Li Jiahao's father came back from the provincial capital at two o'clock in the afternoon. His father's name was Li Zhen, who was about forty years old. He was very energetic and very friendly to others.
When he arrived at the ward, he first went to see his wife, then thanked us, and brought gifts to me, Yang Xiaohui and Zheng Lina. I was embarrassed to accept them, but Li Jiahao told me : "This is my father's intention. He is not bad for this, so you can accept it."
Li Jiahao said this, the three of us were not polite. The gift that Li Jiahao's father gave us was a pen, but from the packaging point of view, it should not be too cheap.
The matter here was almost over, so Li Zhen gave Li Jiahao some money and told him that he would take us around the town, and it was boring to stay in the hospital.
After Li Jiahao knew that his mother was all right, he didn't want to stay any longer, so he left with the three of us.
After I left the hospital, I asked Li Jiahao if he knew any old people in the town. The older the better, he thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "When my grandfather was here, I knew a few old men very well, and I often got to know them. We played chess together, but in the past few years, these old men are almost gone. Now if there is an old man I know? There should be one more."
The old man Li Jiahao said was named Fang Guojian and lived in the southwest corner of the town. It didn't take long for us to arrive at Fang Guojian's house, but before we could get in, the four of us were stunned because there were several people standing in front of Fang Guojian's house. From the wreath, there were still cries from time to time, and occasionally two people came in and out, with black veils wrapped around their arms.
Li Jiahao took a deep breath and said, "We won't be so reckless."
Maybe it was because we had just seen a ghost yesterday, so we were more resistant to the dead. Yang Xiaohui and Zheng Lina didn't get too close, they were waiting for us at a distance.
Li Jiahao and I found someone at the door to ask, and only then did we find out that the person who passed away this time was Fang Guojian. It is said that he died yesterday afternoon and suffered a heart attack. When the family found out, the old man's The body is already cold.
People are going to have a funeral here, and it is not good for us to continue to stay here and return without success.
On the way, I asked Li Jiahao how he knew this Fang Guojian, and Li Jiahao said, "It's also my grandfather's chess friend, so I know it too. I really don't know the other old people in the town very well. It seems that there are not many elderly people in the upper 60s in our town..."
When Li Jiahao said this, Yang Xiaohui said, "The people in your town are all short-lived. Could it be that there is something wrong with the environment here, people are prone to diseases like cancer when they live here?"
I glared at Yang Xiaohui and said, "Don't talk nonsense."
The way to find Fang Guojian didn't work, so we had to go around town and try our luck to see if we could find someone one or two years old.
After turning a few streets, we ran into an old lady who was basking in the sun at the southern end of the town. We went over to greet him, and after confirming that the old lady was fine with hearing and spirit, I said, "Grandma, I I want to ask you about some old stories in the town, can you tell us."
This old lady is here alone to bask in the sun, and usually no one has a word to say. A few of us came to listen to the story, and it was also a momentary interest, so she told us: "There are many stories in the town, I don't know. You want to listen to that paragraph, we have several heroes of the Anti-Japanese War here."
War thing? I didn't seem to be interested, so I smiled and said to the old lady, "We want to hear ghost stories, such as the ghost story in Xinghualing in your town."
Hearing me talking about Xinghualing, the old lady was stunned for a moment, and then said: "There, it's a very evil place. Since seven or eight years ago, many people have seen a red ghost there. And every year when the apricot blossoms bloom, an old man will die in our town, and I don’t know if it will be my turn next year.”
After saying that, the old lady smiled strangely.
All the Li Jiahao she mentioned have been told to me, so I asked in detail: "Do you know the origin of that ghost?"
The old lady shook her head and said, "I don't know."
Then she didn't intend to continue, but judging from her expression, it was not that she didn't know, but rather fear or fear.
So I tentatively asked: "Grandma, just tell us, we won't talk nonsense everywhere."
The old lady said: "If you have to know, you will be here tomorrow, and I will find someone to tell you, he knows more than me, and my old lady is more afraid of things, so you don't ask me, don't say anything. I don't know, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."
Did she find someone to tell us? I asked who it was, and she told me, "You'll know when you come."
I asked why it couldn't work today, and the old lady said, "He's still in the hospital today, and he'll be back tomorrow."
After a few simple questions, the old lady still told us the identity of the person who will tell us the story tomorrow. She is an old man in his 80s. The old lady would like to emphasize that the old man has experienced what we want to ask. .
The old lady said that my interest was completely hooked, so we left when we agreed to meet tomorrow.
On the way back to Li Jiahao's house, Yang Xiaohui asked me: "Shi Yong, do you think that the old lady is strange, she is doing something mysterious, like some great event."
I said to Yang Xiaohui: "We may be listening to it as a story, but that's a secret in the eyes of others, and it's a big secret. If someone is willing to tell us it's good, don't pick and choose."
But I also feel very strange in my heart. It stands to reason that if that matter is a mystery, why did the old lady ask us to meet tomorrow, and another person should tell us
If this matter is revealed, it will really bring bad luck to anyone, then the old lady is definitely not going to say it, nor should she introduce others to it, or even if she has a grudge against that person...
But these are not the most important things. The most important thing is that the people who tell us stories tomorrow will stop making trouble.
We went to the hospital again before going home. Li Jiahao's father had already gone through the discharge procedures and brought his wife home, and we returned home.
Li Zhen made dinner for us. I have to say that the food he cooked was delicious. During the meal, Li Jiahao's mother said with shame: "The happiest thing in my life is to have a good husband. and a good son."
Li Zhen smiled and said, "In front of the children, what do you say, don't be ashamed."
It can be seen that although the Li Jiahao family does not communicate much, they are still a very close family. This is definitely not a performance.
After eating for a while, we somehow brought the topic of chat to the haunting incident in Xinghualing, so Li Jiahao asked his father if he knew the details.
Li Zhen thought about it and said: "That Xinghualing is very evil. I heard that during the war of resistance against Japan, a lot of people died on that ridge, but they were all local guerrillas who were surrounded and killed by the Japanese army. , It is said that there are more than 30 people, none of them are alive, those people are all heroes of the Anti-Japanese War, should they not become ghosts and harm their own people?"
Indeed, he was a patriot during his lifetime, and he would definitely not attack his own people after his death. Could it be a Japanese or a puppet army who died in the encirclement and suppression war
So I asked Li Zhen if there were any losses to the Japanese army that time, and Li Zhen shook his head and said, "No, it is said that the guerrillas were ambushed by the devils. If the devils were well equipped, there would be no casualties."
Sure enough, some of the realities of the Anti-Japanese War were quite different from the plots I saw in the anti-Japanese drama.
I continued to ask Li Zhen if those guerrillas died miserably, and if anyone had their skins, noses, ears cut off or whatever.
Li Zhen shook his head and said, "I shouldn't. I heard some old people say that after the guerrillas were shot to death, they burned on the spot."
Although I don't want to believe that the evil ghost was left by the guerrillas, from the current information, this guess is the closest.
After asking Li Zhen for a while, Li Zhen couldn't say anything valuable, so we pulled the topic off again.
We slept very early that night, and we were not disturbed by ghosts.
The next day, after breakfast, the four of us went to the south end of the town together, because we had made an appointment to listen to people telling us stories here at 9:30 in the morning.
When the four of us arrived here, the old lady was already sitting in her usual position, and she greeted us when she saw us coming, "You guys are really on time."
After saying two polite words, I asked if the storyteller was here. The old lady pointed to the steps next to her and said, "Sit down and wait for a while, the sun is very warm here."
It was a little cold on the ground, and the steps were not clean, so none of the four of us sat down, but squatted down near the steps, looking so stupid.
In this short period of time, Yang Xiaohui and Zheng Lina were playing with their mobile phones, and Li Jiahao also missed it. I was the only one who spoke to the old lady without a word.
After a few simple words, I knew that the person we are going to meet today is the family of Fang Guojian who passed away the day before yesterday. His name is Fang Guojian, and he is Fang Guojian's cousin. Although Fang Guojian is going to be buried today, Fang Guosheng is the eldest brother, he is old, and he is still alive. I'm ill, so I don't have to go there today.
But I was still very curious. My own family died. It makes sense not to help me because of the above reasons, but I still have the heart to tell me stories. It seems a little out of tune, right
Just when I was thinking about it, the door of the yard next door opened, and tremblingly walked out of an old man with white hair on crutches, he smiled at us, and I found the teeth in his mouth. There are not a few left.
The old lady said, "Someone came out."
I hurried over to help, but Fang Guosheng pointed to a teacher's chair in the aisle of his house and said, "Move me out to the sun, I'll sit out and bask in the sun."
I nodded and complied. This old man is alone, and his family should all go to Fang Guojian's place to attend the funeral.