(two)
Since then, for more than 20 years, the incomplete wooden pagoda has gone through wind and rain, screaming and telling people about her precarious destiny…
People say that during the earthquake, the ghosts in the well on the top of the pagoda dropped countless heavenly books, relics, and several pocket coffins made of pure gold for storing relics. They were picked up by passing farmers and residents. ……Robbed! Others say that it fell into the courtyard in the center of the tower. No one has found it yet. If anyone finds it, it will really make a fortune…
The door at the bottom of the tower has been locked with an oversized old rusty lock since I can remember. After the 1963 years of hunger and suffering, the turbulent years of fighting against selfishness, criticizing repairs, smashing, looting, class struggle as the key link, and learning from Dazhai in agriculture… What was locked inside was corn and sweet potatoes, property was confiscated… class enemies and the fourth category of elements were imprisoned…
When I was in the second grade of junior high school, the small town became a tourist town. The town was full of farmers who no longer had any fields and were engaged in tourism. The old seeders, water pumps… agricultural machinery and equipment were stored there. There are also many bundles of straw placed randomly…
In front of the ancient pagoda, under the high slope, is a very wide lotus pond… It's really a good place to play. The stairs leading to the upper floor in the ancient tower have always been a place for us children to explore and create daydreams. The infinite mystery couldn't stop us from fiddling with it every day with girls' hairpins and iron wires. One day, we finally got rid of it…
From then on, we climbed from the first floor to the ninth floor. All the small parts of the agricultural machinery that could be removed in the ancient pagoda, the copper candlesticks in front of the Buddhist niches, the small Buddha statues… everything that could be moved became ours. The best toys. Above the stairs at the top of the tower is the sky. Not only can you see the beautiful scenery of the city, but you can also watch the sunrise and sunset in the morning and evening, and the sky is full of stars. But the ancient lock was broken after a long time, and it opened as soon as it was locked. From then on, we had smooth communication. Only me, two other boys, and two girls knew the secret of this lock. Others who come here to play are still not allowed in! …
The second grade of junior high school is about to enter the final exam, and it is an unbearably hot summer… In the afternoon self-study class, Erdan mysteriously walked up to me who was reviewing my homework. I thought he was going to copy my homework again, so I said "Humph!" and turned away. He turned to me again, and I could see that his face was unusually mysterious, and seemed to have a bit of horror, and he said, "Let me tell you, the locks on the ancient pagoda have been changed. Yes." It's a very new one! I had lunch today, and it was so hot that I wanted to go up and take a nap, and then I discovered it." But I became more energetic: "What? Changed it? Then aren't we finished? ? I’m done with my homework, let’s go see what happens now!” Say that! We called the girl Liu Yan who was with us and ran towards the ancient pagoda…
(three)
It was a new lock plated with blue paint. Although it was smaller than the previous one, it was also the largest one on the market at that time. The quality is very good. The brand new lock surface has a certain oiliness, as if it had just been taken out of the box… I pushed the door hard and opened a crack as big as my palm. The faces of the three of us squeezed up at the same time, looking inside… It was true that someone had just entered inside, and the straw was in a mess. Nothing else seemed to have changed in particular… Suddenly, Liu Yan screamed, "Look, look under the ball of straw at the root of the east wall." The girl was still sharp-eyed and careful, so we all looked in the direction she pointed: it was a pile of newly moved straw, piled in a mess, as high as half a person. There is nothing strange about this. The strange thing is that there is a ball of red cloth pressed under it. Although only one corner is exposed, it can still be seen that there is something pressed inside… Everyone is opening their eyes in wonder. Weird big eyes….
Sitting in the shade on the east side of the ancient pagoda, everyone used their brains to guess the secret of the red cloth… In the end, everyone agreed: someone who went in must have found the treasures that fell in the ancient pagoda during the previous earthquake, and it was difficult to move them. , first put it under the straw, and changed a new lock to prevent others from going in and taking away the treasure…!
Since this is the case, I have watched too many novels, movies and TV shows about thrilling treasure hunts… The best way is of course: I watch the scene and ask them to go back immediately to get an ax and hammer, and break down the door to get the treasure…
My friends have all left, the ruins of the wooden tower and the old temple around it, and me alone, the atmosphere immediately became eerie and terrifying… "Quack-! Quack-!" Two old birds were also standing on the top of the tower. A lonely cry was made! Otherwise, there is endless silence. …
I sat under the stone foundation of the ancient pagoda, which is as tall as one person, and quietly waited for the return of my friends… "Young man! -" Suddenly, an old man's muddy voice came from above! I looked up and saw an old man with a gray beard, carrying a wicker basket for collecting rags, standing on the stone base high above my head, smiling sinisterly at me… I quickly turned around and rushed towards him. Looking at him: "Old man! You!…"
"Haha! – Haha! -" The old man smiled horribly: "What are you doing here! Get out! If you stay here for too long, someone will die."
"Me! I'm waiting for my classmates to play…" I hurriedly defended.
"Playing? Let me play with you first and see if it's fun!" He still said gloomily.
Suddenly, I saw him closing his eyes slightly, and his mouth seemed to be inhaling! At the same time, I saw my drooping left hand raised involuntarily by my brain, almost above my head. Then, with a sigh of relief, his hand fell down again. …I was so scared that I didn’t know what to do! The heartbeat was "Teng! Teng! -" and the ground almost jumped out of the chest! When I went to look again, the old man with the white beard had already disappeared…
"Alright! Alright! -" The two friends ran over panting. He was holding a big ax and hammer in his hands, waving them excitedly in front of me. I called them forward and told them what had just happened. …But neither of them believed it. They all said that I was confused just now and was dreaming, right? Or he just wants to scare them away and steal the treasure…! But I was speechless with my mouth open…
The brand new big iron lock was broken open by us in three attempts! Push open the door and rush in…
He hurriedly walked to the red cloth and tugged hard, "Zira——!" It broke. I put my hand into the straw, pricked it, but couldn't find anything! When we took it to a bright place and looked at the piece of red cloth carefully, Liu Yan said: "This is the corner of a girl's skirt!"… We were greatly disappointed: "It would be great if it were red satin from hundreds of years ago. It must be used to wrap treasures. And this …”
Why! —We had no choice but to climb up the stairs to see if there would be anything new upstairs…!
(Four)
When they climbed to the eighth floor, they couldn't climb any more. In addition, they had to search here and there on each floor. They were really tired. The three of them fell exhausted on the wooden floor of the eighth floor, as if they were in a coma. Looks like he's about to fall asleep…
Zhi! Zhi! ——A burst of coolness that is hard to describe! Looking out the window, there was no wind at all, as if a high-power vertical air conditioner had been turned on in the tower room, which made the fire shiver all over. At this moment, Erdan and I discovered that Liu Yan's two snow-white arms were mysteriously raised high above his head, but his eyes were slightly closed as if he was asleep. We were both frightened and frightened. When we looked at each other, "Ah! -" Our hands were raised at the same time without knowing when…
We both waved our arms desperately to escape the gravitational pull that seemed to be attracted by a magnet! He pushed Liu Yan awake again, and Liu Yan seemed to wake up from a nightmare! The three of us held hands and looked around. Liu Yan was still sharp-eyed and pointed at the roof beam… ah! Six eyes were stunned at the same time. Above it was a giant python with a mouth as wide as a bowl, with its bloody mouth open as if to inhale… We have only seen giant pythons in city parks. There are such things in small towns, but we have never heard of them. Seeing this scene, the three of us rolled down to the ground…
The lock was smashed to look like an old lock. It locked when pushed and opened when pulled. No key would be used again. …
The dream of the whole night was haunted by the huge python… Although it was midsummer, the wind came in the second half of the night, and the ground was slightly cold… A clever person, I don’t know whether it was because I wanted to go to the toilet to hold it in, or because of the cold wind, or because of the blind snake’s fright… In short, I woke up with a start! When I came to the toilet in the yard, I vaguely seemed to see a red light. Yes, it was the fragrant autumn flowers planted all over the yard. They were flashing red and yellow and were as tall as half a person. And the aroma is astonishing… But it’s obviously not the case, ah! –look! …The tree was really red! Bright red, glowing green and cold under the moonlight! I stood on tiptoes, but I couldn't reach it. I jumped and finally reached it! Take a closer look, ah! It’s actually the corner of the red skirt in the ancient pagoda! Before leaving, "It's clearly still on the ground in the tower, how could it float to my home? What a ghost!" A wave of terror hit my heart! …
I threw it away with all my strength! Looking at the dark toilet door, thinking about the big python and the old man with a white beard during the day, how dare you go in? Pee in the flowers and go back to the house to sleep! …
"Little brother! You peed on my face!…" Ah! Under the flowers in front of me, a girl's voice came from unexpectedly! …
My skin suddenly stood on end, and I didn’t dare to look down at the place where the sound was coming from. I turned around and ran away while holding up my pants. My legs seemed to be stuck in a swamp. The more I wanted to move, the more I couldn’t move… Instantly, I was covered in cold sweat from the roots of my feet to the top of my head. Under the cold moonlight, under the dancing autumn fragrant leaves half a person tall, there is a very young and beautiful girl wearing a purple dress with a pale and slightly purple face. He said softly and vaguely: "Please help me, get me out of the straw! Me! My body is almost broken! Please, please?"
"Who are you! Why did you come to the flowers in my yard in the middle of the night and say these incomprehensible words?" The more I looked at her, the more familiar she seemed, so I asked her eagerly.
"I am one grade above you, Xuejuan'er from the third grade of junior high school! I was raped by that old man from the Muta Temple! He was afraid that I would sue him, so he strangled me to death! He buried me in a pile of straw. !" The girl cried and said, it seemed that what was flowing out of her eyes was not tears, but red blood…
"You're talking nonsense. If you die, will you still stand here and talk to me?" I said angrily, feeling that this girl was getting more and more terrifying, and she also had a bit of a psychopath in her. So I turned away like a plague and ran into the house. …
Lying in bed, I felt the strangeness, horror, and seriousness of what had just happened. Could it be that what I just encountered was really a ghost? After thinking about it, I turned my head and looked out the window. I saw a gust of wind blowing the corner of the red skirt, and it floated towards the south direction of the wooden tower…
(five)
The next morning, on the way to school, Erdan and Liu Yan almost said: "Last night, I had a nightmare about a giant python entangling a girl in a red dress!"…
At ten o'clock, after all the teachers and students of the school finished their radio gymnastics on the playground, Principal Wang began to speak and said: "Xuejuan'er, a female classmate in the third and fourth classes of junior high school, was reported by the hospital to have had sexual relations outside the school. I had an abortion once in the military hospital! The impact was extremely bad!… So, the school announced its expulsion!"…
After the meeting, according to informed students, it was because Xuejuan hadn’t come to school for three days and her parents couldn’t find her, so she always came to trouble the school! I want someone. The school just made this decision. But Xuejuan'er is indeed a very stylish girl, and what the principal said is true…
This time, I also learned to be smart and called a few more boys! Together with our former partners, a group of seven people came to the ancient pagoda again…
There were more people this time. After opening the tower door, the first thing to do was to mobilize all the people to move the pile of straw. It was an unbearably hot noon, and people were sweating profusely while moving the bundles of straw! When we moved to the last two floors, suddenly, near the east corner, I really found the purple skirt with a few bundles of straw on it… ah! I squatted on the ground softly! "Isn't this really the red dress that the girl I saw last night was wearing?" Even though it was midday and there were many people, my brain was still shrouded in endless terror…! Erdan's family was farming, which gave him a strong physique. He hurried forward and pulled up the purple skirt with both hands… Wheels! ——A female nude wrapped in a red skirt suddenly rolled out… Someone immediately recognized that this was indeed Xuejuan'er. Her fair body was covered with straw crumbs, and her plump and mature figure looked nothing like a girl in the third grade of junior high school! I immediately ordered the two girls to cover her private parts with the red skirt! …Let the other boy run out quickly to call the police and the school…
The corpse was covered with ants and maggots, and the snow-white body was covered with bruises, as if there had been a fierce struggle before death; there were indeed two blood stains flowing from the corners of the eyes, and the eyes were slightly closed. He looked like he still wanted to talk.
…
In that small town, the case was not solved by the public security bureau. Although they all suspected that it was an old man with a white beard from out of town who had lived in this ancient temple for a long time, the old man had disappeared a few days ago! In the past, although he apparently made a living by picking up rags, people said he was very rich. The reason is that although he was alone, he got close to a little widow who ran a small shop here. Since then, the little widow who lived in embarrassment has been wearing gold and silver for many years. In the past few years, she also had a mysterious relationship. Missing. People have always speculated that it was this old man from out of town who found the treasure that fell from the wooden pagoda… Suddenly, he became a millionaire. But without real evidence, no one can do anything to him! And now there is no trace of him… There are no files, information, or registrations about him in the Public Security Bureau…
…
Three years after that incident, a piece of news came from distant Huanggang, Hubei. The old man with a white beard fled back to his hometown in Hubei, committed the same case, and was arrested. He confessed to two cases in the small city, both of which he committed alone. He said: "He was afraid that the little widow would reveal that he had a huge treasure, so he later killed the little widow. Her body was in the autumn when the lotus roots came out. , buried in the lotus pond!… Later, he saw a beautiful girl coming to the lotus pond to pick lotus flowers. When he saw it, he pretended to be the administrator and called the girl into the ancient pagoda, saying that he wanted to criticize and educate her… As a result , he carried the girl onto the straw and raped him. Unexpectedly, after the girl went out, not only did she not report or blame him, but she would come to him every day. Not only did she ask for food, drink, and money from him, but she also took the initiative to ask him for food, drink, and money. He came to bed. In the end, he had an abortion. As time went by, the girl knew many of his secrets, and he was afraid that the girl would tell them, so he killed her and strangled her to death. …"
In the winter of that year, he was shot in Huanggang, Hubei Province. It is said that when he died, he did not reveal the location of his treasure…