Chapter 2: Wailers
As the saying goes, man is an altar for the sword, and I am a fish for the meat. Whoever has a weapon in his hand has the right to speak. Human life is like grass, which is unimaginable to people in our present age.
My grandmother was scared after hearing this, her trembling hands didn't know where to put them, so she grabbed her chopsticks and whispered to my grandfather, "So what if the beard finds out that the whistle was screwed up, we'll still have a way to live, right?"
Grandpa's face was a little red after drinking some wine, and it was obvious that he was a little hot. He took off his cotton jacket and threw it on the kang, comforting my grandmother: "It's fine. Old Zhaitou and Si Lengzi and I threw him into the snowy meadow on the back of the mountain. He will be eaten by wolves and dogs first thing tomorrow morning. If Huzi finds out, he'll think that the wolves ate him before he got off the mountain. Besides, there's no proof. Who's he going to find? We'll hide the grain tomorrow. Nothing will happen, don't worry. Give me another bowl of rice."
Looking at my grandpa's calmness, my grandma's heart felt a lot more at ease, but she was still afraid, so she couldn't eat the precious grain well. Grandpa was tired after a long day, and after eating, he lay down on the bed and fell asleep. My grandmother washed the dishes, but afterward, she lay on the bed and couldn't sleep. All she could think about was the beard and what to do if it was exposed. It wasn't until about ten o'clock in the evening that she drifted off to sleep.
But what happened next was more than my grandmother could have imagined.
In the second half of the night, my grandmother woke up, confused, she got out of bed and walked to the outhouse with a night pot to facilitate. When she squatted down, she heard the faint sound of crying, as if there were a lot of people, yi yi yi yi, as if they were singing an opera. She woke up with a start. Who is crying in the yard in the middle of the night? Just as she put up her pants and wanted to follow the window to see what was going on, someone suddenly slapped her from behind. This sudden shock made my grandmother forget to scream, and she turned around to look.
Only to see an old woman in mourning kneeling behind her, this old woman sharp-tongued, dark night looks as white as a piece of paper. But her lips were red and oozing. She pulled at my grandmother's shirts and cried, "My grandson's life is miserable, have you seen my eldest grandson?"
Ah! My grandmother finally screamed out, she broke away from the old woman's hand and ran to the inner room, desperately trying to shake my grandfather awake. My grandfather was sleeping soundly, and he scolded, "What are you screaming for? Calling for mourning?" My grandmother quickly told her what she had just seen, and when my grandfather heard that there were people in the outhouse, he hurriedly got up and put on his clothes, and scurried out from the edge of the kang, picking up the stove hook. But when he took the kerosene lamp and shone it, there was no one in the outhouse. My grandfather turned around and scolded my grandmother, "Are you sick? You've been asleep, haven't you?" My grandma was still in shock and just shook her head desperately. When my grandfather saw that my grandmother was really scared, he comforted her, "It's okay, you were just dreaming. Don't keep thinking about it. Go back and sleep some more."
My grandmother just wanted to say something, that pattering sound of crying came out again. At this time in look at my grandfather's face green, obviously he also heard. The two looked at each other, neither one said anything. My grandfather bumped up the courage to look out the window. This look does not matter, really scared my grandpa and grandma a soul.
Only to see in the darkness of the courtyard kneeling more than two dozen people dressed in white, all wearing mourning, with pointed white hats. The cries were coming from their mouths. They cried a few times and then kowtowed in the direction of the back of the mountain, then went on crying again. In the middle of the night, so many people suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the yard as if they were crying in mourning, the scene was simply oozing to the extreme.
My grandpa and grandma were scared, where have they seen this kind of situation! Originally, the ghosts of the folk say is only oral tradition, is a pastime after dinner or parents coaxing children to sleep with the means. But today I saw it with my own eyes, it immediately made my grandparents scared and disorganized.
Good in my grandfather quickly slowed down the spirit, he immediately pulled my grandmother into the house, all the curtains on the file after the preparation of the New Year's Day point of foreign wax out of the point. It was a little brighter, and the light made people feel safe. My grandfather held the stove hook and looked at my grandmother, who had already cried from fear, but she didn't dare to make a sound and hugged the blanket tightly on the bed. For safety reasons, grandpa didn't dare to rush out. He just whispered to Grandma, "Wait for dawn and see what's going on."
Luckily, the cries disappeared at about four or five o'clock in the morning. After a night without closing his eyes, my grandfather pretended to have the guts to take a look at the window opening, and saw that the yard was empty! After a while, it was dawn. Grandpa went to the yard with his courage, only to see the yard door was tight, not like someone had come in. The big yellow dog in the yard was straight and dead, its insides had been gutted, and the blood mixed with the snow had been frozen.
Grandpa returned to the house and said to my grandmother on the bed, "Don't wander off today, stay honestly at home, I'll make a trip to Grinders Hill."
My grandmother asked him shakily, "Are we rushing into something?"
Grandpa did not say more than seven o'clock when he did not finish eating last night's yellow rice warmed up, messy and grandmother ate a little after the child will carry home a bag of sorghum rice and a jar of more than a decade of home-brewed white wine out of the house.
The so-called "punch what" is the northeastern words, the meaning is to commit to the ghosts and gods, according to the words now generally called the ghosts. Modern scientific explanation is that for some people who suddenly produce fantasy phantom vision and hearing symptoms, often because of the experience of a strange event or scene after the occurrence of some local people will be this phenomenon known as "hit the evil".
But the world is a big place, and there are many things that we have not personally experienced. There are many things we have not personally experienced, hearsay stories often have an ambiguous ending. But this story of my grandparents. But indirectly affect my life, this is a later story, allow me to later slowly say.
Grandma is really scared now. But also have to work ah, she took the opportunity to go out to sweep the snow when she asked the old Zhai head of the wife and the four prongs of the daughter-in-law, last night heard nothing. But the answer was that they didn't hear anything. The four prongs of the daughter-in-law asked my grandmother, grandmother told them what happened last night. This bunch of old ladies after listening to the temple blew up, this said it was haunted, that said it was haunted fairy. Make my grandmother more and more nervous, they asked my grandfather to do what went. My grandmother told them. My grandpa got up early in the morning and went to Mill Hill to invite people to go.
Grind Hill, that is located in the northwest of Qiqihar City, is the remaining veins of the Daxinganling, where the most famous will be the mysterious Snake Hole Mountain legend. Speaking of the early Guangxu years, there is a big snake from the snake hole mountain top of the hole drilled, probe the head to the Yalu River to drink water, the tail end is still in the hole, can be seen from the size of the body. When the Russians were building the Middle East Railway, they saw that the snake was blocking the railroad and preventing the trains from passing through, so they bombarded it with artillery. The snake got angry and killed several people with the rocks splashing from its body, then returned to the cave and never appeared again. The local people regarded the snake as a god and worshipped it year after year.
It is said that there was a capable person named Liu Shuqing at the foot of the Mill Hill. Others call him Mr. Liu, this gentleman is doing business with the dead, he opened a coffin store in the village under the Snake Hole Mountain, the only one in ten miles and eight villages. Mr. Liu's family has an ancestral craft, it is said that the ancestors of the Liu family in the Snake Hole Mountain Snake Cave picked up a book of heaven, so the old Liu family generations can count, to Mr. Liu generation is even more remarkable. Specialized children for the poor people in the vicinity of the feng shui break the curse to choose the mansion, who has a red and white wedding, looking for him to set the date is correct. And also proficient in the art of exorcism and ghost-busting. This in the previous area is famous, even the bearded bandits have to fear him a few points. And he is happy to help people, often free of charge to the poor people in the neighborhood to solve their problems.
Is such a Mr. Liu, but only a little problem, that is, stubborn, if he is not used to you this person, you say out of the dragon call to him will not help. And he also extremely good wine, basically no wine. It is said that he is often drunk from day to night, and even go out to help people to see the land is also wine gourd does not leave hand. Some people saw him once drink by himself but set up two bowls, and also talking to himself. Later, it was known that he could "pass through Yin" after drinking, so he was nicknamed "Drunkard Liu". This name was not derogatory, but meant that he could deal with ghosts when he was drunk.
My grandfather rushed to Mill Hill to invite this Mr. Liu, who helped me find a grave site after my great-grandfather's death some years ago. And he and my grandpa are alike, both love to drink. A few bowls of wine at the table, Mr. Liu saw my grandfather's drinking capacity is not inferior to him, and we are all bold people, so they called brother and brother up. And later did not break contact, meet the New Year's festivals of the two families have to go around.
My grandfather first went to the west of the village to drive the old Bao Bao that borrowed a donkey cart, put things on the car, and drove the car in a hurry to the mill mountain. Because of the previous dirt road, also snow, resulting in donkey cart is very slow. It took nearly a morning to get to Mr. Liu's house. Mr. Liu's daughter-in-law was drying clothes outside, and she saw my grandfather rushing over in the cart from afar, so she went to pick up my grandfather. Since the two families were usually very familiar, she said to my grandfather, "Xiao Cui, why did you come so early this year? Have you eaten yet, come inside, why don't you see your younger siblings?"
Grandpa carried the sorghum rice and white wine into the house, turned to Mr. Liu's daughter-in-law and said urgently, "Sister-in-law, help, where's my big brother?" Mr. Liu's wife saw how my grandfather, who was always cheerful, looked like this today, so she didn't have to think that something had really happened. So she poured a bowl of tea for my grandfather and told him to sit down first. See my big brother calmed down some after she said: "small Cui in the end what happened, what happened, you slowly say, your dead brother yesterday and drink too much, now in the back room lying it.
