Was fate already sealed?
I felt it was providence, the coin in my heart finally landed.
According to the map, the journey from Jinling to Fucheng, crossing half of Yanxia, was long, but the high-speed rail only took six hours, not a considerable amount of time.
Today was Friday, and Song Lei's wedding was on Sunday. I bought a ticket for Saturday, arriving the night before.
As a groomsman, I guessed there might be rehearsals.
That night, I dreamt of the girl again. She seemed to know I was coming to find her, staying quietly in a corner of my sight, accompanying me through the entire dream until just before waking. She then stood up and waved goodbye.
The high-speed train left around ten in the morning and arrived in Fucheng at five in the afternoon.
Song Lei was busy with wedding preparations and couldn't pick me up. He gave me a detailed address and told me to take a taxi.
The early autumn in the north was a bit cold. I was underdressed, and clutching my suitcase, I shivered as I got into a taxi. The driver asked, "Where to, buddy?"
I gave him the address. The driver glanced at it, frowned, and asked, "It's a remote and deserted place, what are you going there for? Archaeology?"
I didn't pay it much mind. Song Lei had mentioned earlier that according to local customs, the wedding would be held in their ancestral village. Northeast China had a severe population drain, even more so in the villages. After the young people gradually left, there were hardly anyone left in the village.
The taxi left the city. The road gradually narrowed, and the mountains on both sides became more undulating. After winding around several hills, although there was still asphalt under the wheels, looking out the window, we had thoroughly entered the deep mountains.
There were no oncoming cars on the road.
After driving for an hour and a half, we finally reached a small village called "Fanshen".
It was getting dark. The village road was dirt, and it had rained heavily for days, leaving the surface full of potholes. The driver refused to go any further and dropped me off at the end of the paved road. Soon, the car's headlights licked over the bends on the mountainside, and the engine noise disappeared.
None of the houses in sight were lit. It was completely different from the village scene I had in mind, where "cicadas cry and the forest grows quiet, birds sing and the mountains become more serene." This dark little village seemed isolated from the world, eerily dead silent.
I called Song Lei and told him I was at the village entrance.
"Got it, old classmate, I'll come out and get you right away!" Song Lei said enthusiastically.
Almost as soon as he hung up, lights suddenly appeared in those houses, and dozens of red lanterns lit up the road. In an instant, the sounds of farmers chatting, children playing, chickens clucking, and dogs barking filled the air, bringing the vibrant atmosphere of a small mountain village at night flooding towards me.
Two minutes later, Song Lei arrived on a sputtering motorcycle. It had been seven or eight years since graduation, but he hadn't changed at all, still looking as youthful as he did back then. I guessed it might be the blessings of the northeastern landscape that kept him so.
After a few greetings, I sat on the back of Song Lei's motorcycle and bounced into the village. Strangely, although the village sounded lively, as if everyone was helping him prepare for the wedding, I didn't see a single person along the way.
We arrived at a house with a vermilion-red gate. Song Lei stopped the motorcycle and said with a grin, "Old Wu, you'll sleep at my cousin's place tonight."
"Don't you need my help?" I asked.
"No need, everything's arranged. Our rural weddings don't have that many activities. Tomorrow, you just need to follow me around to toast relatives and friends!"
"Then I'll follow your lead. In any case, don't be polite with me," I said courteously.
As we were talking, the red lacquered gate creaked open, and a girl about five feet tall emerged. She was very slender, thin as a piece of paper, with a fair complexion and her lips painted with thick lipstick. Her eyes were large but vacant, as if she hadn't woken up.
"This is my cousin," Song Lei introduced. "Mei, this is my classmate, Wu Chengfeng. My place is full, so I'm having him stay at your house for the night. You're not allowed to bully him, okay!"
She's so tiny, how could she bully me? Heh.
The cousin showed no expression and turned to walk into the house. By estimation, her weight didn't exceed sixty pounds. Her feet, beneath the long dress, seemed to float, and she made no sound as she walked.
Song Lei said he had to go and asked me to rest well.
I followed my cousin into the courtyard and into the house. It was a three-room brick-and-tile farmhouse, with the door in the center. She led me into a room on the left. It was an antique-style room, simple but clean, though it had a rather strong smell of dampness and mold.
A new white cotton quilt was laid on the kang, and there were three basins of water on the cabinet, along with toiletries, presumably for my washing.
"You've prepared so thoughtfully, thank you, cousin."
The cousin still didn't speak, turned to another room, and closed the door behind her. That room was unlit, and after she went in, there was no more sound from her. Perhaps she was preparing to sleep.
A man and a woman alone, I couldn't ask too many questions. After a simple wash, I turned off the light and lay on the bed fully clothed.
The musty smell in my nostrils lingered, like the scent of a stinking pond, making me drowsy. Soon, I drifted off to sleep.
As soon as I entered the dream, the girl burst in, asking me urgently, "Why are you staying here? It's so dangerous!"
I told her it was my classmate's cousin's house, what danger was there?
The girl frowned and opened her mouth several times, appearing to want to say something but holding back. Finally, she said, "Brother Chengfeng, you mustn't sleep! Come up the mountain to find me! If you fall asleep, you'll never wake up—!"
Before the girl could finish her last sentence, a rope suddenly flew out from the darkness and ensnared her neck, silencing her. It was the first time I had ever dreamt of the girl being controlled. I was anxious and wanted to go save her, but my feet were stuck in some kind of mire, unable to move. I watched as the girl was dragged further and further away by the rope until she disappeared.
I woke up abruptly, reaching out to the wall for the light switch, but my hand touched dry soil. It was pitch black all around. Fortunately, I had a habit of keeping my phone by my pillow. I fumbled for it, turned on the flashlight, and illuminated the surroundings—Damn it!
I sprang up from the kang, looking at my surroundings in disbelief. The room I was in was no longer the place it had been. It was all ruins. Half the roof had collapsed, and there was a pit on the ground filled with murky rainwater. Unidentified insects wriggled inside, and the moldy smell came from here!
This was clearly a long-abandoned old house!
My head felt fuzzy. I quickly put on my shoes, grabbed my suitcase, and fled out the door. Inadvertently, the flashlight beam swept across the opposite room. The door had already caved in, and it was equally dilapidated inside. Amidst the rubble, someone seemed to be lying there.
On a sudden impulse, and with misguided kindness, I thought, "Could it be that the house collapsed and trapped my cousin?" I hurried over, intending to rescue her. When I got closer, I was so terrified that I leaped back like a startled cat!
That thing looked exactly like my cousin, but it wasn't her!
It was a paper effigy!