In the courtyard, the man's cursing was getting louder and louder, but Guo Ziniang's sobbing was getting smaller and smaller, and just when Xing Ruyi couldn't help frowning, he suddenly heard a loud noise, followed by the cry of a baby's hissing and cracking of his lungs.

"No, I beg you, let my fruit sleep a little longer, I beg you."

"A dead child still occupies my bed, you don't like it, I don't like it. I'm telling you, find a place to bury this unfortunate child. ”

The man kicked something again, and after a while, he came out of the yard swearing. Guo Ziniang followed, holding the child with a few fresh blood marks on her arm.

"Auntie." Xing Ru thought that the man had walked away, and then his back left the wall and walked to Guozi Niang: "Guozi he ......"

"Ruyi, the fruit is gone, my poor fruit is gone."

"Did he hit it?"

"It's not! It's me, it's me. The fruit lady couldn't stop crying: "When I passed by the meat stall yesterday, I saw that the bones were still fresh, and there were still some flesh on the bones that had not been cleaned. When I got up early, I stewed the bones and gave them to the fruit. I never thought that the bones were poisonous, and not long after the fruit was eaten, people would die. ”

"Did the boss who sold the meat give you the bones?"

"No, it was thrown on the ground."

"Even if it's thrown on the ground, how can it be poisonous?"

"Yes, I also asked, but the owner of the meat seller said that his bones were clean. Since no one in the town liked to gnaw on bones, he threw the bones on the ground and let the wild dogs and cats eat them. It's been several years, and I've never heard of cats and dogs being poisoned again. ”

"It's a little weird, but the fruit is gone, so don't be too sad and sad, auntie."

In her arms was the man's child, who was also Guozi's younger brother. Before the child was born, although the man also beat and scolded the fruit, he would still give him a hot meal to eat, but with the birth of the child, the little bit of good life of the fruit was gone.

"Ruyi, thank you." Guozi Niang wiped away her tears: "Auntie still has to go to the coffin shop, his father dislikes the fruit and refuses to bury him, but my poor fruit, since he became my son, has not lived a good day." He's gone, and I can't leave him without a place to sleep. ”

"Does Auntie have any money?"

Guozi Niang shook her head: "I have a hairpin, which was given to me by his father when he married Guozi." That hairpin should still be worth some money. ”

"Isn't that hairpin my aunt's thoughts?"

Everyone in the town knows that although Guozi's father is sick, he is a very good person. He has a good temper and dexterous hands, and although Guozi Niang married him, he also suffered some grievances, but his face was always happy. But since the fruit was sold to the current man by the fruit's own grandmother, the fruit lady's face is scarred except for tears. Some people persuaded her to leave with the fruit, but she said that if she went to a foreign country, she would never see the fruit father again, and before and after the Qingming Festival, no one would worry about going to the fruit father to burn clothes and clear the tomb, and talk.

Xing Ruyi pitied Guoziniang, and was even more disgusted with the Guozi grandmother who sold Guoziniang and Guozi together.

Guo Ziniang's leg also seemed to be injured, and when she walked, she limped, and several times, she almost fell to the ground with the child in her arms. Xing Ruyi's nose was a little pantothenic, she leaned in front of the fox and asked, "If I shed tears now, can you treat it as if you didn't see it." ”

"Do you want to help the fruit and the fruit's mother?" The fox squatted down and looked at Xing Ruyi's somewhat reddened eyes: "I have a way." ”

"What's the method?" Xing Ruyi asked, wiping the corners of his eyes with his hand.

"You catch up with the fruit lady and ask her if she still wants to see the fruit. If we meet, we will wait for her at night, west of town, under the old locust tree. "The fox is only patient with Xing Ruyi, and he will only say so many things to Xing Ruyi.

"Can you bring the fruit back to life?" Xing Ruyi glanced at the puppy in his arms, and his eyes instantly lit up.

The fox shook his head: "The fruit is different from the puppy, the puppy comes back from the dead, no one thinks it is unusual, if the fruit comes back from the dead, it will probably be regarded as a monster." ”

Xing Ruyi bit her mouth and thought about it, but did not speak. She knew very well in her heart that the dead could not be resurrected, even if the fox could, but not so. Because then, adults will be afraid.

"Can you really make the fruit lady see the fruit again? The fruit died after eating the bones stewed by the fruit lady, I don't know if he will blame his mother, but the fruit mother blames herself. ”

"Go ahead, tell the fruit lady what I just said." The fox touched Xing Ruyi's head, Xing Ruyi let go, let the puppy rush up and grabbed Guoziniang's trouser leg first, and ran over after her.

The fox didn't know what Xing Ruyi told Guozi Niang, but she knew that when she came back, the expression on her face was much more relaxed.

That night, Xing Ruyi, who had always gone to bed early, stayed up late for the first time. After she pretended to be asleep and concealed Aunt Jiang'er, she secretly got up, opened the window of the bedroom, and then lay on the bed, motionless and watched the heavenly awakening. When it was about time, she got up from the bed, and as soon as she reached the window, she felt a warm breeze blowing, and when she opened her eyes again, she was already under the old locust tree.

Guo Zi Niang had already arrived, and she did not take the little child with her, but sat alone under the old locust tree with her head down. Hearing the voice, she raised her face, and after seeing clearly that the one standing in front of her was Xing Ruyi, she got up hurriedly and asked, "Where is the fruit?" Will my fruit really come? ”

"Did Auntie bury the fruit?"

Guozi Niang hesitated for a moment, her eyes were red and nodded: "His father didn't let Guozi lie at home anymore, so I could only buy a coffin in a hurry and ask someone to bury him next to his biological father." I'm afraid that Grandma Guozi won't want to, so I didn't even set up a tombstone for Guozi. I'm sorry for the fruit, I don't deserve to be his mother. ”

"It's okay, he won't care about that."

"I regret it, if I had paid more attention to it at that time and took more care of my father who had some fruits, he would not have left early because of his deterioration, and the fruits would have been favored and protected by him, and he would not have had to suffer these grievances later."

"Life and death have fate, wealth is in the sky, and people's lives are destined by God." When these words came out, even Xing Ruyi himself was stunned. She looked back at the fox behind her, and said to Guozi Niang, "Did you bring Auntie's things?" ”

"Brought." Guo Ziniang took out a handful of white rice: "Is this okay?" ”

"I don't know if it's going to work. This method was told to me by a person who used to come to my house to buy sauce. Xing Ruyi knew that Guozi Niang couldn't see the fox, so she could only make up lies. Fortunately, Guozi Niang didn't care about this, she put all the white rice in Xing Ruyi's hands, and muttered, "It's okay, I just want to say sorry to my fruit." If you can find his soul, your aunt will be grateful. If you can't find it, your aunt won't blame you. ”

"Auntie, don't worry, I will definitely get the fruit back." Xing Ruyi let go, and the white rice fell into the fox's hands, but in Guo Ziniang's opinion, the white rice was floating in mid-air.

Xing Ruyi's eyes looked at the white rice without blinking, only to see the fox's palm flipped, and the white rice was wrapped in a layer of silver in an instant, followed by a black whirlpool appeared in mid-air, and those whirlpools kept rotating until they sucked in all the white rice one by one.

"Ruyi, those rice ......"

"They went to look for fruit." Xing Ruyi coughed lightly, and repeated what the fox told her word for word to Guozi Niang: "It's still early, Auntie sit down and wait for a while." ”

"No!" Guo Ziniang shook her head lightly: "Huangquan Road is far away, and I don't know what the situation is on the road." My fruit is still so small, he goes on the road alone, and he doesn't know whether to be afraid or not. What if he was scared? What if I can't hear him when he calls his mother? Ruyi, I really regret it, I regret not having given birth to this little child, if it weren't for him, I would have gone with my fruit. ”

"Auntie said that, Brother Guozi will be sad."

"Fruit liked this brother very much, and he always said that with his brother, he was no longer a nuisance child. In two years, when my brother is older, he will be able to play with him. But how did he know that it was because of this younger brother that his father hated him more and more, thinking that he was redundant in this family. The palms and backs of my hands are full of meat, and the fruit and my brother are my sons, and I ...... I just don't know what to do. ”

As soon as Guo Ziniang finished speaking, the front suddenly lit up, and the old locust tree behind her was also whirring. As the wind became stronger, all the leaves of those locust trees fell, and they flew into the light and shadow in a whirl, gradually forming the appearance of a person.

"Fruit!" The fruit lady screamed, and the leaves scattered with a "bang", and the fruit stood up from the light and shadow. Around his neck hung a necklace made of rice, which looked very similar to the ones that the fruit lady had brought before, and which made the fox cast a spell disappear.

"Auntie." The fruit screamed and ran forward half a step, but then he stopped again: "A-Niang, don't cry, the fruit is fine, the fruit is very good." ”

"The fruit, it's all bad for the mother, it's the mother who hurt you."

"It's none of A-Niang's business, everything is chosen by the fruit itself." Guozi looked at Guozi Niang calmly: "Guozi is an ominous person, if it weren't for Guozi, Daddy wouldn't have died; If it weren't for the fruit, A-Niang wouldn't have been forced by her grandmother to marry that person; If it weren't for the fruit, A-Niang wouldn't have to be beaten and scolded by him. If it weren't for the fruit, A-Niang wouldn't be so embarrassed and sad; The fruit is gone, and Ah Niang and her younger brother must live a good life. When the younger brother grows up, if that person still beats A-Niang, A-Niang will take her younger brother away. ”

"No, the fruit, it's all A-Niang's fault, it's all A-Niang's fault." The fruit lady cried and threw herself in front of the fruit, stretched out her hand, but only hugged a fragment of the ground.