When I was in elementary school, I needed to pass through a stone road in class every day, and there was a house made of stone on the side of the stone road. Every dusk, the color of the sky, which was rouge-like, was laid on the brightly shining stone road, which made the whole alley unusually beautiful. It is also every time this moment, will hear a woman sobbing voice, poignant, twisting and turning. For this reason, that house was told among the students of this school as a place where a female ghost lived. The name of the female ghost was Zhang Mei.
At a young age, the body and insights hindered the curiosity that was eagerly expanding inside. Legendary stories thus became a much-needed commodity: about chivalry, about female ghosts, and about love. Zhang Mei's stories were a big hit at school because she had all three.
It is said that she was a good and beautiful woman; it is said that she fell in love with a man from abroad who followed the ships here to buy goods: it is said that the man was big and strong and good at fighting. In this town, a woman could not break her body before marriage, but she gave herself to that man privately. They had wanted to elope, and were eventually stopped, and Zhang Beauty committed suicide as a result.
Zhang Mei's story became an instant negative stereotype at the time. It was a time when the town, which was on the coast, began to see the neon lights of restaurants and a tidal wave of people coming in to sell their goods.
Everyone in this town was experiencing a fierce inner shock. On the one hand, they go around asking about those who bravely step into the ballroom, about the white thighs and golden walls, and on the other hand, they immediately put on a moralistic look and seriously criticize. But everyone knows that with boiling wealth every kind of desire surges within every man. Wealth removes the sense of hunger and poverty and relaxes the heart. Previously, poverty was like a safety valve set in the heart, keeping everyone oblivious to the various desires hidden within. Now, however, everyone is about to face himself directly.
During that time, it seemed that both men and women were restless and worried, and there were always men and women gathered in the corner, sighing: How did you not have so much trouble when you were poor before? After listening, each other relative nodding, but a look of each mind.
Fortunately, there is a beautiful Zhang. Zhang Mei as a fallen sign, firmly standing on the cliff edge of desire, was repeatedly reinforced, repeatedly told. The details about her became the best typical of this town used to educate the children: not allowed to speak with outsiders, do not meet privately with male students, can not go near the kind of hair bleaching and dyeing hair salon ...... said not allowed, the adults will end with the words: or you will be like Zhang beautiful, reputation stinks all over the town.
But what the town did not anticipate is that with demonization at the same time, is deification.
Many of the rumors about Zhang Mei turned into more rumors. About how she was caught on a date with her boyfriend; about how she had a scent that could make a man forget it as soon as he smelled it; and about how her man was actually the descendant of a founding general.......
Zhang Mei became lifelike yet blurry in my mind. After filtering out a lot of information, the only thing that stuck in the minds of our group of students was that it was said that "Zhang Mei looks like one of those girls posing on a motorcycle on a monthly calendar.
At that time, an inexplicable impulse began to surge in our group of male students. And Zhang Mei, a female ghost as sexy as a motorcycle girl, always made our blood boil when we mentioned it at night.
If the town let the students choose the so-called sexy goddess at that time, Zhang Mei was bound to be elected. And my deskmate, who is obsessed with Dream of the Red Chamber, said that Zhang Mei is the police fantasy fairy.
2
That era was too noisy, and in the past, as long as you saw the hair coloring, wearing a little more colorful clothes of the foreign women walked by, adults have to cover the eyes of the children, said, the monster came to the children do not look. After less than two years, the town's women also began to race to pick and dye a variety of fashionable colors - how to seduce their husbands and foreign vixens than.
The road is full of big bosses with big cell phones and thick voices, as well as girls from all over the world who come out of nowhere with heavy makeup.
The legend of Zhang's beauty has completely disappeared, drowned out by the enchanting flashing neon lights and the stories of the "princesses" walking around the streets. The last even the sound of sobbing at the end of the alley also disappeared.
I was lost.
I have imagined Zhang Mei too many times, and now she seems to be completely disappeared. I couldn't contain my curiosity, so I dragged my neighbor, Piggy, with me and decided to go on an expedition. The two of us, each with a flashlight, slingshot and a lot of talismanic paper, professional piggy also stole a mahogany sword from the room of his grandfather, who was a Shih Kung (Taoist priest for the spirits of the dead).
Halfway there, Pig asked, "Why are we doing this expedition?"
I froze for a long time, "Don't you want to see Zhang Mei?"
Pig hesitated for a long time, "I want to, but I'm scared."
In the end, he went on his way. The closer I approached her door, the more I felt an inexplicable fever building up. I realized what the nature of this adventure was, and thus became more and more exhilarated.
Inu gently pushed open the wooden door with his mahogany sword, and the conversation between the two women drifted out through the slightly open doorway. My gaze had just drilled into the doorway to see a thin, pale face, and I immediately felt her staring straight at me. Apparently, Piggy felt it too, and cried out "Ghost! I was convinced that it was a ghost at that moment, and I couldn't think of anything else to do, so I ran to my home and locked myself in, my heart pounding.
This adventure of course I did not talk to anyone at home, but the thin pale face like branded in the heart, go wherever unconsciously appear. In that pallor, the face slowly clear, clear into a pair of eyes, fluttering flickering look at me. She no longer made me feel fearful; rather, she made me very willing to continue into meditation after my thoughts were interrupted.
In those days, I was always in a trance. Even when I was eating, my chopsticks fell off accidentally. Dropping them for the third time, my mother was so angry that she knocked my head with her hand, "Being hooked by a ghost, huh?"
Her unintentional remark cut straight into my panic - could this be being hooked by a ghost? In the following days, I panicked at the thought of that face. Behind my parents' back, I secretly went to the temple to worship and begged for a bunch of talismans and put them on my body, but I still unconsciously thought of that face. In the end, I even panicked and saw that face smiling at me. Such torment almost made me lose sleep, and to add to my shame, time and time again, I dreamt of losing my virginity, and my body became weaker and weaker. That afternoon, I finally summoned up the courage to plan to admit to my mother that I had been seduced by a female ghost. I do not want to, my mother took the wedding invitation into the house, said cheerfully, "the end of the lane that beautiful to get married."
"Isn't she dead?" "Which is not? It was she who did the disgraceful thing and everyone thought she should die. But it's better now,
That outsider made a fortune in business and came to marry her. Although her parents are still humiliated to have such a daughter, but, in the end, it's a good thing."
Zhang Mei's wedding was extremely ostentatious at the time, but also unusually sloppy.
According to the custom of the old family to prepare the bride price, are doubled to prepare, to send the neighborhood candy package, but also the best of those brands, the wedding banquet is held in the old family's best hotel. However, as the bride of the beautiful Zhang and her mysterious husband, just in the beginning of the banquet show a face, with everyone raised a cup, immediately hide back to the relatives only into the box.
The next day, Zhang Mei went to the northeast - her husband's hometown.
3
All I know is that the northeast is directly north of my hometown. I would occasionally stand in the middle of the only road in the town and imagine that just by following this road, walking straight, straight north, I should be likely to run into Zhang Mei at whichever roadside.
I had always believed that I would arrive one day, so I imagined that face over and over again in order to recognize her when the time came. But time is like water, the memory of that face more and more fuzzy, fuzzy to one day I suddenly realized that I seem to forget Zhang Mei. I began to think despondently, is this life? I'm not sure how much I'm going to be able to get out of this one, but I'm going to be able to get out of this one.
In fact, the nerd how to understand the matter of youth. The first time I saw this, I was in the middle of the night, and I was in the middle of the night.
Two years later, Zhang Mei suddenly came back, she wore a cheongsam open to the thigh, hair perm is the most popular screen head, a necklace, and full of rings. It was said that she got down in a limousine that day. I didn't witness the spectacle of her return - it was class time - but I pictured that scene in my mind over and over again with thousands of people in attendance. The latest news about her in a few days was:
Turns out she was divorced. That was the whole reason she came back. But what's a divorce? The people of the town had never before seemed to realize that there was such a thing as divorce.
A store suddenly opens across the street from the school. Outside were constantly scrolling colored stripes, and inside would light up red at night. It was opened by Zhang Mei, the neighborhood said so.
It was said that she was kicked out of her home on the third day after she came back, and she moved here. The only thing I'm sure of is that the red light was on for three days, and the corner of the alley was labeled with a statement written in brushstrokes: "I hereby declare that the family has severed all ties with Zhang Mei, and that her future life, death, and illness will have nothing to do with the family. The words are beautifully written, a strong and powerful stroke, obviously a very cultivated old man wrote. This word, can also be seen in this family's education. But the onlookers, but all covered their mouths and sneered.
I have to pass by that store every day before entering the school. Every morning after seven o'clock, the store door was always closed tightly, with notes plastered all over it. I wanted to rush up to see it several times, yet in the end I didn't have the guts to take the risk. It wasn't until the second week, when I purposely got up early at 5:30am, that I dared to walk up and look. The storefront entrance was covered with crooked notes that turned out to be, "Shameless," "Bitch," and "Death to Vixens." I read the words while watching to see if anyone passes by, and when I saw someone coming from afar, I hurriedly pedaled my bike towards the school.
What kind of store did Zhang Mei open? This question makes Zhang Mei once again become a legend.
Some people say that it is a piece of wine and meat forest. Don't look at the store is small, a door, inside the ground floor has two layers, each layer has a beautiful woman hospitality, who walked in is a piece of kissing and touching. Some people say that it is a high-class massage parlor. There is a kind of international imported recliner, press you to the whole body tingling, climb can not climb up. Every night, the boys' dormitory must tell this legend, after speaking, each rustling busy.
4
Kuiwu brother surprisingly came - this is the nickname given to Zhang beautiful ex-husband by the students of the town.
At first no one believed it, but gradually it could be seen that there was indeed a man who would pull out a chair in the evening to cool off outside. Then the neighborhood would hear noisy voices and the sound of plates being dropped in the middle of the night. The next evening, the man was still seen carrying a chair out to cool off there as if nothing had happened.
What really happened inside the house, perhaps even the people involved can not say. Only in the end, one day, the colorful stripes of lights removed, the store door is greatly opened, the lintel hung a sign: Mei Mei Seafood Restaurant.
From then on, you can see Zhang Mei Mei openly, and she always stood in front of the counter to welcome customers with a smile. However, the local people of the town are absolutely not to go, and those who support the scene are all merchants who come with the cargo ship from abroad to buy goods. Standing on this side of the school, one could see that it was indeed Zhang Mei's store, full of temperament that did not match the town at all: gold-rimmed furniture, crystalline glass bead curtains, leather seats, and then the waitresses were all tall beauties from abroad. It's full of "enchanting atmosphere" - that's how people in the town describe it.
Zhang Mei's store and our town, so full of this antagonistic feeling, and the townspeople's tone, always as if: Zhang Mei represents a kind of power, in the erosion of the town.
If this is a silent war, in the result, Zhang Mei seems to have won. The store next door was also disked down. Gradually, some local bosses "had to go in and out" Mei Mei Seafood Restaurant, "no way, foreign customers like to go there" - went in the people, in the very best description, have been This explanation. The next day, the town of a big man's son married, one of the venues arranged in that.
That afternoon, I was actually unusually nervous, my father also received an invitation, he was arranged in Mei Mei Seafood Restaurant. The other party specially explained: that venue is invited to businessmen from all over the world, to go can help open up business. I volunteered to accompany my father to go, but was viciously rejected by my mother. I had to lie down in front of the window, look hesitant father, hesitant to go there.
A very good restaurant. My father came back and said so. It was the only thing he could say, and it was the only way the rest of the town could comment. In fact, Zhang Mei's, through its gustatory legitimacy, avoids all the ambiguities and complexities, and reconnects with the town.
Some of the school buildings are about to be renovated, and the clan bigwigs start calling on everyone to respond with donations. While Cai A'er, who runs a store, hesitates, and Tu Bao, who runs an electrical appliance store, twists and turns, Zhang Mei is thrilled and runs to the school alone, entering the principal's office and saying, "I'll donate 50,000 dollars.
At that time, 50,000 is a lot of money, you can build a small house. However, the principal hesitated to take it and said he would reconsider. In the end, the school published a list of donations without Zhang Mei.
Soon after, the local big clan's ancestral hall had to do a small renovation project, and Zhang Mei went to pledge money again. The final list that came out still didn't have her on it. Until the end of the year, A-Ma Temple to widen a small square, Zhang Mei's name finally fell on it.
"Fifty thousand dollars: Zhang Mei, a woman of faith". This is the highest donation amount, but was engraved in the lowest position. But Zhang Mei is very happy, that time can be seen, she often a person sneaked to that, bent over, smiling at the engraved on the top of her name. And from time to time, I also guarded the grocery store next to the Mazu Temple, watching her alone there smiling like a flower.
5
When I entered high school, Zhang Mei Mei was already the vice president of the town's entrepreneurial federation. Her Meimei seafood restaurant is located at the mouth of the sea, the whole five floors. She sponsored the reception for the school's outstanding students, sitting in the golden hall, she held a speech, said to serve the motherland, building the country such words. She has a double chin, thick powder can not hide the head began to climb that a wrinkle, but she is still very beautiful.
In fact, the clan bigwigs are not very satisfied with the school's acceptance of Zhang Mei's good intentions. Zhang Mei is now not only the owner of the seafood restaurant, but also the owner of the Sea Casino next door. Even several neighboring towns knew about this Sea Casino. It is said that there are concert halls, dance halls, cafes and KTV rooms, as well as all kinds of "unseemly business". The worst rumor among students is that drugs are sold there. The most common is the sale of drugs. It is said that the student who dropped out of school some time ago contracted a sexually transmitted disease there.
The school's leadership has forbidden the students to go near the casino, and the parents tell stories of the evils there every night. I knew that a new crusade was brewing in the town against Ms. Zhang.
Along one wall, next to Mei Mei Seafood House is the Sea Casino. That day at the dinner table I kept walking to the window and peering into that neon flashing casino. This Casino is a huge complex, the main building in the center is supposed to be a ballroom, surrounded by a circle of continental style villas. Each villa was said to have a different theme: some were lyrical bars, some were discos, and some were elegant cafes. After the dinner, my teacher arranged for me, as the head of the press corps, to interview Zhang Meili, the "outstanding enterprise representative". The interview was arranged in her office.
That day, she wore black stockings, with a bit of business feel of the skirt, I have not yet opened my mouth on the whole body is sweaty - this is the first time I talked to her. The teacher on the sidelines attached to my ear reminded me that I didn't have to write out this interview, it was just a formality requested by the other party.
I knew that it was a ritual for Zhang Mei, a ceremony to gain recognition. I stammered out boring questions about what advice to give to middle school students, and she tried to behave as she imagined a highly respected woman should use language and gestures.
The result was that she was clearly satisfied, and the interview was immediately followed by a donation in support of the school's establishment of a press corps. The teacher shook her hand in celebration and all was well. When bringing her office door, I could not help but turn my head to take another look at her, but accidentally saw, like a sudden deflation, the back of her head leaning against the back of the seat, the whole person flat on that, indescribably pale and haggard.
6
The more things are forbidden by clan bigwigs, parents and schools, the more they provoke children to want to take risks. A group of students who can't wait to grow up, sneak into the casino, and then excitedly describe to everyone inside the "cool" all kinds of. Whether you enter the casino or not is the difference between having balls and not having balls, in the eyes of the student gang. The first thing you need to do is to get your hands on a new one, and you'll be able to do that.
Gradually, more and more rumors reached my ears: I heard that there were "four kings" in the casino, I heard that each of them had different skills and led different businesses, and I heard that they started to develop their staff in the school.
I've never been convinced that the development of the men is only promoted by the management of the casino. It's completely unnecessary and even self-inflicted, no matter which way you look at it. My guess is that it was self-organized by the Casino's employees to show off. But in any case, it is indeed because of the existence of the Casino.
Anger is building up in the town, and there are starting to be clan bigwigs and women's organizations, visiting every house to sign some kind of petition to outlaw it. And Zhang Mei's retort: she donated two hundred thousand dollars for the construction of the town hall building.
The situation was such a stalemate that the whole town was agitated. Just waiting for a little spark to set everything off.
The spark finally ignited on the first vacation of my senior year of high school. There was a vicious fight in the casino and a man was killed on the spot. The man was the son of a local big shot.
It was nothing short of a siege. A large number of townspeople, gathered around the entrance to the Casino throwing stones and insults, demanded that the Casino be closed. That afternoon, I rushed to the scene as a student reporter. Old and young, related and unrelated, all gathered there. The curses were the same as those of a few years ago: "shameless", "bitch", "vixen go to hell" ......
Zhang Mei came out and stood on the roof of the main building. She took a megaphone and shouted to the onlookers:
"This is an accident, please folks understand, I will take care of it ......"
Before she could finish a sentence, people began to angrily pick up rocks and gnash their teeth as they headed for her position and smashed them. But she stood too tall for any of the stones to come close. The crowd parted, and her mother came out trembling, crying to Zhang Mei upstairs, "You're a demon, why didn't you just die at that time, why did you stay to wreak ...... havoc?"
Zhang Mei, who hadn't seen her mother for a long time, cried and shouted at the loudspeaker. Long time did not see her mother, crying and shouting, "Mom, you have to believe me, I swear to God, I never did anything to hurt the sky from before to now, I really never." Her mother has obviously broken down, "You are the demon, you are the demon, I should have strangled you at that time."
Qui Wu came to the roof and pulled Zhang Mei back inside. The crowd's curses continued for a while longer and gradually subsided.
I didn't hear a sound that night, and only realized it when I woke up the next day. Zhang beautiful that night kneeling in front of his clan's ancestral hall, crying loudly and swearing to heaven that he had not committed any sins, "except for the pursuit of love in the beginning." "I didn't do prostitution, I didn't sell drugs, I just made a business out of what I thought was beautiful, what was right, what I liked, I really didn't do any sins ......"
After crying, she slammed hard into the wall of the ancestral hall.
The next day the clan big brother up only to see, Zhang Mei died in the doorway of the ancestral hall, outflow of blood are condensed, like the incense ash that has been sunk for a long time. According to the clan's rules, after a person dies, he or she has to do the rituals in his or her own home or in the clan's ancestral hall before being buried, and finally a wooden plaque has to be placed in the ancestral hall so that the soul can rest in peace. However, neither the family nor the shrine is willing to accept it, let alone the wooden plaque. According to the legend, the soul that can't rest in peace will have no place to rest and can only wander around - this is the biggest punishment the clan can inflict on a person.
Zhang Mei has indeed become a ghost.
In the end, it was Kuiwu who took care of Zhang Mei's funeral, and he insisted on organizing a grand funeral. Despite the fact that no one in the town to participate, he still invited the next township dozens of mourning team, babbling for three days and three nights. As soon as the mourning music stopped, Kuiwu let everyone disperse, a fire burned the entire casino. No one called to put out the fire, and no fire trucks came. The people of the town just coldly watched the casino burn for a day and a night. When the fireworks dispersed, some people began to take firecrackers out to set off - according to the custom of the town, whoever is sick is well, to set off firecrackers.
The townspeople probably thought that the town was finally getting well.
7
University graduated six years, a high school classmate has become a big boss before organizing a party to say, should commemorate the tenth anniversary of high school graduation. I received a special invitation from him, which was sent to me from Beijing. The invitation is the traditional red paper with gold, open, the location of the party is the sea Casino.
Because I left my hometown when I got to college, I really didn't know that the casino was open again.
This Casino and Zhang beautiful Casino is completely different, originally a walk into the main building directly opposite, now turned into a green space, but the distribution of the surrounding, or a villa. The city's main building is now a green space, but it is still surrounded by villas. Everywhere, there is a wave of thick subwoofers, and on every road, pairs of well-dressed men and women are kissing intimately.
I arrived late that day, and most of my classmates had already gathered. The first time I saw this, I was able to see that the company had a lot of money to spend on the project, and I was able to see that the company had a lot of money to spend on the project.
These are the first time I've ever seen the world's most popular movie, and I'm not sure I've ever seen the world's most popular movie, but I'm sure I've seen the world's most popular movie.
I did not ask.
"There is a desire to have good business, RMB taught me." Classmates are not relentless. After a few rounds of drinking, some classmates began to tease me, "By the way, isn't Zhang Mei your dream girl?" I blushed and couldn't speak. Next to a classmate coaxed: "What's there to be ashamed of, I also imagined myself having a good time many times."
Some people in the middle proposed to toast to Zhang Mei. That big boss grabbed the words: "I would like to represent a generation of hot-blooded young people, to honor this great town Enlightenment founder, aesthetic movement initiator, sexual openness revolutionary ......" The crowd followed the hysterical shout: "To the great Zhang beautiful!"
I didn't say a word and walked to a corner with a glass of wine, just in time to see the green space. I repeatedly remembered, that stone house, that pale face.
"She was a small town girl after all, or she wouldn't have killed herself." I said to myself.
The classmates were still up in arms, talking about all the legends of how this place used to be lewd. A sudden rage rushed through me, and I slammed my glass down hard on the floor, rushed out, and ran wildly all the way, and kept running wildly until I could no longer see the disgusting Casino.