Chapter 12: Strange Human Leg Bones
There was nothing in the room except the coffin.
"That's where I am."
After the master finished speaking, he looked at me and asked, "What are you doing here? What's missing here?"
"I stayed here during the days I was missing."
I was startled. The master actually pushed open the lid of a coffin. I stood aside with my legs shaking.
“It’s very comfortable to sleep here.”
I was sweating, continuously and endlessly.
I slowly approached and saw a quilt and a pillow in the coffin. I was stunned.
"Why do you live here?"
"I don't know. There's always a voice calling me, asking me to come live here. I can't control myself. That voice is just like my mother's. I lie here, just like being held by my mother. For thirteen days, I don't feel hungry, only my mother's warmth..."
Yinyan started sobbing and I panicked.
I took Yinyan's hand and left the building. It wasn't until we got in the car that Yinyan's emotions calmed down.
We drove to a restaurant to eat and drink.
"Why do I feel this way?"
"I grew up in my grandmother's house. My mother left me when I was two years old. Later, my father went abroad and there was no news from him. My mother died, and I never felt her love. No, not at all. My grandmother didn't like me because I was always crying and didn't like to talk. I always sat in one place, looking into the distance. I hoped my mother would appear, but she didn't, not until now, the first year after I came to the crematorium, when a voice called me. It was my mother's voice, and I..."
How could such a strange thing happen? What kind of call was this? Where did it come from?
Yinyan didn’t know and shook her head. I couldn’t figure it out at all.
On Saturday, I was off and Yinyan was off too, but I didn’t call Yinyan. I went to Master Zhou’s house and Zhang Xiaoxue was there too.
"Mingzhe, come in and sit down."
"It's fine outside. Where's Master Zhou?"
Zhang Xiaoxue pointed to the mountain.
"I've gone to the mountains. I go there every day. I'll be back around noon. Wait a moment, it's almost time. I'll go cook dinner."
Zhang Xiaoxue poured me some water and took out some fruit.
Zhang Xiaoxue’s meal was almost ready when Master Zhou really came back and said to me when she saw me.
"I knew you would come."
Come in and eat, said Master Zhou.
"I think you came here for your master. To be honest, both the palm and the back of the hand are made of flesh, but you are more suitable for Xiaoxue."
"I don't want to talk about this today. I want to know what's going on with the small building behind the crematorium."
"I'm sorry, I don't know. I can answer the other questions for you."
Master Zhou was quite strange, as if he was avoiding something. I got nothing that day.
I went home and it was deserted.
It was Yinyan's shift that day. I was sitting in the office, and Mao Xiaoli was wearing all white. That white wasn't just a normal white, it was a mourning white. This was terrifying. She took out the bottle of red water again and, without my knowledge, watered the flowers.
"Sister Mao."
I called out "Sister Mao" and she spoke with her back to me.
"What's up?"
"Sister Mao, I have a lot of questions..."
"What did your master teach you? Don't be so curious here, and don't ask so many questions, otherwise people will lose their lives and you won't even know how."
What Mao Xiaoli said was so terrifying that I felt a chill in my heart.
"Sister Mao, you sound so scary, I don't see it. Why is your flower as red as blood?"
Mao Xiaoli suddenly turned around and looked at me, which scared me and made me feel weird.
I stood up and said.
"I'm going out for a walk."
I broke out in cold sweat on my back. I have to say that Mao Xiaoli is so weird.
I came out and walked west. Through the gap between the buildings, I could see the two-story building behind. It was such a weird building that it made my heart beat abnormally just by looking at it.
Yinyan came out and walked over to say.
"Are you okay?"
"Oh, I feel so confused looking at Sister Mao."
"Oh, you pretend she doesn't exist."
Yinyan stayed for a while and then went back. As for the small building, I still can't figure it out. How could I find the same warmth as my mother in that coffin? I just can't figure it out. And she was gone for thirteen days. Didn't other people know that she was in the small building?
At noon, Yinyan came over and threw the car keys to me.
"You drive."
I had just gotten my ticket and was a little nervous. She didn't talk to Mao Xiaoli, as if she hadn't seen her, she was completely empty, and Mao Xiaoli was the same.
I got in the car and Yinyan lit a cigarette.
"Stop smoking."
"I do."
I didn't say anything, started the car and drove forward slowly.
"Just like a cow, the driver who taught you to drive must be a sissy."
"Don't be so mean."
"hurry up."
The road to the crematorium was flanked by mountains on one side and a river on the other. I accelerated, and halfway through, the car suddenly crashed into the guardrail. With a bang, the car stopped. I was stunned, sweating, and sat there motionless. Yinyan also screamed in fear.
“My skills are world-class.”
Yinyan got out of the car and I followed her. The collision wasn't serious, but the guardrail was too old and it broke. I almost fell out and my legs were shaking.
Yinyan took a look and said.
"This car is yours to practice on. Come with me to see the car tomorrow."
I stood there in a daze. Yinyan got in the car. When I was about to get in, I glanced at the driveway. There was something on the driveway. I saw it when I was driving and felt that I had run over it. I walked over slowly and started to sweat. It turned out to be a bone, a real bone, grayish white. I squatted down to look at it. Yinyan called me, so I picked up the bone and held it over to her. She looked at it for a long time.
"Leg bones? Human."
"There it is. I just ran into it."
Yinyan was stunned for a long time, then took out a plastic bag and put me in it.
"What?"
Yinyan said nothing and put the bones in the car.
Yinyan drove me to the restaurant, and I asked about the bone while we were eating.
"Strange, the bones won't be on the road. Don't ask about it for now."
I feel more and more that the crematorium is a strange place.
That day I drove the car to the repair shop and went home.
My mother was actually at home .
"I'll come back to pack some things."
It seems that my mother really doesn't plan to come back.
"Aren't you going back to this house?"
"It's yours for your wedding."
My heart is cold, my mother has always been cold.
"My father was a refiner back then, you..."
"Shut up and don't mention him to me."
My mother seemed to be filled with extreme resentment towards my father. I shut my mouth and watched her leave with her bag. I wanted to cry, but it was too cold and I couldn't cry.
I was sitting in the office. Mao Xiaoli had changed into light-colored clothes today and looked much more normal.
"Sister Mao, how many years have you been coming to the crematorium?"
Mao Xiaoli gave me a blank look.
"That's like asking a woman how old she is, especially one my age."
I thought to myself, there's something wrong.
I had nothing to do, so I picked up a book to read. It was a tacky book that was boring. I went out to find the director because I was still upset about that incident.
When I went in, the manager was looking at some information.
"Director."
"Oh, it's Mingzhe, come and sit down."
The director suddenly became enthusiastic, which made me feel a little strange.
"Captain, that matter..."
"I'm sorry, it's my fault, not yours."
I didn't ask any further. As long as it wasn't my business, it was fine. Even if I asked, the manager couldn't tell me anything.
"Manager, can you change your job? I'm bored and making trouble."
"I'm sick. Drink tea when you're free. Here."
The manager gave me a box of tea, which looked good.
"Thank you, Director."
I took it away and went back to make some tea. It was indeed fragrant.
Mao Xiaoli looked at me and said.
"You wouldn't be willing to buy the director's tea."
This woman's words made me angry, but I didn't say anything.
"Beautiful, good tea, good tea, would you like some, Sister Mao?"
"No, I never drink tea, I only drink..."
She didn't move down, but stopped. I was stunned. Drinking blood? The red stuff in the bottle? I almost spit out my tea. My brain started to show abnormalities.
Mao Xiaoli looked at you angrily, then picked up a book to cover her face and read.
The repair shop called me to pick up the car. I went to pick it up and originally wanted to drive to find Yinyan. Unexpectedly, the car crashed into a tree within ten minutes of driving. As a newbie, I was really unlucky.
The trees were all broken. I called Yinyan, and she took a taxi over and looked at me and said.
"The master who taught you must be an idiot."
Everyone who was watching started laughing, and I was surprised. My eyes flashed and I saw things dizzy. I suspected there was something wrong with my eyes.
Yinyan drove the car back to the repair shop, and the mechanic was very disappointed.
"So soon?"
I turned my face away. Yinyan didn't say anything. I had dinner with Yinyan in the evening and we didn't mention the car again.
Today is Saturday. I went to the hospital to see my eyes, and they were fine. So why did it flash? It wasn't caused by other car lights at night. It's really strange.
I had just left the hospital when Yinyan called me and asked me to go to her house.
I went over and Yinyan was already downstairs.
"Go and see the car."
"Isn't that necessary?"
"have."
I can see that Yinyan is very willful and stubborn.
I walked around the auto show, didn't see anything I liked, and was tired, so I decided to find a place to eat, I said.
"I went to the hospital?"
Yinyan was stunned.
"I went to see my eyes."
"Is there something wrong with your eyes?"
"No, but there was a flash of light in my eyes, and I hit the tree."
Yinyan frowned and suddenly spoke in a low voice.
"sorry."
"What's the meaning?"
"I forgot to take out the bones. Your car accident was related to that."
I shuddered.
"What's the big deal? It's just a little scary, that's all."
"It's not as simple as you think. Both times you got into trouble because of this person's bones. Isn't that strange? If it was still in the car, you would still get into trouble."
I started sweating.
After dinner, we went to the repair shop and took out the bones that were packed in the plastic bag, but Yinyan had put them in the trunk.
Yinyan came out to take a taxi and asked the driver to go to the crematorium.
The driver stopped at the intersection near the crematorium.
"I won't go in. It's unlucky. You don't even have to pay."
Yinyan didn't say anything. I paid the money and we got off the car.
"Master, what are you doing here?"
"This person has some strange bones. It's strange that he's here and you bumped into him."
Yinyan asked me to wait while she went to the small building at the back and didn't come out for more than ten minutes.
"It's okay."
I don't know what she did in there, but I know there must be an explanation. I don't want to ask too much. At the crematorium, the master told me not to ask about things I don't know. The more I know here, the more strange things will happen.
Yinyan and I went out and sent her home. I went to my grandma's house. My mother was cooking. She didn't say anything. It was always like this. She just glanced at me, which was considered a greeting. I was used to this way of greeting.
I told my mother while we were eating.
"I think you can take grandma over..."
"You don't have to tell me. When I left that house, I felt like I was out of prison. I was free."
I was stunned when I heard this. It turned out my mother had always felt like she was living in a prison. It was truly terrifying; I never imagined it would be like this. I stopped talking. This was fine. I could visit them whenever I had time, since we were all in this city anyway.
