What exactly was this Pear Blossom Curse…Did the entire village die? What was going on with that girl called Li Hua…?”
This was the 67th time I had looked at this notebook recently. Looking at the yellowed notebook in my hand, I was really curious. Why did the story only end here? Logically speaking, this book recorded the story of at least two generations, but there was no ending here? Could this be half of it?
What happened to the people in the village?？
I'm an antique appraiser. I live in a small town in the north that isn't very prosperous. I mainly appraise antiques for my friends who have bought them but aren't sure if they're real or fake. My ancestors have been doing this for generations. My father passed away when I was in my teens. The only inheritance left for me is this shop that is less than 20 square meters.
My surname is Liu, and my name is Shuang. Everyone in this town knows me. My peers call me: "Brother Shuang" or "Little Shuang". The juniors all call me uncle. Maybe it's because I'm lazy, but I look very old. Because I have a beard.
Half a month ago, I accompanied Second Brother to a small mountain village called Lakshmi Village to buy some ancient gadgets. Second brother is what we call him. He has no blood relationship with me. His original name was Qi Ergen. Perhaps this name didn't sound very good, but he kept insisting that we call him Second Brother. Just like that, she called him "Second Brother".
Second Brother had always been buying some small toys from those remote villages. In fact, antiques were pitifully rare nowadays. Some of them were just some small toys from the late Qing Dynasty. They weren't worth much. What Second Brother did was run around a few more times and then sell the gadgets he got from those small villages at a slightly higher price. He couldn't earn a lot of money. There was still a constant stream of money.
When Second Brother and I came to this village, we saw a poor village that even looked like an ancient human village. There was no electricity in this village. This is the most puzzling thing. Second Brother did not seem to care about these things. After he came, he kept greeting the villagers. It seemed that Second Brother had come to this village more than once or twice.
As soon as they entered the village, someone ran and shouted in a dialect. I didn't understand a single word. Later on, she found out that the person was probably shouting that people were coming to buy things and that whoever had something should come out and take a look.
In a short while, all the young and old men in the village gathered at the entrance of the village. Look at their hands. They were holding all kinds of things. Some were holding jars, some were holding bottles, and some were even holding a pillow. Second Brother was very patient. He explained to them word by word which things they wanted and which things they didn't want. Second Brother had made it clear to the villagers.
When I saw these things from the side, I didn't even need to look carefully to know that there was nothing good inside. Therefore, he was too lazy to speak. I was sitting behind Second Brother and watching him count his things when someone suddenly called me.
"Let me see. Can this book be sold for money?”An old lady said in a very inaccurate way. If I hadn't reacted quickly, I really wouldn't have known what he was talking about. I turned around and saw an old lady holding an old book.
People in my line of work know that when looking at antiques, the first thing to look at is the appearance, and then the inside. Looking at this book, I knew that it was something from modern times. However, seeing the pitiful look in the old lady's eyes, I still took it and pretended to look at it with interest.
From the moment I held the book in my hand, I felt that this book was not simple. After opening it, I roughly took a few glances. The things recorded inside were things I had never seen before. This book was indeed not an ordinary one! I immediately negotiated a price with the old granny and bought the book back.
After a busy day, Second Brother did not receive anything good. It was all junk. Since we came up the mountain path, it's already too late. It's impossible to rush back if we want to go down the mountain and take a bus. Second Brother and I were arranged by the village chief to stay in an old man's house in the village.
After dinner, I, Second Brother, and the old man enjoyed the shade in the courtyard.
"Second Brother, I feel that the book I received today is a little strange.”I said to Second Brother as I smoked. Second Brother said," Little Shuang, you're the only one who's so troublesome. I've received so many things, but I don't feel anything at all. Oh, no, I feel like I've lost money again."”
When I saw Second Brother's expression, what else could I say? The old man sitting at the side said," Child, our village used to be a little restless. Now that most of them have been taken away, there's nothing left.”When I heard the old man say this, I casually asked,"Grandpa, what kind of treasures did this village produce in the past?”
The old man seemed to be interested. He refilled a pack of cigarettes and began to talk to me with relish.
"Speaking of which, our village really produced a lot of treasures in the past. When I was young, someone in the village dug up a shoe on the mountain. I don't know what era it was, but the second day after it was dug up, a group of people came from outside. Later on, that person became rich and moved out. Who knew where he went?”
"Sir, you said that this village had a pair of shoes. Have you seen those shoes before?”I asked curiously.
"Not to mention me, even when I dug up this shoe, I heard it from others. As for what the shoe looked like, I didn't see it before. However, I heard that it was a shoe, not a pair. It seemed to be an embroidered shoe. Red shoes were the kind of shoes that brides wore.”
The old man knocked away the cigarette ash and continued,"From then on, people from the village kept going up the mountain to dig for treasures, but no one ever dug them up again. Later on, when I was in my generation, a treasure appeared in Old Lady Liu's house. Old Lady Liu's son also knew where he got it. He actually made a red undergarment for a doll. It seemed to be very valuable. However, this child's fate was not good. He had just sold this undergarment for a large sum of money when he died. This Old Lady Liu lost her son. Perhaps she missed her son and was crazy. He keeps saying that his son died unjustly."
When I heard the old man say this, I became even more interested. After digging out the treasure, this person died. What a coincidence.
The old man continued,"Later, someone said that the undergarment was too evil. She killed Old Lady Liu's son. In my opinion, it might be Old Lady Liu's son who was killed after receiving the money.”
I also remembered what this old man said. He suddenly had a strong desire to explore this backward village. He always felt that there were many unknown things in this backward village.
Second Brother wasn't as interested as I was, so he went to bed early. The only thing he was interested in now was money. After saying this, it was getting late. After bidding farewell to the old man, I went to sleep.
That night, I had a dream that I had never had before. This dream was too real.
I remember that in my dreams, I came to a village in a daze. It was a village that I had never been to before. He saw many people standing in the distance, both men and women. I don't know any of them. They seemed to be looking forward to my arrival. When they saw me coming, they waved at me one after another. It was as if each of them was saying something, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. I wanted to walk closer and ask who those people were, but no matter how I walked, I was still far away from them. I couldn't get close. I was very anxious, so I shouted,"Where is this?"”I felt like she had shouted, but behind this group of people, a person in red appeared in a very conspicuous place. It was too far away, so I couldn't see clearly whether it was a man or a woman. However, she said something to me, and I heard it very clearly. She only said four words,"I've been waiting for you for a long time."”
"The sky is already bright, why are you still shouting? Did you have a wet dream?" Second Brother shouted at me as he cleaned up his trash. I woke up immediately. I looked at Second Brother and realized that I was dreaming just now. I told Second Brother about my dream just now and Second Brother actually gave me an answer that made me want to kick him.
Second Brother said that I had this dream because I had been single for too long and missed the old lady. Hearing this answer, I stopped talking nonsense with him. We packed our things and prepared to go down the mountain and take a bus back.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。