Chapter 043 Jinjiang Debut
Lame Brother's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked the man to take a seat. He took out a small stool and sat down beside him, ready to eat the melon.
"My name is Cai Youming, I'm 32 years old, and I work for a financial company in Beijing," the man began to introduce himself seriously. "Last year, I used my family's savings and my own savings to buy a house in Beijing. My father passed away two years ago, and now my mother is the only one living in Qingshui Town."
"I was afraid she would be lonely, so I wanted to bring her to Beijing to live with me, but my mother refused to move and insisted on living in the old house on Gucheng Street."
"Gucheng Street?" Cripple Brother was a little confused. "That place is full of old bungalows that are several decades old. Almost all the people who lived there originally have moved away. The street is about to be demolished. Only those who are really poor will continue to live there. Your family is well-off, so why do you have to do this?"
Cai Youming agreed: "That's what I said. The old house is not only unsafe, but also has frequent water and power outages. Not to mention that my mother is over 60 years old. She is simply suffering living there. I repeatedly persuaded her to move out, but she insisted on living there and refused to tell me the reason."
Lame Brother guessed, "So that's how it is. The old lady must have her own ideas. Could it be that she is reluctant to leave the neighbors there, or the memories of her father?"
Cai Youming shook his head. "Neither of these is possible. First, she and my dad didn't have a good relationship. They just lived together. She doesn't miss my dad that much. Second, almost everyone on that street has moved away. Now there are only three families left. Besides my mom, there are the grandparents across the street and Old Man Luo next door. She only has a casual relationship with these two families. It's not like she's reluctant to leave."
Lame Brother: "I can't guess, but no matter what, we still need to get the old man to move out quickly. It's too dangerous there, and it might collapse any day!"
Cai Youming: "Yes, in order to get her to move out, I asked the company for 15 days of annual leave and returned to Qingshui Town to live with my mother. I planned to use this time to persuade her."
"During this time, I encountered a strange thing, something strange enough to change my worldview."
Lame brother rushed to say: "It's about that old man and the paper man, right? Tell me quickly, I can't wait!"
Cai Youming nodded and glanced at Bai Mian. "Master, let me make it clear that I don't believe in ghosts or gods, but after experiencing this incident, I really have some doubts."
"After returning to the ancient city street, I first accompanied my mother to the market and watched a circus performance. Then I visited the neighbors across the street. There lived an old lady and her granddaughter. The old lady was very old and hard of hearing. She couldn't hear what I was saying at all. But the little granddaughter was very smart. She said her name was Jiazhen. Her parents went to work in big cities and left her and her grandmother to live here."
"The door of the old man Luo next door was locked. I guess he went out to collect junk. I was too lazy to visit him. That night, I had a long talk with my mother and persuaded her to move in with me. She was still stubborn. I could tell that she must have something on her mind, but she didn't want to tell me."
"The next morning, I saw Old Man Luo. He looked the same as I remembered. I was very scared of him when I was a kid."
"I don't know his full name. People call him Old Man Luo. He is a bit hunchbacked, always has an unshaven beard, and never washes his face. It seems that no one can see what he looks like. He makes a living by collecting scraps. His yard is filled with scraps of paper and plastic bottles that he collects."
"Old Man Luo always goes out with a big bag, and comes back in the evening with a full bag. No one knows what's in his bag."
"Mr. Luo is a single man in his sixties. When he was young, people introduced him to girls, but the girls left him after seeing his appearance. Later, as he got older and looked increasingly slovenly, the people who introduced him to girls stopped coming, and he remained single his entire life."
"Mr. Luo likes children very much. Whenever he sees a child, his eyes light up. But his 'like' is different from that of normal people. His 'like' makes people feel scared. I remember when I was a child, he always followed me secretly when I went home from school, which made me feel uneasy. Later, my mother chased him home with a kitchen knife and scolded him. He never dared to glance at me again."
"At that time, the neighbors were talking about him, saying that if this old man Luo continued to be single, he would definitely do something bad! My mother always told me not to get close to him."
"No way," Cripple Brother couldn't help but complain, "With neighbors like this, why don't you move away quickly? And your mother is a single old lady, what if something happens..."
Cai Youming quickly explained, "No, you're worrying too much. Although my mother is not young, she is very strong in combat. When she was young, she was a famous shrew. When she roared like a lion, the whole street could hear it. She never suffered any loss. On the contrary, that old man Luo is a lonely and cowardly person. In addition, because of the previous conflict, he avoided my mother whenever he saw her."
"That's good." Lame Brother felt relieved and continued to eat melon.
Cai Youming went on to say, "When I came back this time, I saw that he was still the same, living alone and not causing any trouble. But the day after I came back, he actually brought a paper man home, and even swaggered in front of the door and set off firecrackers and set up a wedding hall. He actually, actually married that paper man!"
"I couldn't help being curious, so I went over to ask him. He said he bought the paper figurine from a funeral clothing store. It turned out to be a young girl who cleared the way for the dead, but he bought it home and made her his wife."
"He said he knew it was fake, but he just wanted to have hope. He was old and might die someday. He hoped that there would be someone to keep him company in the underworld so he wouldn't be alone."
"I didn't think much of it when I heard him say that. I thought he was just superstitious. But who would have thought that after having this paper figurine, Old Man Luo's whole state has changed. He has a rosy complexion every day, looks extra moisturized, and has become cheerful and loves to laugh. It's like he married a real wife!"
Lame brother waved his hand: "That's it, hey, it's nothing, it's probably a psychological effect, the old man feels that he has someone to accompany him in the afterlife, he's happy in his heart, so naturally his face is glowing!"
Cai Youming said hurriedly, "Not only that, he also buys two servings of food every day. Because he passes by my house every day when he goes home, I can see it clearly. He used to only buy one steamed bun and a side dish, but now he buys two steamed buns every day!"
Lame Brother laughed: "You said he was superstitious, so he must have put the food in front of the paper man as an offering!"
Cai Youming immediately denied it: "That's impossible. Old Man Luo's family is very poor. He usually spends every penny carefully. He would never waste food like this, unless someone in his family wants to eat it."
Lame brother still didn't take it seriously: "It's just a steamed bun, you think too much, you said the paper man came to life, I thought you saw the paper man wake up with your own eyes!"
Cai Youming looked at the phone that was live-broadcasting nearby and said in a low voice, "There is one more thing. I am afraid that telling you this will affect your live-broadcasting room. Every night, there are sounds of sexual intercourse and female screams coming from Old Man Luo's room!"
Lame brother laughed: "Can't he watch a movie?"
Cai Youming said seriously: "I am old enough to distinguish between movies and reality. I tell you, that is definitely not the sound in the movie, it is coming from people in real life!"
The smile on Lame Brother's face froze. He suddenly had an extremely scary guess: "You mean, there is really a woman in his house? Oh my god, he wouldn't kidnap women, would he? This is a big deal, call the police immediately!"
As Lame Brother was about to stand up, Cai Youming hurriedly stopped him: "Wait, don't be impatient, listen to me. I thought the same thing at the time, so one day, I called the police when Old Man Luo was not at home and told them about the situation. The police rushed to his door, pried open the lock and went in."
"Where are the people? Have they been rescued?" asked Lame Brother anxiously.
Cai Youming slapped his thigh and said, "There is no one there! After the police and I went in, we didn't find anyone. There was only that bright red and green paper man lying on his bed with a weird smile on his face. I shuddered when I saw this paper man. It's hard to imagine that Old Man Luo actually put this thing next to his pillow!"
Lame Brother asked: "Didn't you look carefully? The woman might be hidden!"
Cai Youming shook his head helplessly. "The police can't search his house without a search warrant. Besides, there's no need to search. His house is just a small room. The inside is clear. There's no place to hide anyone. I looked under the bed and it was empty. He doesn't have a wardrobe. His clothes are scattered everywhere. If someone is hiding somewhere, it would be obvious at a glance."
Lame Brother said tentatively: "...I have a terrible guess. When you went in, the woman was lying inside the paper man, right? What if she was knocked unconscious and failed to ask you for help? Wouldn't she have missed the chance to be rescued?"
Cai Youming: "No, I checked the paper figurine. The colored paper on it is intact, there are no holes, and it is very light. I can be sure that there is nothing inside."
Lame Brother heaved a sigh of relief: "Huh, that means there is no girl trapped at all. I told you that you thought too much. Now that you have consulted the police, you are relieved, right?"
Cai Youming was silent for a moment, then he said, "No woman was found in the house that day, and I thought I had misunderstood. I apologized to the police and to Old Man Luo, and the matter should have passed like that. But the next day Old Man Luo actually bought a sexy women's outfit. This really makes people think a lot. Who did he buy it for? He couldn't have bought it for himself, right?"
Lame Brother was also confused: "It doesn't make sense. What are you thinking now?"
Cai Youming said: "All signs indicate that there is indeed a woman in his room, but only he can see this woman, not us."
"There is only one possibility—"
"This woman is a ghost. It's that paper man who came to life!"
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