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Upon entering, I found the courtyard so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Where had everyone gone?

The jeep tiptoed towards the inner room. I asked him what he was doing, but he didn't answer, only peering through the crack in the door into Grandma's room. Apple seemed to perk up immediately and rushed over to look.

The door was locked, and could only be pushed open a crack. No sunlight streamed in; it was pitch black inside. Honestly, I didn't know why it was locked. No one in the village had the habit of locking their doors during the day, unless they were going on a long trip. Besides, this was an inner room; who would come in?

"Let's go! There's nothing to see!" Apple pouted and complained. "We can't see anything."

Although disappointed, the Jeep driver was still unwilling to give up: "Ruoxi, do you have the key? Let's satisfy our curiosity!"

I grinned at him, opened my empty palm, and said, "I'll go cook."

As I stepped into the kitchen, I felt faint footsteps following me. I turned around abruptly and saw Big Black: I was terrified!

I tossed a sweet potato from the stove, and it leaped up, biting into it with its teeth, making a gurgling sound as it drooled. Suddenly, I remembered when Big Black went to the threshing ground to find us, it had a human bone finger in its mouth: "Big Black, where did you find that bone? It's a human finger! You weren't so hungry you went up the western hills and dug up someone's grave, were you?"

Before he could finish speaking, a shadow seemed to flash past behind him.

Section 4: Xishan Tomb (4)

I turned around, but there was nothing there.

Turning around again, the door creaked shut slowly, and the room fell into a deathly silence.

"Who?" My aura was thrown into chaos, my breathing became rapid, and my heart pounded violently.

Big Black suddenly went berserk, leaping and howling wildly. "Shh! Quiet!" I commanded, forcefully pressing its head down.

"Who's in the house?" I asked in a muffled voice behind the dark stove.

It was so quiet, so still, that it made me very uneasy.

"I'm just scaring myself!" After reassuring herself, she gently kicked Big Black. "Let's open the door! It's too dark in here; it's not time to turn on the lights yet."

Big Black obediently walked forward with its head down. The door opened a crack, and it darted out. When I tried to open it wider, the door slammed shut again. It was a strange feeling, as if some force was acting against me. The door was completely shut, and the empty room, now empty except for me, remained eerily quiet.

I found a match, lit it, and set up a small alcohol lamp. Suddenly, I noticed there was another person in the room. A middle-aged woman in a white shirt, with short hair that reached her ears, not pretty, but very gentle, her eyes crinkling into crescent moons when she smiled, though her back was slightly hunched. She was standing behind the stove, lifting the lid of a pot, and wisps of steaming white vapor rose from the pot, landing on her cheeks, making her complexion seem instantly rosier.

I was about to ask her who she was when she looked up and shouted in my direction, "Meixue, Dongzi, Liangdi, come quick! Your favorite eight-treasure porridge is ready..."

The door creaked open, and three children rushed in, brushing past me. The oldest girl was about ten years old, the younger one about seven or eight, and the youngest just over two. Their steps were unsteady, wobbling as they ran. The middle-aged woman smiled and playfully scolded, "Meixue, as the eldest sister, why aren't you watching your younger brother?"

The girl called Meixue turned around, picked up her younger brother, and carried him to the stove. The little boy peered into the pot, mumbling incoherently, "Mother, Liangdi is hungry."

"That's good, that's good." Afraid the child would fall into the pot, the woman quickly tucked him under her arms, sipping the porridge from the pot with a large spoon as she said, "It's done, it's done..."

When did so many guests arrive? Judging from their accents, they're from out of town...

Just as I was wondering what was going on, the alcohol lamp in my hand suddenly went out. A gust of cold wind howled, and silence returned to the surroundings—the silence of darkness.

All the images from just now have disappeared.

strangeness!

The door was still tightly shut, not a single ray of light could see in. Just as I was about to open it, I was bumped right into by a loud bang.

Apple pushed the door open and came in: "Oh! Sorry! I didn't know you were behind the door."

I was a little dazed, my eyes still adjusting to the bright light outside. Looking back, the area around the stove was empty; there was no one there at all. A chilly wind was blowing behind me, making the back of my neck feel cold and stiff…

"The Jeep wants you to come over!" Apple said. "We don't know how to use the well in your yard. He's been pumping it for ages and no water's coming out. What's wrong?"

"Oh!" I followed her out. "I forgot to tell you..."

In the middle of the backyard, the jeep was straining to pump water, sweating profusely but without success. He yelled at me, "How do you operate this thing? Come help me!"

"Was it fun?" I asked him. "I can tell you're still not done! This is what mountain people use to make a living, it's different from the tap water pipes in the city. Look! Like this..." I scooped half a ladle of water from the vat and poured it into the water pump's trough, while simultaneously pressing the iron rod. There were two sounds like the sound of a valve being pulled, and gradually water was drawn into the trough. When I pressed the rod again, the underground spring water gushed up like a babbling brook.

"This is so much fun!" Apple rushed up to grab the iron bar. "I'll take it, I'll take it! How can I miss something this fun?"

I didn't join their commotion and went back to the kitchen to cook. Suddenly, a lot of tiny goosebumps appeared on my arms, and I shivered all over. I looked up at the sky with unease; large, dark clouds swept in from the horizon, instantly blocking the eye of the storm. The locust tree leaves in the yard twirled and fell rapidly, seemingly trembling as well. I had a bad feeling, and my ears seemed to have gone deaf; I could no longer hear the wind.

Back in the kitchen, everything seemed normal. The stove was blackened by smoke, the pot was cold, and not a drop of steam was rising. It was around two o'clock in the autumn afternoon, the quietest time in the countryside, so quiet you could hear your own breathing and heartbeat. I set up the stove and moved a small stool to wait for the water to boil. I used to sit like this in front of the stove, cooking for Hai-ge and the others. The door opened, and he walked in smiling, telling me he had to go to class in the morning. I saw a harbinger of doom in his silhouette against the sunlight; a round hole the size of an egg pierced his neck, a sliver of pale golden sunlight shining through it. The stool tipped over, and I sat down in fright. I foresaw his death, but I couldn't stop him as he ran towards death…

Section 5: Xishan Tomb (5)

I stared blankly at the flames in the stove. The black smoke from the burning wheat straw stung my eyes, and two lines of tears welled up in my eyes. I didn't wipe them away; I just let them flow.

fire!

Bright red flames.

My head felt like it had been struck by something heavy, and I suddenly became a little clear-headed. I seemed to have seen a vast, enormous flame burning right in front of me. Horrifying, tragic, with flames shooting into the sky… When? I stared at it, and the crackling sound of burning straw breaking seemed to have been replaced by a more violent vibration, a more ear-piercing sound…

What was that? Images were gradually forming in my mind, and I think I remembered...

"Thump—" Someone kicked the door open and walked in. They glanced at me, pretended not to see me, walked straight behind the woodpile, took out a basket of eggs, and left.

"Auntie, I want to cook egg noodles, could you save me two?" It turned out she had hidden the eggs as well.

She ignored him and continued walking outside.

"Auntie, I'd like to buy something from you." I stood up and reached into my pocket. She quickly moved closer, her eyes fixed on my movements.

"Give me three!" I handed her the change.

She pouted, "You even used my pot to burn my firewood, why don't you count that?"

I hesitated for a moment, then said, "Alright! Please keep a record of how much firewood, water, and grain I used, and I'll pay you back when I leave, okay?"

She grinned insincerely and said, "It's only because we're relatives that I let you buy on credit. Otherwise, who would let you buy on credit?" She walked away with her bound feet, leaving behind three rather stingy-looking eggs on the stove. I picked them up and laughed, "Why do they look as stingy as their owner?"

The moment I looked up again, I felt someone standing behind me. I was startled and turned around, only to see a little boy I had seen before. "Is your name Liangdi?" I was about to ask, "Where are you from?" But before I could finish speaking, he lunged at me, trying to snatch the egg from my hand. I quickly pulled back, saying, "Whose child is this? How rude of you! You haven't even called me 'sister' yet and you're already grabbing my food!" I meant to tease him, but the little boy started to sob.

He's so easily teased! I made a face at him: "Are you starving? Don't worry, this is raw. I'll cook it for you, okay?"

The little boy stopped crying and started laughing, clapping his dirty little hands and jumping for joy.

"Don't take anything from her family!" a furious shout rang out. Before I knew it, the slightly older boy was standing behind me. He scooped up little Liangdi and pulled her behind him, his face contorted with a fierce, hateful glare as if she were a heinous villain. Pointing at me, he lectured Liangdi: "Remember! She's from the Lan family! She's our enemy! Remember that!"

I was completely baffled and was hesitating when I suddenly heard a cold laugh coming from the direction of the wall, filled with contempt and sarcasm.

"Who's laughing?" I turned my head to look, but the wall was still just a wall, and no one had appeared in front of it.

When I turned around, the two children who had been speaking were gone.

"Ruoxi," Apple waved in front of me, "what are you thinking about?"

The three of us, each holding a bowl, slurped down our egg noodles. The eggs were pitifully small, hardly satisfying. Honestly, once you're in the mountains, you know what contentment truly means. There wasn't even a decent sausage for sale in the mountains; crying wouldn't help when you were starving.

"I wasn't thinking about anything!" I flicked her forehead with my index finger. "Eat up! After you finish eating, I'll take you for a walk around."

"Okay, okay." She happily picked up the food with her chopsticks and quickly stuffed it into her mouth. "I've been wanting to see what the place where you grew up is like for a long time."

Hehe. I was thinking, if I had met the lively and cheerful Apple when I was nine years old and sent back to my grandma's house in the countryside, would my personality be different—quiet, reserved, and lonely? But the past cannot be changed, just as I cannot bring Hai-gege back to life, nor can I ask my grandma to stay with me forever. Life is a strict and stubborn clock, moving forward second by second, never looking back.

After dinner, we walked around the pond on the outskirts of the village. The children's laughter and playfulness were gone. The youthful ripples of Hai Ge and his friends had vanished with the ripples of the water in the last rays of the setting sun. The water was extremely calm, giving one a sense of desolation.

"Where did you go to school when you were a child, Ruoxi?" the jeep asked me.

"Ahem! Ahem!" Apple bluffed like a leader, "You can figure it out without even using your brain. Ruoxi is so smart, she went to university at sixteen, she must be self-taught! Right?" She turned around and winked at me.

I nodded in agreement.

There used to be a village school at the edge of the village, but now it's abandoned. The children are nowhere to be found, and the privately-run teacher who once praised me is nowhere to be seen either. We stood in front of the red-brick hut and looked inside through the iron bars. It was a mess, with thick layers of dust covering the overturned, broken desks.

Section 6: Xishan Tomb (6)

What exactly happened in this village? How could it have changed so much in just two short years?

We walked home in the direction of the setting sun, our shadows stretched long in the afterglow on the dirt road. None of the three spoke; the scene was oppressively so, even more melancholic and perplexing than the somber mood described in Faye Wong's lyrics. The jeep pulled Apple forward to whisper, gradually creating distance between them. From the opposite direction, Uncle Guo, who had gone to his grandmother for divination years ago after losing his ox, walked by. He looked older than ever, his back more hunched, the only thing unchanged being the ox he still led behind him, though it was no longer the same one.

"Uncle Guo," I greeted him as he walked past me, "How's everything at home?"

He raised his withered, yellow eyes and looked me up and down as if scrutinizing a stranger. In the end, he said nothing and walked past me with his head lowered even further.

“Ruoxi,” Apple turned to me and asked, “who are you talking to?”

I shook my head: "It's okay, let's go!"

I do not understand.

The Lan family used to be such a respected household in the village! Wherever Grandma went, people would greet her from afar, their loud voices carrying from east to west across the fields. What has become of her now? I see bewilderment and disgust in the eyes of the villagers.

Complex aversion.

This realization sent a chill down my spine. I remembered the boy named Dongzi, who pointed at me and lectured his younger brother: "She's from the Lan family, she's our enemy!"

I've decided to go back and give my uncle a good interrogation.

When night fell, my uncle and the others still hadn't returned. I told Apple and Jeep to rest in my aunt's house for a while.

"Aren't you afraid they'll come back and tell on us?" The big jeep seemed to prefer sitting on the doorstep, while the big black dog nestled against his feet, pretending to be asleep.

"He probably won't be back tonight." That's my guess.

How do you know?

“The old lady even took her usual toothbrush and towel,” I said. “Looks like she’s hiding at a relative’s house.”

"Avoiding you?" Apple found it unbelievable. She was mending socks for a Jeep under the dim light. Boys' feet were perhaps naturally destructive; perfectly fine socks always ended up tearing at the big toe.

As I watched the needle work under the Apple lamp, I exclaimed, "It's hard to believe you also possess maternal instincts!"

She smiled gently, seemingly shyly: "Children are the apple of their mother's eye. If a mother doesn't cherish them, who will?"

Um?

I was startled. Did Apple say that?

I shuddered slightly, realizing that the person speaking to me wasn't Apple at all. The person threading a needle under the lamp was the middle-aged woman I'd seen in the kitchen earlier that day. She had a full forehead, fair skin, and downcast eyes, her attention completely focused on the socks in her hands. Socks? The socks she was holding no longer belonged to the Jeep; they were small children's socks.

I stumbled backward in shock, and for a moment the world spun around me.

"Big Jeep!" I shouted toward the door.

He slowly raised his head to look at me: "What's wrong?"

“Apple…” I pointed to the apple and showed it to him, then I was stunned.

That's right! The person threading the needle in front of us is indeed Apple, not some middle-aged woman.

I opened my mouth, but ultimately said nothing.

"Ruoxi, did you not get enough rest?" Apple stopped what she was doing and asked me. "You look terrible!"

"No...it's nothing." I stood up. "I want to go for a walk."

I walked to the front yard and looked at the pale blue-green marks left by the cold moonlight on the ground, feeling an emptiness in my heart. This was a different kind of bewilderment than before; this cold yard now felt like a foreign home, completely unfamiliar.