Chapter Fifteen: Portraits (Two)

  I didn't get to know Chu Jiangshan because I bought his book or saw the photos in it, I only read books online because physical books are too expensive.

  At that time, the old house had not been demolished yet. I was only in my early teens and was at an age where I loved to play around. So whenever a new tenant moved into the old house, I would take the initiative to get close to them. Most people would humor me with a few words because they knew I was the landlord's son. However, this young man in his twenties never gave me a good face to look at, nor did he give anyone else a good face to look at. He locked himself in his room every day, and perhaps due to lack of exercise or insufficient sun exposure, I always felt that his pale face was somewhat frightening.

  In his memory, the young man named Chu Jiangshan was the only one who would communicate with Grandma in the old mansion. Every time he asked her some questions about the legends of the old mansion. It seemed that elderly people generally liked to have someone accompany them and chat, so Grandma was also very happy to tell him those stories about the old mansion's legends that I had already heard many times.

  Although I've stopped listening to these stories many times, so much that I don't want to hear my grandma's nagging anymore, every time I see my grandma telling those stories to you, I feel very uncomfortable. You're so annoying, why do you need my grandma to tell you stories?

  Because of these reasons, I still remember the appearance of young Chu Jiangshan very clearly, although I never knew his name until the old house was demolished and there was no news from him again.

  Years later, I became infatuated with a person named Chu Jiangshan. After several more years passed, this person suddenly committed suicide under bizarre circumstances. Today, as I look at his youthful photos, I am reminiscing about the past events related to him.

  Er Liang listened to me finish all this, and didn't reason out anything useful from it. Because the next day they were going to look for that old house, so after eating something, the two of them returned to the hotel to rest. I tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep well, and every time I closed my eyes, I seemed to see Chu Jiangshan's pale face again.

  I was woken up by Erliang after not sleeping for long, saying that this place is very far away and we must set off early. If not, I'm afraid we'll have to walk on the mountain road in the dark. Walking on the mountain road in summer is obviously not a wise move. What if we're bitten by snakes or something? So, although I was reluctant, I had no choice but to pack up and get on the car to set off.

  The car had to stop by noon, and according to the folk expert, from here on out it was only possible to walk. It would take about five or six hours. Erliang had originally wanted to invite the expert to lead the way, but the local seemed to have some unspoken secret, so he didn't force the issue. In any case, they already knew where the old house was, and after getting out of the car and confirming with someone, the two began walking towards the deep mountains. The local who had just given them directions looked at them with a mixture of shock and incredulity, as if they were two lunatics.

  The mountain road is indeed not easy to walk, Erliang is a bit better, I have been in poor health since childhood, and I didn't like sports much when I grew up. Even now that Erlang is carrying all the things on his back alone, I still can't keep up with his pace.

  I panted and asked from behind: "I say Erlang, why are you so interested in this old house, must investigate it thoroughly?"

  This is a sentence that has been stuck in my heart for a long time. If it weren't for the fact that we had exhausted all small talk on the way, I wouldn't have asked this question. Because I know that Erliang has always been hiding something from me. As good friends, there are some things that shouldn't be asked.

  Er Lang stopped in his tracks, without turning back, and asked: "Then what are you here for?"

  "I replied, 'I have many reasons. To write a very good-looking book, to find an old house that must have some connection with my family's old house, to satisfy my curiosity, and also to escape the pressure of marriage from my parents.' As I said this, I suddenly remembered the little girl in the photo in my pocket, and a smile involuntarily appeared on my mouth. At the same time, I silently said to myself, 'Also because there is someone who has been urging me to investigate this matter.'"

  Of course, this sentence is also inaudible, just like I will never see the person who asked me to investigate these things.

  Er Lang fell silent for a moment, then said: "The reason I'm doing this is because it's my ideal."

  "Ideal?" I was taken aback and said, "Although I know it's not right to mock someone's ideal, but I don't know what kind of ideal this is supposed to be. In my opinion, there isn't even a foundation for establishing an ideal here."

  Er Lang turned around and asked: "Isn't it absurd?"

  I nodded.

  Er Lang smiled slightly, with a hint of mystery: "Ideals are only about whether they can be achieved, never about being absurd or unrealistic."

  Not long ago, I and Er Liang had a brief discussion on the topic of ideals. This conversation is similar to the last one, only the same words were spoken by another person.

  Eryong saw that I was a bit distracted, came down and pulled me, saying that if we didn't hurry up, we might not arrive at that place even in the evening. I had to grit my teeth and continue trudging along with heavy footsteps. Eryong always walked ahead of me, sometimes stopping to wait for me, sometimes running forward a few steps and standing on high ground to look ahead. Just when I was exhausted, I suddenly heard Eryong's excited shout from the front: "Alei, we're here!"

  I excitedly ran up a few steps, climbed onto the big stone under Erlang's feet, and at the foot of the mountain was an open basin, which should be a small village. In the middle of the village, I saw an old house, even though it was already dark, I could still see that the house was black, and even darker was the strange little black house in the middle of the house, from afar it looked like an upright coffin.

  They say "a horse dies on the mountain it's looking at", although from the top of the hill that old house looked very close, but in reality it took us almost two hours to finally enter the village. Maybe because all the young people have gone out to work, this originally small village seemed even more desolate, a few silent old men stood by the side of the road watching us, their eyes with an indescribable coldness.

  I and Er Liang finally walked to the front of that mansion, like my family's old house, a huge plaque hung at the entrance, vaguely visible are the two words "Mao Mansion", the whole building is mainly made of wood structure, because it has been for many years, those wooden boards have turned into dark brown color, like a silent old man, hiding many secrets.

  I can be sure that this house and my home must have a very deep relationship, and I can even confirm that my family was originally from here, at this moment, a sense of pilgrimage surged in my heart, I said to myself: "I'm back to see you."

  The old house's door was tightly closed, but not locked. Myself and Erlang had our hands on the door panel, just about to push it open, when a hoarse and anxious voice came from behind: "Young man, you can't go in."

  If I hadn't had a lot of contact with the locals in the past few days, it would be really hard to understand this Mandarin with such a heavy local accent. I turned around and an old man in tattered clothes was standing behind me, saying: "You outsiders don't know what's going on here, you can't go in."

  I smiled slightly and asked, "Why?" In fact, I knew the answer, but since I came here, I had to go in and take a look. Moreover, this was where my ancestors used to live, and now I understand the meaning of the phrase "come back and see me". Someone is waiting for me to return in the old house, and now I really have come back.

  The old man's answer was as expected, saying that this place is very evil and so on, and gave an example of someone who had worked here in a certain year and had an accident, etc. He wanted to persuade us not to go in. I exchanged a glance with Erliang, thanked the old man, and then we both pushed open the tightly closed big door together.

  There was no dust flying everywhere as I had imagined, nor did a large group of bats fly out from inside like in the movies. What caught my eye was an old, dilapidated mansion that, despite being several hundred years old, didn't look too shabby due to the government's previous attempt to turn it into a tourist attraction. At least it looked much better than I had imagined - I had thought a centuries-old house would be as worn out as Lanruo Temple.

  Although it was the first time we walked into this old house, and at this time the sky was already dark, with only a little pitiful light leaking from the skylight, but for me and Erliang, this was enough, because the layout of this old house, even the size, was exactly the same as my old mansion that had been demolished, we wouldn't get lost even if we closed our eyes.

  Walking in this old house, I suddenly felt like I had returned to the past. The old mansion has forty or fifty rooms, with typical southern-style courtyards between them, only because the old mansion is too big, so these courtyards are much larger than ordinary ones, and there are many more of them. Every time it rains in the south, the rainwater on the eaves creates a curtain of rain around the edges of the courtyards, which is very beautiful. Since the old house was demolished, I have never had the chance to see such scenery again. Seeing the layout of this old house now, I couldn't help but sigh: "What a pity it's not raining today."

  "Stop being sentimental for now, let's find a place to sleep for the night first. Shall we go to Old Villager's place outside or stay here?"

  I used to watch horror movies and couldn't help but curse the directors and screenwriters for being idiots, why did they have to go to that creepy place at night? If it were me, I would never go to those places at night because, laughably, I'm afraid of the dark. Maybe it's from writing too many scary stories, but every time I turn off the lights, I feel like someone is standing next to me, staring at me. Especially with all that's happened recently, this feeling has only intensified. But for some reason, now I'm no longer scared. I smiled and said, "I'll just sleep here instead, going out would be a joke."

  Er Lang smiled: "You're just trying to save face, but actually I also want to sleep here."

  "For your ideals?"

  Er Lang was originally taking things out of the bag, but when he heard what I said, his body stiffened, paused for a moment, and then continued to take things out without saying a word.

  I'm a bit regretful in my heart, maybe it's because I'm too curious. Although I said I wouldn't pry into Erliang's secrets, I couldn't help but tease him with words from time to time. It seems that Erliang is a bit angry this time. I secretly stuck out my tongue and said, "Hurry up and go to sleep, I'm exhausted."

  Er Liang said "yes" and sped up his actions, I helped him on the side while thinking to myself: I wonder if this "yes" is in response to my first question or the second one.

  Because it was already very late and the two were also tired, they didn't bother to choose a room one by one. They simply shone their flashlight around and put all their luggage into a room that looked decent enough. They laid out the bedding on the floor, turned on the night light, and then each crawled into their sleeping bag.

  Maybe I was too tired, maybe it was because I was too excited to be back in the place where my ancestors lived, but I just couldn't sleep. I heard Erlang tossing and turning, clearly not sleeping either. I softly called out to him, "Erlang." He responded with a grunt, asking, "What's up?"

  I said: "I couldn't sleep."

  "Are you scared?"

  I said: "No, I just can't sleep. Keep me company and talk with me."

  Er Lang sighed and said, "I also can't sleep."

  The two of them started chatting intermittently, and Erliang suddenly said: "I don't know what happened to your ancestors that they would suddenly want to move out. According to the records, this old house was built not long ago, but your ancestors took the whole family and moved to our place. I wonder if something strange happened? Do you think it's because of a ghost?"

  "Stop talking nonsense, it's the middle of the night and you're saying these things!" I hastily stopped Erliang from continuing, he "heh heh" laughed a few times and said: "You say you're not afraid, but this is exactly what's being tested."

  "I said, 'Wow, so you were playing me. Okay, I'll tell you, in my old house, the room we slept in had a relative of mine who hanged himself here, yeah, right above where you sleep, the corpse was swaying back and forth.'"

  "Er Lang" snorted: "That's our old house back home, not here. You can't scare me."

  I didn't scare him off and continued: "And what's more, in our alleyway right outside the door, you can always hear someone walking back and forth at midnight."

  "Everyone said it was that old house over there, not here. You still want to talk about this? Not a shred of creativity. No wonder nobody likes your stories."

  This sentence hit my sore spot, and I immediately shut up and stopped talking. Erliang's words had just come out of his mouth when he knew he was wrong, and he apologized to me repeatedly. Just then, a sudden burst of footsteps echoed from the doorway of the alley.