Zheng Jun has not shown up yet, and Zhang Xiaoxue is missing. These things have made the bureau very angry.
The deputy director came with his hands behind his back. It was obvious that he was unwilling to be in this place. However, two employees disappeared for no reason, and the police came but still had no clues. It was the strangest place and the strangest thing, which was completely incomprehensible.
When Zhang Xiaoxue disappeared, the higher-ups issued a document, a red-headed one, which showed that they took the matter very seriously. But there was nothing they could do, as they simply couldn't find her. Zhang Xiaoxue's parents also made a fuss many times, because whoever has the child should love her.
I sat in the director's office, closed my eyes, and everything that happened was very strange.
The director and I were not talking and were smoking. Zhang Xiaoxue pushed the door open and I was stunned. The director howled and almost jumped off the building, then he shivered while holding the heating pipe.
I know, if you don't get scared into a fool here, you are very brave.
"Captain, don't be afraid, I'm back."
"Is it the real Zhang Xiaoxue?"
"Yes, I'm Zhang Xiaoxue, really. I just took the wrong road. After walking for a few days, I'm back."
A few days? Maybe a few days in another world is just a few dozen days here.
Zhang Xiaoxue came over and held my hand.
"We can be together now. It won't be three years, and you won't have to sacrifice your life. Thank you."
The hand was warm, and I closed my eyes. At this moment, I really didn’t know what to do.
That day, when Zhang Xiaoxue returned home, the manager seemed to be in a trance. I didn't know whether he had recovered her or not.
I went to Mao Xiaoli and told her about this.
"Zhang Xiaoxue's return is a completely different story. She wanted to spend her life with you, so she chose a method. The chance of survival with this method is only one percent. I mean, if she can't survive, her soul will die, and then this person will really disappear forever. There will be no reincarnation, no ghost body, and no soul. No one dares to make such a decision."
I shook my head. I had never expected that things would change so instantly, to the point where I couldn't understand.
"What about Zheng Jun?"
"You can choose. Of course, there's nothing wrong with you choosing Zheng Jun, but Zhang Xiaoxue will hate you. It's okay if she hates you."
"I mean, where did Zheng Jun go?"
"You have to ask Zhang Xiaoxue."
I was stunned. So that's how it was. I really couldn't imagine why Zhang Xiaoxue did this. She was a kind and gentle girl, and her smile was so kind.
I can't understand why Zhang Xiaoxue would do such a thing.
The next day, Zhang Xiaoxue no longer sat at the number-making operating table. That was Yinyan's original table, and I had also sat there before.
She saw me standing on the window and waved at me, her smile still so innocent.
I was so naive that I couldn't see what Zhang Xiaoxue did to Zheng Jun.
I did my own makeup that day and was busy until 1:30.
I feel extremely tired.
Zhang Xiaoxue came in with food and wine.
"Come together."
In fact, Zhang Xiaoxue is now the same as before, so I should believe that we can be together, but everything happened too fast. Is Zhang Xiaoxue's ghost eye still there
Zhang Xiaoxue and I drank, and she seemed to be no different from the happy Zhang Xiaoxue.
Zhang Xiaoxue suddenly stopped and looked at the corner. I knew that Zhang Xiaoxue's ghost eyes saw the world, and that she probably saw things that I couldn't see. In fact, her eyes were blind, and she relied on the ghost eyes.
"It's really strange. There's a coffin underground."
I almost fell to the ground, and then I jumped up. There was a coffin in my office, on the ground.
"It's okay. It looks like an ordinary coffin. This is normal. When our crematorium was being built, this was a riverbed. It's normal for a coffin to wash down here."
Zhang Xiaoxue's explanation was so perfect that I couldn't help but believe it. In fact, I also wanted to believe it.
That day, after I sent Zhang Xiaoxue home, I returned home. It was a deserted home. Yun Bai brought me endless pain. Did I hate him? I hated him. It would be a lie to say I didn't hate him. And my hatred had already been formed. It was like a child, growing up day by day. I wanted to kill it, but I couldn't do it. It was really like my own child, growing wildly every day.
I didn't ask Zhang Xiaoxue about Zheng Jun's affairs.
The next day, Zhang Xiaoxue found me and we both rested.
We had our meal at Guoguanli, which is a restaurant owned by me in an old house in Suoyang City. It is a very elegant restaurant and only serves three tables a day.
Zhang Xiaoxue made a reservation in advance. When we went in, it was a big room, just like home. We could live here. Of course, the cost was very expensive.
Zhang Xiaoxue was in a good mood, drinking, eating, and finally said something casually.
"I'll take you to see Zheng Jun."
I stared at Zhang Xiaoxue blankly and spoke for a long time.
"Xiaoxue, I'm happy that you're back, but I think you're not the same Xiaoxue anymore. You're trying hard to be yourself again."
"Well, I've changed, that's for sure, because I've been through a lot."
I didn't say anything. Facing the familiar Zhang Xiaoxue, I suddenly felt like a stranger.
That day, in the middle of the night, Zhang Xiaoxue said.
"I'll take you to see Zheng Jun."
I didn't move.
"Does Zheng Jun's disappearance have anything to do with you?"
"certainly."
Zhang Xiaoxue is very straightforward, that's just how she is, I have nothing to say.
"Without the existence of Zheng Jun, there would be no place for Zhang Xiaoxue. I have been fighting for it, but now that what I have obtained is gone, how can I be willing to accept it?"
I know that Zhang Xiaoxue has changed. She is no longer the simple and kind Zhang Xiaoxue. Love can make a person complicated.
Chinese women become complicated starting with love, or rather, starting with cheating, and they are absolutely hopeless.
I was hesitating, and Zhang Xiaoxue took my hand and walked away.
The road to the crematorium was full of little ghosts in the second half of the night, and it was a mess. I felt it was difficult to walk.
Once inside the crematorium, the old man never said a word. He kept opening and closing doors. In his words, his whole life was about opening and closing doors, until one day he closed his own door, and his life was over.
I followed Zhang Xiaoxue and came to the small second floor at the back of the building. It had been abandoned for decades and was just left there. Plants were all over the walls and there was a small tree growing on the roof.
Going into the room on the first floor, Zhang Xiaoxue tried to open the door with her key, but it had an old lock. There was a basement there, but I didn’t know. No one had ever mentioned it. Maybe they didn’t know!
Zhang Xiaoxue took out the flashlight and took my hand as we walked down. The uphill road was not a staircase, and we could clearly smell the dampness.
After walking a few meters, there was a big iron door with a bolt. It was very difficult to open and pull the door. The door was half a meter thick and was made entirely of iron.
When I went in, the room was full of books. The books were all covered with hair and no one touched them. There were rows of bookshelves.
Zhang Xiaoxue pulled me around the bookshelves, then pushed open a bookshelf and went down, where there were steps.
"Brother, I'll take you in. This is another world. Zheng Jun is in it. This is not a ghost world. She entered a ghost cave. In fact, it's just the entrance to another world. Even if someone knows about it, they can't get in. This requires a certain ability. Don't speak when you see Zheng Jun. It's only a few minutes."
When we went in, the world there was beautiful, with flowers, rivers, hills. Zheng Jun and some people were playing by the river, having fun. I watched them without saying a word.
“She’s very happy.”
Zhang Xiaoxue finished speaking, looked at him, and spoke after a few minutes.
"Let's go back. Don't tell anyone about this or say you've been to another world. This world doesn't exist in our world."
We went back. When I got home that day, the house was still as cold as before. Zhang Xiaoxue was no longer the same as before, but I knew she was still Zhang Xiaoxue, with all her habits.
I sat by the window, and my father also liked to sit by the window, looking outside. The outside gave you too much to imagine. But we both didn't like to go out.
I don't know what to do. To be honest, I seem to love Zheng Jun more. There are too many things between Zhang Xiaoxue and me, so maybe our love is a little messy. Only the love with Zheng Jun is pure.
When I got to work again, Mao Xiaoli came into the dressing room wearing mourning clothes. She looked at the dead body on the bed. I was just about to start writing when she said, "Let me do it."
I know that Mao Xiaoli used to be a makeup artist, but I have never seen her level of makeup skills.
She put on makeup completely upside down, so this kind of makeup would definitely not work. But I was wrong, the makeup was simply too perfect, or it could be said to be a work of art. I have never seen a dead person made up like this, so Master Zhao Juan's makeup was perfect enough.
"Makeup is not one size fits all. Makeup follows your heart, and your heart follows your makeup."
Mao Xiaoli threw the makeup brush aside and left.
What does she mean
After get off work, I went to Mao Xiaoli's office and found her putting on makeup. Women are not allowed to put on makeup in a crematorium, especially makeup artists, as it would easily turn out to be a dead look. But the makeup that Mao Xiaoli was putting on was a completely different kind of makeup.
I watched without saying a word. When Mao Xiaoli finished putting on her makeup, I was stunned. She looked like an 18-year-old.
"See?"
I nodded and she went to the bathroom and came back to wash off her makeup.
"Come with me to Xilai for dinner."
I followed Mao Xiaoli, and while eating I asked about Zheng Jun.
"It's not about the other world. Zhang Xiaoxue is a little evil, but that's normal. Love doesn't give birth to evil and hatred."
I can understand this now, but maybe I would never understand it in the past. Love is beautiful, but now it seems not.
"what to do?"
Mao Xiaoli didn't say anything, but pointed to the painting on the wall.
"This is what I drew. Every time you come, it has a different meaning and you look at it differently. Until one day, you understand it and you will know a lot. Of course, you can see it for yourself."
"Then what will I see one day?"
"I am painting from my heart. The painting follows the heart. Whatever comes into your mind is what you see."
I don’t understand what this means. Even if Mao Xiaoli doesn’t explain it, I will eventually understand it.
"What about Zheng Jun?"
"I can't do anything about this. Zhang Xiaoxue has her own eyes of Taoism. I dare not move. The weirdness of love and the power of love cannot be supported. So I dare not move. It depends on your fate."
That day, I got nothing. I was thinking about a lot of things, all of which had no answers.
At night, I dreamed of an ancient coffin, the stone one in Mopan Village. It was really strange.
I woke up and it was all as real as ever. I felt that all this seemed to be related to Mopan Village. My father also had a story there. Of course, I didn’t know what the story was, but it must have happened.
I went to Mopan Village to rest. I was no longer the village chief and could not enter the village. It was as if they did not know me, as if I had become the village chief in a dream.
I looked at the stone from a distance. It was the ancient coffin. I couldn't see it at all when I got closer.
After I left, the village chief naturally emerged. In fact, I was just a passer-by and served as the temporary village chief.
The village chief came out, walked out of the mountain gate, walked up to me and said.
"I knew you would come. You found the ancient coffin. Tell me. Of course, I will tell you what happened to Ke Zuo here."
I stared at the village chief blankly. What if I don't tell him? Then I won't know anything about my father.
"Okay, but I want to be there when the ancient coffin is lowered to see what's inside."
The village chief hesitated and nodded.
The ancient coffin always makes me feel that something is going to happen. I am hesitant whether to open it or not, although I agreed. (To be continued)