Strange Records of Mountain Ghosts

The ancestral hall of Dayang Village is located in the north corner of the village, with its back against the mountain and the path in front of it. Walking about a hundred steps along the path, it is the nearest family.

It is really puzzling that the ancestral hall was built in such a remote place.

Zhang Xiaotong once asked Uncle Zhang this question.But at that time, Uncle Zhang was surprised that Zhang Xiaotong would ask such a question, and he didn't even think about answering him seriously.

That was when Zhang Xiaotong was three years old. Except for that time, Zhang Xiaotong had no interest in the ancestral hall.Until now, forced by the form, he had to be interested in it.

The ancestral hall of Dayang Village, as soon as you enter the door, you can see the open-air lobby. Ancestors are placed in front, and there are six positions according to the surnames, which are arranged in an orderly manner; the large wooden door on the left of the gate is "Chentang Room" , usually used by the village chief for meetings; on the right is the "Chen Clan", which contains the genealogy of Dayang Village and various historical books.The so-called back room is located on the wall behind the ancestor's spiritual seat, and a narrow door that almost merges with the wall is its entrance. Because this door is very inconspicuous, some people jokingly call it a dark room.Just now Fu'er was rummaging inside, looking for something.

Now, after Zhang Xiaotong followed Zhou Dongcao into the darkroom, he coughed endlessly due to the stale air and dust.After the door was closed, the dimly lit room lost the light outside and quickly darkened. A little light leaked from the small window on the wall, casting a shadow on Zhou Dongcao's vague face.

Lanterns used to celebrate the autumn harvest, paper dolls used to greet the God of Wealth... these sundries take up half of the room.

Zhang Xiaotong thought, when I met Fu'er outside, it wasn't so dark here.

He scanned the surroundings, and couldn't help wondering whether Fu'er had left the ancestral hall.

When Zhang Xiaotong was distracted, Zhou Dongcao walked to an empty corner, squatted down, and a slight click brought Zhang Xiaotong back to reality.He followed the prestige and found an entrance on the originally empty floor, and a small staircase leading down.

Zhou Dongcao reminded Zhang Xiaotong to keep up.

Zhang Xiaotong was still thinking about Brother Fu who likes to run around, how could he keep following him, so he said a little embarrassedly: "Uncle Zhou Zhou, you are busy with something, I have to go home..." As he spoke, he opened the door to go out , found that the door could not be opened.

"Uncle Tuesday, I didn't realize when you locked the door." Zhang Xiaotong felt that something was wrong, and the forced smile froze on his face.

"While you were sneezing," Zhou Dongcao raised the key in his hand, and smiled a bit, "Come with me."

Zhang Xiaotong didn't move: "..."

Zhou Dongcao looked at him quietly.Zhang Xiaotong turned around to knock on the door: "Someone..." It suddenly occurred to him that if Fu'er came over, he would be found... At the moment of hesitation, Zhou Dongcao rushed up to clamp his hand, and Zhang Xiaotong shouted: "What are you doing? You... woo woo woo..." Zhou Dongcao covered her mouth with the other hand, and was dragged into the basement.

The movement of struggling quickly disappeared with the closure of the secret passageway.

A cloud of dust slowly fell, and there was a knocking sound from outside the locked door.

Zhou Dongcao restrained the man with one hand, and at the same time touched the mechanism on the top entrance and closed the entrance.Zhang Xiaotong was rampaging in his arms like a restless calf. The two stumbled on the narrow and steep stairs. Zhou Dongcao took the trouble, let go of the shackles on him, and pushed behind him violently, Zhang Xiaotong screamed Rolling down the long stairs, staring at the head, lying on the cold stone floor, unable to recover for a long time.

Zhou Dongcao walked down slowly, and Zhang Xiaotong moved back his dizzy head like a frightened rabbit.Unexpectedly, Zhou Dongcao passed him and walked towards the middle of the secret room.

Zhang Xiaotong's eyes followed him, and at the same time he saw clearly where he was.

This is a small brick basement, and there is a stone platform in the middle, and there seems to be something on it, which cannot be seen clearly from Zhang Xiaotong's angle.Four candles were lit around the stone platform.

"Do you know, only the village chief has the key to enter here." Zhou Dongcao took out a knife out of nowhere, and the blade gave off a cold light. what to chop.

"Father thinks that I am the most suitable person to be the next village head, so he told me in advance the secret that only the village head can know."

He stabbed down again, making a dull sound.

Zhang Xiaotong rushed up the stairs while he couldn't see him, knocked on the closed entrance, and yelled loudly, but no one answered outside, so he could only go back to the basement.

"What do you want to bring me in?" Zhang Xiaotong kept away from him.

Zhou Dongcao turned around, grabbing a human arm with his right hand, Zhang Xiaotong suspected that he was dazzled, rubbed his eyes, and stammered: "That... that is..."

Zhou Dongcao held his arm, pulled out a candle on the ground and walked aside. The place illuminated by the candle was a groove full of straw. He threw his arm in, lit the straw, and emitted a fierce light, illuminating the secret room like a daytime.

Zhou Dongcao said: "This is the treasure of our village to ward off evil spirits."

Zhang Xiaotong approached, and there was half a young man lying on the stone platform.

All he had left was his head and upper body. If you counted the right arm that Zhou Dongcao chopped off just now, he was indeed half a human.

Zhang Xiaotong's face was pale, he couldn't stand steadily, he staggered back a few steps, not daring to look closely at the terrifying scene.

Smoke from the burning billowed out and was sucked away by a small opening above.Soon, the fire in the groove dimmed, and when the fire was completely extinguished, some fine ash remained inside.

Zhou Dongcao gathered the ashes together, packed them in a small cloth bag, stood up and shook Zhang Xiaotong and said, "Do you remember? Three years ago, I used it to test your ashes."

Zhang Xiaotong touched the beads on his wrist, glanced at the person on the stone platform, and left as if his hands were burning.

Zhou Dongcao took out a bamboo tube, unscrewed it, and poured out a meat ball full of blood vessels and black spots.The meatball rolled and wriggled on the ground, Zhou Dongcao held his breath, opened the cloth bag, sprinkled a small amount of ash on the meatball, stared at it without blinking, and as the meatball melted into a pool of water, he Breathe a sigh of relief.

"He's been lying here for 100 years? 200 years? I can't tell." Zhou Dongcao was in a good mood with a relaxed tone, ready to tell a story to Zhang Xiaotong.

"Our ancestors didn't know his real name, so they just called him A Hua. When he first came to the village, he was still a teenager, and he was more beautiful than all the girls in Dayang Village. Therefore, in the stories handed down, A Hua Hua is a woman." Zhou Dongcao walked slowly with her hands behind her back, like a gentle and elegant teacher, "I also came here to know that Ah Hua is a man."

The bright yellow light of the candle cast a flickering shadow on his face.

"When the mountain ghost attacked the village back then, it was thanks to Ah Hua that the village survived. Although many men died, causing serious damage to their vitality, there were still babies and women in the village, and they barely continued to reproduce. And Ah Hua came back from the mountain not long ago. , and died of illness."

"I don't know if it's because of the contact with the sacred tree that A'hua's body didn't rot, and even had a magical effect." Zhou Dongcao pointed to the meat ball that had just disappeared, "So, A'hua has been preserved, which is equivalent to our The patron saint of Dayang Village."

Zhang Xiaotong glanced at Shitai, frowned tightly, pursed his mouth, and said nothing.

"Do you want to know why I told you this?" Zhou Dongcao walked up to him and said gently, "I want you to be the next village chief."

Zhang Xiaotong looked at him in confusion.

Zhou Dongcao chuckled, "I lied to you."

As he spoke, he grabbed Zhang Xiaotong and pushed him onto the stone platform, with his face facing Ah Hua's.

Zhou Dongcao pressed Zhang Xiaotong tightly, as if he had discovered some big secret, and his tone was full of pride: "My father didn't pay attention when he was old, but I found out," Zhou Dongcao pinched his chin, "Look, you grew up with him How similar!"

Zhang Xiaotong's head hit A'hua's face, it was cool and soft.

He was trembling all over, his mind was in a daze, and he didn't know what night it was.