Tomb Keeper

Chapter 2 Xitu Cemetery (1)

It was dusk when I arrived at Xitu Cemetery.The distant mountains have already covered the setting sun, but the sky in the west is still painted a few strokes of blood-like red.The tombs all over the mountains are still in semi-darkness, which makes the tombs farther away somewhat unreal, as if floating in the smoke.It was the first time for me to see such a grand camp of the dead in the twilight, and my heart tensed up and down, filled with an unspeakable sense of desolation and emptiness.

I should have arrived here around noon as planned.The journey from the provincial capital went smoothly, but when changing trains at S County, I had to wait for several hours.The road leading to Xihe Town is a remote road, and there are only two buses a day.After finally getting into the car, I heard that the accents of the people in the car had changed. They were all farmers going to Xihe Town or further mountains.Sitting next to me was a woman in her thirties with a bad complexion and a cough.She asked me to close the car windows, saying that I was afraid of the wind.After the car drove for a while, she asked me, is my eldest brother going to Xihe Town for business?I said, go to Xitu Cemetery and visit the grave.She seemed to sigh and asked again, who is in the family?I said it was my girlfriend, the plane fell down and died, and I visit her every year.The woman stopped talking, and I closed my eyes and meditated.Suddenly, a cold hand rested on the back of my hand. I opened my eyes and saw that woman approaching me with her face. She said, I think you are a kind person. You have to listen to me. After sweeping the tomb, you must be careful. Don't stay there overnight.There is no shuttle bus to go back, you should also come to live in Xihe Town, it is only a few miles away by foot.My name is Zihua, and I run a small restaurant in the town, and I have a few rooms upstairs for guests.I'm not soliciting business. If you stay in the cemetery, you will die that night. If you come back to life the next morning, you will become an honest gravekeeper.

Although I was mentally prepared for the cemetery I was going to, after hearing what this woman said, my heart suddenly felt tense.Just as I was about to ask her why she said these words, she suddenly coughed and coughed intermittently, as if she didn't want me to ask her more.

When the car arrived at Xihe Town, I got out of the car with the woman named Zihua.I have already made up my mind to go to the small restaurant opened by her to eat first, learn more about the situation from her, and then go to the cemetery.After a long car ride, my first need after getting out of the car is to go to the bathroom.Before going into the bathroom, I told Zihua that I was going to eat at her place, but she looked at me blankly after hearing that, not at all happy that the restaurant had customers.

When I came out of the toilet, the woman was gone.Fortunately, Xihe Town is very small, with only two streets in the shape of a "D".I walked along the road and saw two small restaurants, but I didn't find the woman named Zihua after I went in.Going forward, turning the corner of the street, I suddenly saw wreaths and sacrificial tents in front of a house on the side of the street, and an old-fashioned tape recorder was playing dirge music.I approached and saw the words on the outermost wreath - Gou Zihua's niece Qiangu.There was a "buzz" in my head, and I couldn't help taking a few steps back, almost knocking down an old woman passing by behind me.The old woman scolded me, "Damn it in the daytime," and walked forward slowly, hunched over like a shrimp.

I retreated to eat at a restaurant I had been to in the first place.The shop owner is a one-eyed old man. When he was serving the dishes, I pretended to be casual and asked, did someone die in this town?He gave me a sideways look, and said, yes, that woman has suffered from tuberculosis for many years, and it is better to die so as not to be tortured.Xihe Town does not keep her, but has a place to keep her.

The one-eyed old man spoke in a strange tone, which made me feel very uncomfortable.After eating in a hurry and walking out of the shop, I had a feeling in my heart that I couldn't stay here for long.I forgot to bring a flashlight when I went out to pack my things. I originally wanted to buy one in this town, but at this moment I was confused and forgot about it.I walked out of the town and headed straight for the Xitu Cemetery.I have to walk for seven or eight miles. Seeing that the sun is westward, I have to get there before dark.

Maybe it was the experience from the car to the town that let me know that there are really incredible things in the world.This caused me to stop several times on the way to the cemetery, wondering whether to go forward or back.To be honest, I was scared.Although I have the confidence to be a special soldier in my heart, people who have been soldiers are also human, and there are certain things in the world that everyone is afraid of.

In this way, I walked hesitantly to the Xitu Cemetery.What supports my strength is that I will do something that will stun my colleagues in the newspaper office.A more exciting long-form report than the inside story of the beggar gang will be born in my hands.All people have to admit that I am a person who dares to take risks and do great things.It's just that I can't die before that, and I can't somehow become a puppet-like grave keeper.When I got to the cemetery, I had to be very careful.

After observing the vast cemetery in the twilight, I descended from the hillside and walked towards the gravekeeper's house.This is a gray house with an attic on the first floor and the ground floor, protected by a wall covered with vines, with long and steep stone steps leading to the courtyard gate.The courtyard door was ajar, so I yelled a few times and got no answer, so I opened the door and walked in.There is a dampness in the yard, which may be the reason for the more rain this summer.A lot of stones for tombstones were piled up on one side of the yard. A black cat squatted on the stones. Seeing me come in, its green eyes flickered a few times, then turned around and shot towards the corner of the house.There was the sound and smell of making dinner coming from that direction. I walked over and stopped at the door of the gravekeeper's kitchen. I saw a fat peasant woman busy in front of the stove. I think this person was the Zhou that Bai Mei mentioned. Damn.She saw me and asked a little surprised, who are you looking for?I said, I'm lost, can I ask for a drink?After saying this, I felt a little guilty, and I knew that my adventure plan had begun.

The fat woman said "Yo", young man, where are you going?Look at your pitiful appearance, come in and have some rice soup.

I immediately pretended to be lame, dragged one leg and walked into the house with difficulty, with a painful expression on my face, the fat woman was a little surprised, what's wrong with you?I said that I fell outside just now and probably sprained my ankle.The fat woman immediately moved a bench for me to sit down, and brought me a bowl of rice soup, and said, it's getting dark, where can you go like this?I said go from here to the mountains, there is a Lingfeng Temple, you know?The fat woman shook her head and said, never heard of it.I am from here, and within a radius of one or two hundred miles, there are no temples.Young man, what are you looking for in a temple, burning incense?I said no, I was going to become a monk.The fat woman immediately widened her eyes, yo, you want to be a family member at such a young age, why can't you think about it?I said it’s not that I can’t think about it, it’s because I want to, that’s why I decided to become a monk.My girlfriend fell from a plane and died. What do you mean I'm alive?Die, I can't swallow this breath again, after much deliberation, it's better to go to the temple to serve the Buddha and cultivate my nature.

What I said made the fat woman's eyes turn red, she sighed and said, poor man, I can't persuade you if you want to enter Buddhism.How about this, eat dinner and stay here, and wait for a few days to recover before leaving.But I can't decide this matter, Yang Huzi must agree to it.

I glanced out the door, and it was getting dark in the yard.The black cat jumped out from nowhere, jumped on my hind legs and then shot out of the door, leaving a furry feeling on my hind legs.

Seeing me looking out the door, the fat woman said again, are you hungry?Have dinner when they come back.Something happened in the cemetery, and they will come back after dealing with it.

(End of this chapter)