Chapter 4: A Mei Family Daughter Grows Up (Part 1)
A widower’s home always had a musty smell of damp firewood and dust. If you shifted your weight even slightly, you could see tiny white dust particles explode like miniature clouds. A yellowing calendar made of thin, pearlescent paper hung on the worn wall, displaying the number 11 in bright, blood-red ink.
Isn’t it the 24th? Did the old man forget to tear off the calendar pages?
Lu Li sat down on a small, three-legged chair and watched as the old man poured him a cup of hot water. “My surname is Gong. I’m the village head of Shanzhu Village. You can tell me what you need.”
“Hello, Grandpa Gong. My name is Lu Li. I’m here to visit a friend’s grandparents. I heard they moved back to Shanzhu Village many years ago, and she hasn’t seen them for a long time…” Lu Li spoke vaguely, not revealing all the information. “I only know that her grandfather’s name is Mei Xiuzheng and her grandmother’s name is Wu Siqian.”
The teacup in Lu Li’s hand was covered in rust, the rim stained with dark spots. He hesitated to drink from it. The teacup was printed with slogans promoting family planning, clearly an old item.
“A grandchild of the Mei family…” Village Head Gong murmured, taking out a pouch of tobacco and some rolling paper from the cabinet. “Do you smoke?”
“No, thank you.”
Village Head Gong slowly rolled a cigarette, sat down on the chair opposite Lu Li, and fumbled for a match, finally finding one in his slipper. “I’m getting old, my memory isn’t what it used to be.” This was the first time Lu Li had seen someone light a cigarette with a match.
“Old Mei’s daughter actually has children outside…” The wrinkles on the old man’s face were dark, as if stained with dirt. He puffed on his hand-rolled cigarette for a long time, saying nothing, as if he had forgotten that Lu Li was still there. Lu Li wasn’t in a hurry. Elderly people were like this, prone to forgetfulness. One moment they were talking, the next they couldn’t remember what they were doing.
“I thought the Mei family line had ended.” Finally, Village Head Gong coughed a couple of times. “Why are you looking for the Mei family? I’ve been working in this village for decades, I know more about some things than even Old Mei did.”
Is that so?
Lu Li remained silent for a moment, then decided to take out the now useless heart-shaped pendant. “This is a relic from my friend’s mother. I’m here to…”
“Woof! Woof!”
The yellow dog lying in the courtyard suddenly barked ferociously, as if sensing a hostile presence. Lu Li looked towards the door worriedly, only able to see through the crack that the dog’s ears were perked up, its teeth bared, barking furiously at something in the distance. Village Head Gong exhaled a cloud of smoke. “…Don’t worry, Zhaocai always barks at everything…”
He’s lying.
Lu Li said to himself silently.
That dog, although he had only met it once, was undoubtedly an obedient and sensible dog. It wouldn’t bark at someone for no reason.
Village Head Gong silently examined the heart-shaped pendant in Lu Li’s hand, remaining silent for a long time.
“Do you know its origin?”
The old man’s eyes narrowed. “No, it looks like an ordinary toy.”
He’s still lying.
Most people would subconsciously avoid eye contact when they lied, and this old man was no exception. Lu Li calmly put the pendant away. “Then can I go take a look at the old Mei residence?”
“You’d better not.” Village Head Gong took a puff of his cigarette. “That hill has become a graveyard. When people in the village die, they’re buried near the old Mei residence. With so many dead people, the Yin energy gathers there. It’s not safe. No one in the village dares to go near the old Mei residence. If you have any questions about the Mei family, you can just ask me…”
Clang. The sound of tiles falling came from outside the house. How could tiles fall off on their own?
The yellow dog barked even more ferociously, as if it had rabies.
“It’s just a bird.” The old man explained.
Only the butt of his cigarette remained. The old man tossed it on the floor and crushed it with his worn cloth shoes. As if trying to change the subject, he started telling the story of the Mei family. “Mei Xiuzheng used to be a handsome young man in the village. After finishing elementary school in town, he went to the city to work. Not long after, we heard that he had married a wife and made a fortune. After that, he never returned to Shanzhu Village, only staying for three years when his mother passed away. I saw him from afar, holding a woman’s hand, and the woman was holding a little girl’s hand. That must have been his family of three.”
“That was many years ago.” Smoke was still coming out of the old man’s nostrils. “I wasn’t the village head back then. Just a cow dung carrier.”
“What happened next?”
“…Later… later one day, he returned to Shanzhu Village. But by then, he was bald, no longer the handsome young man he once was. He said his daughter got married, then died. The old couple had no one to rely on, so they sold their house in the city and wanted to move back to Shanzhu Village… I agreed.”
“…How did they pass away?”
“Mei Xiuzheng had a stroke and was paralyzed in bed, his eyes wide open. I rode my bicycle to town and brought the doctor, who was still asleep. The doctor said there was nothing he could do, that he had to be sent to a big hospital in the city.” Village Head Gong tapped his head with his calloused fingers. “Let me think… what did she say… Oh… Wu Siqian said it was too expensive, that they couldn’t afford it, so they just let him lie in bed, eating and drinking as usual.”
“And then?”
“Then… one day, Wu Siqian, perhaps unable to bear the sight of her paralyzed husband with his eyes wide open, or perhaps missing the affluent life she once had, jumped into the river and drowned herself. Mei Xiuzheng just lay in bed, starving for four days, and eventually died.” Village Head Gong’s tone was flat, his description not vivid, but the details sent chills down Lu Li’s spine.
Her husband of many years suddenly collapsed, becoming a vegetable with his eyes wide open. Her daughter died in childbirth. She was completely alone. Thinking that such days would never end, one day, while doing laundry, she jumped into the river without a struggle, calmly… calmly sinking… And what was Mei Xiuzheng thinking? How did he spend those four days of hunger and cold? As a paralyzed patient, how desperate must he have felt lying in bed?
He couldn’t imagine if such a thing happened to him.
“So the resentment at the old Mei residence is very strong.” The old man found his cane and slowly stood up. “They say Old Mei died with his eyes open, unwilling to close them. He must have become a vengeful ghost, wandering around. Young man, if you want to go to the old Mei residence, it’s best to go at noon.”
Lu Li checked his phone. It was already four in the afternoon.
The yellow dog outside had stopped barking at some point and was lying obediently in front of the door, its ears drooping.
“The Yin energy is strongest when the sun sets.” The old village head turned around, his eyes dark. “Stay at my house for the night, and decide whether to go to the old Mei residence or leave tomorrow.”
Clang.
The sound of falling tiles came again, from somewhere unknown. A strange image suddenly appeared in Lu Li’s mind: someone crawling on the roof, slowly… Was it really just a bird?
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