Chapter 39: The Strange Things in the Apple Cellar
Mao Xiaoli went to the apple cellar. I was hesitating whether to go in when I heard shouting from inside. I was startled. What happened?
I rushed in and didn't see Mao Xiaoli. The apple cellar was very big.
I looked everywhere for Mao Xiaoli but couldn't find her. I didn't know where she was hiding. I came out and sat in the car, guarding the exit. However, until dawn, Mao Xiaoli still didn't come out. The person who was watching the cellar came, saw the open door, and closed and locked it.
I shook my head and drove to the crematorium. It was my shift today.
When I entered the office, changed my clothes and was about to go into the morgue, Mao Xiaoli came in wearing a red dress that looked very eye-catching.
I looked at Mao Xiaoli blankly, and she smiled at me.
"You should promise me."
"Sister Mao, if you play with me like this, you can easily kill me."
"Of course, I won't let you die."
Mao Xiaoli left and I watched her go into the office. This terrible woman, I shouldn't have provoked her in the first place.
This door or that door didn't appear. I am now in fear every day. No matter where I go, I will encounter weird things. This really makes me unable to get rid of it. I even considered leaving the crematorium no matter what happens.
I went to Yinyan's place and she was watching TV at home.
"Swallow, I want to leave the crematorium."
Yinyan was stunned and looked at me for a long time before saying.
"That's good. If I leave here, maybe there won't be any more trouble."
Yinyan was not paying attention and seemed to be thinking about something.
"What are you thinking about?"
"No."
Yinyan stood up to cook, and I sat there watching TV. Mao Xiaoli asked me to get human skin and then paint her face. This was so disgusting and so scary.
I could never do such a thing, and I would never do it. However, Mao Xiaoli seemed to be using some means to slowly control me, making it impossible for me to break free.
I thought, Mao Xiaoli is doing this, it seems that this woman is very vicious, thinking of this makes me sweat.
Yinyan asked while eating.
"You really don't want to work in the crematorium anymore?"
"This is just what I'm thinking now. Master Zhou said that if I don't work here, I won't live long. This is my fate."
Yinyan didn't say anything. It seemed that she shouldn't have the idea of not wanting to work here.
"I miss my mother."
Yinyan said this out of the blue, which surprised me.
When she missed her mother, she would go to sleep in the coffin in the small building at the back, where she could feel her mother's warmth.
"Your mother is dead. You have to face up to everything. This is not a solution."
"What's wrong with that? Just think of it as visiting my mother, is that impossible?"
Yinyan seemed very angry. I frowned. I didn't think there was anything wrong with Yinyan's thoughts, but the place she went was really unacceptable.
I went home and it was deserted. I had never expected that Yinyan and I would come to this point. At this moment, I seemed to have a little understanding of Yinyan, which made me and Yinyan begin to feel estranged. If this goes on, I know that we can't be together.
There was a knock on the door, and when I opened it, it was Zhang Xiaoxue.
"Brother Mingzhe, I came to see you."
Zhang Xiaoxue came in and took the bought fruits to the kitchen to wash them.
Zhang Xiaoxue looked at me with a smile.
"Are you okay?"
"It's nothing. Tomorrow is my birthday and I want you to spend it with me."
"OK!"
This is normal, but I also know what Zhang Xiaoxue means.
After Zhang Xiaoxue left, I sat at home and thought that my mother had escaped from this home, and she must be happy to be back with her mother.
Just as I was daydreaming, the shadow in the corner appeared again, and there was a breathing sound. I was not as nervous as I was at the beginning. I pretended to be fine and looked at that place. I wanted to see clearly what that thing was.
A few minutes later, the shadow disappeared. It was so strange. I walked to that place and looked, but there was nothing there, as if nothing had happened.
I looked at the empty painting on the wall and felt uncomfortable.
I turned on the light and turned on the TV . Suddenly, the TV went dark, there was a puff of smoke, and no shadow appeared. I was shocked. This TV is very old and should be replaced. It is normal that it broke.
There was a burning smell that made me feel uncomfortable.
I went out to an electronics store and bought a new TV. The service was excellent and it was already past nine in the evening when the TV was installed. It was very good and comfortable to watch.
However, I am not in the mood to watch TV. It is very quiet here, and it seems that I can never get used to this quietness.
I went to the bathroom, and when I got there, I was stunned. The door was in the wrong position. I backed away. That strange door actually appeared in the house. If that was the case, then I would have to be careful every time I walked through a door. I might walk in at any time. This was too scary.
I left home and went out for a walk. Now I am afraid when I see a door. If it is a door I am not familiar with, I will easily walk in. But now, I will never enter a door that I am not familiar with.
It seems that things are becoming more and more troublesome. If this is the case, then anything is possible.
I went home in the middle of the night, and this kind of thing really made me uncomfortable.
When I woke up in the morning, the bathroom door was back to normal.
After eight o'clock, I went out to buy a gift for Zhang Xiaoxue and then called her.
Zhang Xiaoxue said that she was celebrating her birthday at Master Zhou's house, which surprised me a little.
I drove over and saw Zhang Xiaoxue busy.
Master Zhou looked at me and asked me about what had happened during this period. I just gave him a brief answer and there were some things I didn't say in detail.
I don't want to say too much about things like this. The more Master Zhou tells me, the more pressure I feel. If that's the case, it's better to know less.
Zhang Xiaoxue didn't invite anyone else, so she had a good birthday. It was her first time singing for me, and it sounded very nice.
Master Zhou went up the mountain, and Zhang Xiaoxue and I stayed at home.
"Brother Mingzhe, I like you."
Zhang Xiaoxue is very straightforward, which doesn’t surprise me.
"Yinyan and I..."
"She's not the right one for you."
"You are sisters."
Zhang Xiaoxue didn't say anything, just stared at me, obviously angry. It seemed inappropriate for me to stay any longer, so I left.
When I went to visit my grandmother, my mother was displeased to see me. I sat there for a while and then left. I couldn't understand why my mother disliked my smell. She said it was the smell of death, but I couldn't smell it or feel it. Is that true? Even when my father was alive, I didn't smell any death. My mother washed almost every day, trying to wash away the smell, but she never did.
I returned home and felt very tired, so I took a nap. I felt someone pulling me and I woke up suddenly, and then nothing happened. I looked at the watch and it was already past five in the afternoon. It was getting dark, so I got up and called Yinyan, but she didn't answer because she was out of the service area.
I went to Yinyan's house, but she wasn't at home. That was strange.
Yinyan said she missed her mother, so would she go to the small building? The old building behind the crematorium.
I was worried that something might have happened to Yinyan, so I went to the small building. When I arrived at the crematorium, it was dark and the gates were closed.
The gatekeeper opened the door and let me in. I ran straight to the small building. The weeds were up to my waist, and the small building looked weird and scary.
I slowly groped my way in, but there was no light. I tried to pull the lamp cord, and the lights here were still on, but only two of them were on. They were the old-fashioned ones that required pulling lamp cords, and they were very old.
I opened it, and the light was flashing. It flashed for a long time before stopping. It was weird.
I walked upstairs and found the easternmost room, where the coffin was, and it was not locked. I pushed the door open and it seemed that Yinyan would most likely be there.
The room was very dark and I waited for a long time before I got used to it. Then I could see clearly that there was a person sitting on the coffin. I was so scared that I screamed.
"It's me."
It was indeed Silver Swallow.
"Swallow, isn't this a good idea?"
"I miss my mom."
Then, Yinyan began to cry, and the sound of her crying made the small building even more eerie.
I went over and hugged Yinyan.
"It's okay, it's okay, Swallow."
I carried Yinyan out of the building, into the car, and took her home. When she got home, she stopped crying and just sat there in a daze. I could understand her behavior, but it was really weird.
Yinyan stayed here for one night, and the next day, we went to work together.
When I was delivering the body, I saw Yinyan sitting at operating table No. 8 and was a little distracted.
I have absolutely no way to understand such things. Some things happened in the crematorium that I cannot explain or accept.
That day, Yinyan left early. When I was preparing to go home alone, Mao Xiaoli appeared. She got in my car, sat there and asked me.
"Have you thought about it?"
"Think about it, I told you, that's impossible."
"Well, you know that door and that shadow best."
Mao Xiaoli got out of the car, got into her own car, and drove out of the crematorium. I lit a cigarette and the director came over and waved at me.
I got out of the car and went into the director's office.
"Xiao Ke, you and Mao Xiaoli are too close. This is not good. Mao Xiaoli is..."
The director sighed and stopped talking.
I finished smoking and left. Nothing I said could solve the problem. The shadow and the door were actually related to Mao Xiaoli. How did she do it?
I went to Master Zhou's house, but Zhang Xiaoxue was not there.
"Master Zhou, I'm in trouble."
I told Master Zhou about it, and she looked at me for a long time and said.
"That Mao Xiaoli is really weird."
Master Zhou didn't tell me how to solve this problem.
I decided to talk to Mao Xiaoli and went to her house. She was watching a movie on her computer.
"I knew you would come. This movie is interesting, 'Ghost Stories'."
"I'm not interested, Sister Mao. I can't help you with that matter. You can change the conditions."
"No."
Mao Xiaoli looked at me and smiled.
"I need to start with these thirteen paintings, so you have to promise me, otherwise you will walk into that door. You can't escape. The shadow will lead you into a door."
"Who is that shadow?"
"Yourself, your other self, is a stranger to you. Of course, in this world, he does not exist, but in another world, he really exists."
My shadow? Myself?
"He might appear again today. What you saw was a woman's shadow. That was you. Humans are a combination of yin and yang. Yin is female, and yang is male. So humans are two bodies, two parts in one."
I don’t understand, I don’t understand any of this.
"How did he appear?"
"The crematorium is a strange place. Many things are real, and some are imaginary, which are what we call ghost stories. Ghosts exist in another way, in another world. It is hard to explain. You have to believe in their existence."
"Why is this happening? What about the others?"
"Some people can see it, but very, very few. You are an exception."
"What about the door?"
"Life has countless doors, and each door holds an opportunity. But your door is the door to another world, opened for you. I don't know why this happened. Some people disappear, never to be seen again. They walk through their own door, into another world."
What Mao Xiaoli said made me believe it a little bit, because it really happens in my life.
