The seven old men froze, not sure that the sound came from the dilapidated adobe house.

"Old Seven, I know it's you, I heard your voice." It was an old woman's voice, coming from the room at the entrance of the courtyard. The wheat straw covering the roof has turned black.

The seven old men pushed open the hidden wooden door and walked into the courtyard. Several rooms in the courtyard were crumbling. The weeds in the dam were almost up to the waist of the seven old men.

The hall of the main house is quite sturdy, so Jinbao made a sheepfold. A few goats bleated inside, and when they saw someone coming in, they crowded to the door, waiting for someone to feed them. An unpleasant smell of sheep mixed with the pungent smell of feces and urine rushed straight into the nose of the seven old men. The seven old men couldn't help but sneeze a few times in succession.

Next to the gate is a former firewood house, and a big dog with a bright black coat lies by the door. Seeing the seven old men and Qiuqiu coming in, it pulled the chain around its neck and screamed viciously.

"Dog thing, bite something." The voice of the old woman who was dying came from the firewood room. The big black dog stopped barking, and Qiuqiu ran over to play with it.

"Old Seven, come in." The old woman shouted again in the firewood room.

The seven old men knew that it was Jinbao's old lady. Jinbao, the turtle son, lived in a spacious and bright building with his two families, and threw the paralyzed old lady in this dilapidated and black firewood room. The seventh old man cursed in his heart.

Back then, Jinbao's old son and mother regarded him as a golden egg, and he was still nursing at the age of five or six. His mother's sick body raised Jinbao, a fierce son.

The seven old men pushed open the door of the firewood house, and the smell inside was worse than that in the courtyard. The seven old men couldn't help but want to quit.

"There's a light rope at the door, you pull it."

The seven old men touched the lamp rope, and with a snap, the lights lit up in the room. Under the dim incandescent light, the seven old men saw clearly the qiē in the house.

The walls of the four walls were plastered with newspapers to keep out the cold outside. Of course, the unpleasant smell in the house can't be discharged.

An old-fashioned wooden bed with a mosquito net of that homespun cloth pulled. There was a dark cabinet next to the bed, with some rice bowls and kettles.

Jinbao's old lady was lying on the bed, covered with an old red quilt. The pattern of the peonies on the surface of the quilt was a little lighter, revealing a little white.

The seven old men glanced at Jinbao's old lady and chuckled in their hearts. The woman has been paralyzed for two years. She was lying there now, and if she didn't get angry, she really looked like a dead person.

The unkempt white hair was stuck together because of something. There wasn't much flesh on his face, his crumpled skin wrapped around his skull, his lips were shriveled, and his fingers outside the quilt were shriveled and withered.

Such an old woman doesn't know if she crawled out of the coffin or is about to climb into the coffin. In this dimly lit room, it was chilling to see such a person.

However, her eyes when she looked at the seven old men were bright, and in the deep sunken eye sockets, the eyes that were already a little distracted suddenly emitted such a gaze, which made the seven old men a little frightened.

Although the sun was shining outside, the seven old men felt cold, and the old woman's life was disappearing little by little, but there were still a few traces still wandering tenaciously in this weak body.

"Old Seven, you can stand for a while, there is no place to sit here." The old woman smiled apologetically.

"Sister-in-law, Jinbao, this baby, I won't let you move to the building. This old brother is no longer alive, how can he do this to you. The seven old men complained a little about Jinbao's turtle son on his back.

"Hey, you see me like this, eating, drinking, and Lazar are all in bed, and when I get to the new house, I stain the house, and the babies don't say it, I feel shameless."

"That can't be the case?"

"Hey, it's useless when people get old, they can only wait for death." The old woman raised her head, "Old Seven, pour me a bowl of water to drink?" ”

The seventh old man picked up the kettle on the cabinet, and the water in it was already cold, "Old sister-in-law, this water is cold." ”

"Oh, that's fine, if you hadn't come over today, I wouldn't have been able to drink this cold water."

The seven old men handed the water to the old woman, and her hands were as cold as ice cubes.

"Old sister-in-law, are you cold, I still have extra quilts at home, bring you a bed."

"It's okay, I have an oven in this bed." The old woman smiled miserably after drinking the water.

"Lao Qi, it's still good for you, your body is hard, you don't want anyone to take care of you, it's a burden to live like me, it's better to die. Now, I can't even die if I want to. If you're kind, give me a whole bottle of pesticide, and you won't suffer when you die. ”

The old woman's words startled the seven old men, "Old sister-in-law, can you think like this, you are alive, this Jinbao can rest assured that the sheep are in the old house." You love Jinbao so much, you can see him a few more times if you live one more day."

"Hey." The old woman sighed, tears welling up in her eyes: "If I can move, I can still help Jinbao herd the sheep." This is going to be dead or alive, what's the use of living, wasting food. ”

Until now, she was still reluctant to say a word of complaining about Jinbao in front of the seven old men, but she just blamed herself for not being able to do it and dragging Jinbao down. As a mother, she still has to maintain her son's dignity.

Maybe death is what the old woman wants to do most now, but that thing is like the door in front of her, and she can't walk through it just a few steps away.

This dilapidated courtyard once contained how many joys, sorrows, and sorrows of the family had been recorded. Now that it is aging like this old woman, perhaps a gust of wind will wipe it out.

The seven old men felt that the cold feeling was even worse, and the cold air was swishing into the bones.

"Old Seven, thank you for giving me water to drink. Thank you for saying that. ”

"Old sister-in-law, don't say that, it's all from the same village." The seven old men had the idea of escaping, but they were afraid that they would make the old woman sad if they showed it.

"Old Seven, let's go, this house stinks." The old woman seemed to see the thoughts of the seven old men.

"Hey, then I'm leaving." The seventh old man let out a long sigh, and the lingering breath of death in the room made him feel uncomfortable, "It's inconvenient for you to move yourself, be careful that the charcoal fire in the oven burns the quilt." ”

"Yes, you have to be careful, or no one will know if you are burned to death." A strange smile appeared on the old woman's face, which made the seven old men panic.

"Let's go, let's go." The old woman waved her hand, and her pale face was a satisfied smile, as if the seven old men had done her a great favor.

The seven old men didn't dare to stay for another minute, for fear that the old woman would change her mind and ask him to stay.

The seven old men ran out of the firewood room and picked up Qiuqiu, who was still playing with the big black dog.

The sun shone warmly on his body, and the seven old men let out a long breath. However, he felt that the cold had penetrated his heart.

"Seven old men, why did you come here?" Jinbao's mother-in-law, Chunyang, walked over with a large bag of grass. She's here to feed the sheep. In the hearts of the two of them, those sheep may be more expensive than the old woman who is dying. Those sheep are able to make money for them, and this old woman will only consume their money.

"I'm coming to see your wife." The seven old men replied and left in a hurry.

Walking up the hillside, the seven old men looked back to see the old house of the Jinbao family. The low adobe house was hidden in the bamboo forest, like a lifeless tomb.