When I was a child, the most impressive thing was the blacksmith shop next door to the courtyard, and the owner of the shop was surnamed Lin Lao Crooked. Lao Wei is a native of the country, and his skills are passed down from his father.

It seems that when he was more than ten years old, he went up the mountain to herd cattle, and the cow let the wasp bite him, and when he hit him, his neck was broken.

From that time on, no matter what he did, his neck was always crooked. It is also because of this that he is a famous old bachelor in the village, a man in his fifties, and his wife has not said that he has grown so big, and the object has never been treated.

is crooked and celibate, so he extinguished his desire to marry a wife and devoted all his energy to his craft.

The iron tools he made were famous far and wide, and some of the farm tools and knives were more exquisite and durable than those sold in the shops in the county town.

But as I get older, my body and bones are getting worse day by day, and I gradually can't hold the hammer. As a result, business in the shop also deteriorated, and by the time I can remember, Lao Crooked was already a poor bachelor in the village.

After introducing the old crooked, let's talk about me, I am actually a very ordinary person.

In the early years, my parents were the last group of educated youths to join the queue, and when they arrived in the village, they went to work in the township government one after another. Therefore, the conditions at home are slightly better than those of the surrounding villagers.

Lin Laowei is an old man, and he only lives by repairing farm tools for the villagers, and his life is very hard. Fortunately, when I was a child, there was everything in the mountains. In early summer, he would go up to the mountains to pick wild vegetables, come back to dry them, and sell them to the city. In autumn, mushrooms, hazelnuts, walnuts, and pine nuts are picked.

Relying on these local souvenirs, although the small life is not good, it is also a good way to get by.

It was about the summer of the year I was six years old.

I remember that evening, a group of us children were at the head of the village, under a few big trees near the health center. Lin Lao Crooked also led his big black bull and smoked a cigarette alone.

During this period, it may be that he dislikes us bear children who are too noisy, so the old crooked turned his head and yelled: "Broken B child, go fucking home and sleep, and don't shout here." ”

Rural children are bears!

I'm not afraid of adults at all, seeing that Lin Lao roared crookedly, one of the friends named Ma was stunned, so he opened his mouth and scolded with a smile: "Lin Lao is crooked, his neck is crooked, he can't marry a daughter-in-law, and he is cold!" ”

When the bear children saw someone rising, they shouted along.

This made Lin Lao angry, and suddenly a spirit stood up, picked up a piece of broken soil and threw it at us.

The children are very smart, flashed, and didn't hit.

Lin Lao has the heart to chase, but his legs and feet are not very neat.

So, the old crooked stood in place, blushing and scolding: "Who taught him this?" I'm telling you! I'm old crooked, I'm sure to marry a big girl with yellow flowers! Damn, I can't get married, Lao Tzu is not surnamed Lin! Not surnamed Lin! ”

When the children heard this, they dispersed in a hurry, and only a few adults who were sitting together were far away to point out Lin Lao, and they couldn't stop snickering.

In fact, the old crooked can't marry a daughter-in-law, not because of his crooked neck, but because he is poor in the final analysis!

In his early years, when he was in good health, he had a sick mother at home, and all the money he earned was given to his old mother. Later, my mother finally closed her eyes and returned to the west, but her old crooked body was no longer good.

Therefore, although he found many people to say goodbye, as soon as the woman heard his name and inquired about his family, she refused as if they had discussed.

Therefore, it stands to reason that Lin Lao is also a hard-working person.

But as the saying goes, there is something hateful about the poor. Lin Lao Crooked does have many hateful things. For example, he loves to be greedy and cheap, and he borrows things from others and does not pay them back. Stealing chickens and ducks fed by others comes from drinking and eating meat. 、

The list goes on and on.

Probably because of this, although he had a miserable background, the people in the village were not willing to help him, not only did they not help, but when they met him on the road, most of them also bowed their heads, walked around, and never wanted to talk to him more.

In retrospect, the events of that night should have been a watershed moment.

Since that night, people in the village have rarely seen Lin Lao. Those who knew said that he went to Xishan to dig ginseng.

Xishan is the name of the soil, and it is the name of the local village. What is the real name of that mountain, sorry I don't know now.

The mountains are very high and extremely steep.

Of course, this is not the danger of the problem. The danger is that there are many snakes in the mountains, and weasels are often seen, and there are people in the village who have been fascinated by weasels.

Therefore, the children in the village usually dare not go to Xishan if they have nothing to do.

But as long as there is a rainstorm in the summer, the children like to go to a small river at the foot of the west mountain to dig for treasure.

What about the origin of this?

I can't tell you what time it was, but someone found a complete porcelain bowl on the beach by the river at the foot of the West Mountain. In addition, after that, a lot of bronzes were found in the next few years.

Some of these things were sold after changing hands, and some were sent to the city to be presented to the government.

Soon, there was an archaeological team, and I went around the West Mountain for more than a month, and when I left, I heard that there were only a dozen broken porcelain pieces.

After the archaeological team left, every rainy day, there would always be people in the village who went to the beach by the river to take a look around, hoping to pick up some treasures.

Later, an old man said that there was once an immortal in that place in Xishan. It is said that after a rain that year, the mountains were filled with clouds and mist, and then a Taoist priest held the dust in his hand, drove the crane, and slowly ascended to the sky.

Of course, it's all legend.

For the bear children in the village, fun is the first thing.

I've picked up a few broken porcelain tiles in the past, but they're too broken to be of any value, so I'm only excited for a while when I pick them up, and then I don't know where to throw them away.

But that was only the first few times, and then one time, I accidentally fell into the river by the small river at the bottom of the western mountain. The situation was urgent, I drank a few sips of water in a daze, and then I was completely unconscious, no, it was as if I had another dream, and I dreamed that I went to a place full of prairies. (Childhood memories, this part is really not very clear.) ）

Later, when I woke up, I found myself lying on my stomach in a rice field more than a mile down the river. At that time, the adults who found me told my parents that I had let the water wash away.

For this reason, I was given a lecture, and then I was forbidden to go to the West Mountain to play.

Lin Lao went to Xishan crookedly, and it was rumored in the village that this person must have wanted to try his luck in Xishan, and then find a treasure to get rich overnight, and the poor turned over.

This point of view was quickly unanimously agreed by the villagers, and they thought that Lin Laowei was simply not doing his job, and he couldn't find anything.

In a flash, half a month passed.

It's the height of summer, and it's extremely hot.

In the past half a month, I haven't seen Lin Lao Crooked in the village. Then on this day, it was about to rain heavily, and after the evening the weather was unusually hot and humid, and people gathered in the open space at the head of the village, gathered under the trees, chatting and enjoying the coolness.

A few bear boys and I were working on how to make a slingshot.

Suddenly, someone shouted: "Hey, isn't that old Lin crooked?" What's wrong with him, where did he come out? ”

I got up and looked up, only to see a figure in the hazy night, slowly staggering back from the path leading to the West Mountain.

In the blink of an eye, I was almost close, and I was startled when I took a closer look.

Lin Lao's clothes were all torn, and his elbows, knees, and face were full of blood marks. In addition, his face has obviously lost weight several times, and he is almost skinny.

Lin Lao Crooked walked like this, ignoring the fingers and pointing of the villagers, and only covered his chest with his hand, looking like his chest hurt, and as if he was afraid that something would fall.

The people in the village looked strange and scary, and they dodged and avoided it. If you are bold and troublesome, try to ask Lin Lao Crooked. The old crooked didn't pay attention to it, only stretched out a hand and waved, and then didn't speak again.

I was a child, and what I was thinking at the time was that Lin Lao Crooked should have fallen into the ravine, and it was not easy to pick up half a life and climb out again.

Then, I didn't think much about it, turned around and continued to learn slingshot skills with my friends.

It rained heavily that night, and thunder thundered in the sky.

In the middle of the night, I vaguely heard bursts of maniacal laughter coming from the crooked old house next door.

The laughter was incomparably hideous, as if a man had discovered some secret that made him both excited and afraid.

I was so frightened that a spirit sat up.

My parents thought I was startled by the thunder, so they turned on the light to comfort me, and then turned off the lights and went to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up, how I thought, how I felt that Lin Lao was crooked. But for a while, I couldn't think of anything wrong. So I gave up and still went to play with my friends.

It's been almost a week.

Lin Lao is bored at home every day, and he can only see green smoke coming out of the roof chimney at mealtime.

This shows that there are still living people in the house.

It was also during this week that something big happened in my family.

Because of their excellent work and good performance, their work in the township government is about to be transferred. It will be a prefecture-level city more than 100 kilometers away!

This means that I am going to say goodbye to my life in the mountain village and become a city kid.

Of course, for a six-year-old bear child, I didn't have that much insight, I just thought the city would be more interesting.

Almost on the ninth day after Lin Lao Crooked returned from Xishan, I saw him in the village.

At that time, he was radiant, although he was extremely thin, he had a good complexion, and he would take the initiative to greet people when he walked.

On the same day, Lin Lao left the village and went to the town twenty miles away.

When he came back in the afternoon, Lin Lao led a big fat pig,

Lin Lao drove the pig around the village, and when he met people, he said: "Everyone is from the same village, inform everyone, I have changed my career!" Pork is sold instead! When I have time, everyone goes up to my yard to buy meat. ”

Everyone felt strange in their hearts, but they couldn't say anything, so they just echoed and thanked them.

Lin Lao went home crookedly and put the pigpen in the yard.

Subsequently, he began to run through the slaughtering procedures, and then applied for the industrial and commercial business license, and after a toss, it took another half a month.

When the height of summer is almost over.

Lin Lao's crooked pork spot opened.

On the day of the opening, he deliberately killed the big fat pig he bought before! Then, beckon the whole village to come over and eat pork.

Although the old crooked reputation is not good, this time it is rare to have a treat. So the crowd flocked to his house like crazy.

My parents were busy with work transfers, and I didn't have time to go, so I went to eat with my friends.

Cooking, serving, and drinking are all things for adults, and children can't get involved. I went to the yard of Lin Lao's crooked house with my friends to play.

went around and came to the backyard of the old crooked house.

There are a lot of plum trees and sand fruit trees in the backyard, so we wonder if the fruit is ripe, and if so, we will pick a few to taste it.

As he was walking around under the tree, a seven-year-old boy named 'Big Snot' suddenly said, "Hey, you see, there seems to be a pig barking in this area." ”

A few of the children calmed down and listened carefully.

Sure enough, somewhere in the bottom of the backyard, there seemed to be a pig roaring.

Ma was the most courageous, and after looking around, he led us to a field where leeks were grown. Take a look at the ground, good fellow, there's a vegetable cellar in the middle of the ground!

We were curious, so we walked over one after another, squatted down around the lid of the vegetable cellar, and listened carefully, and sure enough, there seemed to be a pig barking underneath.

Ma shook his head and said, "What does this old man Lin want to do, why did he raise pigs in the vegetable cellar?" ”

Big Snot echoed, "yes, hey, let's lift the lid and let the pig out." ”

"Okay!" When he spoke, the horse was stunned and was about to do it.

Suddenly.

Behind us, there was a movement.

"Little B cub, if you dare to lift the vegetable cellar, I will kill you!"

I turned my head, damn it! Lin Lao didn't know when he was holding a big kitchen knife in his hand, with a gloomy face, staring at us through gritted teeth.

The friends were scared.

In the next second, the big snot roared: "Oh mom, I'm scared to death!" ’

Immediately, the friends scattered in a hurry and ran wildly!

To be honest, I scared Lin Lao crookedly enough, especially the eyes in his eyes when he spoke, they were really fierce and murderous. I believe that if we don't run and really lift the lid, Lin Lao Crooked is very likely to wield a knife and cut people.

I ran home in one go, ate the food left by my parents in the pot, and I lay alone on the kang and was stunned.

That's not right!

According to my observation, Lin Lao Crooked seems to have only bought back one pig! So, where did that pig come from in the vegetable cellar? Also, even if I didn't see it, he bought it home, but why did he have to lock it up in the vegetable cellar?

I couldn't figure it out.

The next day.

Lin Lao's crooked pork shop was officially opened, but because the people in the village did not eat much meat. Therefore, his pork was sent to the butchers in the city to be sold.

We're about to move, and my parents are often busy cleaning up our house in the city. Usually no one takes care of me, so my mother left some money for Aunt Zhang in Qiantun, and Aunt Zhang took care of me and ate directly at her place.

During the day, I spent half of my time at Aunt Zhang's house. The other half of the time, I went back to my yard to play.

That's it, let me discover a secret of Lin Lao's crookedness.

His pigs! I saw a slaughtered pork, never saw him, bought a pig and came back to kill!

And, as if his pigs were not kept in the yard, but only alone in the vegetable cellar in the backyard.

I'm a sixteen-year-old kid and I don't know what's going on.

It wasn't until five days later that the old crooked man came back with a big color TV.

There are people in the village who are suspicious, this old crooked money is making money too fast. It's only been a few days, and I've made back the money for a color TV set. This one......

But then, color TV is just an introduction.

In the next few days, a big gold chain appeared on the old crooked neck, and there were more big gold rings on his fingers. That's not all, he smoked soft China and drank Moutai. In addition, he stopped selling pork, and only went to a few nearby villages every day to find some ruffians to gamble.

It's changing so fast.

In just ten days, the old crooked man has changed from a poor ghost who can't open the pot to a local tyrant.

A few days later, the old crooked got back the latest mobile phone......

The people in the village said that Lao Crooked must have dug up a treasure in Xishan, and he said that killing pigs and selling them was just a pretense for deception, and he invited the villagers to eat meat, but also to seal everyone's mouths.

There are different theories, but that's the general truth.

If so, that's fine, but then something very strange happened that completely shocked the whole village.

It's almost Mid-Autumn Festival.

That afternoon, the crooked man brought a girl from the town.

The girl is very beautiful, but listening to the adults, it seems that the girls with crooked collars are not good people, they are all female hooligans who cheat men out of money.

The only impression I have of is that there is a not-so-obvious red mole on the girl's chin, and I only feel that this red mole is very eye-catching, very eye-catching, and very easy to recognize.

Well, let's talk about what happened that night.

I don't remember this part very really, and some of it was sorted out for me by a psychiatrist when I grew up. So, there may be some irregularities in the order and details.

After the old crooked girl was brought back, her parents went home one after another and began to spend the last Mid-Autumn Festival in the village.

I was alone, so I went to the village to find friends to play.

It's not dark, and it's already slightly cool. There was no one in the village, so I walked around and was about to go home, when I suddenly heard someone call me: "Hey, that baby." ”

I was stunned, turned my head to look, and saw an old man lying under the root of the tree.

The old man was dressed very strangely, it was cold this day, and he was wearing a torn vest, and he was lying under a tree resting, and there were two bricks under his head.

I was worried that it was a trafficker who abducted children, so I didn't dare to talk to me and turned around to leave.

The old man spoke again: "Baby, did you almost drown in the small river west of your village?" ”

"Ahh I was startled, turned my head and asked, "How do you know?" ”

The old man smiled: "How do I know, I heard what people say." ”

I have a black face.

Turn around and go again.

The old man said, "Baby, tell me something, has anyone in your village suddenly become very rich recently?" ”

I was stunned, thought for a moment and said, "Why are you telling you?" ”

The old man reached out and took out a yellow paper bag from a torn black leather pocket beside him.

Then, in front of me, he opened the bag, and inside was two neatly stacked mung bean cake-like things.

"Baby, be obedient, tell the master, and the master will give you cakes to eat."

I shook my head and said, "What if you're going to poison you?" Don't eat. ”

The old man took a piece of cake casually, threw it into his mouth, chewed it and swallowed it.

"Look, I'm fine."

Children, it's easy to deceive, I thought about it at the time, didn't hesitate, and went over and said: "The one who became rich is called Lin Lao, and he lives next to our house." ”

"Ha, okay, come, baby eat cake!"

I carefully reached out and picked up the mung bean cake-like thing and tried to take a bite.

At that moment, I was shocked when the pastry touched the tip of my tongue. This stuff is so delicious. Sweet, and there is an indescribable, inexplicable fragrance. This...... What are you doing? This one.

I couldn't wait, swallowed the cake in my mouth, and started to chew it in a big bite.

The old man sat up, looked at me with a kind of pity, and then said slowly: "Baby, listen to the master, tonight, don't go out of the house!" If you have an urgent need to urinate, you have to wait until the middle of the night to come out, okay? ”

I nodded desperately and said, "Okay! ”

The old man hehele: "The baby is so well-behaved, it really hurts!" ”

When I had finished eating the old man's cake, the old man got up, patted off the dirt under his body, took his coat, and staggered away in the direction of the town.

I thought about it, thought it was funny, and turned around and went home.

On the way, I met the girl who came back from the old crooked leader.

I saw her scolding as she walked: "Old dead thing, perverted, really perverted!" Hum! What's so great about being rich, I've never seen anything like this! ”

I don't know what perverted means, but at that time, I guess I didn't understand it as a 'good person'.

Back home.

Officially start preparing for dinner, and then the Mid-Autumn Festival is time to admire the moon.

My parents cooked a lot of food, and I ate a lot. In the evening, when I brought out fruit, I ate many bananas, grapes, peaches, and pears.

A child's stomach is not stable at all.

This time, I was in a hurry.

After dark, I ran away.

But I was afraid of being scolded by my parents, so I didn't dare to say it, and I went to the thatched house twice, and I felt that there should be nothing wrong.

So, wash the kang and sleep.

In the middle of the night, I woke up with a tummy tease. When I opened my eyes, it was pitch black all around, and my parents next to me were asleep.

I want to stiffen for a while, I can't bear my stomach, and I'm afraid I'll pull the quilt if I stand up again.

I couldn't help it, I gritted my teeth, carefully put on my clothes and pants, found a flashlight by the kang, took the paper, quietly pushed the door open, and went outside to make it convenient.

As soon as the door opened, a cool air came to my face.

It's raining on this day, but fortunately, the rain is not heavy, but I am not afraid of the rain.

But when I went out, I was scared again. Why, the thatched house is too far away, I'm a little afraid of the dark, no way, I gritted my teeth, I plan to go to the vegetable field for convenience, and it can be regarded as fertilizing my own land.

So, go around to the backyard, find a place, squat, and ...... It's easy.

As soon as I wanted to get up, suddenly, I heard a very muffled scream: "Ah...... No, don't ...... No! Other! Stop, stop! ”

I was startled, and hurriedly lifted my pants and glanced in the direction from which the voice came.

Well, the backyard of the old crooked house, the vegetable cellar, that's where the sound comes from.

"What's going on?" I was curious, so I leaned on the fence and took a closer look.

As a result, there was no movement.

I watched it again.

Suddenly, bang! Bang!

After two loud bangs, the lid of the vegetable cellar flew away with a swish.

I was shocked and shook my flashlight.

Then, I saw a woman with only half of her face, wearing nothing on her body, naked, slowly crawling out of the vegetable cellar.

At the time, I was really scared silly.

The woman had only half of her face, and the other half was covered in blood in the flashlight. But despite this, I could still see that there was a distinct red mole on the woman's chin.

The woman crawled out and met my flashlight directly, giggling as she walked.

Subsequently......

Another human hand appeared at the mouth of the vegetable cellar.

Soon, with the strength of the human hand, another woman with no clothes on her body crawled out.

Only this time, the woman's face is intact, and she also has a distinct red mole on her chin.

One, two, three!

In the few minutes I was scared, a total of five women came out of the vegetable cellar.

And, except for the woman with half a face, the rest of the people, all over their bodies, including their appearances, were exactly the same.........

They just stared at me with their eyes wide open, and stared blankly at me in the light of my flashlight on a rainy night. In addition, they move very slowly, slowly, as if they have no conscious mind to control them.

I'm really stupid!

Totally stupid!

At this moment, in the vegetable cellar...... There was another scream. I heard another fierce fight, and soon two heads arched out of the cellar.

In the flashlight, I saw it clearly.

That's exactly the same two, Lin Lao Crooked!

The next second, the flashlight fell to the ground, and I tilted my head and fainted.

When I woke up, I found that it was already dawn and I was lying on my bed in the hospital with my mom and dad next to me.

Seeing me wake up, my mother spoke first: "You stupid boy, you don't tell your mother when you have diarrhea, you are outside by yourself, you are dehydrated, and you faint." If it weren't for that old man, you wouldn't have been seriously ill this night outside. ”

I'll admit, I didn't listen to a word of my mother's words in my head.

Later, I stayed in the hospital for three days, which were basically unconscious, so to speak, just scared silly.

I was discharged from the hospital three days later, and I went back to the village with my parents.

But when I got to the door, I wouldn't go in.

While waiting at the door, I vaguely heard passers-by say that Lin Lao's crooked family had an accident, and the police had come, and then it seemed that Lin Lao crooked went up to the West Mountain, found a stone stone, jumped down and fell to his death.

But another person said that Lin Lao Crooked did not die, but let the police take him away. It is also said that Lin Lao Crooked left with an old man......

A group of villagers passed by me.

I was dazed and feeling very confused......

We didn't stay in the village long that day, my parents took a few things, and I moved back to the city.

Since then, as I grew up, I have been living in a hazy way. I vaguely remember that from the age of six to sixteen, there seemed to be someone who had been helping me, educating me, and cultivating me. But my parents said it was my delusion, because they remembered that after I moved to the city, only an old man in the neighborhood treated me a few times, and then I often went to his place to play.

Sixteen was a watershed moment for me.

Before, all I remember was this horrible incident in my childhood when I was six years old. In the next ten years, all I can remember is the days with my family.

After the age of sixteen, I suddenly became very cheerful and lively. Then my academic performance improved by leaps and bounds, and I was admitted to a key high school all the way, went to university, and until I graduated from university, I successfully went to a psychological clinic and became a small psychological hotline operator.

OK, that's a little memory I've put together.