Chapter 13 Chapter 12 The Dead in the Pit

In Wuhan before, I rented a lot of pirated DVDs with the gangsters on the street, most of them were Hong Kong ghost movies, and all of them included ghosts in the toilet.Therefore, I have been afraid of the toilet since I was a child. When I was a child, I often made trouble with my dad to accompany me to pee in the middle of the night.I was caught off guard in the latrine just now and saw a person. I was so frightened that my hands trembled, and with a muffled snap, the flashlight fell straight into the latrine. The people in the village are very simple, and there will never be such things as inflatable dolls, so the person in the latrine must be a person, and a dead person at that.Instead of yelling in fright, I hurried back to the house and slapped Zhao Shuai awake who was having a dream.When Zhao Shuai woke up and listened to me, he was full of suspicion, thinking that I was playing tricks on him.I didn't bother to explain, so I took out a flashlight from my bag and turned around to wake Li Xiuzhu up.

Seeing this, Zhao Shuai hurriedly followed, and I strode up to Li Xiuzhu's door, knocking on a woman's door in the middle of the night was a bit shameful, but human life was at stake, even Lafayette Cixi had to wake her up if she was sleeping in it.After knocking for a long time, Li Xiuzhu rubbed her sleepy eyes and opened the door, muttering that the old lady is not feeling well today, so she won't do your business.Zhao Shuai shot Li Xiuzhu's eyes directly with a flashlight, and Li Xiuzhu woke up. He asked what was going on, and suddenly woke her up in the middle of the night.

I lowered my voice and pretended to be calm: "There are dead people in the latrine at the back door of your house!" "Brother Lu, what are you talking about?" Li Xiuzhu asked confusedly, "Why are there dead people in the toilet?" "I said Lu Jianxin, it's not that I'm not on your side, don't forget, we went to the bathroom together during dinner, the latrine was full of feces and urine, no one was dead!" Zhao Shuai was still blaming me for waking him up. "Believe it or not, we'll see the outcome later, now you go and see with me!" After I finished speaking, I bravely went to the toilet again.

I brought two people with me this time, so I wasn't so scared, but I felt very strange in my heart.Almost every household in this village has its own small latrine, and it stands to reason that everyone only uses their own latrine, and no one would go to another house to defecate wickedly.Even if someone occupies the toilet at home, you can go outside the stockade to do it. There are bushes everywhere, and it's easy to take wild shit.Zhao Shuai was right, we had just gone to the toilet when we had dinner, and there were no dead people in the latrine at that time.If someone is forced to borrow a latrine, and then accidentally falls into the latrine, then he will always call for help, thinking about it feels very strange.

After going around in a circle, we came to the latrine behind the wooden house. Zhao Shuai approached with his nose pinched. When he saw the dead man in the latrine, he backed away in fright and knocked Li Xiuzhu behind him a long way.Li Xiuzhu anxiously pushed Zhao Shuai away, stepped forward to have a look, and she immediately yelled out in shock.Only then did I notice that the dead person in the latrine was a middle-aged woman. Her face was pale, and she looked weird soaked in the yellow-green dung. The latrines here are different from those in the city. They are made of wood. A big hole is dug in the soil, and then two wooden boards are built on top of the hole. When going to the toilet, they step on the wooden boards.The excrement in the latrine was almost on the board, and if a slightly fatter person stepped on it, the board was stuck to the excrement.It was the first time I saw this kind of toilet. It would be an exaggeration to describe the urination before dinner as thrilling. I was afraid that if I pulled down the zipper of my pants, I would have fallen first.

Li Xiuzhu was shocked for a while, and said, "This is my mother!" Zhao Shuai and I stared wide-eyed, because we remember that during dinner, Father Li said angrily that Li Xiuzhu's mother and younger brother were dead. Could it be that this old guy killed someone and abandoned his body here?Even if Mother Li died of natural causes, she shouldn't have thrown the body into the toilet. Isn't that blasphemy to the dead?What is certain is that we went to the toilet before dinner, and there were no dead people in the latrine.If you want to dispose of the body, it is only after dinner and at bedtime.But, why throw it into the latrine, why not bury it, isn't it easier to conceal the crime?

Li Xiuzhu was at a loss, she stood on the side moving her lips, as if she couldn't make up her mind whether to pick up her mother from the latrine.Of course, I believe that Li Xiuzhu didn't miss her. Even though she hasn't been home for many years, she will never forget her appearance.Although my mother remarried and went abroad very early, I still remember her appearance, and I will never forget her until I die.Li Xiuzhu returned to her hometown full of expectations, and wanted to honor the two elders, but who knew that she saw her mother die tragically in the latrine in the middle of the night, which was hard for anyone to accept.

The three of us stood silently in the darkness, and Zhao Shuai couldn't hold back anymore, so he asked, "Should I ask Father Li to wake up? Let him know about this, right?" "Yes, yes, call your dad." I echoed. At this time, the elder must be in charge of the overall situation, and Zhao Shuai and I must be outsiders. Li Xiuzhu nodded, her tears didn't come out, I noticed that her eyes were a little strange, as if she knew how her mother died.After Li Xiuzhu left, Zhao Shuai and I whispered to each other and discussed who killed Li's mother.According to the reaction of a normal person, when he found out that his mother died, and it was an abnormal death, even if he didn't cry out excitedly, he should shed a few tears. How could he be so calm.However, it cannot be said that Li Xiuzhu has always been calm. At least she was really shocked when she found Li's mother just now. Maybe she didn't expect her mother to die.

Just as I was talking to Zhao Shuai, Li Xiuzhu quarreled with Father Li, and the whole wooden house was about to be overturned.None of us were mentally prepared. We were taken aback by the sudden quarrel, and the unfinished urine almost burst out just now.Li Xiuzhu went to ask Father Li to come over, why did they suddenly quarrel, they were not afraid that others would see a joke.I don't even look at what time it is. If the family is not united, who else can I expect to sympathize with? After a while, Father Li came over angrily. He stood far away and looked towards the latrine, his brows drooping down again.Zhao Shuai and I withdrew to the side, thinking that this trip to Yunnan was really not peaceful. First, we were robbed, and now we met dead people. Maybe we would enter Menghai vertically and return to Beijing horizontally.We obediently stood aside, ready to listen to Father Li's orders, even if we were asked to retrieve the corpses from the latrine, it would be fine, since they entertained us so warmly, we couldn't live and eat for nothing.

Who knew that Li Xiuzhu said angrily: "Did you kill my mother! Tell me!" Father Li stood quietly, and it took a while before he admitted: "I killed it, didn't I say it when I was eating, your mother and your brother are dead!" Hearing Li's father mention Li Xiuzhu's younger brother, I just remembered that when I went to the bathroom before dinner, I saw a young man throwing a tantrum behind the house, saying that the people in the house were not his relatives.Now that Li's father admitted to killing someone, will Li Xiuzhu's younger brother also be in trouble, just like his mother?This family is really strange. I thought my family was messed up enough, but I didn't expect someone to be more complicated than my family.

Li Xiuzhu asked in a daze: "You killed my younger brother too? No wonder they all disappeared. I kept not asking. I thought they were driven away by you again. So..." "Have you asked enough!" Father Li yelled, "You came back to ask me these things? Then you might as well die outside!" Zhao Shuai and I were suppressed by Father Li's momentum, and we didn't dare to take a breath, for fear of harming Chi Yu and being scolded by Father Li.Because the noise of the quarrel was too loud, and the mountains and fields were so quiet, a single bird call could spread throughout the village, not to mention such a fierce quarrel, so the whole village got up to watch the excitement.Not all the villages are full of Li people, but also Hani, Dai, and Han people. There is also a Chinese teacher in the village, so everyone can understand the quarrel between Father Li and Li Xiuzhu.Of course, why did Father Li argue with Li Xiuzhu in broken Mandarin? I think he deliberately quarreled for outsiders like us. The old people in the village came up to persuade them in coarse clothes, trying to ask what was going on, but they were all stunned when they saw the dead people in the latrine.The onlookers chatted quickly, and in the crowd I saw Lao Wang again, the tractor master.Lao Wang was also very surprised to see us. After we broke up with Lao Wang in the town during the day, we did not come to Manlong Village together.Lao Wang squeezed over to greet us and asked why we were here. Of course I was not stupid, I only said that I came here for fun, and didn't say anything else. When Li Xiuzhu and Father Li were arguing, Lao Wang told us that Mother Li was still alive during the day, and everyone in the village saw it with their own eyes.However, Father Li had a bad temper and often quarreled with his family members. That's how Li Xiuzhu got angry.During the day, Li's mother had an awkward fight with Li's father, and Li's father even beat Li's mother. From this point of view, Li's father is indeed very suspicious.What's more, Father Li has already personally admitted to murdering someone, so it may be very difficult to deny it in front of everyone. Li Xiuzhu ignored the persuasion of others, and threw out the vigor she had cultivated in the capital in the past few years: "It's fine to beat and scold me since I was a child, and you can vent your anger on my mother and brother when I leave. They are human beings, not beasts! It’s a beast, you feed it food after beating and scolding it, but we have to bring food to your mouth in turn! You know how to drink and drink all day, why didn’t you drink yourself to death! You are worthless, you can’t earn If you get a dime, you know how to vent your anger on the family! If you don’t look at other people’s homes, they grow such good tea and sell them in the town. One day they won’t eat meat. What about us? We don’t even have rice, and we still have to ask Borrowing from someone else's house, you are an old bastard, and you have the nerve to kill your own wife!?" Father Li probably didn't expect his daughter to be able to swear, his eyes turned red in front of so many people, but he still didn't defend himself, as if he acquiesced to his crime.I believe that Li Xiuzhu will not talk nonsense, or the folks in the village will stand up to defend Li's father when they hear these harsh words, but everyone stands silently by the side, making it clear that what Li Xiuzhu said is the truth.The village had been very peaceful until a murderer suddenly appeared, and the mountains exploded all of a sudden, and the elders discussed what to do. Li Xiuzhu still felt puzzled. She had been outside for so many years, endured humiliation, and sold herself to earn money in order to let her family live a good life, but she didn't want to suffer major changes after returning home. Even a strong person would collapse.I didn't try to persuade Li Xiuzhu, and let her yell at her to relieve her emotions.The folks in the village seemed to be on Li Xiuzhu's side as well, but Father Li stood there in a daze, letting others point and curse. Just listening, Li Xiuzhu scolded again: "Then what about my brother, where did you kill him and throw him, did you feed the wolf?!" This time, it was not Old Li who answered, but an old man with white hair: "Your brother? He died three years ago, don't you know?" "Ah?" Li Xiuzhu froze for a moment. "He died of illness three years ago. Everyone in the village knew about it. Why, didn't your father tell you?" The old man was also surprised. However, Zhao Shuai and I were even more surprised. If Li Xiuzhu's younger brother died three years ago, was the young man we saw behind the wooden house before dinner a human or a ghost?