The five people in the photo wore camouflage uniforms, their arms draped over one another's shoulders like close comrades.
Seeing Liu Yunbo and Old Wu together in the photo had already shocked me.
But I had never imagined that Old Tang and Liu Yunbo were old acquaintances too!
I stared despairingly at the black-and-white photo on the wall, thinking how pathetic I was.
Those old bastards had been running circles around me.
As I stared, absorbed, a creak! sounded, and an old man in his seventies pushed the door open and walked in.
He wore a straw hat, a white undershirt, and black nylon trousers. He was probably the owner of the house, the village chief of Tiger Waist Mountain.
Seeing Little Six and me standing inside, he asked in confusion, "Who are you two?"
I hurried forward and shook his hand, saying:
"You're the village chief, right? We came from the city to ask you about something!"
The village chief looked me up and down and said slowly, "Ask about what?"
"Sir, I just wanted to ask about the people in this photo!"
As I spoke, I pointed at the black-and-white photo on the wall.
The village chief glanced at the wall, gave me a suspicious look, then looked at Little Six behind me.
"What about them? Why are you asking?"
When I came, I had only wanted to learn about Liu Yunbo, but after seeing the photo on the wall, I realized how naive I had been.
Of those three men, one had been my buddy, one my boss, and one my great benefactor.
But everything had changed in the blink of an eye, with the living and the dead on separate paths.
Those three people, who should never have appeared in the same photo, were together in it. Now I wanted to learn about every one of them!
Seeing how wary the village chief was, I didn't dare state my purpose outright. Thinking quickly, I replied:
"Actually, Chief, Old Wu in that photo-Wu Baoku-sent me. He told me to ask you about when you took the tiger-patterned copper coin!"
Once again, I began spouting nonsense with a perfectly straight face.
Given their complicated relationships, all I could do was use the story Old Wu had told me while drunk last night to coax information out of the village chief.
It worked surprisingly well. At the mention of the tiger-patterned copper coin, the village chief's eyes went wide.
"What? The money he got wasn't enough? He's still after the coin? Didn't we settle all that back then?"
Confused by what he was hearing, Little Six nudged me and asked quietly:
"Buddy, what are you talking about? I don't understand a word."
I gave Little Six a meaningful look and continued asking the village chief:
"Old Wu said he still couldn't forget that coin, and..."
Thinking quickly again, I decided to use this opening to bring up Liu Yunbo.
"And the bronze bell unearthed a couple of years ago."
At that, the village chief became thoroughly agitated and flung his straw hat hard onto the floor.
"What the hell does that bastard want? Taking that book wasn't enough-he wants the other two things too?"
"Exactly. Old Wu heard that Liu Yunbo came to our village two years ago and took the bronze bell, and he was furious!"
"What right does he have to be furious? Huh? If I hadn't saved them in that demon cave back then, that old bastard would have died in there!"
Still not satisfied, the village chief continued fiercely:
"Besides, Liu Yunbo paid for that bronze bell when he came for it a couple of years ago. That bastard Wu Baoku didn't leave a single cent when he took the book!"
Delighted that the old man had taken the bait, I wanted to get more out of him and kept goading him:
"Sir, that's true, but this Tang Xiansheng..."
I really had no idea how Old Tang was connected to them, so I didn't dare invent anything. I simply brought up his name and let the village chief speak.
"Tang Xiansheng? He's been dead for ten years. Why is Wu Baoku bringing him up?"
I hadn't expected the village chief to know Old Tang was dead. Seeing that I couldn't pursue that line, I quickly changed the subject.
"Please calm down, sir. I was completely against coming here when Old Wu asked me to. Never mind anything else-given his relationship with Liu Yunbo, Old Wu shouldn't be doing this!"
The village chief sighed and invited Little Six and me to sit. We sat along the edge of the kang, and he continued:
"Those lads came here after leaving the army. They were so close they could've shared a pair of pants. And just because of a few treasures, they ended up like enemies!"
After taking such a roundabout route, I had finally gotten something out of the village chief. Old Tang, Liu Yunbo, and Old Wu really had served in the army together.
After saying that, the village chief thought for a moment in puzzlement, then looked at me and asked:
"Wait a minute. I handed that tiger-patterned copper coin over to Little Wang last year. He knows that. What's Baoku still sending you here to ask about?"
His sudden question caught me completely off guard. For a moment, I was tongue-tied, stammering without managing to invent an answer.
Seeing me hem and haw, the village chief seemed to realize something.
"Tsk, tsk. You two youngsters aren't here to fish for information, are you?"
Seeing that I had been exposed, I couldn't keep asking. I said with a smile:
"You must be joking. At your age, what could I possibly trick out of you? We mainly came to pay you a visit!"
Hearing that, the village chief tilted his head and looked around the room, at the floor and the kang.
His face hardened, and he said sternly:
"Don't lie, youngster. You two came empty-handed. Who visits an old man without bringing anything?"
I sighed inwardly. Old ginger really is spicier. Even at his age, he's still so sharp.
I took 200 yuan from my pocket and held it out to him.
"Sir, we were in such a hurry to catch our ride that I forgot to buy you a four-piece gift set. Please take this money!"
The village chief didn't hesitate. He reached out, took it, and said with a beaming smile:
"You're a clever youngster. You nearly pulled one over on this old man!"
The village chief was far too shrewd. At this point, it would be almost impossible to get anything else out of him.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, I left with Little Six. The village chief walked us all the way to the roadside.
Just as I was about to get in the vehicle, he tugged me from behind and whispered:
"Youngster, if there's anything else you want to know, come again. No need for a four-piece gift set. Two hundred yuan will do nicely!"
In the vehicle, Little Six kept asking questions, looking utterly bewildered. My head was a muddle, and I couldn't be bothered to explain.
The trip to Tiger Waist Mountain had been worthwhile after all.
At least I could now safely cross a few more people off my list of people to trust.
Liu Yunbo and Old Wu. Those two had far too many secrets.
What I knew might only be the tip of the iceberg.
As for the book the village chief said Old Wu had taken, I wasn't interested. Even if it was a treasure, even if it was worth hundreds of millions, compared with my life, it was worthless.
Seeing that I wouldn't answer any of his questions, Little Six muttered:
"Seriously, you came all this way, failed to fool an old man, and lost 200 yuan on top of it. Are you stupid?"
I smiled and nodded. Yes, I was stupid. I had trusted so many people and been played for a fool.
Remembering the deaths at the company over the past two weeks, I asked Little Six:
"Little Six, I've been meaning to ask you. We usually get back from the paper mill by a little after one at the latest. But that night, it was already two when you discovered something had happened to the man in black. What were you doing in between?"
Little Six gave another bashful smile.
"Don't even ask. That night, when I drove to the reservoir, I saw a woman about to jump in!"
My eyes went wide.
"What? Jump in?"
"Yeah, into the reservoir. The moonlight was bright that night, and I could see someone standing by the water from a long way off!"
I swallowed in fright and asked loudly:
"You got out? You went to save her?"
Little Six looked at me in confusion and nodded, apparently seeing nothing wrong with it.
I lifted myself off the seat and turned toward him, speaking as though scolding a child:
"Little Six, fine, maybe you've never seen a ghost in your life, but haven't you watched a horror movie?
"It was after midnight, out in the middle of nowhere, and you dared get out? Weren't you fucking scared?"
Little Six gave a dismissive "Oh, come on," and said:
"Buddy, don't get mad, but honestly, I've never believed ghosts exist. I wasn't scared!"
I opened my mouth to curse at him, then thought better of it and held back, asking quietly:
"What happened after that?"
"She was wearing a red dress, and half her body was already in the water. Luckily, I'm strong. I hauled her out."
At the mention of the red dress, I sucked in a cold breath.
I didn't speak to Little Six again for the rest of the journey. Leaving aside whether the woman he had saved was human,
his kindness alone made him unsuited to surviving in this complicated world.
Especially in a world that contained not only humans, but all manner of ghosts and monsters.
Especially when you couldn't even tell which were human and which weren't!
At six that evening, Little Six and I returned to the company. Ever since the two deaths, the atmosphere there had been terribly oppressive.
All the drivers in the yard looked anxious.
The days of them cracking sunflower seeds, holding cups of tea, and shooting the breeze were nowhere to be seen.
The information I had gotten from the village chief made me lose trust in everyone.
I began to question every word Liu Yunbo had said.
That included his claim that I had to keep driving the last bus on Route 13.
That night, I wrestled with myself in the dorm for a long time. In the end, at eleven, I drove the bus out anyway.
My reason was simple. If this one thing Liu Yunbo had said wasn't a lie, I would die for nothing.
I hadn't driven the night shift for several days. Especially after the bronze bell killed someone, the mental burden was heavier than ever.
A cool breeze blew that night, and the moonlight was bright. As before, the bus ran empty all the way from the main terminal to the paper mill.
On the return journey, before reaching the reservoir, I deliberately pressed the accelerator, hoping to rush straight past in one go.
Just as I approached the reservoir, I foolishly glanced toward the water.
That glance was all it took. I spotted a figure walking step by step toward the reservoir. From behind, it looked like a woman.
I checked the time and froze. Twelve fifteen in the morning!
I had never imagined that something Little Six had told me about that very day would happen to me that same night.
The bus was about to pass her. If I didn't brake now, it would be too late to save her.
What should I do? Was she human or a ghost? Should I save her?
My thoughts raced wildly. Seeing someone about to take their own life, without knowing who they were, could I really leave them?
But if I got out to save her, wouldn't I be just as much of an idiot as Little Six?
My mind was a complete mess, and my palms were sweating.
In those final seconds, I gritted my teeth and hit the brakes anyway.
"Fuck it. If I die, I die. What can I do? Deep down, I'm still a good person."
In the end, I hit the brakes.
And ran toward the woman in the red dress by the reservoir, who was about to take her own life.