Chapter 3 Seventy-third night picture head

The number of Ji Yan's father's friends is beyond my imagination. However, in the note left to his son, it is stated in detail that one of them will come back to visit again after decades. Ji Yan's father has already expected Until the day I couldn't live, I wrote down the matter and name of this person in my notes to remind my son. Of course Ji Yan knew about this person, but when it came to mentioning it, he dismissed this father's old friend, a man who was supposed to be an elder. This strange person is called Yoshio Shirasui. Of course, he is a Japanese. According to the records of Ji Yan’s father at that time, even twenty years ago, this person was already over 60 years old. If he can come now, he is probably already It is an old man Xu Mu.

"Father doesn't like this man, but he has treated him for a strange disease. However, my father told me that Liangfu Baishui will come back in 20 years. Because of that disease, my father can't completely cure it." Ji Yan closed the notebook , to put it back on the shelf. "Oh? Since your father doesn't like him, why do you want to treat him?" As soon as the words came out, I suddenly found myself asking a stupid question.Sure enough, Ji Yan shook her head. "It's natural, the doctor's parents think, no matter who he is or what he has done, as a doctor, he is just a patient in the eyes of my father, but my father didn't record the details. He just said that this person will Come once, and do the math, it will be about a few days." Ji Yan smiled, and suddenly looked at the door.

Because the doorbell sounded from outside. "Is it really so miraculous that it's here?" I was surprised, and walked over to open the door. The person standing outside the door was not the old man I guessed, but a young man about the same age as us. He was a little short in stature, but he was very strong. Maybe it was because of the hot weather outside that he had already taken off his suit. Neatly placed on the raised left hand, the shirt was stretched tightly against the body, and the not-so-broad but slightly protruding forehead was covered with sweat.His face is as if carved by a knife, his chin is sharp and sharp, his skin is like dry bark or a rag that has been left unused for a long time, but his eyes are very energetic, with not much white, and the brown eyeballs are shining in the sun Shiny, thick lips, slightly raised upwards, raising the two mustaches on the top, this young man saw me, he was a little surprised, but very happy, but he still asked politely and carefully .

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Ji?" His pronunciation is not very standard, I believe this person is not Chinese, but fortunately, he can hear clearly. I shook my head and waved to the guy inside.Ji Yan put her hands in her trouser pockets, and walked out with slippers in her hands. "I am." The voice was lazy and crisp, the young man looked at Ji Yan in surprise, and immediately shook his head stubbornly.I found his hair to be very special. When I shake it, the front part moves and the back seems to be glued. "Absolutely not. My grandfather said that Mr. Ji should be at least forty years old." The Mr. Ji he was talking about should be Ji Yan's father.

After two clicks and an explanation, the young man understood, but then he was very disappointed, but he still maintained good etiquette and wanted to leave with a smile. "Are you here to ask about your grandfather's condition?" Ji Yan smiled and shouted to the young man who turned away. Sure enough, the man came back again, and the three of them walked into the room and chatted.When the young man entered the house, he tidied up his clothes, took off his shoes carefully, and put them neatly in his hands, putting them on the shoe rack. His movements were neat and tidy, giving him the feeling of a soldier.

This person is the grandson of Liangfu Baishui. His name is Yingxi Baishui. Yingxi can speak Chinese in general, but he can write good handwriting. This makes me very ashamed, because most of the people I know around me are used to using keyboards. They don't care about calligraphy. "Why waste time?" They all answered in unison, and thought that it would be better to practice writing English instead of spending a lot of effort on practicing Chinese. But a Japanese can write such good handwriting.Yingxi speaks poorly, so he had to rely on writing. Fortunately, his hearing is good. As long as we speak slowly, he can understand nine out of ten of us.

However, for the convenience of description, I will write according to what he "said". "Grandpa married his childhood playmate when he returned to Japan from China, then started a small business, lived a relatively ordinary and happy life, and then had a father, but later got a strange disease. Waking up from sleep, he told grandma that the source of the disease was in China," Yingxi said. "In China?" Ji Yan and I asked in unison. "Yes, in China, he is a soldier." Yingxi said.Shirasui Yoshio, a native of Shiga Prefecture, Japan, got his surname because his ancestors lived by the spring water. When he was seventeen years old, he followed the call of Japan to join the army, and followed the Japanese Sixth Front Army. The first army, the commander of the army at the time was the notorious Okamura Ningji, Shirasui Yoshio came to China as a Japanese army in central China, and participated in the military operations to attack Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Jiangxi.

I somewhat understand why Ji Yan's father likes this person more than him.But I looked at Baishui Yingxi's very sincere face, and suddenly had a premonition that something bad was going on. "Grandpa finally came to China in the 1980s. He returned to this city and wanted to find the root cause of his disease. He accidentally heard about Mr. Ji from someone else. Maybe it was fate. Mr. Ji's superb medical skills temporarily controlled the disease. , but he also said that he couldn’t find the root cause of the disease, and he couldn’t do anything about it, so he said that it can be controlled for at most 20 years, and he will talk about the later things.” Yingxi’s hands began to sweat, and he drank a glass of water. With the sound of squirming and gurgling, he continued to go down.

"However, Grandpa couldn't wait for twenty years. After he returned, he died crying out in pain on a summer night in the tenth year. But the matter is not over. If it is over, I will not come You are here. Three years ago, my father also suffered from the same disease as my grandfather. He was already on the verge of death. The major hospitals were helpless with this disease, and even avoided it in disgust and fear. They regarded my father as a plague and Devil, and not long ago, I was found to have the same disease. My father told me with difficulty that if I want to survive, I must go back to China to find Mr. Ji. After finishing writing in one go, Yingxi seemed to feel better.

We waited for him to calm down a bit before asking the crux of the matter—what disease their family had. Bai Shui Yingxi's eyes were lowered, the corners of his mouth kept twitching, and his beard was raised restlessly. He turned his head slowly and took something down with his hands. It turned out to be a wig. No wonder he thought it looked strange just now. It turned out that the entire back of his head was bare. But after a closer look, it's not actually bare, there seems to be something on it. To be precise, it is a painting of a human head, and the painting is so realistic, it seems that there is another face growing out of Yingxi's head.

It looked like a young woman with bangs on her forehead and a melon-shaped face, with a good appearance, but I didn't understand what this had to do with the disease. Yingxi saw our doubts, and he took out two more photos, one was very old, it seemed to be decades old. The old one showed a man in a kimono sitting on a chair with his hands flat, but I looked carefully and found something strange. The thumbs of the hands placed on the armrests on both sides of the chair are facing outwards! In other words, the hand was broken from its normal position and flipped over, and sure enough, so was the foot.I looked at the man's head in surprise. The neck was full of folds, like clothes wrung out desperately, but it was a human head, the whole human head, completely folded over.The most surprising thing was that this man had the same female face as Yingxi's on the back of his bald head. This is a back man, his five limbs were folded from the front to the back. It was originally a long-lost criminal law. He died by breaking off his limbs and head, which means that he has no face to see others. However, this is too weird. The second photo seems to be the most recent one. The person in the photo is about forty years old, somewhat similar to Yingxi, but his limbs and head have also started to rotate backwards. Judging from the painful face of the person, it is true that It is a very cruel criminal law. This body is no longer in a normal body, just like a marionette. "The first one is my grandfather's dying appearance. He used his last strength to tell us to take it. The second one is my father. This was taken when I left Japan. He was already on the verge of death. And I, I'm afraid I will be the next one soon." Yingxi said. "It's really strange, but my father doesn't seem to have left any information about this in his notes." Ji Yan said distressedly. Yingxi told us that when his grandfather came, his illness was also very serious. Ji Yan's father helped him turn it around, but he died unexpectedly, and now we have no way of knowing how to treat it. What's more, the notes also said , there is no way to know the root cause of the disease, and it only treats the symptoms but not the root cause. "In addition, the comrades-in-arms who went to war with grandpa and came back all died in such pain, and so did their descendants, as if like a spell, the people next to us didn't sympathize with us at all, but said that we deserved it. They rumored that grandpa and him His comrades offended the local gods in China, which resulted in revenge. Grandpa said that when he came to Mr. Ji, he was ashamed of his mistakes and afraid that Mr. Ji would be angry, so he didn’t mention anything.” Yingxi said. "It seems that we need to know what your grandfather and his comrades did in the local area. I'm afraid this is the root of the matter. Besides, we don't have much time, and your father may not last long." Ji Yan never To tell lies to comfort others, because he felt that it was disrespectful to others, Yingxi seemed to be a very strong person, he nodded.Then a heart-shaped pendant was removed from the neck. The pendant was opened, and there was a portrait inside, a girl with a peaceful appearance. "This is my wife. She is already pregnant. No matter what I do, even if I risk my life, I cannot let my unborn child bear such a cruel fate." Yingxi said this sentence, although intermittently, the pronunciation was not smooth. It's not standard, but I can hear it very clearly. The three of us first went to the local database, combined with the few materials left by Yoshio Baishui during his lifetime, we learned that Baishui once served as a warrant officer and was entrusted with the task of patrolling the rear when he attacked Dongting Lake in Jiangxi. He and his subordinate comrades-in-arms stayed in this city for some time, and then followed the Eleventh Army to the front line, starting from Wuhan, launching a direct attack on Hengyang, completely defeating the main force of the ninth theater of the Chinese Army, and then heading to Liuzhou up. And Liangfu Baishui himself said that his fault stemmed from this.We searched for few traces, trying to find the place where Baishui's troops were stationed. However, on the way, Yingxi had already received a call saying that his father had passed away. He tried not to cry, but kept swallowing his saliva and stared at the sky with his eyes wide open.I wanted to comfort him, but Ji Yan stopped me. "Let him stay alone for a while." Ji Yan looked at him, and the same sadness seemed to be found in his eyes. But soon Yingxi recovered, but I could find that his neck was a little crooked, and so were his hands and feet. "Hurry up, we don't have much time." Yingxi handed me the note, which was already very scribbled.The face behind his head gradually became clear and began to smile. One day passed, and it was very difficult to check the movement of a small group of Japanese troops at that time. By chance, we passed by a county town, wanted to ask some elderly people, and showed them a photo of Yoshio Shirasui. Yoshio Shirasui was only in his twenties at the time. Fortunately, he was a man with a strange appearance and easy to remember. He had a round head, protruding hyperthyroid eyes and a pair of eagle eyes. Revealed a bit of cruelty. Finally, an old man told us very excitedly that he knew Yoshio Shirazu, because when he was building fortifications for the Japanese army, he had met Yoshio Shirazu who came to supervise him, because Yoshio Shiramizu was a little generous among the Japanese, and he hadn’t gone too far. A lot of scolding, so I have a slight impression of it. He also told us that Baishui and his team live in a village not far from here.We thanked the old man and rushed over without stopping. Yingxi's symptoms became more serious, like cramps all over his body, Ji Yan and I had no choice but to help him pass. "Promise me that if I die, I will also relieve this bad luck for my family descendants." He said with tears.Ji Yan and I nodded. When we arrived at the village, it was already night, and we spent some money to live in a fellow villager's house. We told Yingxi not to talk, let alone that he was Japanese. Because, someone reminded us earlier that the people in this village hate the Japanese very much. Even a three-year-old child has been educated since childhood that the Japanese are scum and animals.I vaguely feel that the attitude of the villagers has something to do with Yoshio Baishui's strange illness. Although everyone is very strange about Yingxi's illness, they don't care too much about it. The residents here have a little bit of good, and they are never troublesome. It seems that the word curiosity is not in their dictionary. As long as it doesn't hinder them, everything has nothing to do with it . We lived in a sturdy farmer's house. He looked about fifty years old, but he was very muscular, his muscles were still well developed and dark. It may be due to long-term farming. We chatted with each other, and after dinner, everyone Lie down one after another. It was just after nine o'clock in the village, and most of the lights were turned off. It wasn't really a lack of enthusiasm, but the whole day's work during the day made everyone very tired. Half asleep and half awake, I was woken up by Ji Yan. He pointed towards Younghee's bed, but quickly covered my mouth with his hand, indeed, if it wasn't for this, I would really scream. Yingxi sat on the bedside, her movements seemed to be flexible, like a woman, she was combing her hair while she was sitting, humming something that seemed like a song.The song gradually became louder. The door opened, and the light from a candle came in, shining right on Younghee's face. No, it should be the face in the back of his head. That face is as alive as if someone carved it out with a knife. The facial features are layered, especially the mouth, which is really opening and closing, and the voice is indeed that of a young woman, and it is also from China. talk.The so-called combing hair was actually done by him with his hands behind his back. The movement was very exaggerated, like jujitsu in acrobatics, his arms were reversed to the point of inhumanity. There was a slap outside the door, and a person fell to his knees.It was that middle-aged man. "Auntie!" the man shouted, holding a candle in his hand. Yingxi stood up with his back turned, the joints of his hands and feet were broken, he shouted in pain, Ji Yan was at a loss, but quickly bit his finger, and smeared the blood on the top of Yingxi's head, temples, and groin, Cover the mouth, nose, ears and mouth, and wrap his eyes, mouth, nostrils and mouth with a cloth, of course, not too tight. The lights came on, and the middle-aged man looked at the three of us with strange eyes.And I also wondered what Ji Yan was doing just now. "The soul lives in the brain. I used blood to seal a few big acupoints, as well as the mouth, nose, eyes and ears, to keep his soul alive temporarily, but it won't last long. It was just a routine method. Let the souls of the dead die, and seal their mouths with cinnabar, the reason is similar." Ji Yan stopped the bleeding and replied slowly.Yingxi collapsed on the bed, Ji Yan looked at his injuries. "Who are you?" The middle-aged man asked us with a straight face after he lit the lamp.Ji Yan looked at me and told him everything. "Take this Japanese and go. I won't make it difficult for you. If everyone finds out, let alone this guy, it will be difficult for you to get out of the village." The middle-aged man replied coldly. "What did Baishui's team do in the village back then?" I couldn't help asking. "Could it be that the bastard is also guilty, and he didn't tell his descendants?" The middle-aged man smiled wryly. "Actually, I was not born at all that year. My mother told me about it. My aunt is a sister who is six years younger than her. There is a photo of her at home. She is the only one in the village who has attended school and seen the world in a big city. I am a beautiful woman, so everyone admires her very much. Since I was a little mother, I have taken pictures and told about my aunt. She is a student of Western painting, and it is said that she is very praised by the teacher." The middle-aged man continued, and walked to the back room, After searching for a while, I took out an old yellowish black and white photo. The photo was a bust of a young woman. Sure enough, it was very similar to the face behind Yingxi's head. "That guy named Baishui lived in the village with his troops in the name of looking for the wounded. Everyone was scared, and my aunt didn't come out behind closed doors. The young women in the village hid. It's just that my aunt hid in the house every day. Painting, my mother said later, I often saw her cry. At the beginning, nothing happened. Bai Shui once wanted to find some girls in the village, but he might dislike the rusticity of country girls, so he took his men to visit the kilns in the county town.But not long after, Baishui's subordinates suddenly asked the villagers about the whereabouts of the young woman. Everyone panicked and didn't know what the devil was going to do.Everyone didn't agree, Bai Shui led the army to search from house to house. Sure enough, all the girls were searched out and ordered to line up at the entrance of the village.Everyone in the village also went.The mother was hidden by the aunt. It was a small box in the backyard of the house. It was usually used to store pickles and could only accommodate one person. The aunt seemed to have a premonition and insisted on hiding the mother in it, because at that time the mother had just Pregnant with my older brother. My mother was very worried about my aunt when she stayed inside, so as soon as the search devils left, she also crawled out, followed quietly, and watched from the pile of rocks not far from the entrance of the village. It turned out that what Bai Shui and his subordinates wanted was the brains of young women. I don't know who I heard it from. It is said that eating the brains of living women as medicine can cure those visceral diseases. Bai Shui and his subordinates must have contracted them in the county. At that time, this disease was very troublesome. When Bai Shui stammered with the translator, the people present almost fainted from fright. Bai Shui told the villagers that only one volunteer was needed, and it had better be voluntary, otherwise the medicine would not work well, and he would still To kill another one.Of course no one is willing to stand up. Bai Shui seemed a little impatient. He took out his gun and shot my uncle to death. Everyone was stunned. Then he walked back to the spot and said that no one wanted to pick one at random and kill him. Take brains. My aunt had just painted a picture when she left, but no one saw what was painted, this is what my mother told me.She was holding the painting in her hand when she took it away. Auntie tore the painting into pieces, then stuffed it into her mouth and swallowed it. Baishui and his subordinates were very surprised. They didn't understand why. Auntie swallowed the drawing paper, took a step forward, came to Baishui with a smile, and told He himself is willing to be their medicine guide. In this way, Auntie's head was cut off, and Baishui and his men ate her brains, and Auntie's body was collected and buried in the village. Not long after, Bai Shui left here with his troops, and never came back. The middle-aged man finished speaking in a low voice. Before we could react in the future, Yingxi suddenly climbed off the bed. He could hardly bend his knees, but he lay on the ground and tried to kneel. "I feel guilty for my grandfather's atrocities. I know that apologizing is useless, but he and my father have received retribution. I am not afraid of death, but I hope to lift the curse of your aunt. I have an unborn child. , he is innocent." Yingxi shouted intermittently.The originally determined face of the middle-aged man was a little strange, he twitched his face a few times, trying to help Yingxi up, but stopped again. "I don't know how to help you, there's really nothing I can do." He stood up again and looked at the back of Yingxi's head. "However, I can keep a secret from everyone for you, that's all I can do." After speaking, he sighed and walked out. "Please wait, does your aunt have any other relics?" Ji Yan stood up and asked, the middle-aged man thought for a while and said that there seemed to be some.Ji Yan and I helped Yingxi to bed and let him rest. In the back room, there is a small room, which is clean and simple, like a girl’s boudoir. The middle-aged man told us that since his aunt’s death, no matter how nervous the family is, they are not allowed to enter this room, and All the arrangements are the same as before. Inside there is only a wooden bed with a mosquito net, a desk, and an easel. "If she died with resentment, the things she left behind should be able to feel something." Ji Yan flipped through the drawing papers, but most of them had turned brittle and yellowed, so it might be well organized and not moldy , because the climate here is still relatively dry. Ji Yan walked to the easel, and there was a blank sheet of paper. "Have you not moved for decades since that day?" Ji Yan asked the man. "Yes, even if you move it out to bask in the sun, you are careful, and the drawing paper and brushes like the easel have not been touched. This room is generally not allowed to come in." The man replied. "Is there any rice wine and vinegar?" Ji Yan stretched out her hand and asked, I wondered why he wanted this, and soon the middle-aged man brought rice wine and mature vinegar. "I'm making a piece of thin cowhide." Ji Yan unpacked her things and poured rice wine and mature vinegar together.After a while, the thin cowhide was also brought in. Ji Yan smeared the liquid prepared from rice wine and mature vinegar on the cowhide, and then pressed it on the drawing paper again.The middle-aged man screamed. "What are you doing?" He wanted to rush over to stop it, but Ji Yan bit his finger and smeared a bloodstain on the cowhide. He took off the cowhide, found a piece of white paper, spread it on it again, and put it under the sun. "After drying, peel off the cowhide, but be careful not to damage the paper." Then he told the middle-aged man that he did this because he wanted to see what the dead aunt had painted before she died. what. The cowhide was carefully uncovered, and there was indeed a picture on the white paper. Although it was not very clear, it could be roughly distinguished. It is a portrait of a woman, but we can only see it from the clothes, because there is only hair and the whole face is missing. "I understand." Ji Yan suddenly realized.He took the paper and walked into Yingxi's room. Ying Xi was lying on the bed, looking very weak, Ji Yan asked me to help him up. The face in the back of the head has its eyes tightly shut. Ji Yan carefully pressed the paper up. When the painting was completed, I saw that the dead girl was actually very beautiful and full of artistic temperament. "Should I go? It turns out it's over." The girl's eyes were still closed, she opened her thin lips, and said these few words. Ji Yan slowly removed the paper, and the face behind Yingxi's head disappeared.And the portrait on the paper also seemed to have fallen into the water, gradually blurred, and finally disappeared. After only a few hours, Yingxi's limbs and bones recovered. We couldn't explain it, and we didn't want to explain it. He almost thanked us and the middle-aged man with a grateful expression. The middle-aged man always dismissed it and warned him. Do not come back to this village again. "I can't guarantee what everyone will do to you next time I see you." He said coldly, but he still looked sadly at Yingxi, who had his head down, and at the back of his head that was bald. Perhaps they are all victims. When Younghee left, he told us that he had no intention of going back alive, and that such a situation was unexpected. "I will tell my daughter that there is no need to hide his grandfather's crimes. Moreover, I will find a way to bring my wife and daughter to China to settle down. Although it is difficult, although people may not like us, I will still Do it." Yingxi firmly handed the note to us, and Ji Yan and I smiled and said welcome anytime. "Next time, I will definitely not need to write to communicate with you next time!" Yingxi gave us the last note and entered the airport. "What are you thinking?" I saw Ji Yan thinking deeply. "I'm online. Did my father leave this matter to me on purpose? Maybe he knows that the whole thing is reincarnation, and he can't stop it. When the time comes, there will naturally be a result." He said slowly. "The rice wine and vinegar?" I asked curiously. "I just sketched out the traces of the painting decades ago. Of course, the painting of the girl dying contained a lot of resentment. Rice wine can capture those things, and my blood is just to fix them and make them real. That's all." Ji Yan explained. When we went out, slogans were hung everywhere on the street, and the TV also reminded us that today is July 7th.