Chapter 15 Chapter Fifteen Her Past and Present

The process of finding Xiaoni is difficult.I had to go to the bottom of every clue I got.It has been said that it is safest to hide a leaf in the woods.Similarly, a person who disappears in a sea of ​​people is also the hardest to find. I found the company information of the real estate developer surnamed Shi on the Internet. He is the chairman, and I wrote down his office phone number.I went to the street and called his office from the pay phone.It was a woman's voice who answered the phone, I think it was the chairman's secretary. I said, isn't my godfather in the office?I want to talk to him.

The other party froze for a moment and said, oh, are you Yingzi?Chairman Shi is out, you can call him on the cell phone. I said, how do you know I'm Yingzi? The other party said, the chairman told me that he just accepted a goddaughter like you.Oh, here's a chance for me to see you. I said yes and put up the phone.A stone fell to my heart, this seventeen-year-old girl is not Xiaoni. This phone call was an idea I came up with all night, because whether it is the chairman himself or the secretary who answers the phone, they will send out inquiries such as "Are you XX", "Are you really XX", and so on. The purpose is also achieved.I just want to know if his goddaughter is Xiaoni.

I left the public phone booth, the street was crowded with people, and I lost another clue to find Xiaoni.The chances of her showing up in the hotel café were also slim, which made me feel exhausted when I got home and went to bed. I remembered that the first time Xiaoni called my sister was when she went home and lay on the bed after undergoing an artificial abortion.This memory reminds me of the one thousand yuan I once borrowed from the artist, and now I should pay him back. After dinner I went upstairs and knocked on the painter's door, but no one answered.The door of the neighbor's room was opened.Xiao Zeng came out and said, I saw the artist go out in the morning.Come and sit in my room.

Xiao Zeng's invitation to me was not out of politeness but as if he had something to do, so I went into his room.Yang Ling was not at home, Xiao Zeng said that she had a party with her colleagues in the unit. After sitting down, Xiao Zeng said that he knew from the neighbor that Xiao Ni was missing, and he asked me if I found any clues.I shook my head and sighed. He pointed to the computer on the table and said, there is a website for missing persons, have you checked it out? Send a message, and many netizens will give you ideas and clues. I said that I don't want to expand the influence for the time being, which is not good for Xiaoni's reputation.Perhaps, she will be home soon.

Maybe there is such a possibility, Xiao Zeng said, but what if she wants to go home but can't? Xiao Zeng's words shocked me, and I asked eagerly, do you know where Xiao Ni is? He lowered his head, and after a while he raised his head and said to me, I'm not sure, but there is a possibility that Xiao Ni might be hiding in the painter's room. There was a buzzing in my head, and Xiao Zeng slowly told what happened. Since moving here, Xiao Zeng first noticed a strange phenomenon in the painter's house, that is, when he was standing at the painter's door or sitting in the living room, he saw a woman's figure passing by the studio several times.He immediately went into the studio, but there was no one there.

Next, Yang Ling told him that the female college student who was tutoring Xiaoni downstairs was a bit spooky.Xiaoni's mother told the downstairs neighbor that the girl was very similar to her first daughter who died. Two incredible things were intertwined, Xiao Zeng and Yang Ling were a little panicked.They began to carefully observe every move of this woman named Jun.Every time they saw her going in and out of the painter's room, they watched through the crack of the door, or listened through the wall.However, they got nothing.It is impossible to conclude that Jun is the woman who appears and disappears in the studio.

Xiao Zeng's mental state is getting worse and worse, and he often wakes up in the middle of the night to hear the voice of a woman next door.But Yang Ling didn't hear anything. Finally, Xiao Zeng thought of seeking help from a psychiatrist. After many psychological consultations, Xiao Zeng realized that it was his subconscious mind that was causing the trouble. The cause of the incident was the oil painting of a woman with a naked back. When Xiao Zeng saw the painting for the first time in the artist's studio, he was strongly shocked.The beauty of the woman God created made him dizzy, and he thought for a moment, if only he could see this woman for real.After this idea entered his subconscious mind, he often had the hallucination of seeing a woman passing by in the studio.This kind of hallucination is to meet the needs of the subconscious mind, just like a dream, which presents things that have been suppressed by the conscious mind.

Just at this time, Xiao Zeng's subconscious guess about Jun being a little ghostly was mixed with the back figure in the painting, so that when he saw Jun in reality, he also felt that she behaved strangely. Thanks to the psychiatrist for counseling.Xiao Zeng told me that I misunderstood you before, but now I feel very embarrassed. I understood why Xiao Zeng and Yang Ling always looked at me with strange eyes.However, what Xiao Zeng saw and heard may not all be hallucinations, because there are secrets hidden in the painter's room.Now, Xiao Zeng mentioned that Xiao Ni might be hiding inside, which I never dreamed of.

Xiao Zeng said that although the psychiatrist made him aware of his hallucinations, at night, he still occasionally heard the faintly discernible voice of a woman coming from the painter's room.Last night, when he was eavesdropping outside the painter's door, he suddenly heard two terrible conversations Woman's Voice: I want to go home. Painter's Voice: No.Your sister will kill you when you go back. Xiao Zeng was taken aback, and accidentally knocked the door with his shoulder. The artist asked in the room, who?Xiao Zeng quickly slipped back into his room.He heard the voice of the painter opening the door to check.

Reminiscent of Xiaoni's disappearance, Xiao Zeng thinks that the woman in the painter's house may be Xiaoni.I never thought of this possibility, but the conversation Xiao Zeng heard was really shocking, and it made me reconsider the complexity of the world.If the woman who spoke was Xiao Ni, how could the artist think that I would kill Xiao Ni when she came home?The only way this could happen is if a demon possessed me and made me behave in a completely involuntary way.this is too scary. At this moment, footsteps were heard on the stairs.Xiao Zeng jumped up and quickly closed the door. He said that the painter must not see you with me, otherwise he would become suspicious.

Sure enough, it was the painter who came upstairs, his footsteps were heavy, as if he was carrying something heavy.After a sound of opening and closing the door, there was silence outside.I checked the time, it was half past ten in the evening.The night that has just begun seems to have buried some kind of danger. I didn't leave Xiao Zeng's house until there was no movement outside.When the door closed silently behind me, the corridor was dark.Not far to the left is the door of the painter's room. I consider whether I need to knock on the door and go in now.The clues provided by Xiao Zeng are thrilling. If Xiao Ni was in the painter's house, she might already be a ghost.Because my intuition tells me that the painter is not a person who can do bad things, he will not let Xiaoni hide with him, let alone put her under house arrest.From my observation, it is possible that he communicated with ghosts.From Qingqing in the painting to sister Ju who hanged herself to death, I have found traces of them in his house. I felt a pain in my heart.If Xiao Ni appears in the painter's house, it means that she is dead, and this is something I cannot accept anyway. I was a little scared, but I still knocked on the painter's door. When the painter opened the door for me, there was white foam all over my head and beard.He raised the towel in his hand and said that he was washing his hair, and asked me to sit in the living room for a while. I took a look inside the house. The doors to the bedroom and the studio were closed.I can't tell if anyone is hiding from me behind these doors.There is a bulging woven bag by the wall of the living room, which may be the thing that the painter just brought upstairs.I walked over and pressed the outside of the bag with my hand, and the inside was soft, like meat.My back was a little chilly, but I still mustered up the courage to open the bag and look inside. It was indeed a large piece of meat with red blood.I took a few steps back and slumped on the couch. At this time, the painter came out after washing his hair.Seeing the woven bag I had moved, he said, you are a cat, you immediately found the meat I brought back. I said, what meat? He looked at me a little suspiciously and said, pork, my friend in the country feeds it himself.Pure ecological pig.He always gives me half a head of pork every year, put it in the refrigerator and eat slowly.Wait a while, you bring a piece of meat down to Aunt He, this kind of meat cannot be bought in the city. I shook my head repeatedly and said no. The painter said that he built a small villa with a friend in the country, which is much cheaper than buying a house, the key is that the house can reflect his own style.He said he would take me to have a look at the villa after it was completed. For no reason, I thought of a castle-style building.Most painters like weirdness, and more weird things are bound to happen at his country house... Seeing me in a daze, the painter said, what's wrong with you?Is there any news about Xiao Ni? I blurted out that she wanted to go home. The painter exclaimed in surprise, where is she? I shook my head and said, I don't know. I will return the money I borrowed from the painter.He said you are rich?I said I earned it by working. I stand up.He glanced at the closed studio door and said, I want to enter the studio. The painter said, I haven't painted any new works recently, so I have nothing to see. I had already reached the door of the studio, turned around and said to him, I want to see Qingqing. It has been five days since Xiaoni disappeared, and there is still no news at all.I went to the coffee shop where she might appear for two more nights, only to return disappointed.On the Internet, I keep in touch with her on QQ every day.I also sent several text messages to her e-mail address, but there was no response, and her mobile phone was always turned off. I began to pray for Qingqing's help.The bare-backed woman in this oil painting has appeared in my dreams countless times, and she even appeared in my room in the middle of the night.Although I can't attest to whether this is true, there is a connection between me and her, and I hope she can guide me.Last night, when I saw her again in the painter's studio, I felt her back shake slightly on the painting, as if she was going to turn around and speak to me. I said to the painter, I saw her move. The painter said, here we go again, can you let me be quiet for a few days.Whenever you've seen this picture, I've been hearing movement in the studio at night.I told myself that it was my nervousness, but one night the sound was very loud and real. I went to the studio and saw that the pen holder had fallen to the floor, as if someone had knocked it off the table while walking. I said, in fact, you know who is in the studio, but you just don't want to tell me. The painter asked nervously: Who? I want to say, Qingqing, and sister Ju.All undead may wander in the painter's house, from the studio to the bathroom, their traces can be seen everywhere.Now, the conversation Xiao Zeng heard also indicated that Xiao Ni might also be here.All this made me really want to grab the artist by the collar and ask him to explain.But rationality tells me that this is useless. Only by careful observation can the painter be speechless when he really sees the undead. Now that he has built a castle-style villa in the countryside, he may think it is more appropriate to get along with the undead there. So I replied, you know who is in the studio.After I finished speaking, I rushed out of his room.I heard him mutter behind his back, inexplicable.I think he used that to hide his nervousness. Someone knocked on the door at four o'clock in the afternoon. It was Xiaoni's father who came again. I asked eagerly, Uncle Luo, is there any news about Xiaoni? He didn't speak, and after looking around the house, he said, isn't your Aunt He at home? I said, she went out to find Xiaoni.In the past few days, Aunt He repeatedly inquired among Xiaoni's classmates.She even shuttled around stations, squares and other places, hoping that Xiaoni's figure would appear.Aunt He didn't go home until dark. Uncle Luo sat down, his face was visibly thinner and a little haggard.Thinking of his accusations against me last time, I was a little scared.When I brought him a glass of water, my hands trembled a little, as if Xiaoni’s disappearance was my responsibility. Uncle Luo took the water glass, suddenly asked my birth date, and at the same time took out the Pen and notebook. It's kind of like censorship.When I got angry, I said that I am twenty-one years old this year, and you can calculate the date of birth yourself. He said, going back twenty-one years is a good calculation, but what month and date were you born? I said I didn't know, my mother died when I was very young, and my father rarely came to see me, I grew up with my grandmother. He said, didn't grandma tell you? I said, probably on May 12th.However, grandma's memory may not be accurate, and she doesn't know whether the date of birth is recorded in the solar calendar or the lunar calendar. He thought for a while and said, according to the habits of the elderly, this may be the date of the lunar calendar.After speaking, he wrote down the date in a small notebook. I asked in confusion, Uncle Luo, did you come home today for this reason? He said, I asked a friend who knows the Yijing gossip to do a divination for Xiaoni, but the result is still unclear. I am going to give your birthday horoscope to this friend for a divination. Maybe the two can be connected. I can see a name. I understood Uncle Luo's intentions, he wanted to see if Xiaoni and I were matched against each other. I said, Uncle Luo, there is no need to tell fortunes.If you think Xiaoni's disappearance is my responsibility.Then, if Xiaoni can't be found, I will die. Uncle Luo was stunned by my anger, he whispered, I didn't mean that, I said, don't hide it, you have always regarded me as your first daughter, Beibei, right?You suspect that Beibei is the child of Aunt He and the painter. Your evidence is that Aunt He had a relationship with the painter before marriage.You have wronged Aunt He, and your suspicion is not fair to the dead Bei Bei.Beibei is your child, do you understand? Uncle Luo's face was pale.He said, you already know all these things, Aunt He told you?Well, let me tell the truth, I suspected the reason for Beibei, it was just a flash of thought, and it was quickly dispelled.But after Beibei's death, your aunt He always insisted on this problem. After having Xiaoni, she still talked about Beibei, so we couldn't live together. I said, no matter what, you only love Xiaoni for the two children, right?So you think Xiaoni's disappearance is my responsibility, because you think I brought Beibei's soul home, and Beibei wants to kill Xiaoni. Uncle Luo stammered, what kind of soul, you, a college student, still believe in this? I said I didn't believe it, but you said that my eyes and demeanor were like a dead babe.I remember when I received your call for the first time in this family, you said that my voice also resembles Beibei.You also said that you can see the dead, and told me to close the doors and windows, that a naked woman upstairs came to my door and asked me for clothes, and then this really happened. Uncle Luo was completely stunned. He said, I think you look like Beibei. I said this, which only shows that I still miss Beibei very much.As for the other nonsense you said I told you, but you made it up, I swear I didn't tell you about the undead. I slowly recalled the phone call with Uncle Luo when I first arrived here. Could it be that my hallucinations are mixed in it?However, today's conversation still proved Uncle Luo's suspicion of me, the mysterious part of the world will always confuse people. I said, well, no more.I have already told you my date of birth, you can go to a fortune-teller, Cece, to see if I beat Xiaoni, I really want to know the result. Uncle Luo sat blankly for a while, then tore off the page with my date of birth on it, and then repeatedly tore the page in his hands.He said, forget it, I am confused, this kind of life cannot be counted.It's a good thing if you're really sisters... At this moment, there was a bang from somewhere in the room, as if something had fallen to the ground and shattered.Uncle Luo and I stood up nervously and went to various rooms to check. On the balcony connected to Aunt He's room, a vase fell to the ground and shattered.I put this vase on the balcony when I was cleaning in the morning. My original intention was to let the flowers in the vase breathe fresh air. what happened?Uncle Luo looked at the flower stems and fragments of the vase that fell to the ground inside the balcony and said, luckily they didn't fall out, otherwise they would hit the passers-by downstairs. Just as Uncle Luo finished speaking, the wall clock in Aunt He's room rang.The sound of Dangdang made the air tremble. There were five beeps in total, and it was five o'clock in the afternoon. A tragic five o'clock in the afternoon, which is the time when Babe fell down the stairs many years ago. I don't know if Uncle Luo had this association at this time.He just stared at the fragments of the vase on the ground and said, strange, how could it be broken? I said that when I walked over, I seemed to see a black cat flashing on the balcony. Oh, I don't know if Uncle Luo's voice is relief or confusion. He wobbled a little as he picked up his bag and went out.I said behind his back, Xiao Ni will find it. Before Aunt He came home, I hurriedly packed the fragments of the vase into the trash bag, fearing that Aunt He would have some bad associations. When Aunt He came home in the dark, I had already put the prepared dinner on the dining table.She looked tired, she must have been looking for Xiaoni aimlessly outside for another day. After entering the door, Aunt He said, "I heard from the neighbor downstairs that Xiao Ni's father has been here. Is there any news about Xiao Ni?" I said no, he also came to ask if there was any news about Xiao Ni.I didn't say his real motive for coming to the house. Aunt He can't accept any stimulation now. Aunt He reluctantly ate a little dinner, and went into Xiaoni's room with a rag.I wanted to say that I had cleaned every room, but I held back when I got to my lips.Aunt He has to clean Xiaoni's room every day, maybe it will make her feel better. I wash the dishes in the kitchen.Suddenly, I heard Aunt He's cry, Jun'er, come here! I was taken aback, and walked quickly to the door of Xiaoni's room. Aunt He was holding a note in her hand, which she said was found under the dressing table.Xiao Ni may have put the note on the table, but it was blown down the table by the wind. I nervously took the note, only to see it read—Mom: I'm leaving, maybe sister Jun will come to take care of you. Just such a sentence, my heart hangs even more.Although this note shows that Xiaoni left home voluntarily, it ruled out some more terrifying assumptions such as being held hostage.However, she didn't say how long she had been away or when she would come back, making this suspense even more disturbing. One thing Xiaoni guessed is right, I will come back here to take care of Aunt He.But, is she angry at me for thinking this way or trusting me? Aunt He sat by Xiaoni's bed and began to cry.I comforted Aunt He and said that finding this note meant that it was safe for Xiaoni to leave home.I don't think she'll be out for long. Who knows?Aunt He said that it has been five days and there is no news at all. At this moment, a cat's cry came from nowhere. A night of wild dreams left me exhausted.For a while, a blind fortune teller was sitting opposite me, his dark eyes turned to me and said, don't hide it, you are Xiaoni's sister; My feet fluttered, as if they were going to force me to jump off the balcony; another dream that made me palpitate was that I saw Xiao Ni, in a very dark place, with ragged clothes, squatting on the ground and looking up to me, saying, i want to go home... I woke up, my heart pounding.I remembered the conversation Xiao Zeng overheard outside the painter's door Girl's voice: I want to go home. Painter's Voice: No, your sister will kill you when you go back. I have to go to the painter to find out.Is there any danger?I do not care. In the morning, I knocked on the painter's door.The door opened a crack, and I saw a girl's face.Thick lips, it's Chrysanthemum!When she saw me, she slammed the door of the room, and at the same time a word floated out, the painter has gone to the country. The girl who hanged herself in the ice cream shop, I saw her!Although I already knew she was in the painter's house and heard her voice coming from the bathroom, I was still a little dizzy when I saw her through the crack of the door. Why did she close the door so quickly?Is Xiaoni with her? I knocked on the door again.This time, I squeezed my way in when the door came loose. Jumei said in surprise, didn't I tell you that the artist is not at home. I looked at her sternly.It was a girl of about twenty, with a stocky build, with large breasts and buttocks. I turned around and checked every room including the kitchen and bathroom. She followed me and asked, what are you looking for? I stared at her without speaking, and I saw that there seemed to be very light marks on her neck.It was the trace left by the hanging.I took a step back. She turned around and walked away, tightly closed the half-open door, then turned around behind the door and said to me, since you are here, you can talk to me for a while.I'm kind of creepy, I ask, what are you trying to say? She said, I know, you have been watching me, haven't you?Every time I go upstairs or downstairs, you peek at me through the crack of your door. Why do you do this? I understand that she knows everything.Then he asked, why did you throw a blank piece of paper with the word "dead" written on it from the stairs? She laughed and said a little scary, I hate you, I have died once, you should die too. My heart suddenly tightened, and there was a bloody smell in my mouth, and I spat the blood on the tissue paper. I don't know if there was blood after her skin was cut open. In short, this red thing shocked her.She asked in surprise, what's wrong with you? I said, little problem, bleeding gums. No, you need to go to the hospital for an examination.She said, I have an aunt who vomited blood from her mouth and died.It's a lung problem. She brought me a glass of water, and the anger just now turned into kindness, which made me unable to adapt to it all at once. She sighed and said, we are all women, if you also like painters, there is no need to make things difficult for me. I said, sister Ju, you misunderstood, the painter and I are just neighbors. How do you know my name is Jumei?She looked at me suspiciously, did the painter tell you? I said, the person next to the ice cream shop told me. Jumei suddenly laughed.I asked in confusion, what are you laughing at? She said, someone must have told you that I hanged myself, so you see me as a ghost, right? I opened my mouth and couldn't speak for a while.She went on to say that after I was rescued from hanging, I was saved in the hospital, but I never went back to work in the ice cream shop. Maybe some people thought I died in the hospital. I was skeptical and asked, why did you hang yourself? She buried her head in silence, and I saw tears fall from her face.After a while, she raised her head and said, I lost the money the boss gave me to buy the goods, which is a total of 1200 yuan, how can I afford it?My family is in the countryside, and the whole family's annual income is only a few hundred yuan. If I ask for help at home, my parents will beat me to death.But, where can I find money to compensate my boss?In desperation I had only one death.I hanged myself and woke up in the hospital bed. The boss was terrified. He said it’s fine if you lose the money. Don’t do this, or your family will ask me for someone. Jumei’s words made me suddenly realize.I handed her a tissue to wipe her tears, and then asked curiously, how did you know the artist? Jumei said that after she came out of the hospital, she no longer had the face to go back to work in an ice cream shop, so she went to a housekeeping company. Her job was to clean up the residents' homes.Soon, he went to work at the painter's house.The painter signed a weekly cleaning contract with the company, so she had more chances to come here.The painter likes her very much, but she still can't believe it's true.Because she saw that the women painted by the painter were very beautiful.When she raised this question during sex, the painter suddenly said rudely, I only like to fuck with women like you. When sister Ju talked about this, she asked me with some embarrassment, "Sister Jun, does he really like me?"He mentioned your name so often, I used to think he liked you too. I said he might like talking to me, that's all.And the women he paints, whom he adores, but not the same as liking you. , I dare to make this judgment, it is Jumei’s narration that reminds me of some knowledge I read from books, as well as the fruitless love affair between the painter and Aunt He when they were young, and I fully understand what kind of painter is. people.Under his seemingly strong appearance, there is a heart of incomparable inferiority and timidity.Only a certain special experience in childhood can produce this deformity, but it is inconvenient for me to know his past now. Miss Ju couldn't understand what I said, and asked in confusion, is worship different from liking? I want to say that adoration is a yearning for something elusive.But this kind of words are still incomprehensible, I changed my words and said that the worshiped things are like gods and cannot be really approached. Oh, sister Ju said vaguely, just like the painting of a woman with a bare back in the studio, isn't it?The artist said the woman would walk off the painting.I didn't believe it at first, but then I heard a sound in the studio in the middle of the night, and the pen container on the table rolled to the ground once, as if someone was walking around. The shadow of the ghost looms over me again.Let me ask you, have you ever actually seen a human figure in this room? Chrysanthemum sister said, never seen. I told her the conversation that Xiao Zeng heard outside the door, but I did not betray Xiao Zeng, but said that I heard it outside the door when I came to find the painter. Sister Ju said without hesitation that it was me and the painter who were talking.I want to go home, because I have been in the city for two years, and I feel bored. Although I can earn some money, I am always called around by others. It is better to go back to the countryside and be free.But the painter wouldn't let me go back.I have a sister who is crazy. Once she suddenly picked up a kitchen knife and wanted to kill me. I was so scared that I ran to the hillside behind the house. I believed Jumei's words.It seems that many mysteries are caused by a wall or a door.Sister Ju was also very relieved. She said that seeing me today cleared up the misunderstanding, and she didn't have to worry about my surveillance when going upstairs or downstairs. At this moment, the door of the studio seemed to be opened silently from the inside, and sister Ju and I, who were in the living room, were startled. who's in there Jumei said that there was no one, maybe the wind opened the door. My sister Ju and I walked into the studio.A few wet footprints on the floor caught my attention.Jumei said that she stepped on it. When I knocked on the door just now, she was cleaning the floor. Sure enough, there was a plastic bucket filled with water on the ground not far away, and there was a ball of rags on the floor.Chrysanthemum sister said she had to do something. Jumei knelt on the floor and wiped it carefully with a rag.The pose resembled a portrait of a maidservant from time immemorial. I remembered a sentence that Professor Feng said in class - conquering and being conquered are both human instincts. I looked up at the portrait of the bare-backed woman on the wall. Apart from her, there was no secret in this room.I believe that I have a spiritual connection with her, otherwise I would not have seen her in my dreams countless times.I look forward to her telling me where Xiaoni is going.When I went downstairs to go home, Aunt He went out to look for Xiaoni again, and the house seemed very empty.Maybe it was because I didn't sleep well last night. I felt dizzy, so I lay down on my little bed in the study, and soon became confused.In a haze, I saw the start of the university, and many freshmen were queuing up to register, and Xiao Ni was among them. I walked over to greet her, but she turned her head away, as if she was still angry with me... I opened my eyes, thinking this was a good omen, it meant that Xiao Ni would go home to continue her studies, and would be admitted to university in a year. The phone rang suddenly, was it Xiaoni calling?I glanced at the caller ID in a heartbeat, alas, it was Zhao Kaimiao's call. He asked me how I was doing with the loan.I said, the application form has been handed in, there must be an approval process, please be patient. Since I handed over his real asset status to the investigation company, I always feel that I have done something wrong when talking with him on the phone.I tried to keep my tone as calm as possible so as not to make him suspicious. I heard him sigh anxiously on the phone.