The finger bone in my pocket fell onto the dining table, putting an end to the meal.
It threw the whole family into a panic. Once they recovered, they drove Old Liu and me out with sticks.
Only half full, I walked down the village road, growing angrier the more I thought about it.
It had been her, and she had dropped the thing, yet now she refused to admit it.
Old Liu sighed beside me.
"You take things too seriously. A young woman walking back from the city in the dead of night, then refusing to admit it-don't you understand what that means?"
Old Liu's words suddenly made me realize.
I slapped my forehead and cried:
"Oh, I'm such an idiot! And I went and announced it in public. No wonder she wouldn't admit it!"
I thought some more and asked:
"But what about the red cloth bag and the finger bone? Why would she have those?"
Old Liu shook his head.
"I don't see anything wrong with that young woman. That red cloth bag doesn't look like it belongs to her."
That made sense. Quite a few villagers had gotten off through the front door for convenience, too. Someone might just have dropped it where that woman had been sitting.
With our meal cut short and nowhere to stay, Old Liu and I asked a few more villagers and learned that Tangwazi Village had three households surnamed Guan.
We decided to try our luck at the nearest one first.
At a fork in the village road stood a large weeping willow. Its trunk was thick and its foliage lush; it looked eighty or a hundred years old.
A left turn at the fork led to the first Guan household.
The house stood at the edge of the fields. Its roof tiles were badly weathered, and many cracks ran through its walls. It was clearly a poor household.
Old Liu and I went inside to look. The interior was even more dilapidated. An old woman sat on a little stool, feeding the stove.
Seeing us enter, she asked in a raspy voice:
"Don't know you two. What do you want?"
She looked quite old, and I worried she might be hard of hearing, so I hurried a few steps closer and said:
"Ma'am, we're from the city. Where's your family?"
The old woman waved a hand.
"Live alone!"
Though shabby, the house did have an east room and a west room.
I took a hundred yuan out of my pocket and offered it to her.
"Could the two of us stay here tonight and have a meal?"
She refused the money and pushed my hand away.
"Go ahead. Room's empty. No charge!"
Since entering the village, I had met nothing but kind, honest villagers. There had been none of the hostility toward outsiders Old Liu and Bai Fan had described.
Though she wouldn't take the money, I decided to leave it on the kang when we left.
The old woman had trouble getting around. With two extra mouths to feed, she lifted the pot lid and tossed in two more pieces of meat.
The west room had been used for storage. Old Liu and I tidied it up a little, then went to help in the kitchen.
It was a thoroughly satisfying dinner, and the old woman was genuinely hospitable. Afterward, she even poured each of us a cup of hot water.
Holding my cup, I went outside for a walk.
It was past seven in the countryside, time for the villagers to eat dinner after a day's work. In the distance, cooking smoke rose from every rooftop.
What a picturesque sight!
Before long, I reached the big willow at the fork. An old man with snow-white hair was sitting beneath it, enjoying the cool air.
He looked quite elderly, probably one of the village's older generation. Thinking he might know something about Guan Jun's whereabouts, I went over and sat beside him.
"Sir, finished dinner?"
The white-haired old man turned to look at me, then smiled and nodded.
"Have you lived in this village for many years, sir?"
"Oh my," the old man said.
"I've lived in this village so long I can barely remember!"
Pleased that he really was a longtime local, I continued:
"Do you know someone in this village called Guan Jun?"
He showed no particular surprise at the name Guan Jun, merely nodding calmly.
"I do. Not many come to the village looking for him. You're unusually well-informed, young fellow!"
Hearing that he knew Guan Jun delighted me even more.
I was just opening my mouth to ask more about Guan Jun when the old man spoke first:
"Young fellow, let me ask you something. Why are you running around with a burned ghost?"
The white-haired old man's question stunned me.
A burned ghost!?
I hadn't even drunk the hot water in my hands, but sweat broke out on my forehead. He had to mean Old Liu!
Forcing myself to stay calm, I replied:
"You really like to joke, sir. Are you saying a burned ghost is following the two of us?"
The white-haired old man shook his head.
"Following you!"
I couldn't help shuddering.
That settled it. His meaning was clear: he was indeed talking about Liu Qingzhu!
Puzzled, I was about to ask more.
Old Liu called from a distance:
"Little Li, where are you?"
I raised my head to answer, then remembered the white-haired old man beside me and turned to look.
He was gone!
I let out a long breath, got up, and went to meet Old Liu. Seeing that I looked unwell, he asked quietly:
"The sun's already set. What are you wandering around for?"
I replied briefly:
"Old Liu, I just met a white-haired old man and asked him. He said there is someone called Guan Jun in this village!"
Old Liu looked around.
"It's almost dark. What old man?"
Not knowing how to explain, I simply said I had met him outside someone's house.
That night, lying right beside Old Liu, I kept thinking about the white-haired old man.
At first, I had readily believed Sixth Uncle and spent a long time thinking Old Liu was a burned ghost. But ever since Tiger Waist Mountain, Old Liu and I had faced life and death together and been through so much. I already knew him thoroughly in every respect. Now, I couldn't simply believe a strange old man's words.
After daybreak, the old woman went into the courtyard to weed. Having only arrived last night, I hadn't dared ask about Guan Jun, afraid we might be driven out again with nowhere to stay.
Now I approached and asked quietly:
"Ma'am, could I ask you about someone?"
She stopped working and looked up.
"Ask what?"
"Guan Jun. Do you know him?"
Her expression didn't change at Guan Jun's name. She simply shook her head and went back to work.
There were three Guan households in the village.
The old woman's was one. If he wasn't here, Guan Jun had to belong to one of the other two.
Old Liu and I headed straight for the second Guan household, on the west side of the village.
This family was better off. Their brick-and-tile house had been renovated, and a large German shepherd was tethered in the courtyard.
We had just reached the gate when we happened to meet the family coming out with farming tools, heading to work in the fields.
I hurried after them in a few long strides and asked:
"Hello, sir. Off to work in the fields?"
The man carrying a pesticide sprayer looked me up and down.
"What do you want?"
"I'm from the city. Could you tell me whether Guan Jun is part of your family?"
At the name Guan Jun, the man froze and stepped back, then swore:
"What the fuck are you talking about? He's no family of ours. Get lost!"
With that, he stormed toward the fields along with the several people behind him.
I didn't know why this man had reacted so strongly to Guan Jun's name.
Since Guan Jun didn't belong to either of those families, he had to belong to the last Guan household!
The third Guan household was in the middle of the village. Its house was grand, roofed with rarely seen glazed tiles.
Even the courtyard was paved with concrete. One glance told us this was a wealthy family.
We knocked at the gate for ages before a sleepy-eyed fat woman came out. Looking at us through the gate, she asked impatiently:
"What do you want?"
I quickly said respectfully:
"Guan Jun is a member of your family, isn't he? We've come to see him about something!"
She was just about to yawn, but abruptly stifled it upon hearing Guan Jun's name and said in alarm:
"Guan Jun? What do you want with him?"
Not understanding her reaction, I continued:
"There are some things we need to ask him. Is he home?"
Her expression changed at once, and she shouted:
"What do you mean, is he home? Our family would never produce a monster like that! You two, get the hell out of here!"
With that, she pushed the gate shut, turned, and went into the house.
This was strange. Wang Dazhong hadn't sounded at all like he was lying, and the white-haired old man beneath the willow last night had also said Guan Jun was from this village.
Now all three Guan households denied having such a person. Which family did Guan Jun actually belong to?
After discussing it with Old Liu, we had no other options left. We would have to find the village chief!
Meeting Tangwazi Village's chief suddenly reminded me of the old village chief at Tiger Waist Mountain, and sadness welled up inside me.
This chief had short legs and wasn't tall, but his face was fierce. He plainly wasn't someone to be pushed around.
After hearing why we had come, he displayed the same exaggerated disbelief as everyone else.
"Looking for Guan Jun? What do you want with him?"
I had answered that question over and over already and was just about to repeat myself.
The chief asked another question:
"You two arrived yesterday. Where did you stay?"
I smiled and said:
"With the old woman surnamed Guan, by the western entrance to the village!"
At this, the chief recoiled in terror and looked at us with disgust.
"You stayed at her place? That old woman's not right in the head. She's always going up the mountain to dig up graves. You two didn't eat meat at her house last night, did you?"