"Do you like to eat liver?"

"I ...... Dislike. ”

"Why?"

"Why? I don't know. Probably because the taste and texture of the liver are not very good. ”

"What does liver taste like?"

"I can't describe it, it's a little fishy, and it tastes weird, especially when the smell spreads in my mouth, and I can't help but feel like vomiting. In short, hard to swallow. ”

"You, why do you feel this way?"

"Probably...... It's innate. ”

"People are born with no taste to discern." The mother-in-law's gloomy gaze fell on the sleeping baby girl: "Didn't Madame think that you don't like the taste of liver because you ate too much liver when you were young?" ”

Xing Ruyi was stunned for a moment, and then nodded: "Maybe you're right, but I don't remember." ”

"What does the lady remember? For example, a certain food that you ate when you were a child and don't want to eat it now. ”

"Blood, pig blood." Xing Ruyi frowned: "It's a very vague memory, and I don't know if it's accurate." ”

In Xing Ruyi's mind, the outline of a house gradually appeared, which was the home of his childhood in his memory. There is a large plane tree in the yard, and when summer comes, its dense branches form a natural awning. The cicadas chirp one after another, accompanied by the heat of summer.

The kitchen, too, is small, and the walls are made of a mixture of green bricks and adobe and mud. When it rains, the rain will flow down the layers of cyan tiles and fall on the stone slab in front of the door, splashing one after another. My parents are very busy, busy with the farmland in the field, busy with the family's livelihood, and busy making money.

I can't remember why, but for a while, my father always brought back pots of fresh pig's blood. The blood, which was dark red and slimy, smelled a peculiar smell when you got closer. Whenever the father brought back fresh pig blood, the mother would put down what she was doing, tie an apron made of rags, go into the kitchen to boil the pig blood into blood clots, and wait for it to cool and solidify before bringing it out for her to eat.

Xing Ruyi thought about it carefully, and the pig blood in his memory seemed to have no taste.

Now, she resists this kind of thing from the bottom of her heart, even when she goes out to eat duck blood vermicelli soup, she will subconsciously pick out the duck blood in it.

So, what about the liver?

When she was young, did she eat a lot of liver like pig's blood? After all, in that materially poor childhood, these things were excellent nutrients in the eyes of the elders.

Xing Ruyi thought hard for a while, but he didn't find any memories related to the liver. Maybe she's really someone who doesn't like this kind of thing by nature, she thought.

The mother-in-law squinted at her, as if trying to get into her mind and find something that would prove what she had just said.

Xing Ruyi turned her head slightly, staggered her mother-in-law's eyes, and asked, "Mother-in-law, ...... Do you remember how Ah Guang's father died? I mean, did the government explain what caused the blood hole in Ah Guang's father's chest? ”

"Sharp weapons." The mother-in-law gently spit out two words and moved her gaze to the young man named Ah Guang: "The word sharp weapon was said by the government, as for what this sharp weapon is, the people in the government did not say it clearly, and we did not dare to ask in detail." We only know that Ah Guang's father is gone. ”

"Liver again?"

"Yes, liver again." The mother-in-law closed her eyes, and her expression revealed some slight resistance. "When the news got out, the big guys were a little scared. When a person dies, it's nothing, but when a person dies, the liver is gouged out, which is a bit unusual. Privately, everyone is quietly spreading that there are monsters in the town, except for a monster who specializes in digging people's hearts. Just when the big guys were talking in private, and before a result could be discussed, something even stranger happened in the town. ”

"Is it someone whose liver has been gouged out again?"

The mother-in-law shook her head.

"Because of the successive murders, the whole town is uneasy. At that time, the big guy even had to sleep with half of his eyes open.

That day, there was wind. The wind creaked the windows of the house, which made people listen to it, and they were a little scared, as if something was going to happen.

As soon as it was dawn, the big guy was called out by a strange sound. It was the sound of horses' hooves and bells mingling together. The bells weren't crisp, but stuffy, as if they were choked by something.

The child's father got up first. After getting up, I knocked on the children's door to make sure they were okay before returning to the room and dressing up. Later, I got up too. Because I was thinking about that voice, I couldn't help but go to the gate and take a look. Through the crack in the door, you can see the empty road outside, and there is nothing on the road. Just as I was relieved and about to return to my room, I heard someone next door babbling, followed by the sound of the door opening. ”

"Did you see something?"

"A packet of things, hot, right at the door." The mother-in-law continued: "I opened the door when I heard a voice next door. When I opened it, I saw something like that. It is placed in the middle of the door. When I leaned over to check, I smelled a scent, the smell of meat. Immediately after, I heard the voice next door again. He said, "Who delivered this dish?" I reached out and touched it, it felt hot, and when I opened it, it looked like a dish, a dish wrapped in two layers of paper. The innermost layer is oiled paper, the kind that is often used to wrap meat. ”

The mother-in-law stretched out her hand and gestured in mid-air.

"Before I could see what it was, I heard a scream from next door, followed by the sound of something being thrown to the ground. I looked up, and before I could see the next door neighbor's face, I heard him cursing. He said, "The one who is going to die actually sent this kind of thing."

I asked, what is it?

He said, "It's liver, it's hot, it's cooked."

All at once my hand loosened.

I heard a crackling sound in my ears.

The neighbor next door heard the voice and ran over, and after seeing what was clearly on it, he said: Why do you have it at home, and it is exactly the same as mine.

On that day, almost everyone in our town received such a cooked liver. ”

"Did you report it? Did anyone from the government investigate? ”

"The case was reported, and even the county lord came in a sedan chair with a pair of eyes that hadn't woken up yet. But I can check and check, and nothing is clear. A murder had just occurred in the town, and the dead had their livers removed. Now, we all have a dish made of liver in front of our door. Although the dish tasted very fragrant, no one dared to taste it. ”

"Is it a lost liver?" Xing Ruyi asked in a low voice, but in his heart he thought it was impossible.

"I don't know, maybe it is, maybe not. The work in the government office could not be tested. The county lord only said that people's livers are not so big, and they are not so much, so they can't cook so many dishes. But when we asked the county lord where these things came from, the county lord couldn't tell him clearly.

After that day, the people in the town became more and more secretive about the word "liver", and the dishes related to liver in the restaurants were also withdrawn. That word, as if it was a curse, whoever mentioned it would be unlucky. ”

"Not long after that happened, we heard about Wang Huzi's family." The young man named Ah Guang took over: "We heard that Wang Huzi stole the tomb of a fox fairy and took away the fox fairy's things. We suspect that Wang Hai and my father's deaths were all done by fox fairies. Think about it, this Wang Hai is a child, and my father is a kind person all his life, how could others kill them for no reason? Even if my father and Wang Hai were unlucky and were taken by the murderer. If you kill it, you will kill it, why do you have to dig out your heart and liver? The only things that can do this are those things in the mountains. ”

"Have you gone to find the king's beard?"

"Go! Not only did I go, but many of us went. As a result, when the king beard heard this, not only did he not feel the slightest guilt, but his attitude was arrogant, and he only said let's show evidence. Naturally, we had no evidence, and after a while, we dispersed. After a while, Wang Huzi suddenly carried a fox into the street, saying that the fox fairy had been caught by him. Before we came back to our senses, the fox was ...... by Wang Huzi" Ah Guang pursed his lips: "After that, it will be those things that happened to Wang Huzi's family." ”

"What's going on with Manniang's husband?" Xing Ruyi asked: "When did the matter of the robbers happen?" ”

"I know that." The scholar, who had been silent for a long time, stood up: "It should be during the time when Wang Huzi killed the fox and his eldest son died." Because the news spread slowly, we don't know exactly when the fight began, but we know that the most ferocious thing was those days.

When Wang Huzi killed the fox, many people in the town went to see the excitement. The fox, unlike ordinary foxes, didn't struggle when he saw Wang Huzi holding a knife, but just showed us all of them. That look makes people feel hairy in their hearts. Wang Huzi himself was afraid, and the day after he killed the fox, the gate of Wang Huzi's house was locked, and he did not reappear until his eldest son died. It was during this time that we heard about the bandits. Some people say that it was Wang Huzi who seized the gold and silver treasures of the fox fairy and was known to the bandits, so the bandits went around looting the village, in order to find Wang Huzi and find what Wang Huzi hid. ”

"Do you think it's true?"

The scholar shook his head.

"Did you see the bandits?"

The scholar shook his head again.

"Nope! In the town, it seems that only the husband of the man saw it, so he was killed. ”

"Unreasonable!" Xing Ruyi groaned: "Since it is a robber who looted, how can he only go to rob the Manniang family." Besides, you just talked about it for so long, and I didn't hear the voice of the full mother. This shows that Man Niang has never seen bandits, and what she knows, I'm afraid it's the same as what you've heard. That is, her husband saw the bandit and was hunted down. ”

As soon as Xing Ruyi's words fell, the eyes of everyone in the courtyard invariably condensed to Man Niang's face.

Man Niang bit her lip and lowered her eyebrows: "I really haven't seen bandits." ”