The work in the field is over, and Jingjiagou has gradually entered a dormant period, which is called Maodong in the countryside. The autumn harvest and winter storage mentioned in the thousand-character text are not only about the season, but also about the people. By this time, people have been busy for a year, and it is time to rest. Jingjiagou has all firewood, burns the kang hot, and sits on it to burn the buttocks. It is said that it is a cat winter, but in fact, it is not that it is dry, but that it no longer goes to work in the field, but that the cat is in the house, and its hands are still not idle, and it still has to work. But it's not much work, it's much easier, repair and repair farm tools, weave baskets and weaving baskets, push and push mills, and then prepare for the New Year's chewing! In the countryside, there is nothing to chew, that is, steamed rice cakes, tofu and the like.

Jing Jixing's family was already poor, but as soon as Jing Jixing passed away this time, there were only Tie Dan Ma and Tie Dan left, and it was conceivable what life would be like that time. Tie Dan is a child who is less than ten years old, it turns out that both parents are complete, Mom and Dad love, Tie Dan is Lele and He'er all day long, as soon as Dad is gone, it is inevitable that there will be some thoughts, follow Mom to Daddy's grave, watch Mom cry to death on Daddy's grave, and cry to death. Sometimes I was bored at home, so I secretly ran to my father's grave and sat on my father's grave for a long time.

Jingjiagou was originally a big family of the Jing family, and after a long time, the original cemetery was a little small. Later, they were divided into branches, and each branch set up another ancestral grave. Jing Jixing's family, in every generation, people are not very prosperous, but they still set up another ancestral tomb, five miles away from Jingjiagou, in the East Mountain. Tie Dan's mother was afraid that Tie Dan would have an accident with a child in the mountains, so she looked at him, but she was a little in a trance, how could she still see a half-sized child.

On this day, the weather was fine. Four or five days after Jing Jixing's first seven days, Tie Dan secretly ran to Jing Jixing's grave to see his father. When he arrived at Jing Jixing's grave, Tie Dan didn't cry, but sat on a stone against a pine tree in a daze, and after sitting for a while, he fell asleep in a daze. When he woke up, it was almost noon, and when he saw that it was not early, he got up from under the pine tree and wanted to go home, but at that moment he heard someone coming towards him, and he was talking. Tie Dan couldn't understand what he was saying, he was a little surprised, knowing that it was not the Jingjiagou man, so he quickly looked in the direction where the sound came from behind the tree, and saw a few people walking into the mountain from a path above the cemetery not far away. Tie Dan had heard adults talk about the Japanese, and thought, these are not Japanese, right? Japanese people aren't good people! From a distance, those people are really different from our Jingjiagou people! Tie Dan saw that there were four people in total, and the one walking in front was a tall man, except for him, the three people walking behind him were not tall, and they were all carrying packages. Tie Dan was a little curious, and the cat bent his waist and followed the four people quietly, far away, to see where these guys were going and what they were going to do. After a forest and a ditch, it was the original stone field of Jing Zhiyi's family, which has long been deserted. There is a big stone pit on the slope of the mountain, although it is on the mountainside, it is full of water, it is crystal clear, in the summer, there is always a group of children bathing in the water of this pit, and the iron egg has not gone down. Tie Dan listened to the boys who said that this pit can see the bottom from the top, but if you go down to the pit, you can't get to the bottom of the pit even if you stick to the bottom of the pit, it's deep! This stone pit has been around for many years, and when Qi Yongku, the father of Aunt Qi Yue of Jingjiagou, was beating stones here, he blew up his leg when he blew up stones on the opposite hillside.

As he was thinking so, he saw the men go down to the bottom of the ditch, and after searching back and forth, he put down the package he was carrying, opened it with a clatter, and pulled something out of it, and little by little opened the thing, which had three legs, and stood on the ground. There was an object at the top end, and one of the guys put his eyes in front of the object and looked inside. Seeing this, Tie Dan suddenly felt as if one of the four people was missing, and I don't know when it was missing, and there were only three left at this time. I was suspicious, and suddenly I heard the sound of dead grass being brought out by someone walking around from the side of my right hand, very close and very light! Tie Dan turned his head and looked, this look is not trivial, but it scares Tie Dan enough! I saw a man quietly touching himself from the grass on the hillside on the right! Tie Dan turned around and ran, running in the direction of Jingjiagou with no life! Children in the mountains, who have grown up in the mountains since childhood, are familiar with the mountains. Although Tie Dan is still a child, his legs and feet are dexterous, and it is a little difficult for the person in the back to catch up with Tie Dan. The strange thing is that the person chasing behind him did not shout, just chased in a muffled voice, seeing that the distance between the two of them was getting closer and closer, and there would be a place three or four feet away, Tie Dan suddenly heard a tom behind him, almost at the same time, there was a loud scream, Tie Dan looked back in the middle of running, the person who was chasing him just now had fallen, down the hillside, and a man dressed in black jumped in his direction, which was extremely fast. Tie Dan turned his face and ran again! But after running two or three steps, I felt that the collar of my clothes was grabbed, and then my waist was hugged, and then I was picked up, and my mouth was covered by the other hand of the man. Tie Dan felt like he was flying with the man in the direction of the North Mountain. Iron Dan was probably frightened, and felt that it was only a moment of effort, and he entered a pine forest and stopped in a densely wooded place. The man crouched down, put him down, motioned for him not to shout, and saw that Tie Dan understood what he meant, and then let him go. At this time, Tie Dan saw clearly, the man's face was tightly wrapped in a black cloth, and only two eyes were exposed, and those eyes were bright and bright!

I don't know how long it took, but when there was no movement around him, the man slowly stood up and looked around in the distance, and there was nothing else on the whole mountain except the whining sound of the wind blowing the pine forest and the grass and trees. The man put his mind at ease and whispered to Tie Dan:

"Is your home from Jingjiagou?"

Tie Dan nodded.

"Who are you from Jingjiagou?"

"Jing Jixing's family."

When the man heard this, he fixed his eyes on the iron egg, and said nothing. After a long time, he continued:

"What's your name?"

"Let's call it Iron Egg."

"Oh! Tiedan, who else is there in your family besides your father? ”

"Mom."

"Oh!" The man paused, still staring at Tie Dan, and said, "Tie Dan, don't worry, those people outside may not have gone far." Wait a minute, wait for those people to go away, and we'll send you home!" ”

At this time, although Tie Dan was small, he also understood that it was this person who saved himself just now. For about an hour, the two of them sat silently in the grass, neither of them speaking again, but listening to the whining of the grass and pine forest in the mountain wind. At last, the man stood up, and looked around again with his bright eyes, and then said to the iron egg:

"Tiedan, it's okay now, let's send you home."

As soon as I arrived at the mouth of Jingjiagou, I heard someone shouting loudly from a distance.

"Iron Egg--, Iron Egg --。"

Tie Dan has been home for most of the day, and he has scared Tie Dan's mother so much that her soul is gone! Iron Egg Daddy just left, and threw down the Iron Egg and the Iron Egg Mother, if this Iron Egg has three long and two short, then how can the Iron Egg Mother live! At this time, the man with his face covered ripped off the black cloth that covered his face, and led Tie Dan's hand to the mouth of the ditch, meeting Jing Zhiyi and Tie Dan's mother, who were looking for iron eggs. As soon as Tie Dan's mother saw Tie Dan walking down the mountain road, she rushed forward, and when she came to Tie Dan, she immediately took Tie Dan in her arms and cried. At this time, everyone's eyes stopped at the man who sent the iron egg down the mountain. When everyone looked at the man, they were all stunned! Everyone recognized that it was the person who flew up on Jingjiagou Street that day and kicked down the startled horse. Everyone looked at that person and was a little puzzled, why did this person stay with Tie Dan? When I asked, I knew that it was the person who saved Tie Dan at a critical moment.

The person who saved the iron egg handed the iron egg to the iron egg mother, turned around to leave, then how could he go! People saved our children, so we have to entertain others, we can't just let people leave with an empty stomach!

Jing Zhiyi invited the man to his own home.