Beigou Village, an ordinary small mountain village in Yanbei area. The village has a permanent population of less than 200 people, most of whom are elderly, weak, women and children.

This is also a microcosm of the current situation in most rural areas in China, where many young people choose to go out to work as incomes from farming are getting lower and lower, and it is rare to come back several times a year. The rest of the village are the old people and children left behind, which is the so-called "hollow structure".

Approaching the end of the year, every household in Beigou Village is also full of New Year's flavor. Red Spring Festival couplets are pasted in front of the doors, and some even hang red lanterns. Walking in the village, you can faintly smell the unique aroma of boiled meat and tofu wafting from each house. In this small mountain village away from the hustle and bustle of the city, people welcome the arrival of the Spring Festival in such a simple and unpretentious way.

The mournful sound of the horn from the old Guo's house in the east of the village seemed a little out of place with the atmosphere of the New Year. 86-year-old Guo Changshun died suddenly of a cerebral thrombosis last night. The sudden news of his death made the Guo family a little stunned, and it was accompanied by great grief.

The old wooden door is old, and the funeral shed is set up with a bamboo frame at the door, and the red painted coffin is placed in the courtyard. A team of filial sons and grandsons are crying and burning paper money there. The cries mingled with the sound of the horn at the door, making it look particularly bleak.

Dozens of villagers scattered around Lao Guo's house, watching the excitement in twos and threes, and when they saw someone in need, they went over to help. The people in the village are kind, and when an old man leaves, the neighbors will come over to help him. Guo Changshun's popularity in the village on weekdays is also good, which can be seen from the curtains hanging in the yard. The curtain is a kind of ritual for white things in the northern countryside. In fact, to put it bluntly, it is a few feet of cloth pulled in the cloth shop. Now under the impact of the market economy era, many places have changed to direct money, but in the isolated and backward Beishan Village, people still maintain such an old-fashioned custom.

Several old men in old cotton jackets sat under the wall opposite Lao Guo's house, cloaking their hands, chatting without a word.

"Ahem, Lao Guo is leaving, counting since the beginning of winter, there should be twelve." One has gray hair. Said an old man in his fifties and sixties. He's lean. Because there was no flesh on his face, his cheeks were deeply hidden, but his spirit looked good.

"Where, I'm coming from home today. Passing by the old Bai family in the north of the village. Bai Er's grandmother is also just gone. Thirteen! Another middle-aged man in his forties, who looked younger, said.

"Ahem, it's the end of the year again. Lord Yama accepts people, and I don't know how many people I have to leave in this village this year. An old man with white hair who looked to be in his seventies sighed.

"Who's to say it isn't? But I feel that this year's harvest is a bit fierce, in previous years, it was those who were sick, and they couldn't survive the New Year in bed. But this year, hehe, look at it, I'll do the math for you, Liu Laoer, Zhao Sixi, and Dong Da vernacular, others don't say it, just say they are all alive, you can't say it's okay, and this Changshun'er, the problem of high blood pressure is not a day or two, usually taking medicine, and the control is very good, how can you say that if you don't hit, you won't be hit? Another old man standing on the side smoking a dry cigarette said loudly, with a mysterious smell.

In the countryside of the north, legend has it that when the Lord of Yama arrives at the end of the year, he will send little ghosts out to arrest people. Although there is no basis for this legend, it seems to have formed some kind of law, and at the end of the year, many of the old people who were already in poor health could not survive the winter and went away.

The words of the old man smoking dry tobacco caused the villagers sitting against the wall in this row to fall into a short silence.

In rural areas, people are still more superstitious about these ghosts and gods. This is especially true for those who are older. Discussing this topic makes these people feel a little uncomfortable.

"Uncle, you said that this old man named Guo Changshun suddenly died just because of cerebral thrombosis? Did he suffer from this disease before? A voice rang out abruptly from the crowd.

At this time, these people discovered that in this "team" of the sun, I don't know when there was a little younger. Dressed in a light gray sweatshirt, a pair of bright yellow sneakers, a head of broken hair, and a delicate and elegant face, whoever sees it has to praise "such a handsome baby"!

It's just that these people don't know this young man, but looking at the warm and simple smile on his face and listening to the kind voice, these old people have established a good impression of this young man at once.

At this time, there are strange young people in the village, which is not strange to the people of this village. After all, at the end of the year, the children who went to school and worked outside have returned, and there are always many fresh faces who have brought back friends from outside, so no one thinks it is strange.

Hearing the young man ask, the smoker said, "Which family are you, you go to school outside?" It's not a day or two that Lao Guo has this problem, if you want to say that there is such a day, although it is a little sudden, it is also a matter of time or time. Ahem, this disease is not a good disease. ”

The old man's words immediately attracted many people to echo him. Nowadays, among the diseases that affect the health of the elderly, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases can definitely be ranked among the top three.

However, when his words reached the ears of this young man, they did not seem to be approved by him. I saw him looking at the old Guo family who was doing the funeral opposite, and after looking at it for a while, he smiled lightly and said: "I'm afraid it's not a disease, this problem is someone making trouble!" ”

His gaze, falling on the crowd, seemed to be as sharp as an eagle's eye!

After a while, he seemed to have locked on a target, and the next moment, he naturally got up and walked towards the old Guo family opposite.

"Guo Changshun was killed, but he is not dead yet, I hope it can be in time!" The young man in the sweatshirt, after throwing down a sentence lightly, crossed the not very wide street and walked towards the opposite side.

A fluttering sentence, but as if in a calm pond, a big stone was dropped, and the old men who were basking in the sun against the wall suddenly widened their eyes after hearing this, you look at me, I look at you.

"This posterity, don't be talking nonsense!" The old man who had smoked a dry cigarette before muttered to himself.

"I think a clever young man, I shouldn't be able to. What did he say? Guo Changshun was killed? How could this be? The ambulances in the county are here, and the scene has been checked! The other looked at the young man's back and muttered.

"He just said that it's too late to hope, what is too late? Could he still save Guo Changshun? A middle-aged man in his forties said suspiciously.

"Let's go, let's see, let's see!"

……

This boy in sportswear is naturally Chu Yang. Since he came out of Yanjing, he has come to the Yanbei area alone. In the past few days, he has been wandering from village to village, seemingly unintentionally wandering, but he has been paying attention to these mysterious phenomena of unnatural deaths all the time. Until today, he came to this village called Beishan Village, and happened to meet this family for a funeral, which finally made him feel a clue.

"Daddy, why are you in such a hurry, my poor daddy......" A woman in her fifties dressed in a big white filial piety dress was lying in front of the corpses in the hall and crying, tears and snot on her face were all flowing together, and she looked very sad to cry.

On the ground next to her, there were also several men and women kneeling dressed in filial piety, who were also crying sadly at the moment, presumably Guo Changshun's sons and daughters.

Chu Yang walked through the mourning hall and came to the front of the hall, seeing that Guo Changshun's "corpse" was wearing a shroud, covered with a white cloth, and a tile was pressed on his head, he couldn't help frowning and said, "If you continue to cry like this, he will really die." ”

Chu Yang's voice was not loud, but it was just enough for everyone in the room to hear clearly. Hearing this voice, the crying of these good men and filial women suddenly stopped. Looking up at this strange young man, it was a little strange, I didn't know what he was doing.

"What did you just say?" Guo Changshun's eldest daughter, Guo Caiying, asked in a hoarse voice. Her two eyes were already swollen like two red peaches because of excessive crying, and next to her, there were two young people who looked to be in their twenties and thirties, supporting her, who should be her son and daughter.

The second Guo Mantun and the third Guo Mancang also looked at this strange young man in amazement, not knowing who he was.

What's more, what he just said was too scary, what "If you continue to cry like this, he will really die!" ”

Listening to the meaning of his words, is his father not dead?

Chu Yang heard this woman ask about himself, and said lightly: "I said, this person, he is not dead yet, but if you continue like this, he may really die." ”

Chu Yang's words immediately made these people present explode! Not only these filial sons and grandsons of the old Guo family, but also those villagers who were helping beside them also turned their eyes to this strange young man, and the sound of suspicion and discussion was like boiling water!

Chu Yang ignored the reactions of these people, and the next moment, he casually grabbed the old Taoist priest next to him who was ringing the bell and lifted him up with one hand!

What caught Chu Yang's eyes was a sharp, thin and yellow face with two rat whiskers, and at this moment, that face was full of horror!

"What? Let me go! Collide with the deceased, beware of ghosts! The old man was suddenly arrested and screamed.

And this sentence of "ghost upper body" also immediately frightened the onlookers to retreat.

"Ghost top? Hmph, even if it's a real ghost, it's yours. You've killed so many people, aren't you afraid of nightmares at night? Chu Yang stared at this old Taoist priest and said coldly. (To be continued......)