Following the old man, Lin Mo walked out of the garden community and stopped at a crossroads in front of the community. The old man stopped and Lin Mo also subconsciously stood still.
Although it was certain that she could not be discovered by the old man, Lin Mo did not get too close. This crazy old lady gave Lin Mo a very strange feeling. She seemed to be a human, but she seemed a bit not human. The feeling was very erratic.
Even Lin Mo couldn't completely figure out the reason for this feeling.
"Is it because of the black lantern?"
Lin Mo stared at the black lantern held by the old man. In the darkness, the black lantern was very inconspicuous. If there were not two lights shining from the upper and lower ends respectively, Lin Mo would not be able to see the black color at all.
of lanterns.
"The uncle in the security room and the old lady Feng here both have these black lanterns, and they both light them at this time. There must be some connection between the two."
"It's just that the lanterns in the hands of these two people are different. The lantern in the security room is covered with something, but the old lady walked out of the community carrying the lantern so grandly. What does this black lantern mean?"
At present, Lin Mo has almost no clues. Under this situation, any hasty inference is meaningless.
The old lady walked to the intersection and slowly placed the black lantern she was holding on the ground. Then she squatted down and placed the basket beside her.
The light transmitted from the black lantern was very weak. Even if Lin Mo opened his eyes wide, he could not clearly see the old man's movements. He could only see what the old man took out of the basket.
"What's in the basket?"
"I heard the sound of paper rubbing together earlier, and now the old lady is carrying a basket to the intersection. Isn't this because she wants to burn paper?"
Lin Mo looked at the old man's actions and couldn't figure out why. Usually, when you go to a crossroads in the middle of the night, many people burn paper. Crossroads mean that they are connected in all directions, so that the deceased ancestors can pass here.
Take away the paper money given to him.
So in the past, before Chinese New Year or Qingming Festival, you could see people burning paper at the intersection at night.
This is a way for Chinese people to pay homage to their ancestors. However, in recent years, due to air pollution, more and more cities have begun to restrict such behavior. Moreover, such things are important for spreading materialism and scientific values.
It has a certain impact.
Therefore, under supervision, this situation gradually becomes almost invisible in cities.
The old lady carried a basket and came to the intersection in the middle of the night. Lin Mo immediately thought of
The matter of burning paper made Lin Mo strange. It was neither the New Year nor the festival, nor did it coincide with the fifteenth day. What kind of paper money did the old man come to burn at this time?
You should know that although paper burning is said to be a gift of money to deceased ancestors, there are also many rules involved in it. Paper burning cannot be burned indiscriminately. It is impossible for an old lady to be so old and not understand these things at all.
Even so, Lin Mo had no intention of stepping forward to stop the old man. The old man's behavior might have some meaning that Lin Mo didn't know, or it might be that today was the death anniversary of a relative of the old man.
If that's the case, Lin Mo would have broken the rules by interrupting the other party's affairs rashly.
The old man took out all the things in the basket. With the faint light, Lin Mo could roughly see those things clearly. They were indeed paper money, but not the common ones now, but the old ones made of yellow paper.
Cut out yellow paper money with round square holes and some folded ingots.
Seeing this, Lin Mo was even more sure that the old man should have a certain understanding of these things. In many places now, paper money is convenient, either with some red coin patterns printed on a piece of yellow paper, or with a
Stacks of hell coins that look like banknotes.
If we say that paper money has changed with the progress of the times, it is normal, but some people still follow the ancient rituals, so we cannot be wrong.
The old man turned his back to Lin Mo, and after placing all the things, a small flame lit up in the darkness, instantly illuminating the old man's surroundings, and Lin Mo's vision became a little clearer.
He saw a copper basin placed in front of the old man, and there were a lot of ingots, candles, paper money placed around it. What surprised Lin Mo the most was that there were some tributes there.
"Sure enough, is it someone's death anniversary? The old man's son, or the old man's husband?"
Lin Mo was suddenly stunned. It seemed that neither the security guard nor Lu Xi had heard when the old lady's wife passed away. The other party did not mention it at the time, so Lin Mo subconsciously ignored the matter. After all, people
It is normal to be alone when you are old.
His heart moved slightly, but the old man over there made a move. The old man lit the paper money and threw it into the copper basin. The flame rose instantly, and as the old man continued to add paper money into it, the flame became more intense.
exuberant.
The old man's surroundings were already illuminated by the fire, which made some of Lin Mo's previous guesses about the community change again.
"I thought that all the lights in this community were turned off at 11 o'clock in the evening because there can't be any light at this time. But judging from the behavior of this old lady, it's not that there can't be light here, but that there can't be light?
?”
Frowning and thinking, this matter seems very unreasonable.
"Or is it that the reason why the old man dared to light the flames and turn on the lights at this time is because the old man has already left the garden community?"
"Or is it because of the black lantern next to the old man?"
Lin Mo had seen this black lantern before. It was that time when Lin Mo went to Lucy's house to solve the problem with little Lily. At that time, Lin Mo had noticed that there was something inside Lucy's house.
A door that smelled like medicine but was never opened.
At first, Lin Mo thought it was the old man's room and didn't pay too much attention to it. Later, for insurance purposes and because of the two videos he saw, Lin Mo used the power of the black shadow to spread the shadow inside and investigate.
Check out the situation in the room.
And in that room, there was a black paper lantern.
At that time, Lin Mo didn't take this matter too seriously. He just thought it was a prank played by little Lily, or an unintentional graffiti that painted the lantern black.
Lin Mo had never heard of any folklore about black paper lanterns, and did not take this thing too seriously. Later, because the man sent little Lily back and whispered something to Lucy, Lin Mo
Mo felt strange.
Therefore, he withdrew the power of exploration and did not continue to pursue the black paper lantern.
But he didn't expect that when he came to the garden community this time, he saw black paper lanterns appearing one after another, and they were all used by old people. Lin Mo was confused by the weirdness of the entire garden community and the specialness of these two old people.
I didn't notice the existence of this black paper lantern.
The copper basin in front of the old man was already burning with fierce flames. The firelight reflected the old man's somewhat old face, making Lin Mo, who was not far away from the old man, slightly lost in thought.
There was no wind at all, it was as quiet as a pool of stagnant water, and the silence was so chilling that one's heart was chilled.
Sparks kept shooting out, and pieces of paper money were thrown into the brazier by the old lady, keeping the flame burning. In a daze, Lin Mo heard the old man opening his mouth, as if he was telling something, and the voice was erratic.
In this windless environment, I couldn't even hear what she was saying.
There was a feeling in his heart that what the old man said might have something to do with the situation in this garden community. Lin Mo subconsciously wanted to get closer to listen to what the old man was talking about.
Lin Mo, who was walking in the black shadow, slowly moved in the direction of the old man. However, the old man's voice not only did not become clear, but became more and more blurry. The figure of the old man in front of Lin Mo actually began to slowly
It became blurry and actually rippled like water waves...