Chapter 371: Mother

January 28, 1985. No one was willing to approach that house anymore; to be precise, no one would approach Zhang Manjun anymore.

Several people in the village had died in succession over the past few days, all from the same household, and everyone felt a chill in their hearts.

Even I, who wanted to believe that Zhang Manjun was innocent, could now discern a certain cold, sinister air.

That was definitely not some malignant epidemic, yet I did not want to lean toward the Curse that my father and the vast majority of the village currently believed in.

But there must be some "thing" that exists; it was what killed Zhang Manjun's child, as well as the couple Wang Liwen and his wife, and Wang Zhicheng, who had just died yesterday.

Today, my parents pulled at me, not wanting me to go deliver food to Zhang Manjun, but I thought I should go and deliver it anyway.

I went with trepidation and returned with a heavy heart; I told the villagers: "Zhang Manjun is dead, too."

……

The subsequent essays contained no further text related to this matter. Wei Chengye felt a chill run down his spine, shivering uncontrollably.

He stared at those diary entries, reading them over and over, and realized that the text of the January 28, 1985, essay had some issues, as it was incoherent in its narrative and very jumpy, providing only very vague summaries of the details of certain events.

This was just an essay, so of course it could be written as one pleased; most people didn't even have the habit of writing essays, and even if they did, such jumpy narratives would indeed exist.

In such cases, usually only the person involved would have a deep impression; precisely because the impression was deep, there was no need to record it deliberately. It was like a secret; this brief, jumpy summary was an input password to complete the memories behind the blank spaces.

But the problem lay in looking back at the mother's past and subsequent essays; the mother was clearly not a person who liked jumpy narratives like this. She preferred to record the details of every event, just like writing a diary.

This was clearly the mother's deliberate handiwork. Perhaps even she did not want to recall what happened that day, let alone record it in writing, even if this notebook would be locked away and left to gather dust for years, unopened by anyone.

Wei Chengye held his head, struggling to recall and think, connecting the stories told by Shougou with the experiences from his mother's perspective.

"The woman who married into Wang Bozi's family did not marry willingly; she was bought, just as Shougou and the others said."

"Terrifying things did indeed happen at Wang Bozi's house. That series of deaths, which seemed like a Curse, really happened. Some terrifying factor did indeed exist in that house and has continued to this day, and while the source may not necessarily have been caused by Zhang Manjun, it must have been inseparable from her."

"Shougou said the woman who married Wang Bozi eventually hanged herself; this version is unanimously accepted by the villagers, and the first person to discover Zhang Manjun's death was my mother."

"After this incident, the village established an unwritten rule: no one was allowed to go to the Old Crow House in the north of the village. But why? Looking at it now, it was because they all knew the danger there had not been resolved by Zhang Manjun's death."

"Then is it because that 'terror' related to Zhang Manjun would not disappear with Zhang Manjun's own death, or is it because... that Zhang Manjun actually didn't die back then!"

Wei Chengye shook his legs anxiously, his heels rising and falling rapidly; he was still thinking about what other details he had missed.

Immediately, a flash of insight crossed Wei Chengye's eyes. He quickly flipped back through the notebook, his gaze landing on the content of the January 19, 1985, essay, and then focused on that extremely strange sentence she said when she parted ways with Zhang Manjun.

"Do you believe there are gods in this world?" Wei Chengye muttered to himself, a chill rising in his heart once again.

Yes, if it wasn't some unknown epidemic, then it was certainly not something that could be accomplished by human power. So what kind of thing could have done this?

His mother's faith had also been shaken back then. Even if she didn't want to admit it was the work of some "Curse," it definitely bordered on the truly bizarre and strange; saying it was the power of gods or demons didn't seem impossible.

If some outrageous existence similar to a god or demon really had helped Zhang Manjun, then everything would make sense.

Back then, in Wang Bozi's family, she could make whoever she wanted die, but one must know she was all alone at the time. An individual could not fight an entire family like Wang Bozi's, let alone deal with the whole village. There must have been something helping in the shadows, and that was a power from outside the village.

"Could it be that Mother knew the truth on January 28, 1985?" Wei Chengye thought to himself. He thought perhaps all the answers could only be asked from his mother's own mouth.

He decided that as soon as he got up tomorrow morning, he would go to the village convenience store and have a phone call with his mother...

Suddenly, Wei Chengye shuddered, abruptly thinking of a logical loophole.

Assuming his mother knew the whole truth, and she knew that some terrifying evil might be hidden in this village, then she must have known that this village was dangerous. Yet why did she want me to return to the countryside alone during summer vacation, to return to this homeland she herself was unwilling to go back to?

Why!?

Wei Chengye's mind was in a mess, which made it impossible for him to fall asleep. Coupled with the constant bird calls outside that sounded like mocking laughter, he felt even more like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

He stayed up until dawn, then couldn't wait to get up, rushed out of the house, and dashed toward the convenience store.

He didn't care why the convenience store, which opened early, was empty. He just shouted into the empty, pitch-black room that he needed to use the phone, and immediately dialed his mother's number.

Beep... beep... beep... beep—

No answer.

Dial again!

Beep... beep... beep... beep—

No response.

Dial again!

Still the same.

Wei Chengye's face grew paler and paler, feeling as if his memory had developed some kind of confusion and void. He tremblingly dialed a number again. This time the call connected, but a man's voice came through.

Wei Chengye called out tremblingly: "Dad..."

A concerned voice came from the other side: "What's wrong? Are you not used to staying at your grandparents' house?"

His father's thoughtful and warm voice made Wei Chengye relax a little. Suddenly, his nose felt sore and he choked up a bit. Pretending to be strong, he didn't let the crying sound out, but just told him about some of the good and interesting things that had happened these days.

Hearing this, his father also responded in a gentle and warm tone, communicating harmoniously with him.

As they chatted, Wei Chengye felt his whole body relax. He really wanted to return to his parents' embrace, to the home he and his parents operated and built together.

"Dad, where are you now?"

"I'm at home."

"Oh, is Mom there? I want to chat with her... um, there's something I want to ask her."

As soon as these words were spoken, Wei Chengye keenly felt the temperature of the air drop. His father also fell into a stunned silence, a silence that seemed to be one of shock and sorrow.

After a long while, his father slowly spoke: "I would love to do that, but Xiao Ye, your mother passed away when you were born. She gave birth to you during a car accident."