Chapter 9: The Mysterious Man on the River

"Zhu's story is really interesting, much stronger than ours, and ours is too dull." A said.

"Yes, then what story are we going to tell to Zhu?" E said.

"I'll tell you." A said.

A began her story -

Meng Xiaoge's new home is near the river, and the river is flanked by a high embankment. The scenery was so beautiful that she often went to the embankment to sketch and paint the wide and winding river; reeds swaying in the wind; dandelions fluttering in the wind; sparsely scattered small trees; Unknown wildflowers are everywhere; a verdant wheat field; the river crab that runs away without a shadow when he sees someone; owls that fly silently; colorful fluttering butterflies; There is also a younger sister who flutters butterflies in a little red dress. My sister's name is Meng Xiaohe, she is five years old and goes to kindergarten.

One evening, Meng Xiaoge sat on the embankment and painted the sunset that was about to set. The empty and quiet fields and embankments, the sunset is more beautiful, and the yellow cancan dyes the western sky red. A melodious folk song came, it was a woman singing, Meng Xiaoge raised her head from the drawing board, looking for the source of the song. The voice of the song came from the west, and the man who sang came from west to east in a flat boat. Due to the distance, and under the setting sun, only the silhouette is seen. The woman wore a hat and a thin penny. The ballad was sung by her over and over againβ€”"The long river, which is connected to the horizon, I floated on this wide river with a small boat, and hurried home." From the west to the east, from the north to the south, there is no store in front of Buba Village. Why hasn't the lovely man shown up, and I want to find someone to keep you company with, and make you a good dinner, and then send you back to shore. ”

The woman drifted closer and closer, and Meng Xiaoge's eyes widened, but the embankment was far away from the river, and her appearance could not be seen.

"Sister, she sings so beautifully." My sister said.

Meng Xiaoge painted this woman into her painting - in the setting sun, she and her boat were in the shape of a black silhouette.

The name of the painting is - Woman holding a boat in the sunset.

A few days passed, and the two sisters found that the boat appeared in the evening, drifting from west to east and then from south to north. The woman always sang that ballad, and after a long time, the two of them also learned, and they sang with the woman who was holding the boat, and sang very loudly, "The long river, even to the sky, I float on this wide river with a small boat、、、、、、" The voice spread far and wide, but the woman didn't even look at them, and sang to herself and drifted away、、、、、、

A few more days later, my sister disappeared. She went to fly a kite on the embankment alone and never returned. In the swaying reeds, the kite landed on it.

Meng Xiaoge hoped that her sister would come back one day, but a week had passed, and there was no news from her sister. She often went to sit on the embankment and looked at the river in the distance, because this is where her sister disappeared.

When the sun set, the boat came again, and the woman on it was still singing the ballad, but the difference was that there was a pair of pigtailed silhouettes on the boat, and it seemed that there was a child sitting on it. My sister is wearing pigtails!

Meng Xiaoge ran under the embankment, she pushed aside the reeds, and stood on the slippery shore, but the boat was nowhere to be seen.

Meng Xiaoge stood on the shore stupidly, there was only the last ray of light left in the sunset, and the sky and the earth would soon be shrouded in darkness, she was suddenly very scared, so she went home.

But she didn't want to give up on finding out the truth, and her instinct was that it was her sister.

The next day, before evening came, she lurked in the reeds, but never waited for the boat. She wandered among the reeds in amazement, and as she walked, she saw a little red dress, sister, this is her sister's skirt. She hurriedly picked it up, and to her surprise, there was a pile of white bones under the skirt, small bones, the bones of children. Meng Xiaoge's face turned pale、、、、、、

She couldn't sleep at night, and in her wandering thoughts pondered the meaning of the ballad, and on the surface the woman seemed to be lonely, lonely and alone, without a companion to talk to, and she wanted to make friends and be hospitable. In fact, it is not that simple, this ballad is full of horror, in fact, the woman is a man-eating monster, she is looking for prey, and when she finds it, she takes it home and eats it, and when the meat is eaten, she sends the bones back, "Carry you home, make a hearty dinner, eat and drink to your heart's content, and then send you back to shore." That's what it means. No, she sent her sister back to shore.

After figuring out this ballad, Meng Xiaoge went crazy. She was sent to a psychiatric hospital, but things didn't seem that simple. The crazy Meng Xiaoge did not give up painting, but the style of painting has changed, depression, darkness, and fear are permeated in the painting, especially the sunset painting, the painting is based on the sunset, on a quiet river, a woman is holding a flat boat, the woman is very strangely drawn, red clothes and black pants, wearing a hat, half of her face is exposed, no nose, only a big and red mouth.

"You forgot to draw your nose." The nurse said to Meng Xiaoge.

Meng Xiaoge raised her head from the drawing board, with a frightened expression, she whispered: "She has no nose, let me tell you, she doesn't even have eyes, I saw with my own eyes, she only has a mouth." Do you know what she does with this mouth? She never speaks, and her long mouth is just to eat people. My sister was eaten by her, I waited for her by this river every day in order to take revenge, I waited and waited, she finally came, I dived into the water and swam to her boat, when I peeked out of the water and grabbed the edge of her boat to look up, I saw this face at a glance、、、、、、" Meng Xiaoge shuddered for a moment, and then said, "I quickly swam back, desperately swam back, and only then did I pick up a life." ”

The nurse told the attending doctor what Meng Xiaoge said, and the attending doctor said, "It's still crazy to talk about it, increase the dosage." ”

、、、、、、

A: Don't squeak at this point.

"Finished?" B asked.

"It's over." A said.

"The heroine is crazy, what is the reason?" Student E asked.

"Of course she's crazy, she's seeing the face of the woman holding the boat." A said.

"I think so, too. Think about it, if my sister dies, even if she is crazy, her parents are crazy, and when she is an older sister, no matter how sad she is, she can't reach the level of madness. The ending of this story is deliberately vague in order to add to its mystery. Zhu said.

The four of them all nodded, feeling that Zhu was right.

"Alas! It's getting late," Zhu yawned and said, "I'll sleep here tonight, and C won't come back, so I'll sleep in her bed." With that, he got up and walked to C's bed, dipping his head on the pillow and snoring.

The four of them also went back to their beds and went to sleep. After the candles were blown out, the dormitory was plunged into darkness.

After an hour, C returned to the dormitory, by which time everyone was asleep.

C was standing at the door of the dormitory, the light in the hallway blocked by her, and she seemed to be carrying a bucket or something. She walked into the dorm room and walked softly, just as she had left. In the dark, she unscrewed the lid of the bucket and sprinkled the liquid into the dormitory, the smell of gasoline spread, and then, C struck a match, and she stared at the flames and said, "Don't you like horror?" I'm going to give you a taste of what real horror is. With that, he threw the match on the ground, and the small flame that came into contact with the gasoline immediately grew in size and size, and finally became a sea of fire.

C walked out and locked the door. She walked downstairs to the dormitory, glanced back at the blazing window, and then, walking out of the campus, her long hair fluttering in the wind, her trench coat fluttering in the wind, she looked like a warrior、、、、、、