NOVEL NEXT 016 Caller ID
“It’s rare to see red writing on white paper,” Ning Zhe remarked, propping his chin up with one hand, watching with interest as the bald elderly man skillfully finished writing the couplet.
A few villagers who had been waiting nearby stepped forward. Four men and one woman. The men paired up, each group picking up one part of the couplet and moving forward. The woman alone held the horizontal inscription. Together, they walked toward the entrance of the ancestral hall, likely to post the freshly written couplet there.
Ning Zhe had spent his childhood in a rural village, and every time there was a major festival like Dragon Boat or Mid-Autumn, respected elders in the village would write a few couplets, either giving them directly to families or posting them at the Dragon King Temple by the river. He had seen scenes like this many times before.
Usually, traditional couplets or Spring Festival couplets are written on red paper with ink brushes, but this “white paper with red writing” in Hejia Village was a first for him, and it felt unsettling.
Especially the content of the couplet:
Upper couplet: 【On the Ba She altar, pearls and jade together testify to the ancestors.】
Lower couplet: 【Before Lotus Hall, descendants together add fragrance.】
Horizontal inscription: 【A Legacy of Time】
“This couplet doesn’t seem to fit the occasion of a celebration or joyous event. The wording doesn’t praise the Serpent God, either. The upper and lower couplets and the horizontal inscription are simply stating a fact,” Ning Zhe muttered to himself, looking down at the bald elder who was cleaning his hands with a copper basin. “Hejia’s(He family’s) descendants are adding fragrance in front of the Lotus Hall, offering pearls and jade in front of Snake God’s altar to honor their ancestors?”
The Lotus Hall was obviously referring to the ancestral hall, and Ba She’s altar probably referred to the round table that held the wooden statue of the Serpent God.
The couplet was puzzling, with unclear wording, and it was impossible to tell what it was meant to express. Could it be that these villagers gathered early in the morning without breakfast just to get close to the Serpent God and seek favor?
It was actually quite possible.
But the oddities of Hejia Village went beyond just that.
Generally speaking, the more backward and isolated an area is, the more traditional and conservative the customs tend to be. The clan consciousness becomes stronger, and the symbolic construction of “face” is emphasized.
However, the ancestral hall in Hejia Village was in a very dilapidated state, looking shabby with years of neglect. There were spider webs in the corners, and a few roof tiles had fallen off, with no one coming to repair it for who knows how long. When it rained heavily outside, it rained lightly inside. Ning Zhe felt that the ancestral tablets of the Hejia ancestors would likely mold in such an environment, placed together with the Serpent God statue.
Despite all this, the ancestral hall was still the most imposing building in the area, at least it had a large, grand layout, and more columns than other buildings. It was clear that, when the hall was first built, a lot of care had gone into it. The surrounding houses were all shorter than the ancestral hall, and this one was the most spacious.
After posting the couplet, the crowd in front of the hall knelt again and began chanting the ritual words in a low voice. This large-scale collective ritual continued until the sun rose in the sky. By 6:28 AM, the people who had gathered finally began to disperse.
Watching the slowly dispersing crowd, Ning Zhe remained silent, lost in thought.
Feng Yushu, recognizing the moment, didn’t disturb him. The calm, devout, and orderly collective ritual had made a deep impact on her, leaving a strange and unsettling feeling.
“I say, Auntie, don’t you think something’s off?” Ning Zhe suddenly asked.
“Mm… What do you mean?” Feng Yushu asked, uncertain. In truth, she felt that something had been off from the very beginning of the ritual.
Ning Zhe raised his hand and pointed to the street. The villagers were leaving in an orderly fashion, each person walking away in sequence. “From gathering to dispersing, these people are exhibiting an unusual level of coordination. Despite such a large crowd, there was no bumping or congestion. Each person adhered strictly to some order I don’t understand. Honestly, even during my high school military training, my classmates and I never had such discipline.”
And these villagers not only showed discipline, their coordination and uniformity in movement was even comparable to that of a military force.
“It’s almost as if everyone is the same person,” Ning Zhe suddenly said without context.
“One person?” Feng Yushu didn’t quite understand what he meant.
Just as she was wondering, her phone started buzzing from her thigh.
Feng Yushu quickly pulled out her phone, looking down at it. Her already tense expression froze.
The caller ID showed: [Lin Zhiyuan]
“How is that possible…” Feng Yushu’s lips trembled, and her shoulders shrunk. Her hands shook as if she were holding a ghost’s head instead of a phone. She felt an overwhelming urge to throw the phone away.
But Ning Zhe stopped her from doing so.
“Stay calm,” Ning Zhe said, gripping her cold wrist. He slid his fingers across her trembling phone screen and ended the call.
“Ning Zhe…” Feng Yushu’s panic started to dissipate as she found reassurance in him. She let him take the phone from her hand and anxiously asked, “What’s going on? Ning Zhe, didn’t Lin Zhiyuan die? Why is he calling me?”
How could a dead person even know her phone number?
“You know that dead people don’t move, right?” Ning Zhe replied with a question of his own. “Why do you think the person calling you is Lin Zhiyuan?”
It could be that someone else was using his phone to call her.
Just like how Xie Sining, who had died in the river, had her phone used to contact others.
Feng Yushu bit her lip. After a brief moment of panic, she calmed herself down. She understood what Ning Zhe was implying, but the possibility he hinted at was even more terrifying and harder to accept than the idea of Lin Zhiyuan coming back to life.
“Is it the ghost calling me?” Feng Yushu asked, her voice trembling.
Ning Zhe didn’t respond directly. “Maybe, who knows?”
After the crowd dispersed, Ning Zhe led Feng Yushu down from the rooftop of the ancestral hall and back to the ground.
Meanwhile, around 6:00-7:00 AM, in the central area of Hejia Village, in a grand, old mansion with a “He Mansion” plaque hanging high, a middle-aged man in a suit and tie walked alone through the flower beds, which were empty.
A strand of half-wet, half-dry hair fell across his forehead, itching slightly. Zhang Yangxu casually pushed the rebellious strand of hair back and listened carefully to the footsteps outside the wall—the villagers leaving to “worship the gods” were returning.
Once the footsteps started, he knew his time was running out.
“Ye Miaozhu is too emotional. Is it even worth it to go through all this trouble to find her?” Zhang Yangxu couldn’t help but question himself.
At that moment, his jacket pocket vibrated.
He pulled out his phone, looking down at the screen. The caller ID read:
[Gu Yunqing]