When Li Sanjiang returned home with Li Chaiyuan on his back, the sky had just turned white.
Cui Guiying took the child over, and Li Sanjiang talked to Li Weihan for a while before leaving.
Li Chaiyuan was placed on the mat, his eyes closed for a while and then opened again.
He couldn't sleep, and when he closed his eyes, he seemed to see the little oriole dancing in the fish pond again.
Cui Guiying and Li Weihan never went into the back room to rest, but sat in the kitchen.
The woman kept rubbing her fingers, rubbing them red; The man kept smoking hookah, pot after pot.
Looking at the sky that was already lit up, Cui Guiying stood up and said: "I'll make breakfast for the girls first."
Li Weihan exhaled a puff of smoke and said, "The smoke is a little early."
Cui Guiying had to sit down again and looked at her man: "How long will you have to wait?"
"Wait for someone to notify."
"Who will notify?"
Li Weihan didn't answer, just continued to smoke his cigarette holder.
After sitting for a while, there was a knock on the door:
"Gui Yinghou, Guiying Hou."
It's the neighbor next door, Zhao Simei.
Li Weihan knocked on the hookah and said, "The notice has arrived."
Cui Guiying got up, rubbed her eyes while yawning and opened the door, and wondered: "What's the matter, Simeihou?"
Zhao Simei stretched out her hand and grabbed Cui Guiying's arm and shook it vigorously:
"The bearded family is dead!"
"What?"
"The two are dead, the bearded man and his youngest son, just been seen in the fish pond of the drifting family, the big guys have all gone to see it, let's go, let's go and take a look!"
"Let's go!"
Cui Guiying shouted to the back room before going out: "Ying Hou, the rice is ready, you can make breakfast later."
"Got it, milk."
After getting a response, Cui Guiying went out with Zhao Simei.
Li Weihan waited for a while, touched the cigarette in his pocket, put the hookah on the table, and went out.
Zhao Simei's previous knock on the door had actually woken up the children, knowing that something terrible had happened, and the children also got up and ran out to watch the fun.
Even if Yingzi shouted "brush your teeth and wash your face" from behind, you couldn't call it back.
At this time, the fish pond of the bearded man's house was full of people, and there were villagers on the village road who kept rushing here, men, women, and children, dragging their families with them.
There were two corpses floating on the fish pond, and no one was going to deal with them, even if there was a small boat parked by the pond.
Although the bearded family has a bad reputation in the village, the villagers are not so indifferent;
The reason why they didn't help get the corpses ashore was because the two corpses were like biscuits that had been soaked in a bowl for a long time, swollen unseenly, and the appearance was translucent flesh crystal color, like two large pieces of humanoid pig skin jelly.
Many people know that drowned corpses will swell after soaking for a long time, but how could two people who were still alive during the day yesterday be like fungus soaked overnight?
This is really too evil, so no one dares to touch the corpse.
The bearded wife knelt by the pond and cried loudly, but she only knew how to cry, but she didn't know what to do.
Finally, the boss of the bearded family rushed back from the town, but he had a person in charge.
It's just that the eldest son looked at his father and brother on the pond like this, and his face was twitching with fright, and he didn't dare to go down to fish, so he had to beg someone to invite Li Sanjiang.
Li Sanjiang came with a cart, and the car contained his guys.
After arriving at the ground, Li Sanjiang first looked at the situation on the surface of the pond, and then he was so frightened that he kept waving his hand and stepped back:
"I don't dare to fish for this fucking thing, I have a good life, I have a good life! Find someone else, find someone else quickly!"
His bluff made the surrounding onlookers even more uproar, and they began to talk to each other about what kind of evil this bearded family had created and which evil party had been attracted.
After all, the white affairs team really almost started a fight at the bearded man's house, and it was difficult to hide any secrets in the village.
Li Weihan also spoke at this time, telling the people around him about the experience of taking his grandchildren down the river yesterday, saying that his grandson fell into the water, and had a nightmare that he saw a woman walking in the water, and he was so frightened that he didn't wake up.
Immediately, many people came over to listen to Li Weihan's narration and kept expressing their opinions.
Cui Guiying stood next to Li Weihan with a very nervous expression, putting aside the weekdays, if she didn't need to cook and do laundry, she could sit on the dam with the women in the village and chat about right and wrong for three days and three nights, but today, she was dull and didn't dare to speak.
In my heart, I was in a panic, like the thief shouting to catch the thief, and the cat came to cry the mouse.
Pan Zi, Lei Zi, Huzi and Shitou also began to talk, saying that they saw a female water ghost yesterday and almost pulled down their own Xiaoyuan Hou as a substitute for the dead, that is, to seek revenge!
For a while, it seemed that a large-scale open-air tea party was held around the surroundings, and when the little yellow oriole was talked about thoroughly, the villagers who were still not satisfied even turned over the old sesame seeds and rotten millet in the bearded family and continued to stir-fry.
Not long after, the second son of the bearded family rushed home with his wife, two daughters and son-in-law, the two daughters hugged their mother and began to cry together, while the two sons and two sons-in-law stood together and negotiated with Li Sanjiang.
Li Sanjiang took a handful of Qiao fiercely, using the excuse that a double fishing plus a corpse was so evil, and directly asked for ten times the price of fishing a person ashore on weekdays.
After negotiating money, Li Sanjiang set up an offering table, offered some wax and burnt paper, and gave an extra half an hour of "calling friends and friends" to chant words, which attracted the attention of the audience.
Although this performance is indeed not as bright as the white affairs team, everyone knows that the white affairs team is a shelf goods, and this person is really professional.
During this period, two Santanas drove over, both with a police light hanging on the top, which was from the town police station.
On weekdays, if anyone drowns, they will drown, which is not a big deal; But this time the drowning of the two was still a father and son, and it was at the door of the house, so the nature of the matter was different.
The police came over to take a look at the situation, and they couldn't help but be stunned for a while, it's not that they haven't seen the soaked corpse, but they have never seen it so exquisite.
Seeing this, they had to wait for the body to be retrieved first, without interrupting Li Sanjiang's ceremony, but they did not go there, but went back to the roadside car and smoked a cigarette and waited slowly.
Finally, Li Sanjiang finished his work, slaughtered a rooster, and sprinkled another bowl of black dog blood that he didn't know if it was really black dog blood, so he went down the pond and supported the boat to the central position.
First, use the "guide hook" to hook the body to the side of the boat, then use the "soul return basket" to fix the body and lift it onto the boat, and then cover the body with the "homecoming net".
This is a very important rule in the corpse fisherman's party, the corpse fisherman's own feet must go ashore first and then put the corpse, because this is "send" and "carry" home.
In the end, the body can only be put down under the shouts of the main family, which is considered to be a back-and-forth to settle the errand, so that the dead know that they have really returned home, and will not become a lonely ghost following him.
After drawing the scoop twice, the bearded father and son finally ended their wandering and were placed on two straw mats.
After everything was over, Li Sanjiang looked at the center of the fish pond with some lingering fears, he had just fished out the corpse in an orderly manner before, and did not dare to really investigate deeply.
God knows, if she is still here.
The police came over to separate the body, but the villagers didn't care and continued to stand in the distance and continue to look, during which the screams of children were heard from time to time.
Li Sanjiang paid the money, packed up the guys, and then pushed the cart back with a cigarette in his mouth.
The police began a formal investigation, and the temporary office was located at the bearded man's house, and the village party secretary also came to assist, helping to call people and boil water and deliver tea.
The bearded wife couldn't say why, she woke up and didn't see her wife sleeping next to her, or she was the one who found her husband and her husband floating on the water when outsiders passed by their fish pond.
The deputy director who led the team asked the village party secretary who had a grudge against the bearded family in the village, and the village party secretary plucked out his ears and replied indifferently:
"Yo, that's a bit much."
Next, there was a long queue of people with grudges to make records.
Including Li Weihan, Pan Zi, and Lei Zi, who told the story of "Little Yellow Oriole", were also called for questioning.
At first, the police thought they had found another body, and sent police officers to follow Li Weihan to the river section to search, but found nothing.
Li Weihan saw that the big guy didn't believe it, and became anxious, constantly reiterating that what he had encountered was true, pestering the police and the people around him to believe him, and finally being "coaxed" by the village party secretary.
The white affairs team that came to make trouble yesterday was later summoned for investigation, but they went to the next township to do business the day before the incident, and the whole team had an alibi.
As for the disappearance of the little yellow warbler and the entanglement inside, one is because the person or body has not been found, and the other is that the bearded man and the bearded man who are responsible for it are also dead, so they can only report the missing first.
This father and son drowning incident was dealt with in the end based on the results of the accident investigation, which probably means that the bearded man and the two men drank at night, and when they were interested, they went to the fish pond to drink and go crazy, and then they all drowned.
The bearded family did not make a fuss and continue to investigate, because after the funeral, the two sons and daughters quarreled and separated, tearing their faces and making a lot of trouble, which added a talking point to the village.
On that day, it was dusk after finishing the transcript, Li Weihan and Cui Guiying took the children home, the children walked in front, and the old couple walked behind.
Cui Guiying patted her chest and asked fearfully: "Why did you take the initiative to go up and talk to me, and the police called me for questioning, but you scared me to death."
Li Weihan casually threw the empty cigarette box in his pocket on the side of the road, pursed his lips, and said:
"It was taught by my uncle, I have to say it, I can't hold back, Zheng Datang and Liu Jinxia also know about Xiaoyuanhou."
Cui Guiying complained: "Just inform them and keep it a secret."
Li Weihan shook his head: "Even if adults can know the secret, can the children keep the secret and not leak it?"
"This ......"
Li Weihan breathed a sigh of relief,
Said:
"Uncle said that the best way to keep secrets is to tell them in public."
……
He lay on the bed and couldn't sleep, so he moved a small bench and sat on the dam outside the house, looking at the farmland in the distance.
She first moved out a square stool with stationery and books on it, and she sat on a small stool.
Yingzi's parents didn't pay much attention to her studies, but they never said things like "It's useless for girls to go to school", "It's better to get married early", "Find a relationship to join a textile factory to make money".
Tuition fees are paid when they should be paid before the semester, and the usual material fees are not shy, nor do they need to feel guilty, they are all normal to ask.
Compared with other girls' families in the village, Yingzi's parents, who do not care about pure free-range, have become a model of attaching importance to their daughter's education.
Yingzi knew that this was influenced by her sister-in-law Li Lan.
Even her fathers and uncles, every time they mentioned their sister-in-law to outsiders, they unconsciously puffed out their chests and felt honored.
However, Yingzi's academic performance can only be regarded as in the middle of the table, even if she does work hard and does not slacken;
Of course, grandparents couldn't deliberately sacrifice their sons for their daughters back then, because their fathers and uncles really couldn't read books.
This couldn't help but make her wonder, could it be that the old Li family's brains were all given to the sister-in-law?
At first, this idea was just there and not strong, until the day after Xiao Yuanhou was sent here, he sat next to him with a little restraint, and when he faced a math problem that he had no clue for a long time, a whisper came from his ear:
"Root number 3."
Yingzi also found that Xiao Yuanhou hardly needed to think, and he could tell the answer by scanning his eyes with the question.
Maybe the biggest trouble for him comes from having to write down the problem-solving process, otherwise his stupid sister won't be able to understand it!
You know, she is already in her first year of high school.
Yingzi asked him what school he was studying in Beijing, and Li Zhuiyuan replied: Junior class.
Yingzi subconsciously understood the "junior class" as an elementary school,
I sighed in my heart: As expected of a primary school student in the capital, the curriculum is so advanced.
Li Chaiyuan was just in a daze, occasionally coming back to his senses to help his sister write a question, and then continued to be in a daze.
Sensing that a pen cap was poking him, Li Chaiyuan turned his head to look at the question, but saw his sister pointing to the west side of the dam, where there was a step, and a little girl in a floral skirt was standing at the bottom of the steps.
It was Cuicui, Liu Jinxia's granddaughter, she stood there timidly, not daring to come up.
Yingzi frowned at Li Chaiyuan and motioned not to pay attention to her.
After all, the children in the village all have a consensus not to play with her; But yesterday, Liu Jinxia's mother and daughter came to the house to "see a doctor" for her brother, and she is embarrassed to say it now.
Li Chaiyuan stood up, took the initiative to walk to the dam, came to Cuicui, and asked with a smile:
"You're here, is there anything?"
Cuicui looked in other directions, pinched the skirt with her fingers, and said, "I'm here to play with you."
"Okay." Li Chaiyuan turned around and waved to Sister Yingzi, "Sister, Cuicui and I are going to play."
Yingzi didn't say anything, sighed, lowered her head and continued to do her homework.
In fact, there is nothing fun in playing, many times I just don't want to stay at home anymore, and then I run to my partner's house, call my partner out, and then everyone hangs aimlessly together.
Cuicui looked at Li Chaiyuan who was walking out with her, with a smile in her eyes, this was the first time she had gone to someone else's house to call out like other children in the village.
Children at this age may not understand many things, but they are more sensitive, and she doesn't want to pick up the rolling eyes of those adults.
"Brother Yuanhou, my mother said, you were sick yesterday?"
"Hmm." Li Chaiyuan was reminded by this, and the little yellow warbler appeared in his mind again, and his smile gradually faded.
"Huh?" Cuicui immediately apologized, "I won't say it, I won't say it, it's really hard to be sick."
Li Zhuiyuan touched his pocket and said apologetically: "Well, I forgot to bring you snacks."
In fact, it's not that I forgot, grandma is not at home, and the cabinet for snacks is locked and cannot be opened; Sister Yingzi seemed to know where the key was hidden, but Li Chaiyuan knew that if she went to ask her to help get it, she would say bad things about Cuicui to herself in the house.
"Snacks? I have a lot of them, let's go to my house to eat."
"Go to your house?"
"Well, go to my house."
"Okay."
After being promised, Cuicui plucked up the courage and took the initiative to take Li Chaiyuan's hand, and the two walked together on the ridge road.
At this moment, she really hoped that the adults on the dam of the roadside houses could see her and ask herself: "Yo, Xiao Cui Hou, who are you playing with?"
I also hope to meet my peers on the road and let them see that they also have playmates.
It's a pity that most people in the village went to the fish pond of the bearded man's house to see the pigskin frozen.
However, she was still very happy, the corners of her mouth were never pressed, if she hadn't held hands, she would have been happy to spin in circles.
"Brother Yuanhou, don't you understand our speech very well?"
"At first, I couldn't understand it at all, and then I could understand it if I said it slowly or shortly, but now I not only understand everything, but I can also say some of it myself, but it's not standard."
When he was first sent to this home, he really couldn't understand the elders talking to him at all, so his brothers and sisters had gone to school, so they could communicate with him in Mandarin.
I remember that every time I called Li Weihan and Cui Guiying "grandparents", they would obviously be a little unhappy, and then repeatedly correct themselves to call them "grandparents".
There is indeed no title of "grandpa and grandma" in the local area, and many times the direction is used to distinguish between grandma and grandma, such as "Grandma South" if you live in the south and "Grandma Bei" if you live in the north.
"By the way, Brother Yuanhou, have you been to the Forbidden City?"
"Well, I've been there."
"I want to go in the future."
"Okay, you call me, I'll take you."
"Really, don't lie to me?"
"I'm not lying to you, I'm very familiar with the Forbidden City."
Sometimes he would sit on the steps of the side entrance, holding an orange cat in his arms, watching the endless stream of tourists coming in from the main entrance, and it was an afternoon at first glance.
"By the way, Brother Yuanhou, have you ever drunk soy juice?"
"No, ......."
"Have you drunk it?" Cuicui blinked her big eyes and looked over curiously.
"I drank it."
"Is it delicious, what does soy juice taste like?"
What does it taste like?
Li Chaiyuan's mind came to mind the picture of Cui Guiying washing the pickled sauerkraut jar at home last week.
"Some people like to drink it, some people don't."
"Yes, then I must try it when I go to BJ in the future."
"Hmm."
"Brother Yuanhou, look, that's my home."
Following Cuicui's finger, Li Chaiyuan saw a two-story building behind a piece of farmland.
"You live in a building."
There are houses of all styles in the village, most of them are brick and tile bungalows, a small number of families are difficult to use earthen houses, similarly, a small number of families have good conditions and have taken the lead in building two-story houses.
Walking up to Cuicui's dam, in the living room on the first floor, Liu Jinxia was playing bridge with a cigarette in her mouth.
The card friends are two old ladies and an old man, who come to play cards with Liu Jinxia, and they can eat at her house.
The card table is indeed a magical place, Liu Jinxia obviously suffers from cataracts and has bad eyes, but it does not affect her speed in playing cards at all.
"Milk, I will bring Brother Yuanhou to play at home."
"Grandma Liu." Li Chaiyuan shouted.
"Well, let's play." Liu Jinxia responded, and then focused on the cards in her hand, "Touch!"
Just now, the card player was talking about what was happening at the bearded house, Liu Jinxia responded casually while spitting out a cigarette ring, hearing her granddaughter bring Li Chase in with her, she couldn't help but be slightly startled, her eyes narrowed through the smoke.
This girl was haunted yesterday, and the bearded man and his wife were floating in the fish pond this morning.
If there was no putty here, Liu Jinxia wouldn't believe it if she was killed.
But she didn't make a sound to stop her granddaughter from playing with Li Chaiyuan, the jokes were all fucking bad luck, who hated whom.
Cuicui took Li Chaiyuan through the hall to the back room, inside Li Juxiang was sitting on the bench choosing vegetables, and when she saw her daughter bringing someone back, she was also surprised.
This is the scene where Li Lan played with himself when he was a child.
Li Juxiang immediately got up and wiped her hands on her apron: "Sit down, Xiao Yuanhou."
Liu Jinxia's family conditions are really good, and there is only one child in Cuicui, so she has snack treatment that other children in the village envy.
Li Juxiang also opened two bottles of citric sour soda and gave Li Chaiyuan and Cuicui a bottle each.
This kind of drink with soda like a beer bottle is cheap and very popular, and the children are too lazy to pour it into the bowl, so they pick it up and drink it directly into the bottle, imitating the heroism of adults when drinking.
"Xiao Yuanhou, is your mother okay?"
"Okay, auntie."
"I heard that your mother is ...... away" Li Juxiang suddenly realized that it was inappropriate to ask the child, and immediately changed her words, "Your mother and I used to play together when we were young, and we have a good relationship."
"Ang, Mom said yours, Xiang Hou, Aunt Xiang Hou."
Generally, adding "Hou" at the end is only used between elders and ordinary seniors, and juniors cannot use it.
She can imagine the scene when Li Lan talks about herself to her son and uses the title "Xianghou", which proves that she has not forgotten herself. "Your mother was very smart at that time, and her academic performance was good, unlike me, who had a headache when she saw books." Li Juxiang straightened her earlobe hair, "When will your mother go home to take a look?"
"My mother is busy with work, she said she will come to pick me up when she is done."
Cuicui said: "Mom, I will take Brother Yuanhou upstairs to play."
"Well, let's go, say hello to Xiaoyuanhou."
Cuicui pulled Li Chaiyuan up, and when she walked to the staircase, she skillfully took off her shoes and changed into a pair of slippers.
"No, Brother Yuanhou, if you don't take it off, come up directly."
Li Zhuiyuan still took off his shoes and planned to walk up barefoot, but Cuicui had to hand him his mother's slippers to put them on.
Wearing big slippers, Li Chaiyuan followed Cuicui to the second floor and came to her room, where there was a black and white TV.
Liu Jinxia's family had bought a TV a long time ago, but she didn't make a sound, the villagers were cold to her, and she didn't bother to greet people at home to watch TV.
Cuicui turned on the vertical electric fan, but the fan blades did not move: "Hey, is there a power outage?"
Li Chaiyuan: "The plug is not plugged in."
"Hey, yes." Cuicui bent down, picked up the plug, and plugged it into the outlet on the wall:
"Buzz...... Buzz...... Buzz...... Buzz-"
The heavy fan blades slowly rolled up, emitting a natural sound that could blow away the midsummer.
"Brother Yuanhou, do you watch TV?"
"It's okay."
Cuicui turned on the TV, then twisted the wheel, and after one turn, half of these stations were still snowflakes.
"Brother Jing, are you okay?"
"Rong'er, I'm fine."
"Hmph, Ouyang Feng, you are ......"
Every winter and summer vacation, "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" will be played on TV.
The two of them sat on the edge of the bed watching TV for a while, and Li Chaiyuan suddenly felt sleepy.
He hadn't rested since last night, he was overly emotionally nervous before, but now his mood has subsided, and fatigue comes quickly.
Cuicui mistakenly thought that Li Chaiyuan didn't want to watch TV, so she got out of bed and began to introduce Li Chaiyuan to the rag dolls, toys and albums in her room.
Although she was very sleepy, Li Chaiyuan still looked at her and tried to respond to her every introduction.
The little girl was immersed in her own sharing happiness, but she soon found that she couldn't hear a response, turned her head to look at the bedside, and found that Li Chaiyuan was leaning on the bedside and fell asleep.
Cuicui immediately stopped talking, and after leaning over lightly, she carefully helped Li Chaiyuan bulldoze it, folded the thin quilt covered by Xia Xia, and covered Li Zhuiyuan's stomach.
Immediately afterwards, she pushed the electric fan towards this side, pressed the small button on the back of the fan, and the fan began to shake her head.
After doing this, she moved a chair and sat on the edge of the bed, holding her face in her hands, looking at the sleeping Li Chaiyuan.
After looking at it for a while, she smiled secretly, her earlobes were red, she turned her face away, and after a while, she couldn't help but continue to look at him.
Time just passed unconsciously.
"Xiao Cui Hou, Xiao Cui Hou, take Xiao Yuan Hou down for dinner." Li Juxiang's shout came from downstairs.
Cuicui immediately went downstairs and said to Li Juxiang: "Mom, Brother Yuanhou is asleep."
"Then you come down to eat first, and we will leave him food."
"No, I'm not hungry, I want to wait for Brother Yuanhou to wake up and eat with him."
Most parents in the village who are a little conscious will stop their children from going out to play with friends near the meal spot, for fear of being invited to dinner, as if they are deliberately taking advantage.
However, sometimes it is inevitable, so it naturally comes to the table.
Cuicui had never experienced it, and she was willing to wait for Li Chaiyuan to wake up and eat with him.
Li Juxiang smiled, nodded, and went to the living room to greet her mother and card friends for lunch.
Cuicui ran back to the second floor, sat back in that position, and continued to look at Li Chaiyuan:
"Huh?"
Cuicui approached a little in confusion, because she found that Brother Yuanhou's brows furrowed.
"Are you dreaming?"
……
"Milk, I will bring Brother Yuanhou to play at home."
"Well, let's play. Touch!"
Li Chaiyuan looked at Cuicui standing in front of him, and then looked at Liu Jinxia who was playing cards with three card friends in the living room, he knew that he was dreaming.
Because the pictures around me are too out of touch with reality, the field of vision is all black and white, and all the people and things seem to be copied with charcoal.
Although it can present the corresponding people and things, it is a little blurry and distorted, and there is a weird casualness in the rough lines.
Li Zhuiyuan looked down at himself, and he found that he was still normal, and what was not normal was other people and things in the dream.
This couldn't help but remind him of the copying drawings in his mother's study, with the same charcoal marks on a white background.
He dreamed of the scene when he and Cuicui had just come to her house to greet Liu Jinxia, and then, Cuicui in front of him held his hand and walked in.
The little girl's delicate hand was now held in her hand, very rough and a little painful, like frosted paper.
He couldn't help but break free and stopped, but Cuicui continued to walk in alone, but her arms were still holding people.
Behind him, Liu Jinxia and the four people who were playing cards in the living room suddenly lost their voices.
Li Chaiyuan looked back and found that the four people were all still and motionless.
Even the smoke ring that Liu Jinxia spat out was fixed there and did not continue to disperse.
This kind of stillness also gave Li Chaiyuan the opportunity to observe, the carbon marks on the bodies of those three card friends were very soft and relatively shallow, and Liu Jinxia's image had very thick, deep and hard lines.
After standing in place for a long time, Li Chaiyuan was very puzzled, every time he dreamed before, he could wake up immediately after realizing that it was a dream, but this time, he was still in a dream.
In the end, Li Chaiyuan chose to walk inside, and saw Li Juxiang sitting there choosing vegetables, the lines on Li Juxiang's body were also very hard, which was very incongruous compared to the thin traces around her.
Li Chaiyuan walked up to Li Juxiang, and the deep carbon marks outlined the details of her expression, she was smiling, with reminiscence in her eyes.
"Aunt Juxiang, Aunt Juxiang?"
Li Chaiyuan tried to shout a few times, and waved his hand in front of her, Li Juxiang remained motionless and did not blink.
After leaving here, Li Chaiyuan came to the staircase, and before he was about to walk up, he took off his shoes and walked up barefoot.
When I came to the bedroom, the vertical electric fan stopped there and stopped turning, and Guo Jing and Huang Rong on the TV were left with only a vague sketch.
Cuicui was pointing at one of her dolls, her mouth open, as if telling her, and she was motionless.
The lines on Cuicui's body were clearer and harder than those on her grandmother and mother, almost becoming black hard lines.
It was as if other people and things were painted, and she was carved.
Li Chaiyuan looked at the bed, there was no self on the bed, it was empty.
It was not only things that stood still, but also sounds, Li Chaiyuan suddenly realized that his ears had not heard any sound for a long time, and the whole world was terribly quiet.
He began to feel a little flustered because he didn't know how long he would stay in this dream.
He opened the door to the bedroom to the balcony, which was open to the second floor balcony of the building, with red and white tiles.
Looking into the distance, except for some scribbled graffiti in front of the house, which barely showed that it was farmland, most of the area in the field of vision was a bleak blank.
Looking up, there was only a piece of white with a halo left in the position of the original sun, very much like an eraser, which would fall and wipe away everything here at any time.
"Hey, is this Grandma Liu's house?"
There was a sound from the dam below, and at this time, it seemed so abrupt and even harsh.
Li Zhuyuan, who was standing on the second floor, looked down and saw a man who looked about fifty years old, and he was carrying an old lady on his back.
The old lady was very thin, and only a little bone was left covered by shriveled skin, and her hair was long and messy, scattered on her back.
"Hey, is this Grandma Liu's house?"
The man asked again, and anxiously turned around on his back with his mother on his back.
Li Chaiyuan didn't know if he should answer.
At this moment,
The old lady who was lying on the man's back suddenly raised her head, her face facing Li Zhuyuan standing on the second floor.
Obviously, they are all images drawn in charcoal, but the old lady's eyes show a delicacy that transcends the limits of the painting style.
It is anger, cruelty, and resentment!
The next moment, Li Zhuiyuan found that everything around him began to rotate and twist, like a vortex that appeared out of thin air, tearing and involving everything around him, including himself.
……
"Brother Yuanhou?"
Li Zhuyuan opened his eyes and saw Cuicui's concerned face.
"Brother Yuanhou, did you dream?"
"Hmm." Li Chaiyuan sat up and responded, "How long have I slept?"
"Soon, two hours. Brother Yuanhou, let's go down to dinner."
"No, I'll go home and eat."
"Oh, you're welcome, Brother Yuanhou." Cuicui took Li Chaiyuan's hand and took him downstairs, "Mom, Brother Yuanhou is awake."
At this moment, Liu Jinxia and her three card friends had already started the afternoon session with lunch.
Li Juxiang smiled and lifted the red lid on the kitchen table, which contained a specially reserved meal: "Xiao Yuanhou, come to eat, I'll heat up the soup for you."
"Auntie, I'll go home and eat."
"Be good, be obedient, don't be polite to your aunt, Auntie has never been polite to your mother before, besides, Cuicui is deliberately waiting for you to wake up and eat together."
"Thank you, Auntie."
"Brother Yuanhou, sit here." Cuicui sat down first, while Li Chaiyuan went to the other table to help with the dishes and chopsticks.
"Go, go, go, you sit down, Auntie will get it."
"Okay, auntie."
Li Chaiyuan walked back and sat down, and soon, Li Juxiang put the chopsticks and the bowl of rice in front of him.
Although the dishes on the table are all served in small bowls, the amount is not large, but it is far enough for the two children to eat, two meat and two vegetarian dishes, especially the bowl of potato braised pork, the potatoes are garnished with two pieces, and the rest is all meat, obviously deliberately sifted.
Li Juxiang brought a bowl of braised fish soup, dripped with sesame oil and some vinegar added to it, the taste was fragrant and tempting.
In addition, she also opened a can of fruit assortment and poured a bowl in front of each of the two children.
It can be said that in the village, it is really very rich.
"Xiao Yuanhou, continue to stay at home to eat at night, and I will make you some more delicious food." Li Juxiang said with a smile.
Li Chaiyuan put down his chopsticks and said to Li Juxiang: "It's already a lot, thank you for your hard work, auntie."
"Hehe, don't put your chopsticks down, let's eat."
Li Juxiang touched Li Chaiyuan's head, secretly envious of how Li Lan taught her son, sensible and polite children are easy to like wherever they are.
"Xiao Yuanhou, will your mother cook for you at home?"
Li Zhuyuan shook his head, put the chopsticks on the bowl, and replied: "Mom won't."
"That's because your mother is busy with work, right?"
"Well, she's busy."
"Where are your grandparents' house, don't they cook for you?"
"I don't go often."
"Then where do you usually eat?"
"Neighbor's house."
Generally, after school, in the school's family yard, those grandparents who have left class or retired will take the initiative to lead themselves to their house for dinner.
"Alas, poor child." Li Juxiang stopped asking, and after telling the children to eat by themselves, she took a thermos to refill the card table.
At this moment, there was a shout outside:
"Hey, is this Grandma Liu's house?"
Hearing this sound, Li Zhuiyuan let go of the chopsticks he had just picked up and fell to the ground.
"Snap!"
……
In the hall, Liu Jinxia threw the bridge card in her hand on the table and clapped her hands: "It's scattered."
The three card friends nodded and got up to end the game, obviously they were already used to this situation.
However, before walking out of the hall, they walked to the washbasin in the corner in turn to wash their hands.
Soak the banana leaves in the basin, wipe the leaves on your hands when washing your hands, then shake your hands, and finally dry them with a towel on the shelf.
The purpose of this is to get rid of bad luck, it was arranged by Liu Jinxia herself, she not only doesn't care about the attitude of the villagers towards her family, but deliberately sets up some rituals to add to her mystery.
Li Chaiyuan and Cuicui walked into the hall, and Liu Jinxia was also getting up from her chair and asked: "Have you eaten?"
"I'm eating, come out and take a look." Cuicui said.
"What's so good, forget it, Xiao Cui Hou, help grandma put away the cards."
"Okay, milk."
After giving the order, Liu Jinxia walked inside by herself, and there was a shady room inside, which was her office.
"Slow down, there is a threshold here." Li Juxiang's voice came from outside, and she went out to greet her when she heard the call before.
"Okay, it's okay, it's okay."
Li Chaiyuan looked at the door of the hall and saw Li Juxiang helping an old man cross the threshold and come in.
The old man leaned forward, hunched over, and put his hands on his waist behind him, a camel.
Also like ...... Carrying a person who doesn't exist.
"Is this your little girl?" The old man looked at the two children and asked with a smile.
"The female girl belongs to my family, and the male girl belongs to my sister's family. My mother is waiting for you, go in the front door and turn right and walk to the end."
"Okay, okay, I'll go now, I can't let Grandma Liu wait." The old man continued to walk inside.
Li Chaiyuan, who was standing behind, kept staring at the other party's hunchback.
The old man walked into the inner door of the hall, turned to the right, and should have continued to walk in, but suddenly stopped.
Because he was a camel leaning forward, his position above his shoulders was already obscured by the wall at this time, leaving only the hunchback still in sight.
Immediately afterwards,
His hands on his back and waist raised him up unconsciously, pressed his left arm down, swung his right arm up, moved his buttocks inward, twisted his shoulders outward, and his side face was already pressed against the wall.
Li Chaiyuan looked at his empty back, and at this moment, he felt as if there was someone there, propping up his body on his back, "looking" to him.
Li Juxiang asked: "What's wrong with you?"
The old man's originally rough voice was suddenly mixed with some sharp hoarseness, and he said:
"This little girl......"
He suddenly remembered that when his mother had led him to browse a mural painting, he asked his mother why a large area of this place was empty and unpainted, and his mother replied:
Xiaoyuan, this is a blank space, let you imagine it yourself, so that the effect will be better.
At that time, I was still a little ignorant, but now, I seem to understand somewhat.
"You go quickly, my mother is waiting for you inside."
Li Juxiang urged again, she really didn't know why this person stopped here, but she didn't think there was anything strange about this person's posture, after all, the other party was a camel, even if he stood still, it was quite strange.
"Hmm." The old man responded, but suddenly squatted down, and at the same time fell back slightly, holding his hands to the ground.
"Hey, what's wrong with you?"
Li Juxiang stretched out her hand to help, but the other party didn't look at the hunchback, but the force was really heavy, she couldn't pull it up at all, but fortunately, the other party relied on her hands to maintain her balance, just leaned back and squatted down, not falling.
Seeing this, Li Chaiyuan staggered a little and took two steps back.
This posture is very similar to putting the person on your back down.
The sunlight outside shines into the hall, and the old-fashioned textured tiles on the ground do not reflect much luster, at most showing a slight change in light and dark.
Li Chaiyuan's gaze moved down, and at the inner door, there seemed to be two areas the size of the soles of his feet, which became a little darker.
It was very slight, so slight that Li Chaiyuan felt that he was dazzled and overthinking.
But immediately, the color of the two new areas darkened and then recovered, but the distance between them and them was getting closer and closer.
Finally, the two darkened colors appeared on the tiles in front of him, and they did not dissipate.
The cold wind blew, and Li Chaiyuan felt that his face, chest, hands and feet began to cool, but the question was, he was facing the house, where did the wind blow from in this room?
The darkened color of the two pieces disappeared in the second half, the first half was aggravated, and the coolness in front of him increased.
Li Zhuyuan swallowed his saliva, his eyes began to flicker and shift, an instinct made him dare not look directly, as if in front of him invisible, there was a shriveled old lady, leaning forward, her face was facing him.
Li Zhuyuan bit his lip.
Suddenly, he felt the coldness on the left side of his face further aggravated, as if a piece of ice had been stuck on it, and his scalp began to tingle, stroking and stroking.
The old man squatting on the ground turned his head to look here at this time, continuing what he hadn't finished before:
"This little girl is really good-looking."
(End of this chapter)