Chapter 98 Xie Ning
Xia Ruxuan stood behind me, watching my movements without saying a word, until I noticed those two names, then he turned around and looked at him in surprise.
I pointed at the names on the wall and asked, "What's going on? Why are my dad and Xie Ning's names on it?"
He glanced at the wall calmly and said that this was the Xie Family Temple. On the wall were the names of everyone who guarded the temple. When I die, my name will also appear on it. But the formation is different, with one more person named Xia.
I said, what do you mean, are you saying my father is dead?
Xia Ruxuan walked up to me, looked at the name Tan Sulong on it, and said, "So this is your father? Calculating his age, he's about the same age. Since his name is on it, he must be dead."
I said there must be something wrong here, and my uncle told me that my dad ran away from home after he found out my mom's identity. He never came back since then. If he had to stay here like you, how could he have had the time to get to know my mom, and have me!
He looked at me and said, "Brother, don't get excited. Just listen to what I have to say."
I swallowed and waited to hear what he had to say.
Xia Ruxuan walked to the wall, reached out and touched Xie Ning's name, as if he recalled something, then he spoke, "Actually, I don't know much about your father. I only know that the Xie family built this house here and guarded it for generations. Later, just like the names that appeared on the wall, the Tan family also got involved. The two families sent people to guard here. From the beginning, most of the people were from the Xie family, but later, as if the two families had agreed, each family and each generation would only send one person out."
He paused, and continued, "But now, almost all the people in the two families have died, and the family is declining. If I am not counted, then the guardian of the previous generation is the Tan family, that is, your father. Later, your father died unexpectedly, and the Xie family had no descendants of the next generation, so they could only send Xie Ning, who was of the same generation as your father, to come out."
I'm not sure if the Xie Ning he mentioned is the same person as the Erkounu I know. If our Tan family and their Xie family have such a connection, then even if she turned into a ghost, she shouldn't come to trouble me.
I calmed my thoughts and then tentatively said that I had also met a married woman named Xie Ning before.
He trembled slightly, turned his head suddenly, looked at me with a sense of loss, and said, "Did you meet her?"
I nodded. Judging from his appearance, the two women must be Xie Ning, the one who used to guard the ancestral temple.
I thought for a while. My uncle had been in cahoots with the two girls since the beginning. Now it seems that Xia Ruxuan and she must know each other. I immediately became wary and said, "You don't want the blood amber, do you?"
He looked at me, tilted his head, and said, "What do I need the blood amber for? It's something that your Tan family is guarding. I don't want to get involved so deeply."
I was still worried, and said, but Xie Ning and your father, they want it!
He laughed, sat down cross-legged, looked at Xie Ning's name on the wall, and said, "I don't care what they want to do. My father and I haven't seen each other for so many years that I can't even remember clearly. I just hope I can live a good life. And the Xie Ning you see is no longer the Xie Ning of the past."
I didn't say anything. I just thought he meant that Xie Ning was dead, so maybe his temperament had changed drastically.
But he reached out his hand and touched the name carved on the wall, then said, "You just asked me upstairs if it was my father who taught me to read. Actually, after sending me here, my father never showed up again. No one can stand the life here. We can endure it for one day at a time."
I didn't interrupt, I just listened to Xia Ruxuan talking slowly. He seemed to fall into memories, into the painful past. While looking at the names on the wall, he slowly told the stories he knew.
When he was sent here, he was only five or six years old. The person guarding the Xie Family Ancestral Hall at that time was Xie Ning.
My uncle only stayed here for three days before he couldn't stand the life here anymore. He told Xia Ruxuan, just like the men who abandon their children in all those vulgar TV dramas, that he should just stay here and he would be back in a day or two.
Xia Ruxuan believed it, but he never saw my uncle again after that. He started crying and missing him. But as time went by, the relationship between father and son gradually faded.
I don't know how to comfort him. In fact, my situation is very similar to his. Speaking of my father, I don't have any feelings for him now.
Xia Ruxuan glanced at me, his expression was not sad, but a little desolate. He said, Tan Xi, I call you brother, not because I really think of you as my brother, but just because of blood relationship. But actually, every time I say this word, I feel it is quite ironic. People say blood is thicker than water, but I have hardly felt any affection from my family.
I didn't know what to say. Compared to him, I felt like I had won the jackpot. I was so lucky that I had nothing to say. I looked at him, my younger brother, and finally I could only sigh and hug his shoulders.
He didn't react, just turned his head , looked at the name on the wall, and continued talking.
After my uncle left, the only person around him was Xie Ning, who was guarding the ancestral hall at the time. He said that in his impression, Xie Ning was a cheerful and smiling woman, and even though he lived in a place like this, he had never seen any sad expression on Xie Ning's face.
He only remembered thinking about his father while being held in Xie Ning's arms, comforting him over and over again, making jokes and making fun of him to cheer him up, until he was tired of crying and fell asleep in her arms.
Although Xie Ning and my father were of the same generation, she was much younger. When she came to the Xie Family Ancestral Hall, she was only 17 or 18 years old. From then on, the two of them became the only existence in each other's lives and began to live a life of dependence on each other.
This kind of life lasted for a total of ten years. Xia Ruxuan said that during that time, Xie Ning made him feel like his mother, teaching him how to write and how to survive here with strength.
At this point, he laughed, looked at me again, and said, "Although we were only a dozen years apart in age, at that time, I felt that she was like my mother. She would take care of me in every possible way. I have never seen my mother. My father said that when I was born, I attracted a ghost, and my mother died at that time. When I was a child, I didn't know what it felt like to have a mother, but when I was with Xie Ning, I felt that it should be like that."
Every time Xia Ruxuan mentioned Xie Ning's name, he would smile unconsciously. That smile was very warm and came from the bottom of his heart. I could tell that he and Xie Ning had a very good relationship. Unfortunately, in the end, Xie Ning still died...
Ten years passed slowly. Xia Ruxuan was already sixteen years old at that time. He gradually got to know about the Xie Family Ancestral Hall and the affairs of the Tan and Xie families.
He said that until one day, a woman with waist-length hair came to the village, and it was because of her arrival that Xie Ning died.
Having said that, Xia Ruxuan clenched his fists tightly, and his tone was filled with a hint of resentment and inexplicable self-blame.
At that time, it was he who brought the woman in, but he didn't expect that the person he brought back was the god of death who wanted Xie Ning's life.
He didn't tell me how Xie Ning died, as if he didn't want to recall that experience, but he told me very clearly that the woman with a mouth that I met was not Xie Ning at all.
To become a two-mouthed woman, first another soul must attach itself to a person's body and slowly devour her soul until the mouth behind the head is completely opened. At that time, the soul of the original body is also completely devoured. What I see is just a shell with Xie Ning's body, but occupied by other souls.
I nodded silently, just curious about the origin of the woman who killed Xie Ning. But when I asked, the answer I got shocked me.
Xia Ruxuan said, that woman is a painted skin!
I suddenly thought of Lu Yao, swallowed the words in my mouth, and finally said nothing.
We were all silent for a moment, and when he came back to his senses from the sad atmosphere, he continued, "After Xie Ning's death, there was no one guarding the ancestral temple. Logically, it was the Tan family's turn to send someone out. According to this situation, the person who should come is you."
I looked at him with mixed feelings. After a pause, I said, "Since it should have been me, why did it become you in the end?"
He laughed and said, "See, this is the problem. I am Yin Fan. I cannot survive if I leave here . I can only stay here for the rest of my life." But then your mother came and gave me the bone flute, asking me to stay here in your place.
I was speechless immediately. Was all of this really arranged by my mother?
I didn't know how to face him for a moment. He probably guessed what I was thinking, and smiled at me again, saying, "Brother, it's nothing. I didn't have any other choice. But in my heart, I'm quite grateful to your mother. If she hadn't asked me to come here, I wouldn't have met Xie Ning, and maybe I wouldn't be alive now. So I'm willing to stay here for you."
Only then did I dare to look into his eyes, and the feeling of guilt and embarrassment in my heart faded a little.
I hurriedly asked, why were the Tan and Xie families guarding here?
His eyes swept across the densely packed words on the wall, paused, and said, You may not know, this is the place where blood amber was first discovered!
I was shocked and looked at him in disbelief.
He then said, "The Xie family guards the house, and the Tan family guards the blood amber. This was a division of labor that was made hundreds of years ago. You planted a human-faced tree at home to avoid harassment from ghosts and spirits!"
After he finished speaking, he looked straight at me and added, “Only our Xia family is truly implicated by your two clans!”
