When I saw these three old women eating around the small table, my scalp was immediately numb. The scene in the portrait behind the altar table in the earthen hut was vividly presented before my eyes. I had never encountered such a strange thing. For a moment, I wondered if I had seen a ghost.
"Young man, come and sit here."
I didn't answer at all, I still had the idea in my heart: run.
As soon as I turned around and ran away, I didn't care if Qingluo would still look for me near the village. In my opinion, Qingluo was better than these three old women.
The night sky is clear, the full moon hangs high, and the light shines in all directions. However, when I looked back and wanted to escape, the bright moonlight disappeared, and the sky was suddenly black as the bottom of a pot. My eyes went dark, and I was forced to slow down again.
"If you want to run, can you still run away?"
Behind me came the voice of the old woman again. Following this voice, I subconsciously looked back and saw three lanterns behind me.
The lantern emits a dim light, and under the light of the lantern, the figure of the old woman holding the lantern can still be seen vaguely.
The old woman had only three, and only three lanterns, but after the three lanterns were lit, my eyes began to drift. I always felt that I was all swaying lanterns, all of a sudden, trapped in the lanterns all over the sky.
My scalp kept tightening, even though there were shaking lanterns everywhere, I still refused to be trapped like this, trying to escape with all my strength. These three old women are ghostly, and the lanterns in their hands are so evil, you can think about it with their heels to know what the consequences will be if they are really caught.
My eyes were completely dazzled by the swaying lanterns. I couldn't move a single step. In anxiousness, I closed my eyes cruelly and stumbled with my head. As soon as I closed my eyes, I couldn't see the lanterns that I had made before and after, and my mind seemed to be calmer.
"Young man, don't waste your energy."
I was frightened when I ran, and I only felt that I had rushed out a long way, but as soon as I opened my eyes, the voice of the old woman floated from behind to my ears.
"Young man, do you know the Pi family? The Pi family who specializes in making lanterns."
I was flustered at first, when I heard the old woman's words, the whole person seemed to have fallen into the ice cellar, and it was very cold from head to toe. Over the past four years, following the master to run around, I have seen a little bit of the world. Although the master is usually not good at words, he has spent most of his life collecting corpses on the river beach and is very knowledgeable. Sometimes the master would tell me something about the river beach when he was interested.
I remember the master told me before that there is a Pijiaao about sixty or seventy miles north of our house. For many years, there has been a mass grave, Fang
Within a few tens of miles, the unclaimed deceased will be buried in Pijiaao.
I don't know since when, Pijiaao moved into a family. The family called themselves Pi, and moved from Pijiaao many years ago, and then the leaves returned to the roots, and the family moved back to Pijiaao. These things have passed for too long, and no one can tell the truth. Anyway, the family named Pi settled down in Pijiaao.
Pi's family specializes in making lanterns, all kinds of lanterns, and the lanterns sold in the market in several small towns near the master's house are all made by Pi's family. People in the countryside say that Pi's lanterns are well made, and sometimes they would rather spend a few more money to buy Pi's lanterns. However, only the people who are in the rivers and lakes know that the Pi's best made are human skin lanterns. .
Such things as human skin lanterns cannot be put on the surface, but they have many uses. For example, the corpse hunters on the river beach sometimes meet customers who are willing to pay a big price. They usually kill the rooster when they want to go to the river to collect the corpses at night, and then use a Pi family's human skin lantern as the soul-attracting lamp. There are also people from Jinyutang who often pan for gold in the corpse plots. Some of the corpse plots are so dark that ordinary lamps and candles can't shine through, so they have to use Pijia lanterns to illuminate the way.
I have never dealt with the Pi family, but they live in a cemetery and be human skin lanterns. Just listening to these is enough to make the teeth itch. I couldn't help but shiver, panic and incomprehensible, the Pi family came to me, what are they going to do
"You have admitted the wrong person!" I shouted, emboldening myself: "I have nothing to do with you, what do you do with me!"
"How can I admit the wrong person?" An old woman loomed in the light of the lantern that was swaying back and forth, grinning, "Isn't your name Bao Shisan? Fu Qiandeng's apprentice, we are looking for you."
All of a sudden, I couldn't speak. This old woman directly broke my family property, indicating that they knew my origins well, and they must have not found the wrong person.
"I don't know anyone from the Pi family, and I haven't had a holiday with the Pi family." I was dazzled by the lanterns around, thinking about how to escape like this, always being held in the palm of the opponent by the other party. It is difficult to escape. , In desperation, my heart froze, stopped, and said: "You follow me, there must be a reason!"
As I shouted these words, there was a faint feeling in my heart. During the four years of my master’s study of art, the life was very plain. I went out early and returned late. I lived and sleeplessly. Although plain, it was very peaceful. What weird things have happened. But something happened to the master's front foot, and strange things followed one after another. I just think that if the master didn't have any accidents, these things would not happen.
"Young man, as you said, we have no holidays, Pi family
Nor will it deliberately embarrass you, just want to take something from you, if you take it out, we will not only not be embarrassed, but we will also give you some money for the settlement. "An old woman took two steps slowly, came out from the endless lantern light, and carried a purse in one hand. The purse looked very heavy and the weight was a little under pressure. The old woman shook slightly, and the purse rang out. The clinking sound of the oceans colliding with each other: "It's easy to talk and discuss, hand over the things, and you take the money. However, ugliness also comes to the forefront. If you refuse to recognize it, the Pi family has so many methods. We are short of human skin when we make lanterns. "
"Take something from me? What to take?" I was stunned, I really couldn't think of what the three old ladies of the Pi family wanted to take away. I have no money left, except for the four sheep boat left by the master. , That is, some messy small things with you.
"A jade top stove with a thousand lamps." Another old woman hid behind the lantern and said: "Don't tell me, you don’t know about the jade top stove. Take the jade top stove out, we turn our heads and leave, baby, you’d better Be honest."
"What am I honest? I have never heard of any jade top or stove." I did not lie, Master's wealth, I know very well that there are no other stoves except for the stove used to heat the fire in winter: "There is only one stove in the house. If you want it, you can get it yourself."
"Tsk tusk tusk, you baby, really courageous, worthy of Qian Deng's apprentice, talking to our Pi family, still slick." The old woman with the purse shook her head, squinted her eyes, and said: " I don’t know what it would be like to make a lantern from your skin."
I turned around and wanted to run. I didn't know anything about the three old women. They told the truth, but they didn't believe it. But the three old women had already stared at me so hard, I only ran out two steps, a flower was fierce in front of me, and a figure flashed over like a ghost in the dark night, directly blocking my path.
"I'm not afraid that you are not honest." The old woman who stood in front of me stretched out her hand and caught my neck like lightning. She had lost her teeth, but the strength on her arm was surprisingly strong, and I couldn't see through it. Angrily, he also struggled still: "My son, there are not a thousand ways in our Pi family to let people tell the truth. There are not a thousand, but there are also 800 kinds. Try them all on you to ensure that you regret coming to the world."
I was held tightly by the old woman, and the countless lanterns swaying back and forth disappeared. I had no resistance and was dragged by the old woman from the small road to the road out of the village.
"Let's go back to Pijiaao, toast and not eat fine wine." The old woman who was holding me opened her eyes, and a sharp light appeared in her gray eyes: "Don't tell the whereabouts of the Yuding furnace, This layer of skin on your body really cannot be kept!"
(End of this chapter) (End of this chapter)