The Taste of Ghosts in the World

After bidding farewell to the old woman's house, she kept saying, "Come again next time... come again next time..." Qi Mu never said anything about the flowerpot smashing someone to death.

Turning around to leave, she bumped into a middle-aged woman who was going upstairs, holding a casserole in her hand. Seeing Qi Mu, she said with a surprised face, "You... are you here to see Granny Lin?"

It turned out that her surname was Lin.

Qi Mu nodded inexplicably, and the woman quickly put the pot on the stairs, pulled Qi Mu and said, "You shouldn't be her grandson, right? I met her grandson once, and he was so young! Is it a relative? child?"

"Actually..." Qi Mu made it up casually, "I'm a student from the school next door, and I came here to visit the lonely old people while doing social research."

The woman patted his hand, "That's good! You can visit her more when you have time. Granny Lin is very old and has mild dementia. She often doesn't recognize people, but she likes children very much!"

"She used to live in the country, and when her son was successful, she took her into the city to take care of his grandson, and bought this house. But later, her son was going to a big city to develop. This time, Grandma Lin refused to go, so she stayed here. Originally, she also hired a babysitter, but she felt that someone was messing with her things, so she quit the nanny without telling her son, and lived alone..."

"Look at this morning, it seems that the flower pot fell from Grandma Lin's balcony. I didn't dare to tell her about it. I don't know if she died. Oh, this is troublesome. Do you want her to lose money? ..."

The woman talked a lot, but what she said was about the old lady, so Qi Mu just kept listening.

Later, she herself found that the soup in the pot was getting cold, so she hurriedly brought it to Granny Lin's door, and Qi Mu rang the doorbell for her before going downstairs.

Walking out of the stairs, Qi Mu asked Feng Baisui: "Do you hate her?"

Feng Baisui curled his lips in disdain.

"what's next?"

Feng Baisui thought for a while, and said to him, "I'll go home and have a look."

"Then... goodbye." Qi Mu said goodbye to him, and one person and one ghost left in two directions.

This day experienced the shock of Feng Baisui's death, so that lying in bed at night, Qi Mu took a long time to fall asleep, and just fell asleep when he was awakened by Dahei's cry.

Opening his eyes in a daze, Qi Mu saw Dahei entering his room and yelling towards the bed.

"Dahei, what's the matter?" It was a bit strange today, and it would never wake him up in the middle of the night before.Is something wrong?

Qi Mu stood up and suddenly found a person sitting at the end of the bed. He immediately became nervous, fixed his eyes on him, and reached out to turn on the light.

"it's me."

At the same time as the light was turned on, the "person" suddenly spoke, Qi Mu was slightly stunned, it turned out to be Feng Baisui.

"How long have you been sitting there?"

"Just here." Feng Baisui looked at Dahei who had been barking non-stop since just now, and frowned, "Your dog is very noisy."

Qi Mu got out of bed and touched Dahei's back, the barking stopped immediately, "You should reflect on why Dahei hates you so much."

"I'm not interested in making a dog like me." Feng Baisui also floated down. At this time, he finally found the father and daughter of the dead ghost who was poking at the door of the room. When he mentioned the middle of the door frame, he looked at it openly.

Feng Baisui glanced at the two ghosts, and said to Qi Mu: "The people in your family don't look reasonable."

Before Qi Mu could speak, the decapitated female ghost rushed in and said, "Little friend, don't be arrogant, we saw you when you were still a human! Don't you know? We've been flying around beside you, and we've been judging you for a long time. How many times have I known it!"

Feng Baisui turned his head and asked Qi Mu: "Is there any way to keep me blind?"

Qi Mu shook his head and explained: "They are not my family members, they just live here."

The female ghost was so angry that she continued to speak, but the uncle who killed the ghost hurriedly grabbed her, "Girl, you also saw that he is not afraid of the talisman on the bedside, we will definitely not be able to beat him! Don't be as knowledgeable as him."

It was only then that Qi Mu realized that there was a talisman attached to the bedside, which was useless to Feng Baisui. He glanced at the bedside, then at Feng Baisui, and finally gave up on the question, and asked instead: "You Didn't you go home?"

Feng Baisui said casually: "Well, I've returned."

"Then why did you come to my house again?"

"There's nowhere else to go."

"It's not like you don't have a home..."

"I don't want to go." Feng Baisui cast a sideways glance at the father and daughter who killed the dead ghosts, "Even the kind can stay at your house, but I can't?"

Qi Mu opened his eyes wide, "You want to live in my house?!"

"Thank you for the hospitality." Feng Baisui dropped these words and floated out of the room slowly.

In this way, there will be three ghosts in the house, plus Dahei... It's really troublesome! Qi Mu feels dizzy when he thinks about it, but he is too sleepy, so he decides to wake up first.

Early the next morning, Qi Mu was going to school, and Feng Baisui expressed his willingness to go with him.

Qi Mu refused, and Feng Baisui expressed his desire to go with him again.

So, Qi Mu was forced to go with him helplessly.

At school, Qi Mu asked Feng Baisui: "Aren't you going to take a look in your class?"

"It's boring, I really want to go to your class to have a look."

Qi Mu had no choice but to go straight to his classroom. As soon as he got to the door, a male student who was not very familiar with him came out of the toilet. When he saw Qi Mu, he came over and patted him on the shoulder. Qi Mu was stunned.

As soon as he entered the door, he found that the atmosphere was not right. Everyone in the classroom—whether they were talking or reading a book—all raised their heads to look at him, and then pretended to be busy with other things, and looked away abruptly.

Sitting down on the seat in a daze, Fang Ji ran over to say hello, and Qi Mu asked him, "What's wrong?"

Fang Ji patted his head in embarrassment and said, "Didn't you let me think of a reason to ask you for leave yesterday..."

Qi Mu suddenly understood half of it, and asked calmly, "What did you say?"

"I mean that the person who was hit by the flower pot is your friend, you should go to the hospital to see him."

"anything else?"

"Also...everyone heard last night that the person who was hit died..."

"So the whole class thinks I'm going to burst into tears and get stuck?"

"Hey..." Fang Ji laughed twice, and then asked cautiously: "The dead person...is it Feng Baisui? The one who got close to you recently?"

"Yes, yes." Qi Mu replied perfunctorily, thinking in his heart that the Feng Baisui you mentioned is right behind you, indeed walking very close.

Fang Ji even sighed, patted Qi Mu on the shoulder and said, "Don't be too sad..."

"... "

At this time, the teacher of the first class came in. It was the head teacher of Qi Mu's class, a very young girl.

Seeing Qi Mu, the homeroom teacher immediately had a sad expression on his face, "Student Qi, this incident...we are all very sad...but you have to get out of the shadows as soon as possible, the teacher and classmates will help you..."

Qi Mu couldn't bear it anymore, stood up and said, "Teacher, I'm asking for leave today."

"Ah? Why?" The young head teacher looked confused.

"Because I'm sad, sad." Qi Mu squeezed out the words through his teeth, picked up his schoolbag and walked away.

The head teacher's voice came from behind: "If you are going to the hospital...be careful..."

Feng Baisui floated beside Qi Mu, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Thank you for crying and crying for me, I can't help myself."

Qi Mu gritted his teeth, the meaning of gloating in this sentence was too obvious.

After leaving the school, Qi Mu suddenly stopped and said to Feng Baisui, "Where is your home?"

Feng Baisui frowned, "What are you doing?"

"Go to your home."

Although he said that he wanted to come to Feng Baisui's house, he originally wanted his prodigal son to turn back and go home voluntarily, but now facing a face with red and swollen eyes, Qi Mu was speechless again.

"You are Qi Mu? Our Baisui often talked about you, but we didn't bring anyone to show me. Today we finally met."

Qi Mu said awkwardly: "Auntie, I'm really sorry, I didn't bring anything when I came here."

"Bring anything, and there is no shortage at home." Feng Baisui's mother has a ladylike temperament in her gestures, which makes people feel very comfortable. Busy, now Baisui is gone again... I am at home, and there is no one to talk to."

Qi Mu was silent, not knowing how to comfort her.

On the contrary, Feng Baisui's mother saw his thoughts and said with a faint smile: "You don't need to comfort me. Although I am sad, I have already prepared myself. Did Baisui tell you that when he was young, I took him to Fortune-telling?"

Qi Mu nodded, "He said that the master fortune teller couldn't see his future fate, that's why you changed his name."

"He was still young at that time, and he didn't remember many things. In fact... that master also told me that the horoscope of a hundred years old can't find its roots, just like no previous life appeared out of nowhere. The child is not repaying favors or collecting debts, but looking for it, and when he finds it, he will naturally leave." Speaking of this, her eyes dimmed a bit, "The master said that the fate of Baisui and our family is only 18 years, Although I named him 'Hundred Years', I don't expect him to be with me forever."

Qi Mu suddenly wanted to tell her that Feng Baisui was by her side right now, but after hesitating again and again, he didn't say the words.

After a while, she became happy again, and said to Qi Mu: "Last night, I dreamed of being a hundred years old. He told me that the flowerpot fell because of an accident. Let's not embarrass the old lady of that family. You said it was Isn't it Tuomeng?"

"Very likely..." Qi Mu looked at Feng Baisui, who raised his eyebrows expressionlessly.

"Maybe our hundred-year-old family is actually a fairy!"

What gods... monsters are possible...

Qi Mu retorted in his stomach, and Feng Baisui's mother suddenly took his hand and said, "Xiao Qi, Baisui didn't have many friends since he was a child, and you are his only friend. Come to our house to play more in the future." , Auntie likes you very much."

Qi Mu, who accidentally became Feng Baisui's only friend, was flattered and straightened his back, facing Feng Baisui's playful gaze.

Feng Baisui's mother took out a lot of snacks and stuffed them for him, and when he said goodbye, Qi Mu had two more snack boxes in his hand.

"The harvest is good." Feng Baisui commented.

Qi Mu changed the subject in embarrassment, "Your mother is very beautiful."

Feng Baisui glanced at him, "Don't be delusional, she's already married to my father."

"..."

"Let's give these snacks to Granny Lin, do you mind?"

Feng Baisui said indifferently: "My mother gave you this, it has nothing to do with me what you want."

"Then go now."

Climb up the stairs of Granny Lin's house again, and when I climbed to the fourth floor, a person came down from it. It was the chattering woman I met last time.

"You came to see Granny Lin again? That's great." The woman greeted Qi Mu and opened the door of her house. A seven or eight-year-old boy rushed out, hugged the woman's leg and said, "Mom, I'm so hungry." !"

"Greedy ghost! I'll eat in a while, I'll make it for you..." The woman walked in with the little boy as she spoke.

Qi Mu and Feng Baisui looked at each other.

"Is she Xiaomei from downstairs?"

"That kid is her son?"

Qi Mu said in disbelief: "How do I look like him? Can I admit my mistake?"

Feng Baisui sized him up and down, and came to a conclusion: "Sex."

……

After ringing the doorbell three times, Granny Lin opened the door. Qi Mu smiled and called her, "Grandma."

Granny Lin suddenly realized: "Are you here to deliver the newspaper? Didn't you say you can't order it?"

It seems that she has completely forgotten about Qi Mu.

Qi Mu had no choice but to say to her loudly: "Grandma, you have mistaken someone!"

"Oh, I made a mistake again? Then who are you?"

Qi Mu didn't know how to explain his last visit, so he simply said, "I'm a Young Pioneer."

Hearing Feng Baisui's sneer, Qi Mu gave him a sideways glance, trying to make his face look serious.

Only Granny Lin was the only one who was happy. She moved away and said, "Come in, come in, there are young pioneers here before, you children are really good."

Granny Lin still wanted to get candy, Qi Mu quickly diverted her attention, and put the snack box on the small coffee table in front of the sofa, "Grandma, I'll bring you some pastries, come and try."

"Oh, it's so fragrant, what are these pieces?"

"This is sweet-scented osmanthus cake." Qi Mu gave her a piece.

"It's so sweet..." Granny Lin narrowed her eyes and said, "But it's not as good as homemade."

"Grandma, can you still make sweet-scented osmanthus cake?"

"Of course, the women in our place would... When we lived in the countryside, there was an osmanthus tree in the yard. When the osmanthus bloomed, the little dolls were so happy. They surrounded me every day to ask for osmanthus cakes... My old man used to like it the most. I made sweet-scented osmanthus cake, but he left early, these days I keep dreaming that he is waiting for me under the sweet-scented osmanthus tree in the yard, if I die, I can be buried under the tree... People in the city die It will be sent to be burned, it is quite a big person, and only ashes will be left after burning, it would be nice to scatter the ashes under the sweet-scented osmanthus tree..."

Granny Lin was babbling on, Qi Mu didn't interrupt her until the sun was about to set before she got up to say goodbye. Granny walked him to the door and gave him another box of snacks.

"Grandma, this is what I gave you." Qi Mu pushed the snack over.

"I want everyone to eat good things... How can I finish it? You can share this box with him." Granny Lin looked at Feng Baisui with a smile.

Qi Mu was startled, and after he and Feng Baisui came out of Granny Lin's house, he asked him, "Can she see you?"

"I couldn't see it last time."

"I heard that... people who are about to die can see ghosts... Is it true?"

"I don't know." Feng Baisui said flatly.

Qi Mu was still worried about Granny Lin's situation, so two days later he and Feng Baisui rang her doorbell again.

But this time, it was no longer the familiar mother-in-law who opened the door, but a man in his 40s.

"Who are you looking for?" the other party asked.

Qi Mu opened his mouth, and it took him a long time to say, "I'm a student from a nearby school, and I'm here to see Granny Lin."

The man said in a low tone: "My mother... passed away yesterday."

"Ah..." Qi Mu looked over the man's arm and landed on the rocking chair in front of the window. Granny Lin was lying on it, narrowing her eyes slightly, looking very comfortable.

The man said: "We are busy with funeral affairs now, so we can't entertain you for the time being."

"It doesn't matter." Qi Mu glanced at Granny Lin again, "Grandma asked me to tell her family that she hopes to bury the ashes in the yard where she used to live in the countryside, under the sweet-scented osmanthus tree."

The man froze for a moment, then nodded to Qi Mu, "Thank you."

Qi Mu turned and went downstairs, a woman's voice sounded from Granny Lin's house: "Husband, why is this rocking chair moving by itself?"

"Maybe the wind blows..."

That night, Qi Mu had a dream. He saw two people holding hands standing under an osmanthus tree. He couldn't see their faces clearly, but he could smell the faint scent of osmanthus.

Opening his eyes, the fragrance of the flowers still filled his nostrils, Qi Mu got up and walked out of the room, Feng Baisui was sitting on the sofa, eating the box of sweet-scented osmanthus cake in front of him.

"You still need to eat?"

"No need, but you can eat."

The lingering fragrance of flowers makes it hard to tell whether it is a dream or reality.

Qi Mu sat down in a daze, Feng Baisui picked up a piece of sweet-scented osmanthus cake and stuffed it into his mouth.

Subconsciously biting down, Qi Mu's nose turned sore, and he said softly, "It's so sweet..."