At twelve o'clock in the middle of the night, the clock in Zheng Qing's house rang, which scared me. After twelve times, Zheng Qing stood up.
"Walk."
I went out and walked towards the north mountain. That mountain was very big, it was the tail of Changbai Mountain. A narrow path extended along the ridge to an unknown place. I had been to this mountain before, but I had never walked too far. The forest there always made people feel scared, too dense and too deep. I was afraid that some wild beast would come out of the woods.
It is true that there are wild beasts here, but I have never seen one. I have only heard about it. No one knows whether it is true or not.
Zheng Qing was walking in front and suddenly started singing Errenzhuan. Liu Xiaojing was holding my hand the whole time. She was nervous. I wondered if ghosts were also afraid? Maybe she wasn't a ghost, but just like us normal people, except that her hands were a little colder. There was nothing different.
Zheng Qing suddenly hummed a song. The song was weird and made me sweat. It was definitely a song I couldn't imagine. When Liu Xiaojing heard it, she held my hand tightly. I knew she was nervous too.
Zheng Qing's humming became louder and louder, and suddenly it stopped. He stopped and stood still. I was so scared that I broke out in a cold sweat. Zheng Qing was so weird. What on earth was he going to do
After looking at Zheng Qing's back for a long time, he turned around.
"Do you know what song this is?"
Obviously this was asking me, and it seemed that Liu Xiaojing should also know it. I shook my head.
"This is called 'Spiritual Song'. It has been passed down for thousands of years. However, very few people know it now. There are probably only two people who can hum it. 'Spiritual Song' originated from a nation and a lake. When the 'Spiritual Song' is played, a boat will appear on the lake with a light on, moving in the distance. That nation will all die overnight. After they die, their expressions are hideous and terrifying. It is said that they died after listening to the 'Spiritual Song'. No one knows what happened to them."
I don’t know what Zheng Qing meant by saying this or what he wanted to tell me.
"I'll take you to that place, the lake."
I shuddered. Was Zheng Qing trying to scare me? If so, then Zheng Qing probably wanted to get something, but I had nothing! What was he trying to achieve? This was what I kept thinking, but I couldn't figure it out.
I didn't know there was a lake in this mountain. This mountain has been closed for 200 years. Few people go into the depths of the forest. People will get lost and die. It's normal that I didn't know there was a lake.
Zheng Qing walked easily, as if he was very familiar with this place. Liu Xiaojing was always nervous, I didn't know why she was nervous, I didn't ask her, I just looked at her, her originally very white face, now in the night, even whiter, like a ghost, I couldn't help but shiver.
"Are you scared?"
I didn't say anything. Liu Xiaojing held my hand and didn't let go. As for whether I was afraid or not, she knew it best.
When Zheng Qing walked until one o'clock in the middle of the night, his pace increased, which made me very nervous. Liu Xiaojing and I followed closely and finally caught up with him. It seemed that Zheng Qing's steps were a little strange.
The path, or sometimes there was no path, went through the bushes, and it scratched my face, making it feel hot and uncomfortable.
It was past two in the middle of the night. Zheng Qing stopped and looked not far away. I saw a lake. The lake was really big. In the night, it was glowing with blue light. It was really a beautiful lake. I had never seen such a beautiful lake. However, my master said that no matter how beautiful something is, you have to be careful. If something is too perfect, too beautiful, and it makes you stunned, it often hides something weird.
I felt an atmosphere, an indescribable atmosphere, which made me feel stuck and creepy.
Zheng Qing said while looking at the lake.
"We will be on that rock in a moment. That is the lake-viewing platform."
I saw a big rock by the lake with a platform on top. I was unsure. Liu Xiaojing let go of my hand at this moment and walked towards the lake-viewing platform. Zheng Qing made a strange sound and did not move. I didn't know what that strange sound was. It came out of Zheng Qing's throat in a muffled voice, as if he wanted to say something. I think this is what caused Liu Xiaojing's strange behavior.
Zheng Qingcai said this when Liu Xiaojing was about to reach Wanghu Terrace.
"Walk."
I followed him, about three to five meters away. I couldn't get too close. At that moment, I knew that Zheng Qing might harm me but not Liu Xiaojing, so I had to keep a distance and be ready to run away at any time.
Liu Xiaojing went up to the lake-viewing platform and stood there looking into the distance. After Zheng Qing and I went up, they both looked into the distance of the lake. I couldn't see anything. There was fog on the lake. It was light at first, and then it became thicker and came towards this side. I thought of "Spirit Song". If it sounded at this moment, I would probably be dead. After the people of that tribe heard "Spirit Song", no one was alive overnight. It was too scary. What kind of song it was, I didn't know. I had heard weird songs, but I had never heard such a deadly song. This was the first time I heard it. It was simply the life I wanted.
My legs are shaking.
Suddenly, Zheng Qing moved, but Liu Xiaojing didn't move. I saw something appearing from the lake and the fog. I couldn't see it clearly, but I was sure it was moving, very slowly, and coming towards this side little by little.
"The corpse ship."
Zheng Qing said something with an unusual voice. It seemed that Zheng Qing was also afraid of the corpse ship. Liu Xiaojing just watched quietly without any reaction. She didn't know why it was like this. At this moment, Liu Xiaojing's fear seemed to be gone.
I didn't expect that it would be a corpse ship. The ship gradually became clearer. It was over a hundred meters long, a very large ship. It was hung with white flags and had a weird aura. I moved.
"Don't be afraid."
Zheng Qing looked at me and said, I know nothing. Zheng Qing didn't say anything, just looked at the corpse ship. I was sure that the corpse ship was coming towards us, heading towards the Wanghu Terrace. To be precise, this Wanghu Terrace should be a pier, something like that.
So, what kind of ethnic group is living here? In the Northeast, there are many ethnic minorities like this. The big ones are recorded in history, but the small ones are not recorded at all, and are even unknown. They live in the primitive forests. It should be a carefree and happy life, but how could such a strange thing be discovered, how could it be "Spiritual Song", no one knows.
The boat was getting closer and closer, and there was no one on board.
"Master Zheng, tell me, what's going on?"
"Watch first."
Zheng Qing took a step back, he actually took a step back, but Liu Xiaojing walked forward and stopped at the side. I called out.
"Liu Xiaojing."
She didn't respond, and Zheng Qing didn't say anything either. It seemed that everything here was so weird that I couldn't even think about how weird it was.
The boat stopped more than a hundred meters away from Wanghu Terrace and didn't move. Liu Xiaojing didn't speak, and Zheng Qing didn't speak either. I couldn't control myself anymore.
"Master Zheng, what's going on?"
"This is a corpse ship. There should be corpses in the ship. Of course, I have only heard about it. In fact, this is the first time I have seen this corpse ship. I never thought I would see a corpse ship."
"So you brought me here today not to see the corpse ship, but just a coincidence, right? Then why did you bring me here?"
"I don't have time to explain it to you right now. Something fatal might happen."
Zheng Qing was nervous. I could tell that his voice had changed pitch and was changing uncontrollably. He was sweating a lot.
Suddenly, the big ship moved again and approached the Lake Viewing Platform. It was obviously approaching. Zheng Qing did not move. Liu Xiaojing just stood there, without making any sound or movement.
The boat really approached the Lake Viewing Platform, and Liu Xiaojing actually got on.
"Xiao Jing."
Zheng Qing shouted and wanted to go over, but hesitated, took two steps and stopped.
"Liu Xiaojing, come down, you can't go up, you can't..."
The corpse boat moved and left the lake-viewing platform. Zheng Qing was stunned, and I was stunned too. It was not until the corpse boat disappeared that he patted his head, squatted down, and held his head without saying a word. I was sweating too. Liu Xiaojing got on the corpse boat without even turning her head. I saw her back the whole time. How could this happen? Why didn't Zheng Qing get on? I didn't know all this.
Zheng Qing squatted for a long time, then stood up and said.
"go back."
"But… "
"No buts."
Zheng Qing got angry and yelled at me. At this moment, I really wanted to strangle this guy to death. I knew nothing about what he had done and you got angry with me. It really pissed me off.
When Zheng Qing and I went back, it was already daybreak. When I got home, my father was stunned when he saw me.
"You look pale, what happened?"
I shook my head and didn't want to tell my father about this, but I had to know what happened, so I wanted to ask Zheng Qing.
The next day at work, I was in a daze in my crematorium. Zhao Tie's return to the crematorium made me seem indifferent to this apprentice. He was working and I was watching, but I didn't want to do anything.
Zhao Tie stood aside and said until he finished his work.
"Master, we are done."
"go home."
I didn't go home, but went to Zheng Qing's office. He was sitting there smoking and drinking tea. There was even a pot of dead flowers on the windowsill. It was blooming abnormally brightly, not looking normal. I stood at the door and didn't go in or close the door. At this moment, I was already afraid of Zheng Qing. So, I had to be careful of Zheng Qing at all times. He could turn a dead Liu Xiaojing into a living person, and he could also turn a living person into a dead person. There was absolutely no problem with that.
"Come in!"
Zheng Qing took a long time to speak, and it was obvious that he had decided to tell me something.
I went in, without closing the door, and sat opposite Zheng Qing.
Zheng Qing stood up and closed the door. The sound of the door closing made me shiver. Zheng Qing saw it.
"You don't have to be nervous."
After Zheng Qing sat down, he threw me a cigarette. I lit his own and he also did. The cigarette he smoked was quite strange, with a white skin. I didn't know where he got it from, but he always smoked this kind of cigarette.
"Xiao Zuo, I have to say something about Liu Xiaojing. Actually, I didn't bring Liu Xiaojing back to life. That Liu Xiaojing is dead, really dead. But I don't know what happened to this Liu Xiaojing. She suddenly appeared in the morgue one day and stood behind me. I was carrying the body to the corpse cart. When I saw her, I threw the body away. I was so scared. I know that Liu Xiaojing is dead. That is absolutely true. I carried her body to the refining room. There is no doubt about that. But she suddenly appeared."
Zheng Qing stopped talking here. I could see that he was still scared when he thought about this incident. Of course, if it were me, I might have been scared to death, with a dead person standing next to you or in the morgue.
However, Master Yunzheng told me about such things. In order not to scare me, he told me that such things will happen here, but you may never encounter them in your lifetime. After a person dies, there will be a kind of person who will show up. They do not really exist. The show you see with your eyes is like seeing a real person, but they only exist for a few minutes. They must be attached to something, so they come to take a look and then leave. Or you can say that it is called the shadow of the soul, and you don't need to be afraid when you see it. This is what Master Yunzheng told me. Now when Zheng Qing talked about this, I felt that it should be a kind of show. He saw it, so he might be lucky, or it could be said that it was nothing big or relevant, he was just scared.
"I know about the development. Everyone in the crematorium should know about it. This kind of thing will be told to everyone who comes to the crematorium, because this kind of fright can really scare people to death. But knowing it, we are prepared. That day, I reacted and I was not afraid anymore. She only existed for a few minutes, at most a few minutes, and then she disappeared, forever. However, no, she spoke, Liu Xiaojing spoke..."
I started sweating. It seems that everything is not that simple. (To be continued)