The wood carving, about a foot long, has eyes, ears, nose, and ears, and because it is placed in the shadows, it is really easy to ignore it if you don't pay attention. The doll was painted red throughout, and it didn't look like a child's innocent cuteness at all, but it made people feel a little weird.

Lin Zhiyan also saw the puppet and frowned. Tian Tian was so frightened by the puppet that she drilled into her arms, "That brother is so ugly, so scary." ”

This puppet is really uncomfortable, and its face is even cruelly filled with nails, and its appearance is becoming more and more hideous.

"What is a boy snatcher?" Lin Zhiyan looked at me.

"It's the same as that mantra, it's the old custom of Bashu." I touched the puppet with my hand, and a feeling so cold that it seeped into the bone marrow suddenly rushed from my fingertips into my body, and I hurriedly retracted my hand, "Grab the boy." In most of the Hakka people in Bashu, it is held once a year, and the date is set for the third day of the third lunar month, which is also the third day after the departure of the city god. For wealthy families who have not given birth for a long time, the town and state council where they are located will make a roster, and hire a group of strong "sought-after" for each family in advance, so that they can snatch home the few twelve boys at that time. The boy was carved out of hard wood, about a foot long, and had eyes, ears, mouth, nose, feet, hands, and a boy's finch.

Because in ancient times, all children were male.

It is said that before the day of snatching the child, the heads of the ancient state councils funded the construction of a stage on the high platform of the temple, and all the residents selected a woman with a large buttocks and dressed up as a child delivery lady. What can be said that day, the audience is crowded, vying to see the boy's destination.

After the play, the gongs and drums were slammed to send the son Niangniang out to the front of the stage, and everyone in the audience applauded in unison, and all the sought-after families were eager to try. Twelve boys girdle their waists with red silk and are held to the mother in a large tray by a special person. Niangniang held it in her hand, smiled and said to the audience to rob the boy and give birth to a precious son; Mother enjoys happiness for a lifetime.

Then throw it far away. The audience was suddenly boiling, all the families rushed to be the first, swarming and scrambling, and idlers stood in the mountain bag and said and laughed. The first boy was not yet found, and the second and third came again. The situation is becoming more and more complicated, and the scramble is becoming more intense, with runners, chasers, and those who take care of one or the other. For a boy, several batches of sought-after players are often driven out of miles away and refuse to give up. The boy's destination is to untie the red silk around his waist. Those who grab it are proud of their toes; Those who fall short are bored. It lasts up to two or three hours.

When the boy arrives, he needs to fly to hire a colorful sedan chair and several drummers. A children's sedan chair was placed, and the group was dressed in red and hung with colors, blowing and blowing and sending to the employer's house. The employer was looking forward to it, and when he saw a sedan chair coming, he urgently ordered firecrackers to greet him. Prepare a sumptuous banquet to entertain people who are in demand, drummers, sedan chair bearers and other meritorious people. When the neighbors heard the news, they rushed to congratulate them. The head of the family was happy to get a noble son, scattering red envelopes and sprinkling happy money.

The boy serves incense every day, which is the same as the ancestral tablet. In the middle of the night, the housewife gets up at night to burn incense, which is called "Zishi incense". Xiangshi also talked homely with the boy, both like to God and like a child. After a while, if the housewife is not pregnant, she can invite the child to come down, put on clothes and belly pockets, and sleep with the housewife. In the middle of the night, he woke up the boy as usual, and said, "Obediently, mother will pee on you." And boasted "boasting" with his mouth, begging him to be pregnant, so that the false would become true. This kind of simulated "feeling pregnancy theory" has long been used by the rulers of previous dynasties, such as the queen dreaming of having sex with the dragon and giving birth to a prince, and so on, which is not enough. After a year, if the woman is pregnant, the child can be considered to be owned, otherwise it will be sent back to be robbed again. ”

Lin Zhiyan took a closer look at the puppet again, and shook her head vigorously, "This thing is so terrifying, even if I have infertility, I won't rob it, I snatch it home and put it in the room, I feel terrible when I see it." ”

I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Sorry, I think you're mistaken." The appearance of the real boy is very cute, but there are some problems with the family. ”

walked to the door of the family and looked at it, then turned his head and asked Tiantian, "Tiantian, who is your neighbor?" ”

"I don't know, Tiantian rarely sees them come out." Tian Tian shook her head.

"Blame. The family is really funny. Obviously, the snatching of the boy was held in March of the lunar calendar, but now it is only the twelfth month of the lunar calendar, and the year has not yet passed. What's more, the mainland has not had these customs for more than ten years, and where did their children come from? and tossed a well-behaved beautiful puppet into such a terrible look. I glanced at the red sheet of paper on the door again, "Also, it's a little incomprehensible that I can put a crying stop spell that should have been posted on the crossroads to the door. ”

I'm a little bit better at what kind of strongman lives in it, strong enough to ruin the ancient feudal customs that have been adhered to and perfected like this.

Quietly walking to the door, I put my eyes in the cat's eye and looked inside.

Suddenly, I was so frightened that I felt chills all over my body, my whole body stiffened, and I almost fell to the ground.

On the other side of the cat's eye, there was an eye staring outward. That eye was bloodshot, hideous and terrifying, like a bottomless pit, looking at us without blinking......

Those eyes were eerie, with a terrifying hatred in them. I was so frightened that I took a few steps back, and without doing anything, I gritted my teeth and knocked the family's door.

I knocked on the door, but no matter how I knocked, the people inside wouldn't open the door, and they didn't even make a sound.

After knocking for a long time, I finally gave up. Forget it, after such a long delay, let's talk about Lin Zhiyan's back first. I carried Lin Zhiyan on my back again, this old woman didn't know what she was thinking, she didn't snort, she just held her sweet little hand hard.

Tian Tian was obviously frightened, holding Lin Zhiyan's hand with her left hand, and holding the corner of my clothes with her right hand. The three of us climbed up a level in this weird position. When I got to the top of the stairs again, I deliberately looked at the floor sign.

Suddenly, a kind of helplessness and terror rushed into the brain.

The fourth floor, or the fourth floor. The damn dark red 'four' was still abominable in the center of the two gates. The family's crying spell and tattered puppets on the fourth floor were still in their place. I blushed and put Lin Zhiyan on the ground again. Then he held his head and thought about it.

Since coming to the fourth floor, the space seems to have stagnated, and no matter how much you climb, I'm afraid you'll stay on the fourth floor. But why? Did we encounter the legendary ghost hitting the wall? But the so-called ghost hitting the wall usually happens in open places at night.

It is said that people who encounter ghosts hitting the wall will always keep going around in circles within a certain range, and they will not be able to get out. Could it be that the fourth floor of this house is haunted?

How can it be! When a person walks normally, the distance taken by the legs is unequal. For example, if the distance of the left leg is large and the distance of the right leg is small, the person will keep tilting to the right. This situation is not noticed on the road during the day, because there are often iconic objects to correct this deviation. But on a dark day, especially in an open and unmarked area, this difference in distance has a noticeable effect, causing you to keep turning in one direction until you come in a circle, walk back to the same place, and then continue to circle again, so that people mistakenly think that you have encountered the so-called ghost hitting the wall. Ancient people did not have this scientific understanding and mistakenly thought that this was a ghost.

There must be something I'm ignoring. In this strange building, that fourth floor that seems to be never-ending, there must be something I should have noticed but didn't notice.

Suddenly, Lin Zhiyan, who had been silent, spoke, "Tiantian, aren't you cold when you wear so little?" ”

Suddenly, this sentence shot into my mind like a ray of light, and I seemed to think of something, but I couldn't grasp my own thoughts. That's right! Wrong! It's obviously January now, and it's a cold winter that hasn't been encountered in fifty years, and Tian Tian in the corridor is only wearing a thin skirt, and there is no feeling of cold. This in itself is contradictory.

We both obviously thought of this, and we both moved our eyes to Tian Tian.

"When will Sweet Mom and Dad come back?" I suppressed the doubts in my heart and asked softly.

"I don't know." Tian Tian tilted her head to think about it, then shook her head.

"Then why is Tian Tian sitting alone in the corridor waiting, does Tian Tian have the key to open the door?" Lin Zhiyan swallowed a mouthful of saliva hard.

Tian Tian happily pulled out a red rope from the clothes under her neck, and a key was hung on the rope, "This is the door key that my mother gave Tian Tian, but Tian Tian can't invite her big brothers and sisters in, because my mother is not allowed to let people she doesn't know in." ”

Lin Zhiyan and I glanced at each other and asked in a deep voice, "Since you have the key, why don't you go in and wait for your parents?" ”

Tiantian's face crossed a look of fear, and she said aggrievedly, "There is a Xiong family's mother-in-law at home, my mother wants Tiantian to run away, and my father wants Tiantian not to go home, I have to wait until they come back." Otherwise, the Xiong family's mother-in-law will catch Tiantian and eat it. ”

The more we listen, the more we feel the difference, Mrs. Xiong? In her home? Is there a connection between this Xiong's mother-in-law and the old man Yang Junfei's investigation, or is it just a simple story that parents use to scare their daughters? But no parent would allow their children to go home? There is a problem.

I wanted to ask something more, and suddenly, a look of fear and uneasiness appeared on Tiantian's face.

"The bear's wife is here, and she is here to eat sweet." She panicked and let go of the corner of my coat and stumbled downstairs. We didn't have time to catch her, but we felt a gust of wind blowing, as if we were blinded by sand, and we reflexively rubbed our eyes, and when we opened our eyes again, the girl was gone.

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