It happened one morning when I was in the second grade. There was a pond between our home and the elementary school. In winter, the climate in the north was very cold and the ice was thick. Several of my classmates and I went to school together. When we passed the pond, we couldn't help but want to go down to skate. Although my father often warned us before we went out that many people had drowned in the pond and we should never go down to play, but when we were in the mood to play, we had already thrown these warnings behind our ears.
"Hey, come here, there's a hole, let's catch some fish for fun." Ermao waved and called me in the middle of the pond.
Because I was skinny since I was little, they all called me Shrimp. There were two other classmates skating happily on the ice, and they didn't go over to them, so I ran over to them. Ermao was rolling up his cotton jacket sleeves and sticking his entire right arm into the ice hole. I squatted on the side and asked excitedly if he had touched a fish. He said he had touched one and was about to catch it.
I was so happy when I heard that. I didn't do it for greed, but for fun. I helped him grab his arm and pull it out. But the fish was too big, and we fell down and both slipped on the ice.
Ermao cried loudly, saying that a big fish had bitten his finger and wouldn't let go, and he couldn't pull his hand out. I panicked, and quickly called the other two classmates who were skating to help. But our small bodies combined didn't have much strength, and Ermao was pulled into the ice hole, and a splash of water appeared and disappeared above his head.
After the splash, a pale face was faintly revealed, which was very scary. That face suddenly stretched out a long tongue, as long as the tongue of a hanged ghost in a play, and it wrapped around my neck and pulled it down. I was so scared that I cried and pulled back desperately. Two classmates also helped to hold me back. When I struggled hard, the buttons of my cotton jacket broke open, revealing the mahogany card.
The face immediately loosened its tongue, gave me a sinister smile, and suddenly disappeared.
We ran back to the town and called for help to rescue Ermao, but he was already dead. The three of us were all scared out of our wits when we huddled together. Surprisingly, my father did not punish me this time. He took me home and explained to me that Ermao was seduced by Hu Jiang, who drowned in the pond two years ago. This man was mentally disturbed after his wife ran away with someone else. If my father had not given him medicine frequently, he would have caused more trouble. He spared my life after seeing the peach wood sign of the ghost, otherwise I would have ended up like Ermao.
From then on, I never thought about taking off this peach wood plaque. I kept it with me until I graduated from high school and served in the army for three years. I never encountered ghosts again.
After I recovered, I found a job in the provincial capital, got a girlfriend, and planned to stay here and not go back. To be honest, the ghost face I saw when I was a child has always been a nightmare for me. I don’t want to inherit my family’s business and deal with ghosts all day long. But things didn’t go as I wished. Not long after, I heard the bad news that my father was critically ill from my hometown, so I rushed home with my girlfriend.
Before he died, my father said that he had checked in the underworld and that he had reached the end of his life span at the age of 56. Life and death are determined by fate, so he didn’t want me to be too sad. He wanted me to take over the ghost shop because it was a legacy left by our ancestors. If there were many boys in the family, the eldest son would inherit, unless there were no children in the family, then the family line would be cut off.
I really hated myself for not turning a girl, otherwise I wouldn't have to deal with this. Under my father's eager and expectant eyes before he died, could I say no? He finally said that I had been a soldier for three years and was not with him, so I didn't learn many skills. There was an ancient book passed down from my ancestors in the store, which contained all the magic. He only learned a little bit in his life, so he wanted me to work hard to surpass his and my grandfather's achievements.
My father died right after he finished speaking. Seeing the satisfied smile on his face, I knew he was pleased that I agreed to take over the store. I also made up my mind that for my father's sake, I would never change my career in this life.
My girlfriend is very realistic and asked me one question: "Are you going back to the provincial capital?"
I said I would not go back. She said goodbye to me immediately and took a bus back to the provincial capital. We didn't have any contact for three years. This incident made me sad for a long time.