Uncle Yang's house was on a slope in the village.
It was a two - story red - brick building with a clean and tidy yard.
Si Jiangchen carried my backpack and held my hand. Like an ordinary couple, we followed Uncle Yang into the yard.
There was an incandescent lamp lit in front of the main hall. The warm light illuminated the yard, just like the kind and helpful personality of the host.
"Old man, how's it going? Did something happen?"
Aunt Yang heard the sound of the courtyard gate and quickly walked out of the house. When she saw me and Si Jiangchen following Uncle Yang, she was startled.
Both of us were splashed with a lot of bloodstains. Moreover, my T - shirt had been torn by Feng Zhuzi, and it was also stained with a lot of garbage and debris. We looked no different from beggars.
For a moment, Aunt Yang didn't have time to ask her husband. She rushed up to us, sized me up, and asked, "What's going on? Did those inhumane brothers from the Feng family attack you?"
"No, no..." I quickly waved my hand.
Uncle Yang made a gesture to be quiet and lowered his voice, saying, "These are feng shui masters from the city. They broke the old willow tree behind the Feng family... Also, they said they could help our Xiaoshanzi be reincarnated!"
"What?!"
"Masters?!"
"Xiaoshanzi?!"
Aunt Yang asked three times in a row. Big tears suddenly welled up in her eyes. She stepped forward and grabbed Si Jiangchen's hand. "You look so extraordinary at first sight. You must help our Xiaoshanzi. He cries in my dreams every day, saying that a bad guy catches him and makes him do bad things every day!"
My face instantly flushed with embarrassment.
Si Jiangchen smiled and moved Aunt Yang's hand to mine. "My girlfriend is the real capable'master'."
"Ah..."
Aunt Yang also blushed deeply. For a moment, her grief was diluted a bit. She grabbed my hand and grinned shyly. "Auntie is really blind and can't recognize a real master! Little girl... You're already a master at such a young age. You're really... really amazing."
"Alright, alright! Hurry back into the house."
Uncle Yang locked the courtyard gate and invited us into the house.
"I'll go boil some water for you to wash up."
Aunt Yang, being a careful woman, knew that our clothes were obviously unwearable.
"Auntie, wait a minute. I'll first tell you and Uncle what things we need to prepare."
I needed to prepare a lot of things to help Xiaoshanzi and Feng Zhenzhen be reincarnated.
Not only did we need yellow paper and ingots to offer to the underworld officials, but also some paper - made sacrificial items, incense, and candles to pacify the resentment of the untimely dead.
"Alright, alright!" Uncle Yang nodded.
I took out paper and a pen from my backpack, wrote a list of the needed items, and gave it to Uncle Yang. "Uncle, please buy all these things early tomorrow morning. We can hold the ritual when we come back. It's still within the Ghost Month, so we can definitely send Xiaoshanzi away safely."
Uncle Yang took the list, folded it carefully, and nodded in agreement.
Seeing Aunt Yang busy going to the backyard to get the water heater ready, he followed her and said, "If anyone comes to ask at night, don't say a word."
Aunt Yang nodded. "I know. There are only two of us in the family. We'll go to bed early and know nothing."
"Okay!"
Only then did Uncle Yang feel relieved. He returned to the main hall with two bowls of cold noodles with four poached eggs in each. He said apologetically, "This is the countryside. We don't have anything good. These are cold noodles made with shredded cucumbers from our own garden. Little girl, you can make do with them."
I saw that in the two fine porcelain bowls, the hand - rolled noodles as wide as chives were topped with green cucumber shreds, some sesame paste was drizzled on them, and the golden - fried poached eggs were lying on top. It looked really appetizing.
"Thank you, Uncle."
I glanced at Si Jiangchen, wondering if this rich - family man's stomach could adapt to such simple fare.
To be honest, I had met him many times, but I didn't seem to have ever seen him really eat anything.
Sure enough, Si Jiangchen wasn't used to this kind of food. He only picked a few cucumber shreds and put them into his mouth, which made Uncle Yang feel embarrassed. He was eager to kill a chicken to cook a dish.
"Uncle Yang, don't bother."
While slurping the delicious and cold noodles, I said, "Mr. Si doesn't like to eat regular meals. He only likes to drink coffee."
"Oh, okay!"
I wasn't sure if Uncle Yang understood my words.
Si Jiangchen smiled faintly. "It's not that the food is bad. I just ate too much before coming to Dayu Village, so I don't have much of an appetite now."
"That's good, that's good."
Uncle Yang finally understood what Si Jiangchen meant. Even if he killed a chicken or a goose, this guest probably wouldn't be able to eat it.
While eating, I chatted with Uncle Yang and learned that besides Xiaoshanzi, the couple had a son and a daughter. One had already started working, and the other had just entered a university in Henan Province. They were both in big cities and could only come back during festivals.
Xiaoshanzi was their youngest son. He had just turned eight when he was alive. It was hot in summer, and the kids in the village liked to play in the mountain stream.
The stream was only about a foot deep, not even reaching the kids' knees.
But one evening, while the other kids had all gone home, Xiaoshanzi didn't show up. When Uncle Yang and his wife found the poor child, he had drowned face - down in a small puddle.
"Old man, stop talking..."
Aunt Yang had boiled the water and came in just in time to hear Uncle Yang talking about this sad thing. She wiped her eyes and sighed. "That Taoist priest before said that Xiaoshanzi had the fate of a child spirit and wouldn't live long! He told us to buy the child's life from him. It's all my fault. I said he was a fraud and didn't want to spend the money."
"The previous Taoist priest?" I had finished the big bowl of noodles in front of me. I wiped my mouth and asked hesitantly.
"Yes..." Aunt Yang shook her head. "Let's not talk about it. Let's not talk about it! Miss Du, the water is ready. Our house is a bit simple. You wash first, and then let Mr. Si wash."
"Okay. Thank you very much."
I got up and followed Aunt Yang to the shower room in the back. Si Jiangchen was led by Uncle Yang to the room that had been prepared for us to rest in.
The self - built rural house was very big. The two - story building had seven or eight rooms.
Uncle Yang and Aunt Yang were people who paid attention to the quality of life. They had a separate small shower room behind the small courtyard. The room was clean and tidy, with white tiles on the floor and ceiling. There was a neatly folded bear - printed bath towel on a pink high stool. It was obviously something from Aunt Yang's daughter.
I closed the door and turned on the shower switch.
It was hot now, and the water from the solar water heater was emitting a faint white steam. It was so hot that my skin shivered slightly.
The back of my T - shirt had been torn. No wonder Si Jiangchen had been holding me from behind all the time...
I took off the clothes on me, and my snow - white skin was covered with blue and red marks.
This guy was really like a "dog", biting so hard...