Chapter 16 Caller ID
“It’s strange to write red letters on white paper.” Ning Zhe supported his chin with one hand and watched with interest as the bald old man finished writing the couplet in a hurry. .
Several villagers who had been waiting for a long time came forward immediately, 4 men and 1 woman. The men worked together in pairs, picked up the upper and lower couplets and walked forward, while the woman held the horizontal batch alone. , the five of them walked towards the door of the ancestral hall together, and it seemed that they were going to paste the newly written couplet on the door of the ancestral hall.
Ning Zhe has been living in the countryside since he was a child. During major festivals such as the Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, prestigious old people in the village will write a few couplets, either directly to people in the village, or posted on At the Dragon King Temple by the river, this kind of scene is no longer surprising.
Traditional couplets, Spring Festival couplets, etc. are generally written on red paper with ink pen. This is the first time Ning Zhe has seen this white paper with red writing in Hejia Village. It looks weird. .
Especially the content of this couplet:
The first couplet: [The pearls and jade in the Ba snake case bear witness to the ancestors]
The second couplet: [The descendants in front of the lotus hall add fragrance together]
Horizontal comment : [It has a long history]
“This couplet does not look like it is for a festival or happy event. There was no time to sing praises to the snake god. The contents of the upper and lower couplets and horizontal batches were just explaining one thing. "Ning Zhe looked down at the bald old man who had finished writing the couplet and cleaned his hands with a copper basin, and said softly to himself: " The descendants of the He family put incense in front of the lotus hall and offered pearls and jade in front of the Ba Snake Case to prove their ancestors.”
Unsurprisingly, the Lotus Hall refers to this ancestral hall, and the Ba Snake Case... probably refers to the round table enshrining the wooden sculpture of the snake god.
The incomprehensible couplets and ambiguous words make it impossible to tell what they want to express. Is it possible that the people of this village gathered here without breakfast early in the morning just to establish a relationship with the snake god?
Don’t say it, it’s really possible.
In addition, there are far more abnormalities in Hejiacun.
Generally speaking, the more backward and isolated an area is, the more traditional and conservative its customs are, the stronger the clan concept, and the more attention it pays to building face in a symbolic sense.
However, the ancestral hall in Hejia Village is quite dilapidated and in disrepair. It looks very shabby. There are spider webs in the corners of the walls. Two or three tiles have fallen off from the corners of the roof. No one has come to repair it for an unknown period of time. It is raining heavily outside. It was raining lightly, and Ning Zhe felt that the tablets of the He family's ancestors might get moldy if placed together with the statue of the snake god in such an environment.
But despite this, this ancestral hall is still relatively the most magnificent building in this neighborhood. At least it has a tall apartment and two more pillars. It can be seen that at least it was taken seriously when the ancestral hall was built. Yes, other surrounding houses are shorter than the ancestral hall, and it is the most spacious.
After posting the couplets, the crowd in front of the ancestral hall knelt down and worshiped again, repeating the sacrificial words just now in a low tone over and over again. This large-scale collective sacrificial activity continued until the sun rose in the sky At 06:28 in the morning, the crowd finally showed signs of dispersing.
Looking at the crowd gradually dispersing, Ning Zhe said nothing and fell into deep thought.
Feng Yushu wisely did not disturb her. The calm, pious and orderly collective sacrifice just now gave her a lot of impact and psychological pressure, which was indescribably weird.
"I said, Auntie, did you notice something was wrong?" Ning Zhe suddenly asked.
"Well...what do you think is wrong?" Feng Yushu was a little unsure. In fact, she felt that there was nothing right about this sacrifice from the beginning.
Ning Zhe raised his finger and pointed at the backs of the villagers leaving one by one on the street: "From gathering to leaving, this group of people showed unusual coordination. It was obviously such a large number of people. Gathering, there was no bumping into each other among the crowds of people. It’s crowded, and everyone strictly abides by some kind of order that I don’t know. To be honest, my classmates and I never had such strong discipline during military training in high school.”
And these villagers are not only disciplined. , the level of personnel dispatch and the consistency of actions are even comparable to those of the military.
“It’s as if everyone is the same person.” Ning Zhe suddenly said such a meaningless sentence. "Alone?" Feng Yushu couldn't quite understand what he was talking about.
While I was wondering, there was a sudden buzzing vibration in my thigh. It was the phone ringing.
Feng Yushu quickly took out her cell phone from her skirt. When she lowered her head and looked down, her already wary expression suddenly froze on her face.
The caller is: [Lin Zhiyuan]
"How is it possible..." Feng Yushu's lips trembled slightly, her shoulders shrank, and her hands trembled, as if she was not holding a mobile phone. It was the head of a fierce ghost that came to claim his life, and he couldn't wait to throw this hot potato out immediately.
But Ning Zhe stopped her from doing so.
"Calm down." Ning Zhe grabbed Feng Yushu's cold wrist, ran his fingers across the buzzing and trembling mobile phone screen in her hand, and hung up the call.
"Ning Zhe..." Feng Yushu's panic suddenly disappeared, as if he had suddenly found a backbone that he could rely on. He took the phone from his hand and asked nervously: "What's going on? Ning Zhe, isn't Lin Zhiyuan dead? "Why did he call me?"
How did a dead person know her phone number?
"You also know that dead people cannot move. Why do you think it is Lin Zhiyuan himself who is calling you?" Ning Zhe asked back: "Maybe someone else is using his cell phone to call you. Call.”
Just like Xie Sining who had died in the river at that time.
Feng Yushu bit her lip lightly. After a brief panic, she calmed down again. In fact, she could understand Ning Zhe's meaning to some extent, but the possibility he hinted at might be even greater than Lin Zhiyuan's resurrection of the dead. Horrible and unacceptable.
"Is that ghost calling me?" Feng Yushu asked in a trembling voice.
Ning Zhe was noncommittal: "Maybe, who knows?"
After the crowd dispersed, Ning Zhe took Feng Yushu off the roof of the ancestral hall and returned to the ground.
At the same time, between 6 and 7 o'clock in the morning, in the central area of Hejia Village, in the quaint mansion with the 'He Mansion' plaque hanging high, a middle-aged man in a suit and ties was walking among the deserted flowers. .
A strand of half-wet and half-dry hair fell on the forehead, making people feel a little itchy. Zhang Yangxu casually pulled back the strand of hair that was disobedient without hairspray, and listened intently to the footsteps outside the wall. They were the sounds of villagers returning from the He Mansion to 'sacrifice the gods'.
The sound of footsteps sounded, indicating that he did not have much time.
"Ye Miaozhu is too emotional. Is there any point in me going to trouble to find her?" Zhang Yangxu couldn't help but ask himself.
While he was hesitating, suddenly, Zhang Yangxu's coat pocket also vibrated.
He took out his cell phone and looked down. The caller ID read:
[Gu Yunqing]
(End of Chapter)