A Guest In A Ghost House

Aunt"s funeral was arranged very fast. According to the master in the village who helped people judge their date of birth and the eight characters of a horoscope specially, the day after tomorrow was the best day. Hence, when they moved aunt"s body back, they would keep it for one day before burying it.

When I asked Luo Wen to have an investigation in the village, I estimated that maybe he mentioned the third man in the car, the thing about the creepy corpse. At first, he was very unwilling to do it. Then I threatened him by force and also induced him to do it, and even let Huang Xiaolong show him his strength. Luo Wen finally had to reluctantly agree.

I was surprised and puzzled by the fact that the people in this village seemed to never have any reactions to this thing, as if they didn"t believe it at all. I also didn"t know when these people in this village, which had been superst.i.tious, suddenly began to such a believer in science.

I had been paying attention to the reaction of the people in the village. It was not fake that everyone looked very sorrow, but why were they blind to the ghost that may had killed aunt?

Wu Jian told me from his professional point of view that the only reason why those villagers had such a reaction was that they didn"t think the weird corpse was going to be harmful to aunt. Even he gave me a creepy conclusion that everyone in the village might have known about the existence of the weird corpse.

I didn"t want to admit it, but I knew it was the only way to explain villagers" reaction. But didn"t aunt really just die from the car accident?

Secrets in this village had become more and more. Every day, I, Wu Jian and Huang Xiaolong would talk for a long time. However, for we knew too little information, we kept staying where we were.

When aunt"s body was being buried, it was drizzle. In accordance with village practice, the coffin would be taken round a circle along the outermost path of the village to show the fate of the dead to the family, and almost all the people in the village were in the funeral procession.

I, Wu Jian and Huang Xiaolong walked in the back of this procession, watching the painful crowd ahead of us. To be honest, I and aunt just knew each other. Although mom had said that we were related, we weren"t even familiar, so the three of us even finally began to discuss the weird corpse.

The corpse had always been stored at the police station. Shortly after they buried aunt"s corpse, Luo Wen made a phone call, saying that some old man in this village were still going to the police station to get the body back, which further ill.u.s.trated that the people in the village knew this corpse.

Did this corpse belong to one of those ancestors who sheltered this village? I also was unsure.

Then Wu Jian used his eyes to point one direction and whispered to me, "Look. Isn"t that the girl you"re talking about?"

Behind a big tree far away the road was a thin figure, who was wiping tears and was wrapped in white wrapping-corpse cloth. That was the little girl.

I sighed when I remembered what the old man in the village had said to me, "aunt is very kind to this little girl when she is alive, so I guessed that maybe she comes to see her off."

The little girl had been hiding in the woods, following the funeral procession. It was not until the procession returned to the village that she stopped in the woods at the end of the village and bade farewell to her.

Aunt was finally buried in the ancestral grave, which showed that the weirs corpse was related to the village.

After lunch, mom asked us to leave again. I originally would like to ask my mom about that weird corpse, but every time I started talking, I got scolded by my mom, very harsh.

However, I didn"t know if this was my fate. Before we set out this time, Luo Wen took a group of police officers, entering the village. Besides, they had identified the identification of that corpse. That was a villager who died of disease a few years ago. According to the seniority, I should call him grandpa w.a.n.g, who exactly was w.a.n.g"s uncle.

Luo Wen and other police officers requested to dig up grandpa w.a.n.g"s grave to confirm his ident.i.ty, which, however, was objected by all the old men in this village. Their objection was very ridiculous that they asked Luo Wen to send the corpse back the village and they would investigate it by themselves. If the truth was not as what he said, they would also buried it well.

The people in this village were really unreasonable and they really never listened to any reasons. Instead of accomplis.h.i.+ng his task, Luo Wen even was besieged by villagers, who demanded him to return the corpse that might be grandpa w.a.n.g.

If it was a normal car accident, of course, it was okay. However, there was such a weird scene appearing, so the police had to look into it. Luo Wen could only explain patiently, but until nightfall and even his mouth became very dry, he was still besieged by more than a dozen of 70 or 80-year-olds old men.

Luo Wen had turned to me for many times, but every time I just pretended, I didn"t see it. If grandpa w.a.n.g really was one of the ancestors of this place, I also hoped his body would be returned for burial.

Finally, Luo Wen had no choice but to declare that they would conclude this case as soon as possible and then they would return grandpa w.a.n.g"s corpse. Perhaps it was too late or perhaps such an answer satisfied them, these elderlies gradually left and went back home.

After Luo Wen, whose clothes was wet by his sweat, drank a big sip of water, he complained about us tiredly, saying we never helped him.

I was laughing, "You"re surrounded at best at that time, but if I help you, we might be get beaten. Even we call the police, there will be no use."

My words were true. Although I was unfamiliar to many of the old people in the village, I could only bear when whoever beat me, because maybe that man was a relative of mine or other relations.

Luo Wen just swung his hand, saying, "I just give in. When I was back this time, I will apply for transferring to another post. Just look. In fact, I know a little about the customs of your village, but why do you so value a man who is buried in the woods and can"t go to his ancestral grave?"

Luo Wen"s words surprised me. Grandpa w.a.n.g indeed was the man who didn"t get into the ancestral grave. No, I did remember when witch Yan took me to the ancestral grave, she said that those ancestors who had been sheltering our village were all buried in the ancestor grave, and so was the burial ground?

I felt that my thought, which had been a little clear, had been completely disrupted.

Luo Wen soon left. Then I talked to Wu Jian and Huang Xiaolong and both of them were surprised, too. Huang Xiaolong even suggested that we should go to look for the buried ground together at night.

Wu Jian agreed very quickly, because it was most important for him to find Li Guihua"s skull and send the old lady away as soon as possible. Now, he and Ni Min even didn"t dare to hold the hands of each other. He was definitely living as a widow.

I hesitated for a moment and also nodded. But as soon as I nodded, there was a gloomy voice behind me, "Young man, you can"t go there."

I was startled and turned back. I saw an old man, with his face full of old people"s spots, standing behind me and looking at me seriously. It seemed that he would use the crutch in his hand to hit me as long as I said a single wrong word.

Until I hastened to promise, again and again, not to go, the old man nodded and turned away.

I just looked at Wu Jian hopelessly and said, "You just see this. Maybe we"re probably under close surveillance now."

Wu Jian shook his head and laughed bitterly, "By the way, who is that old man?"

I was suddenly stunned because I had never seen that old man before. There were not many people in the village, most of whom had already been seen by me because of the death of aunt. Although I couldn"t call out their names, I still felt familiar. As for the old man just now, I had no impression at all.

I felt my back cold and then turned my head and looked at Huang Xiaolong.