Tomb Keeper

Chapter 11 Leaf's Room (4)

Next, I should return the book that Ye Zi lent me.The thought of saying goodbye to her filled me with melancholy.This noble woman who wears scarlet pajamas to paint her eyebrows at night, this simple country girl at the gate of the courtyard, this weak woman who was frightened by the speeding car and fell ill, this one and I wandered among the graves holding hands Mysterious woman, I will leave her alone.I suddenly had a bold idea to persuade her to go with me, how?This method is great, taking her out, not only being able to stay with her all the time, but also allowing her to tell all the secrets here.

For example, whether Poet Feng was really dead or revived in front of the grave, and whether his gathering with his fiancée in the middle of the night was just his hallucination; Before coming to the cemetery or after coming; of course, the more important thing is Yang Huzi, he is afraid of the grave of the eight-year-old child, I think it is extremely abnormal.When I first arrived here, I saw him dig a stumbling vine from the cemetery, and let Zhou's mother stuff the vine into the stove and burn it. The ruthlessness made me feel strange at the time; afterward, Zhou's mother He told me that the vine grew from the side of the child's grave.From my experience in dealing with many people and things in the newspaper office, I feel that there is murder in it.The biggest possibility is that ten years ago, the single mother named Yuan Yanjie brought her children here to attend the funeral of relatives or friends, and the lonely old man Yang Huzi lured eight-year-old Yao Leilei into the house because he wanted a child very much. locked up.But afterwards, Yang Huzi couldn't tame the child from the city, and he was afraid that the matter would be revealed, so he killed the child.Soon after, the child's mother or someone else found the child's body in a nearby ravine, and the distraught mother buried the child here.Regardless of whether the little ghost is very powerful or not, Yang Huzi will leave the root cause of fear from now on.

My speculation is very likely to be very close to the truth of the matter.Therefore, if I want to leave here, I have to take Ye Zi away. She has been here for more than a year, and it is very likely that she already knows the danger, and she just turned a blind eye for her own survival.

Having made up my mind, I went to the attic that night with the books I had returned.I slipped out the door after Yang Huzi and the others had fallen asleep for a while. I went up the stairs barefoot, and only put on my shoes when I reached the leaf door.

I knocked on the door lightly and called "Leaf" in a low voice.After a while, the door opened, and I immediately put a finger on my mouth to signal her to keep quiet.She looked at me suspiciously, but didn't mean to let me in.I squeezed in hastily, turned around and closed the door before whispering, I'm not a ghost, I won't eat you when I come in.She said, what's the matter?I handed the book to her and said, return this book to you, and besides, I have something to tell you.

When I walked into the house, I was immediately surrounded by a warm atmosphere.Her bed was covered by a pink nylon mosquito net, a lamp was on on the table, and a lot of books took up more than half of the table.She was wearing a white shirt with a pointed collar and blue trousers underneath. Compared with the village girl's dress during the day, she looked like a schoolgirl again at this moment.But I noticed something red in her mosquito net, it must be the pajamas.She was late to open the door just now, presumably she had just changed out of her pajamas.

She didn't ask me to sit down, obviously she didn't want me to stay in this room for a long time.But I was suddenly confused by the smell in this room, and for a moment I forgot my mission here, just inhaling the warmth of the room, and there was a faint fragrance in it.I went to the table to look at those books. Apart from the ancient and modern Chinese and foreign novels, there are four big books that stand out, and that is "General History of China".

She came over, looked directly at me and said, what's the matter, tell me quickly, I still have to rest.

I froze for a moment, and seemed to wake up after her questioning.I said, I'm leaving.She asked when, and I said early tomorrow morning.I haven't told Yang Huzi yet, but I don't want to tell him.This kind of job can't be said to be unresigned.I want to just walk away quietly.

After listening to my words, she said calmly, let's go, let's go.No one can do the task of guarding the tomb for a long time.Except for Yang Huzi, there is a new crop of people every few years.Now, Mother Zhou has been working here for almost five years, Dumb has been here for more than three years, Poet Feng has been here for more than two years, and I have been here for more than a year. Maybe it won't be long before our group of people will leave again.

I was overjoyed by Ye Zi’s words, and I immediately said, why wait some time, you will go with me tomorrow morning, okay?
She shook her head immediately, no, no, I don't want to leave here yet.

I begged, come with me, go to the provincial capital, and I promise to help you find a satisfactory job.

She then asked, what were you doing in the provincial capital before you came here?

I almost revealed my extraordinary experience and my identity as a reporter, but I held back. I must not reveal myself until she walks out of here with me.I said, before I came here, I worked in an office in a cancer hospital in the provincial capital.This section of my self-introduction is exactly the same as what I said to Yang Huzi before, and I think there will be no flaws.

After she said "oh", she said, well, it's good to work in the hospital.You go, I won't see you off tomorrow morning.

Her tone was calm but firm, much to my disappointment.I looked at her and said, I am gone, can I still see you in the future?
She said, don't know.Maybe we'll meet again in a few years, but that's not certain.

I said, how can I find you then?

She suddenly smiled and said, how to find me?Going 30 miles to the southeast, I lived in a family with a daughter...

I laughed too, Ye Zi was reading a passage from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, and with her sweet smile, it seemed that she was dressing up as the vixen in the southeast direction.

That night, my plan to persuade Ye Zi to go with me failed, and in the end, in her play, I didn’t even feel the melancholy of saying goodbye.Especially her sweet smile, which was the most charming smile I saw after I went to the tomb. I suddenly felt that my decision to leave here was too unreasonable.I looked at her and said, if you don't leave, I won't leave either.More bad luck, better stay, don't you think?

She immediately lowered her face and said, this, you can make up your own mind.As soon as she finished speaking, there was a sudden "beep" sound from the bathroom in the room. I was startled, and walked into the bathroom to check in two steps.Under the dim light, a towel was placed on the edge of a wooden barrel, and there was still water vapor and a pleasant fragrance in the air.On the damp floor tiles, a bottle of bath liquid had slipped from a shelf in the corner.

Ye Zi has followed, and while pulling me out, she said, nothing happened, but the bottle fell.

When I went back to the house, I sniffed and said, it smells so good.

She said, what fragrance do you smell?There was a girl hanged there.It is said that many years ago, a girl who was about my age worked as a grave keeper here, but she hanged herself in this bathroom not long after.

I was shocked and said with a little trembling, yes, is it?This is so, so scary.

I went back to my room, tossing and turning.I also had a nightmare before dawn, but I don't want to mention the scene in the dream at all.I realized that I was in a dangerous situation with a heavy responsibility, and I wanted to run away, which really discredited the special forces unit I had served in.

I got up at dawn.The yard was very wet, with some shiny puddles, and the trees around the small building were also wet.Obviously, there was a silent rain last night, which made the morning sky as clean as if it had been washed.Everyone here has not woken up yet, so I opened the courtyard door and walked down the stone steps, but I didn't go to the road leading to Xihe Town, but to the graveyard.Half of the sun has emerged, and there are thousands of golden rays shooting towards the endless graves and tombstones.I raised my hands and expanded my chest and took a deep breath. The air was very fresh, and the dead and the living started a new day equally.I suddenly thought of the girl who was hanged in the Leaf House, is she also buried here?If only she could come out of the grave and tell me what happened to her here.Thinking of this, I suddenly had a major realization that the dead girl might be Ye Zi's sister.Ye Zi came here to be a grave keeper, in fact, she wanted to find out the truth about her sister's death.Because Ye Zi, who claims to be a girl from the mountains, is slowly being revealed by me.In any case, a woman who came out of the mountains to work is unlikely to have "General History of China" on the table.

On this day, I tasted the benefits of getting up early in the morning, that is, when one is out in the field with the sun, one's head is particularly flexible, and the courage lost at night will return to your blood.I was walking on the cemetery, and I didn't feel that I had reached the highest point.Looking from a distance, there is a family across a few hills.It is said that many farmers lived around the cemetery. With the expansion of the cemetery, the farmers gradually avoided this place of death.In other words, if you see graves as soon as you open the door, can you not move?At this moment, the family I saw from a distance should be the nearest neighbor here. It suddenly occurred to me that I should find an opportunity to visit this family. Although they are separated by a few hills, they are very familiar with the situation here. would know too little.It's just that they have chosen to be silent and numb to the ghosts of life and death in the distance, just like the motionless farmhouse I saw at this moment.

This day, when I entered the house for breakfast, Ye Zi was shocked when she saw that I really hadn’t left here, but she didn’t make a sound, and then bowed her head to eat.But Yang Huzi said in a slightly appreciative tone, Da Xu seems to have adapted to the work here, and went to the graveyard early in the morning to see, um, yes, I love my work, and there is a future in working here.I am old, and the company headquarters will choose the person in charge among you in the future.I nodded to Yang Huzi, acting as if I sincerely wanted to be the successor.

However, Yang Huzi didn't appreciate it, so he changed the subject and asked, did you throw the dead man's shoe at the graveyard early in the morning?
I was startled, and immediately said, I didn't throw it away, the shoe was still in my house.How to deal with it, I was about to ask you for instructions.

Mother Zhou spoke.I don’t understand this. Choose a day and burn the shoes outside the gate of the courtyard. You also need to burn some incense paper money. You have to kneel on the ground and kowtow three heads, you know?
I looked up at Yang Huzi, and he nodded in approval of this method.But he immediately stared at Zhou Ma, as if he was a little upset that Zhou Ma stole his limelight.

Just after dinner, the phone rang in the main room.Ye Zi and I walked to the main room one after the other, and I started a new day of work here.

(End of this chapter)