Chapter 31: Past Events
As the Chinese New Year approaches, the village becomes more and more lively, and every household starts running to the town and the city to buy this and that. Although our place is relatively remote, the New Year atmosphere is much stronger than in some big cities.
Although my younger sister and I had brought some things back from the city, we went to the county to do some Although we didn't buy anything valuable, we did buy a lot of food, clothing, and other miscellaneous things. Of course, I still enjoyed the process. Going to the street with my family and shopping was a happy thing.
After the Chinese New Year, every household starts visiting relatives and friends. Our family is no exception. Grandparents, uncles and aunts, grandparents, uncles and aunts, aunts and uncles. As we walked, my little sister was about to go to school.
When I was about to contact that girl Lu Xiaofeng, she contacted me first.
"Uncle, what are you doing? Are you not going to do this anymore? If you are not going to do this anymore, go and explain it to your uncle master yourself, and don't implicate me."
The girl seemed a little unhappy. I quickly responded, "Girl, no, Senior Sister. Who said I quit? It's the Chinese New Year these days. I was thinking of contacting you today."
Of course I have to do this kind of business that makes money. In two years, I can buy a house and get married. And if I continue to do this, I can also better support myself.
"What a bullshit New Year! It's already this day, why are we still celebrating the New Year?"
This girl probably wanted to hear me say I was quitting, so she was even more upset and cursed. I laughed in my heart, I don't care whether you are happy or not, you are making so much money, I won't leave even if you chase me away.
"Come and meet me in a week. I'll send you the address later. No more waiting."
The girl said something else and hung up the phone. Then she sent me a text message: Jiangsu Province, Yangzhou City, Library. I took out the map of China at home. I calculated the distance. If I left home in the morning, I would first go to the city, and then take the train to Yangzhou. I should arrive the next morning. If I calculated the time again, I could leave just in time for my younger sister to start school.
I stayed at home for a few more days, and it was the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month. My younger sister went to school tomorrow, and I also left tomorrow. If I arrived in Yangzhou in time, I could still arrive one or two days earlier than the time agreed with Lu Xiaofeng.
In the evening, my mother and younger sister were watching TV in the room, and my father was sitting in the yard smoking. I also went to the yard and sat next to my father.
"Dad, I found that Taoist priest before, and he said something strange might have happened to me when I was a child."
I said tentatively. Based on what the Taoist priest said before, I guessed that someone must have tampered with my body before I was fourteen. I went to school late and stopped studying for two years, so I was in the fifth grade of elementary school when I was fifteen, but I dropped out before finishing the fifth grade.
At this point, I suddenly remembered that I didn't go to school for two years when I was in elementary school. Thinking about it carefully, I can't seem to remember what happened in those two years. Although elementary school events were many years ago and I have basically forgotten them, I still seem to remember some things before and after those two years.
When I was 9 years old, I was in the first grade. Because I was naughty, I climbed a tree to rob a bird's nest and injured my left leg. I still have scars on my calf. When I was 10 years old, I was in the second grade. I was scolded by my mother for stealing eggs from my aunt's house next door. The next memory is that I was 13 years old and in the third grade. Because I didn't do the homework assigned by the teacher, I was kept in school after school to do my homework . As a result, it was dark when I got home, and I was scolded by my mother.
During this period, I don’t seem to have any memories of the ages of 11 and 12, and I didn’t go to school for these two years.
"Dad, I suddenly remembered that when I was in the second grade of elementary school, I didn't go to school for two years, and I don't seem to remember what happened in those two years."
Dad's smoking suddenly froze, and his expression changed. Did he know something and deliberately concealed it from me?
"Dad, do you know something? Tell me, I'm already such a grown-up, why are you worried?"
Dad took a deep puff of his cigarette, threw the butt on the ground, then turned to look at me. He seemed a little hesitant, perhaps considering whether to tell me something he knew.
"When I was born, the Taoist priest said I would be in danger, but I am now in my twenties and still fine. Dad, I am not a child anymore. I can think about things myself. Please tell me what happened in those two years."
"No matter how old you are, you are still a child in my eyes."
Dad turned his head and glared at me, then continued, "When you were eleven years old and in the second grade, one day during the summer vacation, you, Erdan, and Zhuzi went to the back hill to play."
"The back mountain? Is that the Black Wolf Mountain behind the village where you always say there are wolves?"
I remember when I was a kid, the adults in the village would tell the children almost every day not to enter the forest behind the village. The forest was called Black Wolf Mountain, and the villagers said there was a kind of big black wolf in it. Although I don't know why the big wolf doesn't come down the mountain, if you enter the mountain and meet them, you are doomed.
After my dad mentioned this, I really remembered that during the summer vacation of the second grade, one afternoon, I and two friends from the village were going to a pond behind the village to take a bath and catch fish. I don’t remember who suggested it later, but after playing in the water for a while, we went into Black Wolf Mountain.
Most kids of that age were somewhat rebellious. The more the adults said we couldn’t do something, the more we wanted to do it. But my memory seems to end here. I can’t remember what happened after that. I can’t remember whether we entered Black Wolf Mountain or not, nor do I remember what happened afterwards. If I recall going back further, it seems that I was already thirteen years old and in the third grade.
According to my dad, the two years I had no memories of might have been related to Black Wolf Mountain. My dad nodded and said, "That day, until dark, you three didn't come back. Later, someone said you ran into Black Wolf Mountain. That night, all the men in our village carried flashlights and torches and went into the mountains to look for you. Finally, we found you unconscious in a valley."
"We took you back, and the three of you were unconscious until the third morning. When we were discussing sending you to the hospital, you woke up. But you don't remember anything, as if you were scared and stupid. You don't know anything and you can't do anything. Ergou and Zhuzi said that after you three entered the mountain, you heard wolves howling, and you ran away because you were scared. When we found you later, I don't know why you appeared together again. After that incident, no one dared to go to the back mountain. We thought you had become a fool and would be stupid for the rest of your life. Unexpectedly, when you were thirteen years old, you suddenly recovered from your illness and were no longer stupid. However, you still can't remember what happened after you entered Black Wolf Mountain, and you don't remember what happened in those two years."
