Chapter 21: A 20-year-old photo

  In front of me, this uncle is still unaware that I now have so many thoughts and secrets. He continues to smile warmly and kindly, serving me dishes and telling me to eat more. Isn't all of this what I wanted? Wanting to return to the happy and warm family affection of the past, isn't it already here? Why do I need to go back to reality? Is it because I haven't had enough of the hypocrisy and intrigue in society? I don't like the life of red lights and green wine; it makes me feel gloomy. After experiencing many things, my soul has become heavier, without realizing that my spirit was disappearing. But at this moment, my heart is almost free from worries... If a person doesn't have any attachments or obsessions, they won't know where to go or what to do. My past obsessions weighed heavily on me, making it hard for me to breathe. Since that's the case, I might as well stay here and be at peace, far away from the world's noise and chaos, and become a carefree cloud or wild crane. Besides, my uncle is still here...

  I no longer had any intention of going out, and I put on a sweet and innocent smile again, serving dishes to my uncle and listening to his stories about when he was young...

  I don't know what happened, but I actually fell asleep in my uncle's arms as he gently swayed back and forth. My uncle was still his usual self, sleeping with his eyebrows furrowed on the old armchair, while Big Yellow was still snoring away with its belly pressed against my uncle's feet. And I was still being mischievous, opening my right eye slightly to blow air into my uncle's ear when he was fast asleep, at which point his furrowed eyebrows would naturally relax and return to their usual gentle state, allowing me to fall back asleep in his arms as the old armchair swayed gently...

  "Don't you want to know where your uncle went? Don't you have any concerns at all?" There was a voice in my head echoing, it was the sound of my stomach growling!

  My heart tightened, how did he know I still have an uncle, this thing even Hei Zi doesn't know! How did he know?!

  "I know Lu Guangshui, Mr. Lu is over there, if you're not really concerned about your uncle's life and death, then don't come out." You Shuiguo shouted loudly again.

  At this moment, I completely lost my composure. How did he know? He not only could say that my uncle was still alive but also knew his name clearly. From his tone, it seemed like he knew where my uncle was now and even "cared about his life or death"! My uncle is in danger, no! He has been missing for over a decade, it's impossible for him to be still alive! No! I'm just a coward, I don't dare face reality! Several voices were swirling around in my head! I painfully opened my eyes, slowly opening the hands that my uncle was holding, jumped down from the ground, without any strength, like a lump of mud, limp and weak on the uneven red earth.

  The dog is the most sensitive animal, and my slight movement on the ground startled Da Huang. It stood up on all fours, ran to me, wagged its tail, stuck out its pink tongue, and licked my tender face. Normally, I would have burst into a clear, silvery laughter at Da Huang's tickling tongue. But my heart was too heavy, and nothing could penetrate it. The words "oil water belly" were 70-80% true. But why did he spend so much thought on me, a person who had no use for him? Was it just to be friends with me? I'm just an ordinary person who engages in illegal business, and I have no connection whatsoever to the grave-robbing that Oil Water Belly is involved in. Why did he investigate me so thoroughly, as if we were intimately acquainted? I'm just a person who has no value for him to exploit!

  Suddenly, my uncle appeared in front of me in the real world, shouting for help in a dimly lit deep hole. He looked even more haggard, his eyes sunken from lack of sleep, with dark eye bags like they were coated with black lacquer, his face deathly pale, without any flesh, his eye sockets and temples deeply sunken, not a single hair on his head or face, at first glance he looked like a human skull wrapped in skin! My uncle's tendons and muscles seemed to have been severed by something, weakly struggling on the ground, his body covered with only a few tattered pieces of cloth in key areas, if it weren't for his struggling movements, I would have thought he was already dead!

  I couldn't take it anymore, and suddenly I exploded. The veins on my head and body bulged out, my face and neck turned a frightening red color, and my eyes gleamed with a terrifying green light. I lifted my foot and viciously stomped down on the head of that big yellow dog who was wagging its tail at me. In the next second, the big yellow dog didn't let out a single sound, but its permanently open eyes stared at me in confusion.

  My kick woke up my uncle, his eyelids slowly opening up and down. I knew my uncle's skills, if he were to wake up, I wouldn't be a match for him, and besides, I was just a 14-year-old kid at the time. With swift and decisive action, taking advantage of my uncle still being dazed, I flipped over, pulled out a short dagger, and stabbed it fiercely into my uncle's heart.

  "Ah!" My uncle let out a loud cry, his eyes wide with shock as he stared at me, his face filled with astonishment. I couldn't bear the stimulation anymore, my hands fell to my sides, and my knees gave way as I knelt down in front of my uncle, wailing and sobbing uncontrollably. No one knew how deeply this knife had cut me!

  Unexpectedly, my uncle slowly calmed down, without a hint of resentment, and still stroked my face as usual, with his head leaning against my ear, saying softly and warmly: "You've already made your choice".

  "What's good?!" I raised my head, not understanding what Uncle meant.

  Cough, cough, cough, cough... Uncle covered his heart that had been stabbed, coughing desperately, with black and red blood slowly flowing out of the corner of his mouth. "Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo" His belly rose and fell, exhaling more than inhaling, a sign that he was about to die. Although uncle's face was covered in blood, he still gently patted my head with a benevolent expression. Finally, uncle's hand on my head twitched once, I felt his hand had completely pressed down on the top of my head. As I lifted my head, uncle's head slowly drooped down, his body slowly bent forward, and finally closed his warm and gentle eyes for the last time... His final gaze was still so kind and benevolent.

  I've lost all sense of humanity, I personally killed my uncle, Dahuan, my own flesh and blood. Now I have no right to strive for anything related to honor. Have I become a beast wearing a human skin mask, degenerating into a half-beast?!

  Ah... Ah... Ah, I was exhausted and out of breath, hugging my uncle's gradually coldening corpse and screaming wildly.

  Oil drum said it was good, after the death of uncle and big yellow, their bodies turned into two ghost masks, everything was done by these masks, I took out a lighter from my body, a flame burned them into two piles of ash, then my eyes were flashed by a flash bomb, my eyes went white, couldn't see anything!

  When my eyes saw things again, I found myself staring at a ghost mask on the wall, lost in thought. Suddenly, I heard the sound of a fat belly coming from beside my ear: "Ah! Brother, you're finally awake, but I don't know, Fat Brother was really worried about you, and his blood pressure has gone up again!"

  I came back to myself and asked You Shui Tudao: "How did you know about Lu Guangshui? Are you investigating me?"

  "Haha" Oil Water Belly laughed and said: "Brother, don't get too excited, I see that your moves are similar to Old Man Lu's, so I made an educated guess!"

  His face was as calm as usual, and there was nothing unusual about it. But how could I easily give up on my uncle's affairs? I didn't say a word, just stared at him coldly, locked in a stalemate with him.

  "Oil and water can't be mixed, I got it, got it, got it. I couldn't beat you!" Ah! Sighed and said: "Lu Guangshui is not a difficult person to investigate, 20 years ago almost the entire archaeological community and antique community knew his name, but he mysteriously disappeared 20 years ago. In this world, I couldn't find any clues about him, that's all I know."

  I think You Shui Du is joking, haha! My uncle is a rustic and honest farmer, but he's actually quite famous in the archaeological and antique circles! You Shui Du is good at disguising himself and speaks very eloquently, speaking to people in their own language. He's already mastered this skill. I didn't give You Shui Du a chance to explain, saying: "How did you know he's my uncle?"

  "Hey, Second Brother, do you know what this is? He said, taking out his phone. I took a look and was shocked - it's an iPhone! Then he slid his finger across the screen, and quickly a photo appeared before my eyes. The photo was a black and white picture from the 10s, with clear signs of being hand-washed on the paper. The paper had turned yellow and darkened, looking like it was quite old. I wasn't unfamiliar with the background of the photo - it was me and my uncle at our old home in Er Long Mountain. There were two people standing there, both wearing animal-print clothing, with messy hair and faces covered in dust. Those two people were me and my uncle. At that time, I was 7 years old, with a childish face, staring blankly at the camera lens with a silly expression. My uncle looked more handsome, with eyes that seemed to hold less of the desperation that would come later. How did this oil drum have a photo of me and my uncle? I don't remember ever taking a photo with him before. After a big fire, there were even fewer things left to commemorate my uncle. How did this oil drum find this photo? I continued to look at the phone screen - October 23rd, 2014, Yunnan. This photo appeared in Yunnan! Could it be that my uncle is now in Yunnan?!?!?!?"