The Rural Doctor of the Mountain Spirit

  I accidentally discovered something. That is...

  My grandfather is afraid of me.

  It's not just fear, but rather they avoid me as if I were a ghost whenever they see me.

  It happened on a Friday afternoon when I wasn't feeling well. As it happened, my body was extremely uncomfortable that Friday, so I went home from school ahead of time.

  When I arrived home, it was one or two hours earlier than usual. If it were the usual time, when I got back from school, it would already be dusk and the villagers would have finished their farm work for the day.

  As soon as I arrived at the door of my house, I saw a person who made me extremely surprised. My grandfather was actually sitting at the gate of my house smoking.

  On ordinary days, my grandfather rarely comes out of the house, and I have never seen him smoke. Seeing him sitting at the door, I stopped in my tracks. In my mind, I recalled things from when I was five years old.

  My grandfather almost choked me to death, this memory is etched in my mind, even though I was still young at the time, but it's remembered exceptionally clearly.

  To be honest, because of this matter, I was really afraid of my grandfather. But something unexpected happened that I didn't think would happen.

  My grandfather took a puff of his cigarette, and then opened his smoke-filled eyes. Suddenly, he saw me, and his gaze froze instantly. At the same time, the cigarette butt fell to the ground from his mouth.

  His expression changed in that instant, he stood up, turned his head and ran into the house, as if running for his life.

  And I stood there, bewildered.

  When I got home, Grandpa was nowhere to be found, and the door was tightly closed. His cigarette holder had fallen at the entrance, and in that instant, he hadn't even had time to take his own cigarette holder with him.

  Because of this matter, I was puzzled for a long time. In the following days, I continued to go to school and read books, but secretly also observed my grandfather.

  I discovered a strange thing, my grandfather wasn't always staying in his room, but when I was at home, he would hide in the room and not come out. But once I left home, he would come out of the room and sit at the door smoking. Half of these things came from my parents' mouths.

  In my heart, I'm getting more and more curious about this crazy old grandfather of mine. I wonder, why? Why on earth?

  These several whys gradually accumulated in my heart. One day, I finally couldn't bear it anymore and secretly played a little trick.

  It was a Wednesday noon, I should have gone to school for class, but I secretly turned back halfway. Not for anything else, I want to see with my own eyes whether my grandfather is really like what my parents said, as soon as I leave home, he will come out of the house.

  Soon I returned to the front of the house and hid.

  The cat sat on the threshold, looking towards my home's entrance. My home's door was tightly closed, just like when I left. However, after waiting for a moment, my home's door suddenly moved, and an old head cautiously stretched out from the gap between the doors, looking around in all directions - it was my grandfather.

  My heart suddenly rose to my throat and I also became tense at once.

  My grandfather stuck his head out and looked around for a while, probably seeing no one, he directly opened the door with one hand and jumped out from inside.

  Just like the last time I saw him, after Grandpa came out of the house, he sat down in front of the door with a thud and started smoking. At this moment, I was so shocked that I couldn't speak, nor did I dare to make a sound, but hid behind the bushes and continued to stare at Grandpa not far away.

  After finishing a pot of tobacco, my grandfather lit another one and finished three pots in a row. He adjusted his hair with his hand, smiled, revealing two rows of yellow teeth.

  He's like this, where else is there a bit of madness?

  I swallowed a mouthful of saliva in the dark, and my heart was getting more and more uncomfortable. Now there is an indisputable fact in front of me, my grandfather is afraid of me, he is really afraid of me. Maybe it's because of me that my grandfather pretends to be crazy? Maybe it's because of me that my grandfather hides in the house and doesn't want to come out?

  But why? A grandfather, why be afraid of his own grandson?

  Before I could think much, my grandfather finished three pipes of tobacco and was preparing to light the fourth. But when he patted his body, he couldn't find any more tobacco leaves. My grandfather suddenly smiled again, stood up and walked into the house.

  Before I could say anything, my grandfather got up and darted out of the thicket, sprinting into the house and hiding behind the door. Almost at the same time, he walked out of his own house and came towards our front door. I even heard him humming a little tune.

  Grandpa passed by the door and didn't notice me hiding behind it. He sat at the doorway and lit his pipe again.

  And I slowly walked out from behind the door and stood straight behind my grandfather.

  "Grandpa." I shouted, and this shout directly scared him to jump up more than a meter high. He turned around to see me, and his face suddenly showed an expression of shock and fear.

  This expression is the same as that day, it's a fearful expression.

  "Grandpa." I shouted again, taking another step forward. The cigarette in my grandfather's hand suddenly dropped to the ground, and his expression changed from fear to stupidity.

  "Hahaha." My grandfather burst out laughing and it was clear that he had started acting crazy again.

  "Grandpa, I know you're not crazy, stop pretending to be silly."

  As soon as I said this sentence, my grandfather really didn't smile anymore. The silly expression on his face disappeared and turned into horror. My grandfather started to back away, and his body was actually a bit shaky.

  I took two more steps forward and said to my grandfather, "Grandfather, can you tell me why? Open your eyes wide and take a good look, I am your grandson. Why do you pretend to be crazy in front of me?"

  "You... you finally found out?" A vague voice came from grandfather's mouth, but I heard it clearly.

  This sentence represents my grandfather's acknowledgment. This also means that the "why" in my heart can finally be unraveled.

  But I didn't feel even a bit of excitement and thrill.

  Because when I saw my grandfather say "you finally found out", he actually trembled all over, foamed at the mouth, and then fell to the ground with a thud.

  My grandfather is dead.

  No joke, he really died. It was that day, after he said "you finally found out" and then his body fell to the ground, and then he died.

  As soon as Grandpa died, the village changed overnight. The villagers immediately shifted their topic of discussion to my grandfather's affairs, and all sorts of rumors about his death began to emerge one after another.

  I was the one who watched my grandfather die, so I was affected the most. Because of this, I had nightmares for several nights in a row, and when I woke up, my quilt was already wet with a big patch.

  What kind of taste is it to watch someone die right in front of you?

  I think Grandpa was killed by me, sent to hell by my own hands, so he must come back to find me.

  But in my heart, there is another question, why? Why?

  After my grandfather died, my parents began to prepare for his funeral. The villagers from the nearby ten miles didn't have a good relationship with my family either, so after my grandfather's death, my home was as quiet as usual. The only difference is that before, there was a living madman in my house. Now, my house has one less madman, but an extra coffin appeared.

  Another difference is that after my grandfather's death, in our village, there were actually four or five large trees that withered and died overnight.

  It's very strange, those four or five big trees were fine just the day before, but on the second day after my grandfather died, the villagers got up early in the morning and saw that the leaves had fallen all over the door, and those four or five big trees in the village had all withered away.

  These four or five big trees are said to have been planted for many years, and were planted by my grandfather at the time of his birth. I don't know, when the leaves fall off, what kind of omen it is.

  Although this matter was very strange, the villagers did not investigate further. After all, living in the countryside, people's biggest concern is still the crops in the fields. Soon, everyone dispersed and went about their own business.

  Just as everyone was having lunch and chatting, a loud shout suddenly came from the village: "Ghost!"

  The villagers ran out and saw that Widow Wang from the village was lying beside a withered big tree, trembling all over.

  On that big tree, a human face appeared.