Ghost Record

  I don't know why, but after seeing that light ball, I suddenly decided to put the big fish back in the water. After returning home, the shadow of the light ball kept appearing in my mind.

  It was still drizzling on the second night, and the cold wind was so strong that my ears felt like they were going to fall off. I came back to the riverbank again tonight, not to catch fish, but to see that glowing ball from last night once more. Whatever it is, I couldn't find it no matter how hard I looked, and I ended up waiting until midnight without seeing it again.

  Just as I was getting up to go home, the light ball appeared again. This time I was on the side where the light ball appeared last night, but tonight it appeared on the side where I caught fish last night, is it teasing me?

  Across the river with a width of over 100 meters, I can only stare blankly at the light ball flying away, finally stopping on the tree and dimming until it disappears, just like last night.

  This orb has enchanted me, and I rush to the riverbank every day to wait for its appearance, even on New Year's Eve. However, it teases me by appearing on the opposite bank whenever I'm on this side, always separating us with a river, making it impossible for me to catch up to it.

  Xiao Shu also couldn't help but ask me: "Little Li, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, why do you run out every midnight and come back empty-handed? Are you learning from others to go gamble?"

  As soon as I heard that Uncle Xiao suspected me of going to learn how to gamble, I quickly explained that it was absolutely not true, but Uncle Xiao didn't believe me and insisted that I must be up to no good. He kindly reminded me to be careful during the New Year's holiday.

  I asked him how many years he had lived here after hearing Mr. Xiao say so. Mr. Xiao told me that he had lived in E Town for 27 years and also lived by the He River for 11 years.

  I asked him again: "In these years, have you ever gone out at midnight and wandered around?"

  Uncle Xiao probably misheard my words, glanced at Auntie Xiao who was watching TV in front of him, and with a sly smile told me that he is an honest man and never goes out wandering around at night.

  I wanted to say that I asked if he really went outside and wandered around, for example by the river, saw any strange phenomena or not, but still didn't say anything, and just went back upstairs to his room.

  Another night I reluctantly ran to the riverbank again, I knew it was not just curiosity, but also a little more enchanted feeling, but I couldn't say it.

  Tonight I've become clever, and won't let that ball of light trick me like a monkey again, leaving me stranded on the opposite bank. I stole a small bamboo raft from upstream and waited alone on the river surface, of course with Tongtong, but she's not human.

  I sat on a bamboo raft in the middle of the river, quietly staying there for more than two hours, feeling very bored. At this moment, that light ball appeared again, I saw it floating up from the ground, floated to about two-story high in the air, and then flew forward at a uniform speed in a straight line.

  I was so excited that I vowed to capture it tonight, or my surname wouldn't be Li. I paddled with all my might, the bamboo raft reached the shore, and I quickly jumped ashore to chase after the light ball.

  It was the same as the previous few nights, the light floated to a big tree and stopped, then gradually dimmed. By the time I chased it to the bottom of the tree, the light had already dimmed by more than half, which made me anxious.

  Tonight can't afford to make a white run, fortunately I'm good at climbing trees, put the flashlight on the ground and prop it up with branches, let the light shine on the tree, three hands and two feet climbed up, all the way to the branch where the light cluster stopped.

  The light mass grew darker and disappeared completely when I was less than an arm's length away from it. My right foot hastily took another step forward, climbing onto the branch where the light mass had stopped earlier, but nothing was left behind.

  I sniffed the place again, but found nothing. It was strange, what was this light ball? Just as I was puzzled, I heard a "slap" sound, and before I could react, I fell into the icy river. The branch I was standing on had broken off, and I fell straight from 4 or 5 meters high in the tree into the river, sinking to the bottom.

  Early spring midnight, the river was dark and cold, freezing me to the bone, just like an ice stick. Fortunately, Tongtong appeared in time, she emitted a faint green light in the water, appearing in front of me.

  Tongtong is a water ghost by birth, and after serving as a fish demon for several years, she has also eaten over a dozen young boys. As such, she is extremely powerful in the water. On land, she can only manifest on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month, and even then, she appears to be just an ordinary little girl. However, in the water, as long as it's nighttime, she can manifest 365 days a year, and in the water, she looks like a young fairy.

  I only saw Tongtong's anxious and worried expression, then I felt a dizziness in my head, and after that, I didn't know anything.

  When I came to, I was lying on the grassy shore. It turned out that Tóng Tóng had attached herself to my body and carried me ashore. After she left my body, I woke up.

  Originally, Tongtong had the ability to attach herself to people in the water. I wonder if she can attach herself to any animal in the water? I didn't ask her, and I guess she doesn't know either.

  I fell into the river and was soaked from head to toe, coupled with the cold wind blowing, my teeth chattered and my lips turned purple as I ran home in a most wretched state.

  After changing my clothes at home, I turned off the lights and took out the willow wooden man to ask Tiantian if she had seen that light group clearly. Tiantian told me that she hadn't seen it and hoped that I wouldn't make a big deal out of it. Even she couldn't tell what it was, so the matter was put on hold for several days.

  Two days before the Lantern Festival, I told Uncle Xiao that I wanted to terminate the lease and leave Bazhou. Uncle Xiao asked me: "You're living well, why do you want to move out suddenly? You're not old, but diligent, selling fish so well, making a lot of money, can't you go back home in a few years, build a new house, get married?"

  When I heard Uncle Xiao say that, I told him that I came out to find my sister. Making money was just for the road so I wouldn't starve. With money, I would naturally set off.

  Uncle Xiao asked me again and again, so I told him about my miserable life. My father left before I was born, my mother committed suicide when I was two years old, my grandparents passed away one after another when I was six years old, and my only close sister was sent to a couple from Hunan.

  Xiao Shu listened to me and felt sympathetic about my experiences, also admired my strength. He took out a piece of paper from a cabinet and spread it on the table, asking me to come over and take a look.

  Uncle Xiao told me this is a map of our China and asked me to point out where Guilin is and where Baise is.

  I stared at the map for half a day, but I still couldn't find Guilin and Baise. (In recent months, I have learned some characters on my own, such as my name, hometown, and some common words used in daily life, like train station and restaurant.)

  Xiao Shu looked at me and smiled: "Guiping and Baxiaoxiao can't be found, right? Then go find someone from Hunan to show me."

  It took me less than 30 seconds to find Hunan, and Hunan is as big as a plate on this map.

  Finally, Uncle Xiao took back the map and asked me: "Hunan is so big, where are you going to find your sister? Are you going to ask every household in Hunan one by one? You'll be asking for a lifetime and still won't finish!"

  As soon as I heard Uncle Xiao say that, my heart felt like a deflated balloon, and all hope seemed lost. I asked Uncle Xiao what to do, my only dream is to find my sister back, then earn money to send her to school, give her a good life.

  Xiao Shu told me to go back to Guilin to ask my uncle clearly which place in Hunan, and then go to find it, otherwise you won't be able to find it.

  Xiao Shu let me spend the Lantern Festival before leaving, I'm grateful for his reminder, otherwise Hunan is so big, it's really like finding a needle in a haystack.

  I had promised Tongtong not to bother with the glowing ball by the river again, but on Yuanxiao Festival night, I couldn't help myself. This time, I didn't even bring Tongtong along, just brought that ancient bronze knife and quietly made my way to the riverbank under the bright moonlight.

  This time I was clever, took a bottle of stinky tofu and filled it with urine, arrived early at the tree where the light ball often stopped, and almost covered the entire tree with urine. Yes, wherever I could climb, I applied urine with my fingers, don't know if this method works or not.

  Next, I put on a grass hat and wore a grass dress to disguise myself on the tree. I waited for more than three hours on the tree, my legs cramped from standing. If it weren't so cold, I would have fallen asleep and fallen off the tree again.

  It was around 1 am when the light ball reappeared. It floated out from the ground and came straight towards me, under this tree, making me hold my breath in tension.

  The light group got closer and closer, until it reached the big tree. It floated up and down, spinning around several times, as if my "urine painting" method had worked, and it couldn't find a place to land.

  At that moment, I only felt the light in front of me getting brighter, and the ball of light actually landed on my shoulder. I glanced sideways, and this ball of light was like a large dandelion, fluffy and white, emitting white light.

  I couldn't help but turn my head slightly, wanting to take a closer look, but this movement startled it.

  The glowing mass didn't fly away and disappear into the distance like it had on previous nights, but instead left my shoulder and floated back and forth. I sprang up the tree with monkey-like agility, chasing after the glowing mass.

  I only saw the light cluster fly to a place on the ground, and then it disappeared. I walked over and turned over the grass, but didn't find anything. After turning it over for the second time, I discovered that there was a hole like a mouse hole on the ground.

  I stretched out my hand and poked it towards the hole, but found a slightly warm feeling. I withdrew my fingers, urinated in a circle around the hole, and then ran straight home to fetch a hoe.

  Half an hour later, I ran back and forth with a pointed hoe. I tied the flashlight to a small tree, letting the light shine on the ground, and then I started digging.

  After resting for a whole hour, I finally heard a "dang" sound and stopped. I took the flashlight to take a look, only to see that a large ceramic vat had been smashed by the hoe.

  As soon as I saw this broken tile jar, I exclaimed "Oh no! Are we going to dig up someone else's ancestral tomb? This is a behavior that will get us struck by lightning!"

  In most parts of Guangxi, after a person dies, their bones are dug up from the coffin and placed in an urn a few years later, then a new grave is built. If no suitable land is found, the urn containing the human remains will be temporarily placed under a rock crevice on the mountain, which can be quite frightening.