Lu Xiaobai was in a trance, with tears in his eyes. What was a tear of humiliation just now, now a tear of sadness. He couldn't understand why his mother had quietly left him and left him here to suffer so much! He didn't know how he got out of this "hell", anyway, no one asked him, no one kept him, he was completely redundant here, as redundant as garbage.

Yang Zhifang's family lives on the seventeenth floor, and she usually chooses to take the elevator when she goes up and down the stairs. However, Lu Xiaobai didn't take the elevator, because he didn't know how to press the elevator button, and he inexplicably had a sense of fear of the elevator, so he endured the pain in his body and limped down the winding and deep staircase.

The staircase was empty and very silent, and Lu Xiaobai could hear his footsteps echoing clearly in the air, and even his heart pounding. He didn't run into a single person along the way, as if he was traveling through a time tunnel. He didn't know how long he had walked, as if the staircase would never be finished, and when he almost lost patience, suddenly the willows and flowers dawned, and he came to the bottom.

He walked briskly out of the building, the bright sun shining on him, and he immediately felt the heat of the sun.

He glanced back at the towering building, and felt a great sense of relief.

There were three roads in front of him, all of them were clean and wide, and he didn't know where they led, nor did he know what the chances would be with which way.

He walked from the middle of the road, mainly because he saw a stone bridge about 300 meters away, which had an unfamiliar attraction to him. He walked over to the bridge and stood dazed, the antique body of the bridge did not arouse much of his appreciation. After standing for a while, he walked back to the front. I saw that the pedestrians along the way were bustling and trafficy, and the street trees along the way were lush and green, shining green in the sunlight.

He walked slowly, without the idea of stopping, and just kept going, he thought fiercely, the farther he went, the better, it was better not to be seen by his aunt's family!

After walking for about an hour, he came to a park gate. It was a park that was open to all citizens free of charge, and there was a constant stream of people coming and going, men and women, young and old, and he walked in.

At the entrance of the park, there is a wide and flat cement road, which stretches straight inside like a jade belt, hidden in the corner of the tree-shaded corner. On both sides of the road, there are grassy lawns, green bamboos, and lush banyan trees. There is a simple charm of nature here, and people are immersive, as if they are in a magnificent picture.

However, he had no intention of appreciating the scenery.

Lu Xiaobai looked east and west towards the metro, turned a corner, and a magnificent artificial lake appeared in front of him—under the scorching sun, the surface of the water was like a mirror sprinkled with broken silver, shining.

The shores of the lake are planted with many weeping willows, whose branches are flexible and slender, swaying in the breeze. A willow branch is a green waterfall, "waterfall" and "waterfall" side by side around the lake, and the lake against each other, quite imposing. There are many tourists who are standing on the lakeside, or strolling while watching, all of them look relaxed and free.

Lu Xiaobai walked over and stood under a weeping willow, and saw that the willow branches stretched out to the clear water surface, connecting with the reflection in the water, the willow branches above swayed, and the "willow branches" below also shook in the same way.

He simply sat down, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin on his fists together, watching the fish leap like scales on the surface of the lake, and watching the carp snorkel freely in the water. Before he knew it, he felt sleepy, so he lay down on the concrete floor in the shade of the tree and slept.

When he awoke, the sun was already in the west. He sat up, felt the oppressive pain in his left shoulder, stretched out his right hand and rubbed it vigorously, but the pain was still not relieved, so he let it go. He had not eaten for a day, he was hungry, he licked his dry lips, his eyes searched around the left and right, and he saw an apple not far away that had been bitten with a notch, and the bite had oxidized and discolored. He hurried over as if he had found a treasure, grabbed it in his hand, blew the dust on the apple, and eagerly bit into it, feasting on it, and feeling that the apple was really crispy and delicious, but unfortunately it was too little. He nibbled on the apple in a few bites, along with the kernel.

Still hungry, he licked his lips, which had a lingering fragrance, and looked around, but saw nothing to eat, so he sighed. He looked at the lake at his feet, and saw a water snake the size of a pinky finger struggling to swim towards the opposite shore, swimming farther and farther, and blurring farther and farther until it disappeared in the middle of the twilight water.

It was only after it was completely dark that he suddenly became anxious, thinking to himself where he would stay tonight. Will there be bad people in this place? Auntie's house won't go there anyway, I'd rather die outside than go!

He thought that he was lonely at this time, and he had a grudge against his mother, and he felt that his mother had deliberately abandoned him, and he would not forgive his cruel mother.

He thought sadly, since he had nowhere to go, he might as well stay here.

At this time, the lights on the lakeside suddenly turned on together, scattered in various places, the orange lights were reflected in the lake, as if they were soaked in it, a gust of wind swept by, the lake and the lights rippled together, and the "lights" in the water were also shaking, as if broken.

After eleven o'clock, the tourists in the park gradually left, and finally only Lu Xiaobai remained.

Lu Xiaobai was thirsty and hungry, he moved to the lake, leaned over to the surface of the lake and stretched out his hand to hold water to drink. The lake water is stagnant water, and there is a strong fishy smell when inhaled into the mouth, and I want to vomit, so I spray all the water in my mouth into the lake, and the lake immediately resounded with a short "swish" sound.

At this time, a uniformed park security guard came over when he heard the sound, shone a flashlight at Lu Xiaobai, and asked sharply: "It's so late, what are you still doing here!" ”

Lu Xiaobai was taken aback, and as soon as he turned around, a strong white light pierced him and he quickly closed his eyes, thinking: This person is fierce, probably not a good person, I don't know what he will do to himself? The more he thought about it, the more scared he became.

The security guard thought he was a nearby wild child, so he scolded, "Get out of here!" Don't you know that visitors are not allowed to stay in this park after 12 p.m.? ”

Lu Xiaobai was a little relieved when he heard that he was driving himself away. He moved away, but forgot which direction he had come in from, and went in the wrong direction in a panic.

Seeing this, the security guard shouted again: "Stop! Where are you going? ”

"I'll get out." Lu Xiaobai said timidly, and his heart was raised again.

"The gate is over here!" The security guard pointed impatiently.

Lu Xiaobai turned back and ran in the direction guided by the security guard. He ran out of the park gate in one go, so tired that he panicked, as if he was running out of strength.

Lu Xiaobai walked aimlessly for a while, and the road was dark, and there was no one in sight. He suddenly saw a square in front of him, and under the hazy moonlight, there seemed to be a dark shadow moving slowly, and he immediately remembered the ghost story told by Duan Xingming, and couldn't help but feel a tingle in his scalp.

There was no light in the square and around him, and he didn't know if the dark shadow was a man or a ghost, so he stopped and hesitated, frightened, but curiosity drove him to keep looking.

The dark shadow walked slowly and silently. At this time, there were passing car lights shining on the shadow, Lu Xiaobai saw that it was a person, an old man who seemed to be old, he was relieved, the old people were slow and dull, and they would not hurt children.

This old man's name is Wang Xinggui. After he saw Lu Xiaobai, he hesitated, then walked straight to Lu Xiaobai's side and asked softly, "Child, why don't you go home so late?" ”

Listening to this old voice, it is estimated that he is sixty years old, Lu Xiaobai thought.

"I" Lu Xiaobai wanted to say that he was homeless, but he felt that it was unnecessary, he didn't know what to do with him, and he couldn't help himself.

"Was it beaten and scolded by my mother and angry with her?" Wang Xinggui looked at him with concern and asked.

Lu Xiaobai shook her head, thinking: It's okay if she is beaten and scolded by her mother, I don't know how she will feel after knowing her son's difficult situation?

Wang Xinggui looked at him and wanted to know more and more: "Then I don't understand, since you haven't been beaten and scolded by your mother, what are you doing running out in the middle of the night alone?" ”

"I'm homeless." The child's mind is as simple as a glass of boiled water, and if others continue to care about him, he will regard it as a favor, and the best reward for this favor is to answer truthfully.

Wang Xinggui took two steps forward, leaned over slightly to look at him and asked, "Where is your home?" Do you have relatives here? ”

Lu Xiaobai thought that he must not sue his aunt's family for living here, otherwise he would definitely send himself back to his aunt's house when he looked warm-hearted! If he knew his home address, he might try his best to contact the local police station to send him back (he remembered that the puppy in the same village went on a trip with his parents during the National Day last year, and somehow got the puppy lost, and was later sent home by the kind police), and besides, there were no relatives at home, and he was sent back to be helpless and lonely, and he was discouraged when he thought about it. Also, the police will definitely tell the old man that his father is a murderer, and he doesn't want the old man to know about that shameful thing. So, he made up a fake place name to prevaricate him, and said that he didn't have any relatives and friends in this city, and the main reason why he came here was that his mother forced him to write his summer homework, and he was upset, so he secretly ran out.

The front said that he was homeless, and the back said that he didn't want to do his homework and ran away secretly, this contradictory statement did not arouse Wang Xinggui's suspicions, he thought that it was normal for children to hate learning, so he sighed: "Poor child, you go with me!" ”

"Grandpa, can you give me a bowl of rice to eat? If you give me food, I'll go with you; I can help you with the housework, I do housework a lot at home, but I am diligent! As soon as Lu Xiaobai thought of the fragrant white rice, he couldn't help but swallow his saliva.

"Don't say it's one meal, I'll serve you even ten meals!" Wang Xinggui said excitedly, "Are you hungry?" Let's go, there's a supper shop in front, I'll take you to eat! ”

Lu Xiaobai happily followed him around for a long time, but he didn't see any supper shops, and the old man seemed to have forgotten about it. After walking a little longer, the old man led him into an old building.

The stairway was unlit and dark and eerie. Don't look at Wang Xinggui's age, he is familiar with climbing the stairs, and Lu Xiaobai can only grope and walk after him, stumbling and stumbling very unaccustomed. From the moment he entered the building, Lu Xiaobai was faintly afraid, not only afraid of the unfamiliar environment, but also afraid of the old grandfather's ignorance!

Wang Xinggui lives on the fifth floor. After entering the house and turning on the light, Lu Xiaobai saw that the room was not big and very simple. The coffee table in the hall was littered with cups and plates, fish carp, chicken bones and paper towels everywhere, and more than a dozen beer bottles and cigarette butts were thrown all over the ground in the ground.

Wang Xinggui asked Lu Xiaobai to sit obediently on the sofa, and he said that he would cook noodles for him to eat. Lu Xiaobai said "oh", he saw that the cup on the coffee table contained half a cup of water, and he didn't consider whether it was dirty or not, he picked up the cup and drank it, and after drinking, he exhaled a long breath to quench his thirst, and then sat upright on the sofa.

Lu Xiaobai subconsciously pinched his fingers, and said in his heart that he was suspicious just now, and mistook the old man for a bad person, how could a bad person be kind enough to cook noodles for himself to eat? When he lowered his vigilance, he looked closely into the room, and saw that in some places on the walls the lime had fallen off, and appeared in the form of speckled spots; There is a painting on the wall directly above the door, the drawing is not only bizarre, but also very strangely drawn, carefully distinguished, see that it is the words "Taishang Laojun is anxious like a law"; On the innermost wall is a small jar with a finger-wide white cloth tied around the neck, and a folded piece of white paper is pressed under the jar, with calligraphy written on the folded side, and the ink is soaked to the back of the paper.

He curiously walked over and removed the jar, and then spread out the folding paper, and saw a color photo framed by a photo frame, the photo showed a beautiful and dignified woman with long hair, next to the photo was a cremation certificate issued by the Public Security Bureau, the cremation certificate had the official seal of the funeral home, and the official seal and the cremation certificate were removed, and the words on the white paper were unobstructed, only to see a few lines of crooked words: My beloved wife Wang Yan had died of cancer, she spent all the family's money during her illness, and owed a large amount of debt, and now there is no money to bury her, I hope that all the fathers and villagers will take pity on her and donate some money to buy a cemetery for her. Thank you!

Lu Xiaobai was taken aback, couldn't help but take a few steps back, and said in his heart: It turns out that the jar contains the ashes of the dead! His pupils dilated, and he stared at the jar intently, becoming more and more creepy, and suddenly a phantom appeared in front of him: a puff of green smoke came out of the jar, and then a ghost with a green face and fangs and a cloak appeared, and the ghost walked straight towards him, so frightened that he was terrified, and quickly closed his eyes and screamed "ah", and couldn't wait to turn around and run. But after only two steps, his head hit a soft and collapsed thing, and he couldn't help but "kick and kick" a few steps back and fell on his back, and his eyes were full of gold stars, and he was dizzy. He immediately saw a unfamiliar face with a scruffy beard suddenly pressing down towards his door, and he screamed "ah" again, and his body shrank suddenly, and he tightly blindfolded his eyes with his hands.

"Hey, what are you doing like you're losing your soul!"

Lu Xiaobai was slapped heavily on the head by his palm when he heard the hoarse voice, he opened his eyes and took a closer look, it turned out to be a young man about twenty-seven or eighteen years old looking at him in confusion.

The young man pulled Lu Xiaobai up, Lu Xiaobai rubbed his head with his hand, and when he looked at it, he saw that he was about 1.7 meters tall, with a big belly, as if he had a leather ball in his stomach.

"I'm scared." Lu Xiaobai pointed at the small jar.

"Don't be afraid, it's wood ash in it." The young man went over and pulled out the cloth from the mouth of the altar, and turned the altar upside down, and indeed a pile of ashes fell from the altar.

Lu Xiaobai was puzzled, why was the wood ash in the jar?