Chapter 12: Burning Water God On the night of Hai Ge's death, he was buried in a cemetery in our Shijiawan. Because the water god took him away, Hai Ge did not have a coffin like ordinary people, and there was no peach house to keep his coffin. At this time, he was lying alone on a simple wooden frame, and his body was hastily buried with only a piece of white cloth. His mother's crying voice finally turned into sobbing. Haige's wife had dull eyes, she didn't cry or shed tears, but she looked extremely pitiful, and the villagers felt very sorry for her. However, no one dared to comfort her, because the person who was taken away by the water god was a blessed person, and he should not be sad, but I think no one wanted this blessing. That night, it was pitch black. Through the old oilcloth on the wooden window, I could see some reflections of the big trees. I couldn't sleep because of my grandfather's saying that saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. My life was saved by Brother Hai, so I should save his life as a way of repaying his kindness. I did it right away. After everyone in the family fell asleep, I took out my flashlight and quietly slipped out. I first untied the ropes of Awang and Ahuang by the haystack. The two silly dogs were extremely excited, as if they knew what I was going to do. They whimpered happily and followed me down the mountain. It's strange to say, the night was not that dark that day, but the road at the foot of the mountain was pitch black because there were too many towering trees on both sides of the road. I don’t have the eyesight of Awang and Ahuang, so I can only stumble forward. Occasionally, a gust of cold wind blew in the woods, whimpering and sounding like crying and laughing, as if it wanted to drag me into endless darkness. I swallowed nervously. Fortunately, Awang and Ahuang kept snorting and sniffing to help me move forward. I don't know how long I walked, but the road became wider and wider, and I heard the sound of flowing water, which made me happy. I remember my grandfather once said that where you can hear the sound of the river, there is the water god. Usually the water god is placed on a strange stone pier. The water god is actually a wooden half-human statue. People often worship in order to pray for good weather and safety along the river. I stopped and searched for a while by the river with a flashlight and found a half-human statue. It was less than half a meter long and had a bit of majesty, but it didn't look like the scary door gods and kitchen gods in my house.
I quickly imitated my grandfather's way of performing rituals, and put my hands together and performed a worship ceremony: "Water God, everyone says that you are a good god who saves people, but today is the first time I see you. If you can return Brother Hai's life to him, I will go back to the village and tell everyone that you are a real great god. If you don't return Brother Hai's life, then I will say that you are a fake god who deceives people. What do you think?" I tilted my head and waited for his answer. "Oh my, third brother, a fool has come to see the Water God. Look, look." Bursts of sneers suddenly came from the crowd. Laughing at me? I looked at the Water God with some annoyance. "Laughing at others is very uneducated." "Oh my God, this crazy girl is actually bargaining with the Water God." The third brother rubbed his eyes quickly and looked carefully. There was actually a yellow-haired girl in front of the Water God, chatting with the Water God seriously. Another burst of laughter came over, and I took out a small black hexagram from my chest with some annoyance, and said: "Well, if you agree, the hexagram will change to 'Yang'. If you don't agree, then it will become 'Yin'. After saying that, I threw the hexagram on the ground very skillfully. With a crisp sound, the hexagram showed "yin". I stomped my feet in anger and said, "You deceitful god, you are still unwilling to return Brother Hai's life. Then I will be sorry for you." I remember my grandfather said that the only way to deal with demons and gods, big or small, is to use fire. I asked Awang and Ahuang to bring me some firewood to pile around the water god, and then I carefully took out the match box I had hidden beforehand, and lit the fire with two crackling sounds. I threw the matches into the firewood pile, and the firewood was instantly ignited, making crackling sounds, and the water god was submerged in the blazing fire in an instant. I smiled slightly and nodded with satisfaction. Suddenly, two figures suddenly jumped out of the bushes, screaming and shouting, "Oh my God, oh my God, help me, this crazy girl is here to burn the gods." "Third brother, what should we do? Hurry up and put out the fire." The skinny man in long clothes jumped and shouted, his voice was thin and shrill. The man called Lao San scratched his head and said, "I am also a ghost, how dare I start a fire?" I looked in amazement at the two figures that suddenly jumped out of the bushes. They looked neither human nor ghost, and their clothes and appearance were not like those of villagers. These two guys were actually staring at me as if I were watching a peep show. You look at me, I look at you, and neither of us is willing to be outdone. "Crazy girl, can you see us?" Fat Third suddenly turned his head 180 degrees and looked at me, but his body was still facing the skinny man in long clothes. I rolled my eyes at him: "Is there anyone else here?" "Ah, this silly girl can see us too." The third brother suddenly screamed and jumped into the bushes. Maybe because he ran too hard, his head accidentally fell off. The fourth brother quickly ran over, picked up the head and stuffed it onto the third brother's body.
The two men looked at me awkwardly, feeling a little uneasy. Looking at the water god who was almost reduced to ashes, and then looking at these two weird guys, I was also shocked... The third brother looked at me in fear and pretended to be calm and said, "Crazy girl, what are you looking at? You have never seen such a handsome ghost. I tell you, I am not afraid of you." The fourth one nodded quickly and stammered, "Don't look at me. I'm not afraid of you either." I looked at the two of them and said casually, "One is a beheaded ghost, and the other is a strangled ghost. They are quite handsome." The two ghosts looked at each other, not daring to speak. I took out a match, blew it with my mouth, and whispered, "It's interesting to burn a god for the first time. If I can burn a ghost, it will be even more interesting." The two ghosts looked at me in silence and whispered, "Crazy girl, burning gods will bring retribution. Burning ghosts will also bring retribution. What do you want to do?" I gently put the matches back into the box, clapped my hands and asked, "Why are you here? What are you doing?" The two ghosts quickly came together and whispered something in each other's ears. "It's okay to tell you. We originally lived here. We are the guardian spirits of the mountain. But why can you see spirits? Are you a ghost too?" "If he is the soul guarding the mountain, then why did Brother Hai die?" I asked coldly. The two little ghosts looked at me in confusion, and asked in a half-comprehending manner, "Are you talking about the boy who drowned in the water yesterday?" I glared at them fiercely. The two ghosts were startled and hurriedly shook their heads and said, "We don't care about life or death. We only guard the mountain, not the people. Whether people die or not is none of our business." I ignored them and watched the water god turn into ashes. Then I called the two dogs back and prepared to go home. "Hey, crazy girl, I, I." The voices of the two ghosts floated intermittently in the mountains, causing a commotion in the forest. Thinking that he still had to go find Brother Hai, and didn't want to have a long conversation with the souls of these two strange worlds, he hurriedly took the two dogs and walked straight to the cemetery. After all, the graveyard was newly turned over, and it didn't look compact. I took out the shovel I had hidden in advance, and ordered Ah Huang and Ah Wang to dig out Brother Hai's body with me. I don't know how long it took, but the shovel had blisters on my palms. Ah Huang and Ah Wang's legs were trembling, and they looked at me pitifully. Fortunately, Brother Hai's body was not buried deep, and after a while, the white cloth on the body was exposed... I was overjoyed and stopped digging immediately. I just sat quietly beside Brother Hai's body. Maybe it was because I was too tired from going back and forth, I fell asleep while sitting there. In a daze, I saw Brother Hai waving at me with a smile, thanking me for saving him, and telling me to live well. I was so happy that I didn't know how to express it, and couldn't help giggling. "You dead girl, you are still laughing. Wake up." I suddenly opened my eyes and saw my mother's face, an angry face. I subconsciously looked around. I was shocked. This was not Brother Hai's grave. It was clearly in my own home, in my own warm coffin. "Tell me, what did you do last night? You're brave, right? You dare to dig up someone else's grave in the middle of the night?" Mother raised her hand and slapped me on the butt twice. I was confused and didn't dare to refute. "Mom, stop hitting your sister. Go and see, outside, outside." Brother Zi Yu suddenly rushed in and pointed outside. "Brother Hai, it must be Brother Hai's family coming to thank me." I climbed out of the coffin excitedly and rushed out. I still remember the scene clearly. When I rushed into the yard full of hope, what I saw were people of all ages holding knives and forks, shouting at me to go out and pay with my life. My father and grandfather tried their best to stop everyone. I looked at the unfamiliar faces in the crowd in confusion. "Bai Tian, you witch, my man saved your life, and now he is dead, and you are digging up his grave?" The shrill wails of Hai Ge's wife pierced my heart like a sword. I stared at her in amazement.
"One hundred days to pay with your life, one hundred days to pay with your life." The others also shouted and rushed towards me... I know I seem to be in trouble again. "Shut up, all of you." When the villagers were about to rush to me, my mother suddenly yelled and stood in front of me. She took a big kitchen knife and chopped the stone beside her, breaking it in two in an instant. "I tell you, when I, Zhenzhu, was a girl, people called me a tigress. I am not afraid of anyone, and I can even suppress Shijia Bay. You call my Bai Tian a ghost every day, but I can still support her. But today I tell you this group of people, you say that I, Bai Tian, am a ghost and a monster every day, and I don't want to endure it anymore. If anyone dares to take another step forward, I will chop you to death, you son of a bitch, believe it?" At this moment, my mother was like a god descended from the sky, protecting me. I stood there in a daze, and all the sounds in my ears seemed to be disappearing. I was abandoned by the whole world at this moment, with only my family... "I, the birthday boy, testify here that the girl Bai Tian is my old lady's lifesaver. She is only five years old. How dare she burn the water god and dig up graves? You are not children. Don't you think about it?" The birthday boy stood there in the yard, sweating profusely. It can be seen that he must have rushed here... There was actually that little black monster standing next to him. At this moment, it still ignored everyone. It looked at me coldly, then stretched leisurely and fell asleep on a bluestone. In an instant, I came to my senses. I didn't want to lie, I looked at everyone coldly: "I did it. Because the Water God is useless and took Brother Hai's life indiscriminately, he deserves to be burned." (End of this chapter)
