Xiao Jing sat on a bench in the courtyard of Uncle Zhou's house. Her knees and ankles are together, her toes and insteps are straight, and her calves are angled to the ground due to the height of the bench, showing her slenderness and grace. And Shen Mingde seems to have lost all his upbringing and all his demeanor. He spread his knees on a low bench and rested his elbows on his thighs. Two hands rubbed their forehead and hair meaninglessly. He felt that he had messed it all up, he felt that this trip was meaningless, and he didn't guess that the old man was Gao Bowen. He should have introduced himself first, and then asked the old man's honorable name. He shouldn't be in a hurry, and there is no need to show the hole card of Gao Shan Xing too early. Now, based on Shen Mingde's observation of Gao Bowen, he thinks that this old man has a very high status in the village. As long as this old man speaks with his prestige and status, he can completely give a gag order to all the villagers. As a result, Shen Mingde couldn't ask anything from the village.

Uncle Zhou had already fallen asleep in the house because he had drunk a few more glasses. The aunt went to help her daughter with the child. Now only the two of them were left, sitting in the courtyard dumbfounded, hopelessly waiting for the opening of the evening celebration. When they walked back to Uncle Zhou's house from the village square, they saw that the hired workers had already set up a stage and a rostrum at the end of the main road leading to the entrance of the village. Shen Mingde clenched his hands into fists, supported his chin, and leisurely said the idea of going home.

Xiao Jing squinted her eyes and looked up at the cloudy sky, the sunlight trimmed a dark cloud with gold, and the breeze gently played with the wicker outside the courtyard. She comforted softly, "It's not over yet." There are more than 600 people in the village, and many families have moved here. They may not listen to Gao Bowen. ”

Shen Mingde turned his head to the left, supported his right cheek with his fist, and looked at Xiao Jing. He didn't want to dampen her blind optimism, but he still retorted: "The people who know this kind of secret should be the land-sitting households in the village." Since it is a secret, how can they share it with outsiders? ”

Xiao Jing's narrowed eyes suddenly turned into a crescent moon. She grinned toothy and said, "The villagers can talk when they get together." ”

Shen Mingde immediately came to his senses, he sat up straight, and asked like a primary school student: "What have you discovered?" ”

Xiao Jing replied: "Drama troupe." ”

So, Xiao Jing cleared her throat with a little childishness, and told the story she had heard from an enthusiastic girl: the girl who told her about it was called Zhang Cuifang. Her family moved into Elm Gully ten years ago. She was 14 years old. In the second year of her move into the village, it happened to be the first celebration of Yushugou Village. That year, Zhang Cuifang went to junior high school in the county town and was in the same class with several children of the same age in the same village. But to her dismay, the children were very repulsive to outsiders. Therefore, Zhang Cuifang was excluded from the small circle. Until one day, Zhang Cuifang did Wang Lu a great favor. Since then, she has gradually become friends with Wang Lu and Wang Qi in the circle. It was only after being exposed to an incident that she figured out the situation in the village. Yushugou Village is mainly composed of the Wang family and the carpenter Zhao family in the north of the village, as well as a small number of foreign households. Although Wang and Zhao are the two major groups of surnames in Yushugou Village, only one family with the surname Wang and one family with the surname Zhao dominate the village. The other families surnamed Wang and Zhao are either their separate families or outsiders. Therefore, in order to distinguish between them, the villagers would call the two families "the Wang family in the north of the village" and the "carpenter Zhao family". The Wang family is an old resident of Yushugou Village, and it is said that they have lived in this village for generations. Most of the village cadres are from their families, and I heard that even the leaders of the county and city have members of their families. The Zhao family is an outsider in Yushugou, but they have settled in this village for some years. The Zhao family's carpentry skills are very good, and the business is also running well. You don't want one of these two families to be officials, and the family is rich and domineering in the village. The Wang family has done a lot of good things for the village. And because of the craftsmanship of the Zhao family, whoever built a house and made furniture, the Zhao family also helped a lot. Moreover, because the Zhao family's furniture business in the city is getting better and better, they later opened a furniture factory in the village. Almost half of the villagers in Yushugou Village are apprentices or working in the machine factory.

Wang Lu and Wang Qi are the direct descendants of the Wang family in the north of the village. They are not twins, but uncles and sisters. Because the two of them are the sixth and seventh children of the Wang family, their names are Lu (Lu) and Wang Qi (Qi). Their parents always warned them not to get too close to the other children. Usually, they only play with the children of their own family, as well as the children of the Zhao family. The Wang family and the Zhao family seem to keep a secret together, and they definitely don't want outsiders to know about it. Later, the two children made Zhang Cuifang swear to marry their third brother, Wang Shanwen, in the future. Then they are all their own people. Zhang Cuifang, as a child, swore without much thought at the time. Wang Shanwen is a few years older than the three of them, although he has never spoken to Zhang Cuifang, but he is a dignified person. Zhang Cuifang thought that if she could marry the son of a village official in the future, it might also be a beautiful thing. Later, Zhang Cuifang learned that the secret of the two families was this celebration in the village, a theater troupe, and an accident.

Zhang Cuifang heard from the two little girls that the almost identical celebration existed ten years before Zhang Cuifang moved into the village. At that time, it was not called a festival, but a "sacrifice". Moreover, this "sacrifice" is not something that ordinary villagers can participate in. At that time, it was limited to the participation of the "own people" of the Wang family and the Zhao family. It is said that the "sacrifice" was brought to the village by an opera troupe when Wang Lu and Wang Qi were four or five years old. They basically listened to the people in the village about what happened at that time. In fact, at that time, about 20 years ago, Yushugou Village was already very developed. Many homes have televisions, computers, and the worst ones have a radio. Therefore, watching a play is no longer the main entertainment activity of the people in the village. The cultural and entertainment groups that could not keep up with the times have long been replaced by county and town troupes and art troupes. The villagers felt very novel, so they ran to see the excitement. People who saw it said that this opera troupe was strange, and more than a dozen people had been wearing singing masks since they entered the village. Not only that, but they all wore singing clothes, wide robes and big sleeves, and they all wore red and green. Even when these people are not acting, they do not change into civilian clothes and do not take off their masks.

That year, the Wang family and the Zhao family cleared a vacant land in the village, which is now the location of the stage for the celebration in Yushugou Village, and named it "Cultural Square". They set up a simple theater there, and invited this troupe to sing in it for two days. People who have watched the play will shake their heads and say, "What the hell, it sings like a wild cat calling spring." It's like a group of demons dancing." On the first day, the villagers went to have a few looks, but the next day no one went back. The villagers of Yushugou that year were not "hillbillies" who had never seen the world. So it's harder for an unknown small troupe to fool them than to ascend to the sky. Although the villagers did not compare them with the professional troupes on TV and radio, not to mention the county and town troupes, and even the scattered grass stage troupes were a few blocks away from this troupe. However, the Wang family and the Zhao family didn't know what the demon was. They treated this troupe as if they were guests, and in addition to singing in the village during the day, they also sang for the Wang family and the Zhao family in the courtyard of the Wang family in the north of the village at night. It is said that the scene at night can only be attended by the "own people" of the Wang and Zhao families. The theater in the Cultural Square was demolished two days later because no one went to see the play. After that, the troupe sang several times in a row for the two families, and after a week in the elm ditch, they left the village. After the troupe left, the Wang and Zhao families began to prepare for the establishment of a drama school in Yushugou Village and the establishment of their own opera troupe in the village. The actions of the Wang family and the Zhao family made the villagers start to suspect that the troupe must casually perfunctory other villagers during the day, but they will only show their true skills when they sing for the Wang and Zhao families at night. However, according to a family living close to the Wang's compound, they faintly heard the sound of singing at night as during the day. However, from time to time, they would hear exclamations from the Wang family's compound, and some voices that did not look like people, and they felt terrible. Since then, a second legend about the two families has appeared in the village. Why are these two families prosperous and wealthy? is because that theater troupe is not a theater troupe at all, but a "wizard" invited by the two families to "recruit ghosts" for the two families at night. After that, rumors spread in the village, some said that it was related to the killing of Zhang Baoshan's father and son at the beginning of the year, some said that it was related to the follow-up of the mountain to find the child, and some said that it was related to the old slip who was sent away. After the two families sent the troupe away, they didn't say a word about the lake in Wonton Mountain, Lao Yu and Zhang Baoshan, and at the same time asked other villagers not to mention these things again. They also built a house on the slope of Wonton Hill to the north of the village, saying that there would be a drama school there in the future. And, since then, the children of the two families have not had much contact with the other children in the village.

After that, the villagers of Yushugou still lived a peaceful life. The secret of the Wang and Zhao families is just a conversation when gossiping after dinner. Because everyone knows that living in this village, it is not good for them to offend these two families. The Wang family is still the village official, and the Zhao family still runs the furniture factory. Sometimes I have to ask the Wang family to do errands, or I have to eat in the furniture factory. As for those things that catch the wind and shadows, they have nothing to do with me anyway, so if you don't know, you don't know. No one knows how the drama school in that village is doing. Although every once in a while, someone would bring a few children to the village to perform, but every time these children finished singing, they would follow the adults back to the mountains and never communicate with the villagers. Most of the villagers are not interested in the drama school, and even know where it is. There are also a few families who feel that their children are not talented, and they also want to send their children to the village drama school. But the response they get is basically "the drama school is too small, it's already full" or "this kid is talented." The level of our drama school is not good, don't delay the children." Soon, the villagers also learned that this drama school was related to the opera troupe they had come to a few days ago, and that the troupe was related to some of the events that had happened in the village. As a result, the villagers no longer wanted to have anything to do with the drama school. After that, it seems that the troupe will come to Yushugou Village, but rarely enter the village, but go directly to the drama school. The villagers also found that the students who were brought to the village to perform were very strange. Most of them are not locals. However, there was only one little girl that many villagers at that time remembered deeply. She is Gao Shan Xing.

When Wang Lu and Wang Qi were eight or nine years old, Gao Shan Xing was eleven or two years old. She had large eyes with slightly upturned corners and thick black hair. However, these are not the characteristics of alpine apricots. Because Wang Qi also has a pair of big eyes, Wang Lu also has beautiful long hair. The most memorable feature of this girl is "thin". Gao Shan Xing is so thin, "skinny" is not a description for her, but a fact. In the summer, Takayama apricots her limbs out of her shorts and tank top, reminiscent of a skeleton. Occasionally, the ribs on her ribs can be seen from the side. Gao Zhongchen is her grandfather and the principal of the Yushugou Village Opera School. It is said that this old man was a teacher when he was young. Gao Shan Xing is not his child. It is said that a distant relative fostered Gao Shan Xing in his home because he had too many children in the family. Gao Zhongchen is the son-in-law of the Zhao family. Because the two sons of the Zhao family learned the good skills of a carpenter but were silent, and because Gao Zhongchen was knowledgeable, he quickly became one of the pillars of the Zhao family.

Gao Shan Xing came to Yushugou Village at the age of six and was immediately admitted to the drama school. This child seems to be gifted and intelligent, don't look at her skinny, but she learns dance quickly. In the first few years, when the students of the drama school performed in the village, Gao Shan Xing was just an ornament for acting. However, from the age of ten she became a "soloist". Dressed in a white robe, tied with a bright red ribbon, and covered with golden hair ornaments on his head, the alpine apricots dancing alone on the stage are like flying birds and half of the smart butterflies. She stood like an umbrella, lay like a rope from a well, leaped like a feather, and writhed like a snake. Wang Lu and Wang Qi were also interested in watching Gao Shanxing's dance in the village. They strongly demanded that their families send them to the drama school to learn dance. The family agreed to their request to learn dance and sent them to the children's palace in the county town. They questioned why their mother couldn't send them to the village drama school. Their mother told them to be patient and take them to drama school when they were older. Therefore, the two little girls are full of yearning for that drama school. They felt that it was the secret of the Wang and Zhao families. They believe that the drama school is a place where people can turn into immortals, just like the alpine apricots, dancing like fairies.

Gao Shan Xing is very mysterious in the eyes of everyone, and it is even more unfathomable in the eyes of Wang Lu and Wang Qi. Like other drama school students, she rarely goes down the mountain, and rarely comes to the village. Although the students of the drama school are very obedient, Gao Shan Xing lacks the spirituality of children of the same age. Except for on the stage, Gao Shan Xing sat alone in a daze, looking ahead, neither sad nor smiling. She never spoke, nor did she make any sound, and the people in the village were skeptical that Gao Shan Xing could not speak. She's like a puppet, but with a breath of life more than a puppet. One summer, Wang Lu and Wang Qi were playing on the hillside behind their house when they saw Gao Zhongchen and Gao Shan Xing coming down from the mountain. Two little girls ran up to ask "Uncle Gao". Gao Zhongchen also greeted them kindly. But Gao Shan Xing stood behind Gao Zhongchen, staring at them blankly. She carried a small basket with towels, soap and shampoo in her hand. A fly flew in front of Takayama's eyes, and she didn't even blink an eye. The fly was hovering in front of the mountain apricot, and she didn't chase it away. Eventually, the fly landed on her cheek, but Yama remained indifferent. She stared at the two little girls quietly, which made Wang Lu and Wang Qi feel furious. The two of them watched the grandfather and grandson go down the mountain into the village, and they didn't say a word. Gao Shan Xing followed behind Gao Zhongchen, like a shadow.

In the turn of the year, it was the day of sacrifice for the Wang family and the Zhao family. In the middle of the night, the two families met at a drama school on the mountain. Wang Lu and Wang Qi, who were a little older, deceived their grandmother who was guarding them and sneaked up the mountain in the middle of the night. They dodged their cousins and a few hired villagers who were patrolling around the school, and climbed a large tree outside the school wall to cover their small bodies with dense branches. It was the first time they had seen a real family sacrifice, but it wasn't the first time they had come to the drama school. Two years ago, the two children had already found the location of the drama school in the mountains, leaving marks along the way that they would only find. In the days that followed, they practiced the action of going up the mountain late at night, and the lie that they could get away with if they were caught by adults. The two girls saw that the drama school was a rectangular compound, and the six gates of the northernmost main house were all open, and a group of people sat in the shadows inside. There were also some people standing in the corridors on either side of the main house. However, due to the angle and lighting, they simply couldn't tell who was who.

Just below the main house and between the east and west rows of corridors is a square control field, which is illuminated by electric lights and torches, and it is probably the stage for the sacrifice. By the time they climbed the tree, the sacrifice was about halfway through. A man wearing a golden crown and a black robe walked to the southwest corner of the stage with his hands raised. This person happened to be facing the big tree where the two sisters, Wang Lu and Wang Qi, were hiding. The two sisters were at first very frightened, and perhaps the man would see them both as soon as he looked up. Later, to their reassurance, the man had been looking straight ahead, but soon lowered his head in a sign of humility. The man had a golden mask on his face, and the mask was grinning and terrifying. Behind this person, there were also several children wearing masks and dressed in black, prostrate on the stage. I guess it's the students of the drama school. Suddenly, a white shadow jumped onto the stage and landed in the center like a feather. The men in black dodged and crawled to the edge of the stage. The man standing in the center of the stage was dressed in a white floor-sweeping robe, tied with a red ribbon around his waist, and his long hair was pulled up and covered with golden hair ornaments that shone in the light. With his arms slowly stretched out, the man's wide sleeves gradually stretched like a butterfly with wings ready to fly. The man's writhing body was like the wind caressing a wicker, and the skirt that fluttered from the rapid rotation was like a blooming flower. The man rolled, jumped, flew, sat and curled, and all kinds of graceful movements made the two girls cover up. Suddenly, a violent movement made the man reveal a thin arm, which also confirmed the suspicions of the two little girls. This dancer is Gao Shan Xing. Gao Shan Xing wore a white mask that covered her entire face. The two long, long, wavy black slits on the white mask are the eyes. The eyes on the mask seemed to be smiling. However, the two "red tears" under the eyes make people feel as if the mask is crying. In the eyes of the two little girls, Gao Shan Xing, who wore this mask, was no longer a person, nor was she a puppet, but an existence like a demon ghost.

The two girls did not understand the meaning of the alpine apricot dance, nor could they remember the movements of the dance. Those intricate and chaotic dance moves are dominated by Takayama apricots like flowing water. In the breezy woods, on the pitch-black hillsides, and in the flickering lights of the square, this dance, which was once performed in the village, seems to be given a deeper meaning. From every action of Gao Shan Xing's lying down and getting up, the little girls felt the desire for life. From every movement of curling her lower back, they felt her submission. With each tumbling and jumping, they realized her struggle. However, just as the dance was coming to an end, Takayama once again leaped high into the air. This jump seemed to be the last jump of the dance, and it was also like her last jump. She jumped so fast, so powerful, so high. It seemed that she believed that if she could jump high enough, she would be able to jump out of the building and into the night sky with the moon and stars in company. Still, she fell from mid-air, like a feather fluttering down. The broad sleeves of the white robe were like broken wings, scattered weakly on the ground. The bright red ribbon was like blood flowing out, wrapped around the tunic robe. Gao Shan struggled to prop up her upper body and remove a hair accessory from her bun, and then shook her hair hard. Hair accessories and long hair burst out in an instant. Later, when Wang Lu and Wang Qi told Zhang Cuifang this story, why did they use the word "outbreak". Because the sight of the hair being thrown into the air for a moment and then scattering reminded them of the fireworks that exploded in the night sky. It was like a wave of furious waves crashing against the reef, accompanied by a loud thunderous sound. However, whether it is fireworks or waves, that beauty is fleeting. It's like Apricot Takayama's loose hair, her dance, and even her life.

What happened next made Wang Lu and Wang Qi unforgettable for the rest of their lives. This dance enchanted the two little girls. And after the dance, Gao Shan Xing did not get up from the stage, take a curtain call, and then walk off the stage as she did in the village. She was still lying quietly on the ground. The music stopped, though the two little girls had not noticed the sound of instruments and drums. The only sound of torches and the rustling of leaves and the occasional cough from the crowd below could be heard in the black woods. The sudden silence gave them a premonition as if something was about to happen. A moment later, a large man with a mask covering his face approached Gao Shan Xing. The man's naked back was facing the two little girls hiding in the tree, and the broad shoulders and well-developed muscles made them both shiver. The man helped Gao Shan Xing turn over, making her lie on the ground on her back with her face to the sky, and then grabbed her slender neck with both hands. Gao Shan did not struggle at first, but held her thick wrist with her small hand. From the size and height of the man, the two little girls guessed the identity of the man. However, both of them were willing to say the man's name. The man was pinching Takayama Xing's neck with his dexterous hands that carved intricate floral ornaments on countless wooden furniture. Apricot Takayama began to struggle, and the desire to survive and the pain of locking her throat made her keep kicking and slapping the man. However, some defenses are weak and meaningless. She is like a chick in someone's hand, fragile and incompetent. In the fierce struggle, Yama Xing lifted the mask and revealed his face. The estrus cheeks, the protruding eyeballs, the wide open mouth, the stretched tongue, and the drooling saliva made the two little girls creepy. They turned their heads away, covering their mouths with their hands or biting their sleeves. The scene was soon over. Another man and a woman approached, as if checking Gao Shan Xing, made a gesture in the direction of the main house, and then shouted "It's done." As soon as the words ended, the sound of gongs and drums, musical instruments, laughter and applause instantly rang out. Standing in the southwest corner, the man with the crown on his head finally lowered his hands and fell to the ground to bow down. The black-clad masked men around them also suddenly jumped up and danced merrily. And Gao Shan Xing's body was picked up by a man and thrown into a red lacquer box that had been prepared long ago like an old dress. The yard was lively. People weren't as quiet as they had just been, but they were moving around and talking. Wang Lu and Wang Qi glanced at each other and nodded in unison. They quickly climbed down the tree, and with tears and fear in their eyes, they sneaked down the mountain under the cover of night.

Three days later, Gao Shan Xing wore that white robe and danced on the stage of the Yushugou Village Cultural Square. Wang Lu and Wang Qi stood behind the crowd for a while before slipping out of the scene. Although Gao Shan Xing is the same as usual, the same dance, the same agility, the same dullness, the same silence. However, in the eyes of the two little girls, there was a layer of demonic aura on her body.

Wang Lu and Wang Qi no longer mention going to dance, and they no longer want to go to the drama school in that village. However, just a year later, during another festival, a fire broke out in the drama school. Several members of the Wang and Zhao families, as well as many students of the drama school, were killed in the fire. As for how the fire was dealt with later, Zhang Cuifang had no idea. She just knew that Wang Lu and Wang Qi were later adopted by relatives of the Wang family, and Gao Zhongchen took Gao Shanxing to live in the Zhao family's old mansion and took over the operation of the furniture factory.

Dark clouds obscured the sun in the sky. The breeze that was still very comfortable just now has increased its strength, and I am a little forgiving. Xiao Jing turned her head, looked at Shen Mingde, and said, "That's probably what I can remember." Because of the long talk, her voice became hoarse.

Shen Mingde saw that Xiao Jing had finished speaking, in order to make himself sober up quickly, he patted his face, and said at the same time: "This story at least let me know who Gao Shan Xing is." But there are more problems. Could it be that the sacrifice was set up to strangle the apricot to death? ”

"Oh, yes." Xiao Jing immediately interrupted Shen Mingde's words, and then said: "Gao Shan Xing went to the county junior high school after returning to the village with Gao Zhongchen to live. Later, he went to a boarding high school in the city. After Zhang Cuifang moved into Yushugou, she had seen alpine apricots. But the girl never talked to the villagers. She didn't dance in the village after that. After entering high school, he rarely returned to the village. It seems that every time I come back, I will quarrel with Gao Zhongchen. Zhang Cuifang once saw Gao Shan Xing snatching the door out of the house in a huff at night, and then returned home after several months. Zhang Cuifang felt that Gao Shan Xing was not as described by Wang Lu and Wang Qi. Maybe it's because of her life in junior high school and high school that she has become more like a living person. Later, one night after Gao Shan Xing entered the art academy, she had a big quarrel with Gao Zhongchen. That afternoon, on the way down from the village entrance to the highway, Zhang Cuifang, who was returning home from school, happened to see a scene of their grandparents quarreling. At that time, Gao Shan Xing angrily took out a knife from his pocket, cut off a handful of his long hair, and threw it at Gao Zhongchen. She shouted, 'I'll never grow my hair long!' Then she turned around and left the village. Since then, Cuifang has never seen Gao Shan Xing come back."

Shen Mingde suddenly patted the bench with remorse, and said, "When that tall old man asked me, 'Did the apricot hair grow?' Why didn't you remind me?" ”

Xiao Jing sneered and said calmly: "I really didn't react at that time. However, judging from Gao Bowen's expression at that time, he didn't really want to use the length of Gao Shan Xing's hair to test the truth of what you said. He may just be nostalgic for the days when Gao Shan Xing was a child, as obedient as a puppet. Even if you tell him that Shan Xing has short hair, it is estimated that Gao Bowen will get up and leave. Because he could be sure that Shan Xing did not come out of that ancient village. Maybe even if it comes out, it won't pose any threat to him. I believe you have come to the same answer as me, Gao Bowen is Gao Zhongchen, otherwise even if his brother is in detail, there is no need to introduce him to the story of Zhou Tengfei when he was a child. ”

"That's right," Shen Mingde said confidently, "It should be this Gao Zhongchen who disguised himself as Gao Bowen who caused the fire accident in the drama school." If Gao Shan Xing was the one who experienced the incident, then the old man Gao wished he would never see her. Do you know where the ruins of that drama school are? ”

Xiao Jing said: "I probably know." What are you going to do? ”

Shen Mingde smiled chic and said, "Maybe what I think is what you think." Let's go to the drama school. Anyway, sitting here and waiting is also waiting. ”

Xiao Jing followed Shen Mingde and stood up and said, "You guessed wrong, I don't have this kind of thought. Zhang Cuifang also said that it was haunted. ”

Shen Mingde, who was walking in front, had no intention of stopping, shook his right wrist a few times without looking back, and said, "Aren't there fewer 'ghosts' we have seen recently?" ”