Ghost Record

  I used all my strength to struggle but couldn't get rid of it, digging at my throat was useless, my throat felt cool and I had a wave of dry heaves, the leech still entered my stomach, I suddenly felt nauseous and scared, acid reflux vomited out.

  The old man slapped me on the ear and said that this leech is a kind of gu, taking medicine or injections won't work, it only sucks blood in the stomach without pain, but after a month, people will die from anemia. Now you go home immediately and bring back that locust wood signboard for me, otherwise both of you will die.

  I rubbed my sore and burning face, nodding my head like a chicken pecking at rice.

  So I went home to fetch the Huai wood plaque, and Zhang Shenniang was to stay here as a hostage. The old man himself drove with me to fetch it, and when we entered the house, I told him that the Huai wood plaque was in the ceramic jar in the wooden cabinet behind the god's platform.

  The old man walked over, pulled out the ceramic jar that Zhang's wife had used to trap the water ghost from the wooden cabinet, tore off the red cloth covering the mouth of the jar, and looked inside with a joyful expression. Suddenly his face turned gloomy.

  The old man turned around in anger, and the clay pot in his hand was thrown at me. I dodged to one side, and the pot smashed on the stone threshold, shattering into pieces. The old man rushed over and slapped me twice, pinching my neck so hard that I couldn't bear it, and hurriedly said that I really hadn't cheated him, that I had seen it with my own eyes when it was put in, and asked him to let go of me so I could find it for him.

  But the old man was unwilling to listen to my explanation and gave me two big slaps, hitting me dizzy, with a buzzing sound in my head.

  The old man grabbed my arm, menacingly threatening me to take it out quickly, otherwise he would burn down the house with a fire and then kill the two of us to make ghosts.

  The old man was like a devil at this moment, with a kind of despair that made people unable to resist. However, just then, the voice of Xue Fei's uncle came from outside the door, his loud voice shouting "Wu Sao is home?" I felt like a savior had arrived and hurriedly shouted for Uncle to come in quickly.

  Xue Fei's uncle was not yet forty, a typical rustic man, he also raised two ponds of fish, had done half a lifetime of farm work, very strong, if he came in, he would definitely be able to knock down this old man, so I loudly called him in.

  Xue Fei's father heard me shouting and ran in, saw the mess on the ground and the old man holding me, thinking it was a bandit. He immediately rushed into the kitchen, grabbed a kitchen knife, blocked the old man at the door, and sternly asked him who he was and what he was doing here.

  The old man was not an ordinary person. Seeing someone holding a kitchen knife at the door, blocking his way, he didn't show any fear. The old man threatened Snow Queen's aunt to put down the knife and leave quickly, or else she would break his neck.

  But the old man wasn't a fool, he knew when to retreat, so both sides were at an impasse for two or three minutes. Perhaps because they weren't on their own turf, they feared that more people would come over later and things would get out of hand, so the old man couldn't drag it out any longer. He then played another card, saying that Zhang Shenniang was being held captive by him, he had only come to find something, if he found what he was looking for, he would release her, otherwise he would burn her to death with one stroke of fire.

  I told Empress Snow that Zhang Sheng indeed had been locked up!

  Xue Fei's father hesitated for a moment and then put down the kitchen knife, telling the old man to quickly let me go.

  The old man saw Snow Queen's big brother put down the kitchen knife, smiled with satisfaction and said: "Think of Zhang's sister coming back safely, just let go." After finishing, he walked out of the door without hesitation, quickly got on the car and threw a sentence: "Tomorrow night, send the locust wood sign to the gate of Gui Ping No. 1 Middle School, he will come to pick it up, otherwise burn Zhang Shen's wife to death.

  The jeep sped away, and my uncle Snowflake hurriedly asked me what was going on. I told him the whole story, then he had me search for a locust wood sign at home while he went to the town police station to report the case.

  I returned home to look for the catalpa wooden sign, but I couldn't find it even though I clearly saw Zhang Shenpo put it away. That day she sealed it with a red cloth and it hadn't been opened since, so how could the catalpa wooden sign disappear into thin air? I searched for more than two hours without finding it, turning the whole house upside down in my anxiety.

  In the afternoon, a three-wheeled motorcycle police car arrived at the door, and my aunt Snow White was also on it, along with two civil policemen. My uncle invited the civil policemen into the house, then asked me to tell them everything I knew, so I told them one by one.

  The police officer listened with half-belief and half-doubt, repeatedly asking me if I was lying. After I guaranteed again and again that there was not a single false word, the police officer started taking pictures in the house and asked my aunt to leave her fingerprint on a notebook. Finally, the police officer asked me to lead the way and got on their three-wheeled motorcycle heading towards Guilin.

  When I was young, I thought the police were all-powerful and only caught bad people. On the way back, I believed that Zhang Sheng would return tonight or tomorrow. However, after taking the police around for a long time, when we found the old man's house where he raised ghosts, it was already empty. The next day, waiting at the gate of Guiping No. 1 Middle School also didn't see the old man come back. Finally, for three whole days, there was no news from the police station, and the villagers were discussing it in whispers.

  I swallowed a leech and couldn't spit it out, so Snow White's uncle told me to go to Zhao Ping Huang Yao to find a barefoot doctor to take a look. He said that person was his cousin and understood this kind of thing. The old man wrote a letter for me to hand over to his cousin when I arrived.

  How to go to Zhao Ping Huang Yao, Snow Queen didn't say, and she won't take me there, after all, I have no relationship with her. Now the situation is that I only have more than 20 days left, Snow Queen only told me that someone in Zhao Ping Huang Yao understands this and can take care of me.

  The only adults I can rely on in the village are San Gu and Zhang Shenpo, but San Gu has remarried and left, and Zhang Shenpo is missing. Xue Fei Da Bo also avoids me, and when we meet during the day, he takes a detour to avoid me, perhaps because he's afraid I'll ask him to take me to Huang Yao, or more likely because he's afraid that my stomach worms can't be cured and I won't survive, after all, who would want to get involved in such an unlucky matter.

  On the fifth morning after Zhang Shenniang disappeared, I got up and packed my things, which were all clean clothes and a flashlight. I also took away the needle that Zhang Shenniang had given me and the small knife she had sent me. Finally, I found the strange egg in the wooden box on the altar and brought it with me too. The reason I took these things was just for safekeeping.

  Xue Fei's sister came to Zhang Shennu's house early in the morning and asked me if I was going to a very far place for medical treatment. I asked her how she knew that I was going for medical treatment, and she said that Eldest Brother told her, saying that you might not even come back afterwards.

  When I heard Snow Princess say that, I couldn't help but sigh. I was originally a wandering youth, and it wasn't until I met Third Aunt and Zhang Shenniang that I was able to settle down in this village for half a year. Now that Third Aunt has remarried elsewhere and Zhang Shenniang is missing, nothing here belongs to me anymore. What's the point of staying here? As far as I'm concerned, my current life goal is to go to Hunan to find my sister. If so, why bother staying in this village? Thinking about it, leaving doesn't feel like a big deal either.

  I asked Xue Fei if she was reluctant for me to leave. Xue Fei shook her head and said that she would also be leaving soon after finishing her exams to go to her mother's place.

  I gave Snow Princess two pieces of pocket money and told her that when I grow up, I will go to her house to play, and let her study hard.

  As I walked to the door and closed it, Xue Fei's sister still cried, and I also cried. Xue Fei's sister looked at my back as I left. This time, I really didn't know if we would have another chance to meet. In those days, people relied on letters to communicate, unlike today with mobile phones and QQ. The worms in my stomach, I didn't know if they could be cured or not, and I also didn't know if I could find the doctor that my uncle mentioned.

  How to get to Huang Yao? At that time, the transportation was not so developed, and remote areas were all on foot. I asked a villager who had repaired roads in Zhao Ping, he told me to walk to Meng Shan, then take a car to Zhao Ping, and then take another car to Huang Yao.

  From Jiangkou Town where I live to Mingshan County, you need to go through five townships. Three of them are in the mountains, with continuous mountain ranges stretching for dozens of kilometers. Half of the journey requires walking, about 30 kilometers.

  I hitched a ride from the town to Guancheng, then another one from Guancheng to Tonghe. I arrived in Tonghe at 2 pm and finally took a tractor from Tonghe to Ningkang which was already after 4 pm. After that, there were no more cars to hitch. I wanted to arrive at Xiayi Yao Village before 8 pm because after Xiayi is Mengshan, of course, all this information was told by people on the road.

  An old man smoking a cigarette by the roadside told me that from Ningkang to Xiayi, he often walked for less than 4 hours when he was young. If I walk, it's probably around 4 hours too! Tomorrow is also on foot, I hesitated for a moment and still think to go to Xiayi first, and then take a ride to Mengshan from there tomorrow morning.

  This place is really remote and different from Jiangkou. Jiangkou has half plain and half mountain, while this place is all mountains. Although there are villages one or two miles away.

  I walked until half past six in the evening, and I estimated that I had already reached halfway. The sky had darkened, and there was only half an hour left before I had to turn on my flashlight to walk.

  It was already dark at seven o'clock, and I couldn't see the road, so I had to turn on my flashlight. I estimated that it would take another hour and a half to reach Xiaoyi. Thinking of this, although tired, I quickened my pace. Spending the night in the mountains at ten o'clock is not fun. People back then were good walkers, now young people get exhausted after walking just a few kilometers, but we used to walk tens of kilometers, with some even carrying things on their shoulders.

  Walking with a flashlight on the road in the middle of the mountain, I'm not afraid at all. After all, the experience of the past few months has tempered me a lot, and ghosts are no longer that scary. However, it's worth noting that in the deep mountains where people are scarce, there are very few ghosts, but rather some messy spirits, mostly animals and plants that have become spirits.

  But that doesn't mean I won't encounter them, and it doesn't mean they won't play tricks on me. My eight characters and birth time have destined me to be more prone to these things approaching me, from childhood to adulthood.

  As I walked, I didn't notice that it had started fogging up, and I don't know what time it is now. I feel like I've been walking for a long time, and it seems farther than the old man said.

  After walking for more than an hour, it seemed that blisters had formed on the soles of my feet, and my pace slowed down. I couldn't help but feel that the old man had exaggerated.

  My feet have blisters and I was just about to sit down and rest, but then I saw that the surroundings looked familiar. I shone my flashlight and isn't this the same road we walked on earlier?

  There are five big pine trees by the roadside, I clearly just walked past them earlier, but now they're back again, this is ridiculous.