Ghost Record

  Walking in the middle of the night on a road that leads to nowhere, feeling lost and disoriented just like this dark night, unable to see any direction. But I'm lucky because I have Tongtong, we may be from different worlds, but after only a few days together, we feel like our lives depend on each other. We share similar goals, I want to find my sister back, while Tongtong wants to find her parents, just to see them one more time.

  I don't know how long I've been walking, nor do I know where I am. The sky is gradually getting brighter, but it's still very cold. In the Guangxi region near Guangdong, in November, if there isn't a cold front, the temperature can reach 25 degrees during the day and drop to only 15 degrees at night.

  I was walking in the fields by the river, when I suddenly saw a woman not far ahead of me taking a dump. Her white buttocks were clearly visible. As soon as I saw her, I quickly took a detour, but unexpectedly, the woman also saw me. Not only was she not embarrassed, but she also yelled at me to come over in a very fierce manner.

  I was stunned, and the woman asked me to wait for her to finish taking a dump so she could dance. When I heard this, I was confused - had I encountered a lunatic? I ignored her and turned to walk away, but unexpectedly, the woman caught up with me, holding in her hand the shit she had just taken out.

  I saw this woman holding a broom and chasing after me, scaring me faster than if I had seen a mountain demon running. As the saying goes, being hit by a broom once brings bad luck for three months, but if feces are thrown on your body and head, you'll be unlucky for three years.

  Just as I was running, a lump of shit flew over my head from above. Although being hit by shit doesn't hurt, who can accept three years of bad luck? Moreover, it's so disgusting.

  I turned around to see the woman covered in shit chasing after me, so I ran even faster trying to shake her off. Finally, I ran into a village. Turning back, that crazy woman hadn't caught up with me, exhausted, I leaned against the corner of the wall panting heavily.

  At this time, I saw a big sister carrying a vegetable basket to the vegetable field to pick vegetables. I went up and asked her what place this was. She told me that this is Gonghui Town. I also asked her how to go to the town, and the big sister pointed out a road and direction for me.

  After thanking the big sister, I walked for another hour before arriving at the town. The sun had been up on the mountain top for a long time.

  Gonghui Town is more prosperous than Huangya, I bought a coat and shoes in the town. After having breakfast, I found the station and got on the bigger and more beautiful train, because that train must be going to an even more prosperous place.

  I want to go to a more prosperous place to make money, and only when I have made enough for the road expenses can I go to Hunan. If you ask me how much I will earn? Honestly, I don't know either, in short, it's a lot, at least my shirt and pants pockets can't hold it all, as for more money, I just don't have any concept of it. In 1987, the fourth set of RMB had already been issued, and by the 1990s, it was basically circulating nationwide, and there were very few places that still used grain coupons. To make money, I decided to go to a prosperous place to catch fish and sell them, and then read some books, otherwise, it would be difficult to get anywhere.

  After the car started, I fell asleep. When we arrived at our destination, I still didn't wake up. The driver patted my head and woke me up. I rubbed my eyes and asked him where we were.

  The driver told me this is the eighth stop and asked me to get off quickly as he was going to lock the door.

  Babu! I came to a place similar to the county town of Guiping, but with a completely different mood. What I saw in Guiping was more freshness and surprise, while Babu is more of a longing.

  I stood on the 8th step and rented a nice small room by the Hejiang River for 70 yuan per month. Although it's a bit expensive, it's different from the rental houses built in the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong Province now, this is a residential house. The landlord Xiao Shu and his family of six people live on the second floor, and there was an empty room at the top, which he rented to me.

  I bought bedding, blankets and other daily necessities, plus the rent, leaving me with little money. The next day, after inspecting a nearby vegetable market, I also bought two baskets, a carrying pole and some waterproof tape, preparing to go fishing at night.

  I usually catch fish until late at night, around one or two o'clock, because there are no people then and many nocturnal fish come out. In the hours after dark I have nothing to do, so I go downstairs to watch TV at Old Xiao's house.

  Uncle Xiao's home had a black and white TV, which could only receive the Central Channel. At that time, the logo of the Central Channel was still a large butterfly logo, occupying too much space in the lower left corner. What was being broadcast at the time was "Journey to the West", I watched it and thought I was Sun Wukong, when catching fish, I cut off a bamboo pole as a golden hoop rod, under the moonlight by the river, I flipped somersaults and practiced martial arts.

  The first night I went out to catch fish, I didn't bring a net because it was the first time, so I wanted to try and explore. I took a flashlight and walked along the Hejiang River to a wide riverbank, called out Tiantian, and let her dive into the water. Before long, a turtle as big as a washbasin crawled out of the water, round and round, I thought it was some kind of monster.

  The tortoise crawled up the shore and even waved its hand to greet me, so I knew it was Tongtong. After calling her away from the tortoise, I picked up the big tortoise and went home.

  Some people say that such a big turtle must have spirituality! Why dare to catch it? I can only say that this is too absurd, we don't have this saying in our local area, but there is a saying about snakes having spirituality.

  In the past, the river was not polluted and there were many tortoises. In the rice fields, there would also be loaches and yellow eels. I took this big tortoise home and put it in a cage, and the next morning I gave it to my landlord, Uncle Xiao. I told him that from now on, I will go fishing every midnight, if I wake up his family members, I hope he can understand.

  After the first night's exploration, I took two frames out the door on the second evening. Xiao Da Shu's house is only 100 meters away from Hejiang River, but there is a kilometer-long river section without houses. It takes courage for ordinary people to run to the unmanned river area at midnight to catch fish! But I have Tongtong, and with the ancient bronze knife sent by Zhang Shenpo's family, I'm not afraid of anything.

  I carried the frame and flashlight to a riverbank, where there were vegetable fields all around. I found an empty space, put down the frame, shone the flashlight on the water surface, and then called out Tiantian.

  Tongtong usually doesn't appear in person, and even when she speaks, it's only in my mind, like a hallucination that others can't hear. Every time she emerges from the willow tree, the willow tree just moves slightly and I know she's out, then soon after, fish will jump onto the riverbank.

  Less than a minute after the child fell into the water, a big-headed fish of at least five catties jumped out of the river. I had just picked it up and put it in the frame when another big fish with an unknown name jumped up, and then like picking dumplings, the fish jumped onto the shore one after another. In less than twenty minutes, both frames were full.

  I wasn't catching fish, I was clearly picking up fish. After calling Tiantian back and preparing to go home, I realized that I had caught too many fish. I couldn't even lift them, two baskets full of fish and water, which should be over 150 pounds, it's really too heavy. Helplessly, I put some fish back and poured out some water, only then could I lift it, and walked straight to the vegetable market until dawn.

  After daybreak, my fish were almost cost-free, so they were sold cheaply. With various types of fish and only a few species being more attractive in comparison, they were quickly sold out. After all, it's different from others who sell or raise their own fish - my fish were basically picked up for free. Plus, the way I sold them was special, making it hard to do bad business.

  I don't know how to calculate multiplication and division, I only know simple addition and subtraction, so when selling fish, I don't use a scale, but sell by the piece. The buyer estimates the price themselves. On the first day, I sold nearly 50 yuan worth of fish and left one piece for my landlord, Uncle Xiao.

  After that, I caught fish every night and slept during the day. I also borrowed books from Xiao Shu's daughter, from grade one to three of elementary school, to study by myself until the Chinese New Year was approaching.

  I have been in Bazhou for more than two months and have earned nearly 1,500 yuan from selling fish. For me who left my uncle's house nine months ago, this is an unimaginable sum of money. The three aunts raised two fat pigs for half a year and only sold them for less than 400 yuan.

  I was able to earn so much because I'm doing a business with zero capital, so whatever I earn is all profit. Now my pants and shirt pockets are really stuffed full.

  Having money is a good thing, but it also has its troubles. With so much money and no place to put it, because I don't have a passbook or deposit book, I can only buy an iron box with a lock to store it.

  Time flies, there are still 5 days before the Spring Festival. I plan to catch fish one last time and then take a few days off. After the festival, I will go to Hunan.

  That night, it was drizzling with a temperature of only about 3 degrees, but for Tiantian, 3 degrees and 30 degrees made no difference. Since it was the last time catching fish, I found a new section of the river and let Tiantian catch two bigger fish.

  Tongtong was underwater for over ten minutes without any movement, just as I was about to call out to her, a huge fish suddenly burst out of the river, weighing at least several hundred pounds. The massive fish leapt out of the water and flew towards the shore, splashing water everywhere and soaking me from head to toe.

  After the fish fell on the shore, I shone my flashlight and found that it was a green fish, with a length of at least one meter five. Because Tiantian attached to the fish's body controlled it, so this big green fish jumped ashore without jumping around.

  How can I take such a big fish back! Just as I was worried about how to deal with the big fish for Tongtong, I felt something strange and turned my head to see that a light ball had suddenly appeared on the opposite side of the river and was flying slowly.

  The glowing orb was only about the size of a bowl, and it wasn't flying very fast. It was hovering at a height of about two stories. The big green fish twitched once, and Tongtong emerged from its body. She stood beside me, and together we watched the glowing orb fly across the river.

  I asked Tongtong what that thing was! Tongtong said she didn't know either, and in all the years she spent by the river, she had seen many of these glowing balls. She told me that they often flew close to the water's surface, sometimes even diving into the water, but she could never see clearly what they were.

  This light ball is different from the will-o'-the-wisp, which is usually yellow and only appears in summer. The color of this light ball is white, round, and completely different from the will-o'-the-wisp.

  Tongtong and I kept staring at this light ball, and finally it stopped on a tree without moving, just like a bird flying and stopping on the tree.

  I wanted to go over and take a look, but it was impossible with this hundred-meter-wide river in the way. The light sphere stopped on the tree trunk and didn't fly away again, instead it grew dimmer and dimmer until it disappeared and merged with the night.