"But what?"
"Even... I haven't seen this with my own eyes..."
"Please tell me."
"call"
"Old sir, would you like another cigarette?"
"Oh, thank you very much. This cigarette is good. It's such a waste to give it to me..."
"You're so polite. I'll give you this bag. You can smoke it slowly."
"Thank you, thank you. Just what I just said, the finding of the child. In fact, more than one child was found. Among the people who went into the water at that time, there was an uncle of mine. He is dead now. He has been dead for several years. He didn't find anyone, but another person who went into the water picked up the child. My uncle swam along the river for a while. The water was not clean and there was a lot of sediment. He only swam for a while, and his feet were covered with water plants. It was entangled. He was good at water, so he pulled the water plants apart by himself. But when he pulled like this, a bunch of them came out. The mud under the water was turned out. This was what he said to me. It was not what he said at the time. When he came out of the water, his face was white and his body was swaying. For several days afterward, he felt weak, as if he was scared out of his wits. He was originally going to get married in the second year, but they didn't get married. Aunt pointed at his nose and scolded him. I didn’t know the reason at the time, but I knew that before that year was over, he went to the city to work, and then didn’t come back for several years, not even during the Chinese New Year. Everyone in the family thought He died outside and was a bad learner. After nine or ten years, he came back from outside. He was still unmarried and had no children. He was injured at a construction site and his hand failed. After receiving compensation, he had no choice but to come back. "
"He told you what happened that year?"
"Yes. He had no children. In our family, my father was the only one who gave birth to three sons. I was the youngest, so he regarded me as half his son. When he died, I was the one who broke the basin for him."
"What did he tell you? What happened under the river?"
"It's not like anything happened. He just pulled out the water plants and brought out the things in the soil. A child's skull floated up. He was very frightened at the time. At first, he thought it was the missing child. He also searched carefully. Under the river, the water weeds were pulled out and the soil was turned over. They were all bones. They were all the bones of children! He didn't dare to count them. When he saw a few children's skulls, he felt something was wrong and left immediately. ”
"Is he the missing child in the village?"
"No. How can there be so many missing children in the village? The only one I can remember is that one time. The other time was seven or eight years ago. A child ran outside on the road and was hit by a car. There are no others. I have never heard of so many children dying. I have never heard that children in the village are thrown into the river after they die. I have never heard of it, and neither has my uncle."
"You don't know where those children's bones came from?"
"That's not true. Didn't you just tell the story about the black fish spirit in the past? What my grandfather told was that the black fish spirit caused a flood, and the Taoist priest collected the black fish spirit. There was a grandfather next door who said that the black fish spirit eats people and was killed by a general. Cut it into two pieces. I forgot who it was, but I vaguely remember hearing the third story, that is, the black fish spirit caused a flood, and the villagers threw the boys and girls into the river to stop it. ”
"Do you suspect that these are the bodies of those children from before?"
"Probably. How can you be sure?"
"Didn't your uncle tell anyone else about his discovery?"
"No. People are scared out of their wits. He must be a coward."
… rustle…
"...I heard that a female college student disappeared here before?"
"Hey, I just saw you guys coming out of Lao Zhangtou's place. Did he tell you about the black fish spirit?"
"Yes."
"He has a bad brain. Don't listen to his nonsense. He was adopted to live with an uncle before. That Zhang Jiren is a bad brain. When they were about to get married, he ran away and he didn't have a good time. , My hands are useless. After I came back, I drank all day long and did nothing. People always talked nonsense. That old Zhangtou also had a bad mind. I see... "
"What do you know?"
"It's not that... he just keeps talking about it. He always runs into the woods and jumps into the river when nothing happens. He doesn't know what to touch... That little girl from the Zhou family, maybe... cough... "
"When the police came to investigate, did they check Mr. Zhang? Did you tell the police about the river?"
"Why not? I've searched in the water. No. The girl's things, a big bag, were left at home. Her mother said that when she went out, she should take her mobile phone with her. There was a lot of it. There were a lot of things on her mobile phone. . It’s gone too. No one alive, no dead body. He must have been abducted. We don’t have abductors here, but there are first times everywhere.”
… rustle…
…
On September 8, 2011, Zhou Min’s mother Sha Shuhui was contacted. audio file.
"Hello, Ms. Sha."
“…”
"I'm sorry to bother you."
"No. If I... put it in the newspaper like this, will you... put my daughter's photo on it?"
"certainly."
"Oh... what do you want to ask?"
"Please start telling the story from the very beginning. Did you arrive here to attend the funeral?"
"Yes. My father-in-law had a cerebral hemorrhage and passed away. We received the call, bought tickets immediately, and rushed back. When we arrived, my father-in-law had already been taken home and was laid to rest at home. In addition to the elderly at home, My sister-in-law and her family are also here. Mainly because they are busy with these things. My sister-in-law said that her father-in-law suddenly passed away while watching TV. After being sent to the hospital, he left not long after. My mother-in-law was fine. She I'm getting older... but I didn't cry much. After seeing Xiao Min, I pulled her and told her a lot about my father-in-law. We were busy with the funeral. My father-in-law had always been in good health. He was younger than my mother-in-law. He is two years old and in good health. We have made preparations before, including shrouds, coffins, etc., for my mother-in-law. In this way, I will be busy... "
"Ms. Zhou has been accompanying the old lady?"
"Yeah. It's not that... my mother-in-law is not in good health and mentally. She goes to bed very early every day, gets up very early, and takes a break at noon. She is either accompanying her or playing by herself in the house. She is always playing with her mobile phone. I don’t understand these young people.”
"Ms. Zhou is usually like this at home?"
"Um."
"One thing we learned is that Ms. Zhou did not reply to the message sent by her friend. You said she kept playing with her mobile phone. What was she playing with? Have you seen it?"
"No. I didn't pay attention. The police also asked about this matter. We don't know much about it. There is no Internet connection in my hometown, but the signal is good. I didn't even care about this..."
"Please continue. I just mentioned that you are busy with the funeral. Miss Zhou is either accompanying the old lady or playing with her mobile phone."
"Yeah. That's pretty much it... For a few days, I dealt with the relatives, friends and villagers who came to visit me. I cooked meals and folded paper money every day... She stayed with me and my sister-in-law at night. We were in the same room. It was in the room next to it. The toilet is outside, the one past here. There is a light. She was also playing with her mobile phone that night. My sister-in-law and I were watching TV. She went to the toilet, and I could see the toilet light turned on from the other side of the room. Waiting for us After the two of us finished watching an episode of the TV series, she still hadn't come back, so I went over to ask. I knocked on the door and called her, but she didn't respond. I pushed the door twice, but it wasn't locked. There was no one inside... There is no one here, the toilet has not been used, it is clean... "