Chapter 50 4. A dying person

None of them went to see what happened to the three extra stones.Perhaps, they fear touching a dark secret.So, the three extra stones made each of them have a strange knot in their hearts. But they didn't say anything, they were friendly on the surface, but they were suspicious of each other in their hearts. Before dawn, they left the small earthen hut in a hurry. On the way, they discussed a plan of action—Zhu Neng and Bai Jingjing went to find Zhou Dagui, Niu Chuanli and Sha Liang returned to the county seat, and came back after preparing.As far as Niu Tradition is now, if he gets to Wulibao Town, the townspeople will still beat him up, and he will have to go back and disguise himself.

In the morning, Zhu Neng and Bai Jingjing arrived at Wulibao Town. As soon as I entered the town, I heard the sound of gongs and drums, mixed with a woman's singing.Her voice was so high that I couldn't make out what words she was singing.Then, another singing voice sounded hoarse, like killing a pig.There are also men's yelling, children's crying... The voice was not far away from them, Zhu Neng and Bai Jingjing followed the voice to find it. Wulibao Town is so small that there is only one street.On both sides of the street are tall and short gray brick houses, all of which are dilapidated.What surprised Zhu Neng was that there was even a small square in this small town.There is a group of people beating gongs and drums, performing Yangko and singing operas in the small square, and the sound comes from there.

"Ma'am, what is this for?" Zhu Neng pointed to the crowd and asked an old lady. The old lady said with a smile: "A happy event, what a great happy event!" "What happy event?" The old lady lowered her voice and said, "The pervert has been chased away, do you think this is a happy event?" Zhu Neng understood that the pervert the old lady was talking about was the tradition of cattle. "Ma'am, do you know how to get to Zhou Dagui's house?" He asked the old lady. The old lady stood on tiptoe and searched back and forth among the crowd.Finally, she waved her hand and shouted loudly, "It's from the old Zhou family! It's from the old Zhou family! Someone is looking for your father-in-law!"

An old woman in a costume came over. She was about sixty years old, with a thick waist and thick powder on her face. She looked a little scary.Seeing Zhu Neng, she froze for a moment, then said, "Are you looking for my father-in-law?" Zhu Neng said: "We are from other places, so we have something to do with Zhou Dagui." The old woman's eyes suddenly became alert, and there seemed to be some hostility in her eyes.After a while, she said, "What are you looking for from him?" Just as Zhu Neng was about to speak, Bai Jingjing pulled him and rushed to say, "Can you show us Mr. Zhou?"

"Come with me." After she finished speaking, she turned around and walked towards the other side of the street. She walked past a grocery store, a vegetable stand, a dilapidated post office, and a dirty little restaurant... She kept walking without stopping. The further you go, the more dilapidated the house and the fewer people there are. After walking for a while, Zhu Neng saw a school, perhaps because of the weekend, its gates were tightly closed, and the inside was deserted.There are strange-looking willow trees growing outside the courtyard wall, without leaves and lifeless.

There was an old man sitting at the gate. He had no eyebrows, and a long scar stretched from the corner of his eye to the corner of his mouth. He was staring at Zhu Neng. Walking past the school, Zhu Neng saw a dilapidated small courtyard.There is a stinky ditch in front of the gate of the small courtyard. The water in the ditch is dark green because it has not flowed all year round.He felt that the dark green water was evil, and there might be weird things growing in it. There was a stench in the air, and it was not known whether it was from the school toilets or from the stinky gutters.

The old woman turned a corner and walked towards the courtyard. Zhu Neng followed step by step, his heart beating faster and faster.Look at Bai Jingjing again, she is biting her lip tightly, her face is pale and she looks very nervous. The old woman walked in first, and then a man's voice came out: "Are you back? Why is it so early today?" Zhu Neng and Bai Jingjing looked at each other, and finally walked into the courtyard. An old man stood upright in the middle of the yard, his waist was bent, most of his hair was white, and his eyes were full of distress and begging. The old woman disappeared, perhaps entered the house.

"Who are you looking for?" the old man asked blankly. Zhu Neng took a few steps forward, stretched out his right hand, and said, "We are looking for Zhou Dagui, may I ask if you are..." "What are you looking for with my father?" Zhu Neng froze for a moment, then said, "Can you let us meet him?" The old man turned around and entered the house without saying anything. Zhu Neng and Bai Jingjing followed in. The room was poorly lit and had a musty smell.They sat down on a dirty sofa.The old woman did not pour water for them, but stood at the door of the back room, looking at them coldly.

Finally, the old woman said: "My father-in-law is in this room, please come in." Zhu Neng looked at the back room, the light inside was even darker, and he couldn't see anything.There is no door, and there is a half-length blue curtain hanging at the door, which is dirty and ugly. After watching for a while, Zhu Neng felt that something was wrong.Their voices were not low, Zhou Dagui should be able to hear them in the back room, why didn't he come out?He looked at the old woman, gritted his teeth, stood up and walked towards the back room. Bai Jingjing sat on the sofa without moving.

Coming to the front of the blue curtain, Zhu Neng took a deep breath, raised his hand, lifted it, and walked in. The musty smell in the back room is stronger.After a few seconds, Zhu Neng's eyes got used to the darkness, and he saw that the room was empty, with only one bed, and there was a person lying upright on the bed. This is an even older man. His body is covered with several thick quilts, and only his white head is exposed.A plastic tube was inserted into his mouth, whether it was an esophagus or a trachea.For a long time, he didn't move, he couldn't even hear his breathing, and he didn't know whether he was dead or alive.

Zhu Neng was dumbfounded. Although he knew that Zhou Dagui was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and that he might not live for a month, he did not expect him to be so seriously ill now.After staying for a long time, he slowly withdrew. He asked the old woman: "Ma'am, Mr. Zhou..." The old woman didn't raise her head, and said flatly: "Alzheimer's disease, I haven't eaten or drank for several days, and the doctor said that I won't live for a month." "We are here this time because we want to ask Mr. Zhou about something..." "He can't talk anymore," said the old woman immediately. Zhu Neng was very depressed, and he asked again: "Did Mr. Zhou travel far a dozen years ago?" The old woman tilted her head and thought for a while, then said: "More than ten years ago...my father-in-law seemed to have traveled far away. I don't know where he went, and he didn't say anything when he came back." Zhu Neng asked: "Did Mr. Zhou bring back a teapot? It's a purple clay pot, not too big, flat. By the way, there is a birthday star on the lid." The old woman stood there dumbly, without expression or movement, as if she didn't hear what he said. At this time, Bai Jingjing came over, she took out some money from her bag, handed it to the old woman, and said: "My grandfather and Mr. Zhou are best friends. When he was dying, he told us to come and see Mr. Zhou. This time we came in a hurry and didn't buy anything, this little money is a little bit of kindness from us, you must accept it." The old woman immediately took the money and put it carefully in her pocket.I don't know why, but the old woman didn't wash off the thick powder on her face after returning home. She was still wearing that weird costume, which looked very strange in the dark room. "There is such a teapot at home." The old woman said, "You wait, I will look for it." Zhu Neng and Bai Jingjing looked at each other, their eyes were full of joy.The difference is that Zhu Neng's eyes are full of joy after relief, while Bai Jingjing's eyes are more of greed. Not long after, the old woman came out with a dusty teapot. She handed it to Zhu Neng and said, "Look, is it this teapot? This is what my father-in-law brought back from other places more than ten years ago. " Zhu Neng quickly took it and opened the lid impatiently, and it was empty inside.Bai Jingjing also came up, seeing this scene, just like Zhu Neng, she was also stunned. "What are you doing with this teapot?" The old man suddenly said in Zhu Neng's ear just now.None of them paid attention to how he appeared, he seemed to emerge from the ground. Zhu Neng was startled and was stunned.Bai Jingjing said: "It's like this. My grandfather also had a teapot like this. It's a pair with this one. Back then, my grandfather gave one of them to Mr. Zhou. Now that my grandfather has passed away, I think..." "Take it away," the old woman said suddenly. Bai Jingjing was stunned for a moment, and then said: "It's like this, when my grandfather gave the teapot to Mr. Zhou, there was something in the teapot..." The old woman interrupted her: "There is nothing in the teapot." Bai Jingjing looked at her and said neither soft nor hard: "Why don't you think about it more carefully?" The old woman avoided her gaze, looked at the blue curtain hanging on the door of the inner room, and said slowly: "Don't think about it, there is nothing in the teapot." Bai Jingjing also turned her eyes to the back room, looked at it for a while, and finally said: "I want to see Mr. Zhou." "Go in and have a look." The old woman said lightly. Bai Jingjing turned her gaze to Zhu Neng again, and said, "Before you leave, don't you want to see Mr. Zhou again?" After she finished speaking, she walked slowly towards the inner room. Zhu Neng didn't know what she was going to do, so he hesitated and followed. Lifting the blue curtain, Bai Jingjing turned on the light, and the room was lit with a dim yellow light.Under the light, Zhou Dagui's complexion looked even uglier, which was the result of long-term lack of nutrition. Zhu Neng felt that he was not kind at all. His expression was weird, a little painful, a little irritable, and there was a weird smile on the corner of his mouth... There is a pair of shoes in front of the bed.Zhu Neng's eyes were attracted, he squatted down and looked carefully.These are a pair of very old homespun cotton shoes, and Zhu Neng feels that they are older than his own.He picked up the cotton shoes and was immediately stunned—there was some dark green soil on the soles, which were still fresh. Zhu Neng thought of the smelly ditch in front of the door. Could it be that in the dead of night, this corpse-like old man would quietly get up, float out of this small courtyard, and look for food in the smelly ditch in front of the door? He straightened up, walked over to the old man, and stooped to watch him.Sure enough, there was something dark green at the corner of the old man's mouth, emitting a foul smell... Zhu Neng fought a cold war. Suddenly, this corpse-like old man opened his eyes!His eyes were piercing, even sharp. Caught off guard, Zhu Neng was so frightened that he took a step back and almost fell. Obviously, Bai Jingjing also saw this scene, she seemed to have thought about it a long time ago, and she didn't look too surprised, she stepped forward to support Zhu Neng, and whispered: "Let's go back first." When he got to the door, Zhu Neng couldn't help turning his head to take a look. Zhou Dagui was lying on the bed straight with his eyes closed, like a corpse. He didn't seem to have opened his eyes. Zhu Neng thought it was a nightmare. The old woman and Zhou Dagui's son were not in the house.Zhu Neng went out and saw the old man adding water to a dirty pot, and the old woman squatting aside, with some strange-looking dark green vegetables in front of her. Bai Jingjing looked at her coldly, and finally said: "Don't worry about it, we have to go back." The old woman said without raising her head, "It's not for you to eat." Bai Jingjing walked out without saying anything.Zhu Neng saw a trace of resentment on her face, and he couldn't help but shiver. "You are busy, let's go." He said sarcastically. Bai Jingjing walked extremely fast, like a cat, Zhu Neng managed to catch up with her. Maybe it was lunch time, there was no one to be seen in the town, and the streets seemed empty, shrouded in a certain mysterious atmosphere.Only a few chickens shivered under the wall, lifeless. Bai Jingjing suddenly said: "She must have hidden things!" Zhu Neng asked: "Then what should we do?" Bai Jingjing sneered, but said nothing. Zhu Neng could see from her eyes that she already had an idea in her heart, but if she didn't say it, he didn't dare to ask... So he stopped talking. Some pigs came out of nowhere and crossed the street.Their ears were big, covering their eyes, they didn't seem to see Zhu Neng and Bai Jingjing, they walked slowly past them. Zhu Neng was surprised. A woman with heavy makeup came from the other side of the street, and when she was about to walk in front of Zhu Neng, she flirtatiously cast a wink at Zhu Neng, and then walked past him lightly. Zhu Neng smelled a smell of inferior perfume. A cyclist ran out from behind Zhu Neng and disappeared quickly.He seemed to be in a hurry and pedaled the bicycle "creaking".Zhu Neng didn't see his face clearly, only saw him wearing black clothes, very frustrated. Not long after, a trash collector came from the other side of the street. He was about forty years old, pushing an old tricycle with a few pieces of waste paper and a pile of dirty wine bottles on it. When he walked past Zhu Neng, he gave Zhu Neng a meaningful look. Zhu Neng couldn't understand why there were so many strange people in this small town.He secretly glanced at Bai Jingjing, he suspected that these people were all her accomplices. They were the three extra stones that came out that night. Bai Jingjing suddenly said: "Find a place to live first?" Zhu Neng did not object.Now, even if someone drives him away with a whip, he will not leave, because Zhu Neng knows that at this moment he is close to the truth—— The truth is hidden in this small town.