It was dark at night, and I rummaged through the corners of the house, but there was only a white lantern full of holes, which was left over from the previous funeral.

A torn paper cover can't block the wind and can't be used.

So Yuan Yu left the house empty-handed, but, before leaving, he filled two leftover rice balls from noon in his pocket as dinner on the road, and Yuan Yu didn't know how far the Mao'er River was from here, but he knew that it might take more than an hour to come and go.

Wang Laohan, who had just come out of Hu Guocheng's house, was rushing home in the dim moonlight, but he was secretly thinking about something in his heart.

Hu Guocheng's appearance, he saw it, which made him always can't help but think about it for no reason, to think about it more than 20 years ago.

If it weren't for the incident more than 20 years ago, Wang Laohan would never be what he is now, and what happened on the river that night made his perception that he had always adhered to be overturned like never before, and he also had a heartfelt awe for some invisible things in the underworld.

When the Red Guards were noisy, the young men and women with red armbands shouted to defeat all the cows, ghosts, snakes and gods, and the widow Zhao who gave people a yin in the town was pulled out and beaten to death, and after being killed, they were stripped naked and thrown on the road to dry, spitting, that miserable appearance, Wang Laohan still remembers it vividly.

Later, Wang Laohan, who came back from a meeting in the town, couldn't bear it, so he secretly buried the dead, but he didn't want to be reported and exposed the next day, so Wang Laohan became one of the feudal superstitious elements of the bull ghosts, snakes, and gods that were defeated.

But Wang Laohan still has no regrets, he even knows that the person who exposed him is a colleague from a neighboring village who came back from a meeting together, and when he buried Widow Zhao, the colleague from the neighboring village watched from the side, and that colleague even went to the village to ask him to borrow a boat.

By exposing his own affairs, the colleague was promoted to a higher level.

But Wang Laohan still did not regret it, because the young men with red armbands who beat Widow Zhao to death later died, and the death was hideous, the facial features were twisted together, and the seven orifices were bleeding, only a trace of horror remained in the dilated pupils.

And the colleague who reported and exposed himself also became crazy overnight.

Only himself, he survived that stormy and sick era peacefully.

It was from then on that Wang Laohan began to believe that even if the evil of people's hearts can be concealed from others and deceived themselves, those who die because of your evil cannot be washed away no matter what, just like a lot of debts, which are debts that must always be repaid.

Raising his hand to slap the mosquito on his arm that was greedily drinking blood, Wang Laohan saw the vague thin figure in the night.

"Cub, it's getting late, don't wander around, go back to sleep!"

Wang Laohan put his hands behind his back, squinted his eyes and shouted at the vague shadow.

Yuan Yu heard someone calling him, and stood against the wall a little helplessly.

Wang Laohan approached, saw that it was Yuan Yu, was slightly surprised, slowed down his tone and said, "Child, go back to sleep, grandpa will send you back!" ”

Yuan Yu clasped his fingers on the clods in the cracks of the wall, lowered his head and looked at Wang Laohan, for a long time, and whispered: "I recognize the ...... of the road"

"Have you eaten?"

"Hmm!"

As if he was afraid that Wang Laohan would ask something again, Yuan Yu added in a low voice: "It's stuffy at home, I'll come out to breathe, master, you go back first, I'll go back in a while!" ”

Wang Laohan knew that this kid was very stubborn, touched Yuan Yu's head, and sighed: "Then grandpa go back first, you are a sensible child, just go back after playing, don't let grandpa worry!" ”

Wang Laohan naturally didn't notice the two rice balls in Yuan Yu's pocket, said a few words, and turned to leave.

Yuan Yu leaned against the wall and watched Wang Laohan walk away, then he lowered his head and walked step by step towards the small road in the south of the village.

The frogs in the water were chirping in patches, and the frightened eagle had dropped two dead branches in the treetops.

The Cat River has arrived.

Yuan Yu looked up at the dark clouds covering the moon, and his eyes did not have the fear of darkness that ordinary ten-year-olds should have.

He was just a little hungry, sweat stains on his body, and it was stuffy.

The half-human-high weeds on the side of the road are overgrown, and there are often more mosquitoes near the grass, so Yuan Yu walked to the small river, wiped the gravel with the corner of his clothes, sat down, and broke the white rice balls in his hand little by little and sent them to his mouth.

When the wind rose, Yuan Yu stretched out his arms a little comfortably, wanting the night wind to dry his slimy armpits.

The crescent moon showed its face in the dark clouds, and pulled out a small shadow diagonally beside Yuan Yu.

Then there is the cat meow of "meow~".

Yuan Yu turned his head and found that a few steps behind him, under the locust tree, the black cat was staring at him with green eyes.

Yuan Yu hesitantly looked at the remaining half of the rice ball in his hand, and walked to the black cat with dangling steps.

"Wow~"

The wild cat seemed to be very hostile to Yuan Yu, hunched over, retreating step by step, and its ugly cries lingered in the night like a baby's cry.

Yuan Yu suddenly squatted down, wanting to reach out and touch the cat slowly.

The cat arched its body, its fur exploded, and stood on end.

Yuan Yu put his arm on his chin, looked at it for a while, and said, "I'm not a debt collector, and you're afraid of me?" ”

Naturally, there is no response.

Yuan Yu was suddenly a little unhappy, pursed the corners of his mouth and broke the rice ball in his hand and put it in front of the black cat, and begged and said, "You eat, can you return Ah Fei's father back after eating?" The only one in the village is Ah Fei Ken to play with me, and he can't live without his father......"

In the end, Yuan Yu lowered his head and said to himself, a little depressed: "I don't have it anymore...... I only have Ah Fei ......"

Probably the wind was lonely too, so it kept blowing the branches and brushing the grass, trying to make a little noise.

One man and one cat, just stalemate by the desolate river.

The wild cat didn't seem to be interested in the white rice grains stained with mud, or maybe they thought that Yuan Yu, who was squinting and dozing off, was too boring, so he picked his tail and spun around a few times, and climbed up the crooked old locust tree in three or two.

Yuan Yu's eyes widened with joy, and his black and white eyes looked at the branches and leaves on the locust tree and said, "I'll go back and catch fish for you to eat......

When he stood up, he seemed to remember something, and Yuan Yu said very solemnly: "Hmm...... There are rats too......"

Yuan Yu left, and went back happily with small steps.

Not long after leaving, a petite figure suddenly walked out from behind the old locust tree, curiously looking at the direction of Yuan Yu's departure, seven or eight years old, with broken hair cut only to the root of the ear, and some baby fat at the corner of the mouth.

The black cat in the tree whined twice, jumped into the arms of the petite figure, curled up lazily, and rubbed its cheek against its white arm.

"Your cat eats mice......"

Humming softly, the petite figure also hugged the cat and left......