I looked at Mu Qing. She came because a friend's child had died and she wanted me to make a small coffin.
The child was not big, about ten years old, and he was buried without any refining.
"Well, I'll think of a way. Small coffins like this are too small now. I can't even find anyone to make one."
"Yes! Thank you very much. Tell me how much money you need. I will treat you to a meal later."
"OK."
When Mu Qing finished his coffee and walked to the door, I asked a question for some unknown reason.
"Have you been to Bone Village?"
Mu Qing stopped and looked back at me after a long time, his face pale.
No one knows that I died in Bone Village. I was killed by Mu Qing, otherwise she would have died too.
Mu Qing left. I think she was panicking. I could see that she would feel guilty and afraid for the rest of her life because she had killed me.
Xiaozhe came and said he wanted to have a drink with me in the evening and go to his weaving room.
I nodded in agreement because I wanted to be with Xiaozhe. In fact, I wanted to go to his home in the building and see my grandson even more.
After get off work in the evening, I drove to Chixian Xiaozhe's house and saw that Xilai Building had been sealed up. All the windows were burned out. Some people said that they saw Dong Xiaoqiang in the building, standing at the window, changing a window every day. That's a legend. There are always some weird legends about buildings like this, such as ghosts and spirits.
I stopped the car and looked for a while. Suddenly I saw Dong Xiaoqiang standing at the window. I was sweating. What was going on? Dong Xiaoqiang was definitely dead. Didn't his soul leave? I thought, I will come when I have time.
I went to the weaving room and Xiaozhe had already prepared the food.
We drank and talked about paper-making. Xiaozhe said he liked putting on makeup and paper-making. I didn't expect Xiaozhe to become a refiner. Maybe I influenced Xiaozhe. When he was young, I never mentioned the word crematorium to him. I just didn't expect that after I died, he would go to the crematorium.
"Do you know why I went to the crematorium to be a refiner?"
I shook my head.
"When I was little, my mother told me that I couldn't let my father hug me or touch me because he ate children, his own children. I was so scared at that time, but I still wanted to play with my father. I didn't dare let my father hug me. He always stretched out his hands to hug me, and I was afraid that he wanted to eat me. I looked at him like that until my father died, I realized that he was lying. When my father died, he stretched out his arms as if he wanted to hug me. I could tell that he wanted to hug me. My father was brought back from a place called Bone Village. It was He Dana who brought me back. I owed my father a hug. Later, I went to where he worked, which was the crematorium. Like my father, I became a refiner..."
My tears came out and I covered my face. It hurt, all of it hurt. I never thought things would turn out like this. I'm sorry, Xiaozhe.
That day, I understood my son’s heart for the first time.
When I got home, my mother was already asleep. I wrote in my diary, as is my habit. Everything I recorded in this life was about Xiaozhe.
I told Xiaozhe about the small coffins that day. I know that after Ji Yihe died, he gave some of the coffins to Xiaozhe. They are works of art.
Xiaozhe found me a small coffin, it’s so beautiful that I don’t want to give it away.
"These things were originally used to hold corpses. They are useless. Of course, I will keep some."
The next day, I called Mu Qing and found the small coffin was right behind my car.
Mu Qing said, "Wait for me at the Ten Years Hotel."
After get off work, I went over and saw Mu Qing sitting in the private room, dressed up carefully.
"Let's eat first, my friend will be here soon."
As we were eating, Mu Qing kept staring at me.
"You look like a friend of mine."
"Ke Zuo."
After I finished speaking, Mu Qing's chopsticks fell to the ground, his face turned pale, and he took a long time to speak.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
She picked up the chopsticks, lowered her head, and asked for a long time.
"You seem to know something about me. I have indeed been to the Bone Village."
Mu Qing began to test me.
"Actually, Ke Zuo wouldn't blame you for that. Maybe you have your reasons. In fact, if you did that, he would also die."
Mu Qing jumped up suddenly, then sat down again, sweating.
"You were also in the Bone Village back then and saw everything? This is impossible. No one who enters the Bone Village can come out alive, unless Ke Zuo leads them. Otherwise, no one can come out alive."
"Yes, yes!"
I didn't answer him affirmatively. I saw all this in the Bone Village.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Zhang Wen, a refiner."
"No, who are you to Ke Zuo? You two look so much alike."
"I'm not related to Ke Zuo, I don't know Ke Zuo, don't think about it, no one saw you do that back then, no one knows about it."
"But you know."
"Yes, I know, but it's a secret and I will never tell anyone."
I actually saw murderous intent in Mu Qing's eyes, just like the look she had when she killed me that year.
"You're going to kill someone again."
"You, you..."
Mu Qing's friend came and sat down after exchanging pleasantries.
I showed him the photo of the small coffin and he was stunned. It was so beautiful.
"You name a price."
"This thing is priceless, it's a work of art. Of course, works of art are also for the dead. You name the price."
"I feel so sorry for the death of this child. He was so young. I will buy this coffin no matter how much it costs. This is a good gift for him."
"Yes, too young. He died like this in this life without enjoying anything."
"I'll give you thirty thousand."
"It's up to you. You don't have to give it to me."
The man went out to withdraw 30,000 yuan. He ate for a while and then stopped. Then I took the small coffin out of the car and put it in the man’s car. I drove home and Song Meili was cooking for my mother.
After dinner, I was watching TV and Song Meili mentioned getting married.
"Let's talk about it in a few days. I've been a bit confused these days. There are too many things to do at work."
"Okay."
Song Meili also knew that a lot of things had happened at the crematorium during this period. She was a makeup artist and knew about these things.
After dark that day, I said I was going out to do something, so I went to Xilai Building. After Xilai Building burned down, it was sealed with wooden boards.
I jumped in from the back window. The inside was burnt beyond recognition. This was beyond my expectation. All the paintings hanging on the wall were burned. The paintings were gone, leaving only half-broken frames that fell on the ground. It seemed that Dong Xiaoqiang had set the fire himself. He is dead because of Liu Yeye.
I walked upstairs slowly. Dong Xiaoqiang's soul should still be there.
Almost everything here was burned to ashes.
I walked up slowly and saw something flash by. I stopped and followed it.
Until I came to a door, which was locked. Perhaps only here was everything intact.
This door was also burned to a terrible state, but it was not broken.
I pulled the handle and it was locked.
I know that the thing that flashed by should be Dong Xiaoqiang. Maybe I should have come a few days earlier.
I took a few steps back and kicked the door open.
I went in and found that the place was indeed intact. On the table was the face painting of Willow Leaf. I found the cloth bag, a diary, and a box. All the other things were gone.
I took the box and left Xilai Building. I went home, entered the study, and took out my things. In the box were Dong Xiaoqiang's paintings.
I counted the paintings and there were thirty in total. I didn't open them. I put them back in the corner. I also put the painting of Liu Yeye's face into the box.
The diary was opened and there was only one entry with tears on it. I knew that Dong Xiaoqiang had a habit of writing with a fountain pen. Few people use fountain pens nowadays, and the tears had blurred the words.
The diary said that he was sorry to Liu Yeye and that he was seeking death. He hoped that after reincarnation, Liu Yeye would accompany him and forgive him, and finally tell me thank me.
I shook my head. I really didn't know whether Dong Xiaoqiang's choice was the right one.
I was at work, sitting at platform No. 8 in the refining room, as corpses were pushed in and placed into the furnace. That was the refining furnace I designed, and it was quite perfect, so to speak. Of course, there were still areas that needed improvement, but I didn't have the mind to do that.
Song Meili called me outside, and I asked the master from Channel 9 to help me take a look.
I'm going out, Song Meili said in a low voice.
"Director Ke fainted and was just sent away."
I shuddered.
I went back.
"Director, I have something to do, can you take over for me?"
I ran out of the refining room and rushed to the hospital.
When we arrived at the hospital, Xiaozhe had already woken up. We had a check-up and waited for the results.
I was worried that something might happen, and I absolutely couldn't let anything happen to Xiaozhe.
The test results were normal. The doctor said that it was just because I was too tired from work and that it was nothing serious and I just needed to rest.
But I noticed that Xiaozhe's face looked not right, so I sent him home to rest. Then I saw my grandson. I picked up the little guy and he smiled at me.
"Director Ke, you have a good rest. I'm going back to work."
I went back to work and took a lunch break when Song Meili came in.
"Is Director Ke okay?"
"It's okay, I'm just tired."
I always feel that something is not quite right, and I don't know what is going on.
Mu Qing called me suddenly.
"I want to go to Bone Village, and I think you can take me there."
"I can't take them. Whoever goes to Bone Village will die."
"You can."
Mu Qing insisted that I could go, so why would she go to Bone Village
"What are you going to do?"
"I have something to do, I hope you can take me with you."
"Let me think about it."
Unexpectedly, Mu Qing suddenly suggested going to Bone Village. This was really a bit surprising. She must be afraid of that place.
Could it be that she wants to kill me to silence me? That would be wrong. I don't think she would do that. But I saw the murderous intent in her eyes that day. This woman might do that. I have to be careful. Don't let the past life repeat itself. That would be terrible.
I decided to go. I had a day off on Saturday and called Mu Qing. We entered the Bone Village and walked all the way to the place where she killed me. I felt like the blood there seemed to be still there, but it wasn't there anymore. It's been so many years.
She stood there and said.
"I killed the man named Ke Zuo right here. I'm sorry, I didn't want to kill him, but..."
I looked at Mu Qing. She was kneeling there, covering her face and crying.
"In fact, it's all in the past, and no one knows."
"No, Ke Zuo's son Ke Mingzhe will find out sooner or later. He has been looking for the reason for his father's death because he saw the knife wound when his father He Dana was carried out of the Bone Village."
"He won't know."
I knew clearly that when He Dana came, I was not dead. I told He Dana not to tell Xiaozhe that I was killed. I said that I encountered strange things in Bone Village and died, and not to let him go to find that person.
"He will know that I am under too much pressure. I have been having nightmares for so many years."
"Okay, it will all be over."
Mu Qing suddenly turned around, a fierce look in his eyes, and put his hand into his bag. (To be continued)