I didn't want to believe my guess, but some things can be determined without almost any evidence, just imagination. I was silent. I couldn't imagine how my father survived when he was a child, watching his father kill with his own eyes.
Lose your own mother.
I think this incident may have had a great impact on him, and even in the deepest part of his heart, there is always a shadow that can never be erased. Along with this, I thought of my mother again, how she was
What happened? What did my father do to my mother? Is this a inheritance from the Zheng family?
"Has Zheng Chuyi always been like that since he went crazy?" I asked again, "Has anyone seen him later?"
"Who will look at him? Anyway, after I came back from the northwest, he was already crazy. You haven't seen it with your own eyes." Zheng Shitou smoked a cigarette and drank water. After stopping for a while, he looked around
Shaking his head, he lowered his voice and said, "But, speaking of these, there are other explanations."
"What statement?"
"I also heard people talk about it after I came back, some gossip." Zheng Shitou said mysteriously: "Some people say that crazy uncle is just pretending to be crazy!"
"Pretending to be crazy?" I was immediately surprised: "What's going on?"
After Zheng Chuyi went crazy, he couldn't take care of himself. That kind of lunatic was really annoying, but the people in the village didn't completely leave him alone. He lived in his own home, and some people in the village would take turns giving him two rations a day.
A meal. In the past, no one had ever suspected Zheng Chuyi, but when someone brought him a meal, he unexpectedly discovered something strange.
There have never been thieves in this village, so in the summer, in order to keep cool, the doors and windows of every house are left open. The person who delivered food the day before opened the door and window for Zheng Chuyi, and the person who delivered food the next day walked in directly through the door.
, maybe because he walked a little softly, Zheng Chuyi didn't notice it. When he walked to the window, the person who delivered the meal suddenly discovered that Zheng Chuyi, who was usually unkempt and didn't know what he was doing, was sitting on the bed where he slept.
While holding some clothes, I looked at them slowly, crying while looking at them, and whispered in my mouth: I'm sorry for you.
Those clothes were probably clothes left at home by his wife and children. Zheng Chuyi didn't look like a madman at all at that time. He cried very sadly. The person who delivered the meal felt puzzled and wanted to take a closer look. This time
He bumped into something by the window and made a noise. Zheng Chu was suddenly startled. He crumpled the clothes in his hands into a ball and stuffed them toward the bed. He immediately returned to his usual silly and silly look.
The person who delivered the food was even more strange. He went in and asked Zheng Chuyi, but Zheng Chuyi didn't make any answer. He stretched out his hand to grab the rice and stuffed it into his mouth. The person who delivered the food asked many times, but finally had no choice but to talk to others after returning.
After talking about this matter, so many years have passed since Zheng Chuyi killed his wife, and no one would think of pursuing it. They just treated it as a casual chat after dinner.
As soon as word spread about what the food delivery man saw, some people began to suspect that Zheng Chuyi was pretending to be crazy. He didn't know why he killed his wife back then. He might have killed her by mistake, or there might be other reasons.
, it wasn’t until he killed someone that he became afraid. In order to avoid punishment, he could only pretend to be crazy and get away with it.
"There is no basis for this, right?" I said, "How can a person pretend to be crazy for so many years?"
"Who can say for sure?" Zheng Shitou said, "According to me, at the beginning, the crazy uncle might have been pretending to be crazy, but later on, he might actually be crazy."
I don’t know if what he said is right, but I think that if a person really kills his wife without any problem of sanity, causing his wife and children to be separated, then even if he is not punished or sanctioned, he will live in pain for the rest of his life.
And in the shadows, it is possible that if things go on like this, they will torture themselves crazy.
"Okay, okay, we are all dead, let's not make irresponsible remarks." Zheng Shitou probably felt sleepy, so he yawned and said, "I'll clean up the side room for you and sleep for a night.
I asked you, what are your plans at dawn, are you three going to leave?"
"We agreed to transfer for two days, and we have nothing to do. We will have food and accommodation at your place, so you can accept it." Li Fusheng took a few more hundred-yuan bills and gave them to Zheng Shitou. Zheng Shitou immediately said nothing.
.
Taking the opportunity of cleaning up the house, Li Fusheng asked Zheng Shitou about where Zheng Chuyi lived before. Even if no one lives in the house in the village, no one will touch it. If it is left there for a hundred years, it will still look the same.
.
The quilt on my body was thin and torn, and I shivered with cold as soon as I lay down. It was difficult to fall asleep. After Zheng Shitou left, the three of us discussed it and decided to find an opportunity at dawn to go where Zheng Chuyi used to live.
Let’s take a look at the house. So far, we only have this one clue. Since we want to investigate, we have to investigate it to the end.
The three of us slept together for a few hours. When we got up the next day, Zheng Shitou had already gotten up and made us some breakfast. After eating, we asked to go out for a walk, and Zheng Shitou took the things and ran outside the village to think of a solution.
Trapping badgers and hares. Based on the location Zheng Shitou mentioned yesterday, we found the place where Zheng Chuyi used to live.
At first glance, it was obvious that the house was not inhabited by humans. Several side houses had been living for too long and half of them had collapsed. A piece of tile fell off the roof of the main house. There must be a leak in the house, and no one repaired it. There were signs everywhere.
It was ashes, there were two rice bowls on the window sill that looked like dog food bowls, and at the door of the main room, there was a shabby chair.
Seeing this scene, I felt a little sad. Zheng Chuyi spent the rest of his life alone here. Sometimes, he might just sit blankly on the broken chair in front of the house, thinking about the past.
When the three of us were looking in from outside the yard, an old woman with a hunched back walked out of the row of houses opposite. After Zheng Shitou's narration, we knew that all the people in this village were actually normal people, but they were just older.
She was old and lonely, so she looked a little weird. The old woman was leaning on a walking stick. She didn't know what she was eating, but she was eating very hard. Her toothless mouth kept moving, and she stood
Look over there towards us.
We knew she couldn't do anything to us, but just watching like this made Kuang Haige feel a little scared. He asked me in a low voice whether we should stay away for a while and come back when no one is around. Li Fusheng remained silent.
, took us around to the back of the house. Half of the brick wall in the yard collapsed, and we could jump over it by turning over.
There must be no one in this yard. We followed Li Fusheng and climbed into the wall. There was no lock in the main room. When we opened the door, a musty smell hit us. The furniture was so rotten that mushrooms were almost growing. The quilt on the bed was probably torn.
We couldn’t take it. After Zheng Chuyi died, he had it burned outside, leaving only a bare bed. The main room was quite big, but there was nothing there, and you could see it at a glance. We turned around and went out, and went to the side room.
Check out several houses.
As soon as I went out, I saw a small house opposite the main house. The house was almost the same as Zheng Shitou's house. There were no windows and only a tightly closed door. We walked straight over and the door
It wasn't locked, but it was stuck and I had to push it open hard.
The hut was empty, but at first glance, it seemed a bit familiar. It was very similar to the furnishings in Zheng Shitou's hut. There was only a dusty table with a tablet on it that had fallen over. This tablet had also been empty for many years.
Pay attention, the writing on it is blurry and cannot be read.
"Does every household in this village have a hut like this, used for memorial tablets?"
"It may be that Zheng Shitou's family has it, and Zheng Chu's family who is so far away also has it, but this may be their habit." Li Fusheng looked up at the house and said: "When the village was first moved here, they were all
It is not surprising that people of the same clan and clan hold memorial tablets of their ancestors in every household."
It's not strange to say that, but when I actually see these, I still have strange thoughts in my heart. From Zheng Shitou's story, the village is normal, but it is a little remote and has a long history. But this village,
Is it really as simple and ordinary as he said? I don't think so, but I can't find anything yet, so I can't infer.
"Let's go and look elsewhere."
The three of us turned around and went out one after another. After Li Fusheng went out, he stopped again, looked back, then turned around again and walked into the hut. Kuang Haige and I stood at the door, wondering what he was going to do.
Li Fusheng squatted down next to the old table. The dust in the room was an inch thick and buried the table legs. Li Fusheng took out a dagger and gently removed the dust from under one of the table legs.
I scraped it to one side, and then I saw that there seemed to be a book cushioned under the table leg. It must be that the table was not stable, and one of the table legs was shortened, and then someone stuffed a book to cushion it.
.
He picked up the book. It was probably a very old book. It was in the shape of threads. When Li Fusheng dusted it, the threads broke and the book fell into pieces. He rearranged the book. This is not
A printed book is a handwritten copy with no writing on the cover. This kind of thread-bound books began to be replaced during the Republic of China, but the village was almost isolated from the outside world, so it is difficult to tell when it was created.
"It's been at least a few decades." Li Fusheng touched the cover and flipped through it again. Although it was just a handwritten book, the quality of the paper was very solid and the thread seals were firm. To this day, I can barely read it.
"What kind of book is it?" When I thought about it, I remembered what Zheng Shitou said. Zheng Chuyi worked hard and was talented when he was studying. However, things were unpredictable and his family suffered changes. Such a good book was used as a cushion.
The table legs are broken.
"I don't know yet." Li Fusheng began to read the contents of the book page by page. After turning two or three pages, he suddenly closed the book and turned to look at us.
"what happened?"
"This..." Li Fusheng said slowly: "This is a book written by me."