Chapter Fifty-Four: Old Lady Chen

  For the past few days, I've been wandering aimlessly around the village. Chen A'po's 'meat' soup is very nourishing, with an unexpectedly fragrant flavor that has alleviated my prolonged physical exhaustion and mental fatigue. According to Chen A'po, she used high-quality 'meat', which was wild boar meat from the mountains, extremely chewy, and added some mountainous folk medicinal herbs to remove the fishy smell.

  I've been in contact with people from other provinces in the village, and I found that most of them come from Shandong and Shanghai. Some even walked hundreds of kilometers to get a boat ticket to Shanghai. When I asked them why they came to Taiwan, they were also very "lost" and couldn't give me a clear answer. They just feared that their class would not have a good life on the mainland. Among them, there are many teachers and students, with the most being students. They have their own definitions of values and pursuits for the future, so I won't say much more.

  I also discovered an interesting phenomenon, among the mainlanders who escaped to Taiwan, there are very few 'women', at least in this village I haven't seen a single one. These old men had families on the mainland and can be said to have abandoned their wives and children, leaving behind elderly parents with no one to support them, and followed Chiang Kai-shek here. Thinking about this, if I were Old Chiang, not treating these people well would be unbearable for my conscience. I heard them say that Chen Cheng might introduce a policy in Taiwan, men under 38 years old are not allowed to get married, because the island's eligible 'women' are severely undersupplied.

  In the past few days, there have been three fierce fights between outsiders and locals, resulting in one death among the outsiders. The reason is naturally the land issue, as half of the good fields in this village were forcibly allocated to outsiders, causing the locals to be on the verge of rioting and filled with hostility towards us.

  I live in Chen Apo's house, which is slightly safer, but I heard that a few young outsiders were ambushed by locals at night and pushed into a pit, almost getting killed. The perpetrators escaped into the mountains, and the city police are chasing them. Another important reason for the standoff between the two groups is that whether they are outsiders or locals, about one person disappears every week, and no one knows where they go. Since there are no ferocious beasts in Caoshan, it must be human work. The suspicion between the two groups is getting deeper and deeper.

  Although I'm just temporarily staying here, I'm also overwhelmed by these things. Anyone who is stared at by a group of malicious eyes will feel uncomfortable.

  At noon that day, I was drinking my usual "meat" soup, squatting at the entrance of a side room, basking in the sun and watching the big rooster with its harem of hens pecking at the ground to eat insects.

  Having experienced the turmoil and killings, I cherish my current peaceful life even more.

  My stomach isn't feeling very good today, the "meat" in the bowl can't be eaten anymore, and it's a bit of a waste, so I'll put it back in the kitchen and heat it up tonight.

  "Old Mrs. Chen, Old Mrs. Chen?" I called out several times, but no one responded. It seems that Old Mrs. Chen has gone out, and I found that she almost goes up the mountain to pick wild vegetables every day, returning before sunset. Old Mrs. Chen's son, who is also the village head here, went to the city for a meeting and won't be back for several days. I stood up and walked towards the kitchen.

  I soon entered the simple kitchen, which was very large, much larger than my home in Shanghai. It used a rural stove, with a pot of porridge warming on it. In the corner of the kitchen, there was a vat containing carefully selected wild boar meat, marinated in coarse salt and some local herbs and spices, allowing for long-term storage. There were also some vegetables placed on a dirty wooden table.

  "After eating so much at Old Mrs. Chen's house, I feel a bit embarrassed." I put down the 'meat' soup and thought of showing off my Shanghai cooking skills, trying to make my signature sweet and sour pork ribs for Old Mrs. Chen to try.

  After searching for half a day, I still couldn't find a sugar jar.

  "Ah, sugar is probably controlled, right?"

  But it's okay, making braised pork ribs is also fine. I thought to myself, picked up the small jar, rummaged through it, and found that there was more meat than bones. I didn't give up, stretched my hand to the bottom of the jar, and stirred around, anyway, I wasn't afraid of getting dirty.

  "Hey, got it, what a big pig's leg." I was delighted, good things are indeed hidden at the bottom. We'll have braised pig's trotters tonight. But feeling it with my hands, something doesn't feel right, pigs' legs don't have soles, do they?

  After taking it out, I took a closer look and was suddenly frightened into a cold sweat.

  This is the right foot of a person with small 'leg' bones!

  "It's human flesh!" I was shocked and lost my color, suddenly feeling a wave of nausea in my stomach. I immediately rushed out of the kitchen and vomited against the wall, thinking about the meat soup at noon made me feel sick to death.

  "What's Aunt Chen An thinking, actually making me eat human flesh soup!" I recalled the ordinary face of Aunt Chen An, a rural old woman, which didn't seem like that of a ruthless and cruel person.

  He spat out all the acid water in his stomach, and when he really had nothing left, he rinsed his mouth with a large bowl of clear water. After catching his breath slightly, he came to the edge of the "meat" vat again.

  The "meat" in the barrel was poured out all at once, and at the very bottom, several finger bones, pale human ribs, and even a few curved black pubic hairs were found. Seeing this, I felt another wave of nausea, having seen more disgusting fragmented corpses before, but I've never eaten any of that!

  After careful identification, I found that these 'meats' are not all human 'meat', only the bottom ones are, while the top ones are indeed pork. However, now I dare not confirm it, the color of cured meat has changed, and for a moment I couldn't identify it accurately.

  My eyebrows were tightly furrowed, and I pondered for a long time. In the end, I put these 'meats' back in their original shape, and cleaned up the overturned traces around me. With a suspicious mind, I returned to my room, lay on the 'bed', and smoked one after another, constantly thinking about this matter, slowly waiting for Chen Ayi's return.

  Needless to say, this Ah Po Chen must have a problem!

  Before sunset, Chen Ah Po returned to the mountain village as punctual as ever.

  After entering the 'door', she rushed into the kitchen to stir-fry her wild vegetables.

  I pretended to be bored and took a stroll, passing by there, and feigned a smile: "Hehe, Chen Ah Po is back."

  Chen Ah Po saw me coming and was delighted to have someone to chat with, so she started chatting casually as usual, then began to ramble on about family matters.

  "An outsider who came to our province was said to have entered the mountain yesterday afternoon and hasn't returned yet. Alas, people say it's done by our own provincial people, haha, we don't have such big guts, those with such guts were killed by the masters in the city. Old lady, look, if he didn't get lost, he must have been caught by the native males of the high mountain tribe."

  I let out a sound and casually asked: "I heard that the Gaoshan people eat humans?"

  "It's true, I was still a young girl when I saw it with my own eyes, and I was so scared that I didn't dare sleep for three days." Chen Ah-po opened up and continued: "However, after the Japanese came, they killed many of the Gaoshan people, and these bad habits were restrained. In recent years, I've heard that cannibalism is not as common anymore, and they have gradually integrated into our society. However, some villages are still very stubborn and barbaric."

  Chen Ah Po paused, as if recalling something, and spoke in a low, mournful voice: "Actually, during the famine years, there was nothing to eat from the land, so we had to find food elsewhere."

  I listened to Old Lady Chen for half an hour, and then she hurriedly cooked me a 'meat' soup. I didn't stop her and tactfully left the kitchen.

  At night, smelling the savory aroma of 'meat' soup in the bowl, I took advantage of no one being around and poured it all out outside the house, only moving a few mouthfuls of rice.

  Hungry for a night, tossing and turning on the 'bed'. The next morning, I bid farewell to Chen Apo, watching her walk slowly along the rugged mountain village road, her aged body carrying a large bamboo basket, but her feet were swift as flight.

  My eyes suddenly turned cold, I picked up a small knife and hid it in the back of my waist, saying quietly: "Let's see what tricks you have."

  Having said that, I carefully followed him up.

  To be honest, although I'm a spy, I'm not good at tracking. Fortunately, Chen Ah Po, an old rural woman, didn't have any experience, and I hid on both sides of the mountain road, blocked by shrubs, and she didn't discover me. The only trouble was that I couldn't make too much noise, otherwise it would be easy to get detected, which is not easy in a thicket.

  All the way following at a distance, I found that this old lady was actually seriously selecting wild vegetables, mountain mushrooms and bamboo shoots, with her back to me, completely unaware of a pair of eyes staring at her.

  "Could I have guessed wrong? No way, how can those people's 'flesh' be explained!" I shook my head and continued to monitor with a keen spirit.

  It wasn't until noon that Old Lady Chen still didn't show any unusual behavior. The scorching sunlight filtered through the leaves, burning hot on my skin. Old Lady Chen leaned against a big tree eating rice balls and drinking strong tea, I swallowed saliva, my stomach growling loudly, not even having prepared any water to drink.

  I couldn't help but think it was a mistake.

  It was already three o'clock in the afternoon, and just as I thought today would be a futile trip, Old Lady Chen suddenly stood up, put down the bamboo basket filled with wild vegetables, and walked towards a small hill about 100 meters away, which was only over ten meters high and covered with particularly lush weeds.

  Arriving at the foot of Shan Bao, Chen Ah Po flipped open the weeds and moved inside. Under my gaze, she vanished into thin air.

  My pupils contracted and I tensed up instantly.

  "There's a 'cave' in this mountain!" I judged immediately.

  Crouching in the bushes for over an hour, all of a sudden there was a rustling sound, and Chen Apo emerged from the mountain bag with a satisfied look on her face.

  She walked back to the wild vegetable field, shouldered a bamboo basket and headed down the mountain.

  My heart skipped a beat, I didn't say another word and turned around to hurry back. I had to rush back before Old Lady Chen returned to the village, or else she would discover that I was gone.

  At night, everything was as usual. Chen Ayi came to my room with a bowl of "meat" soup, smiling. Looking at her harmless old face, I felt a chill run down my spine for the first time.

  That night, Chen Apo fell asleep before nine o'clock. The whole mountain village was in a state of deathly silence, and the villagers went to bed early as there were no entertainment activities, not to mention that there was no electricity, and kerosene lamps had to be used sparingly.

  I put on my clothes and slipped out of the outer house quietly. Along the mountain road in the morning, I carefully walked up the mountain relying on my memory. Suddenly, I found that this mountain village seemed too quiet. The sound of a cat meowing or a dog barking? Why couldn't I hear any of them?

  The spirit of high tension came to the front of Chen Apo's disappeared mountain bag, under the sparse moonlight, the mountain bag had edges and corners, a bit like a human head rolling on the ground, with weeds growing wildly, it also looked like a huge tomb.

  I took a deep breath, felt the small knife in my hand, and stepped forward with courage.

  "I've been through the Dead Sea, magma, and monsters, what's a little ghost to be afraid of?" I recall my own heroic deeds to boost my courage.

  Carefully parting the thick, tangled weeds, I took a few steps inside and suddenly felt a chill run down my spine. The air was very cold, and after taking another step forward, I found myself in a hidden mountain cave.

  I picked up the flashlight left by Oni Gashira and turned it on.

  Shh...

  Only a three-foot-diameter terrifying skull mask was seen, hanging on the wall of the 'cave' with an eerie aura.