Chapter 8: The Wolf Grandmother

  Eryuan started telling me about what happened a few hours ago when we two kept watch together at night.

  After the tall one woke us up, I and Erlang guarded the night together. Because we thought that with two people watching together, our minds would unknowingly start to relax, and before we knew it, both of us had dozed off to sleep. Erlang slept lightly and was woken up by a strange noise. He opened his eyes to see the tall one emerging from under the quilt, sitting on the ground with his back to us, his mouth making crunching sounds as if he was eating stir-fried beans.

  He didn't bother to reason with him, seeing that I was already asleep, and prepared to take on the responsibility of keeping watch, but he didn't want to crawl out from under the blanket either, so he just lay there. But at this moment, the tall one slowly got up, holding a knife in his hand, step by step walking to the front of him and me. Er Liang originally thought that the tall one was strange, now he was even more frightened, not daring to breathe out loud, closing his eyes and leaving only a small gap, just in case the tall one really wanted to take action, he could react in time, otherwise, with the tall one's physique, it's likely that two of themselves wouldn't be his match, it's better to launch a surprise attack and have a chance to survive.

  Fortunately, the tall man didn't lay a hand on us. He just lowered his head to take a look and then turned around to walk out the door. Er Liang said that at the time he didn't know where he got the courage from, maybe it was because of the other's strange appearance that scared him stiff. Not wanting to be frightened again in the future, he wanted to figure out what the man was going to do, so he pushed me and told me to watch the luggage while he followed him out.

  Two Liang followed the tall man, who was walking towards the village entrance where a centuries-old soapberry tree stood. The tall man stopped in front of a house at the village entrance and began digging with his knife. After a while, he picked up something from the ground and put it into his bag, then started to head back. Two Liang was afraid of being discovered, so he didn't dare to follow too closely and didn't know what the tall man had dug up. He should have taken advantage of the situation to rush back home before the tall man noticed him, but his strong curiosity made him decide to wait until the tall man left and then go take a look himself.

  Erliang's voice began to tremble as he spoke, and I was still thinking about what he had just said. No wonder the footprints on the ground were so disordered earlier - they were not just Erliang's alone, but two people's. I had originally wanted to ask him if he saw a woman following them together, but seeing Erliang's change now, I couldn't help but ask: "What did you see exactly?"

  He got even more agitated, and I could see that he seemed to want to hold me tightly. After a while, he continued: "I saw that it was all bones, the bones of dead people."

  I was shocked and my eyes, looking at the tall man, were also filled with vigilance. I knew that there was a custom here of burying relatives around the house, but they all had coffins, how could it be possible to bury them directly in the soil? Moreover, what did the tall man bring back from there?

  Er Lang hadn't finished speaking, he said that what he saw should be the white bones of an adult corpse, only to be messed up by a tall man. At that time, although he was very scared, he unexpectedly found a piece of paper next to the white bones. He casually picked it up and put it in his pocket, ready to find a place to take a closer look.

  Er Lang was too afraid to return home, but with the freezing weather, he didn't know where else to hide. He heard our calls for him, but cowered in a broken hut, not daring to respond. Eventually, unable to bear the cold, he remembered that this small temple was relatively intact and could provide some warmth. He decided to take shelter here temporarily until dawn before returning home. Although it was somewhat unfair to me, survival was paramount, and sometimes there's no other choice.

  I'm not blaming Erlang for this, after all, apart from his appearance, there's nothing about him that's like the Erlang I remember. The two of us are just like strangers to each other, so I won't get angry over this. "What does that piece of paper say?"

  Erlang's face changed again, he took out a piece of paper from his pocket and said: "Take a look, don't be afraid."

  He even dares to put the paper from a dead person's body who has been dead for many years in his pocket, he is not afraid at all. I just took a look, why be so timid? Although this matter seems strange and my heart feels that the paper is somewhat disgusting, with some curiosity in my heart, I still accepted it. At the first glance of the paper, I almost cried out.

  The handwriting above is very familiar, and the title bar on the paper reads three words: Wolf Granny. The name seems to be a fairy tale story, similar to Little Red Riding Hood. What makes me change color is that the second line is written with the author's name: Chu Jiangshan.

  It turned out that there really was a person named Chu Jiangshan! I turned my head back to Erliang with a shocked expression, he obviously knew I would react this way, but still slightly waved his hand at me, indicating for me to continue watching.

  The paper had a short story written on it, titled "Wolf Grandmother". To me, this didn't seem like Chu Jiangshan's usual writing style, because it really was like a children's fairy tale. In fact, I'd heard similar stories many times when I was young, and this was probably one of the first horror stories I'd ever heard: A brother and sister go to their grandmother's house, at night they sleep in the same bed as their grandmother, with the siblings sleeping on one end and the grandmother on the other.

  When I was a kid, this story really scared me. Now that I look at it again, I think it's just a fairy tale. I don't know why Chu Jiangshan wrote something like this. I looked carefully and it seems to be unfinished, unfortunately there is only one sheet of paper, so I couldn't find out what happens next. Because the story "Old House" left such a deep impression on me, even though I think this is just an ordinary story, my heart still feels very oppressed, as if this story should have something to tell me but I haven't noticed it yet.

  This feeling is suffocating me, and just as I was about to discuss it with Erliang, I saw him quickly make a face at me, then pretend like nothing happened. I lifted my head and saw that the tall one had woken up and was slowly sitting up. My head buzzed loudly, and suddenly I remembered the strange look on the tall one's face that night. It seemed like he was eating something in his mouth, making crunching sounds. If it wasn't roasted beans he was chewing on, but bones - for example, the scattered skeleton underground - then wouldn't he be the wolf grandma?

  I and Erlang sat at this end, he sat at that end, just like the sister and wolf in the story.

  The tall guy turned his head, looked at us and said: "Why do you look so bad, didn't sleep well?" I don't know who he was talking to, but I can be sure that my complexion is absolutely not good. I responded casually, without knowing what I was saying. The tall guy looked outside and said: "The snow has stopped, we'll go out and get some things first, then come back."

  We don't have much disagreement on this point, after all, with Erliang's equipment, it's impossible for three people to use it, and there's not enough food either. When the three of them came, they were all from Yuntai, and now they naturally go back that way too. After walking for more than three hours, they found that the road was blocked by rocks and couldn't get out.

  It stands to reason that even if the snow is heavy, it's impossible to block the mountain in one night, and there are obvious signs of human migration on these rocks. The three of us walked back with gloomy faces, this time only going out from the Xiangyang River Reservoir side, but that road was even more difficult to walk, and in this weather, it was easy to slip down the mountain if you weren't careful. But when we spent five or six hours walking back to the entrance of the road again, we found that the road had been blocked by rocks once more.

  Everyone's heart sank to the bottom, and the tall one's face turned blacker than ever. Er Liang kept looking at the tall one, then at me, then at the backpack on the tall one's back, as if he wanted to say something but didn't dare.

  The tall one looked at him, threw the backpack over and said: "Let's go back to the village first, think of a way to get some food, check tomorrow's weather, and then think of other ways."

  Er Lang hastily slung his backpack over his shoulder and shook his head repeatedly, saying: "Don't go to that village, it's dangerous."

  I and the tall one looked at him simultaneously, as if Erliang knew something more. Under our gaze, Erliang finally lowered his head, took out a piece of paper from his pocket, I saw clearly that it was the same paper he had picked up from the dead body earlier. Originally, when the tall one woke up, Erliang had already taken the paper beforehand, fearing that the tall one would recognize the paper and expose the fact that he had been following him. But now, under this situation, if we don't think of a way to get out, the snow will continue into next month, and everyone may have to settle accounts here. If he dares to hide anything again and doesn't explain clearly why we can't go to the village, I'm afraid we'll have some other ideas.

  Er Liang carefully handed over the paper while watching the tall man, and I was also staring at the tall man's expression, ready to help Er Liang deal with him if anything went wrong. However, except for a hint of surprise, the tall man's face looked extremely calm, and he waved the paper in his hand, saying: "Is there really such a person as Chu Jiangshan?! But what's the use of this fairy tale?"

  It seems that he didn't find this paper among the pile of corpses, and both I and Erlang let out a sigh of relief at the same time. Erlang said: "The back side." The tall one flipped the paper over, and only then did I realize there was another mystery on the back. If it wasn't for the tall one waking up, maybe Erlang would have told me too. I leaned in closer to take a look, and saw that there was a rough sketch drawn on it. At first glance, I could tell what the sketch looked like - it was a map of the entire Fengmen Village. Although this map was very simple, it was drawn with great care, even using square blocks to mark out the approximate location of each house. On the two mountain paths we took when leaving, there were big red X's marked on each one, which probably meant danger or trouble. And on the square blocks representing the houses in the village, a pair of small shoes was drawn.

  In every house there is a pair of embroidered shoes.