When Shi was young, he had to go to his grandmother's house in the countryside every summer vacation to play, because in the countryside of the Northeast, there would be many, many new things happening. In the memory of the stone, there is one thing that he will never forget......

The summer of that year was very hot, and after breakfast at Stone, he nestled in his grandmother's yard and ate watermelon to cool off.

"Stones! Stone? ”

When the stone looked back, it turned out to be the bench of the second aunt's house next door, riding on the wall and shouting at him.

"Bench! Jump down, my grandmother's freshly cut watermelon is so sweet! The stone beckoned to him warmly.

The bench was a little hesitant, the children in the village were reluctant to play with him, only this stone from the city, every summer vacation, would come to his grandmother's house to live for some days, and only at this time, the bench was happy......

Stone saw that the bench was a little embarrassed to jump into his grandmother's yard, in fact, he had heard more or less about his grandmother's affairs in their family. The father of the bench is the second cousin of the stone, and in this village, almost all the families are somewhat related.

Speaking of this second uncle, Shi has only heard of it, but he has never seen him! Because he ran away from home when he was three years old on the bench. Everyone in the village said: He ran away with the wild woman outside! The mother of the bench, that is, the second aunt, everyone took pity on her in the first two years, and she still had some dealings.

Later, her family somehow got better than the average family...... A woman who ran away with a man, with a baby, and has nothing to make a living for, where did the money come from?

In the countryside, when everyone is idle, there are always people who love to gossip to relieve boredom. What's more, I have seen that the richest man in the village, Erkiko, went to the bench house alone at night......

This Erxizi used to be a second-rate son. Later, he made a fortune because he contracted the old coal kiln in the village, and now he has become a leader in getting rich! Before you get rich, you weren't very serious, let alone have money now!

Just one two kiko is enough! Later, someone even saw that the village chief also went to the bench's house in the middle of the night. Now the gossip became more and more ugly, and within a few years, the second aunt became a well-known broken shoe in the village......

Bench is an honest child, because of his mother's relationship, the children in the village are not willing to play with him, and often bully him.

Once, a few boys who were older than him rode under him and beat him, scolding him while beating: "Your mother is a broken shoe!" "The bench was crying very sadly, but no one came to help him......

Just as he was about to give up his resistance, someone suddenly shouted, "What are you doing? It's against the law! Hurry up and stop, or I'll tell my dad to arrest you all in the police station!" ”

When all the children looked back at the rock, they knew that his father was a policeman, and they scattered in fright......

Stone lifted the bench with a blue nose and swollen face, he had grown up in the city since he was a child, and when he first returned to the village, no one played with him. He and the bench are also connected to the same fate in some cases! Since then, the two have become good friends.

At the beginning, the grandmother of the stone also talked about the stone for this matter. Later, when I thought about the bench, the kid was really pitiful. Adults are adults, and children are children, so they acquiesced to their little friendship.

Shi looked at the bench and refused to jump down to eat the watermelon, so he smiled and said to him: "Let's go, let's go play under the big elm tree in the east of the village!" After saying that, he also took two watermelons to the bench.

The two came to the big elm tree, and sat on the fork of the hundred-year-old elm tree with a smile, eating sweet watermelon.

Shi listened to his grandmother: "There is an old fairy living in this old elm tree, and Shi's mother had a difficult birth when she gave birth to him, and her life was on the verge of death...... Grandma begged under this tree all night, and sure enough... In the end, both mother and son were safe. ”

Most of the children in the village are afraid to come here to play. Only the stone city baby and the bench, the child who no one wants to see, dare to come to play under the big elm tree.

"Bench, do you think there are really gods in this tree?" Stone asked the bench as he spit out the watermelon seeds in his mouth.

The bench shook his head and said, "I don't know, if there is really a fairy, I will beg him to bless my father to come back early!" ”

As soon as Shi heard the bench mention his father, he asked, "Do you remember what your father looked like?" ”

The bench nodded vigorously and said, "Of course! I can always dream of him, I still have a picture of him at home, I have a chance to show you, my dad is so energetic! ”

"Was your dad nice to you before?"

The bench thought for a moment, didn't squeak, but finally nodded.

The stone didn't continue to ask, because he saw that the bench was very sad, what child didn't want to have a father?

"Let's go!" The stone threw away the watermelon peel in his hand and jumped off the fork of the tree with ease.

When the bench saw that the stone had jumped off the tree, he also jumped down in a hurry, but who knew that one of his trouser legs caused the branch to hang, and due to inertia, the bench was planted from the tree with one heel......

The stone saw that the bench was about to fall off the tree, but he wanted to run over, but it was too late! Under this big elm tree, there are all big stones piled up by the villagers to pray for blessings, and if you plant it headlong, you will definitely break your head!

He closed his eyes in fright, not daring to see the bench fall...... Suddenly, the stone felt a chill, and he shivered with the cold, as cold as if he had opened the electric cooler in his own house.

Vaguely, he seemed to see a figure, grabbed the bench that had fallen from the tree, and then gently placed it on the ground. The man seemed to be dressed in a dirty blue suit and a strange hat.

Stone felt frightened for no reason, and he yelled at the bench to tell him to hurry up and come to his side......

The bench was also a little confused due to the fright just now. He staggered over to the stone and said, "Why did I fall from the tree just now?" ”

The stone hurriedly stepped forward and touched the head of the bench, but fortunately it was not broken. Only then did he remember the figure just now, but when he looked up again, the figure was long gone. He hurriedly asked the bench: "When you fell, did you see anyone?" ”

The bench said with a blank face: "I only felt my body fall on a soft, cold thing, because I was afraid that I didn't dare to open my eyes, and when I opened my eyes again, I would be on the ground." ”

"Okay, as long as you're okay!" But Shi felt something wrong in his heart, but he didn't dare to say it to the bench.

The two children were so troubled by this accident that they had no intention of playing outside, so they went home separately.

When Grandma saw the stone coming back from outside, her face was a little wrong, so she asked him, "Stone, what's wrong with you?" ”

"It's nothing, it just scared the bench!" The stone coped with the answer.

"You two naughty kids! If you don't scare me, I scare you, if you lose your soul, your legs will be discounted! "Grandma Stone scared Stone.

But Shi Shi was not afraid at all, and asked his grandmother: "What is the loss of soul?" ”

Grandma said, "It's not good to lose your soul!" ”

"Not good? What's bad? ”

As soon as my grandmother heard that the stone was always digging into the roots, she said angrily: "It's not good, you can't go out to play, you can't eat meat, you can't watch cartoons!" ”

When the stone heard this, he said, "Ah! It's so serious, so it's better not to lose your soul. ”

Grandma Shi thought about it as soon as July 15th, and still said a few words of uneasy advice: "In a few days, it will be the day to go to the grave to burn paper, the big ghosts and little ghosts are all out, you don't go outside in the wilderness these days!" ”

"Oh." This time, Shi honestly agreed, but not because he was afraid of his grandmother, but the bench was next door, and he didn't have to go out to play with him.

The next morning, the stone shouted at the top of the wall: "Bench, bench!" ”

I saw that the curtain of the door was lifted, and a woman in her 30s with good looks came out. This is none other than the bench's mother and the second aunt of the stone.

The second aunt smiled and said to the stone, "Yo, isn't this a stone?" Are you looking for a bench to play? Don't call from there, come down, he's still under the covers! ”

The stone jumped from the top of the wall to the bench yard with some embarrassment.

The second aunt touched the head of the stone and said, "This child, go in and play!" Have you eaten? ”

The stone nodded and said, "Eat." ”

The second aunt walked outside, and said to the stone: "The bench woke up, and said that he would be in the pot for food, and I would go out to do some errands, and I would be back in a while." ”

The stone said yes and ran into the house, and as soon as he entered, he saw that the bench was indeed pouting and falling asleep!

He didn't rush to wake up the bench, he wanted to startle him. But suddenly, he was fascinated by a photo on the wall. It was a picture of a man, about 30 years old, and his eyebrows looked a bit like a bench.

Stone doesn't need to ask to know that he is the bench's own father. Just how does it look so familiar?

"Stones? When did you get here? The bench opened its eyes in a daze, and saw that the stone was looking at the pictures on the wall.

"I just came, uh, the second aunt said that she went out to do something, and the rice was in the pot!" After the stone finished speaking, he suddenly remembered the figure he saw under the elm tree yesterday, and he looked up at the photo again, and saw that the outline was clearly a person!

"It can't be!" The stone said unconvinced.

The bench looked at the stone and asked him, "Stone, what's wrong with you?" What's impossible? ”

"No, it's okay, you can get up and eat quickly, let's go out and play later." The stone man is a big ghost, although he himself was taken aback, but he is not sure that it is that person, maybe he is dazzled?

But the bench said with a depressed face: "My mother won't let me go out today!" ”

"Why?"

"It's not because these days are the days of burning paper at the grave." The bench said with a sigh.

Shi also remembered his grandmother's warning and said, "It's okay, let's play at home if we don't go out." ”

The bench cracked his mouth and smiled: "That's right, come!" Let me see my baby......" said as he pulled out a large cloth pocket in the wooden cabinet on the pit.

With a "bang......", a bunch of unknown things were dumped on the pit by the bench. The stone also looked at these strange things with an excited face......

"What's this?" The stone took several bones of the same size and asked the bench.

This is a sheep crutch, also called "Galha", which is the kneecap of a sheep. Rural children love to play, but this is what my mother played with when she was a child? The bench said proudly.

"What about this?" The stone picked up another iron pipe with a glass ball on it.

The bench glanced at it and said, "This is called "Ga", it is played on the ice in winter, and there is a small whip, which turns when you smoke it, but it is fun!" ”

"Oh, it's like the spinning top I play, right?" Stone had never seen such strange and funny things, and asked this, and asked that...... I couldn't be happier.

But as soon as the stone looked up, he saw that there was another thing in the cloth pocket of the bench, half the size of a basketball, and he never took it out.

He opened his mouth and asked, "Bench, what else do you have in your pocket?" Why don't you take it out? ”

The bench was stunned for a moment, and then said with a gloomy expression: "That's not a toy, it's a birthday gift from my father." ”

As soon as the stone looked at the appearance of the bench, he knew that he had mentioned his sadness! Busy said: "A gift from your father?" Board...... Stool, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ask. ”

The bench smiled innocently and said, "It's okay stone, there's nothing I can't tell you, this is a hat my dad wears at work, and there is a lamp on it, it's fun!" With that, he took out a strange hat from his pocket.

The stone recognized it at a glance, it was the hat that the figure wore yesterday! The bench did not notice the abnormality of the stone, and turned on the light on his hat to show the stone......

A bright light shot at the stone, and the temperature around it plummeted...... It was that cold and biting feeling again, a pot of bluegrass on the windowsill withered instantly, and the "......" stone could feel its own breath.

"It's so cold......"

Hearing the stone say that it was cold, the bench looked at the big sun outside and asked strangely: "Stone, are you sick?" It's dog days now! ”

Stone shook his head and said, "You really don't feel cold, do you?" ”

The bench affirmed, "Definitely not." ”

But now, the stone can not only be felt, but also seen with the eyes! He could clearly see that the walls of the house were starting to frost, and he felt like he was in a refrigerator as big as a house......

A strange murmur sounded in the stone's ears, and a figure flashed out and disappeared like a movie...... But this time the stone must have seen it clearly, this person is none other than the father who has long disappeared from the bench.

"Smack!" The bench turned off the miner's lamp, and everything returned to normal, the figure that had just appeared in front of the stone, and the noise in the ear disappeared.

He looked at the bench in a daze, wanting to say something, but he didn't say anything. He was so scared that he just wanted to go home and find his grandmother.

When he came home and saw his grandmother, Shi fainted after only asking one word.

"Grandma, is my second uncle dead?"

Grandma just wanted to scold this stinky boy, "What are you talking nonsense? "But when you see a stone, you fall to the ground!

"Stones! Stone! ”

At night, the stone had a fever, and the fever was straight to nonsense, and the grandmother was anxious to turn around on the ground. The doctor from the village health center came to see it and said that he might have been frightened to get a fever, and it should be nothing serious, but he simply prescribed some antipyretics.

But grandma always felt that something was wrong, and the stone child must have lost his soul. Fortunately, she knew how to retrieve the child's lost soul......

At 12 o'clock in the evening, the stone was still in a high fever, and no one could hear what was said in his mouth. Grandma decided to try her own method, and if it didn't work, she would call Shi's father tomorrow and take Shishi to the hospital in the city.

She took out a small broom to sweep the pit from the small dustpan on the pit. Turn left three times and right three times on the head of the stone. muttered in his mouth: "The sky is panicked, the earth is panicked, the Taishang Laojun comes to manifest the spirit, bless the children with many blessings, bless the children from disasters and famines......"

The little broom was spinning back and forth on the head of the stone, and the grandmother was muttering and snorting, this is not sleepy, because people who help people call souls will have this reaction.

"Grandma......" The sound of the stone was as thin as a gossamer. But the grandmother heard it, and when she looked down, the stone had finally woken up.

A hanging heart can be regarded as letting go, and grandma is busy asking what the stone sees? Scare him like this?

Shi didn't want to say it at first, but then let his grandmother scold him, and then he told him about seeing his father on the bench. Grandma knew it in her heart when she heard it, and it seemed that this cousin, who had not returned for many years, was probably more than lucky.

I haven't seen a stone on the bench for a few days, so I'm really thinking about it. But his mother said that the stone was sick and would not let him look for it.

This morning, the second aunt was about to go out as usual, and she saw Grandma Shi looking at her at the door, and it seemed that she should be waiting for her deliberately......

Although everyone looks down on the second aunt, she ...... to others Grandma Stone, in particular, is always polite. "Auntie, what's wrong?"

Grandma Shi was a little hesitant, but she couldn't help but say to her: "Her second aunt, his father on the bench... Have you believed in the past few years? ”

The second aunt was stunned, obviously not expecting Grandma Shi to ask this question: "Auntie, why do you say that?" ”

Grandma Shi looked left and right to see that there was no one else, and said to the second aunt: "I said don't be afraid, my stone saw his father on the bench a few days ago, so he was scared and lost his soul." ”

The second aunt's face changed, "What?" Auntie, the stone is wrong, right? He hadn't seen his dad on the bench again. ”

Grandma shook her head: "Her second aunt, if you meet the right one, you will remarry, and his father will definitely not come back to the bench." ”

The second aunt didn't speak again, but her eyes were full of tears.

Within a few days, the stone was alive again! Because of his grandmother's instructions, he and the bench did not mention it, and saw his father's affairs.

But Grandma Shi can always hear her second aunt crying after midnight, and she cries very sadly......

Erxizi went to the bench's house in the middle of the night again, but this time he asked the second aunt to beat him out with a broom, and he had to leave in disgrace.

His home was next to the big elm tree at the east end of the village, and he was about to arrive at home when he suddenly saw a woman standing under the elm tree.

Seeing that his figure was a bit like his second aunt, he was lustful again, and hugged her from behind......

"Little slut, just now she was pretending to be a chaste martyr with me, but now she came here to seduce me!"

The second aunt didn't look back, but said faintly: "Erxizi, do you like me?" ”

Erxizi grinned: "It's rare to die!" ”

The person in his arms suddenly smiled coldly: "Then you will die!" ”

The bench had a dream, in which his father came back and asked him to study hard and honor his mother when he grew up. He wanted to hug his father, but in a hurry, he woke up. The second aunt looked at the bench and turned over vigorously, and knew that he must be dreaming...... Slap him twice, and the bench fell asleep again.

In the morning, the village accountant went to Nikiko's house to discuss the sale of the coal mine. From afar, I saw a man hanging high on a big elm tree, and he came to him with courage......

"Ah......" A heart-rending exclamation reached the ears of the whole village.

Fukiko died, and his limbs were twisted into a posture that a living person would not be able to do. There were black cinders in the mouth, eyes, nose, and ears. The whole person's dead image is the same as the dead miners who were dug up in the mining disaster a few years ago...... And the results of the autopsy of the Public Security Bureau: Erxizi was frozen to death!

A few years ago, Erxizi had just contracted a coal mine, because he did not understand safety production, but in order to dig more coal and make more money, he operated in violation of regulations, which led to a mining accident, resulting in 3 deaths and 6 serious injuries.

Erkiko's death cast a strange atmosphere over the entire village...... People said: "Erxizi is a ghost who has locked his life, and there is not only one Erxizi who is black-eyed, but also the village chief and accountant, these two people will be the same as him sooner or later!" ”

Maybe it's the scary words, maybe it's the ghosts in the heart...... The accountant's family moved away, and the village chief went crazy because he didn't dare to sleep every night.

When July 15 arrived, the second aunt was alone at night, took a basket of paper money, and hurried out. She went to the coal mine in the village, because there were people dead in this mine, so at this time, no one would come.

She walked to a sheltered place, squatted down and began to burn paper money, crying while burning, crying and saying: "Bench father, the aunt next door said: The stone saw you, I don't believe it, why can you let a child see it, and don't come to see me?" Do you blame me for not being able to make you feel safe? I can't help it, in order to live a good life on the bench, in order to no longer marry another man, I can only put you in the freezer first. Don't blame me, I'm a woman...... There's really no other way...... Can you come and meet me? It's okay to just see each other...... Do you also believe in other people's gossip? That's why you don't want to see me? Why don't you believe me? ”

The more the second aunt talked, the more sad she became, she didn't notice that not far from her, there was a shadow hidden in the darkness, looking at her with tears on her face......

It turned out that the father of the bench worked in the coal mine in the village. Later, a mining disaster occurred, and he was the fourth miner to be dug up. Because the state has regulations: if the number of fatalities in an accident exceeds 3, it will be characterized as a larger accident and must be reported. For their own selfishness, Erxizi and the village chief concealed the death of the bench father, and at the same time promised the second aunt that they would continue to provide the bench until they graduated from college, and gave her a considerable amount of compensation......

Since then, the second uncle has disappeared like this, in fact, he has always been stored in the freezer of the county funeral home......

This year, because of the poor efficiency of the coal mine, Erxizi decided to sell the coal mine, and the conditions that he had promised the second aunt before wanted to stop......

I didn't expect the retribution to come so quickly, Erxizi died, the village chief went crazy, and the accountant left, but before the accountant left, he quietly gave the second aunt a sum of money, saying that it was for the bench to go to school. Perhaps it was for this reason that he left.

School is about to start, and he will be back in the city in a few days. The bench was unhappy at the thought that the stone was leaving...... Stone only comes to grandma's house to play during the summer vacation every year, so it will be next year when we meet again!

The stone had already seen the bench's thoughts, and said to him: "It's okay bench, I'm still here for the winter vacation!" ”

The bench's eyes lit up: "Really? Talking counts! ”

The stone smiled and said, "Talking counts!" ”

On the last night of his stay at his grandmother's house, Stone dreamed of his second uncle. He said thank you to the stone......

"The End of this Story"