Chapter 37 Primer

The clear night sky, the clouds are light and the wind is clear, and the moonlight is extraordinarily bright. Under the bright moon, there is a quiet small village called Qianwen Village.In the dead of night, all households in the village closed their doors to rest, except for the fourth wife's house which still reflected the dim light. The dilapidated little house of the fourth wife has not been so lively for a long time, at least in the impression of the neighbors, it has not been tried in the past ten years.This night, the fourth wife should feel very happy. What she liked most during her lifetime was excitement.

However, the old man who likes to be lively can only lie quietly in a small room at this moment, lying on the wooden bed that has accompanied her for most of her life.Against the backdrop of the moonlight shining through the window, her old and shriveled face looked very peaceful, but there was a bit of mystery in the tranquility.The tiring life has come to an end, and the moment of relaxation has finally come. Outside the room is a hall of less than 20 square meters, where the fourth wife is having a long absence, and four of her five children are here.She hadn't seen them for a long time, and although three of them lived in this village, it was still rare to see them on weekdays.The last time we met was during the Spring Festival, they just acted as if they came over for a stroll and then left.

Therefore, the fourth wife will be very happy when they come this time.However, this is just the neighbors' speculation. At this moment, no one knows what the fourth wife is thinking, because she passed away this morning. According to the customs of Qianwen Village, the ancestors cannot be buried immediately after death, but must be buried at home for three days before burial.During these three days, children must watch the spirit day and night, one is to show filial piety; the other is to prevent spiritual animals from approaching the corpse and causing fraud. Although the fourth wife's children were not filial during her lifetime, there are still some things that must be done after her death, otherwise outsiders will gossip.Others may not care much, but the eldest brother Gao Qiang and the third child Gao Xian are the village head and teacher of the village respectively. Although it has long been a matter of talk in the streets that they treat their fourth wife badly, they would rather be known than invisible, and they still have to look good. do enough.Especially Gao Qiang, he still wants to continue to be the village head, of course he has to establish a positive image of a filial son in front of the villagers, just like he talks about his honesty and law-abiding every time he speaks.

However, the vast majority of people say one thing and do another, even though they came here as soon as their mother died, and even though they tried their best to show their filial sons and grandchildren in front of outsiders during the day.But in the dead of night, when no outsiders were present, they gradually took off their hypocritical disguises and returned to their original ugly nature. "We happen to be four of us now, do you want to play a few games of mahjong?" The first one who couldn't hold back was Gao Hao, the second sister, who would fight every day in Sifang City. Itchy hands.

"Well, good! Go to your house and move a mahjong table over here. There is no TV here, so boring! Third, you have also been there to help." Gao Qiang spoke to his younger brother like he usually gave orders to his subordinates, completely out of touch. Will care whether others want to. Although the youngest, Gao Xian, had some slights in his heart, he got his job as a teacher under the arrangement of the other party, and he often had to ask his elder brother who was the village chief for help, so he could only swallow his anger. The fourth brother Gaocai looked at the scene in front of him coldly, with the corners of his mouth slightly upturned.Fortunately, he wasn't as useless as the third child back then, staying in this shitty place, otherwise he would have to be like the third child now, obedient to the boss.Although working hard outside made him suffer a lot, but seeing the slave look of the third child, he felt that it was all worth it.At least he dared to say no to the boss's unreasonable demands, instead of just bowing his head in silence like the third brother.

Gao Hao's residence is not far from here. After a while, she and the third child moved mahjong and mahjong tables, and the sound of mahjong rubbing followed in the quiet small village. In the room separated by a wall, amidst the loud sound of mahjong, the fourth wife was still lying quietly on the bed, and the moonlight shining through the window on her peaceful face was particularly eerie. A mysterious and elegant black shadow suddenly appeared on the window. It was a small black shadow. Its owner was a black cat whose hair was as black as ink, and it was indistinguishable from it. black cat.

Only the fourth wife was lying quietly on the bed in the room, and the four people in the hall were fighting in the Sifang City, not noticing the movement in the room at all.Or rather, they don't care what happens in the room at all. The black cat stood on the window sill, silently staring at everything in the room.After a long time, after confirming that there would be no danger in this room, it jumped gracefully from the window onto the bed, and then calmly climbed onto the fourth wife, standing on her chest and quietly staring at her old face . The black cat under the moonlight seemed to show a mysterious smile, like a hunter catching prey.

The four people in the hall were still fighting in the Sifang City, they didn't know what happened in the room, until a sharp scream came from outside the room, and the terrible nightmare kicked off... It's night, the first seven days of the fourth wife. According to the "Tibetan Book of the Dead", on the seventh night after a person dies, his soul will return home to visit relatives and friends. In the small house of the fourth wife, in the hall, her four children are all dressed in hemp belts, with solemn expressions.Seven days ago, they were still talking and laughing here, building the Sifang City, but now they are uncharacteristically serious.The four of them were silent and sat silently, as if each had something on their minds.

The granddaughter of the fourth wife, Feifei, squatted outside the door alone, throwing the incense candle into the brazier and burning it. When she was about to put a piece of Ming coin into the brazier, a drop of crystal tears ran across her fair face and fell on the Ming coin. On—almost every Ming coin is stained with her tears.Her movements were very slow, but she was very serious and careful, trying her best to turn every ghost coin into ashes, as if every ghost coin was attached to her grandmother's yearning. The four people in the hall remained silent all night until someone finally broke the silence at midnight.The third child, Gao Xian, was the first to speak. He was restless all night, feeling like he was sitting on pins and needles.He didn't want to speak at first, but the silence brought by the silence made him feel an indescribable fear. He wanted everyone to talk, so he opened his mouth first: "Um... tell me, will mother come back tonight?"

However, he didn't seem to be good at talking, as soon as he opened his mouth, the other three looked at him, each with complex expressions of fear, anger, and a hint of uneasiness.However, they did not answer the conversation, as if no one had spoken at all, the hall returned to silence again, and everyone returned to silence again. After a calm lake makes ripples, it will soon return to calm.But who ever thought that only the surface of the lake is calm, and the bottom of the lake may be undercurrents. The eldest, Gao Qiang, had been smoking, and before the third opened his mouth, there were already more than twenty cigarette butts under his feet.At this moment, he was still smoking, and on the surface there was no change from just now, but the cigarette between his fingers was almost burning to the end, but he didn't notice it at all.

"Oh!" Gao Qiang exclaimed, and the burning pain from between his fingers made him quickly shake off the cigarette end.The other three were startled by his screams, and cast surprised glances at him like frightened birds.Embarrassed, he pretended nothing had happened, and quickly lit another cigarette to hide his embarrassment. Silence, a long silence, a dead silence.Gao Xian really couldn't bear this terrible silence, so he repeated the topic just now: "Do you think mother will come back tonight?" "Sir, shut up!" Gao Qiang yelled out of embarrassment, like thunder in this silent night.Gao Xian shrank back immediately, the expression of fear was evident on his face. "Wouldn't it be great if Mother came back?" The fourth brother Gaocai took out two cigarettes, threw one to the third brother, lit the other himself, looked at the elder brother with provocative eyes, and blew out the smoke leisurely. "What do you want to say!" Gao Qiang glared at his fourth brother. Gao Cai sneered disdainfully, took a puff of cigarette before opening his mouth: "Although mother has been a little confused these few years, mother still knows who treats her well and who treats her badly." "You fucking shut up!" Gao Qiang stared angrily, stood up and threw the cigarette under his feet, and said viciously to his fourth brother: "You don't come back once a year, how dare you say that I treat my mother Not good! If you say you are unfilial, you and Fifth Sister are the most unfilial!" Gao Cai also stood up and yelled at his eldest brother: "My fifth sister and I went outside to make a living. It's like you. You spend all your father's money to buy an official and come back to be your village head. We ate outside Do you know how much suffering? If conditions permit, who wouldn’t want to come back to see mother every day?” "Don't say it so nicely, if it wasn't for the things in the lychee garden, you wouldn't have come all the way back!" The second sister Gao Hao said what she said, and Gao Cai's face immediately sank. The two brothers continued to quarrel, and Gao Hao spoke for the eldest brother from time to time, making the fourth brother blush. The youngest, Gao Xian, remained silent, because his goal had already been achieved, he just wanted to hear some voices, so that he would not feel afraid because of the silence.He lit the cigarette in his hand, leisurely enjoying the tranquility of the quarrel, his eyes fell on the window inadvertently, and then screamed: "Mother, mother is really back!" Everyone's eyes turned to the window together, and there was an old female figure outside the window. Under the hazy moonlight, under the messy hair was a terrifying face that was half human and half cat!Shouts of fear resounded in the hall, and the monster outside the window showed a mysterious smile, and then disappeared into the night. "Go, go and have a look." Gao Qiang's arguing with his fourth brother just now disappeared, replaced by timidity. Gao Cai didn't reply, and his anger disappeared instantly, and he sat down slowly, as if he was thinking about something.The same goes for Gao Hao and Gao Xian, sitting on the stool without saying a word.Seeing that no one responded, Gao Qiang stopped talking.The hall was once again silent, a deathly silence, a silence full of fear. Outside the door, Feifei was still burning Ming coins for her grandmother, turning a deaf ear to everything that happened in the house. The next day, a male body was found lying in a lychee garden outside the village.