Although the winter vacation life is short, for Mu Zhen, this holiday is pleasant and meaningful, not only the scabies that has harassed him for more than two months has dissipated, but more importantly, he feels that his parents care for him more than all love at home, without their concern, maybe he still can't get rid of the torture of the disease.

School will start in two days, and Lao Mu has been thinking about Mu Zhen's accommodation after school starts for the past two days. If Mu Zhen is allowed to live in the school again, maybe he will be infected with that terrible disease, if he goes home to live, after the light class, the child will come home by himself, which is really a little uneasy, and the time wasted on the road makes him feel a pity indeed. It seems that although this is not a big problem, in front of Lao Mu, it is a thorny problem, in two days, he can't eat sweetly, can't sleep at night, Xiuhua sees it in her eyes, anxious in her heart, she knows that Lao Mu can't solve the problem, he will be crazy, once he starts to be crazy, like a demon, it is difficult to let go, he has to wait until the problem is solved, he can return to normal, the most worrying thing for Xiuhua is not whether the problem is solved, but worried that Lao Mu because of the problem caused by the mental illness he once had.

According to local customs, the seventh day of the first month of the lunar calendar is the day of sending the stove prince, commonly known as sending the god of fire, after eating dumplings at noon, the older children will find some dry reeds or poles by themselves, tie some flammable grass around, every twenty centimeters, tie a knot with straw, naughty children also insert two firecrackers on each straw knot, and the younger children, the parents will help tie up the small torches, so that the children can follow the older children to send the god of fire. According to the old people in the village, sending the god of fire is not to send the farther away the better, but to send it to the neighboring villages, the two villages are close, the torches have not been burned, they are sent to the entrance of the neighboring villages, far away, they have to tie some long torches, or take two, relay to send, until they are sent to the neighboring villages, only in this way, can the fire god be sent away.

As soon as the sun set, torches were lit at the west entrance of each village, just like the battlefield in the movie where torches were raised to fight night battles, and the torches were gathered and rushed to the southwest. The flames are sometimes big and small, sometimes bright and sometimes dark, sometimes urgent and sometimes slow, and the running children keep making the shouts of "rush, rush", mixed with the sound of firecrackers ignited in the torches, forming a special symphony in the dark field. In the midst of this music, the children were playful and cheerful, unleashing their wild instincts, and when they were tired of running, they would wave the torches in their hands to make a firefight, and the flames would then turn into fire dragons, chasing them in the fields with screams.

Lao Mu lives in the east of the village, so he naturally pays attention to the children who send the god of fire in the neighboring village, and he is worried that the children will have excessive actions and cause unnecessary trouble, so every year at this time, he will stand quietly at the entrance of the village, staring at the children of the neighboring village Zhangji Village to send the god of fire to prevent accidents.

From the moment the torch left the west entrance of Zhangji Village, Lao Mu's eyes did not leave the direction of the torch, no different from previous years, the torch was staggered, the long dragon composed of torches, getting closer and closer to himself in the dark, as the distance between the team was closer, Lao Mu faintly heard a child's shout: "Hurry up and run, send it to the village entrance today!"

This cry was immediately echoed by several children: "Send to the entrance of the village, send the god of fire to the entrance of the village!"

Then I saw a few torches that were blazing quickly, and they were running in the direction where Lao Mu was standing.

Lao Mu's heart tightened, this is a bad sign, according to previous experience, the team to send the god of fire will stop after walking along the road east of the village for a distance, but today it is far beyond the original boundary, directly towards the entrance of the village, he has no time to call people in the village, and his mind is changing from time to time how to deal with this group of children who are out of the border like wild horses.

Without thinking about it, the first child with a torch had rushed to the front, by the light of the fire, saw Lao Mu standing at the entrance of the village, obviously stunned, immediately stopped there, threw the torch on the road, and the later children also followed to the position where the torch was thrown at the first child, Lao Mu stared at the torch thrown away, did not move, he didn't have to worry about the children's torches would pose a threat to himself, as long as they were thrown in that position, it would be safe for him, just wait for the children to leave, he carried water and extinguished it.

However, the horror happened in an instant, suddenly a child's scream broke his thoughts, he saw a child in a panic threw the torch on a child who ran to the fire to throw the torch, the child's subsequent scream followed, Lao Mu didn't think much about it, hurriedly ran to the direction of the fire, he only had one thought, to see if the child hit by the torch was injured, although this action was Lao Mu out of kindness, but for the children who sent the god of fire it seemed to be completely different, they thought that Lao Mu was here to expel themselves, screaming, in a panic dropped the torch in his hand and retreated, only the child who was hit by the torch just now squatted there, crying loudly, his heart tightened, ran over, by the firelight, he saw the child's face clearly, this is a child less than ten years old, the child's cotton clothes have been ignited, the left side of the face is like a pot of ashes, Lao Mu went up and took the child's hand with one hand, and the other hand vigorously beat the embers of the cotton clothes.

The child was so frightened that he cried louder, just now he was just afraid that the fire would burn his clothes, and now he was afraid that Lao Mu, who was pulling him, would hurt him, so he cried even louder.

"Why are you crying, hurry up and extinguish the fire on your body, otherwise the clothes on your body will burn out in a while!" said Lao Mu while beating the embers on his body.

The child seemed to want to break free of Lao Mu's hand, and shouted: "Don't, don't!"

"Quick, hurry up and come with me to the house to put out the fire!" Lao Mu didn't care about thinking too much.

Lao Mu pulled up the crying child and ran home, the children standing in the distance didn't understand what Lao Mu meant, they didn't dare to approach, and they didn't dare to come over to ask a word, watching Lao Mu pull the child away from the back in a daze, I don't know who in the crowd shouted: "Go home, tell Zhang Chao's house!"

The cry immediately alerted the children who had sent the god of fire, and they came to their senses and turned around and ran towards their homes. The children in the back saw that the team in front of them had withdrawn, and did not move forward, and threw the torches on the side of the road and returned with them, according to the position of the previous year.

The first child who ran to the village ran to Zhang Chao's house and shouted breathlessly: "Save people, Zhang Chao was taken away by the adults of Xiaowangzhuang!"

When Zhang Chao's parents heard this, their mouths opened wide in shock, and they were stunned.

The second child repeated: "Zhang Chao really arrested them!"

At this time, Zhang Chao's father, who didn't know right from wrong, hurriedly grabbed the shovel in the yard and ran towards Xiaowangzhuang with a fierce momentum, followed by the older children who reported the news.

When he came to the entrance of Xiaowangzhuang Village, Zhang Chao's father was stupid, in the dark, the child was arrested, which one was arrested? He couldn't figure it out, and then he remembered to ask a few older children who came with him: "Which one did you see Zhang Chao being arrested? Why is there no shadow?"

"I saw that I was taken away by an adult, and we don't know which one!" said one of the children, pointing to the ash heap that was still sparkling, and the others nodded.

"Then, then, where to find this?" Zhang Chao's father was a little overwhelmed.

"It must be from their village!" affirmed the child, who initially pointed to the ash heap.

"Okay, go into the village and look for it!" Zhang Chao's father said firmly.

This Zhang Chao's father is named Zhang Yungong, he didn't have much culture, at this time he was in a hurry to find his child was already six gods and no master, he shouted loudly in the village: "Which one caught my child, release it quickly, what idea do you have to beat the child, there is a kind of coming to me!"

Xiaowangzhuang, who had just entered the quiet after sending off the god of fire, immediately became commotion again, everyone listened to the shouting, and they all walked out of the house, especially the children of Xiaowangzhuang who had just sent the god of fire immediately poured into the street, surrounding to watch the excitement.

At first, a few adults who gathered around saw Zhang Gongyun, but they just tried to understand the situation, and some of them who knew Zhang Gongyun stepped forward and asked, "What's wrong with your child, which one in the village arrested your child?"

"When he sent the god of fire just now, his son was caught by the adults of your village!" the child who spoke was still pointing to the ash heap.

"You can see clearly, what happened to arrest his child?" the person who knew Zhang Gongyun continued to ask.

At the time, at that time...... "The child squeaked, couldn't speak."

"At that time, someone smashed the torch on Wang Chao's body, as if it was on fire!" Another child in the crowd finally explained the reason.

Zhang Gongyun immediately understood the reason, and became like a wilted ball, without words.

As he was talking, Lao Li Tou in the health room pulled Zhang Chao into the crowd and stood in front of Zhang Gongyun.

"Do you see if this is your son?" asked Lao Li Tou, looking at Zhang Gongyun, who had just wilted.

"Great!" Zhang Chao, who was standing in front of his father, immediately made him not know what to say.

"Just now your son's face was burned by the fire, Brother Lao Mu pulled me to deal with it briefly, and was discussing sending you back, you shouted to the door to ask your son to come, this is really no deal! You have to thank Brother Lao Mu for that, your son's cotton clothes are burning, if it weren't for Lao Mu, your son might have gone home barefoot!" At the end, the words "go home barefoot" immediately made everyone laugh, and Zhang Gongyun also laughed.

"I'm really sorry, I haven't figured out the truth, I'm really sorry, I'll definitely come to thank you tomorrow!" Zhang Gongyun said, holding Lao Li's hand: "You see where is the old Mu brother you mentioned? I will make a special trip tomorrow to express my gratitude!"

"Just don't wronged people, if you really want to thank you, you can talk about it tomorrow!" Lao Li Tou responded.

Zhang Gongyun nodded: "Okay, okay, how can you be wronged, isn't it strange that you don't know it?" said and squeezed out of the crowd and took his son home without mentioning it.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month, it was the big set in Binhu Town, Zhang Gongyun went to the market early to buy a basket of eggs, rode to Xiaowangzhuang, walked to Zhuangtou and met Wang Sanyuan standing at the school gate, and asked him: "Let me ask you personally, where does the old Mu brother in your village live?"

"What are you looking for Lao Mu?" Wang Sanyuan looked at him a little puzzled.

"He saved my son last night, and I'm here to thank him!" Zhang Gongyun was a little embarrassed.

Although Wang Sanyuan was not present last night, he had already heard about it, but he didn't expect Zhang Gongyun to come so early. He pointed to the small courtyard behind him behind him and said, "That's his house, you can go, just see him carrying water just now!"

Zhang Gongyun thanked Wang Sanyuan, and then pushed the cart into Lao Mu's house, and Lao Mu, who was standing in the courtyard, heard the conversation with Wang Sanyuan just now, and he had already been mentally prepared.

"Look, I happened to see your son let the torch hit me at that time, so I desperately led him to the clinic to let Brother Li take a look, you are really polite!" Lao Mu saw Zhang Gongyun who entered the door, and before he could speak, he said a few words that had been prepared.

"Yesterday, I only heard a few children talk nonsense, so I didn't ask clearly, don't take those bastard words to heart, I really want to thank you, I went back yesterday to listen to my son, I only knew that it hurt, and I didn't know how you would clean him up, no wonder the children in the village talked nonsense!" Zhang Gongyun said, taking off the egg basket hanging on the handlebar and putting it on the ground.

"You're too polite, come into the house and talk!" Lao Mu greeted Zhang Gongyun, and shouted to Mu Zhen, who was reading in the kitchen: "Mu Zhen, go and ask your mother to clean up and cook!"

Lao Mu suddenly felt that Zhang Gongyun in front of him was a real person, yesterday he said thank you, this morning rushed over, indicating that people are very honest, and there are also twelve points of sincerity, it doesn't matter if you mention things or not, the key is that people come when they say, this is the duty of being a man, Lao Mu loves to make friends with this kind of trustworthy person from the heart.

Sit down in the room, Lao Mu picked up the water cup and poured a glass of water in front of Zhang Gongyun, the parents chattered briefly, when Zhang Gongyun heard Lao Mu talk about Mu Zhen studying in Binhu Middle School, Zhang Gongyun asked with great interest: "What time is the junior high school?"

"Second year of junior high school!" replied casually.

"My son is also in the second year of junior high school, in the first class!" Zhang Gongyun responded.

"Classmates!" Lao Mu was a little surprised.

"What a coincidence!" Zhang Gongyun also exclaimed.

The two of them immediately talked a lot closer, it was really "a thousand glasses of wine for a confidant, and more than half a sentence of speculation", Lao Mu and Zhang Gongyun's topic began to turn to the students.

"So, my child often mentions that the first student in his class is your son!" Zhang Gongyun said bluntly.

"Hey, he did okay in the exam this semester, but he was a little wronged by living in school!" Lao Mu sighed and responded.

"What's the matter? Do you still need to live in the school when it's so close?" Zhang Gongyun felt that although Xiaowangcun was farther away from the school than Zhangji Village, he didn't have to live in the school, after all, Xiaowangzhuang was not even separated from the school, and even the school's bell could be heard at home.

"Although we are close, because we are not a township, all the students in our village have gone to our township middle school, so we are the only students in Binhu Middle School. Lao Mu confessed very sincerely, which made Zhang Gongyun suddenly feel that why the two students did not live together, firstly, to solve the problem of children's living in school, and secondly, it would be of great help to their children's learning, but when the words came to his mouth, he was suddenly afraid that Lao Mu would not agree, so he did not say it.

Lao Mu also had such thoughts at this time, but he was worried about causing trouble to the other party, and besides, if the parents agreed, the children might not be compatible!

Seeing that the sun had risen to the roof, Zhang Gongyun got up and prepared to go home, Lao Mu kept repeatedly, seeing that Zhang Gongyun insisted on going back, and hurriedly lifted the basket of eggs.

"Speaking of which, the child is a classmate, a classmate for a lifetime, and a family member who doesn't speak two words, I can't keep this egg!" As he spoke, he hung the basket on the handlebar, Zhang Gongyun was anxious and took Lao Mu's hand: "Don't be polite, isn't it okay to count the gifts I brought to the child?" and then pushed the car out of the gate.

Lao Mu stood at the door blankly and watched Zhang Gongyun ride away, and sighed thoughtfully: "Hey!"