Chapter One: The Second Master

  When I was very young, I lived in the countryside and grew up listening to older generations tell all sorts of strange and bizarre ghost stories. At that time, I didn't dare go out after dark, but as I gradually grew older, I went to school and learned that those stories were actually passed down from even older generations who had also never seen ghosts themselves. Later on, my faith in materialism was solidified, and I came to believe that ghosts don't exist at all. Why else would I have heard countless ghost stories without ever seeing one, not even among the people around me? Gradually, I began to view them as mere stories, and eventually became a spreader of those tales myself.

  Later, my father made a fortune in business and our family moved into the county town. My father's business was booming, and our lives were getting better and better. However, my grandparents did not live to enjoy their old age. My grandfather passed away when I was nine years old, and the following year, my grandmother also passed away. After we moved out, only one of my uncles, who I called Second Uncle, remained in our old home.

  Many springs and autumns have passed, and I've grown from a little kid who sat naked in front of the elderly listening to stories, into a young adult in my twenties. I even got accepted into a pretty good university in our province, which is something that makes my parents proud.

  That summer vacation in my sophomore year, when I returned home, I found that my parents had gone to the south for business. I came back, but there was only me left at home. After staying at home for two days, I felt very bored. Many of my former classmates and friends were out of touch, and those who were in contact were not at home, some went to work, others did business, only I was idle and wandered around for two days. Finally, after being annoyed, I decided to return to my hometown in the countryside, at least it's better than staying in the county town doing nothing, at least there are many happy memories of my childhood.

  However, I didn't have much good luck. When I finally walked for two hours on the mountain road and returned to my hometown where I grew up, I barely settled down at Second Uncle's house, but before I could even take a sip of tea, someone from the village came to call Second Uncle away, saying that Yang Ersheng's mother from Old Yang's family in the west of the village had passed away, and asking Second Uncle to hurry over.

  Here, I have to mention the story of my uncle. My uncle is more than ten years older than my father. When we were young, our family's social status was not good because my grandfather was a landlord and my uncle's father was a Nationalist Party officer, which made them targets for persecution at that time. Fortunately, my grandfather was in the Red Army, so our family was better off than my uncle's family back then. Although we weren't very happy, at least we didn't get persecuted every day. At that time, because of his position, my grandfather often helped support my uncle's family, and my uncle never married due to his social status, becoming a lifelong bachelor. Actually, this kind of situation was quite common back then, and in our village alone, there were more than ten old bachelors like him.

  But Second Master, because of his poor background, had to do some dirty and tiring jobs that no one else was willing to do. For example, when someone in the village died, he would be responsible for digging graves and burying the dead. Later, after the Cultural Revolution, Second Master decided to specialize in this work, helping families with funeral arrangements. When the reform and opening-up policy came, Second Master saw an opportunity and started making wreaths, mourning clothes, paper people, and paper horses. Although he didn't make much money, his life was still decent. My father's first start-up capital was also provided by Second Master, so I have great respect for him. Childless and daughter-less Second Master treated me, the only son of the old Liu family, like his own child. This is why I chose to return home, because I am close to Second Master and would rather come back to accompany this elderly man than stay at home doing nothing.

  So when night fell, I made two dishes that the second master loved to eat with great effort. Then I waited for the second master to come back, but I didn't see his shadow until the moon was on the willow branch. It made me quite frustrated. I rarely cook myself, and finally, I couldn't hold it anymore. I decided to eat by myself first, but after eating a mouthful of my own cooking, I immediately changed my mind and waited for the second master to come back and cook instead. The key was that I couldn't contact the second master, and at his age, he didn't use a mobile phone at all. Helplessly, I had no choice but to go to Old Yang's house in the west of the village to take a look.

  The village in the moonlight is beautiful, a curved stone path leads to the west of the village. The village becomes especially quiet at night, occasionally you can hear the sound of crickets, and the sound of frogs coming from the pond on the west side. Such scenery can no longer be seen in the city, with scattered lights, like stars in the night sky.

  The old Yang's house is just over 200 meters away, and after a few words, I arrived. However, when I reached the entrance of Old Yang's house, my mood couldn't be happy anymore. After all, someone had died in their family. Through the low wall, I saw that a mourning hall had already been set up. On top of the mourning hall, there was a white flower made of white cloth, which was very eye-catching even in the dark night. At the entrance, several wreaths were sparsely placed. Under the dim light, I could see a wooden bed inside the mourning hall, and on the bed lay a corpse, but it was too far to see clearly.

  I walked to the door, and just as someone was coming out to leave, they suddenly saw a stranger like me and were taken aback. But the villagers are simple and honest, so they came over and asked: "Child, who are you looking for?"

  It's not that I blame others for noticing me, but I'm standing outside the wall, looking around with a new face, after all, it's been many years since I left home. However, this person I still recognize, although he no longer recognizes me. I walked a few steps forward and smiled quietly to the old man: "Seventh Brother, I am Little Haizi, from Old Liu's family, come to find my Second Grandfather."

  He stared blankly for a moment, clearly unable to connect me with the little kid from years ago. After thinking for a while, he suddenly realized and patted my shoulder: "So it's Little Hai Zi from Third Uncle's family! It's been many years since we last met, and you've grown so big in the blink of an eye. Seeing you makes me feel old."

  Seventh Brother is actually very old, but there's no way around it. My generation is higher, according to the village hierarchy I have to call him Seventh Brother. In fact, by age, calling him Seventh Grandfather would be about right too, but that's also something that can't be helped. I remember when we were kids and playing together with friends, fighting, adults would often say: "You bunch of brats, you've beaten up your Sea Grandfather again! Alright, Hai Zi, as the grandfather, don't bother with these little brats."

  Listening to Seventh Brother's talk, I could only accompany him with a smile. He kept muttering that people get old and we young ones are this and that... After a while, Seventh Brother finally remembered what I said at the beginning and pointed to the mourning hall: "Haizi, go, your second uncle..."

  Every time I hear this sentence, I feel very depressed, but still have to thank and say a word to Seventh Brother. Only then did he walk into the yard and rush to the mourning hall. As expected, Second Master was busy there, collecting the dead body. Judging from the appearance, it's estimated that it's quite troublesome. Otherwise, they wouldn't need to make up for the dead person. Generally, only those who died miserably and were unbearable would be made up. No wonder Second Master was still busy until now and didn't go back. There's no way out, after all, Second Master is a master in this aspect of the ten-mile village.

  Upon hearing the sound, Second Master turned his head to take a glance and saw me standing there with a wronged expression. He was taken aback, hastily put down the work in his hands, and looked at me with a helpless expression: "Oh dear, you've gotten me so busy that I forgot about Hai Zi. Have you eaten?"

  I shook my head and took two steps forward, casually glancing over at the old lady lying on the bier. At that moment, I felt a shiver in my heart, as if something had suddenly blocked it off. No wonder Second Master had been busy for so long - this old lady's death was really too pitiful. Her entire head looked like a smashed pumpkin, and although her body was dressed in mourning clothes, it couldn't be seen clearly. But judging from the angle of her head and body, it didn't seem much better either. I dared to conclude that this old lady had died from a fall. Fortunately, she was no longer bleeding, and it wasn't the first time I'd seen something like this - otherwise, the red blood and white brains would have made me lose my appetite completely. Just thinking about it made my stomach contract violently, and I didn't dare look again, hastily shifting my gaze to one side.

  Second Master naturally noticed that my expression was not quite natural, wanting to pat me on the back, but then remembered that his hand had just been arranging the dead body, so he could only give up and called out to me: "Haizi, you haven't eaten yet, have you? It's like this, I won't be able to go back either, the people in his family are timid, tonight I'll still have to help keep vigil, it just so happens that you've come, let's just keep each other company. You go inside and eat something first, your brother Zhuzi and Fat Dogzi are both eating inside."

  Then the second master took me to the inner room, I naturally didn't want to stay in the mourning hall for too long, so I hurriedly followed him inside. There were two sturdy men in their thirties eating and drinking some wine, they were also invited by Old Yang's family to keep vigil, all of them were brave guys from the village. Seeing me, after hearing what the second master said, they were very happy, and insisted on pulling me to drink a couple of cups. The second master just smiled and turned around to leave, anyway I was already grown up, drinking a couple of cups wasn't a big deal.

  After drinking enough wine and eating enough food, Zhu Zi Ge and Pang Gou Zi took me to the mourning hall. After all, we still had to keep vigil at night, this was a big deal, couldn't be negligent. In rural villages, it's always been that the dead are more important than the living, but I seemed to not have as much courage as them, even standing in front of the deceased, I could still remain calm.

  Of course, when we came out, the second master had already arranged the deceased properly, and there was no longer the miserable state of before. What needed to be supplemented was supplemented, what needed to be repaired was repaired. At least now it looks a bit unnatural, but at least the head doesn't look like a persimmon anymore, at least it has some appearance. However, under the dim lamp light, the old lady's pale face and her eyes that refused to close still made people feel a chill in their hearts. Fortunately, there were still people around me, so I wasn't too scared. The night mountain wind was slightly cool, blowing the lamp light on and off.