C11 Yuyang village

I ran for a little while, but because my grandma was always in a hurry but couldn't run fast enough, I had to go back and help her.

When I got to the front of the house, I was relieved to see her standing in the doorway. At least it meant that he wasn't in any danger.

Ah granny seemed to know what had happened and was about to arrive. She suddenly asked me to go back and bring the water.

I let go of her hand and asked her what had happened.

I could see the fear in his eyes. He pointed up the stairs, his hands shaking, but he was pushed down.

"Did Ah Tong get scared by the dog?" The grandma held Ah Tong and made a slapping motion.

I went straight to the point, not deceived by her lame lies.

"Elder, why are you hiding something from us? We'll leave at noon. It doesn't seem necessary."

Ah Wa … She suddenly froze in place. I asked Ah Tong what he saw, and he pointed upstairs.

I saw a dead man lying on the bed.

Gran's reaction was a bit intense. She pushed us away and went upstairs.

I followed, leaving the door open and my grandmother sprawled on the bed.

Just as A-Tong had said, there was indeed a white bone. Just its head was exposed and its body was covered by a blanket.

Grandma lifted the quilt and examined the bones as if they were treasures, afraid they might be damaged.

Before I could say anything, my grandma told me to go downstairs and fetch a basin of hot water.

Don't worry, she continued, you go get a basin of hot water, and I'll tell you what's going on.

I'll go down and have Ah Tong come with me. I don't dare to leave him alone upstairs, because if anything happens to him, he'll be even more terrifying than last night.

I carried a plate of hot water, and Tadashi put a towel on the edge of the bed.

Grandma thanked him and dipped the towel in the hot water and wrung it out.

I watched everything from the doorway without speaking. Ah Tong bit his nails and dared not speak. He kept holding my hand.

"The one lying on the bed is my wife. She died a year ago, but she still left before me." She spoke slowly, with a sob in her voice.

I asked her why she'd left the body on the bed, and where she'd slept, since there was only one bed in the bedroom.

If I bury him, I'll really be the only one. I can't go anywhere with an old woman like me, and I can't blame myself for being bored. I take off my hat, I take it off, I take it off, I reknit it, I don't know who to wear it on.

I realized later that what she had said last night was that both her son and daughter had gone to the city, and that the two old people were living in a place that was deserted.

Currently, my wife has already been dead for a year. Before I came, she was still alive, which was why she was so interested in me. During this period of time, no one else came.

That's why she let me in last night without finding out who I was, as if she had a lot to say to me. She was just looking for someone who could really talk to her.

Not a skeleton.

All of her worries were unnecessary, as my grandma didn't have any intentions of harming us. It had been a long time since she cooked a human meal, so there was some white powder on the outside of the big bowl of porridge.

She rubbed her wife's body in silence, and Ah Tong and I watched.

When she was done, she stood up with a smile and said, "Stay for two more nights, I'll go cook dinner for you."

With Ah Tong's permission, I stayed longer than two days. Before leaving, I asked Ah Shu for her name.

Her name was Luo Juan and his wife was Shen Ping. I was surprised, but didn't say anything.

My grandma also knows a bit about Yuyang Village. She told me that as long as I follow the river that collects water, when I see the next lake, I would reach Yuyang Village.

I bid farewell to her and returned to the grave. I clearly remember that there were two tombstones among the crowd.

One was carved with Luojuan, the other was carved with Shen Ping.

Walking along the river, there were no other scenes on the overgrown fields. After walking for an entire afternoon, they finally passed through the two mountains.

In the meantime, I bumped into a villager who was planning to go to Yuyang Village after returning from the outside world. He gave me a ride, and in a while, it would be my turn that I would give him a ride.

He was quite familiar with Yuyang Village and told me that if I were to leave, I would have to walk for at least a day and a half.

He sells pears and comes home every month. This time, I coincidentally bumped into him and called him Uncle Li.

At the very least, Uncle Li can let him not have to drink water every day, and he can eat pears.

The day's journey did not happen, and the three of them had a lot of fun together.

Uncle Li seemed to like Ah Tong a lot. Every time I stepped on three wheels, he would sit on the back seat and make a joke out of himself.

However, this was no wonder. This kid was glib enough to ask for food, and no one could resist him.

What's more, Uncle Li was a father who had a full moon baby. This kind of overflowing fatherly love was just perfect for Ah Tong.

When we finally arrived at Yuyang Village, I could hear voices coming from far away. This village was completely different from the place where I was born.

When Uncle Li saw his own village, he immediately jumped out of the car to let me rest. He told me and Ah Tong to sit tight, so he could speed up.

After entering the village, he stopped us at the entrance to the village and ran home. It was difficult to suppress his excitement after not seeing the child for a month.

The entire village was bustling with activity. There was a group of people gathered at the entrance of the village, watching the lion dance performance as the gongs and drums sounded.

There was a temple in the village, filled with people from inside out. Everyone held three joss sticks in their hands. I randomly pulled a villager to ask what was going on.

He told me that it was July and a half, which was simply the Chinese Festival, also known as the Ghost Festival.

Basically, all the villagers had to pray for incense in the temple, ask for a paper boat made of underworld money, and then wait until nightfall before putting it in the river, in order to prevent ghosts from disturbing their peaceful life.

After I finished listening, I also pulled Ah Tong to ask for three incense sticks of time, which could be considered as entering the country and following the customs of the country.

While waiting in line, Ah Tong was taken away by the other children. They said that every child had to draw a special pattern on their face for a day, or else they would be taken away by a ghost.

Ah Tong especially believed this because in the Taoist temple, the Taoist had said that if he did not seriously study Taoism, he would be taken away by the ghost, who especially liked fat children.

He also solemnly allowed the man who drew the pattern to paint more on his face.

In the evening we ate a hundred people's meals at the temple fair in the village, where the whole village sat down to eat in the open grounds of the temple, and we chose a large bone and tied it around our necks with a red rope.

This way, even if the ghost caught him, the ghost would first taste the bone in his chest, not eat him.

The children finished their meal early. Perhaps they didn't know the purpose of the money boat, so they only thought it was fun.

A group of children were standing in the same spot, holding the boat lightly in their hands. One, two, three, to see whose boat was faster.

Later, when the adults had finished eating, I joined them. The river was filled with people carrying kerosene lamps, and hundreds of Underworld money boats were drifting away.

And I don't know why, but the boat went down a little way over the river.

Uncle Li was standing beside me. He had never seen anything like this before. Perhaps it was my bad luck that brought along a few villagers and children to mock me.

All the children were not allowed to go out today. The adults had to finish firing their firecrackers before midnight, because that was the only way to scare the ghost away.

I'm staying at Uncle Riley's for the night.

I never knew about these things, so I was curious. I dragged my tired body to sleep and stared out the window until midnight.

However, it was exceptionally quiet outside. There were no ghost doors at all, not even a single person could be seen.

It seemed like the legend was only a legend. Uncle Li told me that when the ghost door opened, the Hundred Wraiths' nocturnal journey out of seclusion would be extremely spectacular. Perhaps, it was something that I had read about.

I shut the window and blew out the candle on the table.

The candle went out and then reignited. The last gust of wind had somehow put out the candle.

I saw four or five shadows suddenly flash past outside, their speed so fast that I couldn't tell what they were.