Deserted Village Apartments

Chapter 34
一
A few weeks ago, I took a short trip to the coast of Zhejiang Province and experienced something extremely bizarre.Curious readers have been asking me where I went, and now, I tell you - it is a place called a deserted village.

Everything starts with my latest book "Ghost Inn". As the name suggests, the story of this horror novel takes place in a place called Ghost Inn. Between the village and the cemetery, it is called a deserted village because it faces a desolate coast.I've actually never been to a deserted village, because the place is purely a fiction of mine - to provide a unique setting for the novel.I think if it wasn't for that book signing, the barren village would only exist in my imagination forever.

The book signing of "Haunted Inn" was held at a bookstore located in the subway.For some unknown reason, they scheduled the signing for after [-]pm.I sat behind a desk near the entrance of the bookstore that night, and the signing went on for about two hours, and it went well.Nine o'clock is the closing time of the bookstore, and the number of people in the subway hall gradually decreased. I sat alone behind the signing table, lowered my head, and prepared to go home.

Suddenly, there was a slight sound of footsteps, and I immediately raised my head, and saw a young girl standing in front of me—she was wearing a very ill-fitting large sweater, the hem of which was almost down to her knees, With a cheap artificial leather bag on her back, and her long black hair in a ponytail, she looks like a female college student.

She lowered her eyes, held my "Ghost Inn" in both hands, and put the book on the signing table without saying a word.I was in a daze at the time, the winter night in Shanghai was terribly cold, and the air conditioner in the bookstore was broken, making me shiver with cold.She was the last reader to ask for my autograph that night, but she remained expressionless and silent, as if throwing the book to the cashier.I paused for a moment, and raised my head to look at her carefully. It was a pretty face, very pleasing, and even arousing a bit of pity.I opened the title page of the book, looked into her eyes and asked, "May I ask your name?"

She froze for a moment, lowered her eyelids, and replied in a soft voice: "Xiaozhi."

"Xiaozhi?" It was very strange, I immediately thought of the name of a flute, "Is it 'Xiao' for size, 'Zhi' for branches and leaves?"

She didn't speak, just nodded.

I frowned, wrote "Xiaozhi Huicun" on the title page of the book, and signed it.I handed the book back to her and said, "Thank you for coming to buy my book so late."

She finally opened her eyes and looked at me. She seemed to want to say something, but her lips moved but she couldn't say it.I raised my eyebrows at her, a cue to calm her down.Finally, she took a deep breath and said, "I come from a barren village."

I didn't understand it at first, but she just looked at me blankly until my face changed a bit——Huancun?The place name in my novel finally flashed across my mind.I looked at the girl named Xiaozhi in front of me strangely—could she have escaped from my novel?
Facing my sharp gaze, she lowered her head again, and said a few words indistinctly, as if to say "I'm sorry".She picked up the book and walked to the cashier to pay, then hurried out of the bookstore.

Deserted village?My heart seemed to be caught by something, and I immediately ran out of the bookstore, and the moment before entering the subway ticket gate, I finally stopped her.She was taken aback, and turned around in embarrassment: "I'm sorry, what's the matter?"

I was actually more embarrassed than she was, rubbing my hands together nervously and saying, "Can I—can I buy you a cup of tea?"

She hesitated for a moment: "Okay, I'll give you 10 minutes."

Three minutes later, I took her to a tea room above the subway.She sat across from me, still not saying a word, just sipping tea with her head down.I looked at my watch, the time she gave me was running out, I coughed and said, "I'm sorry, you said——you're from a deserted village?"

Xiaozhi finally raised her head, stared into my eyes, and nodded slightly with her chin.

"Where is the deserted village?"

"In Sereng Town, K City, Zhejiang Province. Just like in your novel - the deserted village is located between the sea and the cemetery."

Looking at her black jade-like eyes, I believe she will not lie: "You mean the deserted village really exists?"

"Of course, the barren village has existed for hundreds of years. I was born in the barren village and grew up in the barren village. I am a person from the barren village." She avoided my gaze and said flatly, "I don't think you have been to Serang town, let alone a deserted village.”

I was suddenly embarrassed: "Yes, I just saw Sereng Town on the map. As for the deserted village, it was completely fabricated by me. I think this name fits the atmosphere of the novel. I didn't expect that the deserted village really existed. There will also be a person from a deserted village who will come to ask me to sign, thank you for telling me this."

"Actually, I just happened to pass by here tonight. I was going to take the subway back to school, but I saw an advertisement at the door of the bookstore. I read your book a few days ago and it left a deep impression on me, so I came in I bought another book and asked you to sign it."

"It's just a coincidence to say so—it's a coincidence that I wrote the barren village that existed in reality into the novel, and you, as a barren villager, met me in the subway bookstore by coincidence."

Twig nodded slightly.

I continued to ask: "You just said that you want to take the subway back to school? Are you a university student in Shanghai?"

"Yes, sophomore year."

Suddenly, I raised my wrist to look at the time and said, "The time you gave me is up."

"Sorry, I have an exam tomorrow, so I have to go back to school early."

She stood up in a hurry, and walked out with her head down.At this moment, I made another important decision in my heart - I immediately ran up to stop her: "Xiaozhi, after your exams, the school will be on winter vacation, right?"

"Yes. I'll be home after the winter vacation."

"Back to the deserted village?"

Xiaozhi seemed a little scared: "Of course."

"I also want to go to the deserted village."

"What?" She was obviously not mentally prepared, she just shook her head blankly and said, "Impossible...it's impossible...please don't make such a joke."

"I'm not kidding, it's already been decided. I just want to see the places that appear in my novels, it must be very interesting-you said that the deserted village is the same as in the novel, between the sea and the cemetery. In this case Coincidentally, then I must be destined to have a relationship with the deserted village. Xiaozhi, you just need to lead me the way."

She looked into my eyes, frowned and took a big step back, I only felt a faint fear emanating from her body.Her breathing became rapid: "No, I don't know..."

I smiled awkwardly and said, "Of course, we just met by chance, so of course you can say no to me. Well, I'll give you my business card. If you want to take me to the deserted village, just give me a call."

After I finished speaking, I stuffed the business card into Xiaozhi's hand. She was a little at a loss, turned her head away like a little beast escaping from a hunter, and hurried out of the tea room.I followed slowly and watched her disappear in the cold night streets of Shanghai.

She is from a deserted village.

two

Two weeks have passed, and Xiaozhi has not contacted me. I think she may have returned to the deserted village. Maybe the deserted village does not exist at all, and it is just a joke of hers?I have almost forgotten about it, together with the girl named Xiaozhi.

But one morning, the phone rang suddenly, and I answered the phone sleepily, and heard a thin female voice... After a few seconds of being in a trance, I suddenly opened my eyes wide-is it her?
is her.In this early morning, Xiaozhi called me suddenly, with the same tone and tone: She agreed to my request, she can take me to the deserted village, and meet at the long-distance bus station tomorrow morning.

Early the next morning, I arrived at the coach station on time.It was the peak of the Spring Festival travel season, and I squeezed through the crowd for a long time before I found the twigs.I waved to her, she looked a little surprised, reluctantly nodded.

Half an hour later, Xiaozhi and I boarded a long-distance bus, and the terminal was Xileng Town, K City, Zhejiang Province.She was sitting by the window, wrapped in a thick overcoat, with a scarf wrapped around her neck, covering her chin and cheeks.When the bus drove out of the urban area, the fields on both sides of the Shanghai-Hangzhou Expressway were gray and yellow, and the scenery gradually became monotonous. This dull journey will continue for another seven hours.I felt more and more embarrassed. Xiaozhi hadn't said a word since getting in the car, and seemed to turn a blind eye to my existence.It seemed that beside her, there was a railing made of air, which firmly imprisoned her, and it seemed that if she stepped out, she would be in an abyss.

After the bus entered the Zhejiang section, I finally couldn't help asking: "Why don't you talk?"

Xiaozhi finally turned her body sideways: "What do you want me to say?"

"Whatever you say. Are you afraid of taking me to a deserted village? Suddenly regret it?" I looked her in the eyes and whispered, "If you say you regret it, I'll go back to Shanghai at the next stop."

She pulled the scarf down and said quietly: "No, I don't regret it, I just don't know what to say."

"Just talk about the deserted village."

"It's just an ordinary small village, with the sea on one side and the cemetery on the other."

"Other than that?" I asked, looking into Twig's eyes.But she was always avoiding my gaze, and I could detect something frightening in her eyes, trying to keep it from me.And my task is to dig out these things in her eyes, like a mysterious archaeological activity, "You seem to have said that the barren village has existed for hundreds of years?"

"According to my father, the ancestors of the people in the deserted village came from the Central Plains. After the Jingkang Incident in the Song Dynasty, they fled to Zhejiang with Song Gaozong and Zhao Gou. Because they were refugees from afar, they could only settle on a desolate coast."

"That's more than 800 years old."

At this time, Xiaozhi quietly turned her head away, and the winter sun shone through the car window on her face, as if it had been coated with a layer of white metal.Against the monotonous scenery outside, Xiaozhi's face appeared vivid...

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Sireng arrived.The town is surrounded by continuous green hills, and like many small towns along the coast of Zhejiang, it is full of people doing small businesses.Twig doesn't seem to like Sireng Town, her scarf almost covers half of her face.We walked through the station and caught a dilapidated minibus that would take us to the deserted village.

The minibus drove onto a country road, with winter fields and woods on both sides, all of which exuded a chilling air.With a section of uphill mountain road, the surrounding scenery became more and more depressed. Except for the exposed rocks, there were some low shrubs, trembling in the cold wind.I stared out the window intently. Compared with the prosperity of Serang Town, this place seems to be another world.

When Zhongba was struggling to climb a high hill, I suddenly called out in a low voice: "The sea!"

I see the sea in the distance—the black sea.I have seen the sea countless times, but in this desolate place, the sea feels very different.It is difficult to describe in words, under the dark clouds at dusk, the distant sea horizon is blurred, like a gloomy oil painting.

"Xiaozhi, have you seen "Jamaica Inn"? It's so strange that we only climbed one mountain, as if we came from Zhejiang, China to the desolate south-west coast of England."

"I read it when I was in high school, so I like your novel."

After hearing her words, I couldn't help feeling a little secretly proud.

After bumping for more than ten minutes, my eyes suddenly opened up, and a huge stone archway appeared—the barren village had arrived.

I helped Xiaozhi get out of the car with the luggage, and looked up at the daunting stone archway.The archway is at least ten meters high, and there are many complicated stone carvings. In the middle of the archway, there are four big characters in italics - "Zhenlie Yinyang".

I don't know what these four words mean, but it makes people shudder to put them on this big archway.It was getting dark already, and the shadow of the archway was projected on me, deeply frightening me.

Xiaozhi reached out and poked me: "What's wrong with you?"

"It's unbelievable that I can see such a big archway in a deserted village!"

"This is a chastity archway bestowed by the emperor. Hundreds of years ago, during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, a Jinshi came out of the barren village and became a high-ranking official in the court. The emperor granted this archway to honor his mother. A gust of cold wind from the sea came, and Xiaozhi wrapped the scarf tightly again, "Don't look, hurry up and enter the village."

I first identified the direction. To the east was a large area of ​​rocks and cliffs, and I could see the raging black sea with a thick layer of dark clouds condensed on the sea level.On the other sides, there are continuous mountains, and the mountains are barren.And behind this chastity archway is the deserted village I was looking for in my dream.

Through the tall archway, we can see the old tile-roofed houses and newly-built Western-style buildings scattered among plum blossoms and bamboo fields. The cold sea and sky shine on the tiles, adding a layer of chill to the whole village.I sighed softly: "Now I understand why it is called a deserted village."

Xiaozhi took me into a narrow alley in the village, with old houses on both sides, but I couldn't see anyone.She walked with her head down, as if she had brought an unexpected visitor into the village.I became uneasy, and asked softly, "Is there a hotel in the barren village?"

She pulled down the scarf: "Do you think there will be a hotel here? The deserted village has been closed since ancient times, and no outsiders have visited for several years."

I froze for a moment: "Then where do I live?"

"Just live here."

Xiaozhi said lightly, pointing to a door next to it——

This is an old house, with high walls standing on both sides of the gate, a mottled gate is closed tightly, and there is a large copper ring on each of the two wooden door panels.I stepped back half a step, and with the help of the dim light at sunset, I saw three characters engraved on the high lintel: "Jinshidi".

Before I could react, Xiaozhi pushed open the black door.The threshold was tens of centimeters high, and she stepped in with a big stride, then turned around and said, "Come in."

Facing the tall gate building of "Jinshidi", I stood in front of the threshold tremblingly and said, "What is this place?"

"My home."

I froze for a moment, then stepped carefully into the threshold, and said in a low voice, "Your ancestor was a Jinshi? So the archway at the entrance of the village was given to your ancestor by the emperor?"

"Yeah." She replied lightly.

I rubbed my eyes and looked at the courtyard of this "Jinshidi", with crumbling wing rooms on both sides, and a hall with a gable roof facing the gate.The dim skylight fell from the high eaves, making this ancient house even more gloomy.

Xiaozhi didn't enter the hall, but walked into a small door next to it. I followed closely behind and walked into the second courtyard of the ancient house.This is a smaller courtyard surrounded by small two-story buildings on the east, west and north sides. The wooden buildings on the three sides are all hilltops with carved doors, windows and beams. How much."

Suddenly, a dull voice sounded from behind me: "Who are you?"

The sound almost scared me to death, I turned around unsteadily, and saw a long, thin figure standing in an open wooden window.

Xiaozhi hurriedly said to the man: "Father, he is a teacher from our university, and he came to our deserted village to investigate the history and folklore."

It turned out to be Xiaozhi's father, I let out a sigh of relief.But she really knows how to make it up, and actually said that I am her university teacher, but I am not a few years older than her.

"Welcome to the deserted village."

Xiaozhi's father came out from another door, and only then did I vaguely see that face.He was a thin, middle-aged man with a thin and haggard face and deeply sunken eye sockets.But his complexion is very fair, unlike ordinary rural people, he should have been handsome when he was young.He walked up to me and said with a smile, "Hello. I'm a primary school teacher in a deserted village. You can call me Mr. Ouyang. If you don't mind, please stay with us for a few nights. Anyway, there are only me and my wife in this old house. Xiaozhi, father and daughter, still have many empty rooms."

I looked back at Xiaozhi, and now I know her name: Ouyang Xiaozhi.

The cold winter night has gradually shrouded the deserted village. Mr. Ouyang led us to the front hall, turned on the light on the beam, and the light illuminated the plaque in the hall. On the plaque was written three characters in running script: "Ren Ai Tang".Under the plaque is a scroll portrait of an ancient man, who is wearing an official uniform of the Ming Dynasty, and he should be the Jinshi during the Jiajing period.

The hall was empty, except for a round wooden table in the center, which was filled with a sumptuous dinner.Mr. Ouyang showed a fatherly smile and said that he knew that Xiaozhi would be back today, so he specially prepared a good meal.The deserted village is by the sea, so it is naturally mostly seafood, which suits my appetite.Mr. Ouyang didn't talk much, and silently ate his meal.I found that his appetite was extremely small, and he hardly moved his chopsticks. His face was bloodless under the dim light, and he was indeed the image of a poor rural teacher.

After dinner, Xiaozhi led me to the building on the north side.I followed her tremblingly, climbed a steep wooden staircase, and arrived at the room on the second floor like a blind man.Xiaozhi fumbled for a long time without turning on the light. She said apologetically, "This room has not been used for a long time, and the circuit is probably aging. Please wait for me for a while."

Twig went downstairs.I stretched out my hand and waved around, and touched a row of carved wooden windows, which didn't even have glass, only a layer of window paper pasted on the wooden lattice.I stood alone in the dark, and through the wooden door I could see a few stars on the window eaves—my heart beat faster and faster, and I couldn't help reaching out and pushing the wooden window open.

As soon as the window was pushed open, I saw a dim light, flickering like will-o'-the-wisp.

"Don't be afraid! It's me."

It was Xiaozhi's voice, and she walked into the room following the faint light, holding a kerosene lamp in her hand.I took a deep breath: "Don't scare me."

She smiled in a low voice: "Didn't you publish many horror novels? How can you still be afraid?"

"Fear comes from the unknown." My eyes have gradually adapted to the kerosene light, and under the flickering red flame, the face of Xiaozhi was reflected in a strange color.She was also holding a bundle of thick quilts, and then put the kerosene lamp on the wooden table, so that I could roughly see the room clearly.The room is actually quite big, with a screen in the middle and a couch behind.

Strangely, there wasn't much dust in the room, and it looked clean, as if no one had lived in it for a long time.Xiaozhi said: "My dad likes to be clean, so he cleaned all the dozen or so empty houses."

"Dozens of empty houses? Sure enough, it's the 'Jinshi No.'. But in such a big house, only you and your daughter live in it. Don't you feel scared?"

Xiaozhi closed the wooden window quietly and said, "Because our family doesn't have any other relatives anymore."

"Then why do you say I'm your university teacher?"

She raised her eyebrows, handed the quilt into my hand and said, "Have you seen the chastity archway at the entrance of the village? People in the barren village have been very conservative since ancient times. If I tell the truth, others will gossip. So, I can only say that you are my university teacher, and you came here to investigate the history and folk customs of the deserted village, so that my father will not misunderstand the relationship between us."

"Well, then let me be your teacher for a few days. However, I am not a few years older than you, so you have to be careful."

"Okay, I live upstairs on the west side. If there is anything wrong, I can hear you if you shout."

"Xiaozhi," I looked into her eyes, but couldn't speak for a while, "it's nothing, just thank you very much."

"I want to thank you too, thank you for carrying my luggage along the way."

I couldn't help laughing: "Your luggage is really heavy, and I'm exhausted. Could it be that you agreed to take me to the deserted village because you wanted to find a free porter?"

Suddenly, my eyes fell on the screen, and under the dim kerosene lamp, I could vaguely see some delicate patterns.I quickly picked up the kerosene lamp and approached the screen——

This is a screen with four vermilion lacquer screens, about two meters high and four meters wide.The skeleton of the screen is made of wood, with red lacquer painted in the middle. Although the old years have faded it, it still looks amazing under the light.The screen can be folded into four leaves, each of which is painted with colorful patterns, which should be a work before the mid-Qing Dynasty.

"My God, this is an antique!" I couldn't help but exclaimed.

I really didn't expect such a good antique to be placed in an empty house, and I, a strange guest, was allowed to live in it. I really don't know how many treasures are hidden in this "Jinshidi"?Xiaozhi didn't answer, her eyes seemed a little strange.I didn't pay attention, but took a closer look at the paintings on the screen. The style is a bit like the illustrations in a clear edition thread-bound book, but the age is too old, and the color looks a little dull.But what surprised me even more was what was painted on the screen——

The first picture from the left of the screen is a man and a woman. The woman is beautiful and leaning against the door of a hut, while the man is carrying a bag as if he is about to travel far. They look at each other reluctantly, it seems The painting is a scene of separation of husband and wife or lovers, which has a taste of "Whoever comes to the dawn is stained with frost and the forest is drunk, always tears away from others".

In the middle of the second screen is still the woman, who seems to be weeping sadly, and standing in front of her is a monk with a strange face.The monk held a flute in his hand, and was passing the flute to the woman.I shook my head, not understanding what the painting meant.

The third screen depicts an indoor scene. The woman in front is sitting alone on a bamboo mat, holding a flute to her lips in her hand, as if she is about to play the flute.On the beam at the top of the picture, there is a three-foot white silk hanging—is he going to hang himself on the beam?The whole picture is full of misery and death.It makes people shudder.

The fourth screen is still an indoor scene, with a man in the middle of the room, and beside him lies a huge red lacquered coffin!What is even more frightening is that the coffin cover is open.And the man was also holding a flute in his hand, with an extremely strange expression on his face.Looking at this painting, my hand holding the kerosene lamp couldn’t help trembling, the light kept flickering, and some strange black shadows swayed on the screen, as if the man in the painting was about to walk out of the screen, I immediately I was so frightened that I almost knocked over the kerosene lamp with a wave of my hand.

I couldn't help but say, "Xiao Zhi, this screen is so bizarre, what do these four paintings mean?"

She frowned, hesitated for a long time before saying quietly: "This screen is painted with the story of Rouge."

"Who is Rouge?"

The flickering kerosene lights made Xiaozhi's face red, and she said softly: "During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a young couple in a barren village. The wife's name was Rouge. The couple lived at sunrise and rested at sunset. The only regret is that I have no children. The peace was soon broken by the war. At that time, there were frequent wars along the coast of Zhejiang, and Japanese pirates often appeared. You should know this history, right?"

"Of course, the Japanese pirate rebellion was at its worst during the Jiajing period, and Zhejiang was the focus of Japanese pirate attacks."

"That year, the government came to the barren village to recruit soldiers, and forced Yanzhi's husband into the army to go to other provinces to fight Japanese pirates. Although Yanzhi and his wife were very loving, they had nothing to do in the face of war. Before leaving, the husband agreed with Yanzhi: three years After the Double Ninth Festival, he will definitely return home to meet her. If they can't meet by then, the two of them will die in love together on the night of Double Ninth Festival. During the days when her husband traveled far away, Yan Zhi remained steadfast in her determination. The village bears the loneliness, stays alone in the vacant house, and waits for her husband's return. Time flies, three years have passed, and the Double Ninth Festival is approaching, but there is still no news of her husband in the distance. Yanzhi waits at the entrance of the deserted village every day, but her husband does not return. On the day before the Double Ninth Festival, she met a wandering beggar monk at the entrance of the village, and the monk saw through her thoughts at a glance and gave her a flute as a gift."

"Flute?" I found that when she was telling this story, those eyes hidden in the darkness seemed to be shining with a strange light.

"Yes, the monk gave Yanzhi a flute and told her to play the flute on the night of the Double Ninth Festival, and her husband would return as promised. On the night of the Double Ninth Festival, Yanzhi was waiting at home. Bai Ling, if her husband does not come back, she will hang herself on the beam as agreed to die for love. At midnight, her husband still did not come back, so she could only play the flute according to the monk's order. She put all the longing and pain of the past three years Relying on the sound of the flute. The sound of the flute on the night of the Double Ninth Festival is like weeping and complaining, and it floats leisurely in the mountains and coasts around the deserted village. When the sound of the flute is over, Rouge has already started to tie the three-foot white silk on the beams of the house. .Suddenly, she heard a dull knock on the door."

My heart seemed to be caught by her, and I gasped immediately: "Rouge's husband is back?"

"Yes. Under the cold moonlight, Rouge saw the husband she had been thinking about day and night outside the door. He looked dusty, and he hadn't even taken off his armor. She welcomed him in with great joy. After leaving the house, she helped her husband take off his battle armor and brought him hot tea. She would use all the tenderness she had accumulated in the past three years to wash him away. Perhaps it was too hard to drive home after traveling thousands of miles, and her husband looked pale. The body was weak, and she didn't say a word. Yanzhi could only tenderly serve her husband to sleep. For the next few days, her husband hid at home and did not dare to go out. Maybe he escaped from the front line. Although Yanzhi always felt that her husband was a little weird , but they still had a few happy nights together."

"It's a happy reunion?" I was suddenly a little disappointed.

"No——on a certain night after her husband returned, Yanzhi blew that flute again, maybe she wanted to play it for her husband. But as soon as the husband heard the sound of the flute, he rushed out of the door, and Yanzhi chased after her. Later, she saw that the wilderness outside the village was pitch black, and the mist covered everything, and her husband disappeared in a dead forest shrouded in thick fog. At this time, Yanzhi regretted it, and she searched outside the village for three days and three nights. , but there was still no trace of her husband, he was swallowed up by the night and the sound of the flute like a phantom. After a few days, some villagers from the same village who were conscripted into the army with her husband came back, and they told her that her Her husband died in battle on the night of Double Ninth Festival more than ten years ago. Yan Zhi couldn't believe it, but many people witnessed her husband's death. Some insiders said that on the night of Double Ninth Festival, her husband fought on the battlefield thousands of miles away , knowing that it was impossible for him to go home to fulfill the Double Ninth Agreement with his wife. Therefore, in the fierce battle, he deliberately rushed to the front of the team, but was shot to death by Japanese pirates. Die for love, and fulfill the agreement with your wife with death."

"Then who was that man who returned home on the night of Double Ninth Festival?"

"Ghost." Xiaozhi spit out two words slowly, "It's the ghost of Rouge's husband, and he returned as promised on the Double Ninth Festival."

"I understand that Yanzhi's husband died in battle on the night of the Double Ninth Festival in order to allow his soul to fly across thousands of mountains and rivers, return to his hometown with the wind, and return to his beloved wife. When I gave her the flute, the mysterious sound of the flute floated in the night sky, and it could guide the husband who has become a lonely ghost to find his way home."

After I finished speaking this passage with trembling in the cold winter night, I suddenly felt that this story was both extremely romantic and extremely terrifying.

"What's wrong with you?" Xiaozhi asked softly in my ear.

Only then did I realize my gaffe: "Sorry, you scared me. What happened to Rouge?"

Just as Xiaozhi was about to speak, a strange sound suddenly sounded from outside—it was the sound of a flute!With some kind of weird tune, like a sharp blade, cut through the dark night sky of the deserted village.

Her face changed immediately, she covered her mouth and opened the window, but she couldn't see anything clearly in the night.I was also terrified by the sound of the flute. I learned the flute when I was a child, and I can still play a few tunes to this day, but I have never heard such a terrible flute sound.

Xiaozhi subconsciously leaned against me, and I took advantage of the situation to help her shoulder.The sound of the flute seemed to come from the mountains outside the deserted village. We couldn't tell the direction, and we were at a loss for a while.Xiaozhi lowered her voice and said, "No, I can't go on talking, you should rest early."

I wanted to say something more, but seeing Xiaozhi's frightened face, I couldn't say anything.Xiaozhi ran out of the room, and there was a sound on the crumbling floor, and the sound of the flute made people's heart skip a beat.

A few minutes later, the sound of the flute suddenly disappeared, and the ancient house returned to silence.Now, I am the only one in this small wooden building, and an antique screen with weird stories painted on it is right in front of me—wonder if the people inside the screen will run out in the middle of the night?Anyway, I have actually heard such strange stories.

I spread the quilt on the wooden couch and quickly got in.This was my first night in the deserted village. I was exhausted mentally and physically, and I fell asleep after a while...

I woke up again in the middle of the night, and found that I was shaking all over, and my forehead was full of sweat.A strange premonition filled my heart, and the violent heartbeat almost suffocated me.How is this going?I got up from the wooden couch, and the room was pitch black, deathly silent.

I put on my clothes and walked out of the room carefully.Outside the door is a corridor made of wooden railings. In the dim winter night, I can only vaguely see the outline of "Jinshidi"—like an ancient tomb.

Suddenly, I felt a strange breath, I slowly turned my head trembling, and cast my eyes on the next room.

There is a ray of candlelight in the window!
My God, I almost didn't cry out, this should be an empty closed room, how could candlelight be lit in the middle of the night?I still controlled myself, first wet my fingers with saliva, and quietly poked a hole in the window paper.

My face slowly approached the window, my eyes pressed against the holes in the window paper.The size of the hole is just right, and I can see the scene in the room—on a dressing table in Ming and Qing Dynasties, a candle is lit. The candle light is dim and flickering, illuminating a figure in front of the dressing table.

It was a woman in white, but her back was facing me. Although there was a mirror on the dressing table, her head was covering it, so I couldn't see her face.Judging from the figure behind her, it should be a young woman.

She held a brown wooden comb in her hand and was slowly combing her hair.Her hair was long and black, and it shone in the candlelight.She leaned slightly, holding a wooden comb in her right hand, and stroking her hair with her left hand, which hung down on one side of her body like a black waterfall.She just sat in front of the dressing table like this, seeming to be concentrating on combing and combing——

In this cold night of the ancient "Jinshidi", I saw such an incredible scene through a hole in the window paper, as if I saw another time and space?
I'm really afraid that I can't help but yell.I took a step back quietly, only to find that my legs were weak.I immediately went back to my room, wiped the sweat off my brow, but still didn't dare to make a sound—because the woman was right across the wall from me.

Thinking of this, I didn't dare to sleep anymore. I curled up quietly on the wooden couch. Although I closed my eyes tightly, the scene just now kept reappearing in my mind.

Who is she?
three

The next morning, in the front hall of the old house, Xiaozhi was waiting for me to have breakfast.

I said softly: "The deserted village is really a unique place, which is both curious and frightening."

"That's why I like your novels."

"Xiaozhi, what happened to the sound of the flute last night? Why are you so scared? Are you afraid that the sound of the flute will attract lonely souls and wild ghosts?"

But I still dare not tell Xiaozhi about seeing the woman combing her hair in the middle of the night.

"Shh, keep your voice down!" Seeing Xiaozhi's expression, she almost blocked my mouth. She looked up at the portrait hanging in the middle of the hall. In the portrait, a man in an official uniform of the Ming Dynasty was speaking coldly. look at us.

"Are you afraid that our words will be heard by him?"

Xiaozhi was noncommittal, and she seemed to be very afraid of the people in the portrait: "Of course I don't believe in ghosts in legends. But this is a deserted village, which is different from other places."

"Are there ghosts in the deserted village?"

"That's not what I meant. But the barren village has its own customs, so don't worry about it. It's better to have breakfast quickly."

In the morning, I wanted to walk among the villagers, but she stopped me desperately.She led me out of the village by a small road, and no one noticed us.We spent the whole day walking in the nearby uninhabited hills.

After dinner, I heard Twig and her father talking in the room, and they seemed unhappy.Mr. Ouyang came out of Xiaozhi's room, walking in the dark like a zombie.

I quietly walked up the stairs of Xiaozhi and pushed open the door of her room.

"Sorry, I heard some voices just now." I was a little embarrassed for a moment.Her room was very clean, with paint on the walls, a TV and a computer, and only those wooden windows made people think that this was an old house. "What happened? Did your dad think I Disturbed your peaceful life?"

"No, it's not." Xiaozhi seemed a little nervous, and retreated to a writing desk involuntarily.

At this time, I noticed that there was a photo frame on the desk, with a black and white photo of Twig embedded in it. In the photo, she was very charming, but her eyes were slightly melancholy.However, there was an indescribable taste in this photo, and I couldn't help but say, "Xiao Zhi, when did you take this photo?"

She didn't answer immediately, but paused for a moment before saying quietly: "The person in this photo has long since died."

"What? Don't scare me." My back was a little cold again.

"Here's a picture of my mother."

There was silence in the room for a long time, I really didn't expect that their mother and daughter look too much alike.

"When I was very young, my mother died of illness. She died of illness in the building where you lived. My father brought me up alone. I can only see my mother's appearance from the photos. "Xiaozhi replied lightly, her melancholy eyes are exactly the same as those in the photo.

"I'm sorry." I looked at her with some guilt, took a deep breath and said, "Your father must love you very much."

Xiaozhi didn't answer, the atmosphere in the room became more and more awkward, I could only leave here in a hurry.

After returning to my room, I didn't dare to sleep, so I could only light the kerosene lamp and curl up on the wooden couch with my coat on.Accompanied by a solitary lamp, I stayed in a trance until midnight.

Suddenly, a flute sounded into my eardrums from a distant place.I jumped up as if I had been pricked by a needle, and shook my head violently, hoping that the sound of the flute was just a hallucination.

The flute continued.I could no longer restrain my impulse, so I quietly walked out of the "Jinshidi" with a kerosene lamp.

In the middle of the night, the deserted village was dead silent, only the sound of the flute on the mountain drifted leisurely.I walked out of the village entrance, went to the foot of the Chastity Archway and looked around, the rolling hills were as dense as a castle in the dark night.I spotted the tallest mountain and ran over with a kerosene lamp.Sure enough, the weird flute sound became clearer and clearer, it seemed that I was in the right direction.

The moon came out——the cold moonlight was breaking through the clouds of the night and sprinkled in the empty mountains.

Suddenly, I felt that the sound of the flute seemed to be sounding behind me, and I hurriedly looked towards a mountain depression behind me.I saw a black shadow standing under the faint moonlight, and the miserable sound of the flute had stopped abruptly.

I ran towards the shadow with the kerosene lamp in my hand.The shadow didn't move, just stood there like a tree.I held up the kerosene lamp to take a picture - under the dim light, a very haggard face was revealed.

"Mr. Ouyang?"

I cried out in surprise, it turned out that this black shadow turned out to be Xiaozhi's father!He is holding a bamboo flute in his hand.

Mr. Ouyang subconsciously stretched out his hand to cover his face, and murmured, "Why are you here?"

"What—what's going on here?" On the high mountain in the dark night, with the dim moonlight and kerosene lamp shining on Mr. Ouyang's eyes, I asked blankly, "Did you play the flute just now?"

"Yes, I am a rural teacher. I have not been in good health. I have always suffered from insomnia these few nights." Mr. Ouyang sighed, his expression gradually calmed down, "Because I couldn't sleep, I went to the mountain Come play the flute, so you can relax yourself."

"I see. But I think your flute sound is too special."

"This is because the flute is very special."

Mr. Ouyang handed the flute into my hands.My fingertips immediately felt a chill and trembled inexplicably.With the help of the light from a kerosene lamp, I could see the flute clearly—it was a traditional bamboo flute, about forty centimeters long, with a pipe painted in brown-yellow lacquer, and a purple-red lacquer between the flute holes. Silk thread, a layer of flute membrane as thin as a cicada's wing is attached to the membrane hole.

"You may not believe it, but this flute is hundreds of years old."

"Hundreds of years?"

"Xiaozhi has already told you the legend of Rouge."

I nodded, it seems that Xiaozhi and her father are unhappy, probably because of this incident.

"In the legend of Rouge, a wandering monk gave her a flute." Mr. Ouyang pointed to the flute in my hand and said, "This is it."

My right hand holding the flute suddenly became cold.

"You must not know the end of the legend of Rouge, do you?" Mr. Ouyang shook his head and said, "Rouge played this flute on the night of Double Ninth Festival, gathered with her husband's ghost, and spent days and nights together, that is, What the old people call a ghost husband. When Yan Zhi knew the truth about her husband's death, she was in great pain and tried to commit suicide several times, but she survived miraculously. Until three months later, she found out that she was pregnant in the body."

"Isn't her husband dead? Could it be that Yan Zhi is pregnant with a ghost child?"

Mr. Ouyang nodded solemnly: "Yes, this is a miracle. The child in her womb is indeed the seed sown by Hunxi, the husband who died in the battle. Jue Si. When Yanzhi's belly grew bigger day by day, the villagers in the deserted village began to suspect that she had cheated on her. They insulted Yanzhi with the most vicious language, thinking that Yanzhi was pregnant with a wild species, and even had frivolous and prodigal children to bully her. She. But Yanzhi insisted that she was innocent and remained chaste to her husband. In order to keep the child in her womb, Yanzhi suffered a lot, and she was pregnant for ten months, and finally gave birth to her son."

"My God, this story is like Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter."

In the cold winter night, listening to this sad story, I couldn't help but think of Hester in "The Scarlet Letter", and the red letter "A" on her chest.Hester would rather die than say the man's name, seeing her daughter as an angel given to her by the Lord, for which she was willing to suffer any pain.So what about the rouge in the barren village hundreds of years ago?Is she the Chinese version of The Scarlet Letter?Or was she really pregnant with the womb left to her by her husband?

"Since then, Yanzhi mother and son have suffered discrimination and humiliation. She raised the child alone and sent her son to a private school. More than ten years later, Yanzhi died of overwork, but her son passed the imperial examination. From a scholar to a scholar and then to a Jinshi, he was named on the gold list and became a disciple of the emperor. Later, the story of his mother Yanzhi reached the ears of the emperor, and the emperor was also moved by this story, so he granted a chastity archway to commend Yanzhi's virtue."

Unexpectedly, Rouge's story would have such an ending.I lowered my head and looked at the deserted village at the foot of the mountain: "So that's the case, so the chastity archway at the entrance of the village is for Yanzhi now? The 'Jinshidi' was also built by Yanzhi's son? Mr. Ouyang, you, and Xiaozhi—you all belong to Yanzhi Descendants?"

"That's right. This flute was passed down by our ancestors."

I looked at the flute in my hand, dared not touch it again, and immediately handed it back to Mr. Ouyang.I tentatively asked: "Then is the story of Yan Zhi a legend or a fact?"

"No one can tell for sure, but for hundreds of years people in the deserted village have believed that at least this flute is real."

I stared blankly at Mr. Ouyang's face. If Rouge's story is true, aren't Mr. Ouyang and Xiaozhi in front of me all descendants of that ghost husband?Could it be that the Ouyang family living in the "Jinshidi" is the home of ghosts?I couldn't help but take two steps back, and the European vampire family legends flashed through my mind.

The moon gradually disappeared, and a cold wind with the smell of sea water blew, and I immediately trembled on the hillside.I rushed down the hill with a kerosene lamp, and when I passed under the Chastity Archway, my heart trembled inexplicably.

Back in "Jinshidi", I just feel that the atmosphere in this house is even more gloomy, and it looks more and more like Count Dracula's castle in Transylvania——

Suddenly, in the dark courtyard, a white shadow flashed past.The shadow moved like a ghost, which made me gasp.After going through the test just now, my courage has also grown. Although everything in the old house is so mysterious and terrifying, the more it is like this, the more my curiosity is aroused.I ran towards the white shadow immediately, and raised the kerosene lamp to illuminate the front.

It appeared to be a white nightgown with long black hair hanging over it - it was a young woman.The kerosene lamp dimly illuminated her body, yes, it was her, the woman who combed her hair next to me in the middle of the night last night.She seemed very frightened and ran up the next staircase.

My heart was beating harder and harder, and I followed her closely, and finally grabbed her hand in the corridor on the second floor.But my hand immediately bounced off like an electric shock, because her arm was cold and cold, and it made me shudder.But she still stopped, and suddenly a gust of cold wind blew, and her beautiful black hair fluttered slightly.

"who are you?"

I whispered tremblingly.She turned her head slowly, and her pale face was exposed to the light of the kerosene lamp—twigs!
God, I didn't expect it to be a twig.Her complexion was pale and her lips were a little purple. It was obvious that she had been frozen by the cold north wind. It turned out that she was only wearing a nightgown.I immediately took off my coat and put it on her.I hugged her shoulders tightly and said, "What's wrong with you? You came out wearing a nightgown in the middle of the night, so be careful not to catch a cold in such a cold day."

She looked at me blankly and shook her head blankly.I stroked her black hair, and said with some distress: "You touch your own body, it's freezing cold all over, why bother?"

But Xiaozhi still didn't speak, her expression looked weird and nervous, she suddenly reached out and touched my cheek and nose, those cold fingers made me feel palpitations.

I shook her shoulders and said, "What the hell happened? I didn't want you to get hurt."

Xiaozhi immediately became nervous, broke free from my arms, and rushed down the stairs like a little wild animal.I followed her closely, but when I was going down the stairs, I stepped on the air and fell.

When I struggled to get up, the twigs had already disappeared without a trace, leaving only my coat on the ground.I looked in her upstairs room, the lights were out.

Back in my room, I curled up on the wooden couch with my clothes on, my eyes half-opened and half-closed facing the screen, but I was thinking about the strange behavior of Xiaozhi just now.In other words, she was also the woman combing her hair in the next room in the middle of the night yesterday, but why did she run out in the middle of the night?
Xiaozhi's lifeless eyes appeared before my eyes again, her consciousness just now seemed not very clear, as if she hadn't woken up in a daze.Suddenly, I thought of the content in one of my novels. Could it be that Xiaozhi was sleepwalking?
Yes, this is the only possibility.Xiaozhi's face was full of bewilderment, and even though her eyes were open, her brain was still in a sleep state—all of these fit the characteristics of sleepwalking.She didn't have consciousness herself, she just had a dream, and her body went outside like a dream.

I let out a sigh of relief, I didn't expect that Xiaozhi still has the problem of sleepwalking, maybe she doesn't even know it.The deserted village is such a crazy place, I was so tired, I slowly closed my eyes...

four

At seven o'clock in the morning, I opened my eyes.The light shines on the screen through the window paper, which makes this ancient room alive.

I can't take it any longer. I thought the trip to the deserted village would be romantic and interesting, but now it's terribly frightening. I decided to leave the deserted village now.

Xiaozhi is in the front hall of the old house. Her complexion is not bad. She doesn't look like she was sleepwalking in the middle of the night last night. I think it's better not to say anything.I looked up at the portrait under the plaque of "Ren Ai Tang", and the Ming Dynasty man in the portrait was also looking at me. He should be Yan Zhi's son, so is his father really a ghost who died in battle?I didn't dare to think about it anymore, and quickly finished my breakfast.

"Are you leaving?" Twig could already see it from my luggage.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't come to the deserted village, let alone disturb your family's peaceful life."

"I know you won't be here soon." Xiaozhi bit her lip and said, "Will you come to the deserted village again?"

"I don't know." I looked into her pure eyes, but I thought of the moon on the hillside last night, "What about you? After you graduate from the university in Shanghai, will you return to the deserted village?"

Her eyes seemed confused, she lowered her voice and replied: "I will definitely come back, even if I die outside, I will go home."

I suddenly trembled, her words made me feel a little weird.At this time, I smelled a unique smell of orchids when they rot, which came from the branches. The smell poured into my nostrils and lungs, making my heart sour.

I walked slowly to the gate of "Jinshidi", stood by the high threshold, stared into Xiaozhi's eyes and said, "Maybe, we won't meet again, take care."

Xiaozhi's eyes were still so melancholy, she seemed to want to say something more, but I had already stepped over the threshold of the old house.I didn't dare to look back, but walked forward with my head down, trying to eliminate all the barriers in my heart.I came to the chastity archway, looked up at the four characters on the archway - "Zhen Lie Yin Yang", suddenly felt a little ironic and sad.

I picked up a pick-up truck and went back to Serang Town.But the bus to Shanghai has already left, and the next bus will wait until four o'clock in the afternoon.

In the afternoon, taking advantage of a few hours of free time, I came to the Cultural Center of Sereng Town and found the curator rashly.I continued to use the identity that Xiaozhi made up for me, claiming that I came here to investigate history and folk customs. The curator was obviously blinded by me, and I said all the questions about the chastity archway in the deserted village.

The director of the cultural curator is a middle-aged man in his 50s. He pondered for a moment and took out a rubbing from the warehouse.The so-called rubbings are the texts copied from inscriptions or engravings with paper and ink, which is equivalent to ancient copies.I took a rough look at this rubbing. The dense and long text was rubbed from ancient inscriptions. Naturally, there is no punctuation mark, and it is very difficult to read.I held my breath intently, as if I was reasoning to solve a case, and studied word by word. It took me an afternoon to finally understand this rubbing.

Now, I will briefly describe the contents of the rubbings in vernacular——

During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the Japanese plague in the southeast was serious, and Ouyang An, a man from a deserted village, was conscripted into the army. Before he left, he made an agreement with his newly married wife that he would return to his hometown for a reunion on the Double Ninth Festival three years later. Mingzhi.However, three years later, the Double Ninth Festival has come, and Ouyang An is still fighting in Guangdong thousands of miles away. He knows that he will definitely not be able to fulfill the agreement, so he is determined to die on the battlefield in order to die for love.On the night of the Double Ninth Festival, there was a fierce battle between the government army and the Japanese pirates. Ouyang An rushed to the forefront of the team, but was hit by several arrows and fell to the ground immediately.But Ouyang An did not die in battle, but was seriously injured and passed out. Later, he was rescued by local fishermen and saved his life.When Ouyang An recovered from his injuries and was about to go home, another fierce battle broke out between the army and the Japanese pirates. A Japanese pirate leader fled, and happened to meet Ouyang An on a narrow road.Ouyang An cut off the head of the Japanese pirate leader with a single knife. Unexpectedly, he made a great contribution and was awarded an official position by the court.Soon, the Japanese pirate rebellion was pacified, and Ouyang An returned to his hometown in fine clothes. When he returned to his hometown in the deserted village, he found that his wife had hanged herself to death on the night of Double Ninth Festival according to their agreement.Ouyang An was so sad that he didn't want to live, his heart was broken, and he could no longer live alone in the world.But he still wanted to see his wife one last time, so he secretly dug up his wife's grave, opened the coffin, and found that his wife's body was intact, and there was a flute next to it.So Ouyang An built a deep house and compound, and carried his wife's coffin home.For the next few years, Ouyang An kept reclusive and hid his wife's coffin at home. Every year around the Double Ninth Festival and the Spring Festival, he would play the flute he took out of his wife's coffin in the middle of the night.After several years like this, on a snowy New Year's Eve, Ouyang An blew the flute again, and a miracle finally appeared, and a strange sound came out from his wife's coffin. When he opened the coffin lid, his wife was dead. Yoyo woke up.Ouyang An was ecstatic. He carried his wife to the bed and fed her porridge every day, which finally restored her health.The resurrected wife was still young and beautiful. The couple lived a peaceful life again and even gave birth to a son.Later, their son won the Jinshi examination and ranked among the best in the palace examination in the capital. The emperor was very moved after hearing this story, so he gave a chaste archway to the deserted village. The four characters "Zhenlie Yinyang" on the archway were inscribed by Emperor Jiajing himself. Soon after the archway was erected, Ouyang An and his wife died almost at the same time.

After reading the rubbings, I was completely overwhelmed, and the blurry inscriptions were always shaking in front of my eyes.I rubbed my eyes: "Where did this rubbing come from?"

"It's an epitaph."

"Epitaph?" I immediately thought of a large tomb near the barren village, "Is it Ouyang An's epitaph?"

The curator nodded and said: "20 years ago, there was an ancient tomb of the Ming Dynasty near the barren village, which was robbed by tomb robbers. Mr. Ouyang, a primary school teacher in the barren village, reported the case, and the archaeological team immediately came to carry out rescue excavations. Mr. Ouyang He is a descendant of the owner of the tomb, and he is also the informant, so he participated in the excavation with the archaeological team, and I was there at the time. The archaeological excavation found that there were two skeletons of a man and a woman buried in the ancient tomb, and a relatively well-preserved epitaph Inscription. The stone tablet with the epitaph engraved on it was sent to the Municipal Museum for collection. At that time, I made a rubbing of the epitaph and kept it in the town cultural center, which is the one you see.”

Two skeletons of a man and a woman?That's Ouyang An and Rouge?It turned out that they really existed, and even the bones were found. Thinking of this, I shuddered: "Is there anything else found in the tomb?"

"Most of the burial objects were taken away by tomb robbers. But a flute was found at the excavation site, and it was placed next to the bones of the two tomb owners. It was quite well preserved." The curator suddenly sighed, "It's a pity that , The excavation site was chaotic at that time, we did not control the situation well, and the flute mysteriously disappeared shortly after it was unearthed, which was the biggest regret of that excavation.”

A flute hundreds of years ago?My back vest is a little hairy: "Curator, has Mr. Ouyang read this epitaph?"

"Of course he has seen it. He is a descendant of the owner of the tomb and participated in all the excavation process. He also helped when making this epitaph rubbing. I remember he was very surprised at the time, because the epitaph recorded The content is not found in all the legends about the chastity arch in the deserted village."

"That's the legend about Rouge?"

"Yes, in the barren village and in many nearby places, there are stories about Rouge. There are dozens of versions of this legend, most of which are mysterious and weird. People believe that the ghost of Rouge still exists. But this epitaph of Ouyang An The excavation of the burial eclipses all other legends. Perhaps, the truth can only be found in the grave."

"Do you believe the record on this epitaph is true?"

"I don't know. But from the perspective of historical research, the reliability of epitaphs is much higher than that of literature, and far exceeds all kinds of folklore. Because-the dead and the tomb can't lie."

The dead and the grave don't lie?Yes, only the living can tell lies in this world.Suddenly, I felt that I had fallen into an abyss like Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon".

After I turned around, I realized that it was already 05:30 in the afternoon, and I missed the last bus back to Shanghai.

Leaving the cultural center in a hurry, the night has come to Sereng Town.A cold wind was blowing, and I could smell a lot of burning smoke—paper money and tin foil were burned in front of every house, and I could even see some family’s ancestral tablets.

My God, I've spent my days in the deserted village dizzy. Today is New Year's Eve, the [-]th day of the twelfth lunar month, and tomorrow night is New Year's Eve.In the traditional customs of the Chinese, the New Year's Eve is a day to worship the ancestors, and every household must burn paper money and kowtow to the ancestors.

I immediately thought of the epitaph - it was Ouyang An who blew the mysterious flute on New Year's Eve that brought Yan Zhi back to life.And today is Xiao'an, that mysterious flute is now in the hands of Xiaozhi's father, and his wife has also died long ago.Mr. Ouyang, as the descendant of Ouyang An and Yan Zhi, does he want to repeat the miracle of his ancestors and let the sound of the flute on Xiao'an call back his wife's ghost?
In an instant, I made a decision - go back to the deserted village immediately, I must unravel this secret.

The station in Sereng Town was already empty, so I could only take out my flashlight, and walked into the desolate mountains along the country road leading to the deserted village.

More than two hours later, when I was about to arrive at the deserted village, I suddenly heard a strange flute sound, like sea water rising in the dark night, slowly pouring into my eardrums.Amidst the terrible sound of the flute, I panted and ran towards the deserted village, and vaguely saw a huge stone archway standing like a castle in the dark night sky—the deserted village has arrived.

At this moment, the sound of the flute on the mountain quietly disappeared again, and I rushed to the gate of the "Jinshidi" in one breath.

The gate was unlocked, and I rushed in immediately.The flashlight shone on the pitch-black old house, and there seemed to be a strange mist drifting. My heart beat faster and faster. There seemed to be no one in the dark front hall. I turned to the back yard. Deathly silence.

I broke into Xiaozhi's dark room, and I couldn't turn on the light, so I had to use a flashlight to illuminate it, but there was not even a ghost.After I came out, I saw that there was a faint light on the small building where I lived.

I immediately walked up to the small building, gently pushed open the door of the house I used to live in - it was the kerosene lamp again, the flickering light illuminated the dark room, and through the ancient vermilion lacquer screen, I saw The shadow of a young woman.

"Twigs!"

I immediately rushed to the back of the screen, and it really was her, wearing a white nightgown and long black hair, staring blankly at the paintings on the screen.I grabbed her cold shoulders, and she turned her head slowly, her beautiful face was so pitiful under the dim light.But her eyes were still dull, and she looked at me blankly, apparently sleepwalking again.

I shook her shoulder and said, "Wake up."

Xiaozhi didn't answer, just blinked her eyes, emitting a faint dim light like a black jewel.

I looked at the last painting on the screen and said, "Maybe your father didn't tell you that there is actually a version dug out of the grave about the story about Rouge."

She was stunned for a moment, then slowly turned around and said, "The soul is back?"

I froze for a moment, her words didn't seem to come from her mouth, but directly entered my mind, no—her voice didn't sound like Xiaozhi's!Even the eyes seemed a little different.

The dim kerosene lamp shone on her eyes and hair, as well as the white nightgown, like an ancient person walking out of a screen.

Only then did I realize that she wasn't Xiaozhi at all!
Her shoulders were so cold, and her eyes were so strange, I felt a burst of fear, and took a big step back: "Who the hell are you?"

"She's Twig's mother."

A dull voice suddenly sounded from behind me, making the hairs on my back stand on end.Under the dim kerosene lamp, Mr. Ouyang's thin and pale face stood out.

He walked up to the woman, still holding the mysterious flute in his hand, and said coldly: "You saw something you shouldn't see."

I shook my head tremblingly and said, "What's going on? Didn't Xiaozhi's mother die a long time ago?"

Mr. Ouyang said quietly: "20 years ago, not long after Xiaozhi was born, I went on a business trip for a long time. When I returned home, Xiaozhi's mother had died of illness. But I couldn't accept her death. I I cannot lose her in my life. I am very sad and don't want to live alone in this world. Soon, the tomb of our Ouyang family ancestors was stolen. I led the archaeological team to dig out the mysterious flute, and I secretly hid it I read the flute and studied the epitaph—the story of my ancestors gave me great inspiration, and I believe that as long as I follow the method recorded in the epitaph, my wife will definitely return to me.”

"So you often run to the mountains in the middle of the night to play this flute?"

"Yes, do you know the magic of this flute? It can bring your loved one back to you—yes, she's back." His eyes and tone became more and more urgent, gently stroking My wife's hair next to me, "Whenever I play this flute in the middle of the night, she will come to the 'Jinshidi' without a sound. Although I am getting old, she will always remain young and beautiful. In the middle of the night The melancholy sound of the flute guides her back home, she combs her hair in the room, and walks in the yard, this is the return of the soul."

I remembered the photo of her mother in Xiaozhi’s room again, she was exactly the same as Xiaozhi, no wonder I mistook her for Xiaozhi.At this moment, I looked at the ghost couple in front of me. The young and beautiful wife raised her head and looked at the haggard and old husband. The eyes were heartbreaking—he loved her deeply, no matter whether she was dead or not. Alive, even if the ghosts and yin and yang are separated, he still longs for his loved one to return home.

Mr. Ouyang said slowly: "It used to be difficult for the sea to be water, except that Wushan is not a cloud."

I also felt sour for a while. This is Yuan Zhen's "Thinking of Liberation", written in memory of his dead wife.But I thought of Xiaozhi again: "Where is Xiaozhi? Where is she?"

Mr. Ouyang didn't answer, his eyes suddenly widened, and he pointed behind me with his finger.

When I was about to turn my head back, I immediately felt a trance, and there was only an old screen in front of me, giving off a dim reflection under the kerosene lamp.The Ming Dynasty woman in the screen is playing the flute in her hand——

In the sound of the old melodious flute, a dark sea covered me until I lost all sense...

五

When I woke up in the morning, my body was sore and my brain was buzzing. After a trance for a while, I remembered everything that happened last night, and immediately jumped up from the floor of this ancient room.

"Xiaozhi! Xiaozhi!" I yelled and rushed downstairs, but there was no one in the huge "Jinshidi". After searching all the rooms, I only saw a thin layer of dust, as if no one lived in it for a long time the way it used to be.And in Xiaozhi's room, there is nothing left, except for the photo of Xiaozhi's mother.

How is this going?Where did they all go?What about Twig and her father?I still called her loudly, but the old house was as silent as an ancient tomb.I thought of everything that happened last night, Xiaozhi's long-dead mother, Mr. Ouyang who used the flute to conjure up the soul—is this a nightmare, or a terrible hallucination?

No, I dare not think about it any more.

I rushed out of the gate of the "Jinshidi", and found that the barren village finally gained some popularity, and someone was pasting Spring Festival couplets on the door.Yes, today is New Year's Eve, and it's time to go home for New Year's Eve dinner.

I went straight to the village committee and head of the deserted village, and asked them about Xiaozhi and Mr. Ouyang, regardless of taboos.

The village chief's answer made me tremble with fear. He said that Mr. Ouyang died a long time ago. He died of cancer three years ago, and he died in the "Jinshidi".It was the village head who carried Mr. Ouyang's body out for burial.And Mr. Ouyang's wife died of illness at home when Mr. Ouyang went to work in other places 20 years ago.

As for Xiaozhi, the village chief sighed and said, "This girl is very smart and was admitted to a university in Shanghai. It's a pity that a year ago, she had an accident on the subway in Shanghai, and she passed away like that."

My heart was already cold when I heard this, I covered my mouth and dared not cry out, I was afraid that I would go crazy on the spot. The family of three in the "Jinshidi" died long ago—how could this be possible?So who are the Xiaozhi and Mr. Ouyang I saw?
But I dare not tell all these things, I am afraid that the villagers will lock me up as a mental patient.I can't stay in the deserted village anymore, maybe this place just belongs to another ancient era, and belongs to those weird stories in thread-bound books.

Xiaozhi—I thought of her softly in my heart, but my body hurriedly left the deserted village.At the entrance of the village stands the chastity archway bestowed by the emperor, like a huge tombstone.

Farewell, deserted village.

end
After returning to Shanghai, I asked a friend who worked in the subway company.He told me that in the winter of a year ago, at the subway station where I signed books, there was a major accident: when the subway train was about to enter the station, a 20-year-old female college student stumbled and fell off the platform. She was run over by the train and died on the spot. The female college student's name was Ouyang Xiaozhi.

My friend didn't notice that my tears were sliding down quietly—until this time, I realized that I had already fallen in love with Xiaozhi irresistibly, and fell in love with this beautiful girl who died a year ago.

What a bleak and beautiful story it was, and I decided to write it down and make it into an excellent novel.I figured if Twig hadn't come to me the night of the book signing, if she hadn't taken me to the deserted village, I would never have known the story.And in the vast crowds of the city, she happened to meet me. This is a gift she gave me—she said she likes my novels, so she gave me a wonderful story and inspiration.

Will I ever see her again?

A few days later, on the way home, I happened to pass by a street stall, and my heart suddenly seemed to be pricked by something, and a flute jumped into my eyes——I immediately bent down and looked at the bamboo flute carefully: about three or four Ten centimeters long, the flute tube is painted with brown-yellow lacquer, with purple-red silk threads inlaid between the flute holes, and the flute membrane as thin as a cicada's wings is covering the membrane holes.

It's unbelievable, it's so much alike.

The cold wind at dusk messed with my hair. Trembling, I picked up the flute and touched it lightly, as if I was stroking a woman's skin.The flute was so cold, a chill penetrated into my fingers and blood vessels, making my vision blurry, and a face appeared that haunted me.

I immediately paid for this flute, and carried it carefully in my arms, as if it was alive.The night was slowly falling, and I hurried back home, and instead of going into the house, I went straight to the roof of the building.

It was very cold on the roof after nightfall, and the biting cold wind rushed straight into my arms, making me a little unsteady.Standing on the rooftop and looking around, you can see Shanghai at night, with countless skyscrapers shining brightly, like a dreamlike world.

Twig, where are you?
I took out the flute from my arms, looked up at the sky, and saw a crescent moon hanging like a hook in the mysterious night sky.On this high rooftop, the shining moonlight entered my pupils. I couldn't help but lift up the flute and put the hole to my lips.Taking a deep breath, let the cold air pour into my throat, fill my chest, and hit the dusty door at the bottom of my heart.

Holding my breath for a moment, I exhaled the breath as if I had been reborn again. The warm air flowed into the flute slowly, swirling, hitting, and whimpering in the slender pipe, sending out a sad resonance, and then transformed into The melodious sound waves flew out of the flute hole and floated into the distant and mysterious night sky.

Soaked in the melodious sound of the ancient flute, my consciousness gradually became blurred - I smelled that faint smell again, as if a slender finger was gently on my shoulder.

(End of the article)

Cai Jun
December 2003, 12 (first draft)
December 2003, 12 (second draft)

January 2004, 1 (third draft)

(End of this chapter)