Chapter 97 Name
I looked at him deeply. This brother who appeared out of nowhere, although to be exact, he should be called my cousin, should be the youngest among all the people present, but in comparison, his calm and steady style is not inferior to any of us.
There was no fear on his face, and at this moment, he even looked much calmer than before.
I don't know whether he has lived here since childhood or whether my uncle lives with him, but I put myself in his shoes and thought about it. If I had to stay in this village for the rest of my life and live a life that doesn't belong to me, I wouldn't want to live like this. And I believe that he has suffered much more in these years than I have in this month.
I had an indescribable emotion in my heart, and the previous impulse had disappeared.
After a long silence, I asked him, what do you mean by 'taking my place'?
He tilted his head slightly, looked at me without dodging his gaze, suddenly smiled, and said, "My father once told me that you were the only outsider. I thought you found here because you already knew the past of these things, but now it seems that you just barged in here stupidly."
When I heard the word "outsider", I felt particularly melancholy. Who set up this trap and what was its purpose? We have been tracing it until now, but we still have no clue. But when I think about it, all my family members seem to have another identity. When I was still an outsider, they all seemed to be wearing masks, pretending to be ordinary people, and living a dull and peaceful life.
But after I joined the game and took off their masks one by one, I found that the faces were still the same faces, but the people were no longer the people I knew.
Seeing that I was silent again, Xia Ruxuan sighed and said, "You came here because you want to know the truth of the matter, right?"
I nodded and asked him, are you ready to tell me?
He hesitated for a moment, looked at the little ghost, and Ding Ding was the same as the hanged ghost, and said, "If you really want to know, I can tell you, but they can't listen."
I looked at Ding Ding and the others, and saw that their expressions were somewhat complicated. Xiao Gui looked at Xia Ruxuan indifferently, and Ding Ding was even more entangled. He thought for a while, his expression became firm, and he blurted out, "I don't care about your family's affairs, but I came here to inquire about my mother's whereabouts. If you don't tell me, I will burn your nest down!"
I know Ding Ding's mood clearly. He didn't want to take the risk and come here with me, but for Mrs. Jiu, he came anyway. Now that he finally has a clue, just like me, he won't give up easily.
Xia Ruxuan looked at him for a while and asked him, who is your mother?
I interrupted and the general identity of Mrs. Jiu and her relationship with my mother. But after hearing this, Xia Ruxuan's expression remained calm, without any change. He just said, "I have never heard of your mother, nor have I seen her here. What I know is only about Tan Xi's family, and it has nothing to do with your mother."
Ding Ding wanted to say something, but was stopped by the little ghost. The little ghost still looked indifferent and said, "You two brothers, go ahead and say whatever you want to say. We will wait here. But I have to tell you first, Tan Xi came with us and will go back with us, so don't have any bad ideas."
As the little ghost spoke, he looked at the beautiful snake above his head and said, “Also, we don’t feel safe with these things here.”
Xia Ruxuan smiled and said, "Don't worry, I understand what you mean. I will give you the bone flute, which can control the movements of the beautiful snake. Are you relieved now?"
The little ghost nodded without saying anything. Ding Ding quickly reached out to take the bone flute and started playing with it with interest.
Seeing that they had no worries, I felt relieved. Xia Ruxuan pulled me, winked at the back room, and said, "Come with me."
I followed him in. The room was dark and I couldn't see anything clearly. I accidentally bumped into the tables and chairs and groaned in pain.
I quickly turned on the flashlight and looked around. I found that this room was very ordinary, just like a simple study room. There were various books piled on the shelves on both sides. I took a quick look and found that they were just course books. There was nothing strange.
Xia Ruxuan saw me looking at those books, smiled faintly, and said, "Those are the books I learned by myself here when I was a child. Otherwise, I would be like other children in this village, not knowing a single word."
I picked up a book and took a look. The corners of the book were wrinkled, the paper had begun to turn yellow, and there was a thick layer of dust on it, but it was still in good condition.
I opened the cover and took a look. On the first page, there were three words written crookedly: Xia Ruxuan.
It's like everyone likes to write their own name in books as a mark when they are young. But I did it in school, while he did it in this village where no one knows him. I can't imagine how he has been through these years.
I smiled faintly and asked him, "Is this the place where your uncle taught you to read and write?"
He was slightly dazed, his expression darkened a little, and he shook his head and said, "No, it was someone else..."
I was surprised and asked, "What's going on? Is there anyone else living here with you?"
He forced a laugh and didn't answer me. He just changed the subject and asked me why I was curious about these things. I didn't understand why I needed to come here to find answers. Why didn't I just ask my aunt?
I knew that the person he was talking about was my mother, and I felt mixed emotions. I just thought, my mother has passed away...
He said "Oh" and his reaction was still very calm, without surprise or sadness. He just raised his hand and slowly took down the books from the bookshelf, while saying to me, "You probably don't know that it was your mother who sent me to this place."
I was slightly surprised, but didn't show it. I just said, "Really?"
He nodded and said, "And I saw you once when I was a child and stayed at your house for a day, but it seems you don't have much impression of it."
I was silent. If I had really met him when I was a child, I would not have any memory of him in just one day. It was like a stranger who suddenly broke into your life. You would have forgotten him in a few years, or even a few months. It was just like me now. I can't even remember much about my elementary school classmates who I had been with for six years.
Xia Ruxuan said as he sorted the bookshelf, "It's normal that you can't remember, but I can't forget that day. My father took me to your house and knelt on the ground to beg your mother to help me. I was still a child, and I was also shocked when I saw that scene. After all, when you are a child, seeing your parents cry is very shocking."
I said, after that, my mother sent you here?
Xia Ruxuan nodded and said, "Yes, I stay in this place, no ghosts dare to come and harass me. My father will feel more at ease. Even the hanged ghost following you, if he is not submissive to you and obeys your orders, he will not be able to come in."
I actually don't like the word "submission", and I never thought that the hanged ghost's actions were submission to me. Although Tintin said that it was because I saved him from the cycle of repeated death. But I always felt that the relationship between the hanged ghost and I was a kind of friendship similar to helping each other, a special friendship between humans and ghosts. There was no relationship in which one needed to obey the other.
But Xia Ruxuan obviously didn't think so. I saw that he was a little disappointed, so I said, "In fact, it's okay for you to stay at my house at that time. There is a human-faced tree in my old house, and ordinary ghosts can't get close to it."
He looked at me and said, "If your mother lets me live there, do you think you can still live the life of an ordinary person and be an outsider for more than 20 years?"
I sighed, maybe that's why my mother sent him here.
I didn't say anything, just watched him take down all the books on the bookshelf, and suddenly pushed the bookshelf hard and moved it away.
I stood still, just watching his movements. I saw him gently knock on the ground where the bookshelf was originally placed. After listening to the sound, he suddenly pulled the thing on the ground. I only heard a dull thud, and the thing on the ground was pulled open by him, revealing a hole in the ground.
I cursed in my heart, thinking that this was like conducting an underground war, and it was so obscure.
Xia Ruxuan looked up at me and asked me to hand him the cigarette on the table. After he lit it, he walked towards the cave and asked me to follow.
I hurriedly caught up with him, and looked inside with a flashlight. I discovered that under the cave was a very long staircase. I didn't know where it led to. I slowly walked down the staircase, and then I realized that the staircase was very long and was slowly turning, as if we were walking in a circle going down.
The candle in his hand illuminated a wider area than my flashlight, and a faint red light shone through the darkness. We walked for a while and finally reached the bottom floor. We walked down the stairs and entered a room, and everything in front of us suddenly became clear.
Xia Ruxuan walked forward and lit the candles on the table at the front of the room. I looked up and saw a mahogany plaque hanging on the wall in front of me. It was very old, but the three words on it still felt vigorous and powerful, and particularly majestic - Xie Family Ancestral Hall!
I looked around for a while. There was nothing in the room except the wooden table in front of me. However, the walls on all four sides were engraved with densely packed names. I shone a flashlight all the way through and found that most of these names were surnamed Xie, but not all of them. There were actually quite a few names surnamed Tan interspersed among them.
At the end of the paragraph, almost every time a name with the surname Xie appears, there is a name with the surname Tan. This cycle repeats over and over again.
But when I saw the last two names, I couldn't help but take a breath.
The second to last one, Tan Sulong, is my father’s name.
And the last one, Xie Ning, is a two-person woman...
