Yinyan and I watched and decided not to say anything at this moment.
"You don't have to be so nervous. Today I will discuss a deal, or something else. I will help Xiao Ke to sort out the things that have gone wrong, and even the things in the future. Xiao Ke is a person of complete yin. I knew the day he came that there would be constant trouble in the future, because I know that Xiao Ke's father was also a refiner, and a lot of things happened to him back then."
It seems that Mao Xiaoli knows a lot of things. Of course, it is normal for her to know these things. My father is one of the earliest refiners in China, so there are records in the archives of the crematorium. Of course, some weird things will not be recorded.
"These things in the bottle are skins."
I looked closely and saw that it was a piece of skin, one piece inside a box.
"These skins are perfect, absolutely perfect."
I watched as Yinyan stood aside.
"Of course, what I want to talk about today is these skins. I want to make 300 paintings, and I have completed 287 of them. There are only 13 left, but I haven't started because I don't have enough skins. Although there are more than 20 skins here, I can only choose 7 or 8. My whole life is to complete the last 13 face paintings. The others are not important. I will destroy these completed face paintings. Of course, you can keep the one I gave you. The previous 287 face paintings were just an exercise. I have reached that level, the highest level."
"So what?"
Yinyan asked.
"Of course, you will know when the time comes. I will tell you when I am done."
"What kind of skin is this?"
I asked a question out of curiosity.
"That's exactly what I'm talking about. This is human skin."
Mao Xiaoli finished speaking and looked at us. I was stunned. Yinyan stood there without saying anything. She was probably also frightened. Human skin? Pieces of it were soaked in the transparent bottle. My legs felt weak.
"Where did you get it from?"
Yinyan asked coldly.
"Of course, you understand even if I don't say it."
I understood, and Yinyan understood too.
"I'm sorry, we can't do that."
"No problem, I'll consider it. Okay, that's it for today."
Yinyan and I left Mao Xiaoli's house without saying a word.
The weather after the snow was so cold that it felt like your bones were frozen.
I went into the office, changed my clothes, and went into the morgue. Because it was snowing, I had to drive slowly and was a little late.
After I pushed the deceased into the farewell hall, I lit a cigarette.
When I think about the human skin that Mao Xiaoli mentioned, I get scared. What on earth is Mao Xiaoli doing? How did she do that weird face painting? I have no idea.
That day, I finished my work in a daze, and fortunately there were no mistakes.
I get off work and wait for Yinyan. She will be there half an hour later than me.
The manager called me and I went into his office.
"Are you used to it?"
"It's a good habit. I like quietness."
"Xiao Ke, logically speaking, considering your father's face, you shouldn't be asked to do this job, but..."
"Captain, you don't need to explain. I won't blame you."
I was chatting with the manager when Yinyan came in.
"Let's go!"
Yinyan and I went to Master Zhou's house, and Yinyan said let's go.
When we went there, Zhang Xiaoxue was there. She is always here, taking care of Master Zhou.
Zhang Xiaoxue was unhappy when she saw Yinyan.
"Swallow, what's up?"
"It's okay, come and see grandma."
While eating, Master Zhou looked at me and said.
"Be careful and don't be too curious about anything."
Master Zhou has told me this several times.
I knew Yinyan came here to talk about Mao Xiaoli, but when she arrived, she changed her mind. I will never know what Yinyan was thinking or what she meant.
Yinyan went home, and I went back to my own home. The face painting was on the wall, with no expression. I couldn't understand how Mao Xiaoli could make the face painting cry, laugh, and even make sounds. It was something I couldn't figure out.
I was watching TV out of boredom. It was almost midnight, and when I was about to go to bed, the face painting started to peel off. The skin on my face broke off bit by bit, falling down and cracking. I stared at it blankly. Finally, it all fell off, and there was nothing left on the painting, just a piece of white paper.
I slowly walked over and picked up the thing that had fallen. It turned out to be human skin. It really was, it really was, but it was all powdery and broke into pieces when I pinched it.
After I cleaned up, I flushed it down the toilet. I didn't touch the empty painting. I didn't know what would happen next. I thought, maybe I can get rid of it. If so, I don't need to negotiate any conditions with Mao Xiaoli.
I slept restlessly that night. I woke up many times, and then went back to sleep when I heard no sound.
I didn't want to stay at home on my days off because it was cold. I went to see my grandma and my mother told me not to come there unless necessary. I couldn't stand the smell and I felt sad.
After I left my grandma's house, I went to find a place to drink. During this period of time, I liked drinking. When I was drunk, I forgot everything.
I had just finished drinking when a classmate called me. I was quite surprised. How could she not know that I was burned to death? It was actually a female classmate. She asked me where I was. I told her and she said she would come over in a while.
A female classmate came over. We had a pretty good relationship when we were in school.
She came in and sat down, ordered two more dishes, then poured herself a glass of white wine. Women nowadays are so fierce.
"I'll give you a toast."
I was a little confused. What kind of trick was this? This female classmate did it in one go, but I couldn't do it.
"Drink slowly, you'll get drunk."
"Ke Zuo, we were desk mates, and I liked you, but we graduated and separated..."
Drunken talk, absolutely drunken talk. I basically didn't talk when I was in school because I had a father who burned people to death. Although not much knew about it, I felt pressured mentally. That's just my personality. Every day after class, I liked to sit alone on the platform in the playground and watch them play.
"Ke Zuo, my father passed away. Yesterday, I begged you to make him a good urn and refine the first furnace so that he could pass away peacefully."
I was stunned. His father had died and he was still drinking here. He had a really big heart and lungs.
"He's not my biological father, but he's pretty good to me. It's just that he's a little bit that way. But he didn't do anything to me. After all, he raised me for eighteen years. I'm sending him away."
Then I understood. It was quite surprising to hear this. She knew that I was the one who burned someone to death, so she came to me and begged me to come. She had run away with them last time.
I don't care about these things. Maybe if it were me, I would run away too.
"Of course there is no problem with that. Come to me tomorrow. My class will help you. I think you can just make an urn that is similar to mine."
"No, I want the best, the best."
"That's a bit expensive, about 20,000 or 30,000."
"It doesn't matter. He left me a million when he died."
I was dumbfounded, a million.
"He was in the seafood business and was very rich, but I don't know why he married my mother. My mother took me with her. She said that he liked my mother back then, but she had no money at the time. My mother was pretty, and later she got married. He worked hard to make money. When he made millions, he sent my father away and gave your father 500,000 yuan. He took the money and ran away. After he married my mother, he always beat her and she would cry after beating her. She was sick."
I know, this is a perverted mentality.
"Don't worry about this, I will arrange it."
After my female classmate left, I stopped drinking and went to Huiyuan to find a box of Master Ji’s drinks.
I went over and knocked on the door, but Master Ji came out after a long time and seemed to be sleeping.
"I'm sorry to bother you, Master Ji."
"Xiao Ke, what's the matter?"
He didn't even open the door for me.
"I want to buy an urn for my classmate..."
“Not for sale.”
"Why?"
"That's a work of art, you know? Not just anyone can use it."
"My classmate, I have already agreed. I don't know about this. Please do it for my father's sake..."
Master Ji glared at me and turned to go into the house. I thought, I'm afraid this matter is in danger. Master Ji Yihe is a weird person, and everyone knows it. Even if the mayor comes, he may not give you this face.
When I was about to leave, Master Ji came out holding an urn wrapped in black cloth.
"for you."
"How much?"
"never mind."
"That won't work."
"Because of my friendship with your father, I won't say a word if you take all the urns away. I won't let you in. The yin energy here is too strong and it's not good for you."
"But, I bought this for someone else, this is not good."
"Then give me some symbolic money."
"I took out 30,000 yuan, and Master Ji took out 10,000 yuan, and then we went into the house."
I know without even looking that Master Ji's urn has never been sold for more than ten thousand yuan. I know this very well; it is a work of art.
I was in my office when my classmate came in.
"How about it?"
"Everything has been arranged. I will push your father to the farewell hall, operating table number eight, and you can see it then. This is the urn, and it costs ten thousand."
My classmate took the extra money back, opened the black cloth and took a look, and was stunned for a moment.
"So beautiful?"
"You go ahead, I'm busy."
I entered the morgue. My classmate's father was in a single room. When I went in and carried the body, I saw the door opposite. This door appeared again. I pretended not to see it and pushed the body out very quickly. I started sweating. If the ghost appeared, things would be troublesome today. At least I was in a single room today.
I was sent to the farewell hall and talked to the staff about my classmate's father.
I was busy until noon and then finished my work.
I saw Mao Xiaoli and I went over.
"Sister Mao, the face painting is broken."
"Normal. I didn't tell you how to protect yourself. How have you thought about that?"
"I'm sorry, my master said it's impossible."
"It's okay, take your time to think about it. I'm not in a hurry. I've been waiting for so many years."
Mao Xiaoli turned around to leave, and I asked a question.
"Sister Mao, why do the three and five have to wear mourning white? It doesn't look good."
Mao Xiaoli paused for a moment, then left without even turning her head.
That day, I felt uneasy, so when I got home, Yinyan had already prepared dinner.
"Did you have a good day today?"
"I saw the door again, but there was no temptation."
Yinyan looked at me and said nothing. This kind of thing really made me helpless and I had no idea what to do. Maybe Yinyan had a solution, but she never said it, or she had no solution.
"Today Mao Xiaoli asked me how I was thinking about it."
"No, don't think about it. By the way, why did the face painting become an empty painting?"
I said it, Yinyan said.
"It seems that Mao Xiaoli has other tricks up her sleeve. She said that she has never given her paintings to anyone, and even if she gave them to you, she would not keep them for too long. She would destroy all of them, leaving only thirteen paintings."
"But there is one strange thing. This face painting given to me feels like a person."
Yinyan looked at me, I frowned, and suddenly stood up. I remembered, who was that person? My sweat flowed out, dripping like water. (To be continued)