Chapter 60: The Lonely Old Man

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Seeing that the road leading to the center at the entrance of the village was full of weeds, Lu Chen's heart moved, it seemed that there were very few people in the village, and even the village roads that often came and went were overgrown with weeds, and the fields were also overgrown with weeds, so there should not be a lot of labor.

Suddenly, Lu Chen felt that someone had tapped him on the shoulder, and then an old voice came, "Child, you are from outside!" ”

Lu Chen turned his head and saw an old face, full of white hair, the ravines on his face showed the traces of time, a pair of calloused hands on the end of the farm tool on the thin shoulder, the small farm tool seemed to bend the old farmer's back under the weight of a thousand gold.

Lu Chen looked at the old farmer who was smoking a pipe, and said obediently: "Yes, uncle, I'm lost, can I spend the night." ”

The old farmer took two puffs of Chinese cigarettes, and then corrected: "Hey! You melon baby, how can I be so young, called grandpa! Call Grandpa! Hahaha. ”

Hearing the old farmer's words, Lu Chen remembered that his body was still a child now, and smiled sweetly: "Hello grandpa!" ”

The old peasant took a few puffs of dry tobacco and said regretfully: "Hey! There are very few energetic children like you in our village, so you should leave tomorrow morning! Don't come back! ”

Lu Chen felt that there must be something hidden in it, and was about to ask something more, when suddenly there was a sound of gongs from the village, and the old man seemed to have something earth-shattering, and hurriedly pulled Lu Chen over, "Come with me!" Otherwise, it will be too late. ”

The old man dragged Lu Chen towards his house, and the old man was out of breath along the way, but the hand that grabbed Lu Chen was like an iron tong, dragging Lu Chen to run home, and finally before the gong ended, the old man took Lu Chen to kick open the wooden door of a dilapidated mud house and get into the house.

The old man didn't have time to rest, so he hurriedly lit the lamp, and then ran to close the door tightly, only then did he lean against the door and softened, gasping for breath, and coughing twice from time to time, Lu Chen was afraid that the old man would be out of breath for a while and suffocate to death, but fortunately, although the old man gasped and coughed twice from time to time, he would eventually ease up.

"Ahem, ahem, it's good that you met the old man and me today, ahem, otherwise, you will be like my son, and you will disappear in an uproar, and you won't even get a wave." The old man gasped and leaned his back against the door panel, slowly picked up the pipe that he had put away and pinned to his waist, knocked lightly on the ground twice, and pinched out a few tobacco shreds from the cigarette pouch, and carefully stuffed them into the pipe, as if stroking his beloved.

"Grandpa, what's wrong, why can't you come again?" Lu Chen found that the sun had completely set at some point, and the town was filled with fog, and a sound similar to a baby's cry could be heard faintly from a distance.

The old man took out the match from his bosom, lit the pipe, took two sips, let the spark burn to the whole pipe, and then shook off the match that was about to burn out in his hand, and a wisp of green smoke rose from the matchstick, and the little spark gradually extinguished like the setting sun.

The old man took a deep puff of cigarette, and then took a deep breath of smoke rings, and then said with a full of vicissitudes: "We used to be a place where birds and flowers are fragrant, the scenery is beautiful, and people live and work in peace and contentment, and enjoy the joy of family. We have moved here since the weapons factory was abandoned, thinking that we would no longer have to work day and night and could live a quiet life after the weapons factory was abandoned, but who wanted to live a stable life in a few days, several officially appointed village chiefs came from the city and built a small western-style building in the center of the village, that is, the one in the village. Since then, strange things have happened in our village in a row. ”

"Oh? What's weird? Lu Chen's face was full of curiosity.

The old man didn't speak with a cigarette, and his mouths were heavier than one puff.

Lu Chen saw that Lao Tzu was preoccupied, and he didn't want to say it, so he had to change the topic: "Grandpa, technology is so developed now, but why do I see that most of the villages are mud houses?" ”

The old man stood up from the ground, pulled Lu Chen to sit next to the dim oil lamp, touched Lu Chen's head, and then said: "We have also built modern houses before, but since the strange things in the village, every time there will be houses attacked by unknown animals at night, and the collapsed rubble is full of claw marks and tooth marks, and we have also arranged for people to stand guard to check, but every time the people standing guard will disappear inexplicably, and more houses will suffer, so we all built this kind of house later, but I didn't expect it to be attacked, That's why we all live in houses like this. ”

"Why wasn't that house in the center of the village attacked?" Lu Chen asked suspiciously.

The old man chirped twice, thought about it and said with a strange face: "It's not that they haven't been attacked, they have been attacked a few times, and every time they are attacked, they can hear a miserable beast-like cry in the night, thinking that their strength should have deterred those animals, so they didn't dare to attack them again." ”

"Didn't you let them get rid of those things?" Lu Chen asked rhetorically.

"Hurry? How to rush, you can't even see their shadows, you don't even know what they are, how to rush? Besides, after all, the people in the center of the village are from the city, and we don't want to ask for help. And strange things happen frequently, and there are fewer and fewer people, and we have asked them, but there is still no result, so everyone has no hope. The old man said with his pipe.

"Grandpa, you've been talking about it for so long, what is the strange thing that's happened?" Lu Chen's mind was full of doubts.

The old man thought for a long time, took a few deep puffs of cigarette, and then said to Lu Chen: "Actually, it's nothing, it's just that sometimes the village is shrouded in a fog that rises from the ground at night, and there is a cry similar to a baby from the fog. ”

"Is it like today?" Lu Chen said.

"Well, that's it, it's been getting more and more frequent lately, as long as someone is still outside during this time period, they will definitely go missing, and the danger of young people will be even greater! Originally, there were a lot of young people in our village, but I don't know why, they disappeared frequently, some went out and didn't come back, some disappeared as soon as they turned around, and some worked near the weapons factory, and they disappeared in broad daylight, and the tools were still intact in place, and there were no traces of a fight at the scene! That's how my son disappeared! So the young people in the village ran away and ran away, leaving only us widows and old people. The old man was smoking, and his tone was full of loneliness.

The oil lamp on the table also jumped and jumped, and the fireworks flickered on and off, as if they were also infected by the atmosphere of the old man.

Lu Chen got up and came behind the old man, stretched out his hand and stroked the old man's back up and down, and gave him a smooth breath, "Grandpa, I'm sorry, I reminded you of something unhappy." ”

The old man waved his hand, tapped the pipe at the foot of the table, poured the ash inside on the ground, and rubbed it twice with his foot, leaving faint black and white marks on the ground.

"It doesn't matter, what has happened cannot be changed, and the living must always look forward." The old man said.

The old man pinned his pipe to his waist, touched Lu Chen's head and said lovingly: "Child, you should be hungry, grandpa will cook noodles for you!" Grandpa's craftsmanship is very good, and my son likes to eat my cooking the most. ”

The old man said while having a mouth: "Let me tell you that although technology is now developed, everything is done by robots, but I always feel that something is missing, compared to people, or people cook more flavorful and delicious." Nowadays, people are all lazy for convenience, and few people know how to cook. ”

Looking at the old man's staggering back, a sour feeling surged up from Lu Chen's heart, indescribably lonely and lonely, just like a monkey abandoned by the world facing the sea alone, holding his knees and talking to himself to cheer himself up, instilling the courage to live.

"Come to Luo~ Taste it, try it!" Soon, the old man put a bowl of steaming egg noodles in front of Lu Chen, looking at Lu Chen with an expectant face.

Lu Chen picked up the chopsticks, smelled the aroma from the shop, couldn't help but have a big appetite, and his stomach screamed.

Lu Chen looked at the old man embarrassedly, and the old man also happened to look at Lu Chen, and the two looked at each other and laughed.

"Eat, silly boy!" The old man kindly touched Lu Chen's head.

"Uh-huh." Lu Chen nodded, picked up the noodles, and ate them.

Open your mouth and inhale deeply, you can smell the salty aroma of the soup, the aroma of the noodles, the fresh fragrance of the eggs, the fragrance of the vegetable leaves, the entrance is soft and chewy, and the taste is very Q-bomb, Lu Chen couldn't help but eat two more bites.

Looking at Lu Chen, who was eating very sweetly, the old man's face was full of smiles, but his throat squirmed a few times unconsciously.

"Is it delicious?" The old man asked.

"Hiccup, it's delicious! It's the best noodle I've ever tasted! Lu Chen drank the soup and burped again, and then praised.

"Hahaha, it's delicious! Just eat it! Eat more if it's delicious, and I'll give you some more? The old man touched Lu Chen's head and smiled.

"No, thank you grandpa, I'm full." Lu Chen replied with a smile.

Suddenly, Lu Chenxia remembered that the old man hadn't eaten yet, and hurriedly asked, "Grandpa, aren't you eating?" ”

"Grandpa is not hungry, he has already eaten." The old man touched Lu Chen's head, and his left hand unconsciously swept over his stomach.

Lu Chen saw everything in his eyes and didn't speak.

"Child, hurry up and rest, you sleep in my son's room, over there, I'll pack everything in it!" The old man pointed to a room and said.

Hurry up and leave tomorrow after dawn, it's too dangerous here, maybe I'll disappear one day, I'm old and useless, I should enjoy it, and I've made the sins, I'm content! Remember, don't go to the weapons factory. The old man admonished, got up and cleaned up the dishes and chopsticks, and left.

Lu Chen looked at the trembling figure of the old man, the indescribable desolation in his heart, the old man was like an old tree that was about to be wooden, full of gloom, took out a piece of food prepared before from the dimensional space, put it on the table, and walked towards the room that the old man pointed to.