Ghost Record

  We encountered what Zhang Shenniang had said before - a ghost covering our eyes, also known as "ghost hitting the wall" in folk ghost stories, which we called "ghost covering our eyes".

  The scientific explanation for this phenomenon is that people's legs are of different lengths, and when walking in a directionless place, they tend to walk back to the original location, essentially circling around.

  But on a mountain road that can only go forward or backward, where does the place come from to make people turn around, and besides, they never walk outside the road. I believe those who have experienced being blindfolded by ghosts will find it hard to believe in scientific explanations, just like the scientific explanations for ghost fires and ghost pressing beds.

  According to Zhang Shenpo's explanation, the ghost covering your eyes is just teasing you. If you can't get out, don't be afraid, it will lose its effect by dawn. However, if you can't get out and run around randomly, you might get into trouble, such as falling off a cliff.

  But how could I possibly wait until dawn, maybe it's really getting lost instead of being blindfolded by ghosts. I went to the root of the pine tree and took a pee, no matter if it was blindfolded or lost.

  Just as I was about to finish, a small stone flew down from the mountain and hit the trunk of the pine tree. I thought it was just a pinecone falling off and didn't pay attention, but after I pulled up my pants, several more stones came flying down from the mountain.

  "Is someone here tonight? I shouted loudly towards the mountain: "Who's throwing stones here? If I catch you, you're dead!"

  I shouted a few times, but there was no response from the mountain. I picked up several stones from the ground and threw them back in retaliation, cursing as I did so. The stones that came flying back from the mountain were even more numerous, and I had to take cover behind a large pine tree that two people couldn't wrap their arms around.

  I hid behind a pine tree and shone my flashlight up the mountain where stones were being thrown, but all I could see was that the trees and wild grass grew densely and lushly, nothing else was visible, except for seeing stones being thrown out from inside.

  I reckon it's the monkey type! I couldn't mess with them here, so I quickly grabbed my bag and fled forward. This time I jogged ahead for another 10-20 minutes, faintly hearing someone singing a mountain song in the distance. I thought I had finally reached a village, so I quickened my pace for about five minutes, but amazingly, I ended up back under those five big pine trees again! Now I can confirm that I'm really lost, what to do?! What's most inexplicable is that there's someone standing under the pine tree.

  That person is an old woman, wearing a floral dress and barefoot, singing mountain songs there. This old woman has a hunched back, her whole body is dirty, and her face is as black as a great ape.

  In the depths of the mountain on this night, how did an old woman suddenly appear? I shone my flashlight over from more than 30 meters away and, plucking up my courage, loudly asked: "Granny, what are you doing here?"

  The old woman had seen me coming over but pretended not to see me. Now hearing me calling her, she stopped and beckoned me to come over with a dialect I couldn't understand, asking me to sing mountain songs with her. I didn't know what she was saying, only barely making out the four words "come over and sing".

  I replied to her: "I'm in a hurry! Where do I have time to sing mountain songs? I've walked here several times and seem to be lost, can you tell me how to get to Xiaoyi?"

  The old woman saw that I didn't respond to her invitation to sing mountain songs, and let out a few eunuch-like sly laughs. She then said in a clumsy tone: "You can't leave, I'm so hungry!"

  As soon as I heard the old woman say this, I was inexplicably startled and quickly said: "Grandma, I have bread and eggs in my bag, eat them and tell me how to get out of here!"

  The old woman's dark face revealed a strange smile, asking me to take the eggs and bread over for her to eat, as she had difficulty moving her legs.

  Having trouble with your legs? How can you run to the mountain at night and sing in the dark? Are you crazy?! If not, what are you?! To be honest, from the moment Grandma said I couldn't leave, her stomach was very hungry, I've been guessing that she might not be human.

  I reached into my pocket, not for the bread and eggs, but for Zhang Sheng's needle, which I had wrapped in a piece of cloth and put in my pocket when I left home.

  This needle, which even the village shaman can't name, was dug up by her family after a mountain spirit possessed them. Who knows what dynasty it's from? This small needle has lethal effects on objects, and looks like a thin hairpin - nobody knows who its original owner was. To deal with this old woman, I'll take the needle and go over there; if that doesn't work, I'll stab her to death.

  I reached into the bag and touched something hard, I didn't know what it was, so I took it out to take a look, and I couldn't help but be scared stiff. It turned out to be the locust wood plaque that Zhang Shengniang had put in the ceramic pot that day.

  The paulownia wooden plaque had that small water ghost with a fish body attached to it, how could I not find it anywhere that day, and now it's somehow ended up in my luggage.

  As soon as I saw the wooden sign, I was so scared that I quickly threw it to the ground. Just as I was about to touch the needle again, the old woman suddenly rushed in front of me. How could this be a case of poor mobility? She was as light as a swallow and walked with flying steps!

  The old woman rushed to me, less than five steps away from me, and I finally saw its appearance clearly. As I guessed, it was not a human being at all, with a sharp mouth and black face, bright red lips with several sharp teeth exposed. Its stretched out hands had only four fingers, with long, sharp and red fingernails, hunched back and less than 1.3 meters tall. The floral clothes were tattered and worn out, and it was unknown where they came from. This appearance looked like the mountain goblin mentioned by Zhang Shenyin.

  The mountain ogre is also called a ghost, but it is different from the general ghost. It is an animal with a physical body and loves to eat human flesh. The mountain ogre is a kind of mountain spirit and monster, similar in nature to werewolves. It is a type of ancient human-like creature from the Stone Age, between gorillas and modern humans, living long enough to even impersonate humans, making it difficult for people to distinguish. These mountain ogres may still exist deep in the Daxing'an Mountains or Shennongjia, but who has seen them?

  In our place, the mountain ogre is called Ren Xiong Po. The mountain ogre is most afraid of thunder and chicken calls. Many rural people have heard stories about an old woman eating children when they were young, and the protagonist of that story is it. That story says there was a man-eating old woman who disguised herself as someone else's grandmother to take care of children, but in the end, all the children were eaten by her. I believe many people born in the 70s and 80s have heard this when they were young.

  This thing is very powerful, I'm sure I can't beat it, but there's no time for anything else, let alone running away. I didn't even touch the needle before being knocked to the ground by the mountain goblin, and a severe pain came from behind, my back actually hit a rock, what bad luck.

  The flashlight fell to one side, and I struggled wildly, my right foot shrinking back towards the mountain goblin's belly, kicking it flying two meters high, falling to one side. Although it was powerful, after all, it was only 70 or 80 kilograms, and in this situation, I used my greatest strength to kick it open.

  Taking advantage of the opportunity, I grabbed the flashlight and ran away. The mountain goblin got up and angrily shouted behind me. I ran for a while, but finally couldn't run anymore, and found myself back at the five pine trees again, which was both laughable and frustrating.

  "Cow dung! Cow dung! Quickly smear it all over your body!" Just as I was at a loss, a doll-like voice echoed in my mind, telling me to apply the cow dung on myself.

  I took the flashlight and shone it around, seeing many cow droppings in the puddles on the side of the road. Without caring who was speaking, I went over to pick up a handful of cow dung and smeared it all over my body and face. The cow dung looked like mud, but its stench was truly nauseating! But there was no time to think about that, and with a few quick movements, I had covered myself in the stuff, turning myself into a "cow dung person".

  I had just applied the cow dung when the mountain goblin arrived at the foot of the tree, it was grinning and turning its head to look around, but surprisingly didn't see me. I was only about ten steps away from the mountain goblin, yet it searched around the pine tree roots for several rounds, finally getting angry and rolling on the ground while wailing.

  The mountain goblin can't find me, I've run out of energy, and a rustling sound comes from the bushes by the side of the road. The situation now is that we can't move forward, who knows if we hide from the mountain goblin, other mountain spirits might come out. People over 40 in rural areas all know that the 80s and 90s were the most chaotic times, with many unjust deaths, and various ghosts and monsters appeared frequently.

  I hid in the thicket, the smell of cow dung was really unbearable. This wasn't a big deal, but my body itched unbearably, possibly due to an allergic reaction. After hiding in the bushes for a long time and feeling that there was no movement outside, I turned on my flashlight and found a ditch to wash my body and clothes clean. Then I found another place to hide until dawn.

  After daybreak, I returned to the five pine trees. The roots of the tree still had the marks left from last night. The huai wood sign was quietly lying on the ground. I remembered the doll's voice from last night that asked me to wipe cow dung on my body, and also remembered the little girl who cried loudly by the riverbank that day. My heart inexplicably softened. This little water ghost, Zhang Shenpo, intended to raise it, but in case she came back and couldn't find it, it wouldn't be good either. Thinking about it, I picked it up again and put it back in my bag.

  After walking for less than 20 minutes towards Xiayi, I saw locals coming out to graze their cattle. I asked them how far Xiayi Village was and they told me it would take about two cigarettes' worth of walking time to get there.

  As expected, I didn't walk far before arriving at Xiayi. I had a bowl of rice noodles for 50 cents at a street stall. After breakfast, I thought there would be a bus to take, but it turned out that Xiayi doesn't even have a road with buses, so I could only ask people and walk to Wencun, then from Wencun to Zhaoping.

  It was already past one o'clock in the afternoon when I arrived at Zhao Ping, it's surprisingly far away. The main reason is that there are many mountains and detours, if you go straight, it would be much closer. Nowadays, highways can be called high-speed because they have fewer turns and shortened distances.

  What I didn't expect was that from Zhao Ping to Huang Yao, it took almost five hours by car. The county town is a five-hour drive from the town, how remote is this!

  I took this road by asking people, after all I was illiterate at that time, recognizing characters is something I learned later.

  I thought Huang Yao was also a prosperous place, but after getting off the bus, it didn't look prosperous at all. Those houses were different from ours and were made of green bricks and stones.

  The person I am looking for is the maternal uncle of Xue Fei's elder brother, that is, the maternal granduncle of Xue Fei's younger sister. He lives in a village called Xia Bai in Huang Yao, with the surname Huang. After asking around, I found out that this village is not located in Huang Yao, but rather in the neighboring Gongqiao Township.