There was nothing in the room except the coffin.
“That’s where I am.”
After the master finished speaking, he looked at me and asked, "What are you doing here? What's missing here?"
"I stayed here during the days I was missing."
I was startled. The master actually pushed open the lid of a coffin. I stood aside with my legs shaking.
“It’s very comfortable to sleep here.”
I was sweating, continuously and without stopping.
I slowly approached and saw a quilt and a pillow in the coffin. I was stunned.
"Why do you live here?"
"I don't know. There is always a voice calling me to live here. I can't control myself. That voice is just like my mother's voice. I lie here, just like being held by my mother. For thirteen days, I have no feeling of hunger, only the warmth of my mother..."
Yinyan started sobbing and I panicked.
I held Yinyan's hand and left the building. It was not until we got in the car that Yinyan's emotions calmed down.
We drove to a restaurant and had dinner and drinks.
"Why do I feel this way?"
"I grew up in my grandmother's house. My mother left me when I was two years old. Later, my father went abroad and never heard from him again. My mother died, and I never felt the motherly love from her. No, not at all. My grandmother didn't like me because I was always crying and didn't like to talk. I always sat in one place and looked into the distance. I hoped that my mother would appear, but she didn't, not until now, the first year after I came to the crematorium, there was a voice calling me. It was my mother's voice, and I..."
How could such a strange thing happen? What kind of call was it? Where did it come from
Yinyan didn’t know and shook her head. I couldn’t figure it out anymore.
On Saturday, I was off and so was Yinyan, but I didn’t call Yinyan. I went to Master Zhou’s house and Zhang Xiaoxue was there too.
"Mingzhe, come in and sit down."
"It's fine outside, where's Master Zhou?"
Zhang Xiaoxue pointed toward the mountain.
"I've gone to the mountain. I go there every day. I'll be back around noon. Wait a moment. It's almost time. I'll go cook dinner."
Zhang Xiaoxue poured me some water and took out some fruit.
Zhang Xiaoxue’s meal was almost ready when Master Zhou really came back and said to me when she saw me.
"I knew you would come."
Let’s go inside and eat, said Master Zhou.
"I think you're here for your master. To be honest, both the palm and the back of the hand are made of flesh, but you are more suitable for Xiaoxue."
"I don't want to talk about this today. I want to know the situation of the small building behind the crematorium."
"I'm sorry, I don't know. I can answer the other questions for you."
Master Zhou was quite strange, as if he was avoiding something. I got nothing that day.
I went home and it was quiet.
It was Yinyan's shift that day. I was sitting in the office. Mao Xiaoli was wearing white. That white was not the normal white, but the mourning white. This was terrifying. She took out the bottle of red water again and watered the flowers without my back.
"Sister Mao."
I called out "Sister Mao" and she spoke with her back to me.
"What's up?"
"Sister Mao, I have a lot of questions..."
"What did your master teach you? Don't be so curious here, and don't ask so many questions, otherwise people will lose their lives and you won't even know how."
What Mao Xiaoli said was so horrifying that I felt a chill in my heart.
"Sister Mao, you sound so scary, but I don't see it. How come your flower is as red as blood?"
Mao Xiaoli suddenly turned around and looked at me, and I was scared to death, feeling a weird air.
I stood up and said.
"I'm going to go out for a walk."
I broke out in cold sweat on my back. I have to say that Mao Xiaoli is so weird.
I came out and walked west. Through the gap between the buildings, I could see the two-story building behind. It was a very weird building. Just looking at it would make your heart beat abnormally.
Yinyan came out and walked over and said.
"Are you okay?"
"Oh, I feel confused looking at Sister Mao."
"Oh, you pretend she doesn't exist."
Yinyan stayed for a while and then went back. As for the small building, I still couldn't figure it out. How could I find the same warmth as my mother in the coffin? I just couldn't figure it out. Besides, she had been gone for thirteen days. Didn't other people know that she was in the small building
At noon, Yinyan came over and threw the car keys to me.
"You drive."
I just got my ticket and I was a little timid. She didn't talk to Mao Xiaoli, just like she didn't see her, she was empty, and Mao Xiaoli was the same.
I got in the car and Yinyan lit a cigarette.
"Stop smoking."
"I do."
I didn't say anything, started the car, and drove slowly forward.
"Just like a cow, the driver who taught you to drive must be a sissy."
"Don't be so mean."
"hurry up."
The road to the crematorium is surrounded by mountains on one side and a river on the other. I accelerated and halfway through the journey, the car suddenly hit the guardrail and stopped with a bang. I was stunned and sweating, and sat there motionless. Yinyan also screamed in fear.
“My skills are world class.”
Yinyan got out of the car and I followed her. The collision wasn't serious, but the guardrail was too old and broke. I almost fell out and my legs were shaking.
Yinyan took a look and said.
"This car is yours to practice on. Come with me to see the car tomorrow."
I stood there in a daze. Yinyan got in the car. When I was about to get in, I glanced at the driveway. There was something on the driveway. I saw it when I was driving and felt that I had run over it. I walked over slowly and started sweating. It turned out to be a bone, a real bone, grayish white. I squatted down to look at it. Yinyan called me, so I picked up the bone and held it over to her. She looked at it for a long time.
"Leg bones? Human."
"There it is. I just ran into it."
Yinyan was stunned for a long time, then took out a plastic bag and put me in it.
"What?"
Yinyan said nothing and put the bones in the car.
Yinyan drove me to the restaurant, and I asked about the bone while we were eating.
"Strange, the bones won't be on the road, don't ask about it for now."
I feel more and more that the crematorium is a strange place.
That day I drove the car to the repair shop and went home.
My mother was actually at home.
"I'll come back to pack some things."
It seems that my mother really doesn't plan to come back.
"Are you not going back to this house?"
"It's yours for your wedding."
My heart was cold, as my mother had always been.
"My father was a refiner back then, you..."
"Shut up and don't mention him to me."
My mother seemed to be filled with extreme resentment towards my father. I shut my mouth and watched her leave with her bag. I wanted to cry, but it was too cold and I couldn't cry.
I was sitting in the office. Mao Xiaoli had changed into light-colored clothes today and looked much more normal.
"Sister Mao, how many years have you been coming to the crematorium?"
Mao Xiaoli gave me a blank look.
"It's like asking a woman how old she is, especially one my age."
I thought to myself, there's something wrong.
I had nothing to do, so I picked up a book to read, but the book was boring. I went out to find the manager, because I was still upset about that incident.
When I went in, the manager was looking at some information.
"Director."
"Oh, it's Mingzhe, come and sit down."
The director suddenly became enthusiastic, which made me feel a little strange.
"Captain, that matter..."
"I'm sorry, it's my fault, not yours."
I didn't ask any more questions. It was none of my business. Even if I asked, the manager couldn't tell me anything.
"Manager, can you change your job? I have nothing to do and I am making a fuss."
"I'm sick, drink tea when you're free, here."
The manager gave me a box of tea, which looked good.
"Thank you, Director."
I took it away and went back to make some tea. It was indeed fragrant.
Mao Xiaoli glanced at me and said.
"You won't be willing to buy the director's tea."
This woman's words made me angry, but I didn't say anything.
"Beautiful, good tea, good tea, would you like some, Sister Mao?"
"No, I never drink tea, I only drink ..."
She didn't go down, but stopped. I was stunned. Drinking blood? The red stuff in the bottle? I almost spit out the tea. My brain started to show abnormal state when it got here.
Mao Xiaoli looked at you angrily, then picked up a book and covered her face with it.
The repair shop called me to pick up the car. I went to pick it up and originally wanted to drive to find Yinyan. Unexpectedly, the car crashed into a tree within ten minutes of driving out. As a newbie, I was really unlucky.
The trees were all broken. I called Yinyan, and she came in a taxi and looked at me and said.
"The master who taught you must be an idiot."
Everyone who was watching started laughing, and I felt strange. My eyes flashed and I was dizzy. I suspected there was something wrong with my eyes.
Yinyan drove the car back to the repair shop, and the mechanic was very upset.
“So soon?”
I turned my face away. Yinyan didn't say anything. I had dinner with Yinyan in the evening and there was no mention of the car again.
Today is Saturday. I went to the hospital to see my eyes. They were fine. So why did it flash? It wasn't caused by other car lights at night. It was really strange.
I had just left the hospital when Yinyan called me and asked me to go to her house.
I went over and Yinyan was already downstairs.
"Go and see the car."
"Isn't that necessary?"
"have."
I can see that Yinyan is very willful and stubborn.
I walked around the auto show, didn't see anything I liked, and was tired, so I decided to find a place to eat, I said.
"I went to the hospital?"
Yinyan was stunned.
"I went to see my eyes."
"Is there something wrong with your eyes?"
"No, but there was a flash in my eyes, a flash of light, and I ran into the tree."
Yinyan frowned and suddenly spoke in a low voice.
"sorry."
"What's the meaning?"
"I forgot to take out that bone. Your car accident was related to that."
I shuddered.
"What does it matter? It's just a little scary."
"It's not as simple as you think. Both times you got into trouble because of this person's bones. Don't you think it's strange? If it was still in the car, you would still get into trouble."
I started sweating.
After dinner, we went to the repair shop and took out the bones that were packed in the plastic bag, but Yinyan actually put them in the trunk.
Yinyan came out to take a taxi and asked the driver to go to the crematorium.
The driver stopped at the intersection near the crematorium.
"I won't go in. It's unlucky. You don't have to pay."
Yinyan didn't say anything. I paid the money and we got off the car.
"Master, what are you doing here?"
"This person has very strange bones. It's strange that he's here and you bump into him."
Yinyan asked me to wait and she went to the small building at the back and didn't come out for more than ten minutes.
"It's all right."
I don't know what she did in there, but I know there must be an explanation. I don't want to ask too much. At the crematorium, the master told me not to ask questions about things I don't know. The more I know here, the more strange things will happen.
Yinyan and I went out and sent her home. I went to my grandma's house. My mother was cooking. She didn't say anything, it was always like this. She just glanced at me, which was considered a greeting. I was used to this way of greeting.
I told my mother while we were eating.
"I think you can take grandma over..."
"You don't have to tell me. When I left that house, I felt like I was out of prison. I was free."
I was stunned when I heard this. It turned out that my mother always felt that she was living in prison. It was really terrible. I never thought it would be like this. I didn't say anything more. It was fine this way. I could visit them when I had time. Anyway, we were in this city. (To be continued)