smuggler

Chapter 47
The atmosphere at the dinner table was a bit heavy, and my aunt saw that I was still unwilling to speak, so she asked again: "Daoist Zhang hasn't come to see you recently, has he?"

I looked up at my aunt's face, not knowing how to answer.

"Do you remember what I told you last time?"

I know, because she said a few days ago that she dreamed about a strange snake.

I hummed in a low voice, then shook my head to my aunt, saying that Daoist Zhang saved my life and would not harm me.

Seeing my appearance, my aunt sighed: "You'd better be a little wary!"

After eating, I started to clean up the bowls on the table, and when I came out of the stove, my aunt disappeared.

She doesn't know what she's been up to these days, and I seldom see her no matter day or night. I'm a little suspicious, but I don't think deeply about it.

When I went back to the room, I suddenly thought of something, and I couldn't help but look back at my aunt's room.

My eyes wandered around, I glanced at the empty courtyard door, and then went to the door of my aunt's room.

The door was locked, obviously my aunt didn't want me to enter the room.

However, this lock was used when grandma was alive.

I remember that there was a bunch of keys in grandma's drawer, because grandma had a bad memory and was a little forgetful. I was studying in the city, and I was worried that she would lose the keys when she went out.

So I made a copy of all the keys to the room.

I went back to the room where my grandma slept, and easily found the bunch of keys from the drawer.

Because some locks inside were broken, but the key was still hanging on it, I sneaked around the door of my aunt's room and tried it for a while.

With a soft click, my heart trembled slightly, and the key opened.

I don't know why, but this is obviously my grandma's house. I grew up here, but now when I open my aunt's room, I feel a sense of guilt.

I glanced out of the door again, and pushed open the door of my aunt's room.

At a glance, I saw the long table placed in the southeast corner. The surface of the table was painted with a layer of red paint, as if it had been washed by blood, and the red was shocking.

Immediately I couldn't move my eyes away, staring blankly at the earthen jar placed on the red lacquer.

On the dirty altar wall, it seems that a layer of water mist has condensed, moistening the dirt and dust on it, just like the glass is covered with water vapor.

There are faintly embossed watermarks of two snakes appearing on the jar.

Two looming snakes are entangled, as if snakes are mating.

I was full of doubts, so I walked in cautiously to have a look. In the dimly lit room, there was still a faint smell of paper.

As he approached, the two intertwined snakes on the jar seemed to become clearer and clearer after being contaminated with water vapor, and even the scales on the snake's body could be seen.

Standing in front of the table, there is a pile of incense sticks in front of it, which has been burned to the end, but behind the jar, there is a blank photo frame.

I held my breath and tiptoedly removed the photo frame.

Behind the photo frame appeared two straw figurines, one of which was hung by a red thread around the neck and tied behind the photo frame, while the other was in a kneeling posture.

On the back of the villain, there is also a black and white photo, which is fixed to the corner of the table by willow nails.

What's even weirder is that the person in this black and white photo is actually me, and my name is written under the photo.

"Did you see it?" I said to Chu Yuan in a low voice with fear,

At that time, I only felt that my scalp was numb, my breathing became short of breath, and I was staring closely at the little man who was stuck out.

Chu Yuan said calmly: "This should be a magic trick of transshipment. Simply put, it is to exchange your fate through this villain."

I thought of the abnormal behavior of my aunt at my bedside late at night.

At this moment, there was a slight instigating sound from the jar. It was an old-fashioned open jar with no lid on it, but it was sealed with a film of oil.

The oil film was stained with a lot of disgusting slime, and there were dark red blood stains on the edge of the jar.

Although it was daytime, the room was very dark, because my aunt sealed the back window and some light-transmitting places with newspapers and oiled paper, giving people a very depressing feeling inside.

I fumbled out my mobile phone and took a photo in the jar. Through the turbid oil film, I vaguely saw something bright red like blood.

I don't know if it's an illusion, but the more I look at the meatball-like thing in the jar, it looks like a child hugging his knees and curling up into a ball.

And there are many shadows swaying under the oil film, like many snakes entwining the bloody meat ball.

The contents inside seemed to be sensitive to light. I tried to take a closer look through the oil film with my mobile phone, but the instigating sound became more and more intense, causing the whole jar to shake slightly.

I was worried that something might happen, so I hurried back.

After returning to the darkness, the things inside finally calmed down slowly.

I had lingering fears, and I was also worried that my aunt would come back suddenly, so I hurriedly put the photo frame back somewhere, then went out, and locked it again.

"Did you see clearly?" I put the key back into the drawer in grandma's room, and asked Chu Yuan in a low voice, "What's in the jar?"

Chu Yuan said solemnly: "There are many snakes inside, and that bloody meat ball looks like a...baby."

I hissed.

Because there were many snakes wrapped around the bloody thing in the jar, Chu Yuan couldn't see clearly.

After thinking about it, I decided to go to Zhang Xianren, maybe he can know something, and I can also ask him about the Liu family.

When I arrived at Zhang Xian's house, he was still lying on the rattan chair in the yard and taking a nap. I wanted to tease him, but I didn't expect him to wake up when I got closer.

Opening his eyes suddenly, he was so frightened that he rolled out of the rattan chair and sat down on the ground.

"Why are you here again?"

Zhang Xianren rolled his eyes at me, cursed, and got up while patting the dirt on his buttocks.

I guess in his eyes, now that he sees me, he knows that nothing good will happen. I'm still a little embarrassed to see him not wanting to see me like this.

I said with a little embarrassment: "I want to talk to you about something."

"What?"

Zhang Xianren sat back on the rattan chair, squinted his eyes and lay down again.

I looked around, hesitated for a moment, and told the whole story about the jar.

After I finished speaking, Zhang Xianren, who was lying down and dozing with his eyes squinted, became interested, and sat up again: "How did you get that jar?"

"My aunt said she bought it from the town." As soon as I finished speaking, I said that my aunt must be lying. When I saw her at the time, she averted her eyes, and she clearly didn't want me to see the earthen jar.

Moreover, how could someone sell that dirty earthen jar on the street.

Zhang Xianren shrugged and said to me, "Do you have a picture of that jar?"

I shook my head: "That jar is so weird, I felt creepy even looking at it, and I didn't think of taking pictures at the time."

(End of this chapter)