chapter 2 The old man in the car

There are only seven stops from the departure station to the paper mill, but it takes an hour's drive. This is called a short-distance trip in our industry.

If Don hadn't said these words to me during dinner, I wouldn't have had any scruples at all.

It looked like Don was serious and it didn’t look like he was joking. The most important thing was that there was a stop called Tangwazi at the reservoir where he had to stop.

This reservoir was used by a local tycoon to open a fishing park more than ten years ago. However, he lost money and ran away. The reservoir has been abandoned ever since.

The location of the reservoir is still one mile away from Tangwa Village.

There are only a few families here. I just hope that no one will get on the bus at the reservoir station, so that I can just hit the accelerator and drive over.

Not far from the terminal, a large number of villagers got on the bus. Villagers in small groups carried baskets of leftovers on poles, chatting and laughing happily.

This relieved my nervousness a lot, and I thought that the train to the paper mill was on the right track.

These villagers have to stay overnight in the city if they don't have a car to return to the village after selling vegetables at this time.

Thinking about it, the money they earn from selling vegetables for a day is not enough to buy a hotel room. Maybe they can only find a deserted corner to spend the night.

After leaving the city, no one got on the bus.

The villagers might be a little tired after squatting in the market all day, so the carriage gradually became quiet.

Sitting opposite me in the driver's seat was an old man in his sixties, with tanned skin and a dirty white towel wrapped around his head.

Although it was already half past eleven in the evening, the old man still seemed to be in high spirits. He took out a pipe, looked up at me and asked:

"Young man, light up a cigarette and smoke, okay?"

I glanced at him and said, "Okay, sir, you can smoke if you want by the window."

The old man nodded, took out a match, lit the pipe, took a puff, and said

"Young man, I see you are a nice person. Why are you doing this whole job? Are you not studying well?"

I felt quite unhappy after hearing what the uncle said, so I whispered back, "How is my job? It's pretty good."

The old man blew out the smoke and laughed twice.

"It's pretty good? What's so good? I sit here every day without moving, risking my life, and can't make much money."

The job of bus driver is very hopeless in the eyes of many people, which is also the pain in my heart.

Because of this job, the matchmaker introduced me to several people, but in the end, they all looked down on my job and eventually gave up.

When I thought about this, I became a little impatient and said

"Old man, what you said is wrong. If I don't drive, you are not allowed to sleep in the bridge cave tonight."

The old man seemed to sense that my tone was wrong. He didn't say anything for a long time and took a few puffs of cigarette. He stuck the cigarette out the window and knocked the ashes, and said

"Young man, we're almost at the reservoir, drive slowly."

In fact, he didn't need to say anything. I started to slow down when I was far away. I didn't dare to forget what Don said.

There happened to be a stop on the roadside of the reservoir. I saw no one under the stop sign, so I drove over without stopping.

When the car lights passed the Tangwazi road sign, I felt a chill running down my back.

I thought I could use this opportunity to ask Don to mention this matter to me.

"Old man, I heard from my colleagues that there has been something wrong with this reservoir before, right?"

The old man seemed to have guessed that I would ask this question. He nodded and said calmly.

"Well, there was an accident. A driver pulled a car of people into the reservoir."

This was the same as what Don said, but when the old man said it again, I instantly felt nervous again.

But curiosity drove me to continue asking.

"What's the matter? I think this road is pretty good and there aren't many cars. How could something happen?"

"I met a ghost"

As soon as the old man said these words, I was so frightened that I almost stepped on the brakes.

The carriage shook violently, waking up many villagers who were napping in the back seat. Several villagers who didn't know what was going on asked confusedly in local dialect.

"Mom, what happened?"

I suppressed my nervousness and turned around and yelled at the back.

"I'm sorry, fellow, the road is not good, please hide in a puddle."

The villagers seemed very annoyed, and some simply cursed

"This driver is really sick and his brain is not working properly. Why don't you go to the hospital for treatment?"

This was a very unpleasant thing to say, and I would have retorted it during the day, but this late at night, there were some uneducated villagers, and I was too lazy to argue with them.

I was not in the mood to chat with the old man for the rest of the journey. I had to drive back by myself when I arrived at the station. There was no need to scare myself.

I glanced at the old man sideways. He seemed to have no intention of talking to me anymore. He just lowered his head and smoked. This cigarette has not been finished since he got in the car until now.

At twelve o'clock exactly, the car finally arrived at the terminal of the paper mill smoothly. The villagers got off the car one after another. I stretched myself and was about to start the car and drive back.

Suddenly, a pale old lady appeared in front of the car window and patted the car window with her hands.

I broke out in a cold sweat. The villagers had been out of the car for a long time. Where did the old lady come from?

I gritted my teeth, leaned over, took out the wrench from the repair box, held it tightly in my hand, opened the car door, and yelled

"What are you doing?"

The wrinkles on this old lady's face overlapped together, as if the older she got, the harder it would be to distinguish her facial features.

She opened the car door, slowly got into the car, looked at me, and whispered

"Oops, the basket was left in the car."

I looked back and saw that there was indeed a vegetable basket left on the back seat, and I was relieved.

The old lady got on the car and retrieved the basket. She had already got off the car with one foot, then slowly turned back and said to me

"Little baby, I see you are so young and a good person, but you are not in good spirits."

I was confused after hearing this and asked

"What's up, grandma? Why are you scolding me all the time just because I braked suddenly and staggered?"

The old lady shook her head with difficulty, pointed to the window seat opposite me and said

"You were looking at this seat and talking to yourself along the way. It's so scary."

When I heard this, I broke out in a cold sweat, and my hands holding the steering wheel were shaking a little.

He turned around and glanced at that seat, and after a while he stuttered and said

"Hey, why are you talking to yourself? I've been chatting with the old man sitting there smoking. Grandma, don't you have a bad eye?"

The old lady looked very angry, pointed at me and said

"My eyes are fine, but this seat has been empty since I got on the bus. Are you lying? Are you mentally ill?"

After saying that, he muttered some curse words and walked away slowly, carrying the vegetable basket.

I was completely panicked. I had been talking to the old man all the time, and now you are telling me that you were talking to yourself?

It was surprisingly quiet and dark late at night in the countryside. Except for the small circle illuminated by the car lights, nothing could be seen.

I was sweating non-stop, and the clothes on my back were already wet in a short time.

I looked at the watch, it was ten past twelve. It would take another hour to get back to the station from here. I really wanted to call a tow truck and have me and the car towed back.

At this time, I thought about the most dazzling national style, and I almost jumped out of the driver's seat in fright. It was Don calling, and I quickly answered the phone.

"What's up, brother, we're here, are you going back?"

I felt that I had lost all the strength to speak, so I whispered

"brother Don, when we arrived, I was so scared that I didn't even have the energy to put it into gear."

Don heard that something was wrong with me and quickly continued:

"Brother, isn't this nothing? You kid, don't scare yourself. I just asked a fortune teller to show it to you. Your horoscope is too tough. The master said that it's your fate. Even if you dig a grave at night, fine"

After hearing what Don said, I suddenly felt as happy as if I had won 5 million, and quickly asked

"Holy shit, is that really what you said?"

"No, sir, your five elements are all in the yang water, and there is no yin deficiency in your life. Ghosts have to go around."

I suddenly felt that the world was full of light, and I couldn’t help but laugh out loud

"What the hell did Mr. Damn really say that??"

"Look at your cowardice, your life has been wasted. Okay, come back quickly. I bought some wine in the dormitory and will drink some when you come back."

After Don finished speaking, he hung up the phone.

This phone call was a life-saving straw for me. I feel full of strength now.

It seems that at this moment, I became the person who rules the darkness in this world.

Put it into gear and start the car. shouted loudly

"Come on, your daddy's brats! Come on!"

This journey went by really fast. I hummed a little tune and returned to the station smoothly.

Everyone in the dormitory was asleep. Only Don had laid out food and wine in my room and was waiting for me. I gave Don a big hug as soon as I entered the room.

Don didn't seem to be very happy when he saw me, he just whispered something

"Brother, you are back"

When I heard something was wrong, I asked

"What the hell, brother, it's my life. I can't come back anytime soon."

Don sighed and said

"Brother, I'm afraid you'll scare me away from coming back, so I'll make up a fortune teller for you. Don't be angry."

After listening to Don's words, the smile froze on my face. It turns out that I am not destined to be escaped by some ghost at all?

I suddenly thought of the old man and felt a cool breeze on my back.

Before I could recover, Don put his hand on my shoulder and said

"Brother, I asked you during the day. Ten years ago, before the accident, the three drivers all picked up an old lady who left the vegetable basket in the car. You didn't meet her today, right?"

After listening to Don words, not only did I feel a cool breeze on my back, I felt that the soles of my feet were sweating!