Chapter 7 Prologue to Chapter 6

As mentioned earlier, this complex should have been built only in the last ten years.It was only after I walked up that I realized that the inside was huge, and it was estimated that it would cost a lot of money to build.No one can be seen along the way, just like when entering the gate, there is only one two-way road leading to the north, straight, with willow trees planted on the side of the road, but the street lights on both sides are not on to avoid darkness everywhere. There was silence all around, and the only thing that could show the direction, except for the moon above the head, were only the distant buildings in the south, east, west and north.The northern building is particularly bright at night.

"We're going to the old house where grandpa lives. Apart from the servants, he's the only one left there. Speaking of which, there's no room for renovation in the whole family, and only the courtyard where grandpa lives in." Li Nuoyi introduced absently. "After all, it is a rural place far away from the town. Even if you have money, the problems of voltage and power transmission are not easy to solve, so the street lights in this family are basically not turned on. The younger generation of the family has long gone outside to enjoy themselves. It is not a big deal. love back."

As I walked, I asked, "You haven't been back for several years, right?" "It's been more than five years. To be honest, if grandpa wasn't dying, I wouldn't want to come back." Li Nuoyi said in a low tone, "Li family, only grandpa still cares about me now, so whether it's true or not, I have to come and see." This is the Li Nuoyi I know, and I always feel that she has many things in common with me. I have no mother since I was a child, and she lost her parents; both have a distant home that they don't want to go back to; they both have a past that they don't want to recall.

The difference is that what I hate is only the rules of my family and that dead place, but both my grandfather and my father, as well as those uncles and aunts, are still warm to me. Ke Li Nuoyi's relatives, in a sense, only the dying grandfather is left.No!In fact, I guessed it a long time ago. Perhaps in her heart, Grandpa's critical illness was actually a trap set by her relatives, another trap that forced her to come back, and then racked her brains to take the company away from her. That's why she seemed preoccupied along the way.Once relatives want to hurt you, they will be more terrifying than strangers. They know everything about you, know how to attack your weaknesses, and know how to let you give up.

I remained silent and just held her tightly by the hand.After all, I am an outsider, and I have no position in this kind of family struggle.But there are really people who didn't have a brain and hurt her, and I don't mind teaching those people what is scarier than death. Finally, Grandpa Li Nuoyi's house is within easy reach.The door was wide open, and the murmurs of many people could be faintly heard from it.This is indeed an old house, the walls are covered with moss and dilapidated old bricks and tiles, and the roof is covered with thick weeds. You can see the long history without discerning.

Li Nuoyi stopped, took a deep breath, and then stepped forward again, showing a smile on her face, and shouted as she walked: "Grandpa, I'm back!" The whispers in the room suddenly stopped The room was dead silent.Li Nuoyi stopped again, and I stood beside her, not knowing whether to walk in or slip out.Not long after, a large group of middle-aged men and women dressed in gorgeous and jeweled clothes walked out of the room directly opposite in the courtyard, they should all be her distant relatives. "Oh, little Nuoyi is back." On the left is a woman who is at least in her fifties, her face is covered with ditches, and she is extremely fat. While smiling fake, she moves her body pretending to be affectionate and wants to pounce on her.

Li Nuoyi also smiled, shifting her body and mind calmly, avoiding that disgusting embrace, "Second Aunt, you are still as generous and fat. Is Second Uncle okay?" "That dead ghost is very good , now I don’t know which vixen I’m fooling around with.” A middle-aged man behind her pushed her away and walked over, "Nuoyi, it's just in time to come back. The old man never died, as if he was waiting for you to come back and take one last look at him." "Hello, third uncle." Li Nuoyi bowed politely. "Little Nuoyi, why didn't you call me? Could it be that there was too much extravagance outside, and we little people don't know each other anymore?" A strange voice came out, and it was an old woman who was dressed strangely and gaudyly.She looked at Li Nuoyi's face, the colors in her eyes were full of emotions.

"How come, even if my little aunt turns into ashes, I will know her." Li Nuoyi's smile did not diminish at all. "You, you little girl, you really can talk!" Her little aunt was so angry that she almost choked up, she gave Li Nuoyi a resentful look, turned and left. "Okay, everyone, get out of the way and don't block the road. The old man is hanging on his breath. The doctor said that it is a miracle that he can survive until now. Let Noy see him for the last time. " A man in his forties in the middle spoke, he looked at Li Nuoyi with a smile, and nodded slightly at her.

Li Nuoyi saluted back, gently tugged on my sleeve, and signaled me to follow her into the room. "Who is that person?" I secretly looked at the man in the middle, and I always felt that he had great prestige among the group of old and young, and seemed to be good to Li Nuoyi. "He is not from the same family, but a married man. My aunt's husband seems to be called Wu Shengze. Although he has only been in this family for six years, he has some tricks and made the whole family obedient. Listen to him." "At least one-third of the land in Liluo Village has been leased to her by her. On the surface, this person is nice to everyone, smooth, and righteous, but I just don't like him. "

Li Nuoyi explained in a low voice. I said "hmm" and glanced at the man named Wu Shengze again.Seeing where I was measuring him, the middle-aged man grinned and showed a simple and honest smile. He didn't look like a scheming person no matter what.However, Li Nuoyi's words are also reasonable. The so-called knowing people and faces but not their hearts, I still listed him as the key observation object. There is a faint premonition in my heart, it seems that this trip to visit relatives is not so smooth.Perhaps Grandpa Li Nuoyi's critical illness will bring about a new round of power alternation, and that is what everyone except Li Nuoyi likes to see.

Li Nuoyi and I walked into the old peach house, turned right, and came to the bedroom.There were more than a dozen young people in this small place, and eight of them gathered around two tables and were playing cards happily. When they saw us coming in, they didn't even bother to say hello. "These people are my brothers and sisters. I don't want to introduce them, and there is no need to introduce them." Li Nuoyi said in a low voice. I saw an old man lying on the bed in the corner of the room. His body was covered with a blackened quilt, and his face full of ditches occasionally showed a painful expression.He opened his dirty eyes wide, and those eyeballs stared blankly at the ceiling without blinking. For some reason, I can actually read an extreme emotion from the eyes of the old man, fear?Yes, it must be fear!What is he afraid of when his life is about to end?I have no way of knowing. Li Nuoyi looked at the old man, tears streaming down his face immediately, "Grandpa, I'm back." She rushed forward, sobbing, and hugged the old man's withered arm. Several nurses were taking care of the old man, and one of them said, "We just gave the old man two doses of booster shots, and he can't hold on anymore. If you have something to say, hurry up." I frowned, how did the nurse speak?Perhaps because of Li Nuoyi's call, his grandfather finally responded.The old man grabbed her hand tremblingly, and turned his head slowly, as if he wanted to see his granddaughter clearly with his cloudy eyes. "You, come back, just come back." The old man's tone was vague, as if every word he said was consuming his life energy. "Grandpa, I'm sorry, I would have come back to accompany you earlier if I knew about it." While shedding tears, Li Nuoyi stroked the old man's withered arm, "You will definitely get better." "Silly, child, I, know, my own situation." The old man struggled to roll his eyes, and looked at me beside him: "He, that is, that is?" I glanced at Li Nuoyi, then grabbed the old man's right hand very cooperatively, and said sincerely: "I am your grandson-in-law, grandfather." Hearing what I said, the old man's body suddenly produced a great strength, he seemed to be burning the remaining vitality, he grasped the arm with all his strength, "I, in this life, the most worried, my granddaughter .You, want, protect, okay, her." "I will." I was pinched by his huge force and I was about to break out in a cold sweat. "Protect her, Li family, only she has, a ray of hope." The old man's consciousness became fuzzy, and he didn't even understand what he said. He let go of his hand dejectedly, looking at me with pale eyes without blinking.Breathing gradually became low and oppressive, and finally stopped completely. Li Nuoyi felt the old man's hand fall limply, and shouted heartbreakingly: "Nurse, first aid, save my grandpa." The nurse at the bedside hurried over to check the situation, and after giving first aid for a while, she finally shook her head, "My condolences, Mr. Li has already left." "How could it be! How could it be!" Li Nuoyi sat on the edge of the bed blankly, feeling extremely sad, even crying and losing strength. Hearing the news of the death, all Li's family members rushed into the bedroom, only a few women cried a few times in a hypocritical manner, and did not shed a single tear.The men laughed and began to prepare the things for the funeral. One by one, the items were brought in from outside the old house and placed in the peach house. No one noticed that even if I was dead, Mr. Li's right hand was still tightly clutching me.I pulled my hand out with great difficulty, my thinking was very chaotic. Before he died, he said that only Li Nuoyi has a glimmer of hope!What exactly does this mean?There is an old saying that when a person is about to die, his words are good. There are also legends that people who are about to die will see through many things that they could not see clearly in the moment before death. Could it be that Mr. Li foresaw some kind of subversive disaster in the Li family?In recent days, Li Nuoyi was frequently pulled into a terrifying space, and she vaguely felt that she was cursed.And the source of the curse is her hometown, Liluo Village.Could the last words be related to the so-called curse?Because there are so few clues, I really can't figure it out. Li Nuoyi was sad and still sat there, not crying, expressionless.I hugged her gently and helped her to the yard.The cold wind outside the house woke her up. She hugged me, put her chin on my shoulder, and cried. I don't know when, the sound of mourning came from the house.There were people coming and going from both of us, busy. "Crying out, does it feel better?" I tried to lower my voice an octave. The death of a loved one is indeed painful, but it still needs to be faced after all.Li Nuoyi is smart and rational, and naturally knows what the most important thing to do now is. She was sad for a while, and finally wiped away her tears, looked at me with eyes red and swollen from crying, "Go in, I'm busy." This sentence is full of deep meaning and helplessness. I nodded slightly.And she went back to Peach House again. A large group of villagers had already come to the house. They put the body of the old man of the Li family into a shroud, and carried a very old-looking coffin to the center of the house. Mr. Li, who was covered in a white shroud, was carried into the coffin with a white linen cloth covering his face, and the coffin lid was placed not far away.Not long after, a middle-aged man walked in from outside the yard. He led the old and young of the Li family around the yard, pinching his fingers and wondering what he was doing. "He is the only yin and yang in Liluo Village, and he is invited for all weddings and funerals in the village." Seeing me looking at the man, Li Nuoyi immediately explained. The so-called yin and yang is a special occupational name that is very common in western rural areas. People in this business must be very familiar with the gossip in the Book of Changes. People in superstitious areas believe that the date is very important. Whether it is a wedding or a burial on the right day, it will bring auspiciousness to future generations, but if you get married or hold a funeral at the wrong time, Both are taboo, which will lead to family discord and disasters, so yin and yang are needed. Yin and Yang will tell you which day of the month you should get married, and also tell you how many days the dead should be placed at home, and which day should be burned to bless future generations. The yin and yang of Liluo Village are different from those of the outside world. I watched him walk around curiously, as if he was exploring something.After tossing and tossing for a long time before resting, Yin Yang waved his big hand and shouted in a low voice: "Go to the white table." As soon as the call was over, the Li family held a thick stack of white toilet paper with both hands.Yin Yang cut the pile of white paper into long strips with scissors, and then distributed them to everyone, "All the relatives of the old man took some back, and sealed all the doors and windows, so as not to break in when the old man returned to his soul. This house, except for the bedroom , and shut them all down." The villagers invited by Li's family to help immediately picked up white paper and pasted it on the windows and doors with paste. From a distance, it seemed that they were preparing to move, with white crosses everywhere. This custom is also very common in the west of our country, but there is nothing strange about it, but the coffin in the peach house surprised me a little.Generally, when the elderly die, they will use a new coffin, and this is the first time they have seen an old coffin. Seeing my doubts, Li Nuoyi explained again: "That coffin has been left in Li's house until now, and I can't tell how many years. After the elders in the family passed away, they were all placed in that coffin. This is Li's coffin. The unique customs of the family." Her eyes touched Grandpa's body in the coffin, and she couldn't help but want to cry again. I patted her on the back lightly, comfortingly said: "My condolences, the dead cannot be brought back to life." "Ok." She left as soon as she rested her head on my chest, "Thank you." "It has nothing to do with you and me. You don't need to say thank you." I shrugged. "Then, do you want to confirm the position of fiance tonight?" She made a charming look with her red and swollen eyes. I was choked up, and panickedly shirked: "Ah, this, haha, it's not very good, after all, your grandpa just left." Li Nuoyi let out a "puchi" laugh, full of the charm of pear blossoms and rain, "Fool, I'm lying to you, I don't feel that way now. Let's go, go and burn some paper money for grandpa. To be honest, he never lived What a good day, even if you have money, you will still farm the fields sooner or later, and live the hard life of the past." Just as she was talking, an old lady came over, holding two white linen cloths in her hand: "Oh, niece Li, this is your fiance, right? Come, put the cloths on." Speaking of which, since I entered Li's house, everyone seems to be deliberately ignoring my existence, no one greets me, no one mentions me, as if the me beside Li Nuoyi is just a piece of air.At this time, I was not used to being noticed. "thanks." Li Nuoyi winked at me, she took the white cloth from the aunt, tied it on my forehead gently, tidied it up carefully, took a few steps back and looked at it, then smiled in satisfaction, She looked exactly like a happy housewife putting on a tie for her husband who was about to go out to work. There are many eyes around us secretly observing our every move.I smiled calmly, watching her put on her filial cloth, and then looked back at me meaningfully, all the meanings were expressed in a smile and a back. I was smiling wryly in my heart, when did the tacit understanding between myself and her reach such a level that I could understand the other party's meaning almost without speaking?He didn't want to drag her into his own dangerous life, but he didn't expect to find that she was already trapped in mud after turning around. The two of us walked to the coffin and burned the paper money in an iron pot that had just been brought and placed outside the peach house.Under the action of the hot air, the paper money that was gradually engulfed by the flames, ashes flew into the air, and flew towards the depths of the night. "I always feel that the two of us are incompatible with the current atmosphere." I lower my voice. "It's not just a matter of being left out. It was your grandfather who died, but all relatives seemed to treat you as an outsider. No one greeted you at the funeral, and no one came to tell us the process. " In this regard, I do have a lot of complaints. "It's good to get used to it. These are the hypocrisy of my good relatives." Li Nuoyi sneered, "Grandpa has a lot of land in Liluo Village under his name, and my dad bought it for him. According to the previous agreement, after grandpa's death, his land should belong to me, but I'm afraid most relatives Neither would mention that agreement, let alone see me get that land." "Now my shares account for 51% of the company. After I have my grandfather's land, the shares will skyrocket to 63, and my position will be more stable." Her face was expressionless, and her tone became more and more cold, "For relatives, this is not a happy thing. I'm afraid they don't need to wait until grandpa's bones are cold, they will make trouble." The so-called relatives are probably the same thing, there are fewer people who give charcoal in the snow, and more icing on the cake. Relatives of wealthy families, especially in family businesses, struggle for power and power is no less than a court war, and intrigue is common.But to be like relatives like Li Nuoyi, who doesn't even bother to hide their superficial efforts, and shows their purpose on their face nakedly, it really makes me uncomfortable. I scratched my head and was about to express some emotion when Yin Yang not far away raised his voice again and shouted in a sharp voice like a eunuch: "The Li family gathered at my side, now it's time to choose the tail girl. "