Chapter 11: Seventh Day of Qingming Festival Little Meng is Empty

  I went back home, Ye Fei was still awake, I took a bucket and filled it with half a bucket of water, then poured the sand into it, and put the bucket under the bed, preparing to put a dead frog in it tomorrow to see how those sand grains eat meat.

  The next day, I caught two frogs in Zhang Village's vegetable garden and threw them into a bucket after killing them. I squatted by the bucket for the whole morning, but to my disappointment, the frogs were still alive. Could it be that these sand-like creatures had been caught incorrectly? But Tongtong insisted that they hadn't, and said they all crawled onto the pig's body.

  I'm smart, but I just can't figure out why the same sand in the river will crawl and eat meat, but when brought back and put in a bucket it won't?

  The next day at lunchtime, I told Professor Sun that I also brought back a handful of sand and put it in the bucket to experiment with frogs, but the frog meat was not eaten.

  Professor Sun said he put sand in a bowl with water and added an earthworm, then observed it with the microscope he brought, but did not find any of the sand to be the same, nor was the earthworm eaten. However, due to limited conditions here, he had to collect a sample of sand every day and take it back to Guangzhou for research.

  In the following nights, Professor Sun and his team bought a chicken each time to let it swallow sand by the river, then collected the sand. They gathered a total of five portions. Each of them took out a small amount for testing, but the results were all the same - after eating these sands, they stopped eating meat, leaving Professor Sun bewildered, and experts became elementary school students.

  The village had no equipment or personnel support, so Professor Sun took five bags of sand and a complete chicken skeleton back to Guangzhou. Researchers Wang and Old Ding hadn't left yet, they wanted to stay in the village to investigate the source of those meat-eating sand clearly, as long as the source was clear, the institute would send people to support.

  And I was ready to do something else, because today is Qingming Festival, which is also my birthday, and it happens to be the seventh day of Wu Litao's daughter Xiaomeng Kong. The seventh day coincides with Qingming Festival, these two days overlap, allowing Xiaomeng Kong's ghost to leave the place where she drowned without harming her soul body. I want to make this poor little girl a junior follower for Tongtong.

  Although all drowned people will become water ghosts, but unlike Tongtong's water ghost, Tongtong has a fish body. If Xiaomeng can't find any clues, she'll end up like the young man from the Republic of China who drowned by the big stone at the bottom of the river that night. Moreover, even if she could find a substitute, I wouldn't want to see her harm people, it's better to give her another way to live, just like Tongtong.

  In the afternoon, I and Ye Fei Chui Xiao Jian Qi arrived at Wu Li Tao's doorstep. We saw Wu Li Tao sitting on a wooden stool in his house, staring blankly. When he saw us, he forced out a faint smile, then invited us inside.

  The things for the funeral have been cleaned up without a trace, but there is still a strong scent of incense. The hall is empty except for a wooden table and several wooden stools. My first impression was that it was poor, extremely poor. In the room, apart from the bed, there was only a big pile of sweet potatoes on the floor. It was just like my room at my uncle's house, where the floor was covered with sweet potatoes and taro except for the bed I slept in.

  Wu Litao asked me and Ye Fei if we had eaten. Although we hadn't, we both said we had, because I saw the half plate of what was probably last night's leftover radish on the table and lost my appetite. The reason we came to Wu Litao's house was to see Xiao Mengkong's things. After hearing us say that, Wu Litao looked at Xiao Jianqi for a moment, then let out a long sigh and went into another room to dig out Xiao Mengkong's clothes.

  Wu Litao said that she and her wife had discussed it, after the Qingming Festival they planned to go to Changsha to work and earn some money, while still young have another child. Little Meng was very spoiled before birth, although the family was poor, they still bought many new clothes for her, even for a six-year-old. Many of the clothes were not worn, so she couldn't bear to burn them away, leaving them for future children to wear.

  I asked Wu Litao, "Why isn't your wife at home?" Wu Litao said she had gone back to her mother's place. At home, she was suffering day and night, crying all the time, and her body was exhausted. What could be done? I sighed and said, "Today is Qingming Festival, also the seventh day after your mom and daughter passed away. However, I hope you won't stay at home tonight."

  Wu Litao was stunned and asked me why, what was he afraid of about his own mother and daughter? He still wanted to take a look at them. I said your mom probably won't come back, she knows she owes you an apology, but your daughter will probably come back. However, even if your daughter comes back, you won't be able to see her, unless you listen to me, maybe there's still a chance to see her again in the future.

  Wu Litao raised his head and looked at me with an excited face: "Really, are you telling the truth?"

  I nodded, and Wu Litao continued: "I believe you, you're a good person and an extraordinary one. To say the least, I owe you a great debt of gratitude! You helped me find my mother's and daughter's bodies, and even gave money to my family for the funeral!"

  I told Wu Litao that I would be spending the night at your house tonight, and asked him to hand over the key to the main gate. Without saying a word, Wu Litao took out an iron wire key from the hole in the wall and gave it to me.

  The timid Ye Fei Jie saw that I had to spend the night in a house where someone had just died on the seventh day of Qingming Festival, and immediately said she wouldn't come with me tonight because her stomach hurt. I asked her how she knew her stomach would hurt tonight! It was an obvious excuse, but even if you wanted to come, I wouldn't let you, and coming would only scare you.

  Ye Fei Jie pulled me to the door and asked if I could catch ghosts! She said that although I'm not old, my courage is really big. I laughed at her saying that although she's older than me, her courage is smaller than a mouse's.

  Back to Zhang Village from Wu Litao's home, it was almost three o'clock in the afternoon. Ye Feichu said she wanted to go home because of the holiday. However, once Ye Feichu left, no one would take care of Xiao Jianzi, so I asked her to bring Xiao Jianzi back home. These days, Ye Feichu took care of Xiao Jianzi even more than her own sister, and with her taking care of him, I didn't have to worry.

  There are many people in the village who have returned from doing business in the county, all riding Jialing motorcycles like mine. After asking around and buying some oil, it's convenient to send Ye Fei back home.

  Before 4 pm, I returned to the county town's Ye Fei Chuo's pastry shop. A girl of my age immediately rushed out to greet Ye Fei Chuo. Ye Fei Chuo said this was her younger sister Ye Fei Jiu, a second-year junior high school student who came to help at the shop during the holidays.

  As we were talking, Ye Fei Jiao's parents just came back from outside, bought a lot of vegetables, and pulled me to have dinner at their place before leaving. But I had something important to do tonight and couldn't delay, so I could only say next time! Before leaving, I gave 100 yuan as salary to Ye Fei Jiao, asking her to take good care of Xiao Jian Qi, and said I would come to pick them up in a few days. I also gave 10 yuan as pocket money to her sister Ye Fei Ji.

  After leaving Ye Fei Jia Fen store, I asked someone where to buy gasoline and filled up the oil, also bought a big bottle for backup.

  It was already after 6 pm when I returned to Zhang Village from the county town, and at this time, Zhang Village Chief's family was preparing for dinner. As soon as I arrived, they also prepared a set of bowls and chopsticks for me.

  After finishing the meal, I gave Aunt Zhang 100 yuan and said that this was the accommodation fee and food expenses for staying at her house for so long. Aunt Zhang refused to accept it no matter what, and had to give up.

  It was already past seven, I followed Tongtong's hint, went to the location where Wu Litao's daughter Xiaomeng drowned and fetched a bowl of water, then arrived at Wu Litao's home. Wu Litao went to his uncle's house to sleep tonight, I lit candles and burned some paper money at the entrance, then turned off the lights and went to sleep in Wu Litao's room.

  It was after midnight when Tongtong woke me up, saying that the little girl had come back. I immediately jumped out of bed and ran to the door crack to look outside, but saw nothing. I asked Tongtong where she was. Tongtong said I definitely wouldn't be able to see her like this, and told me to splash a few drops of water from the bowl into my eyes. After doing so, I looked out through the door crack again, and found a little girl sitting alone on the threshold of the main hall.

  This little girl is all wet and can't see her face, it should be Wu Litao's daughter Xiaomeng. I looked around again and didn't see the ghost of Wu Litao's mother Zhou Cuihua, I guess she really doesn't dare to go home.

  I asked Tiantian why she couldn't see her face! Tiantian said that this little sister was very weak, the water ghost can't leave the place where she drowned, today just happened to be Qingming plus the seventh day of the lunar month, so she could come back.

  I asked Tiantian what to do next, and she said she would go take a look. After finishing speaking, I saw her appear at the entrance of the hall.

  Xiao Meng Kong's ghost saw a powerful peer appear in...

  In front of himself, he was so scared that he immediately escaped to the water tank at the kitchen door.

  Tongtong reached out and grabbed Xiaomeng's wet clothes, stuffed the pearl into his mouth and sucked it in. Xiaomeng's ghost was sucked into Tongtong's mouth like a noodle, then Tongtong spat the pearl out.

  Tongtong handed the pearl to me, and then she also crawled in. Tongtong told me that Little Sister was fine inside the pearl, but she was very scared of her. However, with this pearl as a shelter, she wouldn't have to return to the river anymore.

  Xiao Mengkong doesn't need to go back to the river, which means he won't have to find a substitute body again. If he doesn't find a substitute body, he won't harm anyone else, and I've done another good deed. Wu Litao will never think that his poor daughter has escaped the endless coldness, darkness, and loneliness of being a water ghost, and like Tongtong, she will continue to exist in this world in another form.

  Tongtong told me that this little sister will not be able to come out until tomorrow, which is the Qingming Festival next year. At that time, she can appear in human form every night just like Tongtong and won't be invisible like a lonely soul or wild ghost.

  This state can no longer be called a ghost, we locals call it Fuwa, of course not the Beijing Olympic Fuwa. The little ghost has become like Fuwa and Qian Nian Ren Shen Bao Bao, bringing good luck to people, so since I had Tongtong, several times facing death turned into auspiciousness. This kind of little ghost is hard to buy even with 100 million in Thailand because nobody wants to sell it, one needs a very deep fate to encounter and own such a little ghost.

  Zhang Shenpo's wish was to raise a Fuwa, and Tonton had eaten over a dozen Tongmen. After meeting someone with affinity, he naturally became a Fuwa. Both I and Tonton were searching for our own relatives, and as one human and one ghost, we tied each other's fate together, which is the deepest kind of affinity.

  Xiao Meng Kong still completely relies on this stone duck's eyeball, I look at the palm of my hand like a peeled lychee-like bead, feeling it is a product of the Stone Age.