Chapter 15
Brother Tang An’s ashes are buried under the crooked tree on the hillside in the backyard of the old house.
This is not a custom in the village, but something my brother insisted on doing.
The brother was three years older than Tang An. When Tang An was thirteen years old, on a summer day when the sun was extremely strong and dazzling, he chose to jump from a high place and ended his young life.
There was no torrential rain as described in novels, only the scorching sun of midsummer that seemed to be able to dry up all the sorrow.
After staying in the old house for one night, Tang An and Chi Ying drove back to their hometown early the next morning, carrying the incense, candles and paper money that Tang's father had prepared long ago.
The mountain road was winding and Chi Ying was not familiar with the road conditions, so Tang An drove.
Chi Ying was busy dealing with piles of work in the passenger seat all the way, held two video conferences, and was very busy. Even when the car stopped steadily on the muddy ground in the courtyard of the old house, he was still whispering something to his assistant.
"...About a month ago, I just sent a document to the group, please check it out..."
Tang An turned off the engine, got out of the car and went to the trunk to get the offerings.
"Hey! Are you back, my dear?" Several surprised calls came from a distance.
Tang An looked in the direction of the voice and saw several aunts wearing aprons standing in the corner of the yard, their faces filled with simple enthusiasm.
At this time, Chi Ying also pushed the door and got out of the car. His shiny handmade leather shoes stepped into the soft mud after the rain, leaving a clear mark.
"Oh my! The good daughter-in-law is here too?" The aunts' eyes instantly focused on her and they gathered around her enthusiastically.
"Finally you're back. It's been so long since we last met..."
"Sister Liu! Hurry! Go up the hill and call Sister Xiuguang. Her lovely grandson and granddaughter-in-law are back to see her!"
…
The "Sister Xiuguan" referred to by the aunts is Tang An's grandmother, Lin Xiuguan.
The old lady's original name was Lin Lai Di. When she was young, she thought this name was unlucky, so she spent money and used her connections to change it to her current name. Although Lin Xiuguan is nearly eighty years old, he is in good health and looks like he is in his fifties or sixties.
When she was called down from the back hillside, she was cutting grass for pigs skillfully, and her backpack was about to be full. When she heard that her grandson and his wife had returned, the old lady picked up the backpack without saying a word and hurried home in two steps at a time.
There was a small hillside away from the old house when Lin Xiuguan heard the deliberately suppressed laughter of the wives of the Li, Wang and Chen families in the courtyard, which was filled with excited gossip.
"...It's been about half a year since we last met..."
Lin Xiuguan calculated in his mind, that’s right, he only came back once during the Chinese New Year last year, and it has been so long now, and the whole family is busy.
But no matter what, she saw them again today.
Half an hour later, in the yard, three people, one old and two young, stared at each other.
Lin Xiuguang crossed his arms and pouted: "Oh, so you didn't come back to see an old woman like me..."
Tang An touched his nose and said, "...You can't say that. I brought Chi Ying back to see my brother and you."
Lin Xiuguang: “…”
Chi Ying couldn't stand this blunt talk any longer, so she quickly tried to make amends, "Grandma, this is what I meant. We came back mainly to see you, and to visit Tang An's brother as well."
Lin Xiuguang snorted, folded his arms across his chest, and tilted his head, his two gray pigtails swaying playfully. "You're so smooth-talking, and you don't say a word that's true."
Chi Ying: “…”
Well, the flattery hit the horse's leg, so he chose to keep quiet.
Lin Xiuguan had been teasing them on purpose. After happily enjoying the filial service of Tang An massaging his shoulders and Chi Ying pounding his legs for a while, he pretended to have barely calmed down, waved his hand to send the two away, turned around and went into the house, took out a large bag of paper money and candles that he had prepared long ago, and stuffed it neatly into his backpack.
"Let's go before the sun goes down."
The crooked tree carrying the ashes is on the hillside not far behind the old house.
Lin Xiuguan used to always say that this kind of tree was unlucky and would easily attract ghosts of the dead, but when her grandson said that this was her eldest son's dying wish, the old lady didn't hesitate to help dig the soil herself and asked the Taoist priest to choose the location.
The mountain road is rugged and becomes slippery and muddy after the rain.
Chi Ying's expensive outfit and leather shoes were obviously out of place in this environment. He was almost tripped by protruding rocks or tangled tree roots several times. It was only thanks to Tang An's quick eyes and hands that he grabbed his arm and stabilized himself.
"Tsk, I forgot to remind you to change your shoes." Tang An looked at the pair of handmade leather shoes covered in mud and with scratches on the uppers, feeling a little helpless.
What could Chi Ying say? She could only say, "Your brother has a bohemian and free-spirited heart."
A cool mountain breeze swept through the forest without warning, rustling the leaves.
Tang An shuddered subconsciously: "There are a lot of ghosts on this hillside. Be careful with your words and follow me closely." After saying that, he took two quick steps to catch up with his grandmother.
Chi Ying, who had always been indifferent to supernatural things since childhood: "..."
He silently grasped the corner of Tang An's clothes.
Feudal superstition is not acceptable!!!
After walking on the mountain road for about twenty minutes, Lin Xiuguan finally stopped at a relatively open slope.
Chi Ying looked up and felt a daze in front of his eyes.
A huge crooked tree with twisted branches and strange posture stands before the eyes. Its dense canopy blocks out the sun, almost covering half of the sky and casting a heavy shadow.
He blinked hard.
Tang An's face suddenly moved closer: "Did you faint?"
Chi Ying held his arm, her face pale, her voice weak: "...I felt...as if I saw your brother waving at me from the tree..."
Tang An was stunned for a moment, then smiled, returning his morning assessment unaltered: "...weakling." He helped Chi Ying sit down on a relatively flat bluestone nearby. "Take your time here. Call me if you need anything."
Chi Ying waved his hands weakly: "Go, go, I won't die."
Tang An turned and walked towards his grandmother who was clearing weeds under a tree. The afternoon sun shone through the dense branches and leaves, casting mottled light and shadows on him.
Chi Ying rubbed his eyes. For a moment, he seemed to see Tang An's back stretched out and blurred, as if he was wearing an old-fashioned green gown and walking away.
Chi Ying raised his hand and slapped himself.
There was silence all around when a sudden humming sound came from somewhere, startling a few birds, which flapped their wings and flew into the sky.
Chi Ying's hair stood on end instantly, and he looked around vigilantly.
Then, a flash of extremely dazzling red, as if solidified blood, suddenly flashed past the edge of his vision.
The blood in Chi Ying's body seemed to freeze instantly, and he was completely frozen in place.
In less than three seconds, he rushed to Tang An's side, breathing unsteadily, "I, I miss your brother."
Tang An was squatting beside the fire, slowly adding paper money to the flames. Upon hearing this, he grabbed a handful and stuffed it into Chi Ying's hand: "Here, my brother asked you to burn more for him, otherwise..."
He did not let the other person go. He pointed the flashlight from his mobile phone, which had been prepared long ago, at his chin, and the pale beam of light suddenly hit his face from bottom to top.
Chi Ying suffered a cardiac arrest and almost fainted on the spot.
Tang An lowered his voice and deliberately dragged out the tone: "Hehehe... Chi Ying... I heard... you missed me..."
"What the hell are you doing?!" Before he could finish his words, Mrs. Lin Xiuguang, who was placing offerings nearby, rushed over and rudely hit Tang An on the back of the head with a loud "slap". "You're pretending to be a ghost in broad daylight to scare people. What's wrong with your head!?"
The old lady's strength was no joke. Tang An screamed "Ah" and squatted down, covering the back of his head with his hands, with stars in front of his eyes.
The weird atmosphere disappeared instantly, and Chi Ying burst into laughter: "Hahahaha, Tang An, you deserve it..."
With a dull thud, he was hit hard on the back of his head. He also squatted down with his hands covering his head, and his laughter stopped abruptly.
They both: “…”
After the worship, it was already five or six o'clock in the afternoon. The sun was setting in the west, dusk began to fall, and the sky quickly darkened.
Lin Xiuguang urged the two to go back quickly: "The key is in the corner of the window. I'll be back after cutting some more grass for the pigs."
Chi Ying rubbed the back of his head: "Grandma, why don't you come with us..."
"Okay, grandma, be careful." Tang An said without hesitation and pulled Chi Ying, who was still hesitating, forward.
Lin Xiuguan didn't pick up the backpack again until the two figures disappeared on the winding mountain road.
The breeze brought by the rise picked up the unburned paper ashes on the ground. The dark gray ashes swirled in the air. Finally, a few pieces floated down gently and silently covered the exposed gnarled roots of the crooked tree.
"Let's go."
Tang An was obviously much more familiar with the way down the mountain than Chi Ying.
Chi Ying had walked past it once, and since it was not completely dark yet, he walked more steadily.
Tang An was walking in front when he suddenly slowed down and asked casually, "Hey, did you really see my brother just now?"
Chi Ying: “What??!”
Hearing the man's voice tense to the point of bursting, Tang An couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Do you really believe it?"
Chi Ying was angry: "Fuck you."
Tang An stopped, turned around, and pursed his lips at the person: "Look behind you."
The air was dead silent, with only the rustling of shoes on dead leaves.
Ji Ying's neck was like a rusty machine, twisting backwards stiffly, little by little.
Behind me, there is only the increasingly dark dusk and the silent mountains and forests.
Nothing.
Realizing he had been tricked again, Chi Ying was furious. The key point was that he had believed it!!
"Tang An, you..."
He turned his head angrily, and a ghost face appeared in front of him without warning, so close that it almost touched his nose.
Ji Ying's heart almost jumped out of his throat. He took a step back in fear and his back hit the tree trunk heavily.
Tang An laughed until tears came out: "I didn't expect you to be so timid, hahaha——"
Chi Ying was still in shock. He covered his pounding heart with his hand, his face turning from pale to blue, and he gritted his teeth.
He unilaterally announced that he was breaking off relations with Tang An! !
During the second half of the descent, Chi Ying had a gloomy face almost the entire time and refused to communicate with Tang An.
After dinner, Tang An was about to tell Lin Xiuguan that he was planning to go back, when the old lady glanced at him, and the meaning was self-evident - do you dare to leave and give it a try?
Tang An swallowed his words back instantly.
Chi Ying finally understood that Tang An was truly suppressed by his bloodline in front of this old lady.
His eyes rolled, and he had an idea in mind. He quietly took out his cell phone and sent a message to the knowledgeable old housekeeper at home.
What do women in their seventies and eighties like?
The old butler who was far away in the luxurious villa replied immediately.
Walking in a daze and scolding my husband.
Chi Ying: “…”
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