Lao Xie soaked for a few hours, and in the evening, Hong Ban did not agree, looking non-violent and non-cooperative. Lao Xie was completely disappointed, and said that forget it, Hong Ban asked him to stay for one night and leave tomorrow. While preparing dinner in Hongban. Lao Xie stood in the kitchen door, his expression twisted.

Hong Ban asked, "Speak straight." Instead, someone might ask, "Do you have anything to say, if you have one, just say it." There are no outsiders here" or something like that, but it was condensed into two words in Hong Ban's mouth.

Lao Xie coughed a few times: "That, uncle, I came too hastily last time, and it is inconvenient to have a wife and son here." I want to see Hong Xia's tomb ......"

As soon as Hong Xia's name was mentioned, Hong Ban was washing rice, and Lao Xie hurriedly said: "If it's inconvenient, forget it, and I'll talk about it when I have a chance in the future." He was just about to exit the kitchen, Hong Ban put down the scoop of washing rice, looked at Lao Xie, and walked out of the kitchen. When he passed by Lao Xie's side, he said, "Follow me." ”

Lao Xie and Hong Ban left the village, followed the dirt road in the village to the back mountain, and walked at least five or six kilometers to a mountain col. It's very remote. At least Lao Xie didn't see half a figure on the road, and the weeds were almost taller than people. This is not the kind of cemetery that Lao Xie imagined, but only a lonely grave, not even a tombstone.

Hong Ban pointed to the grave bag: "My sister is here." ”

"Why is it buried so far away, and there is no tombstone?" Lao Xie's hands were trembling.

Hong Ban said: "Maybe you don't remember it, she loves to be quiet and doesn't like crowded places. There was a legend in our village a long time ago that if the deceased did not have a tombstone in front of his grave, he could be alive in ten years. Speaking of this, Hong Ban smiled bitterly: "It's been twenty years, and it seems that the legends are not all true." ”

Lao Xie slowly came to the grave and knelt down, and muttered, "Hong Xia, I only came to see you in the past twenty-three years, do you still hate me?" I don't know if you're alone over there......"

Hong Ban stood next to him and said, "Maybe I have been reincarnated a long time ago, and now I am a big girl in my twenties, you don't have to blame yourself anymore." ”

Lao Xie said: "If I hadn't been too curious, she wouldn't have died, and Uncle Hong and you didn't scold me a word." At that time, I was young and ignorant, but now that I think about it, I'm really sorry-" Speaking of this, Lao Xie was suddenly stunned, looking at the side of the tomb bag in a daze. Hongban asked what was wrong. Lao Xie pointed to the side of the grave and said, "The soil here has been moved, have you re-cultivated the grave?" ”

"No, I haven't been here for half a year." Hong Ban replied. He walked to the side of the grave and squatted down to look, and sure enough, the color of the grave on the right side was obviously different from the left, as if it had been turned over. Lao Xie asked, "Could it be a hole made by a weasel?" ”

"The holes made by animals don't turn over so much soil. ”

Lao Xie thought for a while: "Has anyone touched Hong Xia's grave?" Puzzled, Hong Ban asked why the grave was moved. It's not a rich family, and someone can rob the tomb.

Hong Ban pointed to the grave bag and said, "There are marks in it, and when I was piling up the grave, I crossed two thick branches in the grave bag. Lao Xie proposed to open the grave bag to take a look, but Hong Ban disagreed, saying that it was impossible for someone to be so bored and dig an old grave that had been dead for more than 20 years and had nothing of value to steal.

"What if someone wants to get married?" Lao Xie was anxious.

Hong Ban looked at Lao Xie, and began to beat the drum in his heart∵ it was almost dark when he returned to the village, but Lao Xie must figure this out tonight, Hong Ban also had this plan, he brought two horse lanterns, and the two of them returned here again with shovels, hung the horse lanterns on the trees next to them, and began to dig graves.

The grave was quickly dug up, and no thick branches were found that were placed crosswise. Hong Ban's face became more and more ugly, and the two continued to dig down, and after more than half an hour, the coffin board was already exposed. With the help of the light, Lao Xie pointed to the northwest corner of the coffin: "Look, the coffin lid is oblique, not tightly covered!" "Bean-like technique.

This makes it obvious that no matter how much rain washes away, it is impossible to wash away the coffin lid buried in the soil. The two of them used shovels to pick open the lid of the coffin together, and they were dumbfounded. Only the bedding spread at the bottom, gold paper ingots, lime bags and other items were left in the coffin, and there were no bones at all.

Lao Xie was stunned, and the shovel in his hand fell to the ground: "What's the matter?" What about Hong Xia's bones? ”

"Where has it gone, where has it gone, has it really been resurrected a long time ago?" Hong Ban stood dumbfounded, not reacting for a while.

Lao Xie said: "How is it possible? Can the resurrection not go home? He carefully observed the coffin and the cover, and said, "You see, there are traces of metal pry on the side of this cover, either a crowbar or a shovel, and it is obvious that someone has pried it open!" Hong Ban went over to take a look, and sure enough, this was the case. He was panting, his eyes were red, and Lao Xie was afraid that he would be sick, so he hurriedly pulled him out of the pit.

When he learned that the village director of the village had a very good relationship with the deceased Uncle Hong, and his character was also very positive, he asked Hong Ban to go to the village director's house to ventilate first, and let him go to the scene to testify, so that the investigation could be carried out in the future. Hong Ban is introverted, and he lives alone, so he is far inferior to Lao Xie in speaking and doing things. After this happened, his mind was very confused, and he had long run out of ideas, so he agreed.

The village chief was shocked to learn of this, his second son had malaria when he was a child and had no money to treat it, and it was Hong Ban's father who cured it with Miao medicine, so he was especially grateful to the Hong family. As soon as he heard about this, the village director hurriedly took a lantern with his two sons to see, and when he saw Hong Xia's tomb, the village director was also dumbfounded. His two sons were even more furious and wanted to strangle the thief who stole the body. The village chief immediately prepared to go back to the village to convene a meeting of everyone, but was stopped by Lao Xie.

The eldest son of the village chief was angry: "What are you going to do? Isn't it you, a fat man? ”

Lao Xie couldn't cry or laugh, and told everyone not to make a noise first, so as not to startle the snake, so that the grave digging thief would be on guard, and it would be difficult to catch it at that time. Investigate secretly first, and if you can't find any clues, then call a meeting of the whole village, and then report the case to the township. The village chief felt that it made sense, nodded in agreement, and his second son said stupidly: "Han people just have a lot of hearts. The village director looked at Lao Xie and glared at his second son, he didn't dare to speak anymore.

"After I go back, I'll find a few reliable people first and check secretly!" The village chief was furious.

Back in the village, the village chief found four people overnight to go to Hong Ban's house to plot a meeting. These four people are three men and one woman, including the village accountant, the women's director, the militia platoon commander and others, all of whom are the confidants of the village chief. Hearing that the tomb of Dr. Hong's daughter Hong Xia was dug up and the bones were lost, everyone was shocked and didn't understand why. There are also people who think the same as Lao Xie, thinking that it was stolen by the marriage of the match, and the women's director said: "This possibility is not impossible, even the bones of the old woman who have been dead for more than ten years have been stolen by those people, didn't you arrest a gang the year before last?" ”

Lao Xie suggested that everyone find someone they trust to investigate around, but the circle should not be too big, so as not to leak too much. These people knew that Lao Xie was Hong Ban's distant nephew, so they adopted his suggestion.

For the next ten days, Lao Xie stayed at Hong Ban's house to help him investigate the matter, but there was no result. The location of Hong Xia's grave is the most remote place in the mountain behind the village, and it is rare to let go of cattle and sheep, not to mention people. If the digging takes place at night, it is even more difficult to have witnesses. Hong Ban was so anxious that even the people in the village asked him to cast spells for divination. These villages in Yunnan are located on the border, and the Miao people believe in witch doctors, no matter how big or small, there must be witch doctors, and now seeing that Hongban is closed, the villagers talk all day long, and they don't know what happened. Some even wonder if the gods are going to be angry.

Things finally made progress, on this day, the village accountant and the village director came to Hong Ban's house and said one thing: The son of the village accountant went to the neighboring village to find a few friends to drink, and in the chat, he deliberately brought the topic to the cemetery and burial, and by the way, he asked if there had been any more marriage in the township recently.

A friend said, "About four months ago, my brother-in-law went to the mountains to help the doctor dig herbs, and accidentally broke his foot, and when he came back, it was dark. When he heard movement on the hillside to the north, he thought it was a beast, so he squatted and didn't dare to move. Later, I saw the light of a flashlight and a low voice, as if a few people were carrying something passing by. One of them had a voice very similar to Wu Laosi, but he didn't want to do much, so he didn't make a noise. ”