It wasn't until I got back to Emerald Hill that I saw a lot of people gathered in the restaurant, and they seemed to be planning to have a supper before leaving.

My master rushed into the restaurant and took out two bags of steamed buns, and asked a few of us to cushion our stomachs, and then we got into the car, and Brother Zhuang drove onto the winding mountain road.

Liang Houzai and I ate a few steamed buns, and soon fell asleep on the seat of the car, and when I woke up, the driver had been replaced by Senior Brother Feng, and Senior Brother Zhuang sat in the co-pilot's seat with his eyes closed.

At that time, the sky was already bright, and the car drove from the winding mountain path to a wide road.

Looking at the concrete buildings on both sides of the road, I suddenly felt like I was out of this world.

The scenes in the ghost market are still lingering in my mind, I think of those old earthen houses, but what I see in my eyes is a tall building flashing in front of the car window, I see someone pushing a cart in front of the road to sell cigarettes, when the car flashes past him, I vaguely see him take out a red bill from his wallet, which reminds me of the soul tickets that appeared in the ghost market.

After just spending two days in the ghost market, I felt a little out of place in the outside world.

At this time, my master was leaning against the car window and looking out, with an anxious expression on his face.

Senior Brother Zhuang opened his eyes, turned his head and asked my master, "Why did Uncle suddenly remember to go to Dali?" Is there a problem on the Erlong Bay side? ”

My master came back to his senses and said, "I really want to go to Erlong Bay, there is learning and righteousness, you two just send us to the station, and we will walk the rest by ourselves." ”

Senior Brother Feng said while driving the car: "Don't mind, we are here anyway, let's go to Erlong Bay together." When I was a child, I often heard my master mention that place, but I never went there. ”

My master frowned, and after a moment of silence, he said the purpose of our trip: "I went to Erlong Bay this time to see my senior brother. ”

Senior Brother Zhuang just wanted to turn his body back, but when he heard my master say this, he turned his face back again, and asked my master in surprise: "Zhao Zongdian?" ”

Originally, I thought that Senior Brother Feng had already guessed what we were going to do, after all, it was he who suggested that my master go to see Old Ghost He.

But when Senior Brother Zhuang said the words "Zhao Zongdian", I obviously saw Senior Brother Feng's body trembling, and he was holding the steering wheel in his hand, so that even the car body was jolted.

I heard that Senior Brother Feng was also full of surprise and said, "Old Ghost He really knows where Zhao Zongdian is?" ”

My master sighed and said, "It's been a month since he got the news of my brother. I'm not sure if my brother is still in Erlong Bay, but I still plan to take a look and go to the grave by the way. Youyi, you will pay attention to whether there is a shroud shop on the side of the road, I want to buy a shroud, and then bring some paper money. ”

Senior Brother Feng didn't say anything more, just nodded with his back to us.

My master said to Senior Brother Zhuang again, "Don't tell your master about this incident, if he asks, you will say that I made a special trip to the grave." ”

I asked my master, "Who are you going to grave for?" ”

Master looked out the window, his eyes a little sloppy: "A woman who passed away more than thirty years ago, she is the wife of your uncle. ”

Does my uncle still have a wife? But when I first saw the family tree, there was no one else's name next to my uncle's name.

I was curious, but my master seemed to be thinking about something at this time, and he had already thought about it, so I looked at Senior Brother Zhuang again, and Senior Brother Zhuang just sighed heavily and turned back.

In Dali, Senior Brother Feng really found a shroud shop on the side of the road, and the master picked out a shroud from it, bought a bag of "ingots" and a handful of incense, and then got into the car.

I had wanted to come to Dali before, but this time I finally had the opportunity to come here, but before I could see her clearly, Senior Brother Feng drove away from the city and into a country road.

At first, the rural road was relatively flat, but it seemed that there had just been a heavy rain here a while ago, and as I walked, the road began to become muddy, and after the dirt road, it was a winding mountain road, and Senior Brother Zhuang took over from Senior Brother Feng and drove the mountain road.

Our final destination was a very remote village, where the traffic was not good, the houses in the village looked very old, I think, there were very few cars in this place, and when Brother Zhuang parked the car at the entrance of the village, there were two and a half children leaning on the courtyard wall to look at us.

After getting out of the car, Master did not enter the village, but led us to a small hill next to the village, and on the shady side of the hill was a large earth grave.

The master searched for a long time in this grave, and finally stopped in front of a very simple small grave, this tomb is a simple mound, in front of which stands a half-human-high wooden plaque, the words engraved on it have been somewhat out of shape after years of erosion, and can only vaguely see the word "Shufen".

Although it is simple, a small piece of land in front of the grave has been carefully cleaned up, and some fresh flowers and plants are planted on it, and some freshly burned paper ashes can be seen between the flowers and plants.

Senior Brother Feng walked to the grave, looked carefully at the loess on the top of the tomb, and said to my master: "There is still moisture in these soils, they are newly added, and Zhao Zongdian came here not long ago!" ”

My master didn't speak, he squatted in front of the grave alone, put incense, and asked Senior Brother Zhuang to light the shroud and ingots, and burned them quietly in front of the grave.

After that, Master asked me to kowtow to the grave, and it was not until the incense was almost halfway burned that he said to me, "This grave belongs to your aunt, and she is a good woman." In the future, you will have time to burn some paper money for her and worship her. ”

I asked Master, "Why is there no name on my family tree?" ”

The master sighed and said, "Back then, your master and uncle had always opposed this marriage, although your master and uncle were not as complete as me, but he was born with a strong yin qi and could not get married and have children. Your uncle was stubborn in the past, he didn't believe in evil in many things, and his marriage was concluded, but he hurt a good woman. When your aunt was buried, she didn't even have a decent shroud. Even your uncle's son has been imperfect since he was born, and he died before he was twenty years old. ”

Senior Brother Zhuang and Senior Brother Feng obviously knew for the first time that my uncle still had a family, and the two of them looked at each other in surprise, and then Senior Brother Zhuang asked my master: "Zhao Zongdian still has a son?" ”

My master lit the dry cigarette and took a long breath of smoke before he said slowly: "There are some things that I didn't want to talk about, but the three of you, after all, are going to take over the three-vein inheritance of our Soul Village, and you will have to know these things sooner or later." In fact, there is Jun that child, who is my brother's own flesh and blood. He took his mother's surname, and not long after he was born, his senior brother took him into the master of the Soul Village, and your master knows about this matter. ”

The master found a branch, flipped the paper money burning on the ground, and continued: "At the beginning, Senior Brother Xia calculated for Youjun that he would not live more than double ten. My senior brother's temper is stubborn, everyone knows this, since Youjun was very young, he tried his best to accumulate merit and make up for Yin virtue for Youjun, and he was bent on changing Youjun's life. But destiny is hard to disobey, Youjun didn't live past the age of twenty after all. But I never thought that the senior brother was reluctant to give up this child, and even ignored the taboo of the Soul Village, and on the night before Youjun died, he actually refined Youjun into a living corpse. ”

I've heard my master say before that when he expelled my uncle from the Soul Village, it was because my uncle had committed the taboo of refining living corpses, but I didn't expect that there was such a secret in it.

Refining my own son into a living corpse, for whatever reason, I feel unacceptable in my heart.

My master is still slowly recounting the old story: "At that time, I had just returned from Xinjiang, and Youjun had just passed his twentieth birthday, and when I saw that Youjun was still alive, I was also happy for my senior brother, and I thought that it was the merits he had accumulated for Youjun over the years that played a role in renewing Youjun's longevity. It wasn't until two days later that I realized that something was wrong with Youjun, he didn't talk or eat, and he would only react when my brother talked to him, in fact, I guessed at that time that the Youjun I saw was probably dead. ”

At this time, the incense had already burned out, and the master stood up and exhaled a long breath of turbidity: "Alas, in the end, Youjun's body was still suppressed by me, and for this, the senior brother and I had a big quarrel. I know his temperament, he is stubborn, he loves to drill the horns, he trained Youjun into a corpse, but one day he has refined Jun out of his mind, Youjun may still remember him, for my senior brother, so Youjun is like always alive. But he is deceiving himself, the mind of the evil corpse, is that still the mind of life? ”

After listening to Master's words, I have a very strange feeling in my heart, I always feel that my master's experience has an indescribable sadness, although my master's tone has been calm when he speaks, and many things have not been said too thoroughly, but I just feel a little bit of sadness, but in addition to this sadness, I can also taste a distorted personality from that incident.

What kind of person can do such a thing by refining his own children into living corpses? Xian'er said before that my uncle was a weirdo, he was not a weird, but a twist, a twist in personality.

In the past, I had a great curiosity about Uncle Shi in my heart, but now, I don't want to see him at all.

It wasn't until the shroud and paper money were completely burned out that my master extinguished the smoke pot: "Let's go, go to the village and have a look, maybe someone has seen my senior brother." ”

As the Master spoke, he walked down the hill.

When I came to the entrance of the village, I saw a few children who were pasting mud on the window of Brother Zhuang's car, and my Brother Zhuang hurriedly ran over, not only did not scold, but also took out two boxes of biscuits from the car and distributed them to the children, so that they could take care of our car and not let other children do sabotage.