The young cowherd's broad face drew closer and closer to mine, almost touching the tip of my nose.
At this life-or-death moment, my leg had gone numb!
I screamed, "Ah!" and ran forward like a madman.
"Liu Qingzhu, save me!"
Just as the young cowherd was about to pounce on me, I saw the wooden door of the ramshackle house up ahead fly open with a bang!
Liu Qingzhu stood in the doorway, leaning on his stick. His emerald-green right eye looked especially striking in the moonlight!
Something seemed to have rattled the young cowherd. He immediately turned tail and fled in terror.
Still shaken and panting hard, I scrambled to my feet and limped toward Liu Qingzhu, dragging my numb right leg.
Seeing this, Liu Qingzhu hurried over in alarm too.
"What happened, young man? Did you hurt your leg?"
The question threw me. At a time like this, could I really admit my leg had gone numb?
"It's nothing. I just banged it!"
Only then did Liu Qingzhu look up in relief. He glanced around and said:
"That thing must have spotted us. Pretty sharp!"
I wiped the sweat off my forehead with my sleeve, actually soaking it through.
"Old Master Liu, what did you see in that little shack?"
Liu Qingzhu closed his eyes, shook his head, and said:
"If you want to be able to eat anything for the next month, don't ask."
Though I was very curious about the screams from the shack and whatever that woman had dragged inside, Liu Qingzhu's refusal probably meant it was utterly disgusting in there.
With that thought, I stopped asking and followed Liu Qingzhu back to the village chief's house.
On the way, I looked the filthy, scrawny old man before me up and down again.
I had always thought of him as a malicious ghost who had burned to death ten years ago, but now he actually had quite the air of a master.
Especially the moment he had kicked that wooden door open. That presence was something else!
"Old Master Liu, that fellow looked terrified when he saw you just now. Seems like he's really scared of you?"
Liu Qingzhu kept his head down as he walked and merely gave a quiet "Mm."
"If you're that capable, why are we sneaking around? Why don't we just charge into the house?"
Liu Qingzhu slowed down, glanced back at me, and said irritably:
"If I were twenty years younger, you wouldn't have to tell me that. With my legs the way they are now, could I catch him?"
Seeing Liu Qingzhu's temper flare, I could only stay out of the line of fire. I didn't dare make a sound for a good while.
By the time we returned to the village chief's house, it was almost two in the morning. I lay down and was just about to close my eyes when I suddenly remembered something extremely important!
Liu Qingzhu had promised to tell me the truth if I went with him tonight. Unable to wait, I spoke up:
"Old Master Liu, you promised before we left. If I did as you said and went with you, you'd tell me the secrets you knew!"
Liu Qingzhu nodded and said:
"All right, ask. What do you want to know? One thing!"
I drew a deep breath. There was far, far too much I wanted to know, but now that I could ask about only one thing, I couldn't decide whom to ask about.
Then I suddenly came to my senses again. Right, I had to establish who could help me first. I had just witnessed Liu Qingzhu's abilities firsthand.
He was absolutely top-notch, unlike Liu Yunbo, who had only talked big and given me a bracelet back then.
What I needed to establish now was whether Liu Qingzhu, my new backer, was someone I could rely on.
Having settled on my question, I said:
"I heard a fire at the residential complex at 2386 Huaiyuan Road ten years ago killed half a building's worth of people. I want to know whether you burned to death back then. Are you human or a ghost now?"
Liu Qingzhu took off his shoes and climbed onto the kang. After slipping under the covers, he answered quietly:
"That fire ten years ago didn't kill me. I'm human, not a ghost."
Hearing that, I finally felt a great weight lift off my heart.
"Then was Liu Yunbo the one who burned to death? Is he human or a ghost?"
Liu Qingzhu rolled over with his back to me.
"I said you could ask only one question. If you want to ask more, do as I say!"
Though Liu Qingzhu's answer just now had seemed casual, it had also been very sincere and upright.
I believed him completely and was too happy to sleep.
It was truly ironic. After all this time, I had finally fucking figured out whether one of the people around me was human or a ghost!
What about the others? No rush. One by one, I would get to the bottom of them all.
I made my plans. From now on, I would stick with Liu Qingzhu. Since Liu Qingzhu was human, Liu Yunbo had to be a ghost.
He must have been the one who burned to death ten years ago!
At that thought, I sucked in a cold breath. Could the black-beaded bracelet he had given me really have been made from human eyeballs?
I hadn't slept at all the night before. As I kept thinking, drowsiness came over me, and I drifted off without realizing it.
By the time I woke, the sun was already high. I opened my eyes to find the village chief and Liu Qingzhu staring at me, one on either side.
Startled, I asked:
"What are you doing? Why are you two staring at me?"
The village chief twisted his mouth.
"You're already in your thirties. How come you're like a kid, not getting up unless someone calls you?"
I picked up my phone and checked the time. Damn, it was noon.
I sat up and pulled on my clothes. Beside me, Liu Qingzhu leaned on his stick and said mildly:
"Can you stay another night?"
"Another night?"
I should have been on duty last night. Little Six had already covered one night for me. If I didn't go back tonight either, I didn't know whether he would still be willing.
I hesitated a moment. "Then can I ask another question?"
Liu Qingzhu nodded. "Of course!"
"Then I'll stay another night, but this is the last one. I've already missed a day of work!"
Liu Qingzhu gave a rare hint of a smile, then got up and went to the east room with the village chief.
I wasn't someone who bullied the weak and feared the strong. I felt bad asking Little Six to cover another day, but I really wanted to seize such a good opportunity to unravel these mysteries.
After the meal, I called Little Six.
Little Six cheerfully agreed over the phone, repeatedly assuring me it was fine. If I wanted to stay, I could stay a few more days. He could handle it.
I was actually quite touched. Though Little Six had no money or standing, no ability or looks, no girlfriend or friends, no brains or guile, he was kind and got things done.
He really was a good brother.
Liu Qingzhu seemed very pleased that I had agreed, and he was particularly talkative today.
We strolled around the village chatting and happened to reach the old well at the village entrance, wrapped in red cloth and planted with red flags. Puzzled, I asked:
"Old Liu, the first time I came to this village, I wanted to take a look at this well, but a young fellow stopped me. Is there something about it?"
Liu Qingzhu froze briefly when he heard me call him Old Liu, then said coldly:
"There's not much wrong with this village. It's this well that's the most unusual."
"Not much wrong with it? Have you forgotten what happened last night? I think it's even eerier than Fengmen Village on TV!"
Liu Qingzhu seemed not to have heard me. His eyes remained fixed on the old well.
"Old Liu, you're so powerful. What's one well to you? Come on, let's get closer and take a look!"
I was just about to step forward when Liu Qingzhu grabbed me.
His withered hand was surprisingly strong. His grip left my arm burning with pain.
"Don't look. Never mind me-even the whole of the Northeast would be powerless against this well!"
Seeing how serious Liu Qingzhu looked, I instinctively took a step back.
After watching from a distance for a while, I asked:
"So are we still going to catch those two tonight?"
Liu Qingzhu nodded, then turned and headed back.
Night came again.
The village chief hadn't drunk tonight. When he heard we were going out, he was so frightened his old teeth nearly fell out.
"What are you going out for? What are you going out for? Do you have a death wish?"
With a look of utter disbelief, the village chief leaned against the door, refusing to let us out.
No matter how Liu Qingzhu and I explained, the village chief wouldn't listen to a word.
"To tell you the truth, our village used to be called Tiger Demon Village, with 'demon' in the name. It was only changed to the 'waist' in 'mountainside' during the Cultural Revolution's campaign to destroy the Four Olds. Do you understand?"
Liu Qingzhu glanced at the clock on the wall. I didn't see him make any particular move; he merely met the village chief's eyes, and the chief sank to the floor in a daze and began snoring.
I lifted the village chief onto the kang, then hurried out after Liu Qingzhu.
"Old Liu, you know hypnosis too?"
Liu Qingzhu didn't follow that line of conversation. He said quietly:
"We have to catch this thing tonight. If he gets another two nights to feed, we'll be in trouble!"
"Are we staking the place out again?"
Liu Qingzhu shook his head. "He left home long ago. We're going to the northern slope!"
I followed Liu Qingzhu along the path all the way to the little hillside to the north. It was overgrown with weeds, with no one farming there, but there were quite a few burial mounds.
The hillside was littered with dead rats and bats. I looked up into the distance and got a terrible fright.
I quickly pointed ahead and said to Liu Qingzhu:
"Old Liu, look! Someone's digging up a grave!"
Not far away on the northern side of the slope, two figures were frantically digging at something in front of a burial mound.
Liu Qingzhu gestured for me to keep quiet.
He crouched and circled around from the side.
I followed close behind him, my heart pounding nervously again.
The two figures were digging away with gusto, completely oblivious to our movements.
When Liu Qingzhu was three to five meters away, he aimed ahead and sent the stick in his hand flying with a whoosh.
The stick struck one of them squarely, immediately drawing a wretched howl.
Liu Qingzhu glanced back at me and shouted:
"Get them!"
At the sight of Liu Qingzhu, the two fled downhill for their lives.
The woman was clearly injured and wasn't running very fast.
The two ran ahead, with Liu Qingzhu and me chasing behind.
We chased them all the way down the slope. At the fork in the village road, the two actually split up, one running east and the other west.
I was just about to chase the young cowherd when Old Liu, panting heavily, pointed at the woman to the west and told me to chase her.
The woman seemed badly injured and looked as though she was about to run out of strength.
I sprinted after her. Just as I was about to catch up, I suddenly remembered something.
My heart instantly clenched!
Seeing me stop suddenly, Liu Qingzhu asked in confusion:
"What are you doing? Keep chasing!"
I looked at Liu Qingzhu in alarm and said:
"Oh no! When we came out just now, I think I forgot to close the village chief's door!"