Zhou Mei and Zhou Tao, who should have died long ago, returned to Jiaoye Village in good health, but the entire village was plunged into the shadow of ghosts knocking on their doors.
Ji Mingxia had just suspected that Zhou Mei and Zhou Tao were using the lifespans of the villagers to prolong their own lives, but unexpectedly, he ran into Zhou Mei and Zhou Tao moving today.
Ji Mingxia's first reaction was that this was an artificial coincidence and a deception.
It was the movers coming in and out not far away, and it didn’t look like they were in disguise.
"My mom's cancer has relapsed and she needs treatment. My dad and I have to take care of her." Zhou Tao said, "I don't know what's wrong with my illness. If it relapses, I need timely treatment. So we decided to temporarily close the shop and leave the village. We will come back after I recover."
Zhou Tao said, playing with the copper coin bracelet on his wrist: "How about you, how did you do in the college entrance examination?"
"It's OK. I'm doing about the same as usual. The results are not out yet." Ji Mingxia glanced at his bracelet and said to Zhou Tao, "When I came here yesterday, I saw that your supermarket was still in good condition. I didn't expect that you would move out today. I didn't receive any news before..."
"It's not a good thing, and there's no need to make it known to the whole village." Zhou Tao said, "I didn't expect to meet you before I leave. Do you want to come to my house and have a visit?"
Ji Mingxia glanced at the supermarket not far away, then looked at Zhou Tao.
Zhou Tao was tilting his face slightly, with one eye looking in an unknown direction, and the other eye looking at Ji Mingxia, waiting for his reply.
Ji Mingxia hesitated for two seconds and finally said, "Okay."
Zhou Tao led Ji Mingxia towards the small supermarket. It was noon and the sun was high in the sky. It was the hottest time of the day. However, the closer they got to the small supermarket, the lower the temperature became.
It was okay at the entrance of the small supermarket because the sun was shining and people coming and going were sweating profusely while tidying up the supermarket, so it wasn't so obvious.
But after entering the small supermarket, Ji Mingxia felt a foul air rushing towards him. The whole small supermarket seemed to be shrouded in gray smog, and there was a damp and cool air in the cold air.
Ji Mingxia rubbed his arms unconsciously, turned to look at Zhou Tao, only to find that Zhou Tao had been looking at him.
Zhou Tao stood beside Ji Mingxia, his face facing forward, but because of his squint, the beads were tilted to a very corner.
Ji Mingxia turned around and saw Zhou Tao's crooked beads falling on him. After seeing Ji Mingxia discover that he was peeping, he slowly turned away. Then, Zhou Tao turned around, smiled at Ji Mingxia and said, "The air conditioner is turned too low, it's a bit cold. Please sit down first, I'll pour you some hot water."
Ji Mingxia was about to refuse, but Zhou Tao walked away without saying a word.
The supermarket was being tidied up and was in a mess. Zhou Tao walked around a shelf and disappeared in a flash, leaving Ji Mingxia standing there alone.
Seeing this, Ji Mingxia didn't sit down, but walked around the supermarket.
The supermarket was filled with gloomy atmosphere. The ring on Ji Mingxia's ring finger was glowing red, but from beginning to end, Ji Mingxia did not find any trace of the ghost.
In desperation, Ji Mingxia finally had to lock his eyes on a wall.
People who are born tend to be superstitious, and the family always has to worship something to ensure peace.
Ji Mingxia was from a small place and grew up in the village, so he was not surprised by these things.
According to Ji Mingxia's understanding, the deity worshipped by most people is Guan Erye.
Guan Erye is in charge of the God of Wealth and War, and is most suitable for people born with him to make a lot of money. However, since the God of Wealth has some evil spirit, he is usually enshrined in a position facing the door or window so that the evil spirit can dissipate and attract wealth instead of disaster.
This small supermarket, however, is quite the opposite.
First of all, the statue it worships is dressed as Guan Erye, but his face looks like the God of Wealth.
He had a white face and black beard, was wearing green and red, and held a chain of copper coins in his hand.
The chain was extremely long, extending from the statue's hands downwards, curling under the statue's feet, with the very end pointing straight forward, as if the chain would tie up the worshiper in the next moment.
The statue of the deity is placed in the darkest corner of the supermarket, as tall as a person. Not to mention that no light can shine in, even if there is light in the room, when people stand in front of the statue, no matter how they stand, their shadows will always block the statue completely.
Even ordinary people would find this statue strange, not to mention Ji Mingxia's eyes, which showed something that ordinary people could not see.
The entire small supermarket was filled with gloomy energy, and this statue was the location where the gloomiest energy was.
At this moment, Ji Mingxia was looking at the statue. The statue stood there quietly, as if it was also looking at Ji Mingxia.
Ji Mingxia took a closer look and suddenly discovered that the eyes of the statue were slightly crooked.
It kept one eye looking forward, with the other eye slightly raised. Its porcelain face was tinged with cold grayish tones. It not only lacked the righteousness of a god, but instead looked like a ghost corpse crawling out of the underworld.
A bright light suddenly flashed in front of the statue, as if the statue turned its beads and looked at Ji Mingxia sinisterly!
Ji Mingxia was startled and took a step back, accidentally bumping into the person behind him.
He turned around suddenly and saw Zhou Tao standing behind him. He didn't know how long he had been standing there.
Seeing Ji Mingxia looking at him suspiciously, Zhou Tao handed him a glass of water and said apologetically, "I'm sorry. I scared you."
"It's okay." Ji Mingxia quickly composed himself. Seeing Zhou Tao bringing the water to him, Ji Mingxia took it as if nothing had happened, but he didn't intend to drink it.
"This is our sir. Before my mother went to the hospital, she specifically asked me to take it away personally, without any delay. After I pack it up, I will leave with it in my arms." Zhou Tao said, "By the way, Mingxia, can you do me a favor?"
"What's the matter?" Ji Mingxia's heart skipped a beat and he asked calmly.
"Aunt Cheng ordered a bag of seafood from me yesterday, but it didn't arrive until the evening. The truck driver was in a hurry and had to leave before dusk. I'm afraid I won't be able to deliver it to her. Can you help me collect the goods and deliver them to Aunt Cheng's house?" Zhou Tao said, "My store closed in a hurry. This is the last order. I hope she will be satisfied."
"Aunt Cheng?" Ji Mingxia was a little surprised.
Zhou Tao added: "If it's inconvenient for you, forget it. I'll come back in the evening and deliver it to her in person."
Ji Mingxia thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I'll help you deliver it."
"Then thank you so much!" Zhou Tao suddenly showed a bright smile again, which was very weird with his distorted face.
Although Zhou Tao’s supermarket is not big, it has a wide variety of goods. It took a whole day to complete everything from inventory to moving them away.
Ji Mingxia watched him busy in and out. When the small supermarket was completely emptied and the trunk of the truck was closed, Zhou Tao walked into the small supermarket and took the statue away.
The wooden niche of the statue was black, and Zhou Tao placed it upright in front of his chest. At first glance, it looked like he was not holding the wooden niche of the statue, but a strange portrait.
"I'm leaving, wish me good luck." Zhou Tao said to Ji Mingxia before getting in the car.
"I wish you a safe journey." Ji Mingxia said.
Zhou Tao seemed to have heard the meaning behind Ji Mingxia's blessing, and smiled at Ji Mingxia meaningfully, "Looking forward to seeing you next time."
After saying that, he climbed into the truck.
The truck started up with a "buzzing" sound, and as Zhou Tao and the statue left, it seemed to take away the gloomy air of the small supermarket.
It was almost evening, and the setting sun was shining obliquely, making the whole village quiet and warm.
However, even so, Jiaoye Village was still deserted, no different from when Ji Mingxia came yesterday.
Ji Mingxia looked around.
As the only small supermarket in the village, Ji Mingxia did not see any villagers from Jiaoye Village participating in the Zhou family's moving of goods.
Not to mention asking, there wasn't even anyone passing by.
After Zhou Tao's truck left, Ji Mingxia discovered that quite a few residents were standing on the second floor of their homes, quietly watching him leave.
Their evasive behavior further confirmed Ji Mingxia's guess.
There is something wrong with the Zhou family, and everyone in the village knows it.
However, they did not leave Jiaoye Village and always tolerated the existence of the Zhou family.
At this moment, when they found that the Zhou family had left, all the villagers watched quietly, with no joy on their faces.
Why is this? Are they worried that the Zhou family members will come back again after recovering in the hospital
Ji Mingxia thought so and lowered his head to look at his fingers.
Zhou Tao left with the strange statue, and the small supermarket was no longer gloomy. At first glance, Jiaoye Village seemed to have broken free from the haze and returned to the sunshine.
However, at this moment, Ji Mingxia's ring still emitted a faint red light.
Upon seeing this, Ji Mingxia lowered his eyes and hid the expression on his face.
Zhou Tao said that the seafood delivery person would arrive at five o'clock. Ji Mingxia waited for about half an hour, and then saw the courier delivered a foam box.
When the courier saw that the recipient was Ji Mingxia, he was stunned for a moment: "Are you Ji Mingxia?"
"Yes, I am." Ji Mingxia said.
The expression on the courier's face was very subtle. After handing the foam box to Ji Mingxia, he turned around and ran away.
This was not the first time that Ji Mingxia had seen villagers with such expressions.
Yesterday he took a bus to Jiaoye Village. When the bus stopped, the driver looked at him like this.
At that time, Ji Mingxia didn't understand what had happened in the village. But now, seeing the courier avoiding him, Ji Mingxia could understand it very well.
After the courier walked away, Ji Mingxia lowered his head and looked at him.
This is seafood purchased online. The merchant sealed the surface of the box with transparent tape, so you can't see what's inside. In addition, there are a few RMB notes at the bottom of the box.
This box of seafood is for Aunt Cheng, and the coins are naturally hers too.
Since it involved money, Ji Mingxia was reluctant to look for it, so he carried the box and walked towards Aunt Cheng's house.
Arriving at Aunt Cheng's door, under normal circumstances, Ji Mingxia would definitely knock on the door when visiting.
But considering the situation of ghosts knocking on doors in the village, polite knocking on doors has long become synonymous with terror in Jiaoye Village.
When Ji Mingxia was hesitating about how to contact Aunt Cheng, at that moment, Aunt Cheng's courtyard door opened and Aunt Cheng, who was about to go out, walked out of the house.
When Aunt Cheng saw Ji Mingxia standing at the door, she was stunned for a moment: "You are..."
Ji Mingxia didn't expect that Aunt Cheng didn't know him. Could it be that his original body had never interacted with the people in the villages he had visited
However, thinking about the strained relationship between his original body and his grandmother, it was normal that he didn't even want to go home and didn't know the villagers.
Ji Mingxia said politely: "Aunt Cheng, I'm Mingxia."
"Mingxia?" Aunt Cheng was a little surprised. She looked Ji Mingxia up and down. A rare smile appeared on her dry and old face. "You are so old now. What grade are you in now? Are you a high school student or a college student?"
"I just finished the college entrance examination." Ji Mingxia said.
"You just finished the exam, that's good, you should go out more and relax, have fun for a few months before going to college, why did you end up in the village?" Aunt Cheng said.
Ji Mingxia felt that what she said seemed a little strange, but he couldn't find any fault with it for the moment.
He said, "Grandma is here, I have to come, otherwise she will be angry."
Ji Mingxia just said this casually, it is a common household expression.
But what he didn't expect was that after he finished speaking, Aunt Cheng actually frowned slightly.
However, this expression only lasted for a moment. Seeing Ji Mingxia looking at her in confusion, Aunt Cheng asked, "What's the matter with you coming to my place?"
Ji Mingxia held the box in his hand in front of Aunt Cheng and said, "I just ran into Zhou Tao on the road. His family has moved away, so they don't have time to send you the seafood. Let me help you deliver it."
Aunt Cheng's face changed drastically after hearing this. She looked at the seafood foam box in front of her, almost took a step back, and looked at Ji Mingxia in shock: "What did you say?"
Ji Mingxia saw that Aunt Cheng did react. He didn't know what had irritated Aunt Cheng in his words, so he repeated the words again.
As he spoke, Ji Mingxia carefully observed Aunt Cheng's expression.
He thought that Aunt Cheng was so surprised after hearing that Zhou Tao moved away, and Ji Mingxia also wanted to find some clues from Aunt Cheng.
The strange thing was that Aunt Cheng's face changed drastically only after she heard the last sentence.
Zhou Tao asked Ji Mingxia to help deliver the goods, and Ji Mingxia also found it strange.
But when he heard him say that if Ji Mingxia didn't send her off, he would come in person at night, Ji Mingxia thought about it and, considering the safety of the village, finally decided to agree.
When the courier handed him the foam box, he was prepared for something fishy. Seeing that there was apparently no flaw in the foam box, Ji Mingxia even wondered if there was something wrong with the seafood in the foam box
But these were not his belongings after all, so Ji Mingxia did not open them without permission before handing them over to Aunt Cheng.
He had originally planned to wait until the things were delivered to Aunt Cheng, and then, based on Aunt Cheng's reaction, maybe they could open the foam box on the spot to take a look.
Unexpectedly, before the box was opened, just by hearing his words, Aunt Cheng seemed to understand something. She even took a step back unconsciously, as if Ji Mingxia had done something terrible!
"Aunt Cheng, is there any problem?" Ji Mingxia couldn't help but ask.
Aunt Cheng lowered her head and refused to say anything.
Ji Mingxia couldn't see her expression, and had no way of guessing what Aunt Cheng was thinking. He was just about to try to get some information when Aunt Cheng said, "Hurry up and go... ask your grandmother."
After saying that, Aunt Cheng took the foam box and quickly went into the house as if she had seen a ghost.
The door closed with a click. After Aunt Cheng entered the room, there was no more movement. Only Ji Mingxia was left standing at the door.
Ji Mingxia was greatly shocked.
He was the one who met Zhou Tao and he was also the one who delivered the goods. What does all this have to do with grandma
Could it be that grandma is in danger
This thought flashed through his mind so quickly that Ji Mingxia was flustered and turned around and ran home without hesitation.
The dim setting sun enveloped the entire Jiaoye Village. The village road was quiet with only the sound of Ji Mingxia's footsteps.
Aunt Cheng's house was not far from Grandma Ji's house, and there was no one on this road, so Ji Mingxia had no obstruction and arrived at Grandma Ji's house in a short while.
At this time, the sun sets, the street lights come on, and the entire Jiaoye Village enters night time.
Ji Mingxia hurried to the door of his house and stopped. He was breathing slightly and was about to open the door to enter. When his fingers were about to touch the door lock, a picture quickly flashed through his mind. Ji Mingxia suddenly remembered something and his hand movements paused unconsciously.
At this moment, every detail of what happened in the past twenty hours, from the time he arrived at Jiaoye Village to this moment, played in Ji Mingxia's mind.
Ji Mingxia looked at the gate of the Ji family in front of him, as if he suddenly understood something.
He stopped opening the door and not only did he not unlock it and walk inside, but he let go of it completely and took a step back.
The moment Ji Mingxia retreated, a black shadow suddenly appeared in the courtyard, below the hollow iron gate of the Ji family.
"Knock knock knock" sounds of knocking on the door came from the Ji family's courtyard.
Then, the door that was originally closed opened automatically from the inside.
The Ji family's home was pitch black, there was no light, and no sign of Grandma Ji could be seen.
Waves of eerie cool air came from inside, freezing Ji Mingxia's entire body. Only the ring on his hand brought some warmth in such a chilly atmosphere.
A familiar voice came faintly from the yard and drifted into Ji Mingxia's ears intermittently: "Mingxia, we meet again."
The owner of the sound was none other than Zhou Tao who had just left in the evening!
He left in front of the whole village with great fanfare, but within a short while, he not only returned to Jiaoye Village again, but also even sneaked into the Ji family's home!
When Ji Mingxia heard his voice, his face suddenly darkened. However, thinking of Grandma Ji, he forced himself to calm down, pulled the corners of his mouth to reveal a fake smile, and gritted his teeth and said, "Zhou Tao, didn't you go to the hospital to treat cancer? Why are you still at my house so late?"
"I do need treatment, but when did I say I was going to the hospital..." Zhou Tao's voice was intermittent, as if it came from another world.
"You have cancer, so you should go to the hospital for chemotherapy. Only science can save you, everything else is an illusion." Ji Mingxia said as he tried to observe his surroundings, trying to find an opportunity.
However, Zhou Tao did not give him time. He did not answer Ji Mingxia's question, but said to Ji Mingxia: "Mingxia, this is your home, don't you want to come?"
Ji Mingxia looked at the dark door, which seemed like a beast's mouth that could swallow him at any time.
Zhou Tao urged, "We and your grandma are waiting for you in here."
As he spoke, his voice came near and far, and he smiled strangely.
Ji Mingxia was worried that the Ji family, which made him most uneasy, had turned into a gloomy ghost cave, which looked a million times more terrifying than that small supermarket.
But Ji Mingxia couldn't retreat.
Grandma Ji was still inside, and Zhou Tao was coming for him.
Thinking of this, Ji Mingxia suppressed his rapid breathing, tried hard to control his emotions, and finally took a step forward and walked in.