From the fifth floor to the first floor, I remember I was running, afraid of being late, and hastily carrying a vegetable basket. When I was rushing upstairs on one breath, I met the doctor who led us at the corner of the fourth floor. I clearly remember that he greeted me and reminded me: Young man, slow down, dont fall.

  Then I woke up again and found myself in the hospital room. I couldnt remember anything that had happened in between, but they helped me restore some fragmented memories.

  On the fifth floor, I went back and forth for no more than five minutes. Zha Wenbin had put Yuan Xiaobai in the inner room, set up the necessary table, and waited for me for a full 15 minutes without seeing anyone.

  At this time, Cha Wenbin came out to find me. He didnt see me on the fifth floor and thought I wasnt there. Not at ease with Xiaobai either, he went back to wait again for ten minutes, but I still hadnt appeared.

  Half an hour later, Cha Wenbin returned to the corridor again to wait for me, and through the window he saw the fat man wandering around on the first floor. By shouting, the fat man told me that he had taken things up long ago.

  Five minutes later, the whole hospital was looking for me because at least two people had witnessed me entering the hospital staircase: including Fatso and the doctor who met me on the fourth floor. I disappeared right under their noses.

  One mystery that has not been solved to this day is: the key to the morgue was only held by the doctor on duty that day, and according to hospital regulations, the room had to be locked. Recently, there have been no deaths in the hospital, and the morgue has not been opened for a week. The hospital conducts rounds every two hours, and all personnel confirm that the door is closed. Its a heavy iron door weighing hundreds of pounds with two locks, reinforced with a solid steel pipe as thick as a water pipe.

  It was a drop of vegetable soup that had spilled from the vegetable basket that saved me. Someone discovered an oil stain at the entrance of the peace room.

  Its said that it was a try-out mood, because no one would believe I was inside, the hanging lock on the door was locked, and the lock on the door was also closed, Zha Wenbin said to give it a try, maybe.

  I dont remember what happened to me, but later I heard that Fatso almost got scared silly.

  I opened the door, and a cold air rushed in. I pulled open one of the ice coffins, also known as a mortuary refrigerator, and inside was a woman wearing a red cheongsam dress. I took the female corpse out of the refrigerated cabinet and held her in my arms, leaning against the grid-like refrigerated cabinets, with her resting on my shoulder.

  And I was holding a bowl of congee in my hand, and I was shoveling it into the dead womans mouth one spoonful at a time...

  Its said that Fatso didnt say a word and kicked me in the shoulder with one foot, the female corpse who had been lying in this hospital for God knows how many years almost had her neck broken, and I was also knocked unconscious by that kick.

  Later, I heard from the hospital staff that the female corpse had been here since the founding of the country. This was a hospital built by the French back then, and after being taken over by the government, it was specially cleared out, including this nameless female corpse. It is said that at that time, the body was intended to be taken away for cremation, but somehow it was brought back again. Anyway, the old doctor who told me about it made it sound quite mysterious, saying that the worker responsible for transporting the female corpse had a fire at his home the night before and burned out one of his eyes. Later, someone else wanted to deal with her, but also because something happened, it was abandoned.

  Ten years ago, a medical college in Shanghai needed human specimens for dissection. At that time, the hospital also wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to dispose of the female corpse to them. As a result, the female corpse was taken away and on the same night, some male students sneaked into the morgue, hugged the corpse and jumped off the building. The male student died on the spot, while the female corpse did not even have its skin damaged. It was sent back the next day.

  After all the commotion, she returned to the hospital. She was a secret in this hospital, and people didnt know her name, but they gave her one: Ah Jiu, because her freezer was numbered 009.

  Many people have said that they saw a woman in red clothes in this hospital, she always stared at those single young men who passed by, flirting with them, as long as she was in the hospital, it was just an episode, nothing serious ever happened.

  In short, after I woke up, everything was fine, but listening to Paozi telling me those things made me feel sick in my mind. Who the hell would be perverted enough to feed a female corpse that could have been my grandmother? But Cha Wenbin said its just a calamity and once its over, its over. He said that woman named Ajiu was very pitiful, and the thing I took happened to be an offering to provoke ghosts, so it was reasonable for her to take it away. After dealing with Xiaobais affairs, if the hospital allows it, he will also deal with that woman named Ajiu.

  Yuan Xiaobai was done, and Dr. Tang excitedly sent a telegram to his mentor. That expert named Kaylen yelled that he wanted to come to China to invite Wen Bin to give a lecture at Yale University, saying that he was the reincarnation of God.

  However, Cha Wenbin said that Xiaobai was not good, what she called good was just that she could recognize people, communicate, and walk; but her eyes were always dazed, slightly dull, and walking without spirit. Whats more worrying is that her hair started falling out in large clumps.

  During this time, we discovered some clues.

  Three years ago, Yuan Xiaobai got off the train from Shanghai and parted with me. Her home was this mansion, which was built by Du Yueshengs trusted follower, who was also a veteran of the Green Gang and held the rank of lieutenant general in the National Army.

  On the eve of liberation, Du Yuesheng took his family to Hong Kong, while the owner of this house went to Taiwan. Before leaving, his first wifes concubine hanged herself in the second-floor guest room. Because someone had died and they were in a hurry to leave, the Yuan family, who was already making a name for themselves in Shanghai with their silk and flour business, bought this mansion at a low price.

  Yuan Xiaobais father was Yuan Zongming. The Yuan family had donated supplies to the Communist army during the war of resistance, and after liberation, they actively advocated for the transformation of enterprises into state-owned ones, belonging to the red capitalists in Shanghai at that time, with a lot of say in the business world. However, what belonged to the Yuan family was only this large mansion and some assets left by their ancestors.

  During the Cultural Revolution, the Yuan family was affected, and this large mansion with a very superior geographical location was confiscated as the office of the local Revolutionary Committee in that decade. It was also at that time when the Red Guards rushed in, Yuan Xiaobais mother committed suicide in the same way in the guest room on the second floor.

  When Yuan Xiaobai returned, the Cultural Revolution had not yet ended, and she hid in a distant relatives home; a month later, the Cultural Revolution ended, and Yuan Zongming was released. Yuan Xiaobai returned home and moved into her mothers old room. From then on, she began to act strangely, becoming irritable, refusing to go out, and keeping the doors and windows tightly closed all day long. Later, even meals had to be placed outside the door. This situation has continued until now, and Yuan Zongming has already lost his wife; how can he lose this daughter too?

  A week later, Yuan Xiaobai was discharged from hospital. Cha Wenbin told her father that he would go to retrieve something for her.

  That day, Yuan Zongming helped us three get tickets for a flight to Changchun in Northeast China, which was my first time on an airplane.

  Still that platform, two lonely iron rails, the ditch where we once hid. Three years have passed and nothing has changed here, but I wonder if they are still okay?

  Ye Ren Tun, I once vowed never to go back again, but Cha Wenbin said that we must go back, Yuan Xiaobais soul is still there.

  It all started with that painting of mine...

  Three years ago, in the village of Ye Ren Tun, under the 18-mouthed Shui Tang, we found a painting scroll in one of them. When opened, the woman in the painting was vivid and lifelike, if Yuan Xiao Bai wore the clothes of the woman in the painting, it would be exactly the same.

  She had a cat named Ami, which came from the Wild Man Village. That year, the cat escaped with us from Northeast China. Three years later, it grew up and became all black, very similar to its mother. Zhang Wenbin brought that cat back.

  Some things have their roots buried there, didnt take them away, and just forgot...

  The village is still the same, people here dont know what electronic watches are, they still follow the rule of getting up with the sun and sleeping with the sunset. Whats different is that the big collective has ended, and the household contract responsibility system has started, Miao Lan got married and still lives in the village, Old Man Miao is still able to drink with Baozi except for some white hair on his head.

  That branch secretary later jumped into a well, not just him, but his whole family, old and young. Miao Lao Die sighed: "Its really miserable, its said that the top wanted to investigate the mistakes he made during the Cultural Revolution, he was dismissed from office, and its said that people were going to be arrested, the youngest grandson was only three months old, only his daughter-in-law escaped into the mountains, its said she ran to Outer Mongolia."

  "What about him? Has he been rescued?" I asked.

  "They were all floating on the surface, six of them in a row, with no eyeballs. They said it was because the fish had eaten them away." Miao Lao Die was already slightly drunk, his face red as he swayed his wine cup and said: "Do you believe that? Fish specifically eat human eyes? I dont believe it anyway."