I don’t know Chu Jiangshan because I have bought his books and seen the photos in his books. I have only read books online because physical books are too expensive. What’s more, although I like his books, I can’t read them with him.

Like a groupie, they search for his photos or whereabouts everywhere. I know him because he rented a house in his old house for a period of time.

At that time, the old house had not been demolished, and I was still in my early teens. It was the time when I wanted to have fun, so I would take the initiative to get close to everyone who rented the old house. Most people thought that I was a good person.

The landlady's son would always say a few words to me, but this young man in his twenties never gave me a good look, nor did he give anyone a good look. He locked himself in the room every day, maybe because of lack of

Maybe it's because he doesn't get enough sun from the exercise, but I always feel that his gloomy face is a bit frighteningly pale.

In my memory, the only person this young man named Chu Jiangshan could communicate with in the old house was grandma, and every time he asked about some legends about the old house, perhaps the elderly always liked someone to talk with her, so grandma

I was also happy to tell him the legends in the old house that I had heard many times.

Although I have stopped telling these stories so many times that I don’t want to listen to grandma’s nagging anymore, but every time I see grandma telling him those stories, I feel very uncomfortable. You are such a stinker, why do you want my grandma to tell you stories?

listen?

For these reasons, I still remember the appearance of young Chu Jiangshan very well, although I never knew his name. There was no news about him until after the old house was demolished.

A few years later, I became obsessed with novels written by a man named Chu Jiangshan. A few years later, this man suddenly committed suicide in mysterious circumstances. Today, I am looking at the photos of him when he was young and recalling the past events related to him.

Erliang listened to what I said but didn't get anything useful out of it. Because he was going to look for that old house the next day, the two of them had something to eat and went back to the hotel to rest. I turned over and over again all night.

I didn't sleep well. As soon as I closed my eyes, I seemed to see Chu Jiangshan's pale face again.

I didn't sleep for long when I was woken up by Erliang, saying that this place was very far away and I had to leave early, otherwise I would have to walk on a mountain road in the dark. It was obviously not a wise move to walk on a mountain road in such a summer, in case I was attacked by a poisonous snake or something.

One bite was all it took, so even though I didn't want to, I had to pack up and get in the car to set off.

The car had to stop at noon. According to the folklore expert, the only way to go up from here was to walk, which would take about five or six hours. Erliang originally wanted to invite the expert to lead the way, but

There seemed to be something unspeakable about the place, so I didn’t force it. Anyway, I already knew where the old house was. After getting out of the car and looking for someone to confirm, the two of them started walking towards the mountains. Behind us, we just asked him about the local people passing by.

The faces were full of disbelief, as if we were two lunatics.

The mountain road is indeed difficult to walk, but Erliang is better. I have been in poor health since I was a child, and I don’t like sports very much when I grow up. Even if Erliang carries all the things on his back now, I still can’t keep up with him.

.

I asked breathlessly from behind: "Speaking of Erliang, why are you so interested in this old house and why do you have to investigate it thoroughly?"

This is a sentence that I have been holding back in my heart for a long time. If the two of them had not finished talking nonsense along the way, I would not ask this question, because I know that Erliang has been hiding something from me. As a good friend, there are some things

You shouldn't ask.

Erliang stopped and without looking back, asked: "Then what are you doing?"

I replied: "I have many reasons. In order to write a good book, in order to find some connection between this old house and my old house, in order to satisfy my curiosity, and in order to escape the forced marriage of my parents.

." At this point, I suddenly thought of the little girl in the photo in my pocket, and I couldn't help but smile. But at the same time, I said silently in my heart: "It's also because someone has been urging me to investigate this.

thing."

Of course, Erliang couldn't hear these words, just like I could never see the person who urged me to investigate these things.

Erliang was silent for a while and said: "The reason why I do this is because it is my ideal."

"Ideal?" I was stunned for a moment and said, "Although I know that I shouldn't laugh at a person's ideals, I don't know what the ideals in this look like. In my opinion, there is no basis for establishing an ideal at all.

"

Erliang turned around and asked: "It's ridiculous, isn't it?"

I nodded.

Erliang smiled slightly, a little mysteriously: "Ideals can only be realized or not, they are never absurd."

Not long ago, Erliang and I had a brief discussion on the topic of ideals. This conversation was similar to the last time, except that the same words were spoken by another person.

Erliang saw that I was a little distracted, so he came down and gave me a hand, saying that if I didn't hurry up, I might not be able to reach that place at night, so I had to grit my teeth and continue dragging my heavy steps. Erliang kept walking in front of me, sometimes stopping and waiting.

Sometimes I would run a few steps forward and stand on a high place to look forward. Just when I was exhausted, I suddenly heard Erliang in front of me shout excitedly: "Arui, we are here!"

I ran up a few steps excitedly and climbed up the big rock at the foot of Erliang. At the foot of the mountain was an open basin, which should be a small village. In the middle of the village, I saw an old house. Even at this time

It was already dark, but I could still see that the house was black, and even darker was the strange little dark room in the middle of the house, which looked like an upright coffin from a distance.

The so-called "looking at the mountain and running to death", although the old house on the top of the mountain was very close, it still took us nearly two hours to finally walk into the village. Maybe it was because all the young people were out.

After working part-time, the village, which originally had a small population, seemed more and more depressed. A few silent old people stood on the roadside and looked at us with indescribable indifference in their eyes.

Erliang and I finally walked to the big house. Just like my old house, there was a huge plaque hanging at the door, and the word "Mao House" could be vaguely seen. The old house was mainly made of wooden structure, because

Over time, those wooden boards have turned dark brown, like a silent old man, hiding many secrets.

I am certain that this house must have a deep relationship with my family, and I am even certain that my family first moved out from here. At this moment, I felt a sense of pilgrimage in my heart, and I said in my heart: "I'll come back and see

is you."

The door of the old house was closed but not locked. Erliang and I put our hands on the door and were about to push it open when an old and anxious voice came from behind: "Young man, you can't go in."

If I hadn't had a lot of contact with local people in the past few days, it would be really difficult to understand this kind of Mandarin with a strong local accent. I turned around and saw an old man in ragged clothes standing behind me and said: "You guys.

Outsiders don’t know what’s going on here, so they can’t go in.”

I smiled slightly and asked: "Why?" Actually, I knew the answer, but since I came here, I had to go in and see what happened. What's more, this is the place where my ancestors once stayed. I think now I understand that sentence

"Come back and see me" means, someone is waiting for me to come back in the old house, and now I am really back.

The old man's answer was just as I expected. He said that this place was very evil, and gave examples of someone who worked here in a certain year and had an accident. He wanted to persuade us not to go in. Erliang and I talked to each other.

After taking a look, he said thank you to the old man, and then they pushed open the closed door together.

There was no dust blowing into my face as I imagined, nor was it like a swarm of bats flying out of it like in the movie. What came into view was a dilapidated old house. Although it has a history of hundreds of years, it has not been restored because of the last government

It was intended to be a tourist attraction, so it didn't look too dilapidated. At least it was much better than I imagined. I originally thought that the centuries-old house would be the same as Lanruo Temple.

Although it was the first time to walk into this old house, and it was already dark at this time, with only a pitiful light leaking from the patio, it was enough for Erliang and I, because the layout of this old house was even

The size is exactly the same as my old house that has been demolished. We can't go wrong even with our eyes closed.

Walking in such an old house, I instantly felt like I had returned to the past. The old house has forty or fifty rooms, and between the four rooms is a typical southern-style patio. But because the old house is so big,

Therefore, these patios are much larger and more numerous than ordinary patios. Every rainy season in the south, the rainwater from the eaves will pull up a rain curtain on the edge of these patios, which is very beautiful. Since the old house

After it was demolished, I never had the chance to appreciate such a view. When I saw the layout of this old house, I couldn't help but sigh: "It's a pity that it's not a rainy day."

Erliang turned on the flashlight and said: "Stop being sentimental for now, let's find a place to sleep for one night. Should we go to a fellow villager outside to stay for one night, or should we just stay here?"

I used to watch horror movies and always couldn't help but scold the directors and screenwriters as idiots, why do you have to go to those ghost places at night? If it were me, I would definitely not go to those ghost places at night, because that's it.

It's funny, I'm afraid of the dark. Maybe it's because I've written too many horror novels. Every time I turn off the light, I feel like someone is appearing next to me, looking at me like this. Especially after these things happened recently, this feeling becomes more and more intense.

But for some reason, I am no longer afraid now. I smiled and said, "Let's sleep here. Aren't we going to be teased by those people when we go out?"

Erliang smiled: "You are the only one who wants to save face, but actually I also want to sleep here."

I said casually: "For your ideal?"

Erliang was originally taking something out of the bag. When he heard my words, his body froze. He paused and continued to take something out, but did not speak.

I felt a little regretful in my heart. Maybe my curiosity was too strong. Although I said I wouldn’t ask Erliang what secrets he had, I couldn’t help but stimulate him with words. It seemed that Erliang was a little bit a little bit this time.

When I got angry, I secretly stuck out my tongue and said, "Go to sleep quickly, I'm exhausted."

Erliang said "yes" and sped up the movements of his hands. While I was helping him, I thought to myself: I don't know whether your "yes" is answering my first question or my second sentence.

Because it was getting very late, and the two of them were tired, they didn’t have time to choose from one room to another. I casually took a photo with a flashlight and put all the gifts into a room that looked pretty decent.

In the room, they laid a mat on the floor, turned on the night light, and then the two of them got into their sleeping bags.

Maybe I was too tired, maybe I was too excited to return to the place where my ancestors lived, but I couldn't fall asleep. I heard Erliang turning over and over, obviously not asleep, so I shouted softly.

Erliang called him "hmm" and asked, "What's the matter?"

I said: "I can't sleep."

Erliang asked: "Are you scared?"

I said, "No, I just can't sleep. Please talk to me."

Erliang sighed and said, "I can't sleep either."

The two of them started talking casually, and Erliang suddenly said: "I don't know what happened to your ancestors that made you suddenly want to move out. According to the information, your ancestors died not long after this old house was built."

He took the whole family and moved to our place. I don’t know what happened. Do you think it was a ghost?”

"Don't talk nonsense, talking like this in the middle of the night!" I quickly stopped Erliang from continuing. He laughed a few times and said, "You said you're not afraid, but now you've tried it."

I said: "Okay, so you are playing with me. Well, let me tell you, in the room where we sleep in my old house, one of my elders was hanged here.

There is a body hanging above the place where you slept."

Erliang made a sound: "That's our old house there, not here. You can't scare me."

Seeing that I couldn't scare him, I continued: "Also, in the alley in front of us, you can always hear people walking back and forth in the middle of the night."

Erliang scolded me: "I already said it was the old house and not this place, yet you still talk about these things without any creativity at all. No wonder no one likes your novels."
Chapter completed!