Chapter 34 Chapter 8 Life hangs by a thread

When we got home that day, it was already dawn. I dragged my tired feet up the stairs, and without even taking a shower, I lay down on the bed and fell asleep.In my sleep, I went back to that abandoned building again. This time, I saw a ghost. It was really a female ghost, but she kept her back to me, and she stepped back towards me step by step.I wanted to run, but I couldn't move.Later, she stood in front of me and turned around suddenly.I saw her sticking out her long tongue, her face was pale, and her eyes were bleeding... I woke up with a loud cry, panting violently, as if a huge boulder was pressing on my chest; looking sideways, I saw the sun slanting to the west, shining through the window sills on the wall covered with a layer of newspaper.

I believe that there are absolutely no ghosts in that abandoned building, and there are absolutely no ghosts in the world, but why are there footsteps?Who is that woman?Where is she hiding?Why is she hiding there? I have been lying on the bed, my whole body is as soft as noodles.I think this unannounced visit is unprecedented.Wildlife wholesale markets cannot be entered, and if they cannot enter, they will not know where these wild animals are sold. If they do not know where they are sold, they will not know who is consuming them, and who is the "murderer" who gluttons these wild animals.

The unannounced visit was so unsuccessful, and another "female ghost" appeared. I thought about giving up.Maybe God knew that this unannounced visit was extremely difficult, so a "female ghost" appeared to let me retreat. In the next few days, I was like a loafing little bastard, with slippers on, shirtless, and fat and big shorts that could fit a baby pig in the crotch, wandering around the village at the fringe of urban and rural areas.In this city, because of the hot weather, every man has a pair of slippers and a pair of baggy shorts. At night, in a small shop on the street, I ordered a few bottles of beer, cooked a dish, and chatted with the boss while watching the TV hanging above my head.It was always late at night before I crawled into the rental house drunk.

One day, I ran into a publisher I used to work with at the distribution station.He looked at me with a bare back and said, "Brother, you are really good." Indeed, it takes a little guts to dare to walk naked in an urban village, which is usually done by punks.And when I was a teenager, I also fought out of the gangs. Ten years ago, I was a gangster on the street in the north. I learned a little bit of three-legged cat kung fu, and I always wanted to compete with others, thinking that I was Huo Yuanjia.If I hadn't been admitted to university, I might have embarked on the road of breaking the law and committing crimes, or I might be beaten into a disability by others.Some of the people who learned martial arts with me were imprisoned and have not yet come out;In the Northwest, fighting in groups is a rite of passage for teenagers, and teenagers who can fight are always favored by girls.The teenagers haven't seen each other for many days. When they get together, they always talk about how brave they are, how they broke the bridge of each other's nose with a punch.At that time, I often bragged about how I could fight in front of girls, and I was ecstatic in the girls' admiring eyes.

I sat in a restaurant drinking with the publisher.On summer nights, each person gets a bottle of beer, bites off the bottle cap with his teeth, and drinks half of the bottle in one go. This is the patent and enjoyment of the poor.What annoys those who drink beer and still use a cup, unlike men. We talked about life after separation, and as we talked, we talked about the station master.It suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't called the station master for a long time. After dialing the phone number of the station master, he asked me what I was up to recently. I came to the corner and saw that there was no one around, and then I whispered to him about my unannounced poaching life these days and the confusion I encountered.The station master said: "Why don't you find me, I am a local, and all the ingredients you want are here." He said that he has many comrades in law enforcement who drive, and often take those people with big bellies to eat wild animals .He would introduce me to those comrades in arms.

The station master also said that wild animal dishes are very expensive, and a plate can cost hundreds or even thousands, how can ordinary people afford it.People who can eat these, one is to consume with public funds, and the other is to ask their boss to treat them.These potbellied people are keen to eat wild animals, which makes poaching so rampant. That day, I told the stationmaster about the abandoned building next to the wild animal trading market, saying that the building was haunted. The station master laughed and said, "Ghost? I haven't seen a ghost yet. I'll catch the ghost for you tomorrow night."

The next night, the director drove the Alto and dragged me and the station master to the building.The director prepared three sticks, but the station master didn't want any sticks. He said, "I'm not going to the funeral, what do I need these mourning sticks for?" The director and I hesitated for a while, but we still held the sticks in our hands. With flashlights on, we searched from the first floor to the fifth floor, and from the fifth floor to the first floor, but we didn't see a single person.The station master smiled and said, "Where is the female ghost? Where is the female ghost?"

I looked at the dark steps and said, "Wait, it will come in a while." The station master still smiled and said: "If it comes, I will catch it and make you my wife." The director said seriously: "There are really footsteps, footsteps wearing high heels. I heard her go down the stairs." The director's voice trembled a little, and my heart trembled when I heard it. The station master said: "You literati, you are afraid when you hear a woman's footsteps. When I was alone in the jungle, I hid in a tree, poisonous snakes crawled over me, and wild animals walked under the tree. I was never afraid. Are you still afraid of a woman?"

The empty building at midnight was unusually quiet, and the wind blew through the empty corridor, as if someone was crying.We walked from the first floor to the third floor, standing at the window, and saw the distant trading market, brightly lit.The moonlight shone on the entrance of the building, as bright as day. The station master said, "I'd like to see where this woman came from." However, there was no one upstairs or downstairs, and there was no sound of high-heeled footsteps. The station master jokingly asked, "Where is the female ghost? Why didn't you come tonight?"

As soon as he finished speaking, there were footsteps upstairs, da, da, da... The rhythm was slow, like a woman in a tight cheongsam and high heels walking down the stairs carefully. I whispered: "Listen, listen, here, here." My legs began to tremble. The station master's expression became serious, and he said, "It's strange that a woman really came." His voice was as calm as before. After the sound of high heels rang a dozen times, silence returned.The station master stared intently at the direction of the stairs, and the director and I looked at each other blankly.We guessed that the female ghost might have come to us, but we couldn't see her, but she could see us.

Da, da, da... The sound of high heels sounded again, this time the sound was closer, and the female ghost was still going down the stairs.I gripped the stick tightly with trembling hands. After a dozen more rings, silence was restored.I think, we are watching the female ghost, and the female ghost must also be watching us.Is she thinking at this moment, which of these three people should start first? Da, da, da... This time the sound seemed to ring in our ears, and the female ghost was only a few meters away from us.The station master suddenly turned on the flashlight, and the bright flashlight pierced the darkness like a sharp sword.The station master rushed through the window and ran to the stairs, cursing so loudly that the stair echoed. Da da da... This time the voices became one, and the female ghost was running down the stairs quickly. The director and I followed behind the station master and also ran to the stairs. In the light of the flashlight, there was no one on the stairs and corridors. When I was in fear and strangeness, I suddenly heard the cry of a mouse.The station master stepped on a mouse, and the mouse struggled and squeaked a few times before it became silent.The station master smiled and said, "You literati, what can you do? A mouse scares you like this." How could it be a mouse?How do mice make the sound of high heels?We looked at the station master, puzzled. The station master said: "Look at this mouse, how is it different from other common mice?" The mouse was lying on the ground with its hooves facing the sky. At the end of its tail was a ball the size of a ping-pong ball, which was hard to step on.I don't know why the mouse tail becomes like this?Do you know what this ball is made of? The station master took us from the third floor to the fifth floor, and walked into a room.Newspapers were pasted on the walls of the houses, and the newspapers had turned yellow.Rat droppings like grains of wheat are all over the ground.The kitchen was filthy and messy, there were vinegar bottles and soy sauce bottles on the pot table, and there was also an oily crock.There should have been cooking oil in the crock. We still don't understand why the webmaster brought us here. The station master pointed to the oil tank and said: "When I was a child, I saw mice stealing oil. When the mouse was stealing oil, it would squat on the edge of the tank, stick its tail into the oil tank, and stick its tail into its mouth after getting the cooking oil. Lick." The director and I listened carefully to the station master's explanation, but we still didn't understand the relationship between the mouse and the rattling footsteps. The station master looked at us and continued: "After the mouse stole the oil, it jumped off the pot, and its wet tail dragged on the ground, and the dust would stick to the tail. When it stole the oil again, the tail was immersed in the oil tank again, and it lasted forever. , the dust on the tail became more and more, and finally it became the size of a ping-pong ball. Since the tail is always dragging up and down the ground, the ball is constantly hammered, and it becomes extremely hard. So, you sound like The sound of high heels going down the stairs." It turned out to be like this. I asked the station master: "How do you know?" The station master said: "I didn't know at first. I deduced it when I first saw the oil tank and then saw the strange tail of the mouse. You can't think of this because you always think about female ghosts. How can there be such a thing in this world?" Ghost?" The mouse was lying on the ground, dying.But on closer inspection, it's not a mouse.It looks like both a mouse and a rabbit.At the time I didn't know what animal it belonged to, but it was definitely a close relative of the mouse.Later, after looking through the pictures in a bookstore, I realized that it was a Himalayan guinea pig, a relatively expensive mouse.It may have escaped from the wild animal trading market. Both the director and I felt very ashamed. It turned out that it was a mouse stealing oil, and a mouse stealing oil scared us half to death. The webmaster said: "You read too much, and you always think about gods and ghosts. Some writers are too boring to write about people who suffer and suffer, but write about these gods and gods to scare people. Can you Don't become such a writer." Indeed, since we walked into this building, we have always been thinking about the scenes in those horror novels; The director said: "I climbed out of the dead. I don't know how many times I died on the battlefield. I didn't take my own life seriously. Let alone a ghost, I am not afraid of a group of ghosts." After the station master finished speaking, he walked down the stairs with a heavy voice, which echoed in the empty corridor.Even if there were ghosts in this building, they would recoil at the sound of such footsteps.The director followed, and I followed the director. The station master said: "Go to the wild animal trading market and have a look. These people are like mice, they come out at night." As soon as we walked out of the building and into the grass, the car stopped in the middle of the grass.Suddenly, I felt a pain in my ankle and fell to the ground.I saw the white moon floating in the sky like an inflated bubble of pig urine. The director turned around and asked, "What's wrong?" I said, "I was bitten by a snake." The station master took a flashlight and shone around. He saw a ripple disappearing deep in the grass, and he couldn't catch it even if he wanted to. The director shined a flashlight on my ankle.I saw the blood gurgling out, soaking the grass on the ground.The wound has a pair of teeth marks, and it has swelled up, and I feel very sharp pain.I knew exactly that it was bitten by a cobra. This cobra may have also escaped from the wild animal trading market. Earlier, when I was interviewing in the Wuling Mountains of Guizhou Province, I heard a snake catcher say that if you are bitten by a snake and have a pair of obvious tooth marks on the wound, you have been bitten by a poisonous snake. The tooth marks of a non-venomous snake are a row , the bite doesn't matter; if the wound swells, it's a cobra bite. I never imagined that in the Wuling Mountains in Guizhou, I would be cautious everywhere, walking on thin ice, as if facing an abyss, and I would pass through dangers; but when I returned to this southern city, I was bitten by a poisonous snake. The station master helped me climb into the Alto car.The director started the car, and the car rushed onto the road screaming.On the asphalt road in the suburbs, there are few pedestrians, and the car is driving fast, even running through the red light.I could clearly hear the rustling of the tires on the outside of the car against the road. Sitting in the back seat, I gradually felt that the wound swelled unbearably, and my whole calf became numb.The station master took off the belt and tightened my thighs to prevent the toxin from invading. However, to no avail, I felt extremely sleepy and exhausted.I know the toxin has invaded above the thighs. The director concentrated on driving, while the station master looked around.Later, the director told me that he had never driven so fast in his life like that night. This is in the suburbs, we are driving on an unfamiliar road, and we don't know where there is a hospital.The car was like a headless fly, flying around in the cold morning light. Finally, we saw a clinic.The director opened the car door, ran over in three steps and two steps, and hit the rolling shutter door with his fist, but there was no response.The loud sound of the rolling gate echoed on both sides of the street. If someone was inside, even if they slept soundly, they would be woken up. However, there was still no response from inside.The director ran back into the car in disappointment, and the car started to run aimlessly along the suburban road again, stumbling like drunk.The roads in the suburbs are very bad, and the road surface is seriously damaged. A dark pit will make the car jump very high. My mind was groggy, and there were some broken pieces of light floating in my eyes, like a disc that was blown away.I don't know if this is a harbinger of death.When I suddenly thought of death, I became very calm instead.I remembered the scene of accompanying my father to see a doctor in the hospital a few years ago. That was the last time we went to the hospital and lived in a small hotel next to the hospital.There are many such small hotels next to large hospitals, which are specially prepared for people from rural areas who come to the city to see a doctor.That day, the doctor suggested chemotherapy, and I was broke and in debt, and I couldn't afford to send my father to the hospital for treatment.Prior to this, I had been hiding from my father and did not tell him about his illness.That day, I finally summoned up the courage to tell my father that he was suffering from cancer, the most serious type of cancer, osteosarcoma.After my father heard about it, he got up from the bed, waved his hands and said, "Go home, I won't see a doctor." After that, my father prepared his funeral one by one in peace, and then waited for death in the piercing pain. When it is clear that death is coming, death is not scary at all. At this moment, I know that death is coming, I have no fear, I just feel sorry that I have just lived a good life, have a stable job, a stable income, and finally have money to serve my mother, and now I am dying. I thought about how hard it was for me these years, always trying my best to fight, never daring to slack off or shrink back, always saving money on food and expenses, giving the money I saved from my teeth to others to pay off debts, and when I arrived, I would stand up. It's been 10 years, and I dare not even talk about a girlfriend, but now I'm about to die. I'm the worst kind of person in the world. It doesn't matter if I die, the most worrying thing is my mother.My mother lived a miserable life. Like most farmers in China, she was hardworking and kind. She could not live a good life. During the three-year difficult period, she almost starved to death; , Only then can I finally have enough to eat... I am dead, what should my mother do?My younger sister has become a private teacher. I don't know how her income is now?My younger brother started running long-distance trucks, how much can the boss give?Their incomes are not high, and they have no money to give to their mothers.I'm dead, what should my mother do? The station master kept holding my hand, looking out the window nervously. I said to the station master: "Brother, I'm afraid I can't do it." The station master did not speak, his hands trembled.Street lights shone into the car, and I saw two tears on his face. I looked out the car window and saw bright lights and high-rise buildings outside the window. It turned out that the car had already driven into the city. The station master said, "Hold on, hold on, I'll be at the hospital soon." I was worried that I might not be able to wait to be admitted to the hospital.My body started to feel hot, my head was groggy, and I felt like my whole body was numb.I said to the station manager, "I still have 3,000 yuan on my card. After I die, you can send the money to my mother." The station master said: "Hold on, you won't die." After a pause, he said: "I will take good care of your mother, your mother is my mother." For the first time in my life, I didn't hear "Lao Tzu" from the station master. ". I let out a long breath and lost consciousness.