Vollständiges Metamorphose-Handbuch

Kapitel 9

She finally couldn't find a hiding place. Just then, the man seemed to enter the house and was brutally beating her. Terrified, she dodged backward, screaming, "I'm going back! Stop hitting me! I'm going back!"

Then, she knelt down in front of her parents and said, "Please take me home quickly!"

Her parents had no choice but to hitch a ride home.

When they left the Flower God's house, they found that the Flower God and his family had disappeared and the whole house was empty.

On the bus, Tian Gaigai calmed down considerably.

Her mother asked, trembling, "What did he say?"

Tian Gaigai sighed as she said, "He asked me why I didn't tell him when I left. He said I was avoiding him. He said I could never escape him in my entire life."

...

Two months later, Tian Gaigai died.

This story is extremely profound. The more I think about it, the more confused I become, and the more confused I become, the more horrified I am.

Three days later, my great-aunt's funeral was held.

It was a cloudy day, and the funeral procession was very long.

The strangely tall man was among them, still staring at the large, ornate coffin. It seemed no one knew who he was.

I kept my distance from him.

The great-aunt's children, grandchildren, and daughters-in-law were all dressed in long, trailing mourning clothes with hemp ropes tied around their waists. The women supported each other's shoulders as they staggered along, wailing loudly all the way.

The wailing was melodious and overwhelming. A group of trumpeters were also playing funeral tunes.

When they arrived at the cemetery and my great-aunt was laid to rest, her relatives cried out in anguish, their grief so intense it was unbearable to hear.

My uncles burned paper figures and horses at the gravesite.

The children were made of white paper, with blood-red lips, and were small and round like cherries. They also had braids made of real human hair.

Those horses were all made of red paper, and their hooves were yellow.

My great-aunt's eldest daughter stood before a paper ox, wiping its eyes with cotton. The paper ox was almost as big as a real one. She muttered, "Old ox, old ox, listen carefully, my mother is crossing the Bridge of Helplessness. Skim off the clear water, and drink the dirty water for her..."

The sky grew increasingly dark.

Not far away, amidst the desolate weeds, lay a new grave. I knew that must be Tian Gaigai's.

My aunt once told me that Tian Gaigai was an unmarried woman, and according to local custom, she couldn't be in a coffin. Her body was placed in a long wooden box. Moreover, she couldn't be buried underground; she could only be laid flat on the ground and covered with soil, which is why it looked so tall.

The Invisible Son-in-Law (4)

In the local area, these graves of orphaned girls are not called graves, but "hills".

My aunt also said that seven days after Tian Gaigai died, her parents took Tian Quan to visit her grave.

Tian Gaigai's parents burned paper money in front of the grave, while Tian Quan knelt and wept in front of his sister's grave. Overwhelmed with grief and exhaustion, he cried and fell asleep on the grave.

His parents woke him up when he left.

He rubbed his eyes and said, "I had a dream. I dreamt that I went to my sister's house. It was a very unfamiliar place, a very unfamiliar courtyard. My sister stood outside the gate and wouldn't let me in. She even yelled at me, saying, 'What are you doing here? Get out of here! If your brother-in-law comes back soon, you won't be able to leave!'"

After returning from the funeral, the cousins went to "report to the temple"—kneeling in front of the local earth god temple in the fields and crying, which meant to cancel the aunt's household registration.

I was the only one left at my great-aunt's house.

I stood in front of the mirror, looking at myself and pondering Tian Gaigai's story. Through the mirror, I saw that tall man appear!

I turned around abruptly and stared intently at him through the window.

He strolled leisurely into the empty courtyard, seemingly with no intention of going inside. He wandered around for a while, then finally bent down, picked up some things, put them in his pocket, and slowly walked out again.

I went outside and saw the ashes left from burning paper money the day before on the ground.

—It's nothing, the locals believe that these paper ashes ward off evil spirits.

I returned to the mirror and continued to examine myself.

The person in the mirror—tall, with big eyes, thin, with slightly dark skin, and a slightly hoarse voice…aren’t I the man across from Tian Gaigai, the one no one can see?

As I've mentioned before, I often dream about Tian Gaigai.

In my dream, I was her husband. I had intermittent dreams about the "married life" she experienced before her death, filled with visual and auditory hallucinations—one day, she suddenly disappeared with her family. I searched for her desperately, and when I finally found her, I beat her. She hid everywhere while begging for mercy...

Love, please don't bloom.

Let us witness firsthand how two wonderful people gradually turn into ghosts.

Love, please don't bloom (1)

After I was discharged from the army, I was assigned to the supply and marketing cooperative in Bailong Village, Heilong Town.

By then, I had already published many articles, traveled all over the country, and seen a lot of the world. As a result, I was depressed every day, looking like I was a talented person who was not appreciated.

However, I like the tranquility of Bailong Village. Behind the village is a vast field of potato flowers, pure white, solemn and dignified.

I often sit in front of the potato flowers after dinner and contemplate my future.

It gets dark there very slowly.

The night there was so quiet, perfect for sleeping or reminiscing. I longed to hear a dog bark or two, but there was none.

The second house at the village entrance had only an old man and an old woman, both around 60 years old. The old man was very thin, and the old woman was very fat.

On the afternoon of the day I reported to Bailong Village, I entered this family's home accompanied by the village chief. The village chief had already given prior notice.

The room was very clean.

The old lady poured two bowls of water and handed them to me and the village chief, saying in a loud voice, "Xiao Zhou, I'll adopt you as my godson from now on."

I said, "Okay."

She immediately followed up with, "You have to provide your godmother with pastries!"

I could tell from her meaningful look that she was only half telling the truth when she said that.

I said, "Don't worry, this won't be missing."

I understand; when you're staying at someone else's house, you can't be that stingy.

Later, I really did buy her a lot of pastries, all with my salary. They were pastries made by the Heilong Town Food Factory, as hard as plaster, and I lost my appetite just looking at them.

The old man remained silent.

He sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) facing the wall, like a vegetable.

I stayed at this house.

My job is extremely easy, and everyone I meet is a complete novice. I have large chunks of time to write.

During that time, I was writing a romance novel. It was based on a true story, told to me by a girl. She was an apprentice at my sister-in-law's hair salon (at that time, my brother and sister-in-law were still married).

Now, let me tell you that love story.

In a village at the foot of Changbai Mountain, there lived a girl named Xiangmi. She secretly fell in love with a young man named Huang Along.

Xiangmi Shiqi is a pig in the Chinese zodiac.

Huang Along is eighteen years old and was born in the Year of the Dog.

Xiangmi's parents seemed to disapprove of the marriage, mainly her mother. Xiangmi, however, was stubborn and insisted on marrying Huang Along. Her father, enraged, used a rolling pin to beat her out of the house.

Xiangmi's family and Huang Along live in two different villages.

Xiangmi ran more than ten miles overnight and threw herself into her beloved's arms, crying and crying.

She took off one of her two silver bracelets and put it on Huang Along's wrist as a token. Huang Along also cried.

Not long after, Huang Along joined the army.

He served in the newly formed Sixth Army of the Kuomintang, which was a well-known unit during the War of Resistance against Japan.

After he left, there was no further news of him.

Some say he died, some say he got promoted, and some say he married and had children in a big city.

Xiangmi didn't believe any of these words. She kept waiting.

Every year on the day Huang Along left home, Xiangmi would carefully dress up and sit at the village entrance, gazing into the distance. She always said that Huang Along would come back.

Year after year, she refused to marry.

By then, Xiangmi's mother had already passed away. Her father had no choice but to take her, pack their belongings, and leave that village, traveling thousands of miles to a more distant village to settle down and start a new life.

Xiangmi still doesn't want to get married.

Soon after, her father grew old and could no longer do farm work, so she served him Xiangmi. She was very filial and remained so until her father passed away.

Her father's last words were: "Xiangmi, I've ruined your life."

Xiangmi is still waiting wholeheartedly for Huang Along.

On a sunny day, Huang Along appeared with a smile.

He said that the Kuomintang had all fled, and no one was paying him anymore, so he threw away his gun and went home. He said that for the past ten years or so, he had been searching for fragrant rice.

At this point, Xiangmi already had fine crow's feet at the corners of her eyes...

What a breathtaking scene that was!

The villagers helped them build a new house, brick by brick, and held a grand wedding for them.

Everyone in the village is related to Xiangmi (fragrant rice).

They used almost all the horse-drawn carriages in the village, carrying the bride and hundreds of her family members, circling the village three times before finally taking her to the bridal chamber...

From then on, Xiangmi and Huang Along lived happily ever after, just like in a fairy tale.

The elderly couple I stayed with had never had children in their entire lives.

The old man was very thin; he had difficulty even walking, let alone working.

He sat facing the wall all day without saying a word.

Breathing was no longer a natural thing for him; like a bucket of water in a well, going up and down, it had become a difficult task added to his life.

The old lady was busy doing everything by herself. However, she had a heart condition, though it didn't flare up often.

I stayed at his house for a while, and I gradually noticed that there was some hostility between the old man and the old woman.

The old lady was always muttering and cursing under her breath because the old man never did any work and had to take medication for years, which had cost a lot of money...