Tomb Keeper

Chapter 3 Xitu Cemetery (2)

I asked suspiciously, what else would happen in the cemetery?The fat woman said it was not a big deal.That cemetery, you saw it when you came here just now, there is always a path paved with stone slabs between the rows of graves.However, there was a vine growing beside one of the graves, which lay across the road like a snake, and people would trip over if they were not paying attention when passing by.I cut it with scissors, and within a few days it lay across the road again. I have never seen such a fast-growing ivy.Today, Yang Huzi and the others finally decided to take a hoe to dig it up and forget it.You know, you can't move the soil casually around the grave, so before you hoe, you have to burn incense and paper to the grave.But it doesn't take much time, and they will be back soon.

Just as he was talking, a thin young man had already jumped in the door. His neck was slender, as if it would break if he twisted it.He threw himself on the pot and sniffed it with his nose, then gestured to the fat woman with his hand, and made an "ahhh" sound in his throat.The fat woman said, don't worry dumb, the meal will be ready soon, the fat woman gestured to him to eat at the same time, and the dumb sat down at a large square table.The second person who entered was a man with long hair, wearing an iron gray long-sleeved shirt, with a tired face, like a decadent artist.He barely glanced at me when he came in, as if he had no interest in any strangers.He went straight to the dining table and sat down on the side near the wall.In the dim light, it made him look like a shadow.The third person who entered the door was a little different. Before the person arrived, the voice came first.Mother Zhou!This snake, I caught it back!Needless to say, this person must be Yang Huzi.The old man who stepped through the door has a strong body and a goatee on his chin, which makes people think of Mr. Accountant in an old-fashioned Chinese medicine store.He handed a vine coiled in his hand to the fat woman and said, Mother Zhou, you stuffed it into the stove and burned it to ashes!Otherwise, the monster will come out again.Mother Zhou took the vine tremblingly, obviously a little scared.She tilted her head and stuffed it into the firewood stove, and added a large handful of grain grass, and the bright red fire immediately licked out from the edge of the stove door.

Mother Zhou patted the grass clippings on her hands, saw Yang Huzi staring at me, so she came over and said, "This young man, hehe, I want to be a monk, but I haven't found the temple yet, but I hurt my leg. The situation of this poor man was explained a lot, and he suggested to Yang Huzi that I should stay here to recuperate my injury for a few days.Yang Huzi nodded habitually while listening, not knowing whether he agreed or was thinking about it.After listening to Zhou's mother, he came over and lifted my trouser legs, pointed to my ankle and said it was here. I said yes, and he said why it wasn't swollen?I was taken aback, it seemed that my plan had slipped through the cracks.I had to bite the bullet and say it, but there was pain in my bones, and it hurt like hell when I walked.Yang Huzi pondered for a while and said, where did you fall?I replied eagerly, in the graveyard.Yang Huzi immediately asked anxiously, in the cemetery?Do you remember where exactly?I said that there are similar places in such a large cemetery, so I can't remember clearly.Yang Huzi is still not reconciled, think again, for example, when you fell down, what name was on the tombstone next to you?I still shook my head and said, didn't notice.Yang Huzi then turned to Zhou's mother and said, burn three sticks of incense in the main room, and ask him to apply the incense ash on the sore spot at bedtime tonight, apply it for three nights, and wrap it up.After finishing speaking, he turned his head and asked me again, oh, young man, what's your name?I said my name was Xu Yong, and my friends all called me Da Xu.He said, okay, Da Xu, let's eat first.

I felt relieved for a while, and as soon as I stood up, a strange smell came into my nose, a bit bitter and a bit stuffy.Zhou's mother glanced at the stove door and said, it was the soul of the strange vine that came out.Yang Huzi waved his hand decisively and said, everyone go to the yard to hide for a while, this thing is very poisonous.

Everyone went to the yard, and even the mute followed out sensiblely, but the long-haired man sat in the house without moving.Mother Zhou shouted into the room, Poet Feng, that smell will kill you.A muffled voice said from inside the room, it's all right.Yang Huzi said to Zhou's mother, don't care about him, he has died once, so he is not afraid of these evils.

Everyone stood in the yard for a few minutes, and Zhou's mother went to the door to sniff, and then turned around and said, "It's gone, everyone, let's go in and eat."

This dinner was destined to be full of twists and turns.As soon as everyone sat down at the dinner table, Yang Huzi asked as if suddenly remembering, why hasn't Ye Zi come downstairs yet?Zhou's mother went out and called upstairs, Ye Zi, let's eat.No one answered upstairs.Yang Huzi said to himself, this woman, who doesn't sleep at night and can't wake up during the day, must have fallen asleep.He made some gestures to the mute, and the mute went upstairs.Soon, the dumb man returned to the kitchen, and reported to Yang Huzi yelling and screaming.Yang Huzi wondered, no, why is there no one in the room?Mother Zhou thought for a while and said, oh, Ye Zi may have gone to Xihe Town.I heard her say yesterday that she met a new woman named Zihua in the town. She went shopping in the town today, and she might live at Zihua's place tonight.

I was terrified to hear Zhou's mother's words, and I didn't taste much of a dinner.After the meal, it was already dark, but there was a cold moon in the sky, and I pretended to be limping for a walk in the yard.Zhou's mother said, you go upstairs to rest, I said this foot needs to move, it will get better sooner.

Yang Huzi has already shown me the small building in front of me.In addition to the kitchen and Zhou's mother's room downstairs, there is a larger main room with a statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva on it.There are some rattan chairs and tea tables against the wall, which can be regarded as the reception room of the cemetery.There is a door in the corner of the main room, and the room inside is the ashes storage room for temporary use before burial.At the same time, there are a lot of things like incense, wax paper, money and soul-calling banners. It is said that the things in this house are managed by Ye Zi.There are five rooms upstairs, Yang Huzi, Poet Feng and Dumb each live in one.The two rooms at the end are guest rooms for tomb-sweeping and burial guests who need to stay overnight. Tonight I will live in the room at the end.There is also a staircase leading to the attic, where the leaves live.It is said that there is a large platform outside the attic, from which you can see most of the cemetery.

I sat down on the stones used as tombstones in the yard, and the black cat, which was flickering and disappearing, had disappeared. For no reason, I felt that it jumped onto the roof platform.The courtyard door was already closed.Yang Huzi told me solemnly that if he heard someone knocking on the door at night, he must not go downstairs to answer the door.Remember?I quickly said, remember.

When I went upstairs, the sound from the wooden stairs echoed a bit, as if someone else was going up the stairs at the same time as you.I remembered what the woman named Zihua said in the car, don't stay there overnight... But now I can only go upstairs to live on this road, this is my own choice.I couldn't help but flashed a thought in my mind, whether I need to write down a will or something after entering the room, and then hide this piece of paper under the floor.That way, even if I die or somehow become a ghost, my parents and newspaper leaders will have clues to follow.

I went upstairs and walked towards the door at the end.

(End of this chapter)