Chapter 002: The Iron Box
The blind man took me into the underground palace under the old site of the Fox Niangniang Tower, and this was when my parents came to me with a few relatives the next morning, and I listened to them.
I don't remember very well what happened after the blind man took me into the underground palace, I vaguely remember that he pricked me in the forehead, palm of my hand and the center of my foot, and then said some strange things, and then there was no movement.
And my eyes, at the moment when the blind man's voice disappeared, seemed to see two shadows in black and white, but soon I fainted, what kind of shadows are they, I can't say, are they human? Is it a beast?
I can't tell.
When my parents found me, it was already dawn, and my eyes could barely see the light, and although the shadows were blurry, I could really see things.
After returning home and resting for a few days, my eyes were completely restored.
As for the blind man, the day after I returned, some people saw the blind man, saying that he had gone in the direction of the county seat, and no one had seen him since.
And the grandfather, in the second month after the blind man left, had a strange illness and died.
At that time, it was a cold winter, and my grandfather was very fond of me when he died, so when he left, I cried so much that both eyes were swollen from crying.
That night, my father held a vigil for my grandfather, and I fell asleep crying in my father's arms.
When I fell asleep, my mother carried me back to my room to rest, and when I was awake, I did not want to leave my grandfather's coffin anyway.
In the middle of the night, I woke up again, and my mother was sleeping soundly, so I sneaked to the room where my grandfather's coffin was kept.
Father didn't sleep, knelt in front of his grandfather's coffin and kept talking: "Dad, you didn't enjoy happiness when you were alive, and you can't use anything, you go over there, don't save it, I'll burn more things for you, what you want to eat, what you want to use, just eat directly, use ...... directly"
When my father said this, I vaguely saw a shadow come out of my grandfather's coffin, and then floated directly towards me, I was startled and wanted to scream, but my grandfather's voice soon sounded in my ears: "Xiao Mu, don't scream, it's grandpa......"
At that time, I was nine years old, and I already knew that I was afraid of ghosts and gods, so when I heard my grandfather's voice, I collapsed in fright.
I wanted to say something, but I couldn't open my mouth.
Then I heard my grandfather's voice again: "Xiao Mu, remember Grandpa's words, don't be angry in the future, don't be angry, don't be angry about anything, because your three souls were taken away by the blind man, if you don't find the missing parts, you may not live to be twenty years old, you must find the blind man to get back that part of the soul." ”
"Also, there is an iron box in the kang hole under my kang, you put it away, you can't return it to the blind man Wang no matter what, he is injured now, he shouldn't come to you in a short time."
"Besides, your eyes are very powerful now, you have to protect and use them well in the future, it will help you a lot......"
I just remember my grandfather saying so much because I fainted again afterwards.
When I woke up again, I went back to my bed, and my mother said that I was sleepwalking last night, and she woke up in the middle of the night to find that I was gone, so she went out to look for me, and finally found me at the door of my grandfather's room.
My mouth was purple from the cold, and she said that if she had found me any longer, I might have frozen to death there.
My grandfather was only one of my father's children, so my parents were all responsible for the funeral, and the two of them were very busy and didn't have much energy to take care of me.
And that day I had a mess, thinking about the events of last night, and I couldn't tell if what had happened at that time was real, or if it was a dream I had while sleepwalking.
Grandpa's coffin was buried at noon, and after the funeral procession returned to the village, it was played and sung for another half a day, and it was nearly dusk when the village was quiet.
But the affairs of our family were not finished, and at twelve o'clock in the evening, we had to go to my grandfather's grave to burn back paper.
I asked my father what a paper of return was, and he told me that when it was said to be a paper of return, it was actually burned for the dead, so that the dead could go without worry, and there was no need to turn back.
My father said that when the paper is burned, don't speak, just turn your head and leave, don't look back, if you look back, it will make the dead think that their relatives are concerned about it, and the soul is likely to stay.
Hearing my father say this, I couldn't help but feel a little scared.
As my father said, when I burned the paper, I didn't dare to say a word, and when the paper was burned, my father pulled me to turn around and leave.
At this time, I vaguely heard the sound of the wind "whirring", and something cool fell on my face, it was snow.
Strange to say, my neck seemed to be disobedient, and I couldn't help but turn around, and I saw my grandfather crouching next to the pile of ash we had left behind when we burned the paper for him, and his face was full of weird smiles.
Seeing my grandfather's smile, I was so frightened that I quickly turned my head.
My father slapped me on the head and said, "Don't be obedient!" ”
I whispered, "I see Grandpa." ”
The father said, "Don't talk! ”
With that, my father put his hand on the back of my neck.
My father's action reminded me of the blind man carrying me into the underground palace of the Fox Niangniang Tower, and I was always puzzled about what happened that night, and I tried to ask my parents and grandfather, but they still refused to tell me what happened.
Originally, I didn't want to ask about that anymore, after all, my eyes were better, but now that my grandfather is dead, I heard my grandfather's words after his death for some reason, and I saw my grandfather squatting by the grave just now, which made me have to think about that matter again.
It's just that these things are too complicated for me at the age of nine.
When I got home that night, my parents cleaned up and fell asleep, and I couldn't sleep in bed for a long time, I remembered what my grandfather said to me last night, he said that there was something in the kang hole of the earthen kang, I wanted to go to my grandfather's room to have a look, but when I thought of the scene I saw at the grave that night, I was frightened and retracted into the quilt.
I don't know how long it took, but I was really sleepy, so I slowly fell asleep.
When I woke up, my mother had already made breakfast and was about to urge me to get up and wash up and go to school after dinner.
And all I had in mind was about my grandfather's room, so when I got up, I ran to my grandfather's room under the pretext of going to the bathroom.
Now that it was dawn, I was not as scared as I was at night, and although I was still trembling, I still walked into my grandfather's room.
I went to the kang hole under the kang for a few minutes, and turned out a dark blue cloth bag, which was heavy, as if it contained a rectangular iron box.
When I opened the bag, I saw a monster carved on the box, which looked a bit like a unicorn on TV.
And next to the unicorn are engraved three small characters, and those three words, I happened to know at the age of nine: "Zu Kaishan." ”
When I read these three words, I couldn't help but think of the night in the Fox Lady Tower, and my grandfather was dead after saying these three words.
What does this ancestor mean by opening the mountain, if this is a person's name, then who is he?
Soon I also reacted, this iron box is probably what grandpa helped the blind man take out of the bag that night, but this thing the blind man didn't want to leave, why did he stay with his grandfather directly?
What happened that night after I fell unconscious?
The iron box was not locked, but there were rust stains on the side, and I didn't open it for a long time, when my mother told me to hurry up and eat, so I had to put my things away and run to wash.
While my parents weren't looking, I put the iron box in my school bag and took it to school.
Time flies quickly, and the winter break is coming in a few days.
But the day before our winter vacation, a few people came to the village, they first went to the village committee, and then they found a few strong laborers in the village to fill in the underground palace of the fox lady tower.
Later, I heard that the underground palace of the Fox Niangniang Tower was filled because a high-voltage iron tower was to be repaired there, and the people in the village didn't think much about it.
However, according to the memories of a few strong laborers who went to help, a few of those technicians took survey instruments and looked relatively normal, but there was only one old man wearing a Mao suit, holding a compass in his hand, pinching his fingers from time to time, and muttering some strange words in his mouth.
And when they were about to fill in the dungeon, there was a strange wind inside, and a lot of white fox fur floated out of the dungeon, and the fox feathers flew all over the sky, as if it was a goose feather snow.
Some people speculate that the fox lady has appeared.
But the staff explained that this underground palace is actually a wild fox den, foxes often live here, it is normal to lose hair, everyone opened the mouth of the underground palace, and it is normal for the wind to blow in and blow out the fox fur inside.
The villagers were also skeptical.
On the day of the winter vacation, I went home happily, but when I entered the house, I saw an old man in a tunic sitting at a table with his father.
The old man looked at me a few times, then fixed his eyes on the bag I was carrying.