In the summer of '95, I graduated from the normal school, and under normal circumstances, the normal students are assigned to the principle of nearby distribution, teaching in their hometown or neighboring villages, and after a year or two, those who perform well can be transferred to the central primary school where the township is located. At that time, there was an urgent shortage of teachers in several nearby villages, and many of the older generation of substitute teachers were also in need of a new generation, so I decided that they would be assigned near my hometown, and the old god was waiting for notice at home.

I lost my father when I was ten years old, and my mother brought me up with hard work, and my health was not good due to the accumulation of hard work, so I did not hesitate to apply for the teacher college despite my excellent grades, so that I could become a teacher in my hometown after graduation and have more time to take care of my mother. Now it's finally time for me to repay my mother and honor her.

At the beginning of August, I received a notice from the Education Bureau, and then I was completely stupid, I was actually assigned to a place called Beikeng, 200 kilometers away from my home!

Will Weishenme be transferred across regions? Later, after many inquiries, I learned that I had a female classmate's cousin who worked in the Municipal Education Bureau, and I had refused this female classmate's date, which was probably caused by this reason. It's too late now, even if I ask someone to send a red envelope, it is impossible to change, at least I have to go to teach for a year before I can be reassigned, and more importantly, my family is not good and I have no money to go through the back door.

At the end of August, when school was about to start, I could only endure my anger and depression to report for duty under my mother's repeated comforts. Changing cars all the way, Zuihou got on an old grandfather's minibus that should have been scrapped a long time ago, and "bungee jumping" along a newly built dirt road, so that the bones fell apart. In order to block the dust, the sultry weather closed most of the windows, the carriage was crowded with needles, in addition to people, there were chickens and ducks, pesticides, fertilizers, etc., emitting a pungent stench mixed with the smell of gasoline and sweat, and smoked me to ascend to heaven and two Buddhas.

Finally the bus stopped at the entrance of a small village, and I couldn't wait to rush out, take a few breaths of fresh air, and then scan left and right. All in front of him were low, dilapidated earthen walls and tiled houses, and there was not a single decent building, which looked even more dilapidated and dim in the afterglow of the setting sun, with a desperate look.

I was already in a very bad mood, and when I saw this situation, I was cold, this is simply a return to the pre-liberation period! The ancients said that the red face is a disaster, and the weishenme "light cake girl" can also harm people? My female classmate's face was as if it had been flattened by a brick, and her face was covered with pimples, and the whole thing was a piece of barecake stained with sesame seeds!

"You're the new Teacher Zhang?"

There was a guy who walked around the front of the car and spoke in the local dialect, which I barely understood. When I turned my head, it was a slightly obese man in his forties, with an oily face, a smile on his face, his eyes slightly narrowed, and deep crow's feet at the corners of his eyes, which felt a little treacherous.

I wasn't even in the mood to answer, just nodded slightly, and the man enthusiastically came to help me carry my bag and introduce myself in non-standard Mandarin. It turned out that he was the secretary of the village, named Chen Jianguo, and the old principal went to the county education bureau for a meeting and entrusted him to greet me, and he had been waiting for several days.

Although the secretary personally greeted me, I was not moved by the "high-standard" greeting, and said coldly, "Excuse me, where is the school?" ”

Lao Chen hurriedly said: "The school is just behind, there are still a few days before it starts, and no one lives in it now." You've worked hard all the way, so come to my house for dinner and spend the night, and the bed is ready for you. ”

"No, let's go to the school first." I don't want to disturb people, I don't like to spend the night at a stranger's house, and I'm more concerned about what school is like.

"It's better to go to my house first, you see it's dark, no one lives in the school for two months, there is dust everywhere, there is not even boiling water, it's a little ......inconvenient," Lao Chen tried his best to persuade, his eyes flickered a little.

I thought to myself, maybe the school was too shabby, so you won't let me go right away, right? The more this happens, the more I'm going to see it first. Lao Chen couldn't resist me, so he had to take me along a small road into the village, and introduce the situation in the village as he walked.

At the foot of the hill behind the village there is a lone two-story building in the shape of a "concave", two or three hundred meters away from the village. When I got closer, I realized that although the school building was a rare brick and wood structure here, it was very dilapidated, the roof tiles had many signs of repair, and most of the glass on the doors and windows had been missing, replaced by wooden planks that were nailed horizontally. The brick walls are mottled and peeling with plaster, with vague slogans saying "Welcome to the countryside", a few old willow trees in front of the school building, and only a bamboo flagpole on the bumpy dirt playground.

Alas, before I arrived, I had expected the destination to be remote and poor, but I didn't expect the school to be so dilapidated. What's more, it's really too far from home......

"The conditions are a little harder, but they will change soon, we are already working hard, and the old principal is going to the city this time to get more funding. Only education can change the backward appearance, and the village will also strongly support it......" Lao Chen saw that my face was very unsightly, and he nagged beside me, but these empty words did not have any comforting effect, but made me more depressed and upset.

A small room was built on the east and west sides of the school building, which were the cafeteria and toilets, the middle part of the main building was the classroom, and the turning part at the two ends of the concave shape was the teacher's office and dormitory. Lao Chen opened a room on the second floor, which contained a wooden-framed bed, a table, and two chairs, straw mats, blankets, kettles, electric fans, and the like were all brand new. It seems that Lao Chen didn't tell a lie, and the school still attaches great importance to my arrival.

After putting down my luggage, Lao Chen dragged me to his house for dinner, and several other village cadres were already waiting at his house. On the table, there are braised pig's trotters, braised pig's ears, sweet and sour fish, and stewed old hens...... The dishes were hearty, the hosts were welcoming, and the beer crates in the living room were a hill, but all this didn't make me feel much better.

Wine can only be a thousand glasses less than a confidant, I don't talk to these people speculation, naturally I don't drink much, I can't stand their hard persuasion, so I barely drank a few glasses, hurriedly filled my stomach and got up to leave.

Lao Chen hurriedly pressed my shoulder: "Have a few more drinks, school hasn't started before school anyway, it doesn't matter if you're drunk, just sleep at my house tonight." ”

I shook my hand again and again: "I really can't drink anymore, I'm too disturbing, I'll go back to the dormitory." ”

Lao Chen had already drunk a lot of wine, his face was flushed, and his eyes were drunk, but he still held me and didn't let go: "There has been no one living in the school for a long time, so it's really not convenient." If you don't dislike it, you can live in my house, I have a room in my house......"

Lao Chen's wife happened to be on the side, muttering in dialect, I didn't understand what she said, but obviously I wasn't satisfied with Lao Chen's words, so I didn't want to stay. Several other village cadres also invited me to spend the night at their house, and I didn't like to owe favors to others, let alone leave any friendship and affection here, so I politely declined.

When I went out, it wasn't completely dark, and Lao Chen only sent it to the door and went back, and there was soon a shouting and shouting fist guessing and frolicking sound, and it seemed that my arrival gave them a good opportunity to make a meal.

As I walked on the road, I had a strange feeling that Lao Chen's retention was not entirely out of enthusiasm, but that he did not want me to live in the school, as if there was something unspeakable. But Weishenme won't let me live in the school? There's nothing of value to steal......

It was late summer and early autumn, and the weather in the south was still very hot, and the evening breeze was still a little hot, but when I walked to the school playground, a cold wind blew in my face, and I couldn't help but shiver, and I obviously got goosebumps on my arm.

Strange, why is it so cold near the school? The last time I came with Lao Chen, I found that it was very cool near the school, and I didn't pay much attention to it at the time, but now it is not cold, but an obvious cold feeling, which makes me feel uncomfortable, and there is a faint uneasiness.

Turning his head to look around, the night had begun to fall, and the mountains in the distance were crouching like giant beasts in the wilderness, all kinds of night insects were chirping hoarsely, and the willows were swaying back and forth in the evening breeze, like a banshee with a cape.

"Squeak!"

There was a screeching sound in the classroom that scared my heart to my throat, followed by a loud "bang" that scared my heart out of my lungs.

It turned out that there was a window in the classroom that was not closed properly, and the sound of the shaft being blown by the wind made a sound, and the sound of zuihou was that the window was closed. When I came back to my senses, I couldn't help but curse in my heart, and at the same time despised myself a little, maybe I was too timid, right?

I settled down and went up the stairs in the middle of the building, and then down the hallway outside the classroom to the dormitory. The second floor was a wooden floor, badly worn and loose, with a terrifying creak when walking on it, and the door to the classroom had been boarded off by the naughty boy, and the black hole looked like the mouth of an open beast...... Damn, there's something really wrong with this atmosphere!

I took out the key and opened the padlock, pulled the switch next to the door, and the light came on, I don't know if the wattage was too low or the voltage was seriously insufficient, and the light from the bulb was very dim.

It was a bit stuffy in the room, so I pulled open the latch of the window and pushed open the north window to let the air flow while also glancing out the window...... I wiped it, and there was a large grave in front of me!

The school was at the foot of the hill, and there was a hillside behind it, because it was so close, and although it was hazy at night, you could still see the graves on the hillside one by one. Some graves also have many wreaths on their heads, which may have turned into white flowers in the sun and rain, or they may be white due to lack of light, which is particularly dazzling and weird.

My heart was pounding, and I finally knew that Lao Chen Weishenme had repeatedly advised me not to spend the night at school, there must be something wrong here! If I had known that there was a mass grave behind the school, nine times out of ten I would have accepted Lao Chen's invitation, but now that I have rejected others, how can I be embarrassed to turn back?

Isn't it just a mass grave, when I was a child, I often passed by the mass grave in my hometown when I went to chop wood, it's not a big deal! As a teacher, full of science, I can't be frightened by a few graves and lose the face of the people's teacher, so I decided to ignore it and start packing my bags.

The evening in the mountains was getting dark quickly, a ray of light disappeared in the west of zuihou, and the night had completely fallen, and I accidentally glanced out the window and found a little blue and green light on the hillside, flickering and fluttering.

Ghost Fire!

I was taken aback, I had heard of this thing for a long time, but it was the first time I had seen it with my own eyes. The so-called "ghost fire" is actually a phosphorus fire, which is the spontaneous combustion of phosphine decomposed when the corpse is decomposed, but when I am immersed in the scene, it is the first time I see it, and I still feel creepy. Perhaps suspicious of the ghosts, I felt as if there were many eyes on me from the other side of the graveyard, and I was so frightened that I hurriedly closed the window and door.

It's far away from the village, I'm the only one in the empty and dilapidated school, and next to the mass grave, how can I not be afraid? But I know that I can't be afraid now, the more scared I am, the easier it is to encounter "dirty things", and if I am upright, ghosts will not dare to get close, so since ancient times, there has been a saying that "people don't do bad things, and they are not afraid of ghosts knocking on the door in the middle of the night".

Scholars are upright, afraid of some ghosts!

After closing the doors and windows and getting used to the lighting, I felt a little more grounded, unzipped my backpack and started to organize things. At such a time, doing something to distract you and not thinking about things you shouldn't think about can relieve your nervous spirit, and it is best to sing or memorize ancient poems and so on, showing that you are very calm and calm.

"Xunyang Jiangtou night send-off, maple leaves and flowers in autumn...... I began to recite Bai Juyi's "Pipa Xing", but I stopped in surprise after only two sentences. When I passed through the township, I bought three apples, ate one and left two in a plastic bag and put it in a backpack, and now there is only one apple in the plastic bag!

At that time, although the economy improved, fruits were still rare in remote mountain villages, and my family was not well-off, so I rarely bought fruits, so I still attached great importance to the remaining two apples. The knot of the plastic bag was tied by my own hands, it was not loosened, the plastic bag was not broken, no one had touched the backpack, the window was inserted from the inside, the door was locked, how could the apple disappear?

I didn't believe in this evil, so I poured all the contents of my backpack on the bed, but there were still no apples, and I felt a chill down my spine, and I felt as if someone was standing behind me......