Chapter 28: Life and Death Gambit X 1982

  I tried to calm myself down and thought of the method I read in a book introduction about how to find the right direction when getting lost in the forest: The density of tree crowns (arbor) indicates the trees' need and desire for sunlight. The side with denser tree crowns and longer branches is south, while the sparse side is north.

  In addition, by observing the annual rings of trees, you can also determine the direction. The side with sparse ring patterns faces south, and the side with dense ring patterns faces north.

  I searched carefully for a while and finally found a way out.

  After leaving the Xianrenmai forest, I rushed to Du Huangniu's house at high speed. The raindrops hit my face like arrows, but I didn't care about these anymore. In this short period of time when I was locked up by Du Jie's father, Huierlan and Chen Qiuyang had no idea what had happened. I ran into Du Huangniu's house with mud all over my body.

  What shocked me was that the person who greeted me in the hall was not Ruan Defeng and Huang Yongfei, but rather Du Huangniu with his severe hunchback. He seemed to have known I was coming back here, so he had been waiting for me at the door since early morning. Du Huangniu crouched on a low wooden stool, like a giant snail, squatting on the stool. Du Huangniu wasn't wearing shoes, and I saw that every toenail on his feet was blackened, yellowed, and rotten, suffering from severe onychomycosis.

  He lifted his head with effort and stared at me straightly, his eyes gleaming with a green light.

  I saw that Ruan Defeng and Huang Yongfei were also not at home, could it be that they too had met with disaster? I glared furiously at Du Huangniu, knowing that they were all in cahoots. Finally, I could confront him openly. "Old man," I growled, "where are Ruan Defeng and the others?"

  Du Huang Cow slowly took a puff of his dry tobacco, his voice hoarse as he said: "Thirteen, I've always advised you to leave this village. You young people, why have you become less and less willing to listen to the words of old people?"

  "I'm busy and don't have time to chat with you, and listening to the elderly requires conditions. For you mentally abnormal cannibals, I will never listen to you. Where did you take them?"

  Du Huang Niu said: "Thirteen, if you really want to save your friend, I advise you not to be impulsive. You just need to move a chair over, calm down and sit down with this old man to chat, and your friend will be rescued."

  "Go to hell with your calmness. You're just stalling, I don't have time for this nonsense." I cursed and tried to run out. But Du Huang Niu said: "You won't listen to me? Then go ahead. Let me tell you, you'll never find them. This village has too many secrets, these secrets are like holes one after another, you can't find your friends."

  "What do you want to do?" I knew that Du Huang Niu's words were reasonable, but if I went to the village and searched for them one household at a time, I wouldn't be able to find them. But I had no reason to believe what Du Huang Niu said.

  Du Huang Niu continued: "I can see your hesitation, you don't trust me. Thirteen, I think this is the first time you've faced such a cruel choice, right? It's hard for you too, because you're still young. If I tell you that I'm not the same kind of person as others, will you feel a bit more at ease?"

  I stared at Du Huang Niu and said: "You, you're not a cannibal?"

  "Cannibals?" Du Huang Niu heard me say this term, was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing: "What you said is indeed quite right, they can be said to be cannibals, but, but, thirteen, the secret inside here, you won't understand."

  I don't think Du Huang Niu is cheating me, so I decided to take a gamble. I said: "Let me charge my phone first, I want to call the police."

  "You'd better not call the police." Du Huang Niu stopped me, saying: "This is unnecessary. I said it before, if you trust me, just listen to me for everything."

  I quietly went back to the room, took out the portable charger and connected my phone. When I turned it on again, I suddenly found that my phone had no signal for some reason. This was impossible, as almost every place in China has signal coverage, so why did this place have zero signal at this moment?

  It must be Du Yizhi and his gang who are behind this!

  I had to come out again to the door, and Du Huangniu was still motionless, crouched on the wooden stool like an old snail. The cold wind at the gate blew in with wet mist, hitting his clothes, and the hem of his garment fluttered constantly. Du Huangniu's thin back was silhouetted against the light, looking so old and so frail, emitting a kind of indescribable lonely flavor.

  "Is the signal blocked?" Du Huangniu still hung his head and said, "I told you, as long as you're willing to listen to me and chat with this old man who's about to die, your friend will definitely be saved."

  I was deep in thought, but I followed Du Huangniu's words and sat down beside him, looking at the dilapidated courtyard outside the gate. The withered grass in the courtyard was wet by the rain, sticking tightly to the soil on the ground, like dead earthworms, tangled and unclear. The bricks of the surrounding wall were even more dilapidated, several cracks grew bigger and bigger, believing that it would soon collapse, the raindrops fell on it like silk threads, saying unspeakable desolation.

  My heart is gradually becoming hollow, and the cold wind is piercingly blowing through the emptiness.

  "This is the first time I've had someone to accompany me, and take a closer look at this old house of mine. Thirteen, you know, as people get older, they tend to reminisce more about the past. Right now, scenes from years ago keep flashing before my eyes... 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago... these walls, those big trees, that withered grass, and all those people coming and going... sometimes it feels like it was just a dream..."

  Du Huang Niu has been muttering to himself in my ear, sometimes he won't stop talking, I think he's gone mad, this whole village is mad.

  I couldn't help but get impatient again, I think my current behavior is extremely absurd, the lives of several good friends are uncertain, and I actually easily believed an old man, sitting idly in a chair listening to his nostalgic memories.

  "I'm telling you, your friend will be back soon, just trust me."

  I stared at the yellow ox, I don't know if I was hypnotized by it or if it had cast a spell on me, in short, I seemed to have fallen under the yellow ox's magical spell, my feet felt as if they had taken root and couldn't be lifted.

  I still haven't left.

  This is a huge and cruel test, the stakes are Chen Qiuyang, Ruan Dewei, and his classmates' lives. And my chips are the trust in this severely hunchbacked old man.

  Is he trustworthy? Is what he says true? If he has been deceiving me, stalling for time, while Chen Qiuyang and the others are suffering at their hands, then won't I be unable to forgive myself for the rest of my life?

  But if what the Yellow Ox said is true, then by not going to look for them and just sitting here doing nothing, they can be saved. And if I go looking for them, it will instead cause their deaths. So now, this is truly saving them.

  My brain is getting more and more confused, contradictions are constantly colliding with my brain.

  "I've lived in Liu Long Village for so long, I can't even remember how many years it's been, 80 or 90? Hehe, ups and downs, but the deepest impression on me is still 1982. From that year on, the whole village of Liu Long began to decline, everyone changed, changed..."

  Du Huang Niu's words became softer and softer, his voice smaller and smaller, as if he was about to fall asleep.

  He suddenly raised his head again, as if waking up, looked at the courtyard outside the gate, and continued: "I seem to have lived many lives like this alone. Young people all yearn for the big cities outside, the colorful world outside. Once they go to the big cities outside, they forget about us villages, forget about us old people... Hehe, but that's right too, when people get old, there's no need for others to remember them..."

  I don't know why Du Huangniu's words made me feel a surge of sadness, wave after wave, more and more intense. I said: "Yes, Liu Long Village is the most decadent village among all the villages I have seen. And, what's more, the people here are mentally abnormal."

  "Haha, it wasn't like that before. Before, this village was full of laughter and chatter. So many mischievous kids running around, I remember, so many kids would run into my yard to steal fruit from the trees... And Du Jie, he was so small back then, so skinny, just like a quick-witted little monkey, agile hands and feet, could climb up the tree in a flash. Haha, 1982, that really was..."

  Du Huang Niu's right hand slowly stretched over and grasped mine.

  His hands were so thin and dry, like a withered branch, without any warmth or softness.

  He said: "But I'm still quite happy... Ah, remember to thank your fat friend for me when you see him later. The dishes he cooked that night were really delicious... and I actually want to eat them again, haha. But at least when I die with Liu Long Village, there's someone by my side... Thirteen, thank you, I..."

  Du Huang Niu's hand fell down, he died, just like that sitting next to me, saying a lot of sad words with thick memories, and then died.

  I got up, supporting him, his body as thin and light as a sheet of paper. I said: "Old Master Niu, you, wake up, hey, how can you just leave like this? What happened that you haven't told me yet? Old master, you can't just leave without saying anything, hurry up and wake up."