Whose corpse is this?

  "You say I, this big man... " Uncle didn't continue, but I already knew what he was going to say next. He would definitely say: This big man's mineral water is finished, go ask others for water to drink, and lose face.

  I understand Ah Shu, this man who is a bit vain.

  "Huh? Uncle?"

  "Don't think about it, by the time we find his family, who knows if he's already fainted from thirst? I can take it, but can you?"

  Uncle said this string of words, I was speechless.

  Yes, that's right. Anyway, Xiaobai's home is in Luozhuang Village, so why not let's work hard and go to Xiaobai's home, eat our fill, drink enough, and then lie down on the bed and have a good sleep.

  Uncle is indeed uncle, he is so wise and knowledgeable. Before I even finished speaking, he already knew what I was going to say.

  "By the way, also go and ask which family can accommodate."

  The uncle swept his gaze over the visible parts of the village, this isn't Shanghai, a big city, wherever you go, at least there should be a hotel or something, but this village doesn't have one, can only stay in someone else's home.

  "Oh." I couldn't disobey Uncle Ah's orders, so I carried Xiaobai and headed forward, preparing to swallow my pride and go to someone else's house to beg for water.

  Just a few steps away, I seemed to remember something and turned back to look at Uncle Ah.

  "You must go alone, I still have something to do, find a place to live and call me."

  "Oh."

  Under Uncle Ah's command again, I walked into the village with Xiao Bai in my arms.

  I also don't know what Uncle is up to, if it were in Shanghai, I would definitely think that Uncle has gone to meet his mistress, although Uncle doesn't have a mistress, but I have to find something to compare with.

  But in this village, Uncle Ah might also be here for the first time. The women in this village are all simple and honest, no one would flirt with Uncle Ah, besides, it seems that Uncle Ah's taste is not like that either.

  Thinking of this, I feel a bit more relieved!

  "This aunt, uh, I, I am, I..." That voice that was already full of hot blood but got tongue-tied and couldn't utter a word when seeing others appeared again. Only then did she realize that without her uncle, she didn't have any dignity at all.

  That's right, the person who stammered and couldn't utter a complete sentence for half a day is me, Junli.

  It's really embarrassing, the person looks decent, but as soon as he opens his mouth, it becomes a different story. At this moment, I think I should be exiled by Uncle Ah and become a thick-skinned person. What happened to the me who used to be in Qin Village? Where did that energy go?

  After twelve years of learning gentle and virtuous ways from Uncle Ah, how is it that I can't even speak properly this time?

  "Little girl, what's wrong with you?" The kind-hearted aunt saw my embarrassment and took the initiative to speak up, which made me feel quite relieved and thought that I had met a good person.

  "Auntie, I've come from afar and haven't seen a single store along the way. Can I have a drink of water here?"

  "Oh dear girl, this place indeed has no shops. You're a young lady, what's wrong with being thirsty? Come on, come in quickly, I'll take you inside." The kind aunt said as she pulled me into her home.

  Yu Guangzhong's home, Auntie's house, is indeed tidy, but these furniture and chairs are already old, it seems that they were left by the ancestors. The room is not too big, from the front door, turn left into a room separated by half a piece of cloth, inside there is only a small stove, a wooden table, on which are placed bowls, chopsticks, some salt and half a bucket of rice, plus that bright red large jar.

  Here is the translation:

  At this place, in front of the big jar, I filled my belly to the full and fed Xiaobai some. Then I refilled a bottle with mineral water and put it in my backpack, which can be considered as completing Uncle's entrustment. Of course, I'm not so shameless. Under kind Auntie's inquiry, after knowing that I was a lone traveler hiking in Yunnan, I suggested to myself to pack more, just in case I got tired on the road and couldn't find a store to buy water.

  Auntie said, "Girl, you'd better bring some more water with you, or you'll get thirsty on the road and won't know where to find a place." I thought about it for a moment, and indeed, Auntie's words were quite right. She helped me fill up my water bottle and also reminded me to be careful on the way, telling me that as a young girl, I should head back home early when I'm tired from playing.

  For the first time, I felt a mother's love here, although I had never known what a mother's love was like. It's just this feeling, and it might as well be a mother's love, because the way Auntie looked at me was so tender and loving.

  I agreed with Auntie's request, and she was delighted.

  "Our place is short of everything, but not water. The water tastes sweet and comes from the mountain." Seeing that I was satisfied with the drink, Auntie said this, as villagers are simple and honest, they helped people and also casually praised their local water, of course, Auntie's intention was to let me take a bit more away.

  "Mountain top?" The cool water entrance is sweet and refreshing, quenching thirst better than mineral water.

  "Yes, if you want to enter the village, you must have passed through that mountain. You came from there, didn't you, girl?" Auntie looked out of the wooden window, and I followed her gaze, wasn't that the ancient temple on the hill of scattered graves?

  "Uh-huh." I nodded and smiled at Auntie, who looked taken aback for a moment before regaining her usual warm expression. She pulled my hand over and held it tightly, seeming to say "as long as nothing's wrong".

  But Auntie still didn't make a sound, I just confirmed her lip shape.

  But when I heard her say that this water was flowing down from the mountain, I felt embarrassed.

  "Auntie, are you all drinking this water?" I finally asked out loud the doubts that had been plaguing me. If so, then I would be guilty.

  "It wasn't always like this, actually it wasn't in the past either. It's just that many years ago, something happened here and all the wells were sealed off. The men of the village were united and discovered a water source on Gu Miao Mountain. Later, everyone agreed to work together during the day for over a month, and finally this water flowed down." Auntie said with a hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth, but when she mentioned that everyone worked together during the day, her eyes showed a glimmer of fear.

  "Hmm, kids don't understand, using the water from Gu Miao Mountain to wash their face." I muttered to myself, looking down at Little White in my arms, he seemed to know what had happened, his fox mouth slightly open, I knew he wanted to burst out laughing.

  "Uh-huh, this water is indeed quite sweet." I nodded to Auntie, even if it was just for washing my face, I had already drunk some, what could I do, spit it out? It could only be like this, without anyone knowing.

  "Master has something to say, ask Master's family village what big thing happened?" Just as I was about to bid farewell to Auntie and send water back to Uncle, a weak voice sounded in my ear. This is not Xiaobai, who else can it be? He's not the first time speaking to me like this.

  He spoke in a low voice that only I could hear, and outsiders couldn't make out what he was saying, except for Uncle Ah.

  "This is really annoying." I muttered to myself, this uncle, it turns out that sending me to fetch water was just an excuse, and the real purpose was to ask about other people's business.

  "Auntie, what happened in this village before?" No choice, since I got along with Auntie, she was willing to tell me, so I just asked her to continue.

  "This..."

  "It's okay, it doesn't matter if you don't want to say." I smiled and said to Auntie.

  No, I couldn't ask, until night came, Xiao Bai just transformed into a charming man and casually caught an aunt or a big girl to ask, also not in a hurry to let me be alone here confused and asked randomly, nor did I know what Uncle's purpose was.

  "Hey, miss, I think you're a good girl, Auntie is asking you, have you turned 16 this year?"

  I... I...

  When was I ever so young, sixteen years old, a good age like a flower.

  "Auntie, I'm 20 years old this year." I smiled awkwardly at my aunt. Twenty isn't bad, twenty is pretty good. At twenty, I graduated, went out with Uncle, fell in love with Uncle, spent all day carrying a fox around, and saw so many things I never knew existed before, experienced things that ordinary people don't know about.

  This twenty-year-old is great!

  "Tsk tsk, look at this girl's face, it's really tender and smooth." Auntie couldn't think of anything to describe my skin for a while, and finally managed to squeeze out these words.

  I smiled sheepishly, of course, Auntie was being too kind.

  "But Auntie, what's wrong with being sixteen?"

  The aunt wanted to speak but hesitated, looked around, found two small stools in the kitchen, sat down with her, and the aunt slowly opened her mouth:

  "Ten years ago, Luozhuang Village was still a peaceful village. At that time, the whole mountain was full of jujube trees, and the villagers relied on these jujubes to make a living. Life was quite comfortable." Auntie said with a smile, lost in the happiness of the past. But why is Luozhuang Village like this now, ten years later?

  "The change originated that night, and Ding's daughter disappeared, vanished into thin air, no one knew where she went, the whole village of hundreds of people searched for several days and nights, but still couldn't find any trace. Later, it was Ding's wife who found her daughter's shoes on that mountain, Ding's wife was also a miserable woman, when she found her daughter's shoes, she became abnormal, after being found back, she didn't speak all day, the only thing she said was 'corpse', she was frightened."

  Auntie said, and she herself shuddered, her eyes wide with fear, as if the corpse Ding Auntie had seen was appearing before her own eyes. Her voice grew smaller and smaller... like a thin thread...

  "Whose corpse?" As I looked at Auntie's increasingly tense expression, a chill ran down my spine. I didn't want to continue asking, but Uncle's order was still in effect, and I had no choice but to put aside my fear and keep questioning.