Episode 8 Chapter 74 Dead
My name is Yijie and I am 27 years old.
My family said that I was not originally called this name, but Yijie. It sounds like a woman's name, right? I think it does, too. So until now I still don't understand how my parents came up with such a name for me. Later, when I was 18 years old, my parents asked a geomancer in the village to look at my horoscope. The old man said that I was born under the wood sign but lacked water, and that I might die in the future. He asked my parents what name they had chosen for me. After hearing it, the old man shook his head and said that this name was not good, so he changed "Jie" to "Jie". He said that the ocean was vast, with trees hanging above it, and the water source was endless.
Actually, I am very grateful to the old man, because after changing my name, I instantly became more manly and domineering, saving a lot of trouble of being called a woman's name. Of course, this surname is also very awkward, and it is said that there are very few people with the surname Yi, but who cares about these things? It's just a nickname.
Why did I suddenly think of saying my own name? It was mainly because after listening to Master Nan’s words, I began to think for the first time about who I really am. I didn’t believe these things before and thought they were feudal superstitions. Now that I have come into contact with them, I suddenly began to find the idea of changing one’s name, which my mother often mentioned when I was a child, interesting. Moreover, the four words “water runs out and trees wither” always hang like a shadow in my heart. For the first time, I began to wonder whether the things I encountered today were the verification of the four words that the old man said back then.
Of course, it may be that I am making it up, but after returning from my shift at the funeral home, I felt extremely upset. I should have been very sleepy after staying up all night, but when I got home and lay on the bed, I couldn't sleep at all. My mind was full of what Master Nan said to me and the pale face of Huang Weilun.
Afterwards, I suddenly thought of Xiao Ma, so I took out my cell phone and called him. It seemed like I hadn't heard from him for a while since he left in a mysterious manner last time, until Master Nan suddenly mentioned him again last night. It seemed that something was wrong with him, but nothing had happened.
The call was connected very quickly, and he seemed to have gotten up, because I remembered it was still early after I dialed. He sounded pretty good, so I asked him if he was already at work, but he said he had quit his job and returned to his hometown. I was surprised and asked why he quit his job without saying anything, and Xiao Ma said he knew the reason, he was now with his family, and his family had found him a new job, which was not bad.
As long as he is fine, I am happy for him. But when I got to this point, I asked him about the dream, but Xiao Ma's voice changed. He said he didn't want to talk about these things anymore and asked me not to keep asking. I could only do this. After a few more pleasantries, I hung up the phone. It seems that Xiao Ma's resignation was the right choice. After hanging up the phone, I suddenly had this idea, but then I remembered Master Nan, Grandma, Shi Hudan and Lan Jin, they all said the same thing, I can't escape it, Xiao Ma and the others can escape because this matter was transmitted to them through me.
Later, I fell asleep while thinking, but it was as if I fell into some dark abyss. The dream started with countless flames, and I was in a fire again, but this fire was not burning, but inside the mirror. I was inexplicably standing in front of a huge mirror, and the flames inside were like the burning letter paper I saw that night, and were surprisingly similar to the flames I saw in the bathroom mirror. The even more bizarre scene was that the fires turned into clouds in the sky, and I didn’t know when I was already in it, but soon the sky began to seem to be burning again, and the sky was full of ashes. I covered my nose and ran, ran, and ran under the ashes, and finally woke up while running.
And he woke up dancing and kicking his hands.
After I woke up, I looked at the digital clock and it was just past ten o'clock, so I went back to sleep. But this time, just when I was about to fall asleep, I suddenly heard someone walk into the room, push me, and shout in my ear, "Get up, get up."
Then I felt like I woke up, but the feeling was a bit vague and dim. My intuition told me that I didn't really wake up because it was dark all around and I couldn't even open my eyes. I remember getting up from the bed and walking into the living room, but the person who called me to wake up was gone. I opened the door to the living room and it seemed like someone was coming. I went to the water dispenser to boil water to make tea, and then I sat on the sofa. Then I felt sleepy, so I leaned on the sofa and fell asleep again.
I fell asleep again and found myself in the square of the funeral home, but I was the only one in the huge square. It seemed as if everyone had disappeared in broad daylight. I kept walking in the square, and I don’t know how, I was clearly walking in the square, but suddenly I ran into the woods. I didn’t know where this forest was, but it was the kind of forest with no roads in the front and back, and I couldn’t drive to the edge.
I felt that it was a bit eerie to be in such a scene, especially when I saw a body behind the tree. I was even more scared. But even though I was scared in the dream, I still went to the body to see who it was. But dreams are always a bit unreasonable. I didn’t see what the body looked like, but a voice told me that it was the body of Old Man Liu. So I thought it was the body of Old Man Liu in the dream, and I called the police seriously, but the phone couldn’t get through because there was no signal. Later, I wanted to walk out of the woods to call for help. I walked to a low place and jumped down. I woke up as if I had jumped into a bottomless abyss.
I suddenly woke up from the sofa, feeling lucky that it was just a dream. The water in the water dispenser had already been boiled, so I got up to make tea, and I made two cups, both of which were brought to the room, and I sat on the sofa. At that time, I didn't feel strange at all, as if it was a matter of course, until I heard someone calling my name, and this voice gradually overlapped with reality, and I suddenly opened my eyes and woke up. When I woke up, I just heard the remnant of that voice, but there was no one in the room.
For a moment, I couldn't distinguish between the dream and reality. I realized that I had just had a dream within a dream, and the plot was particularly absurd, so I didn't pay attention to it. It was already past twelve o'clock. When I woke up, I found that I had no pajamas, so I got up. When I went to the living room, I found that the water in the water dispenser was boiling. I found it weird because I haven't drunk water from the water dispenser for some time , ever since I found the urn in it.
I walked to the water dispenser in confusion, and when I got there I saw a cup on the bucket, with a note under the cup. I removed the quilt and picked up the note. The words on it were written in pencil. It said: Tonight on the 12th floor at midnight, you know where it is.
After seeing the note, I looked around the room. The door was closed and there were no signs of activity in the room. I just saw a half-used pencil on the table next to the water dispenser. I picked up the pencil and looked at it, but there was nothing special. At that time, the only thought in my mind was that someone had come while I was asleep.
Finally, because I didn't find anything and I didn't have to go to work in the afternoon, I went downstairs to take a walk and bask in the sun. But when I got downstairs, I saw the property management digging up a tree. The tree was green a while ago, but it suddenly started to wither as if it was dead. I can't tell what the tree is called, but I know that it doesn't shed its leaves in winter, so its death is a bit strange.
I was probably really bored, so I watched them digging the tree. I didn't know that I could tell something was wrong, because the property management dug up the tree just to plant a new one. But after digging out the tree, they seemed to have dug up something, and soon I saw them digging out a snake skin bag, and dragged it out of the tree pit.
The snakeskin bag had been weathered a lot because it had been buried in the soil for a long time, so it tore apart when it was pulled, and then something like a skeleton came out of it.
Something rolled out and landed at my feet. It turned out to be a nearly rotten human head, with hair and half-dried flesh still attached to the bones. It was black in color and had a pungent odor.
I looked up at the two people digging the tree. They looked at me in horror and at each other. It seemed that they hadn't realized what was happening for a while. Then I said to them, "It seems like you dug up a dead person."
