magician in town

Chapter 6 Shadow of the Old House

Guan Xinyue chatted with the person in charge of the teahouse for a while, and formally took a leave of absence for herself. When she walked back to the table, the teahouse played an album of guqin music on the stereo.

She sat down at the table, and she seemed to be in better spirits. "Actually, I have already written about what happened on Weibo."

"I've read it." Roach interjected, "but I still hope to hear you in person, maybe I can learn more details."

"Okay." She nodded, "but what I encountered is nothing serious. I don't know if you are interested in telling it. In fact, there is nothing to talk about. It's just a little weird. I told others Back then, people thought that little girls were naturally timid and suspicious, and they were afraid of everything they saw, so it was not worth mentioning."

"It doesn't matter." Roach said sincerely, "If it was before, I probably wouldn't have believed these things, but since that shit happened last year, my thoughts have changed. Girls' sixth sense is naturally developed, I dare not say that the girl's feeling is definitely an illusion."

Guan Xinyue glanced at him gratefully and regained some confidence. "I don't know where to start, but since you want me to go into detail, I'll start at the beginning so you don't get confused. I'll start with the members of my family, and in my When I was very young, my mother died, and my father couldn't take care of children, so I grew up in my grandparents' house. There is also an aunt in the family, who was brought by my stepfather."

"Wait." Roach interrupted her, "Who is your Marquis?"

"My stepfather." Guan Xinyue repeated. Seeing that Luo Qi was still blinking inexplicably, she said, "Why are you so stupid? There is a stepmother and a stepdad. Is there anything wrong with calling him a stepfather?"

"Oh," Roach said, "I didn't expect your family to break up the blood relationship so clearly."

"Anyway, he doesn't care." Guan Xinyue said, "He treats me normally, but he likes my grandma very much. When my grandma was young, she played the pipa in the theater troupe in our city. It was love at first sight, and it didn't matter that she was married and gave birth to my father at that time. But I don't blame him for falling in love with my grandma. Grandma was really magnificent at that time. When ten men saw it, nine of them would fall in love with her."

Speaking of this, she suddenly took out her mobile phone, opened the screen and found a photo in the mobile phone to show Roach.It was an electronically scanned version of an old photo. In the photo, a woman in a cheongsam was sitting on a chair. The beauties of the old days were charming and self-confident, possessing a charming charm.Luo Qi couldn't help admiring it, and handed the phone to Du Zheng to have a look.

The phone was passed back to Guan Xinyue, and she took another look at the photo before turning off the phone in satisfaction.Luo Qi had a feeling that she felt that having such a grandma was enough to prove that she also had an excellent temperament, which was different from those coquettish girls outside.He has never been stingy about making girls feel better, so he added in a timely manner, "You really look like your grandma."

Guan Xinyue smiled slightly, and it was obvious that something heavy was pressing on her heart, making it impossible for her to really relax no matter what.

She went on to say, "When my father was young, my grandpa died, and my grandma married my grandpa as a matter of course. He was a very rich man. I don't know what he did when he was young, but grandma married After giving it to him, life seems to be much better. If I forcefully say that there is something wrong with him, it is probably because he has a weird personality and doesn't like to talk much.

He has a house in the countryside not far from the city. I always think he prefers to live in the countryside. As soon as my dad was admitted to university and left home, he moved to the countryside with his grandma.When I lived with my grandma when I was a child, I lived in the country.At that time, the aunt brought by the grandfather was already married, but she would sometimes come back to stay for a while, and she was good to me.At that time, I often thought that my family was really special. Although I didn’t have my parents by my side, half of the people under the same roof were not related to the other half, but we got along well, so I wanted to gather together Together is fate.But maybe fate is such a thing, when there is a gathering, there is always a time to disperse.One day my aunt suddenly died of a sudden illness, and my grandfather's temperament changed drastically. He always felt that my aunt's death had something to do with my uncle.Not long after, my uncle died again, and after a while my grandpa also died.My grandma moved back to the city to live with my dad and me, and everyone who wasn't related to us just disappeared.Looking back, it was like a draft in summer. "

Luo Qi gave two "huh" at the right time, encouraging Guan Xinyue to continue telling the story, but Guan Xinyue's way of telling the story was too gloomy, as if she only told people the nodes of a bunch of things, even though others were all at once. I understood the whole thing, and I also knew that this family had suffered a tragic change, but I really couldn't feel any special sympathy.Because even the person who told the story had an indescribable indifference, even when he told the inexplicable story just now, his emotions were much richer than hers.And her subtext seemed to say that it wasn't my real family members who died, and I didn't really care, which made him a little uncomfortable.

He wanted to say something, let her get to the point quickly, and stop going around in circles about the anemia of adolescent girls.At this moment, Du Zheng opened his mouth for the first time, and Luo Qi quickly listened carefully.

"When did your aunt die?" Du Zhengyi asked.

"When I was 13 years old, exactly three years ago." Guan Xinyue thought for a while, as if recalling carefully for a while, then said, "Uncle died about a year after that, in a fire The grandpa died less than a month after my uncle died of alcoholism. Only my aunt died suddenly, but she died normally, and the forensic doctor said that her heart was congenitally abnormal.”

"What did you see before they died?" Du Zhengyi asked.

Guan Xinyue raised her head and looked at Du Zhengyi, her lips were tightly pressed together, her face was terribly pale, but there was an abnormal blush on her cheeks.Du Zhengyi suddenly felt that when this young girl looked directly at people, there was a lot of emotion missing in her eyes, as if she was just the skin of a young girl.She must have been tormented, a huge ghost haunted her all the time, and when she responded to it like this, it took over and suppressed all her shyness and innocent joy that belonged to a little girl Her traces, her eyes and her demeanor all changed, as if a mature woman who had experienced many changes was looking at him through her eyes and examining him.

"After my aunt died, my grandfather started to drink heavily. When he was sober, he called my uncle, saying that he killed my aunt, but when he was drunk, he started to say that he was punished. He just started When I said this, I heard it and didn't pay attention, I think that as long as anyone lives for a long time, they will probably feel a little guilty." Guan Xinyue said.

Luo Qi gave her a thumbs up, "You're a big kid, you're talking too high."

"Don't," Guan Xinyue glanced at him and said weakly, "don't mention the word ghost."

Luo Qi still wanted to talk nonsense, but was stared at by Du Zheng, and went back listlessly.

Guan Xinyue regained her composure, and continued, "But I later found out that my grandfather was always looking at the same corner of the room when he was drunk. It sounded like he was begging someone to forgive him, and it was so creepy. Then I finally thought one day, could it be..."

When she said this, she suddenly bit her lips and stopped speaking, as if the following words were terrible, even if she said them, they would be scary enough.Luo Qi thought of something and shivered, "Do you suspect that he killed your grandpa back then?"

"I don't know." Guan Xinyue shook her head, "I don't want to know either. Besides, killing people is not that simple, is it?"

"When you say that, I remembered the name of one of Agatha Christie's novels——"Killing is Easy." Roach took it smoothly.

"I haven't read Agatha Christie's novels." Guan Xinyue said honestly.

Just as Luo Qi wanted to give her a brief introduction, he was interrupted by Du Zhengyi, "Luo Qi, can you stop abducting her all the time?"

After taking Du Zhengyi's sharp glance, Luo Qi finally shut his mouth completely, and made tea for the three of them resentfully.

Guan Xinyue also lowered her head in embarrassment. She took the teacup that Luo Qi pushed her, and slowly rubbed her cold fingers on the warm side of the cup. The two men quietly waited for her to speak. .It took her a while to regain the courage to go on with the most horrific part of her memory.

"Of course the person who was most afraid was my grandma, so when my grandfather passed away, she didn't go back to the house in the country at all. After leaving the hospital, she went directly to my father's house in the city. She didn't even go back to pack up. Dad went back to fetch things for her. My dad is a doctor and doesn’t believe in ghosts and gods at all. He doesn’t take what I said to my grandma at all. After my grandma came back to live with us, nothing happened. My dad doesn’t like it. Hearing us talk about things that don't exist, we don't say anything, and after a long time, we have forgotten these things and no longer feel afraid."

Guan Xinyue raised her head and looked at the two people who were listening to her. Her eyes were bright, as if a flame was burning in her eyes, but the flame was burning her spirit. Luo Qi was a little worried that the fire would burn out all her life.He couldn't help but want to comfort her a few words, but intuitively he felt that she had finally reached the critical point, and he didn't dare to interrupt her at this time.

"Last year, I was preparing to take the senior high school entrance examination. When I was reviewing, I suddenly found that my textbooks and study notes for the first grade of junior high school were left in my grandfather's old house. When I remembered it, I was shocked, and those things that I had forgotten for a long time came back. , but I can’t get the textbooks and notes. I had to beg my father to go with me. He wanted me to take the suburban bus by myself, but I refused. I just begged him to drive me there. Later, he finally agreed to me. On the day he went, he had an operation that delayed the time. By the time he drove to pick me up and go to the old country house together, it was already five o'clock in the afternoon. When we got there, it was almost day It's going to be dark. The old house is in the north of the village near the woods. Our family hasn't been here for a long time, but the yard still looks very tidy, and the glass on the windows is clean. Only the inside of the window It's dark, grandma must have turned on the lights in the house early when it was getting dark, the warm look at that time compared with the lifeless look now makes people feel chills."

Guan Xinyue took a deep breath, as if her lungs were about to wither when she spoke before. "There is a well in the yard of the old house. Although there is running water in the countryside, most farmers still use the water from the well to water their vegetable gardens. So almost every house in the village has a well in the yard, which is very common. But that day When we passed the well, I suddenly heard the sound of someone panting in the well, just like my grandpa suffering from emphysema in winter and struggling to breathe. But my dad didn’t seem to hear it at all. I was terrified at the time and hurried into the house I wanted to find something and leave right away. It was already dark in the house at that time, but the lights couldn’t be turned on. I heard from my dad that the power was cut off because I forgot to pay the electricity bill for the old house. I had to take out my mobile phone to light up. It was already dark outside when I was lingering to find books and notes like this, and my dad fell asleep while waiting for me.

When I found something, I wanted to wake him up, but when I looked up, I was surprised. There was a thick fog outside the window at some point, and I couldn't even see the lit yard of the neighbor's house clearly.I don't know why, but I started to panic, but at that moment, there was a knock on the front door, and I was so scared that I almost sat on the ground.I know it's not a hallucination, even now I can hear that knock on the door clearly in my head.In fact, it might have been that the neighbor saw the light in the house and came to see if someone from my family had come back, but at that time I instinctively knew that was not the case. There was a sound, and he froze there, holding the phone tightly.At that moment, I suddenly thought, my father is a person with some neurasthenia, and he has never slept well, but why can't such a loud knock on the door wake my father up?As soon as this thought flashed across me, I was so frightened that I picked up my phone and took a photo in my dad's direction without even thinking about it.He was sitting on the sofa in front of the window, the light from the mobile phone even illuminated the glass window behind him, I saw a familiar and strange face stuck on the glass window, I..."

Roach gasped.

Guan Xinyue worked so hard that she gritted her teeth and finished the rest of the sentence, "I screamed, and my dad was woken up. I told him that my grandpa knocked on the door just now, and was still lying on the window looking into the house. But my dad didn't believe it, he said..." She swallowed, and said, "He said my grandpa is dead, and if there are ghosts in the world, ghosts don't need to knock on the door or lie on the window to watch."

Luo Qi nodded with a pale face, "I have to say that what your father said is still very logical."

Guan Xinyue shook her head weakly, "I really saw it. My dad said there was no knock on the door at all, and what's even more frightening is... there is no fog outside."

She looked at Roach and then at Du Zhengyi, her eyes were fragile and desperate.She spoke again, her voice was almost fragmented, "If there are no real ghosts, it would be even more terrifying, and it would mean that I am actually crazy."

Roach became uneasy. The despair of a little girl is particularly heartbreaking. He wanted to comfort her with the best words. He really hoped that he could show her the world of mages and let her know what she was facing. .

Guan Xinyue's tears dripped down her cheeks big and big. She wiped the tears with her thin fingers, and said with a sob, "Since that day, I have always had nightmares. I dreamed that my grandfather was crying in the well. My name, I dreamed of that knock on the door... I'm really about to break down, I don't know if there is a ghost, or if I'm really schizophrenic. I beg you, please go and see if it's the aftermath The ghost of the Lord is still in that yard, as long as you can save me, I will... oh..." She cried harder--"I remembered that I have no money at all, I am so stupid. I don't know you How much does it cost to catch ghosts, but if you believe me, I will definitely pay the bill after I earn money after graduation.”

"Don't, don't cry." Roach handed her a tissue anxiously, "Don't worry, Mr. Du didn't catch ghosts to make money. Oh, don't cry, I promise you, we will definitely go there to see Read it. Right? Du...Mr. Du, can't you say a word?"

"Your grandpa..." Du Zhengyi said, he paused, as if he searched his hard drive for comforting words, but he couldn't find them. "...Why do you think your uncle killed your aunt?" Luo Qi was startled, and gave Du Zhengyi a thumbs up. He had never seen a girl treated so carelessly.

Not wanting Guan Xinyue to really hold back her crying, she looked at Du Zhengyi carefully, as if she was stabilized by his calmness.She wiped away her tears and said, "I heard that he had a mistress outside. At that time, his relationship with his aunt was very tense, and they often quarreled. Once they escalated from quarreling to fighting, and my aunt was even beaten by him." One arm is broken."

"My God," Roach said, "did he deliberately make your aunt have a heart attack? Couldn't he just talk to her and get a peaceful divorce?"

Guan Xinyue closed her eyes tiredly, shook her head again, her long hair slid over her shoulders, "I really don't know what to say about your lord, but when it comes to marriage and family, it seems like everyone's brains are burnt out. There aren't many couples I've met that are considered reasonable." At this point, she asked Luo Qi in doubt, "Are your parents on good terms?"

Roach gave a long "huh", thought carefully, and said, "Sometimes they can't be considered completely clear-headed. I think your explanation of marriage is very incisive."

"Can you please write down the address of the old country house?" Du Zhengyi interrupted Roach's chat.And, the final word.

(End of this chapter)