The dean's grandmother has entered old age, and the disease is draining her energy little by little, Ah Xiang and Tian are each pregnant with ghosts, and want to replace them, but they don't dare to move half a thought, because our group of scum has grown up, I am 18 years old, and the ghost brother is 25 years old, and they are all adults, what power do they have to rely on to subdue us? Whether it's cynicism or obvious mockery, for me, they have lost their strength, no, they no longer have this opportunity and ability, they still have to rely on us to go out to find food, they have finally fallen under me completely.

It was with pain and despair that I had left the family I hated and looked for another strange place. But I am more confident and stronger than before, and I will not be afraid or retreat in the face of oppression, because the wounds that once rended my heart and lungs have gradually healed, and even the resentment of murder has gradually subsided.

The inanimate things are still the same, but the living things have changed their appearance, and all of them are rushing to my side like frozen animals approaching the flames—this is life.

The dean's grandmother had a stroke a month ago and didn't speak for three days, muttering to herself. It wasn't until yesterday morning that Ah Xiang understood that she had been calling my name, and finally Ah Xiang heard it clearly, it was: "Call Mao Jiujiu,—— go and call Mao Jiujiu, I have something to say to her." "I didn't think so, Ah Xiang lifted her apron to wipe away the tears that seemed to be springing up, "The dean's mother's illness soon got worse. She was completely unconscious. I called her and talked to her, but she sometimes didn't even recognize me.

But when her mind was confused, she became more and more agitated and kept shouting, 'Cat Jiujiu, Cat Jiujiu', that I agreed to see her.

In the evening, Ah Xiang came over and called me: "Mao Jiujiu, the dean called you, she is sober." ”

I opened the dean's room, which used to be where she used to reprimand me. There was a lit kerosene lamp with a lampshade on the table, and the sky had become dark, and the whole room was shrouded in ominous silence. Everything was the same as before, the big bed, the dresser, the polished carpet, the old sofa that had collapsed, and on the sofa, I was always punished for kneeling no less than a hundred times. There was still a rattan stick in her room that had shocked me, and it had pulled my trembling hands and my neck as hard as I could.

She had shrunk to the point of almost skin, bloodless, her sleep was intermittent, but she was still so stern and unforgiving, she raised her eyebrows slightly, and how many times she had cast hateful and disgusted glances at me, and every time so, the memories of my childhood of fear and sorrow were resurrected! Her naturally cruel character is impossible to disappear,

I approached the bed, lifted the curtain, and leaned down toward the pillow that was folded high, the oil lamp swaying through the faint light of the smoke, oh my God, how did she get so old! I thought to myself. I sat in the corner of her bed.

I gently held her hand outside the quilt, I couldn't believe that a woman who was once as strong as an ox was now weak, and I tried not to get angry with someone who was on the verge of death—because she had taken me in and given me a respite.

"Mama Dean, did you call me?"

Her face moved towards me, like a sleepwalker, silent, her stiff neck moved inch by inch, and she looked at me in a trance, her eyes as hard as stone, her tireless vitality was gone, and the eyes that looked straight at me were completely broken.

"Who are you?" She looked at me in surprise, as if surprised, but didn't lose control, "I don't know you at all—what about Ah Xiang?" ”

"You just asked Ah Xiang to call me, I'm Mao Jiujiu."

"Cat Ninety-Nine!" She repeated, "Mao Jiujiu, I'm familiar with your fox face, big eyes, and arrogant demeanor. You're like—Gege! No, no, you're not a cat ninety-nine! ”

I didn't speak, but quietly looked at the dying old man.

"But," she said weakly, "it may be a hallucination, and I don't know my mind now, and I miss my master so much, so I see similar people in my imagination." Besides, 18 years have passed, and things have long been different. ”

I couldn't communicate with her in her confusion, I wanted to turn around and get up.

"Stop!" "I have one more thing to tell you, he always threatens me—constantly threatens me with his death or mine, I don't want to betray my master, I don't want to, I am forced." My good son, although he has been messing with a group of ruffians and ruining his body while he is alive, he is really not very smart, they will do whatever it takes to cheat him out of his money, but his good son, I don't allow anyone to kill him, master, why don't you care about him. ”

I was tempted by the smell of conspiracy, and the news was so shocking that I didn't know where to start: "Who is your master?" ”

But she came to her senses in a moment, and she withdrew her hand, and I immediately felt her opinion of me, her feelings for me—not the same, all the time. She couldn't have cared for me at the last minute like any other child, she thought I was bad.

An anger arose, but I decided to keep it under control, no matter what happened to the dean, who was now a powerless patient in front of me—a ghostly empty shelf.

"I haven't lost my memory yet, are you triumphant now, the whole courtyard has to be under your jurisdiction—" said the dean's mother, his eyes wandered, her tone had begun to drift, her vitality was really hurt, it turned out how strong she was, she turned over anxiously, and wanted to straighten it with the quilt. One of my butts was sitting right on top of a quilt, and when she caught me pressing her quilt, she immediately got angry.

"Don't press my quilt, who are you?" She was in a state of confusion again, trying to wake herself up from a semi-coma.

Although she is so sick, the children in the courtyard will still be frightened by her and tremble like leaves, and I will not let this old woman scare me, and I will never let her come and bully me again.

"Dean, why do you hate me so much?"

She fell into a state of chaos again: "No one can understand how much trouble this child has caused me, she is a heavy burden, her character is really incomprehensible, she will lose her temper if she doesn't know what, and she is always stubborn, I really want to drive her away, far away, but why should I leave her life." ”

I challenged her: "I know how much you hate me, why are you spying on me?" ”

She fell into a coma again.

More than ten days passed, and I didn't talk to her except for that day, and she was always in a state of unconsciousness and weakness. Her former right-hand men, Ah Xiang and Tian, didn't see much loyalty, and they didn't do their best, slipping away as much as they could, and taking what they could.

I wanted to go upstairs and see the dying dean's grandmother again. She was lying there, and although Ah Xiang could take care of her, she also had to go out to support her family, so she could only occasionally come to the hospital to take care of the dean's grandmother. As expected, when I walked into her room, she was not cared for, Ah Xiang and Tian were not there, she just lay quietly on the bed, as if she was asleep, her lead-gray face sunk into the pillow.

The rain was pouring down, the thunder was rumbling, the thunder was flashing, she was already lost, I was thinking about going to the window and closing the window, I was wondering "will she leave this world soon, I already smell the smell of the dead, I can forgive her." I was pondering when I suddenly heard a faint voice behind me: "Who is it?" ”

I know that the dean's grandmother hasn't spoken for a few days, is she awake? I walked over to her.

"You're a cat ninety-nine, it's all gone, why are you staying, I know you've always wanted to get rid of me."

Hearing her say this, I used a gentle tone to convince her that I was Mao Jiujiu, and it seemed that she was sober, her mind was normal, and her expression was very calm.

"I know I'm dying," after a while, she gasped, and then said, "I want to turn over, but I can't, I find that my limbs have stiffened, and now it seems that I must tell some things before I die, so that I can easily go underground to see my master, I have taken the master, this secret has been pressing on me like a heavy burden, is there anyone else in this room?" ”

I teased: "Let's put it on, it's just the two of us in this room, and others really don't dare to come up, for fear of ghosts." ”

She struggled to change her position, but to no avail. Her face had changed, as if she was in a torment within—perhaps the last bout of pain and clarity reflected in the light.

"Water-".

I helped her up and let her drink water by my arm, her cold hand had no strength to retract, and her unenlightened gaze avoided my eyes: "Your personality is too much like the master, I don't understand until now, I didn't care about you, you were so patient and silent, until you suddenly broke out when you were 10 years old, you didn't look like a child at all, I can't forget the way you suddenly attacked, when you spit out all the hatred in your heart, I was afraid, I felt that it was the master who had come back from life to stare at me, and suddenly raised his head and stared at me with the eyes of a living man, and cursed me with the voice of a dead man...... Kill some more water! Hurry up. ”

I handed her the water again, and I was confused: "Whose child am I?" Who is your master, and what does it have to do with me? ”

She drank the water, gasped for breath, and continued: "When the young master of Miantang suddenly came here, I knew that everything had to start slowly according to the master's wishes, he looked at your eyes, I knew that he knew, hahaha, no one can avoid the fate of fate." Alas, I have to finish this matter, I am about to give the master a confession, I better tell you, you go to my cabinet and have a secret compartment, open it, you will see a token, take it. ”