Ghost Breath - C50

My name is Li Mo, people familiar with me call me Little Mo, this year I’m 15 years old. In the entire village, Big Bear and Ah Feng and I had the best relationship, we were good brothers who grew up together.

The big bear is three years older than I am, and he is as big and thick as his name suggests. Because his family was poor, he did not go to school for a long time.

Ah Feng is the same age as me, he has a similar personality, and is also a neighbor of mine.

We were together almost every day, doing good or bad, and of course we did bad things more often.

Let’s not talk about it first. We have done countless bad things, such as stealing chickens and ducks from people’s homes, picking fruits and vegetables from their plants, trampling over other people’s fields, smashing glass with rocks, and setting fire to straw. All of these things are common to us.

In addition to good and bad things, we also do some strange things, and one of the strangest things is called plundering graves.

Why plagiarize graves? It was actually a test game, invented by a bear with a belly full of bad ideas. It could be done with only three pieces of paper and three pens. All three of them took a piece of paper and a pen and stepped into the cemetery at the same time. They then wrote down the names of the dead on each tombstone, and in the end, the more tombstones someone memorized, the winner would win. The winner would receive the appropriate rewards, for example, the two other losers would be responsible for buying food.

The game seemed boring, but it was actually a test of courage. The cemetery behind the mountain was huge, so I couldn’t hold on in the beginning. The winner was usually the big bear.

In the past, we would always play grave raiding once a year. Because our village has a lot of people, especially the elderly, there are always new tombstones in the back of the mountain.

The winter this year was exceptionally short. Just past the middle of February, Big Bear and Ah Feng impatiently ran over to my house, saying that there were a few old men in the village who weren’t able to make it through the winter. They also erected a few tombstones at the back of the mountain.

Amongst the three of them, my personality was the most passive. Normally, they would just say whatever they wanted to say.

The bet on the grave raiding was that everyone would take some New Year’s gifts from their homes and give them all to the winners.

For me, this year’s stock will not be preserved. After all, I’m not likely to win.

Thus, late into the night, we brought along pen and paper, and followed the old method, sneaking out of our homes and rushing to the back of the mountain to meet up with them.

Along the way, the wind was blowing and the air was chilly. Although the winter was almost over, it was still very cold in the middle of the night.

When I got to the grave, I was shivering with cold. I didn’t know if I was scared or cold, but I kept feeling that something was wrong with me tonight. Big Bear looked at me and laughed. “Are you afraid?”

I nodded.

“What’s there to be afraid of? It’s not like I’ve never played before.” Ah Feng also laughed.

“That’s right, it’s more fun to be afraid. If something really happens, we’ll just keep it under wraps. Good brother!”

I know that Big Bear is a loyal person. He always keeps the word “good brother” in his mouth. However, his words gave me a lot of courage.

We chose a reasonable place to pluck the grave.

The big bear counted one, two, three, and then looked at his watch to check the time. He and Ah Feng were the first to go.

Because the grave is now much larger than before and the fog this night is heavier, I could only tremble as I copied three tombstones. Then, I would no longer be able to see Da Xiong and Ah Feng.

I whispered their names, but they didn’t answer.

Fortunately, the moon was bright in the back of the mountain, so at least I wouldn’t get lost in the graveyard.

I lowered my head and continued copying the words on the tombstone.

Strange to say, after I copied a few pieces, my courage gradually grew. Perhaps it was because I was numb. In short, I copied everything along the way. I even felt like I might get first place this time.

At this moment, I saw an extremely brand-new tombstone at the end of the tombstone. I didn’t know if it was my imagination, but I felt that the tombstone was slightly shining.

I thought: isn’t that Big Bear’s name, Wu Xiong Xiong?

I looked at the date of birth and death on the side of the ranking board, and found that the date of birth completely matched the date of birth of the big bear, but the date of death was more than a month later!

I took a deep breath and felt a stir in my heart.

Big Bear is obviously with me, how could something happen to him? It had to be someone’s prank!

At the same time, I heard the big bear behind me shout, “Time’s up!”

It turned out that Big Bear and Ah Feng were already behind me.

When I saw the big bear appear in front of me, I was not only relieved, but also relieved. I wasn’t going to tell him about the discovery of the Great Bear, for fear he’d be unlucky, so I missed a tombstone.

Who knew that just because I lacked the big bear’s portion, I would lose to another big bear. Originally, if I were to include this piece, I would have achieved my first ever victory.

The next day, Ah Feng and I brought the New Year stuff, which was used as a wager, to Big Bear’s house. Big Bear’s mother even invited us for a meal, but she didn’t know that we were interrogating Big Bear’s grave, and even more so didn’t know that I found Big Bear’s tombstone at the graveyard.

In a few days, I will be going to the city to attend high school. In the future, I won’t be able to spend all day with Big Bear Ah Feng. Before I left, I kind of wanted to tell Big Bear about the tombstone and tell him to tear down the grave, but I was naturally timid, so I didn’t say it.

The days of school in the city were so boring that I couldn’t run around like I did in the countryside. I was living with relatives, relatives I didn’t know very well, and felt even more uncomfortable. I was preparing to go back and reunite with Big Bear Ah Feng, so I called Ah Feng’s home in advance. Unexpectedly, when Ah Feng heard that I was coming back, he seemed cold and confused, and when I asked him if anything had happened to him, he told me bitterly that Big Bear had left.

“He left? Where did he go? ” I asked.

“The meaning behind his departure …” He died. ”

I was stunned for a moment, as if struck by lightning.

I choked with sobs and asked, “Why …” Dead? When did this happen!? ”

“Not long after you left, he fell ill. The doctor said that he didn’t look well, and that he would die within a few days.” Ah Feng’s voice was filled with grief.

My heart lurched, and then I remembered something: the Great Bear Tombstone I had run into that night!

Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe it wasn’t. Anyway, I found the big bear tombstone first, and the big bear died very quickly, and the date of death matched the date of death on the tombstone. I had a vague feeling that the tombstone was a kind of prophecy.

No, I have to go back to the village.

The next day, I requested for two days of sick leave from the school and hastily returned to the village. Ah Feng immediately brought me to the cemetery in the rear mountains, when I saw the big bear tombstone, I confirmed that this tombstone had predicted the time of Big Bear’s death. The location of the tombstone and the information it contained were exactly the same as that night.

I asked Ah Feng who built the tombstone, and Ah Feng said it was Big Bear’s mother.

I cried at the tomb of the great bear. I even had the urge to dig up the carcass of the bear and check it out.

When I went down the mountain with Ah Feng, I was thinking about one thing: If I told Big Bear about the tombstone earlier, what would happen? Would the big bear still die?

That night, Ah Feng accompanied me to pay respects to Big Bear’s mother. Big Bear’s mother seemed to have aged ten years due to her excessive sadness.

Since I had only taken two days off, I had to leave the next day. Before leaving, I ran alone to the cemetery in the back of the mountain to kowtow a few more times to the bear.

“We’re good brothers!”

Along the way, the words of the bear seemed to echo in my ears.

After stepping into the cemetery and kowtowing to the bear, I was about to leave when, in the instant I turned around, I felt as if an electric current had passed through my entire body. I felt a sense of déjà vu.

I jerked my head to one side and stared at another tombstone at the far end. Like the one I’d seen at the time, the tombstone looked new and glimmering.

When I got closer, my face turned pale. The words on the tombstone read: Wang Feng’s Tomb!

Ah Feng’s grave, Ah Feng’s grave had also appeared!

Again, I was both frightened and anxious. The tombstone seemed to have predicted death, and the date of Ah Feng’s death was just around the corner.

Only this time, I’m not going to run away. After that, I ran like the wind towards Ah Feng’s home and told him everything, including the matter of the Big Bear Tombstone. But when we rushed back to the back mountain together, Ah Feng’s grave was already gone.

Ah Feng knew that I wouldn’t lie, so he trusted my words, and I believed that I wasn’t mistaken. I told Ah Feng to be more careful, and to talk to me over the phone.

In the evening, I took a bus back to town and went back to school. Afterwards, Ah Feng called me from time to time. We had a lot of secrets to discuss, so he often used the village’s public phone.

In this year, Ah Feng is safe and sound and has been in contact with me all this time. He even said that he likes a girl, that she’s called Sighty One, spending all day with me and I say, you brat, you are so shameless. Just because you look like a monkey that you haven’t matured yet, what right do I have to fall for you? Ah Feng also said that he would definitely get together when I return home for the new year.

Hearing Ah Feng talk about Big Bear, I felt a bit sad. I understood the meaning behind Ah Feng’s words. Even though we are separated from Big Bear by Yin and Yang, we can’t forget our good brothers from before.

Currently, I am filled with guilt towards the big bear. It was only because the big bear encountered the same fate as Ah Feng, but the result was different. The difference is that Ah Feng received the “Death Proclamation” from the tombstone in advance, whereas the big bear didn’t. The responsibility for this was naturally mine. If I told the bear about the tombstone as soon as possible, I might be able to save the bear from death.

On the first day of our school’s winter vacation, I rode back to the village early in the morning. I thought that I would soon meet Ah Feng and take the opportunity to take a look at his little girlfriend.

In the afternoon when we arrived at the village, I didn’t even return home, but directly ran towards Ah Feng’s house. But when I pushed open the door to Ah Feng’s house, I was stunned. At that moment, it was as if my soul had left the world.

Ah Feng’s portrait was hanging on the wall, facing the entrance of their house. Ah Feng’s mother was also hurt when she saw me.

My heart crazily screamed: Ah Feng is dead! How could this be? How could this be? We just talked on the phone yesterday, Ah Feng is still fine!

I pretended to be calm and asked Ah Feng about Ah Feng. As a result, I received extremely shocking news. So it turns out that Ah Feng had fallen into the river and drowned half a year ago. His mother and his family didn’t dare to tell me because they were worried that I would be too sad and miss out on my studies.

Ah Feng’s death date was exactly the same as the date of death on his tombstone!

This message, like a bomb, caught me off guard. Not only am I suspicious, if Ah Feng had passed away, who was the one who had been contacting me all this while?

I immediately ran to the public phone booth that Ah Feng used to call me from, but found that the phone booth had already been torn down. I asked the villagers nearby, and they told me that the phone booth had already been torn down a long time ago.

I was terrified, no matter how I thought about it, I could not understand why Ah Feng would end up like a big bear. In the end, he could only conclude that the tombstone that announced his death would not change because the person concerned did not know about it!

Whether it was Big Bear or Ah Feng, both were destined to die the moment their tombstones appeared.

I never thought that the person who had been maintaining communication with me for so long would actually be Ah Feng’s ghost.

I felt that I had to go to the back of the mountain and check, so I slowly walked up the back of the mountain and stepped into the cemetery. After finding Ah Feng’s grave, I couldn’t suppress the grief in my heart and started crying loudly.

Ah Feng’s grave is right beside the big bear’s grave, and it’s exactly the same as the one I saw the other day. I also noticed that on the other side of Ah Feng’s grave, there was a tombstone with the name of the deceased person as Hu Yang. He was one year younger than Ah Feng and had died about three months ago.

I remembered the little girlfriend that Ah Feng mentioned. It was about three months ago, that Ah Feng mentioned this girl to me and said that he was with her all day. Ah Feng was right, their tombstone was very close. They were indeed “together” all day.

Just then, I noticed that behind Ah Feng’s tombstone, there was another new tombstone. Under the dusk, it was shining with a faint light, and I wondered if I was seeing things, so I walked in and saw clearly written on the tombstone: Li Mo’s Tomb.

Li Mo! That’s my name.

My eyes widened as I retreated step by step, looking at my own tombstone in disbelief. A thought filled my mind: First it’s the big bear, then it’s Ah Feng, now it’s my turn, none of us can escape misfortune! Why? Because we come every year to plagiarize the grave and treat the most important memento of the dead as a child’s play, we suffer retribution?

Suddenly, I heard someone call out my name from behind me. Turning my head around, what I saw were Big Bear and Ah Feng’s figures.

At the same time, they smiled at me and said, “Good brother, we will always be together.”

Oh no!