01
"Damn it, old man, get up quickly…" Early in the morning, Aunt Guan was yelling, waking up Uncle Guan from his sleep.
"What's wrong? It's so early in the morning, what the hell?" Uncle Guan muttered, rubbing his sleepy eyes.
"Look, look, what did you receive last night? Isn't this a ghost?" Aunt Guan held a handful of colorful notes in her hand and dangled them in front of Uncle Guan's eyes.
When Guan Bo took it and took a look, he immediately started to sweat. What was in his hand was a handful of Ming coins. The Lord of Hell on the Ming coins seemed to be looking at Guan Bo and laughing at him.
Guan Bo fell numbly on the bedside and carefully recalled what happened last night.
02
Yesterday's heavy rain started in the afternoon, and strong winds blew at the same time. This originally quiet seaside town was deserted and cool, and not a single person was seen on the street. I also heard that the only bus that went in and out of this town every day had an accident on Wufeng Mountain. The bus overturned halfway up the mountain for unknown reasons, and all the young people in the town went to join the search.
After lunch, Aunt Guan went to her son-in-law's house on the other side of town as usual. Her daughter gave birth to a fat boy last week and was in confinement. She needed her help to take care of him. Guan Bo thought that there would be no business in this weather, so he planned to close the door and have a drink alone. A canteen like my own deals with local neighbors and tourists. There will be no tourists today. Neighbors will naturally call in when something happens.
At around eight o'clock, the search team came back. The young people went to Guan Bo's store to carry a few boxes of beer and some food. Guan Bo inquired and found out that they found nothing because the rain was too heavy and they could not go down the cliff, so he gave up. , wait until the rain stops tomorrow. Guan Bo sighed and felt that things in the world are impermanent, and misfortune and fortune are unpredictable.
At around eleven o'clock, when Guan Bo had just finished drinking and finished singing the drama on the radio, he was about to turn off the lights and go to sleep, when he heard several unhurried knocks on the door.
"Coming, coming," Guan Bo responded while still wondering. In this ghostly weather, those who knocked on the door were always urgent and heavy, as if they were being chased by ghosts. This is how Guan Bo often described those people. Who is the one who shoots the door so well?
The door opened to one side, and Uncle Guan saw a girl about 20 years old standing under the eaves. She was dripping wet, her long hair stuck tightly to both sides of her face, and her big eyes looked very tired. She was pretty. Unfortunately, because of the rain, her lips looked completely bloodless.
"Come in, girl, didn't you bring an umbrella?" Uncle Guan quickly called the girl into the house.
The girl twitched her lips, smiled, shook her head, and looked down at her feet. The girl's shoes were covered with yellow mud.
Uncle Guan understood that the girl meant that her shoes were dirty, and he was afraid of staining the floor of the store. Uncle Guan immediately liked this educated girl, but he no longer forced her, so he said, "Then what do you want?"
The girl said nothing and pointed to the instant noodle biscuits and purified water on the counter. Uncle Guan packed the bags and handed them to her. He then collected the money and planned to lend her an umbrella after changing the money. Unexpectedly, when Uncle Guan found the money and turned around, the girl had already left. Uncle Guan stuck his head out and looked around, but she was gone, so he had to shake his head and close the store door.
It seems that this ghost coin must have been left by the girl. So, isn't the girl…a ghost?
Guan Bo was shocked and broke into a cold sweat. Although I am already approaching my sixties, I have heard and seen a lot of weird things in my life, but this is the first time I have actually seen a ghost. However, Uncle Guan soon stopped laughing. If the girl was really a ghost, then ghosts are not scary at all.
03
In the afternoon, the search team came back. They still came to Guan Bo's shop to carry beer and buy food. At the same time, they also brought the latest news to Guan Bo. It turned out that there was a passenger in the car yesterday, a woman, and the car fell off the cliff. When he hit the ground, he threw her out. When she landed, her head hit a protruding rock, cutting a hole in the back of her head. She died on the spot. Both the speaker and the listener shook their heads and felt infinite regret.
In the evening, the rain started again. Although it was not as fierce as yesterday, it was raining endlessly. Guan Bo closed the shop door early, turned on the radio, poured a glass of wine, took a sip, squinted, and soon melted into the lingering love of Shengdan.
At about half past eleven, two unhurried knocks on the door came again. This time, Uncle Guan was suddenly pulled up from his chair. He knew who was coming.
Guan Bo stared straight at the door. He knew clearly that the ghost standing on the other side of the door was the same ghost he had seen last night. He didn't know whether he should open the door or not. At this time, the still unhurried knock on the door sounded again.
Guan Bo took a deep breath and decided to do this ghost's business because he knew that the ghost had no ill intentions towards him.
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"Girl, you didn't bring an umbrella. What do you want today? Is it the same as yesterday?" Guan Bo said calmly.
The female ghost still wore the same makeup as yesterday, but she was no longer wet. Uncle Guan also noticed that there was no mud on her shoes.
The female ghost smiled and nodded, stretched out her hand and handed the money to Uncle Guan. Uncle Guan took it and put it into his pocket without looking at it, then packed food and water and handed it to the female ghost. The female ghost nodded slightly after taking it and turned to leave.
Guan Bo quickly put his head out and was surprised to see that the female ghost's feet did not touch the ground, but she walked very fast. In just a few steps, she reached the intersection and disappeared.
Uncle Guan quickly closed the door of the shop and sat down for a long time before he regained his composure. He picked up the wine glass and took a sip of wine. Then, trembling, he put his hand into his pocket and took out the banknotes that the ghost gave him. Sure enough, it was again Two hell coins, the same Lord Yan, laughed at him the same way.
04
It continued to rain at night for the next few days, and the female ghost was very punctual. As soon as eleven thirty came, the knock on the door would be heard. Uncle Guan also kept silent and brought the prepared food and water. He handed it to the female ghost, took the money and stuffed it into his pocket without looking at it. The female ghost would still smile and nod before leaving, and Uncle Guan quickly closed the door and drank a few glasses of wine. Only in chaos can you fall asleep.
"Old man, what's happened to you recently?" Aunt Guan asked with concern when she saw that Uncle Guan's face seemed to be pale recently while having lunch.
"What's wrong? Nothing?" Guan Bo asked.
"You look so bad, are you scared by a ghost?" Aunt Guan made a joke and ignored it. She was thinking about her fat grandson now, and she would have to rush over to take care of her grandson after dinner.
Uncle Guan had no appetite anymore. He hurriedly scooped up the food in the bowl and said to Aunt Guan: "Don't rush to your son-in-law's house. I have to buy some goods today. You can check the store in the afternoon."
Uncle Guan rode his motorcycle and went out. He did have to buy some goods today, but he also had another important thing to do, which was to go to the Lu Daxian Temple, where his good friend Temple Blessed Old Man Zhang. The old man Zhang was deified all day long, talking nonsense, as if Master Zhang had reincarnated and changed his name to "Zhenren Zhang". However, Guan Bo became good friends with him not because he believed in Old Man Zhang's yin and yang skills, but because Old Man Zhang was as good at playing chess as he was. Unfortunately, they were the only two people in this small town who could play chess. Apart from that, none of them could find any other chess friends. Therefore, Mr. Guan always said to old man Zhang after drinking, "It's the same for me to have a friend like you who is pretending to be a ghost." It's a last resort. However, Old Man Zhang didn't care about Uncle Guan's teasing about his faith. He always smiled and said, Lao Guan, you will ask me for help one day.
No, Guan Bo is in urgent need of Old Man Zhang's yin and yang magic skills. In just a few days, Guan Bo has completed a complete transformation from the theory of no ghosts to the theory of ghosts.
After listening to Uncle Guan's narration with his goatee, Zhang Zhenren looked at Uncle Guan with a squinted smile for a long time and asked: "Then tell me, what do you want? Do you want to subdue the female ghost? Or drive her away and let her live forever?" Don't want to harass you?"
"No, no, no, that female ghost has no ill intentions, and I don't want to harm her. I just want to know why she comes to my place every day to buy food and drink. Normally, ghosts don't eat these things. I think she might be giving them to her. Someone bought it."
"Haha, Lao Guan, you still have some sense. Tell me, what do you want from me?"
"Can you teach me a way so that I can follow that female ghost? She walks so fast." Guan Bo said eagerly.
"This is easy to do. I'll give you a talisman. You fold it and put it in the food bought by the female ghost. Then you get some dog urine. At dawn, smear it on your eyes and you will be able to find where the female ghost has gone. We passed the road, how was it?" Master Zhang looked at Uncle Guan lightly and asked.
"Why does it have to be dawn?"
"You can take your time to look for ghosts if they can't come out after dawn. Ghosts are very fierce in the dark. They are afraid that if you are discovered, your life will be ruined," Old Man Zhang said, pretending to be frightening.
Guan Bo was overjoyed when he heard this and repeatedly said hello, so he took Old Man Zhang's talisman and put it carefully into his pocket before going back.
05
In such a small town, dog urine is very easy to obtain. Almost every household has a yellow dog. Guan Bo randomly called a child and exchanged two pieces of candy for a small bottle of dog urine.
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Uncle Guan carefully folded the talisman paper given by Old Man Zhang into a long and thin strip, and then carefully stuffed it in at the right angle of a biscuit box. It was estimated that this place would not be easily noticed. Finally, he smoked the plastic paper with a kerosene lamp. Glued back to its original shape.
At half past eleven, the knock on the door rang on time. Uncle Guan handed the items he had prepared to the female ghost calmly as always, and the female ghost nodded and smiled as always, handed over the money and left.
But after that, Uncle Guan couldn't sleep any more. He took out a bottle with dog urine and walked around the house, hoping that time would pass quickly and it would be dawn.
It's just time. The more you think about it, the slower it will go. Only when you don't pay attention to it, it will go very fast.
Uncle Guan was bored and pulled out a newspaper. It was a newspaper from a few days ago. He even forgot to read it because the female ghost had been so uneasy these past few days.
Uncle Guan was shocked as soon as he opened the page. The newspaper turned out to be a face that Uncle Guan was extremely familiar with. This face had just smiled at Uncle Guan.
It turned out that this was the report about the car accident a few days ago, and it also published the identification notice of the deceased girl. The report said that it was found that the girl was an orphan and had no relatives to be found. If any of her friends reported it, they could come and claim her for burial.
Guan Bo felt sour in his heart after seeing it, and his eyes felt wet, so he sighed softly and sat there in a trance.
06
A cockcrow interrupted Guan Bo's thoughts.
Uncle Guan quickly stood up and opened the door to see that it was already dawn. So he went back into the house and simply tidied up the messy table. He was about to throw away the newspaper, but then he picked it up again and folded it. into the pocket.
After doing all this, Guan Bo took out the small bottle, poured the dog urine into the palm of his hand, closed his eyes tightly, and wiped the dog urine on his eyes. A pungent odor filled the air. Uncle Guan frowned and cursed in his heart, Old Man Zhang, "If it's useless, let's see how I deal with you."
After Guan Bo finished wiping his eyes, he slowly opened them. There was no difference in front of his eyes. He was unwilling to give in. He poured some more on his palms, wiped his eyes vigorously, and then opened them again. There was still no difference. Uncle Guan was furious now, thinking that old man Zhang must have tricked him. Damn it, go to him to settle the score. Not only did he keep me awake all night, but he also made my face smell like urine. Huh, I have to put this Old man Zhang must drink the remaining half bottle.
Guan Bo angrily stepped out of the door. As soon as he stepped out of the threshold, he saw a red light in front of him. It was faint and definitely not painted on the ground. It seemed to be hanging a foot above the ground. This red light stretches all the way to the end of the street.
Could this be the path Old Man Zhang said the female ghost took?
Guan Bo thought to himself that it must be the case, because this red light was something he had never seen before, and judging from its trend, it was clearly guiding me. So he no longer thought too much, raised his feet and walked in the direction of the red light.
07
In fact, Guan Bo didn't go very far. He just turned a few corners and arrived at the resort on the sea wall. This is a tourism project developed in the town. There are rows of small wooden houses as a place for tourists to live. From time to time, some painters and writers live here for several months. I heard that they seek inspiration for their creations. In short, there are some Young people in fancy clothes.
There are very few tourists this season, and the resort is deserted. Uncle Guan can't tell if anyone lives here, because he rarely comes here at all. However, the red light in front of me disappeared until it reached the small house with a white roof in front. In other words, the female ghost was most likely inside. Otherwise, the things she buys every day are delivered there.
Guan Bo tiptoed over. As soon as he reached the door, he was hesitating whether to check the situation at the window first, when the door opened with a creak.
What came out was a young man, thin and delicate, with two sharp eyebrows on his angular face that were particularly eye-catching. There was a small drawing board hanging behind his back, and he seemed to be about to go out. He was surprised to see an old man standing at the door, which could be seen from the raised eyebrows.
"Excuse me, are you -" the young man started.
"Oh – oh – that's it. Is there a girl living here? She is thin and white, with long hair, and she wears it down like this…" Guan Bo had an idea and started gesturing.
"Oh, you are looking for Wenwen. I am her boyfriend. She has already left and has to go back to the city to work, so she left before dawn. Do you have anything to do with her?" the young man said with a smile,
"Oh, that's right. I own a small shop in that town. Your girlfriend bought something from me yesterday and forgot to change it, so I sent it to her." Guan Bo said while thinking.
"That's right. Thank you so much. I want you to deliver it in person. In fact, she will come in the evening. I have to catch up on painting at night, so Wenwen comes here every night after get off work. Well, would you like to come in and have a cup of tea? ?" the young man asked politely.
Uncle Guan said "Okay" without hesitation, then lifted his legs and walked through the door. This made the young man who wanted to be polite and forget it was stunned.
The young man made a cup of tea for Uncle Guan, and sat down on the side, looking at Uncle Guan with a smile.
Uncle Guan looked around and saw that although there was a lot of debris here, it was also neatly tidied up.
"Wenwen did all this. I am not a man who can do these housework," the young man said with a shy smile.
"Oh, she is a good girl. How long have you known her?" Guan Bo asked.
"We grew up together in an orphanage," the young man said.
"Oh," Guan Bo nodded heavily, looking at this handsome and shy young man with deep sympathy, but his mind was tumbling. He didn't know how to tell him the truth. It seemed that this young man didn't know. His girlfriend is dead.
The young man stared at Uncle Guan in confusion, so he said carefully: "Well, old man, thank you for sending the money in person. I will transfer it to Wenwen." After that, he stood up first.
Guan Bo knew that there would be no results if he sat down, so he also stood up, took out a few pieces of change from his pocket and handed them to the young man. He accidentally or unintentionally dropped the newspaper he took out on the ground, and then Guan Bo He said goodbye and left in a hurry.
The young man looked at Uncle Guan's hurried away figure and shrugged incomprehensibly. He pulled the picture folder and was about to go out. At this time, his eyes saw the crumpled newspaper left by Uncle Guan on the ground, so he picked it up curiously and unfolded it. Came to take a look…
08
The rain that had been falling for several days finally stopped, announcing that the subtropical typhoon had passed.
The female ghost went to Guan Bo's shop on time that night, bought food, and headed to the resort. Guan Bo watched the female ghost's back, feeling an indescribable sadness in his heart. He felt that his eyes were misty, as if a cloud of fog was gathering and dispersing.
Wenwen opened the door of the hut and saw that Xiaozhi was unexpectedly not painting today. Instead, he lit a few candles and sat across from the table. There was a large cake and a bottle of red wine on the table. The shadows of the easels in the room were reflected on the walls by the flickering candlelight, as if giant spiders were lying on the walls.
Xiaozhi stared at Wenwen with a smile. Wenwen looked at Xiaozhi in confusion and asked: "What holiday is today? Didn't we agree to celebrate our birthdays together on New Year's Day? Today is not New Year's Day."
Xiaozhi stood up, with a smile still on his face. He walked over, put his hands on Wenwen's shoulders and said, "Today is the twentieth anniversary of the first time I saw you in the orphanage. Do you think we should celebrate it or not?" one time?"
"Twentieth anniversary? Is it true? Why have you never mentioned it? I was less than a year old at that time, and I can't remember it. Is what you said true?" Wenwen asked repeatedly in surprise.
"Of course it's true, little fool dead rabbit picture ," Xiaozhi gently hugged Wenwen in his arms, hugged Wenwen's slender waist with one hand, and stroked Wenwen's hair with one hand. His hand very lightly felt a big hole in the hair.
Xiaozhi was already in tears.
09
Wenwen snuggled tightly into Xiaozhi's arms and closed her eyes. Although she couldn't feel the temperature from Xiaozhi's body at all, she knew Xiaozhi's excitement because Xiaozhi's body was trembling slightly. There was a sound of swallowing hard in Zhi's throat. This was Xiao Zhi's action when he was suppressing his excitement. Wenwen knew Xiao Zhi too well.
For a long time, Xiaozhi still had no intention of letting go. Wenwen slowly opened her eyes and gazed softly at the flickering candlelight. The dim and jumping flames reminded Wenwen of the rabbit that was inseparable from her in the orphanage. Xiaozhi would be jealous of him, because Wenwen once suddenly remembered that the rabbit was starving and broke out of Xiaozhi's arms, leaving Xiaozhi and running away.
However, among all the paintings Xiaozhi drew for Wenwen, the best one was the one where she was holding a rabbit. At that time, Wenwen was sitting on the grass, and the rabbit fell asleep in her arms. Wenwen was thinking What, what are you thinking about? Wenwen forgot, Xiaozhi said she must be thinking of good things, because Xiaozhi drew Wenwen's smile.
That is the most beautiful smile in the world – Xiaozhi said.
Wenwen's eyes searched the wall. She knew that no matter where Xiaozhi went, he would hang the painting in the most conspicuous place in the house.
Wenwen found it. On the right side of the window, she was holding the rabbit and smiling peacefully.
Suddenly, Wenwen's eyes froze because she saw a newspaper hidden behind the painting, and there was a photo of her in the newspaper.
Xiaozhi didn't know that ghost eyes could see through.
"Xiaozhi," Wenwen gently pulled out, holding Xiaozhi's face with his big eyes and looking at it carefully and deeply, as if he could never see enough. Oh no, it should be as if you can never see it again after seeing it. That look was gentle, longing, tender, and helpless.
Xiaozhi felt it, and Xiaozhi's heart was broken, and he could only let his tears flow freely.
"Wenwen——" Xiaozhi stopped talking.
Wenwen quickly pressed Xiaozhi's mouth with his finger, then tilted his head and looked at Xiaozhi with a beautiful smile, as if encouraging and admonishing.
"Xiao Zhi, you already know that I'm leaving soon. You will take care of yourself, right?"
Xiaozhi nodded vigorously with tears in his eyes.
"Xiao Zhi, I'm leaving and you're alone. Do you know where to fold the clothes?"
Xiaozhi shook his head desperately, but couldn't say a word.
"Xiao Zhi, remember to add eggs when making noodles, otherwise you will not be nutritious, remember?" Wenwen still smiled, his eyes motionless, staring greedily at Xiao Zhi's face, unable to get enough of it.
"Xiao Zhi dead rabbit picture , you go and bring my body back tomorrow. I like this place, so you can bury me in the back mountain. I want to listen to the sea breeze and watch the waves every day. If you are here, I will too I see you every day."
Xiaozhi's teeth seemed to be bitten off. He couldn't control it anymore. He buried his head tightly in Wenwen's arms and cried loudly like a child.
This small house could no longer hold Xiaozhi's cries, so it overflowed and floated to the seawall, drifting into that isolated figure.
Guan Bo slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, and white smoke rose and dispersed above his head.
10
The next day, Xiaozhi went to claim Wenwen's body early in the morning and found Uncle Guan. Uncle Guan took Xiaozhi to find Old Man Zhang, who performed a ritual ceremony.
Uncle Guan never saw Wenwen again, and Xiaozhi never left this town again, because Wenwen was buried in the back hill of this town. Xiaozhi only mentioned it to Uncle Guan. He once promised Wenwen that he would guard her for the rest of his life. He couldn't break his promise!
(over)