"But what?"

"I haven't seen this with my own eyes..."

"Please say it."

"call--"

"Old sir, another cigarette?"

"Oh, thank you. This cigarette is good. It's a waste to me..."

"You are always polite. Give this bag to you. Please take it slowly."

"Thank you, thank you. Huh——just what I just said, it's about finding a child. In fact, it's not just one child. Among the people who went into the water, there was an uncle who was dead now. He has been dead for several years. He didn't find anyone, but another one went into the water and carried the child up. My uncle swam along the river for a while. The water was not clean and there was a lot of mud and sand. He swam for a while, and his feet were entangled by the water plants. He had good water properties and pulled the water plants away. But after pulling it out, he pulled out a string of mud under the water. He was talking to me. It wasn't what he said at that time. It was not what he said at that time.

yes. He came out of the water, his face was pale, and his body was shaking. Later, for many days, people became depressed, as if they were scared out of their courage. He was going to get married the next year, but it didn't get married, but the little aunt pointed at his nose and scolded him. I didn't know the reason at that time, but he knew that before that year was over, he went to the city to work, and then he didn't come back for many years, and he didn't come back for the New Year. Everyone in the family thought he had died outside and learned bad things. After nine years, it was still ten years. He came back from outside but still had no marriage and had no children. He was injured at the construction site and his hands were no longer enough. He got compensation and had to come back."

"He told you what happened back then?"

"Yes. He has no children. In our family, my father gave birth to three sons. I am the youngest, so he treats me as half a son. When he died, I still threw the basin for him."

"What did he say to you? What happened under the river back then?"

"It's not that happening. He pulled out the water plants and the things in the soil were brought out. A child's skull floated up. He was very scared at that time. At first, he thought it was the missing child, so he looked for it carefully. Under the river, the water plants were pulled out, and the soil was turned on, and it was all bones. It was all bones of children! He didn't dare to count. When he saw the skulls of several children, he felt something was wrong and left immediately."

"Is it the missing child in the village?"

"No. There are so many missing children in the village? I have an impression of it. Just that time, another time was seven or eight years ago, a child ran to the road outside and was hit by a car. The others were gone. I have never heard of so many children who died. I have never heard of children in the village and thrown into the river after they die. I have never heard of them, nor have my uncle."

"You don't know where the kids' bones came from?"

"Isn't this? Didn't I tell the story of the black fish spirit just now? What my grandfather told was that the black fish spirit was flooding, and the Taoist priest collected the black fish spirit. There was a grandfather next door, who said that the black fish spirit was eating people, and was cut into two pieces by a general. I forgot who it was, and I vaguely remembered that I had heard the third story, which was flooding, that is, the black fish spirit was flooding, and the people in the village threw boys and girls into the river to stop making trouble."

"You suspect that this is the bodies of those children before?"

"Probably. How can this be said accurately?"

"Didn't your uncle tell others about his discovery?"

"No. Everyone is scared. He is timid."

……rustle……

“…I heard that a female college student was missing here before?”

"Hey, I just saw you come out of Lao Zhangtou. He told you about the black fish spirit?"

"Yes."

"He has a bad mind, don't listen to his nonsense. He was adopted by one of his uncles before. That Zhang Jiren is a bad mind. When he was about to get married, he ran away and had not yet made a good appearance, but his hands were ruined. After he came back, he drank all day and did not do anything. He always talked nonsense. That old Zhang, he had a bad mind. I think..."

"What do you know?"

"It's not... he's just talking nonsense. He always runs into the forest and jumps into the river when he's fine. He doesn't know what to touch... The little girl in the Zhou family might... cough..."

"When the police came to investigate, did you check that Mr. Zhang? Have you ever told the police about that river?"

"Why didn't you? I went into the water and found it. No. The girl's stuff is a big bag, and she stayed at home. Her mother said that when she went out, she should have brought her cell phone with her, a bunch of things, and there were a lot of things hanging on the cell phone. It was gone. No one was seen in life, no corpse was seen in death. I guess she was a kidnapped. We didn't have kidnapped here, but it's the first time everywhere."

……rustle……

...

On September 8, 2011, contacted Zhou Min's mother Sha Shuhui. Audio file 07220110908.wav.

"Hello, Ms. Sha."

“…”

"It's a pity to bother you."

"No. I... posted it in the newspaper like this, would you... you put my daughter's photo on it?"

"certainly."

"Oh...what do you want to ask?"

"Please start the story from the beginning. Are you here to attend the funeral?"

"Well. My father-in-law suffered a sudden cerebral hemorrhage and died. When we received the call, we immediately bought a ticket and rushed back. When we arrived, my father-in-law had been taken home and stopped at home. In addition to the elderly, my sister-in-law and his family were there. The main reason was that they were busy with these things. My sister-in-law said that my father-in-law suddenly passed out while watching TV. After being sent to the hospital, not long after, the person left. My mother-in-law was fine. She was older... but she didn't cry much. She just pulled her and told her a lot about her father-in-law's past. We were busy with funerals. His father-in-law was in good health before. He was two years younger than my mother-in-law and in good health. We had preparations before, including shrouds, coffins, etc., all of them were prepared for my mother-in-law. In this way, we got busy..."

"Have Miss Zhou always been with the old lady?"

"Well. Not... my mother-in-law is in poor health and in good spirits. She goes to bed very early every day, gets up very early, and has to rest for a while at noon. She either stays with her mother-in-law or plays in the house by herself. She always fidds with her cell phone. I don't understand these young people's things."

"Ms. Zhou is the same at home?"

"Um."

"One of the situation we learned is that Ms. Zhou did not reply to messages from her friend. You said she had been fiddling with her phone and was playing with what she was playing with? Have you seen it?"

"No. I didn't pay attention. The police have asked about this. We don't understand it very much. There is no internet connection in our hometown, but the signal is good. I don't think it's all about this..."

"Please continue. I just said that you are busy with funerals. Miss Zhou is either accompanying the old lady or playing with her mobile phone."
Chapter completed!