By then, I was practically on the verge of falling apart.
Things were already chaotic enough. Why had another one shown up?
On the day it happened, I had looked into the hall from a distance. Although I hadn't seen her face, those clothes and that figure belonged to the same person.
How was she standing in front of me alive and well just a few days later?
Was she really the one who had died that day?
I gave her a timid look and stammered:
"Miss, whatever's going on with you, I did save your life. You... keep that in mind!"
The girl in the red dress burst out laughing:
"You're a strange one. A few nights ago, you dared to get off the bus and save me after midnight, but now, just a few days later, you're treating me like a ghost?"
I nodded awkwardly and started the bus.
Along the way, I kept watching the girl in the red dress through the rearview mirror. She sat in the back with her head down, playing on her phone the whole time.
I cleared my throat and asked:
"Miss, where are you going in the middle of the night?"
Without even looking up, she answered quietly:
"To the funeral home!"
Screeech-
I slammed the brake pedal all the way down.
The bus lurched forward, and the girl in the back cried, "Ow!"
My throat went dry.
"The funeral home?"
Without another thought, I hurriedly opened the front door and bolted.
Half my body was already out of the bus when I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye.
The girl in the red dress was clutching her forehead with a pained expression, her hand covered in blood.
Wait, did ghosts bleed?
I kept staring at her with one foot outside and the other still on the bus.
The girl in the red dress grew upset instead.
"What's wrong with you? Why are you driving the last bus if you're such a coward?"
I panted without saying a word, still staring intently at her.
She took out a tissue and pressed it to her forehead. Before long, it was soaked through with the blood flowing from her forehead.
"I've been abroad these past few years, while my boyfriend stayed back home. But I couldn't reach him for the past month. When I flew back, I found out he'd died a few days ago!"
She spoke softly, and by the last sentence, her voice was choked with tears.
"We grew up together and loved each other deeply. I couldn't come to terms with it. I tried to kill myself twice, but you and another driver saved me."
I let out a long breath and pulled my foot back inside the bus.
"Then why are you going to the funeral home in the middle of the night?"
"After trying to die twice and failing, I've come to terms with it. I bought a plane ticket back for the day after tomorrow. I just wanted to see him at the funeral home before I left!"
With that, she removed the blood-soaked tissue and pressed a few fresh ones against her forehead.
I returned to the driver's seat. Neither of us spoke, and things grew awkward for a while.
I gave a fake cough and slowly started the bus again.
After we entered the city, she got off. Before leaving, she pressed a thick envelope into my hand.
Once she had walked away, I opened the envelope. Inside were two thick stacks of banknotes and a note:
Thank you for saving my life. I actually took your bus into the city tonight specifically to thank you. If the other driver who saved me is your coworker, please pass his share of the money on to him and thank him for me.
I folded the note, tucked the money away, and cursed myself the whole way.
All the scares lately had really addled my brain. The girl who had died kneeling before the bronze bell a few days earlier must have been like that fat man the first time-just someone dressed the same way.
Early the next morning, I tossed a thick stack of money onto Little Six's bed.
When Little Six saw all that money, his mouth fell open in an O.
"What's this, buddy? Did the company give us a bonus?"
"Yeah! They heard you saved someone a few days ago. It's a bonus from the higher-ups."
Little Six grinned from ear to ear, then turned around and put the money away.
I stood there stunned, watching him put it away without asking anything else about where it had come from!
In more than thirty years of life, he really was the first person I'd met whose mind was that simple.
"I need to go to Tiger Waist Mountain again. I might stay a day. If I'm not back, cover my route for a day!"
Little Six asked in confusion:
"What for? Going to scam that old man again and lose another two hundred?"
I rolled my eyes at him and said:
"It's personal. Just remember to sign in for me and cover my route."
"Sure. Since I just got a bonus, I'll treat you to a proper feast!"
With that, Little Six put an arm around me and took me out to a restaurant.
I couldn't taste a thing during that meal. I kept thinking about what Sixth Uncle had told me the night before.
"You need to keep looking for the secret of the two-story building!"
The secret he meant had to be the other two document envelopes.
But what did Old Tang's secret have to do with Sixth Uncle?
Even stranger, Sixth Uncle not only knew about the two-story building, he even knew about the tiger-patterned copper coin Old Wu had mentioned!
Those words of his remained etched in my mind:
"If you want to live past the fifteenth day of next lunar month, you have to go to Tiger Waist Mountain and find a tiger-patterned copper coin."
No matter how unwilling I was, I still had to grit my teeth and go.
Tiger Waist Mountain Village.
Coming here again felt like a lifetime had passed.
The villagers were busy working in the fields. I really envied how simple their lives always were.
My dealings with the village chief last time had given me some understanding of him. His greatest weakness was his greed for money.
So this time, I brought the entire stack of money the girl in red had given me the night before.
I'd gotten it under false pretenses anyway. If it could save my life, I would still come out ahead.
I got off the bus and headed straight for the village chief's house. At a corner near the village entrance, I ran into the young man who had been leading a cow last time.
He held a water bottle in his left hand and led the old cow with his right. When he saw me, his indifferent expression turned into a smile, then abruptly turned indifferent again, just as before!
As I passed him, I gave him a polite nod.
To my surprise, he suddenly grabbed me and poured the contents of the bottle in his left hand over my head.
As he poured, he grinned foolishly and said, "It'll taste better with some soy sauce!"
I hurriedly broke free and gave him a hard shove.
A woman working in the fields rushed over, pulled him behind her, and said apologetically:
"I'm so sorry. My son isn't right in the head. He didn't hurt you, did he?"
I wiped the water off myself and replied glumly:
"Forget it. It's fine!"
I turned and continued toward the village chief's house. I hadn't gone far when I thought I faintly heard the woman whisper:
"Son, do you really want to eat it?"
By the time I looked back, the two of them were leading the old cow farther and farther away.
I shook my head. With so much going on during the day and so little rest at night lately, I was utterly exhausted.
The village chief's courtyard was still as spacious as ever. As luck would have it, he was threshing corn there.
When he saw me, he stood up with a smile:
"Well, well, our little God of Wealth is back!"
I shook his hand awkwardly and said:
"Chief, just call me Little Li. I've come to see you again!"
Holding my hand, the village chief grinned from ear to ear and led me inside.
"Little Li, you only left a few days ago. What brings you back?"
The village chief was shrewd, so I didn't dare blurt out my request. Instead, I told him:
"Chief, it's nothing much. Work's just been stressful lately. I was thinking I could spend a night out here in the countryside. Would that be all right?"
The village chief narrowed his eyes in a smile and nodded:
"Of course. Why wouldn't it be? You can stay a few extra days if you like. I have two rooms, and I usually live here alone!"
After exchanging a few more pleasantries, he went to prepare bedding for me that night.
I took the opportunity to buy some baijiu and cooked food at the village shop.
On my way back from the shop, every household I passed was busy shutting its chickens and ducks into their sheds.
Strangely, though, all those animal sheds had padlocks. I was from the countryside too, and my family had raised chickens and ducks.
Our chicken coop and duck shed were just simple little shelters. Once the birds were herded inside, we only had to prop something against the doors.
Why did they need to lock their sheds? Was security in their village that bad?
On the way, I also met a child who anxiously asked whether I had seen his family's missing cow.
I shook my head, and an old man behind him pulled him back, saying:
"It's getting dark. Stop looking. Forget the cow!"
When I returned to the village chief's house, he was so pleased to see the baijiu and cooked food I had brought that his eyes nearly disappeared into his smile.
We sat at the little table on the heated brick bed, and I filled a cup with baijiu for him.
"Chief, I'm sorry for imposing on you today!"
"Oh, you're not imposing. It's nice to have someone to chat with."
I drank a toast to him, picked up a piece of pork head meat, and said with feigned casualness:
"By the way, Chief, I'm quite interested in that Demon Cave you mentioned last time. Could you tell me more about it?"
He smiled and pointed at me.
"You youngsters are only interested in strange places like that!"
I nodded in agreement.
"That Demon Cave is at the west end of the village. It used to be a cornfield, but then a tomb was dug up underneath it!"
"A tomb?"
I exclaimed in surprise, because that wasn't what Old Wu had told me. He had said it was only a narrow, enclosed tunnel.
"Yes, and what a huge tomb it was. A few bold fools sneaked inside. If I hadn't happened to pass by, they would all have died in there."
The village chief pointed at a photograph on the wall. "There, those are the rascals!"
I smiled and said:
"Aren't those Old Wu and the others? Old Wu and I are pretty close. I know those men quite well."
The village chief sighed.
"They were close before they went down into the Demon Cave."
I drank another toast to him, leaned a little closer, and asked:
"What happened? Old Wu told me about those things. They didn't seem worth much to me!"
The village chief took exception to that.
"Not worth much? You're wrong there. Two treasures were brought out of the Demon Cave. Someone who dealt in that stuff came to the village specifically to buy them, and offered a seven-figure sum!"
I'd thought I was a lightweight, but the village chief was even worse.
After just two cups, his eyes were already glazed. As he said "seven figures," he actually made the hand gesture for six.
"But those things are a little uncanny, especially that copper... coin..."
As he spoke, he began swaying from side to side. Before he could finish his last sentence, he slumped over the table, unable to speak.
I slapped my thigh. Now I'd done it-I'd given him too much.
I cleared the table, hurriedly laid him down, and covered him with a quilt.
The village chief's two rooms faced each other, one to the east and one to the west. Once I had settled him, I went into the west room.
As I crawled under the covers, I was still thinking about the copper coin. Beating around the bush like this wasn't getting me anywhere.
I made up my mind to slap that stack of money on the table in the morning and lay my cards on the table with him.
I checked the time. It was midnight. I had just turned off the light to go to sleep when I heard a rapid knocking at the door.
Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock...
I raised my head and asked:
"Who is it? Chief, are you awake?"
There was no answer from behind the door, only another round of knocking.
Knock, knock, knock...
I figured the village chief must still be confused from the drink, so I climbed out from under the covers to open the door.
Just as I was about to pull it open, a sentence suddenly came back to me.
It was the message that woman at 2386 Huaiyuan Road had passed on for Liu Qingzhu half a month earlier.
"If someone knocks, don't open the door!"
I hesitated, withdrew my hand, and asked quietly through the door:
"Is that you, Chief? I've already gone to bed. What do you need?"
There was still no answer from the other side.
"Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump..."
I sensed something was wrong and took a few steps back.
Even if it was the village chief, what did he want with me in the middle of the night?
I sat back down on the kang, staring hard at the door, and didn't respond again.
"Thump, thump, thump... thump, thump, thump..."
The knocking actually kept coming in bursts until three in the morning.
I stayed on edge the whole time, not daring to relax for even a moment.
Only when I heard a rooster crow did I finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Day had broken.
After the knocking stopped, I was still too terrified to sleep. I just sat on the kang wrapped in my quilt all night.
A little after six, the village chief nervously pushed the door open and came in.
Seeing me sitting on the kang, he let out a long sigh of relief.
He walked over to the kang and asked me quietly, "You didn't open the door last night, did you?"
With dark circles under my eyes from a sleepless night, I nodded and asked:
"What, wasn't that you knocking?"
The village chief was just about to speak when the knocking actually started again.
"Thump, thump, thump... thump, thump, thump..."
Earlier, when it was dark and I was alone in the room, I hadn't dared do anything rash. But now it was broad daylight, and my short temper flared right up.
I grabbed the little stool off the floor and, throwing caution to the wind, opened the door and swung it.
"Ouch!" came a cry from behind the door.
I looked with my eyes wide open and got quite a fright.
It was Liu Qingzhu!