When she said those words, I was immediately shocked. My father is a pervert?! What she said, could it be that my father did something to her in the tent last night, or perhaps he peeped at her while she was changing clothes? But I immediately rejected my own thoughts. My father, a person who has been honest and stable all his life, I should have confidence in him. He wouldn't be like that kind of person.
"It's your father who's a pervert!" I said, but I didn't have much confidence when I said this, because my father is a man. If he made the kind of mistake that every man might make, it wouldn't be completely impossible, would it?
"I'm not joking with you, Lin Xiaofan, your father is really a pervert," the female officer said, grabbing her hair.
"If you say that again, I'll get angry! Tell me clearly what happened before you scold someone!" I was getting a bit angry too. It wasn't even fully awake in the early morning, and someone was scolding your father while holding onto you. What does that mean?
"Do you have a cigarette?" She looked quite haggard as she grabbed a cigarette from me. She looked as though she had really been violated by my old man.
I handed her a cigarette, and she lit it tremblingly. As she smoked, she had a kind of unique beauty. She smoked one after another and said, "Lin Xiaofan, haven't you noticed anything unusual about your father?"
"I hope you understand that continuously saying such things about my father is very rude!" I said.
The female officer gestured as if she was having a hard time speaking, which made me even more uncertain, because she was definitely not an unreliable person. If she dared to say what she did about my father in front of me, she definitely had her reasons. But what has my father really done? Tell me already!
"Last night, when I woke up to go to the bathroom, I noticed that the lights were on in your parents' room. I peeked inside, and, really, I didn't do it on purpose, it was just a subconscious action. Then, I saw your father in their room," the officer said, her face turning extremely ugly.
"What was he doing in the room?" I was getting anxious too.
"He was standing in front of the mirror, doing his makeup like a woman, really, I won't be mistaken. Just like a woman from ancient times, he was using makeup brushes, indulging in his reflection in the mirror. After a while, he started moving like a woman in the room!" the female officer said in disbelief.
After the female officer finished, I handed her a cigarette tremblingly, and lit one for myself as well. The two of us remained silent for a long time in the car. It wasn't until my cigarette burned down that she said, "Are you sure you didn't see wrong? That was my uncle, not my aunt, you didn't know he could do this before?"
I shook my head. How could this be possible? My father had always been a modest farmer. How could he do such a thing?
Almost immediately, I thought, could my father's change be related to the black on his face? After all, it seemed like nothing was wrong on the surface after he went to the ancestral hall that day, but from then on, a black cloud appeared on his face.
"Don't make a fuss. You should understand, there have been a lot of strange things happening in our village recently. If you want me to tell you clearly now, I can't," I said.
The female officer looked outside the car window and said to me, "Lin Xiaofan, my name is Jiuliang, Chen Jiuliang."
This was the first time I heard the name of this female officer.
When the two of us returned home, dinner was already prepared. Ever since Grandma's health became poor, my second uncle would also help my father with some physical work in the fields, but he never went to the kitchen to cook. So, the household chores were basically handled by my father alone, until Lin Xiaoyao and Wu Miaoke and her daughter came to my house. As we ate relatively delicious food, I looked at my father. Besides the black spot on his face, there were no other abnormalities.
"Why do you keep looking at me? Do I have something on my face?" My father asked me.
"Dad, go to the hospital and get the black spot on your face checked out. It's been there for a long time, why has it been there all the time?" I asked.
"It's nothing, I'm old, and not chasing after girls, what does a little black spot on my face matter?" My father even made a joke. He ate quickly, and after eating, he said, "I'm going to check on the fields, you guys go ahead and eat."
I glanced at Jiuliang, and her expression also seemed a little unnatural.
This was my father, a straightforward farmer who toiled in the fields. I simply couldn't associate him with a pervert who was dressing up and dancing in front of a mirror.
Because of this incident today, I had no mood to go and pester Wu Miaoke and Lin Xiaoyao. Nothing was more important than my own parents, and I couldn't allow anything to happen to my father. And my intuition told me, even if my father's body showed some abnormality, it would have happened after he went to the ancestral hall that night. Originally, I hadn't paid much attention to the red female ghost in the ancestral hall, maybe because I was lazy and had a mindset of relying on luck. But now I had no choice but to be nervous.
Today, I went to the ancestral hall alone, standing where my grandfather had knelt that night. I had thought about a lot of things. Recently, I had indeed become a bit decadent. The land of beautiful women and the hero's grave, I, Lin Xiaofan, couldn't be considered a hero, but the first surge of good fortune in more than twenty years had made me completely immersed in it. I jumped over the wall, looking at the tightly closed ancestral hall door. In the dog days, the scorching heat prevented anyone from standing in the sun, but I felt a chill throughout my body as I looked into the ancestral hall.
I didn't know if it was really the overwhelming yin qi here or just my psychological problem.
I didn't encounter the ghost in the red coffin. After standing in the courtyard for a while, I went directly to Lin Sanshui's house. This time, I specifically talked to Fatty Liu about the situation in the village.
From my grandfather being reanimated, to Xu Lin's arrival, and then Lin Er's possession, I told Fatty Liu everything, even telling him my speculation: "I feel that all these incidents are related to the red coffin. If that problem isn't resolved, Linjiazhuang will never have peace."
When I said this to him, Lin Sanshui was also present, and he echoed, "That's right, Mr. Liu, I've told you all this, so the issue of the red coffin must be resolved."
After listening to our words, Fatty Liu said to Lin Sanshui, "Sanshui, go out for a bit. I want to have a few words with this young brother."
Lin Sanshui obediently left, and in the absence of Lin Sanshui, Fatty Liu remained silent, just looking at the steaming cup in front of him.
It wasn't until the tea in the cup had cooled down that I asked in a dry voice, "Uncle Liu, do you have something to say?"
The fat man chuckled, saying, "I'm waiting for you to speak the truth, to tell me what's in your heart."
My heart shook for a moment as I replied, "I don't understand what you mean."
"You say with your mouth that you believe the root of this matter is the red coffin, but is that really what you think in your heart?" the fat man asked.
"Uncle Liu, it's just the two of us. Please make it clear," I said.
"Actually, deep down you know yourself, that red coffin has always been buried underground in Lin's village. Why did it only cause trouble after your grandfather's death? You don't even understand why your grandfather's coffin appeared on top of the red coffin, was it a coincidence or was there a reason for it? Looking back, Lin Xiaofan, I can tell from your expression that you have many questions. Since you have asked me for help, tell me all your suspicions and everything you know that Lin Sanshui doesn't." The fat man's expression was serious at this moment, and his questions seemed to penetrate my soul!
There are some things I doubted and didn't want to say, but the desire to be honest as a father made me blurt out to the fat man, "Why does my second uncle look exactly like my father? Why did my grandfather get scared and die when he mentioned Shandong Lai Cheng? Why is he a feng shui master but wants to keep this secret hidden?!"
"I'll tell you! My true thought is that all of this, has nothing to do with anything else, but the most relevant thing is my second uncle!"
"That kind of person, coming to Lin's village, must have some secret purpose!"
I almost shouted at the fat man with a hoarse voice. After speaking, I collapsed into the chair, feeling a sense of relief throughout my body.
I am not a strong person.