Chapter 12
After accepting the E-level mission, Yu Tu did not start immediately. Each freshman can accept multiple missions as long as they are completed before school starts.
The next day, Yu Tu got up and made a large pot of ice jelly, then divided the ice jelly into many small bowls, putting a spoonful of brown sugar and fruit pieces piled into a point on each bowl.
Carrying his homemade ice jelly, he knocked on the doors of his neighbors with a smile. No one would know better what happened in the town many years ago than these elderly people who have lived in the town for sixty or seventy years.
The grandpas and grandmas around the small building welcomed Yu Tu very much. The town was remote, and there were no leisure and entertainment venues such as cinemas, milk tea shops, and playgrounds. There were only two small supermarkets, and even the hospital was just a three-story building with an old appearance. Young people couldn't stay there after returning, so the people living in the town all year round were all elderly people.
The old people are getting older, and their tempers are mostly better than when they were young, not to mention that Yu Tu is a lovable child. Even if they are talking about trivial matters, Yu Tu will not play with his phone and then perfunctorily answer them. He will listen to them seriously and express his feelings from time to time to show that he is listening carefully.
"I didn't expect that Master Li could also weave flower baskets out of bamboo. How amazing!"
"Granny Wang handed over such a bulging wallet to the police station without blinking an eye! You are a man of high awareness. We should all learn from you!"
"Last time I heard Uncle Peng praise Grandma Qian for her pickled cabbage, saying it was especially good. Every time the pickled cabbage came out of the market, everyone couldn't wait to bring their goods to Grandma Qian to exchange!"
…
Chinese people are very reserved and rarely praise others. When they meet, they are always humble to each other. The wrinkles on the faces of the grandpas and grandmas who were praised loudly by Yu Tu were almost blooming with smiles, while they were still saying "It's not that great", "You kids just haven't seen it before", "There's nothing worth praising about this thing"...
Yu Tu looked at this, then looked at that———
Since you think it's not worth mentioning and are still so humble, then why don't you stop smiling so hard that your teeth are showing!
With her harmless appearance and boastful personality, Yu Tu used ice powder to win the hearts of the neighbors and was successfully taken to the old locust tree in the south of the town the next day.
These are not just two or three grandpas and grandmas sitting in the small courtyard, but a large group. Any disturbance in the town cannot escape the sharp eyes of the old people under the old locust tree.
You may not know the source of their gossip, but you absolutely cannot help but believe in the power of their gossip.
Yu Tu sat among a group of old people. One praised him for his good looks, the other praised him for his patience. One stuffed peanuts into his mouth, the other stuffed melon seeds into his mouth. Yu Tu was forced to listen to the secrets of the town. Somebody and somebody arranged for their grandchildren to meet each other, but the two young people didn't like each other, and the two old people had a twilight romance. Somebody said that Zhou's grandson dropped more than 100 rankings in school because of playing games. He was beaten up by his parents and ran away from home to his grandparents. His parents were so anxious that they called the police. When they found him, they were beaten by a mixed doubles of men and women. Somebody said that Qiu's son was unfilial to his parents. He didn't come back to see his mother when she was sick. His mother was so angry that she left all her property to the caregiver who came to take care of him. The two are now going to sue each other and are preparing to go to court...
Yu Tu ate all kinds of melons, both ordinary and extraordinary, until his eyes widened and he could only utter "Wow——" sounds.
I never thought that this seemingly peaceful and friendly town actually had so many secrets!
Oh, no, if everyone knows it, it’s not a secret anymore, it’s a story.
Yu Tu sat among the crowd under the big locust tree and ate melon for two days in a row. Finally, he found an opportunity to bring the topic to the old building in front of the locust tree forest at the southernmost end of the town.
The building was on the quietest street in the town. Most of the fifty or so houses on the street were vacant. When Yu Tu walked through the street to the teahouse in the forest, he could only see a little light after passing through several dark houses. For some reason, he felt uneasy.
"Don't mention that." The plump old lady sitting on Yu Tu's left patted his arm, "Don't let these little brats get carried away and go to that building."
"Oh, young people nowadays just love to play adventures..." said the old man sitting next to him, "You want to start that... that... live broadcast, right?"
"It's okay to hang out in other places, but that place is weird." The old man who was speaking shook his head, "You young people who don't know the immensity of heaven and earth should stay away from it, so as to avoid being involved in dirty things."
"Didn't Tu Tu just come to our town and is curious?" Before Yu Tu could say anything, the old lady on his right responded for him, "You two are hiding things and not saying anything. This will make him even more curious. What if he runs over there in the middle of the night?"
Yu Tu lowered his head under the gaze of many eyes and smiled shyly: "Indeed... I am quite curious."
He thought for a moment and added, "I probably wouldn't sneak over there at night."
There were so many grandpas and grandmas sitting under the big locust tree. Who among them was the foolish grandchildren who wanted to go to heaven? After hearing what he said, their hearts were as clear as a mirror—they must have become curious!
In order to get him to give up this idea, the old people under the big locust tree all talked to him and persuaded him. Even the two old ladies who usually liked to show off stopped.
"Although your Grandpa Zhang said something unpleasant, that place is indeed spooky. Three years ago, the naughty boy from Chen Gui's family was just as curious as you. He went to that building late at night without telling his family. I don't know what happened to him. The police were dispatched. After he came out of the building, he talked nonsense at night for several months. The doctor couldn't find any problem with him. He just said that he was under too much mental pressure. Anyway, his family hired someone to exorcise the evil spirits and looked for folk remedies. It took a year and a half for him to get better... Anyway, since he got better, the kid from Chen Gui's family has never come back." An old lady in the crowd sighed, "It is said that he was left with some kind of... psychological shadow?"
"Five years ago, didn't Wu's Tingting also sneak in? But it wasn't as big a fuss as it was three years ago." Talking about what happened three years ago reminded some people of things that happened even earlier. "After she got out, she was beaten by her parents. She cried until her voice was hoarse. She also had nightmares for a long time. In a few months, she lost a lot of weight."
"Well, it's not a good place anyway." The old lady on Yu Tu's right stuffed a handful of peas into his hand, "Tu Tu, listen to my advice and don't worry about it."
Yu Tu took the handful of peas. He had just cracked a handful of spiced melon seeds and was now a little annoyed: "That old building is so bad, why not demolish it?"
"Tu Tu, don't worry about that old building all the time." Grandpa Li, who was particularly good at weaving flower baskets, diverted his attention. "I made a vegetable basket for you these two days. Do you want to add a panda on the handle?"
Yu Tu had seen Grandpa Li’s bamboo weavings, they were all round and cute. He was really not good at asking flat words, so the grandpas and grandmas under the big locust tree kept trying to persuade him, but they really didn’t reveal any inside information. They all had one central idea—tell him not to go.
It was very likely that no useful information would be obtained today. Yu Tu was not discouraged. He answered Mr. Li's question, "I want a panda. A round, chubby one!"
"Okay!" Grandpa Li grinned, "I'll bring it to you tomorrow."
Seeing that Yu Tu's attention was no longer on the old building, the chatting grandparents changed the topic to a new one. This time they were talking about the Feng family in the east of the town. Grandpa Feng's grandson died in a car accident during the summer vacation.
*
Using the excuse of picking up a delivery, Yu Tu left from under the big locust tree and walked slowly towards the delivery station. The delivery station was in the east and was considered the most prosperous area in the town. Yu Tu had just moved here and apart from going to the supermarket to buy some necessities, he had not yet walked deep into the town.
These past few days he was not just trying to gather information, he also bought a lot of equipment online, including gloves, shoe covers, flashlights, yellow talismans, cinnabar, and black dog blood - he had everything for fairies, as he believed ghosts must exist.
Although he had only seen cinnabar, black dog blood, rhino horns and the like being effective against ghosts in TV dramas, no one had actually seen them, but they had been passed down for so many years and the explanations were so consistent, so they should have some effect. Who knows, maybe someone from the other world wrote a story before he forgot everything.
After arriving at the destination, Yu Tu gave his pickup code, paid some deposit, borrowed a cart, and dragged several of his couriers back. He took different routes when he went there and when he came back, in order to get familiar with the town.
On the way back, he passed by a house. There were many cars parked in front of the house, almost blocking the road. White lanterns were hung under the eaves, and many wreaths were placed side by side at the door. He didn't know if it was Yu Tu's illusion, but when he passed by this family's door, he felt goosebumps all over his body and felt inexplicably nervous.
He quietly took a look inside the half-open door, and in the dark hall, it seemed that... there were two coffins placed side by side.
When the grandparents were chatting under the big locust tree, they mentioned the location of the Feng family. The grandson of the Feng family died, but they haven't heard that anyone else in the family has had an accident?
Yu Tu's eyebrows wrinkled with consciousness, but he did not stop. The wheels of the cart made a rolling sound on the ground. When he reached the street where he lived, he saw Grandma Wang, who was sweating profusely. The slightly plump old lady was panting:
"Tu Tu! Have you seen Xiao Xiao from Grandpa Li's family?"
"I didn't see it. What's wrong?" Yu Tu shook his head, and suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart, "Weren't you guys just chatting under the big locust tree?"
“李順家老伴兒白英忽然跑過來跟我們說孩子丢了———”王奶奶氣都快喘不勻了，“她說他把院子裏摘好的菜放到廚房裏去洗一下，就一會兒的功夫，在院子裏玩耍的小小就不見了！現在大家都在幫他家找孩子呢！”
王老奶奶休息了會兒，又風風火火準備去其他地方找，虞荼拉住了她：“報警了沒？”
“報了報了！”王奶奶說，“現在就是讓所有人都動起來幫忙找，希望只是調皮跑出去玩了，可千萬別是那天殺的人販子！”
“有沒有哪戶人家的狗鼻子特別靈的？”虞荼靈光一閃，“小小才剛丢，現在弄條狗去找，說不定還找得到！”
“你說的對！”王奶奶一拍腦門，“我找人去試試！”
她風風火火地跑走了，虞荼拖着他的小推車，經過了一戶大敞着門的人家———李爺爺家。
從門都沒來得及鎖的情況來看，主人家應該是慌的不行了。
虞荼把小推車往院子裏一推關上門，他現在也沒空去還車了，先去找孩子，多一個人就多一份力量。
他才跑出這條街道口沒多久，就聽到了此起彼伏的汪汪聲，還有警車的嗚嗚聲，一大群人呼啦啦地往李爺爺家的方向湧。
小鎮上大家知根知底住了這麽多年，幾乎沒有發生過丢孩子的情況，別說丢了孩子的李家，就算沒丢孩子的也擔憂得慌。
小鎮上繁華點的地方肯定有人找過，虞荼的目光将投向了西邊，西邊有舊樓的那條街冷冷清清，如果要躲藏，那邊算是一個相當合适的地點。
虞荼隔着衣服摸了摸自己心口的那顆珠子，亂蹦亂跳的心髒安定了點。
他拔腿往那個方向跑，才剛跑到街口，就差點和一個人迎面撞上。
“對不———小小？！”
虞荼剛要道歉，一擡頭卻看到他差點撞着的人懷裏抱着個眼熟的孩子。
抱着小小的人瘦弱幹巴，像是被生活壓彎了脊梁的老樹，滿臉溝壑縱橫，他臉上的神情不太好看，有些陰郁：“孩子找着了，你有電話嗎？給老李家打一個。”
“好行。”虞荼連忙掏出手機，李爺爺聯系的電話他還沒加，但他有王奶奶的，他一個電話打過去，手機裏便傳出王奶奶的聲音，虞荼連忙告知她這個好消息，“王奶奶，小小已經找到了，在舊樓這條街上，是一個———”
虞荼忽然發現不知道這位老人姓什麽，他問：“您老貴姓？”
那抱着小小的老人說：“我姓馮。”
“———是一個姓馮的爺爺找到的。對對對，真在這條街，您趕緊讓李爺爺他們過來吧！”
虞荼和那個姓馮的老人站在原地等了一會兒，警車聲由遠及近，車一停，車後座就有兩個老人踉踉跄跄地跑出來，身上衣服皺巴巴的，看起來像鹹菜。
“我的小小！”秦奶奶一把撲過來接過孩子，滿臉都是眼淚，“小小你醒醒！我是奶奶！”
“秦白英女士，我們理解您現在的心情。”秦奶奶抱着沒什麽反應的孩子哭的肝腸寸斷，後面跟上來的警察将癱軟在地上的她攙扶起來，“但現在要先把孩子送到醫院裏去檢查檢查，看看這是什麽情況。”
“對對對，做檢查！做檢查！”秦奶奶有些六神無主，她緊緊摟着孩子，“走！不去鎮上，直接去市裏！”
她抱着孩子就往警車的方向跑，跟在後面的李爺爺慢了一步，他只能抓着馮爺爺的手，不住地說：“老馮啊，謝謝你，真的太謝謝你了，要不是你，我們就找不到小小了，真的謝謝你……”
面對着這樣一長串感謝，那個姓馮的老人沒怎麽說話，他只是把自己的手抽出來：“沒事我就回去了。”
……
這場找孩子的鬧劇從下午一直持續到夜晚，虞荼才從警察局做完筆錄出來，做筆錄時他知道了那個救人的爺爺叫馮偉，之前大槐樹下他們說出車禍死了的人就是他的孫子馮聰，馮家三代單傳，馮聰一死馮家就絕後了，大槐樹底下的爺爺奶奶們說起這事兒都挺唏噓的，白發人送黑發人的滋味想想就不好受，更別說他們這邊的孩子小時候大多是由爺爺奶奶帶大，隔輩親的很，這比在心上捅刀都疼。
虞荼回了自己的小院，虛驚一場本是好事，但他總覺得哪裏怪怪的。
第二天，王奶奶敲響了他家的門，眉飛色舞地告訴了他一個好消息———
小小已經在市醫院裏醒了，沒什麽大礙，過幾天就能活蹦亂跳的回來了。
虞荼露出一個真心的笑：“那可太好了，李爺爺和秦奶奶總算放心了。”
“是啊。”王奶奶說，“虧得老馮把孩子找回來了，不然老李跟白英該怎麽過喲？”
“唉，老馮唯一的孫子去世了，他還能幫着找人……”王奶奶嘆了一口氣，“要是他之前那幾個閨女不夭折，總能留個後，現在小輩一個不剩，日子要怎麽過啊……”
“馮爺爺的閨女是怎麽夭折了的啊？”虞荼說，“王奶奶您能不能給我講講？”
他當時往那邊跑是因為覺得那邊人少，小小最有可能被藏到那兒，但馮偉從舊樓那條街出來，卻沒人懷疑為什麽他一個剛死了孫子的人會去西邊的舊樓，明明他的家在東邊。
這事在小鎮上并不是秘密，虞荼既然好奇這個，王奶奶還是和他說了，免得他哪天冒冒失失地問了，反而惹得別人傷心。
馮偉在有兒子前有過四個女兒，但不知為什麽一個都養不大，最大的那個是老三，養到兩歲也沒了，後來過了四年，他們才有了第五個孩子，也就是他唯一的兒子馮勝，等馮勝長大娶妻生子，他有了孫子馮聰。
他們這老一輩裏就沒有比馮偉更喜歡慣孩子的，明明自家也不富裕，但給孩子的吃穿總是最好的，但個時候還流行音像店，碟子是一摞一摞地租，就因為他們家孩子喜歡。馮勝這個孩子長大了沒啥出息，只是馮偉和他老伴勤儉節約，省吃儉用給他娶了個媳婦，後來有了孫子馮聰後，更是變本加厲地慣。
他附近的鄰居偶爾會提醒他不要那麽慣孩子，對孩子的成長不好，但他充耳不聞，畢竟是別人家的事，鄰居們出于好心提醒了幾次後就再沒管過了。
至于馮偉經常去有舊樓那條街———
王奶奶說：“他家的四個女兒都葬在舊樓底下呢，畢竟是自家生的孩子，總還是惦念着的。”
送走了王奶奶，去還了小推車，虞荼回想着王奶奶告訴他的故事，不對勁的感覺越來越明顯。
可能是受現代信息沖擊多了，他總覺得這個略顯悲涼的故事有哪裏不對，四個女兒全都不在了，虞荼第一反應就是重男輕女，但他救了小小，小小也是個女孩……
虞荼說服自己，那個年代畢竟太苦了，小孩子夭折率高也是常事，只不過恰好活下來的是那個是男孩———
不行！他還是覺得哪裏不對！
*
過了幾天，小小出院了，小小的爸爸媽媽從工作的城市趕回來，和爺爺奶奶一起買了一大堆東西，又封了個厚厚的紅包，感謝馮偉救了他們家孩子。
這種救人的感謝金不能推辭，不然被救的人家反而不安心，馮偉便收了。
那天去馮家的人挺多，除了圍觀李家的感謝外，也是為了吊唁馮聰———畢竟都是這個鎮裏他們看着長大的孩子，英年早逝，屬實讓人唏噓心痛。
虞荼也混在人群當中去了靈堂，這時他才發現，那天從半掩的門裏驚鴻一瞥的并不是什麽雙人棺材，而是一口很大的單人棺，只是做的太大了，近乎雙人的規格。
虞荼也随大流地上了一柱香，聽到旁邊另一個上了年紀的老人拉着馮偉，語重心長：“天氣熱了，就算有冰塊鎮着這也不是個事，早些讓聰聰入土為安吧。”
馮偉比虞荼見他的那天更蒼老了，花白的頭發這兩天又從鬓角白了許多：
“我舍不得啊……我就這麽一個孫子……聰聰才剛考上高中……”
他哽咽道：“他一個人走，孤孤單單的……”
幾乎是他一說出這句話，虞荼便頭皮一麻，他終于知道第一眼的不對勁的直覺來自哪裏了———就是他面前這口規格豪華的棺材！
虞荼躲藏在人群裏，目光聚精會神地盯着那口描金塗銀的棺材，他感到雙眼在微微發燙，而後，眼前的木頭漸漸變得虛化———
那口棺材裏，并排躺着兩具屍體。
鮮紅的新郎服，鮮紅的嫁衣，鮮紅的蓋頭，紮得漂亮的紅綢連在兩只青白的手掌間，兩具屍體的身上到處都是紅紙剪裁的“囍”字，棺材外飄着白色的紙錢，兩相映襯，一種喜慶的恐怖油然而生。
虞荼忽然感覺口袋裏的手機震了一下。
He took out his mobile phone and found a small red dot on the Lianxin APP - he had set a special focus on the task column, and he would be reminded immediately if there was any change.
Yu Tu clicked it and his breath was caught.
The task bar shows—
["D-level mission: Blood Wedding Dress" has reached the minimum activation conditions, and the mission will be automatically opened.
Note: Missions above D-level may be life-threatening, good luck. 】