Chapter 4

Chapter 4

“We’re here!”

After driving along a narrow mountain road, I finally saw the gate of Qingsong Mountain Cemetery.

The gate was nothing more than a rusted iron frame. Several characters from the sign had fallen off, making it look truly derelict.

I drove slowly through the gate and saw the entire graveyard built onto a hillside.

The first two rows seemed to have been renovated at some point; they were relatively orderly, with proper headstones and stone bricks.

Everything behind them, however, was a complete mess of desolate graves. The mounds were crooked and uneven, overgrown with weeds.

According to the taxi drivers who had refused to take us here, this place had originally been a mass grave. Later, the county planned to renovate it and turn it into a formal cemetery.

But ever since construction began, accidents had happened frequently.

It didn’t matter who they brought in to look at the site; nothing worked. Eventually, they had to abandon the project halfway through.

Since then, no one dared to travel this mountain road.

I’d heard that if you came here on a foggy day, you’d always see someone on the side of the road trying to hail a ride. Once you stopped, you would never be able to drive back out.

“Do you know his name?”

I parked the car at the bottom of the steps and grabbed my tools, preparing to get out.

Chen Mengmeng huddled blankly in Li Xia’s arms. After a long silence, she shook her head. “I asked, but he wouldn’t tell me.”

Li Xia looked troubled upon hearing this.

“Then what do we do? There are so many graves here. Mengmeng, think again. Are there any other clues?”

Chen Mengmeng didn’t even dare to look out the window. Her long-term lack of sleep made it difficult for her to concentrate.

She strained to keep her eyes open, thinking for a long time before speaking.

“There were lanterns. He took me to see his home. I remember two big lanterns… There was a theater stage when we walked in, and fish…”

“Mengmeng, I’m not asking about that. Think about his name, or even just his surname?”

“It’s fine, we still have time.”

I interrupted Li Xia, who was starting to get anxious. “I’ll go down and take a look first. You two wait for me here.”

I hopped out of the car with a shovel and began checking the headstones. Most of the inscriptions were no longer legible.

As for the desolate graves in the back, some of the headstones had completely rotted away.

I scanned the area but didn’t see any grave that looked particularly special. It was almost noon.

I was considering whether I should just pick one at random and dig it up, just to give Chen Mengmeng some closure.

Maybe if she believed the matter was resolved, she would stop having nightmares.

To be honest, even now, I didn’t quite believe that some kind of Yin Peach Blossom was actually behind all this.