?"
Shu Guan did not answer Wang Dabao because he could not answer.
Yes, can a person still live without a heart?
He was recalling some things from his past life. In the era of the earth he traveled to, there were indeed many people who had their entire hearts removed due to heart disease and still lived, but they were replaced with artificial hearts.
On Earth in 2045, this is not a complicated operation.
But when it comes to people who are born without a heart, Shu Guan has been recalling it for a long time, but he has never found any such records or reports, even on the small news websites he often browses that are curious.
If a person does not have a heart, he cannot live.
And if a person cannot live, will he die?
Shu Guan stared at the old cripple's grave in silence.
Seeing this, Wang Dabao stood up and said the last words quietly.
"Brother Cripple is more than ten years older than me. When I was a child, I often followed him up the mountain... At that time, I always felt that Brother Cripple was different from the rest of us."
After saying this, Wang Dabao left.
Perhaps he just wanted to find someone to tell the secret he had discovered, and in Taoyuan Village, no one was more suitable to listen to this secret than Shu Guan.
Shu Guan did not see Wang Dabao off, but still squatted blankly.
He is still remembering.
But instead of recalling the events of the previous life, I recalled the days when I was a child and slept in the same bed with the old cripple in this life.
Before Shu Guan was three years old, he always slept in the same bed as the old lame man. Especially when the abscess on his body had not yet healed, the old lame man would sleep with him in his arms every day.
If it were an ordinary child, he would naturally not have any memory of what happened when he was just born.
But Shu Guan is no ordinary child, and his memory of those days is very clear.
He lay in the old cripple's warm embrace every night and fell asleep listening to the old cripple's snoring.
But in that warm embrace, he had never heard a heartbeat.
Shuguan didn't realize anything was abnormal before because he was in great pain all the time during those few months.
Now he remembered it and realized it.
Shu Guan's body suddenly felt a little cold.
At the same time, an impulse surged in his heart.
The urge to dig up the old cripple's grave!
