As for Lin Xiaoyao, mentioned by Erduo, she was my classmate and Lin Sanshui's only daughter. In a village with strong gender bias, Wu Miaoke, having only given birth to a daughter, had been looked down upon, even her mother-in-law cursed her on her deathbed and refused to rest in peace.
The village chief's family only had one daughter. Lin Xiaoyao inherited the fair complexion from her mother, but her face was covered in dark moles with black hairs, making her look extremely fierce and frightening.
Because I was slightly braver as a child, I can say that I was Lin Xiaoyao's only childhood playmate.
Lin Xiaoyao liked me, this was something I had known since childhood.
Even Lin Sanshui treated me so well and invited me back to teach, with Lin Xiaoyao's encouragement behind the scenes.
After my return, I also felt Lin Xiaoyao's passionate gaze more than once.
But what could I do?
I considered myself as someone who didn't judge people by their appearances, but if I were to face Lin Xiaoyao's face, I guess I wouldn't even have a normal male physiological reaction.
But would Lin Xiaoyao go as far as to dig up my grandfather from the grave and place him on my bed because of this? The answer was no. Although Lin Xiaoyao didn't look like a woman, she was a proper woman, and she didn't have the courage for such actions.
I couldn't hold my liquor. After a small glass of white wine, I felt light on my feet, and the wind made me feel even more uncomfortable. I just wanted to go home and rest.
When I got home, I saw a figure behind my house.
Although I claimed not to believe in ghosts and spirits, my grandfather's incident had made me nervous, so when I saw this figure, I was startled. I picked up a stick from the ground and shouted, "Who goes there!"
The figure was scared and stumbled, then turned and ran!
Staring at my window at night, this person might be the one behind it! Since this person could run, they were definitely not a ghost. I grabbed a chair and chased after them.
I was also the long-distance running champion at school, so I caught up to the figure near the pond in no time.
"Stop right there, you brat!" I yelled.
At that moment, a black dog suddenly rushed out from the darkness of someone’s house and lunged at the figure, knocking them into the pond.
I heard a scream, it was a female voice, so I walked a few steps closer, scared off the dog, and scolded the figure struggling in the pond, "I finally caught you!"
"Little Fan, help me!" The person in the pond, seemingly not accustomed to water, continued to struggle.
I recognized the voice, it was the person I had been thinking about earlier, Lin Xiaoyao.
I didn't hesitate, and jumped into the pond. Lin Xiaoyao clung to me like an octopus the moment I did.
I stood in the pond, the water reaching my waist.
"It's not deep, you won't drown," I reassured her.
However, she was still struggling hard, hugging me tightly. I had no choice but to pull her out of the water.
Her hair was soaked from the jump. It covered her face, filled with dark moles. We were classmates; she was 21 years old this year, and women in the mountain area tended to develop early and usually didn't wear bras.
At that moment, she was pressed tightly against me. I could feel her heartbeat and softness.
This was the first time I had intimate contact with a woman since breaking up with my girlfriend in college.
Holding Lin Xiaoyao.
Suddenly, I remembered the year I was eleven and saw Wu Miaoke's snowy white body.
I had an immediate reaction because of our positions, something pressed against the place it urgently wanted to go, and the place it should not have gone.
I even forgot who I was holding. When a person is controlled by their sexual desire, they are no different from a beast. The one who reigns in their desires is the sage, not me, Lin Xiofan.
So at that moment, my body naturally responded by protruding forward.
I swear, it was only once.
She definitely felt it. In my arms, she made a coquettish sound. Then this woman reached out and said, "Xiaofan, your belt buckle is pressing against me."
"Get off!" Her comment about the belt buckle brought me back to my senses. I released her grip from my body.
It was midsummer, we were wearing light clothes, and her fair skin, inherited from Wu Miaoke, was revealed faintly. The scene from when I was eleven surged into my mind again, making me want to burst.
“Why are you behind my house?” I pretended to be calm.
“I...” she stood awkwardly, and at that moment, she pushed the hair from her forehead.
That face instantly extinguished the burning fire within me.
Suddenly, she screamed and jumped into the fish pond. I thought she was going to commit suicide out of fear, but when I jumped in after her, she swiftly pulled something out of the water and thrust it into my arms.
Then she ran away at an even faster speed.
I took a look.
In my arms was a pair of thousand-layer cloth shoes. They were new, but now soaked through.
If it had been a man discovered behind my house, there would have been an eighty percent chance, but it turned out to be Lin Xiaoyao.
She came to give me a pair of thousand-layer cloth shoes.
In that instant, I ruled out any suspicion of her. She was a good girl, but unfortunately, I wasn't a good man.
Although it sounded plausible that an unattractive woman might try to smear me for liking her, I didn't believe Lin Xiaoyao would do such a thing.
It was a man's intuition, the sixth sense.
Life seemed to return to normal, and I resumed classes on the third day. But I was eager to unravel the truth of this matter, like a detective, closely monitoring the situation of the villagers.
Eventually, it seemed like everyone seemed suspicious to me.
I knew this was intentional. The perpetrator would be lying low after committing the crime once, but unfortunately, I wasn't Conan and couldn't accurately find the culprit.
It could be said that, apart from Lin Xiaoyao, no one else had a motive.
And I didn't believe it was Lin Xiaoyao's doing.
“It's in the past, there's no need to be paranoid about it. Just consider it as your grandfather's seventh-day remembrance, and he wanted to come and see you.” my father advised.
“Dad, I really feel like there's something strange about Second Uncle, you should keep an eye on him,” I reminded my father.
“Did your Second Uncle offend you? He's such a good person. By the way, Xiaofan, I already talked to Li Sao. Considering your Second Uncle's age, he can't be without a woman. A young girl is no good for him, so I'm thinking of introducing him to a widow or a divorced woman, I'm just worried he won't like it,” my dad was already worried about Second Uncle's marriage.
This was typical rural thinking.
Get married, have children.
Second Uncle seemed to be around forty. In the city, a man of that age, if he had money, it would be the most charming time for him, but in the countryside, he was almost destined to be a bachelor.
“See for yourself.” I didn't know what to say. My father definitely meant well, but for a man like Second Uncle, who I found extremely charismatic, he was out of place in the entire village. Asking him to marry a widow or a divorced woman?
Would he be willing?
To be truthful, in the city, Second Uncle's condition could even attract young women in their twenties.
My grandmother's condition also slowly improved, in her words, she wasn't ready to die yet. Even if Yama came to take her, she still didn't want to go. She had to see her grandson get married and hold her great-grandchild.
As long as a person has faith, they can overcome illness. This is a form of psychotherapy even in a hospital.
Life seemed to pass by peacefully, and before I knew it, another week had gone by. In the rural countryside, the seventh day after a person's death was considered very important.
The first seven days requires libation, the second seven days requires round grave mounds, the third seven days requires flag planting, the fourth seven days requires ritual offerings, the fifth seven days requires the gathering of children, and it goes on until the forty-ninth day. On every seventh day, you have to worship.
Today was the second seven days after my grandfather's death. The people in our family were going to visit the grave and add fresh soil to it. This might be feudal superstition. You might not believe it, but you have to do it. Perhaps it's just a form of attachment to the deceased.
My grandmother was burning paper money for my grandfather. While living, they were like sworn enemies, separated as if by heaven and earth, as if there were endless things left unsaid between them. She kept talking to herself, recounting various family matters, as if my grandfather could really hear what she was saying from underground.
The people who have passed away have already departed. Those who are alive need to live well.
After returning home and having dinner, I went back to my room and suddenly felt restless. I was afraid of this superstitious seventh-day.
I was afraid that, just like on the seventh day, my grandfather's body would appear on my bed in the middle of the night.
Because of this, I checked the front door. Even so, I still woke up my father, expressing my concerns to him.
“It shouldn't happen.” my father frowned.
“I'm worried that someone is deliberately targeting me. If that's the case, we need to be on guard tonight. We have to catch that person. Don't sleep so heavily, I know you don't want me to suspect my Second Uncle, but I hope you can also watch him. It might not be him at his best.” I said to my father.
He nodded and went to the kitchen to get a kitchen knife for me.
He didn't say anything, but in his heart, he also doubted Second Uncle. All this was understood without being said.
I returned to my room and persisted in not sleeping. I corrected the children's homework, but how complicated could a primary school student's homework be?
When I finished, it was barely past ten. And although I intended to stay up all night, the rural night was very boring. There was no internet, and I didn’t have any novels to pass the time, so I sat and waited, feeling increasingly drowsy.
I didn't know what time it was when I suddenly found myself sitting on a chair, falling asleep.
When I woke up, I nearly jumped in shock, grabbing the kitchen knife I had been holding and turning to face the bed.
I looked over and saw a figure on the bed. He was still wearing a set of longevity clothes embroidered with small green flowers!
My grandfather had returned!!
At this, a mix of fear and anger engulfed me as I shouted, “Dad!!”