Chapter 9 Eight, the third day (evening)

After the funeral was over, it was already past nine o'clock in the evening, and my mother wept her last tear on my aunt's grave.After everyone comforted her for a long time, she was willing to leave. There are no hotels or restaurants in this small village. The village chief said that he has two vacant rooms in his house, where Jining and his son can live.Aunt Chen and several women who had a good relationship with her aunt were unwilling to leave, saying that they wanted to stay with Ji Ning's mother for a while.A group of people came to the village chief's house together.

The village chief's house is a two-story brick house built by himself, with a total of six rooms upstairs and downstairs.Everyone gathered in the living room, and the wife of the village chief was busy making tea and pouring water. Ji Ning's mother had controlled her emotions at first, but when she saw the note left by her sister when she was holding a tissue in her bag, she burst into tears again.Everyone said words of relief, but she shook her head and said, "I just can't figure out what happened to my sister and why she committed suicide?" Everyone was silent. Ji Ning's mother looked at everyone with pleading eyes: "Everyone, you are all my sister's friends and neighbors before she was alive. Do you really not know why my sister committed suicide? Could it be that she didn't show any signs before?"

Everyone shook their heads blankly.After a while, Aunt Chen said sadly: "That day, Huiyun said that she would give me all the chickens raised at home. , who knows... oh..." Ji Ning's mother took Aunt Chen's hand and said, "Aunt Chen, you're not to blame for this incident. I just want to find out the truth about my sister's suicide - so I can explain to Doudou and his grandmother in the future!" Aunt Chen said in embarrassment: "His sister Huiyun, if something happens to someone in our small mountain village, the whole village will know the next day. But we really can't figure out why Huiyun committed suicide. ——She didn't let us notice at all before."

A woman in her thirties said, "Yes, to tell you the truth, we also want to know what's going on, but no one in the village knows, so we can't even guess." Ji Ning's mother lowered her head in disappointment. "So, the truth of Huiyun's suicide will never be known..." There was another awkward silence in the living room. The 10-year-old daughter of the village chief had been sitting by the side listening to the conversation of the adults. Seeing that everyone was silent, she suddenly said in wonder: "If you use that method, won't you be able to know the truth?"

Ji Ning was taken aback, and looked at the little girl in surprise.Mom also raised her head and asked her: "What method?" "What do children know, don't interrupt here!" The village chief yelled at his daughter, and patted her on the shoulder, "Go outside and play!" The little girl pouted and went out, squatting in front of a pile of sand by the door to play. Ji Ning's mother asked: "Village chief, what does your daughter mean?" "Hey, if you're a kid, you're serious." The village head said disapprovingly, "You must have read some fairy tales and are talking nonsense here."

Ji Ning's mother thought for a while, but said nothing. Then, it seemed that no one in the room wanted to continue the subject, and moved on to other things. Ji Ning sat near the door, staring at the little girl at the door, recalling what she said just now. His intuition told him that the girl wasn't talking nonsense, she really knew something. Ji Ning stayed in the house for a while, and saw the village chief go to another house.He said to his mother, "I'm going out to get some air." Mom nodded.Ji Ning walked towards the door. The little girl draws with a stick in front of the sand.Ji Ning looked around, then squatted beside her, and asked in a low voice: "Little sister, you just said, is there any way to know the truth?"

The little girl raised her head and stared at Ji Ning with big eyes: "Do you believe what I say?" "I believe it." Ji Ning said with certainty. The little girl glanced at the people in the room. "Actually, they also know this method. The adults told me about it, but now they don't want to admit that there is such a method." Ji Ning was confused. "What do you mean?" The little girl lowered her voice and said in a mysterious tone: "Do you know what a psychic is?" Ji Ning froze for a moment, he wasn't sure if what he understood was the same as what the little girl said, he tried it out. "You mean, the kind that can communicate with the souls of dead people..."

"Yes, that's what it means. Psychics can make the soul of the dead temporarily attach to themselves or others." The little girl stared at him. "I heard from the adults that there used to be a few powerful psychics in our village. When someone wanted to get in touch with the dead, they would go to these psychics for help. Then, the psychic would tell them, for example, 'Your old man's money is hidden under the bed, under the third brick from the left,' sort of thing, of course helped them a lot." Ji Ning was a little surprised, but also very interested: "Is it so powerful? Then why did you say that adults don't recognize this method now?"

"Maybe there are some 'fakes' out now. They don't have psychic skills at all, but they claim to be psychics. The purpose is just to cheat money. So gradually everyone doesn't believe it." The little girl looked a little Sorry, but soon opened his eyes again. "But I heard from my classmate's mother that the psychics we used to be here were real. She had personally experienced this kind of miraculous thing before." Ji Ning thought about it. "I see. You mean, if you want to know the truth about my aunt's suicide, you can ask a psychic for help?"

Unexpectedly, the little girl shook her head. "Actually, that's what I said. If you really want to do this, it may not work." "why?" "As I said just now, many psychics nowadays are fake, and it's not easy to find a real one. And I heard from my classmate's mother that the most powerful psychic in our village is no longer here." "Then where is he?" "Probably dead." Ji Ning let out an "oh", looking a little disappointed. The little girl seemed to see what Ji Ning was thinking, approached him and said, "Brother, don't be discouraged, let me tell you something."

Ji Ning stared at her. "The psychic medium you are looking for may no longer exist, but if you can find his descendants, you may be able to help you channel the psychic. Because—" she said very mysteriously, "the psychic medium's Physiques can sometimes be hereditary, you know what I mean - if there is a true psychic in a family, then his descendants may also have psychic abilities." Ji Ning stared at this 10-year-old girl in astonishment, dumbfounded.Her tone of voice is obviously much more precocious than the average little girl, and—— "How do you know these things so clearly?" Ji Ning asked. The little girl smiled: "I heard what my classmate's mother said. As I said just now, she has experienced this kind of thing herself before. So, it's not that I know it clearly, but she knows it clearly." "You don't seem to be afraid of these things at all?" "What's there to be afraid of, I think it's funny." She replied with a wink. What a bold and special girl - Ji Ning thought to himself. At this time, the little girl's mother came to the door and shouted: "Xiao Deng, you're still outside at this late hour! Come in, wash your face, brush your teeth, and go to sleep." The girl responded and ran towards the room on the right.Ji Ning also stood up and went back to the living room in the middle. The women in the room were chatting with Ji Ning's mother about Doudou's future. "Will Doudou live with you all the time?" an old lady asked. "Of course, his parents are gone, who will he follow if he doesn't follow us?" Ji Ning's mother said, "I will help him transfer schools when I get back, and let him study in the city." A skinny woman hesitated and said, "What if Doudou's father... comes back again someday?" Ji Ning's mother sighed: "If I could come back, I would have been back a long time ago... But I also look forward to a miracle one day. If Doudou can have a father, it will be better than having no parents... …Let’s talk about that day.” Aunt Chen said sadly: "Doudou has lost his father since he was a child, and he is dependent on his mother. If he knows that his mother is also dead, I don't know how sad he will be. Sigh, why is this child so miserable?" All the women in the room sighed, and some even wiped away their tears.But this time, Ji Ning's mother became stronger instead. She said firmly: "Although Doudou has encountered so many unfortunate things, our family will be his family from now on, and my aunt will treat him like his own mother." Yes, it won't make him less loving!" The women were a little moved.But at this moment, Ji Ning noticed that a short-haired woman in her thirties sitting in the far right corner had a slightly different expression from everyone else. She opened her mouth, as if hesitating to speak, but in the end she didn't say anything. When he spoke, there was a look of fear and anxiety on his face. Ji Ning frowned, he didn't know why this woman had such a weird expression. Near eleven o'clock.The aunts and aunts in the room stood up and said goodbye.Ji Ning's mother said many words of thanks to them, and then sent them out together with Ji Ning and the village head.The women repeatedly asked the mother and son to stay, but they stood outside the door and talked for a long time before leaving one after another. When they left, Ji Ning paid special attention to the short-haired woman in her thirties, and found that she turned her head to look at her mother several times, and showed that anxious expression again, which was very special among a group of women. This woman seems to know something special - Ji Ning guessed vaguely - but why did she hold back?