Inside the four black doors, the one on the far side was hidden, and I could see through the white cloth that there was a flickering light inside, and someone was waiting for us inside.

"It should be here, you go in and get it, I'll wait for you." Lao Zhang encouraged me to get out of the car.

"This is a hotel?" I take it for granted that takeout should be picked up at the restaurant.

Lao Yi opened his mouth and said, "What are you rubbing, don't you know if you go in and see?" ”

"I can go in, don't go." I'm still not at ease, in case Lao Zhang twists the throttle and leaves me alone in this gloomy place, it will be really funny.

I thought about it and pulled out his car keys before pushing the door.

"Squeak~~ twist!"

As soon as I pushed the door open, there was a creepy noise that scared me almost backwards.

I obviously heard the sound of Lao Zhang twisting the accelerator, and turned around and scolded: "You stepped on the horse, fortunately I guarded against you, otherwise you would have slipped away, what about our buddy's righteousness?" ”

Lao Zhang saw nothing unusual, and sneered: "Hehe, see it, I'm called 'stress reaction', which is not controlled by the brain." ”

Yes, when people are particularly nervous, they are indeed prone to stress reactions, and running away from the wilderness is a subconscious desire to save his life and escape from danger, no wonder he, it's just that Lao Zhang looks tall and big, but in fact, he is really timid.

"Righteous words in my heart!"

I scolded and pushed the door open again, and my heart had already been prepared for the strange sound of "stubbornness", and I pushed the door open a foot wide.

As soon as I raised my eyes, I was greeted by a miserable white face, with a dull and lifeless expression, thick ink on the eyes and nose, and red lips like blood!

"Mom!" I was so frightened that I almost fell to the ground, "What's wrong with the owner of this shop, what are you doing with a paper figure at the door?" Want to scare people to death? ”

Lao Zhang didn't expect me to howl so suddenly, and he also followed the chatter, and rowed the electric car seven or eight meters away like a boat with his feet.

"Get back, what virtue!" I came back to my senses and quickly stopped him.

Lao Zhang's face turned pale and innocent, and he slipped back and said, "Stress reaction, you know......"

I slowed down a little and pushed the door again, only to feel that the door had just opened a crack and there was no weight in my hand! It felt as if a suction force had sucked the door open.

I almost fell to the ground, but luckily a stocky middle-aged man poked his head out. I said how to loosen my hand, it turned out that the door was opened by him from the inside.

This person is over fifty years old, square face, not tall, only about 1.6 meters, dressed like a village entrepreneur, a pair of rolling eyes but revealing a shrewd philistine, he asked: "What for?" Playing with the door open all the time on the big night? ”

He glanced at my takeaway clothes, as well as Lao Zhang waiting on the side and the takeaway box in his car, and suddenly said, "Oh, take the takeaway, right?" Wait a minute. ”

Turning around to enter the house, he revealed that the lights were not on, but a fire flickering.

At this moment, he stopped listening to Lao Zhang's trembling whisper and asked, "Uncle Ma?" Is it Uncle Ma? ”

"Huh?" The middle-aged man turned around and poked his head out again, and he squinted his eyes and looked at Lao Zhang on the side of the road. On a big night, relative to him, Lao Zhang was also in the dark, and he was wearing a takeaway helmet. So I couldn't see the meaning for a while.

"What an uncle! I haven't seen you in years, why are you here? It's me, Zhang Can. Lao Zhang Ma slipped the car up, and now he was okay and met his parents' relatives.

"Zhang Can?" The middle-aged man thought for a moment and asked, "Your mother is Li Lotus?" ”

The uncle Ma glanced at Lao Zhang again, and smiled happily: "Nephew! It's so big in a blink of an eye, I haven't seen it in more than 20 years. Hi, I've been doing business here for three years, how come I haven't met you! ”

I think it's no wonder that when you open a shop here, no one usually comes, let alone go in to patronize it, no wonder they haven't seen each other. I asked Lao Zhang softly: "Your maiden name is Li, why is this uncle's surname Ma?" ”

Lao Zhang said: "He is not my uncle, he is my distant cousin, but when I was a child, in my hometown, our two families lived closest." ”

I nodded, and Uncle Ma said, "And the old man is not surnamed Ma, my surname is different." ”

I thought he had an accent, but I thought it was a surname Bai Nian. It was only later that I learned that there are really other surnames in the hundred family names.

Lao Zhang said: "Yes, my uncle's full name is Beilongma." He is the second uncle of that family, and I also have an eldest uncle named Beijindao, so I can't be called Bei Uncle since I was a child, otherwise I won't be able to distinguish it. ”

"Stinky boy, it's still so big and small, do you have to talk to people everywhere on the street about your family? Come in! ”

Lao Zhang nodded with a grin. Reaching out to shake Uncle Ma's hand.

Uncle Ma didn't mean to shake hands with Lao Zhang, put his hands behind his back, and went into the house by himself.

We followed. The front room of his shop is the façade, except for the abrupt paper man, the container is full of money, paper, incense and candles and other funeral customs items that we can't name.

Uncle Ma walked directly through the hall and led us into the second room.

At this moment, there was a brass basin in the middle of the room, and the fire in the basin gradually weakened as we spoke, and Uncle Ma hurriedly went over and refilled a few more sheets from the stack of paper money next to the basin.

After the fire came up, we found that the second sofa and tea table were both, similar to the layout of a living room, but the space was relatively small, especially on the wall there were some flags or charms or canopies that I didn't know, which made the space seem more cramped.

"Uncle Ma, why don't you turn on the lights?" Lao Zhang couldn't help asking.

Uncle Ma raised his head and motioned for us to sit down first, saying, "It's not that the old man doesn't turn on the lights, maybe there is a power outage." ”

I remembered that the signboard outside was lit up, and I couldn't help but blurt out: "No, your signboard outside is not lit......"

"Oops?" Uncle Ma seemed to suddenly remember something strange, jumped up violently, pushed Lao Zhang to the edge of the brazier, and said, "Continue to help me burn!" ”

Then he went to the front.

"What's going on?" Lao Zhang and I looked at each other, and Lao Zhang squatted down hesitantly, wondering whether to renew the paper money into the fire.

What the hell is going on today? The things encountered are becoming more and more abrupt and weird.

I heard the sound of electricity outside, and then Uncle Ma walked back with his hands behind his back.

I just feel that there are too many doubts here, why are other businessmen closed, but his mysterious uncle is still open on this street alone? Why does he burn paper money at home?

And...... The sign outside the store is still on, is the power outage he said real?

Uncle Ma saw that Lao Zhang was stunned, and saw that the paper money was about to go out, so he hurriedly said: "What are you doing in a daze, hurry up and continue to burn!" ”

"Oh, I remember." Lao Zhang suddenly opened his mouth, put a stack of scattered paper money into the copper basin, and said: "I remember Uncle Ma, you worked as an electrician, and the signboard outside should be the line of the street lamp, right?" ”

"Shut up!" The look on Uncle Ma's face was mixed with pride and caution, "Burn your paper." He glanced at me.

Lao Zhang suddenly understood, his hand didn't stop, and said: "Oh, don't worry, he's not an outsider, he's a good buddy for me, many, I'll call him Boss Xu." ”

Uncle Ma nodded at me, and I also called Uncle Ma with Lao Zhang. It turned out that this old guy was afraid that the electricity bureau saw his signboard lit up and knew that he was stealing wires, so he rushed out to turn off the electricity.

Lao Zhang asked: "What are you burning paper money for in the middle of the night?" ”

I suddenly remembered our takeaway, why did I almost forget about this Uncle Ma when I ran into it, and I also interjected and asked, "Uncle Ma, did someone order a takeaway to pick?" ”

Uncle Ma smiled, sat on the sofa and crossed his legs, and said, "You are asking about the same thing. Our nephew is really fateful, I haven't seen each other for many years, because of a takeaway to meet again. Ha ha! ”

Seeing that our faces were still hesitant, he pouted and said, "Isn't it in the brazier that is what has been ordered?" ”

I didn't know what he meant, so I didn't hesitate and asked, "What about the takeout order?" "Because on the take-out list, the content of the take-out items will be written in detail.

"The old man has a power outage here, how can he make any takeaway orders?" Uncle Ma didn't treat me as an outsider, and said angrily, "What's more, in a store like ours, where will there be any takeaway acquirers?" ”

"Okay," Lao Zhang was afraid that I would be embarrassed, so he took over the conversation and asked, "Then what does this burn mean?" ”

Uncle Ma said, "Oh, this, you have to burn nine catties and nine taels of paper money, and make pillows out of the ashes of paper money." ”

"Pillows made of paper money from ashes?" This is completely our knowledge blind spot. Paper ash pillow, haven't heard anyone say it's used?

Uncle Ma said with a little disdain: "You don't know this? This is a thousand-year-old pillow. It's for the dead. ”