The sound of firecrackers in the mountain village is endless, which means that the end of the year is approaching. The Spring Festival is almost over, people are preparing for the New Year, every household is doing New Year's goods, killing pigs and sheep, pasting Spring Festival couplets, welcoming the God of Wealth, everywhere shows a strong New Year's flavor.

I have a big fat pig at home, weighing more than 200 pounds, which is considered a big pig in the countryside. Because the population of the village is small, the villagers are more familiar with each other, and the relationship is relatively harmonious, so if any family wants to kill pigs, they will invite the people in the village to eat pig-killing dishes by the way.

Today is the day when my family kills pigs, Liu Wuye came over early in the morning, and he was busy with his family, as for this pig-killing dish and soju, he is indispensable. In the afternoon, after everyone had eaten and drunk, they dispersed. Liu Wuye was happy today, and he returned to his house after drinking dizzy. Because he is a single, his home is naturally relatively simple, it is a broken tile house, and the walls are still built with rammed earth, and other families in the village basically used bricks and tiles at that time. Entering the house was a stove connected to a kang with a dark red cabinet lying horizontally on the floor, and the rest were simple furnishings of pots and pans.

I was helping to clean up at home, and my mother called me at this time: "There are a lot of pig-killing vegetables left today, send some to you Liu Wuye, or our family won't be able to finish it." ”

I usually listen to the fifth master tell stories, so I have a good relationship with him, and hurriedly said, "Okay, it's all ready, I'll go." ”

At this time, it was already evening, and the village had lit the electric lights sporadically, and I took a big bowl of pig-killing vegetables prepared by my mother and went straight to Liu Wuye's house. When I arrived at the house of the fifth master's house, there was no light in the house, so I guess the fifth master drank a few more drinks today and must have slept. I knocked lightly on the wooden door and shouted, "Fifth Master!" There was no movement, and then I shouted twice, but there was still no response, and I thought that I was sleeping quite dead. Then he raised his voice and shouted.

Only then did I hear a light cough in the house, and then I watched the lights in the house turn on, and then answered: "Come in, come in." ”

I pushed open the door and walked into the house, and saw that the fifth master was wearing his tattered jacket, half-nestled on the quilt in the fire kang, and the carbon fire in the brazier on the kang was burning very strongly. When Liu Wuye saw me coming in, he hurriedly beckoned me to sit down next to the brazier, and I casually put the bowl of pig-killing vegetables on the pot table and sat down by the brazier.

The fifth master lit the cigarette pouch and smiled at me: "Boy, let you bring so much again, look at me, I'm embarrassed to even eat and take." ”

"What's polite, I can't eat at home anyway, just don't dislike it."

Then I continued: "Fifth master, did you sleep well just now, you didn't take advantage of the stubble after calling you several times." ”

The fifth master shook his head, "I woke up a long time ago, I didn't see that the kang was burned out, otherwise where did I get this pot of charcoal." ”

I was even more different, "You heard it, and you deliberately didn't say it." ”

"If you want to say deliberately, you can say the same. But I have a reason why I don't agree. ”

Hearing what the fifth master said, I was even more curious, so I said, "Then why is this?" ”

The fifth master opened the conversation: "In a mountain village like ours, it is sparsely populated, so some strange things often happen, especially in the afternoon, when the sun goes down, because there is no sunlight, the yin qi will rise at this time, so a lot of ghosts will come out to mess around." If you are young and strong, and if you have strong firepower, it doesn't matter, even if you encounter it, these ghosts will bypass you. If you are old and frail, or if you are weak, it is easy to bump into them. Because such a person's body is not vigorous, ghosts are easy to get on the body. As he spoke, he took a puff of dry tobacco, and then said, "Just talk about me, after all, I'm old." You need to be more cautious in this regard, especially if someone calls you at night, you can't answer easily, unless after three times, if you are still shouting, you can agree. ”

I was even more surprised when I heard this, so I asked, "Why wait until you have shouted three times before agreeing?" ”

The fifth master paused, and said in an affirmative tone: "Because ghosts will not call people more than three times!" ”

"Then if you're not careful, you can say yes first. What will it be? ”

"That's a big taboo, and a lot of weird things will happen if you don't make a good scene." The fifth master knocked his pipe on the edge of the brazier. Then the fifth master talked about one thing.

The story takes place in a neighboring village, many years ago, when the fifth master was still very young. This neighboring village is just above our village, more than two miles away. This village is called Qianyingzi. The village is the same size as ours, with more than 50 families. The first family in the village is surnamed Liang, this Liang family was a big family in the past, slowly developed with the times, and this generation has been down, and now there are only two brothers left, the eldest is called Liang Dong, and the second is called Liang Bei. This boss is over forty years old, he has not married a wife and had children, and he is also a single person, and usually people in the village call him Liang Da. The second child is not bad, married a daughter-in-law, has a child at home, and looks like he is more than ten years old. The parents died early, and the brothers and sons have been dependent on each other until now, and the relationship is also good, so they have not separated and are still living together. Usually, Liang Da lives alone in the east house, while Liang Er's family of three lives in the west house. Relying on a few acres of cultivated land, life is dull, but it is also stable.

It is said that it is also the Spring Festival of that year, and every family is happy and peaceful. In the blink of an eye, it came to the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, and it snowed heavily for a whole day, and after the snow stopped, the time also came to night. In mountain villages, there is a saying about staying up on Chinese New Year's Eve, that is, every year on the night of the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, every family, regardless of gender, old or young, must stay up late without sleeping and manage the spirit of the year. Because families stay up on Chinese New Year's Eve, people in the village will visit each other, or several people will get together to play cards and kill time. Catching up with the heavy snow on the night of the thirtieth night of this Chinese New Year's Eve, this is an auspicious omen, just as the so-called Ruixue Mega Year, indicating that the year will be smooth and rainy, so every household is very lively.

Liang Da belonged to the idle people, and he caught up with the night of the Chinese New Year's Eve, so after eating dinner early, he went to other people's houses in the village. Usually because a person is unrestrained, but also like to play a few small cards, although love to play, but the economic conditions are there, there is no money to spare, so others play, he can only pick his eyes on the side, follow others blind lively. The time came to more than ten o'clock in the evening, and at this time Liang Da felt that he had made a sudden mistake in his heart, and he didn't know what the reason was, but he felt uncomfortable, so he left the gambling game. Others are still very strange, what happened to this Liang Da today, in the past, the gambling game was not dispersed, he did not leave, and why did he leave so early today.

Liang Da got out of the gambling game and went straight back home, and it was almost midnight at this time. Liang Er's family of three did not go out and watched a TV show in Westinghouse. Liang Da returned to the east room by himself, and lay down under the quilt with his clothes on. Liang Er was also very puzzled in the Westinghouse, thinking to himself what happened to the eldest brother today, he came back so early. I didn't think much about it, so I continued to watch TV. It was twelve o'clock, at midnight. On the wall of the house hung a clock left by the older generation, and the bell rang twelve.

After a while, I heard movement in Liang Da's house, because it was an east and west house, so I heard it more really, and then I heard the sound of the outhouse opening the door, because it was a wooden door, so every time I opened the door, there would be a gentle creaking sound, Liang Er knew that it was the eldest brother who went out, and thought that he must have gotten up to go to the toilet, and he didn't care.

Liang Er has been watching TV intently, and most of the time has passed. Why didn't you hear the sound of someone opening the door and entering the house, could it be that the eldest brother couldn't get up and went to the door again? These questions have always been entangled in Liang Er's mind, and Liang Er wondered if the eldest brother had already returned to the house after going to the toilet, and did not close the wooden door of the outhouse. So he got down from the kang and put on his coat and cotton shoes, and came out of his house. When I came to the outside room, I saw that the door was closed very tightly. Liang Er walked to the East House by the way. After coming to the East House, Liang Er turned on the light. I saw a quilt spread on the kang, and a big jacket was pressed on the top of the quilt, and Liang Er recognized that this was the big cotton jacket that the eldest brother usually wore. Looking at the ground again, Liang Da's pair of big-headed cotton shoes were neatly placed on the ground.

At this time, Liang Er was confused, thinking that if this person went out, the weather would be so cold, he would definitely have to wear a big jacket and cotton shoes. If they don't go out, then where are the people? The more I thought about it, the more I felt that something was wrong, so I quickly put on my clothes and walked outside.

Because it is the Chinese New Year's Eve, every house has to be lit up for a long night. This is the custom of the Chinese New Year. Liang Er's family is no exception, under the eaves at the door of the outhouse, a light bulb is lit, so the whole courtyard is bright. Liang Erjia is also a standard rural three-room tiled house, the courtyard wall is made of stone, and the gate is a small iron gate. Because it is the first family in the village, to the south is a piece of cultivated land, there is no village in the field in winter, it is covered with snow, and it looks white from afar, and then it is the south mountain of the village, and the road leading to the village is to the north out of the gate.

At this time, Liang Er had already come to the gate, and looked at the path to the north, because it was the road after the snow, covered with miscellaneous footprints, and it was impossible to tell who had walked by. Liang Er took advantage of the yellow halo and halo courtyard lamp to look at the land to the south, and saw a series of independent footprints, going south along the earth. Squatted down and carefully observed the footprints, and found that such footprints were obviously barefoot, and there were no shoes at all. Seeing these Liang Er's back, he felt a chill in his back. Thinking that the eldest brother's cotton shoes were still in the house, I felt that the matter was getting more and more serious.

As he spoke, he hurriedly ran into the house and shouted loudly: "Daughter-in-law, hurry up and get dressed and go to the street to call someone, our eldest brother is gone!" Although Liang's second daughter-in-law didn't figure out what was going on, seeing Liang Er's anxious look, she quickly got dressed and went to the village to call someone.

After a while, some people gathered in front of Liang Er's house, all of whom rushed to the village when they heard the news, Liang Er gave a brief introduction to the specific situation, and then everyone followed the series of footprints to Nanshan with flashlights. I am also glad that it has snowed so hard that the footprints on the ground are clearly visible. Everyone followed the footprints through the earth and came to the foot of Nanshan Mountain.

There is a pine forest at the foot of Nanshan Mountain, and below the pine forest is the location of the ancestral tomb of the Liang family. And the series of footprints went straight to the ancestral grave. Everyone followed Liang Er in fear. As they spoke, they came to the ancestral grave, and everyone shook their flashlights around the cemetery. It didn't matter for a moment, I saw a person lying straight in front of a grave, naked. There was no snow around him, as if he had been swept away.

Everyone was shocked, and hurriedly walked forward, Liang Er stepped forward and shook the flashlight on this person's face, and sure enough, it was Liang Da. At this point, he was already unconscious. Liang Er hurriedly took off his coat, covered Liang Da's body, held him in his arms, and took a look at it through everyone's flashlight. I saw that Liang's nostrils, mouth, and even ears and eyes were all stuffed into the sand. And Liang Da's face was pale, and his eyes were closed. As soon as everyone touched Liang Da's chest, their hearts were still beating, so they quickly took the branches and pulled out the sand from their nostrils and mouths. After digging it out, I saw Liang Da take a deep breath, but he was still in a coma. Immediately afterwards, everyone carried Liang Da back home.

When he arrived at home, he put it on the kang to warm his body, poured ginger water again, and after a toss, Liang Da finally eased up and slowly sobered up.

Liang Er sat on the edge of the kang and said, "Big brother, what's wrong with you?" Liang Da relieved himself and talked to everyone.

At that time, when he came back from the gambling game, Liang Da felt uncomfortable, so he took off his coat and got into the bed, thinking that he had stayed up late recently and would just get a good night's sleep. I don't know how long I slept in a daze. I heard a woman's voice in the yard calling him, "Liang Da ......" and "Liang Da ......" The voice was weak, mixed with tail notes, but it was very clear to hear, and Liang Da was confused, "Hey! I agreed.

Immediately after that, Liang Da's body involuntarily got up, followed the voice and came to the courtyard, and when he looked at the gate, he saw his mother standing there waving to him, and then Liang Da followed his mother all the way. I can't tell if I'm real or in a dream. In short, follow all the way.

Slowly, I saw a house in front of me, with a faint oil lamp on. So his mother led him into the house. When he arrived at the house, he said to Liang Da: "Child, this is our family, you see that your father is also there." Liang Da saw an old man, sitting on a stool with his back to him, and never looked back, but looking at the back, Liang Da recognized that this was what his father looked like when he was alive. Then the wife said, "Son, are you hungry, you can eat some food at home." Then he brought a plate of vegetables and a night of rice.

Liang Da was not hungry, but his body didn't listen to him, so he picked up the bowl of rice and ate it, and he devoured it. It's all over in a while. Then his mother brought another bowl and told Liang Da to finish it anyway. Liang Da couldn't help but say that he would eat it when he held it up, and he didn't know how much he ate. In a daze, I felt that someone had picked me up.

When everything is sober, it is already on the kang of his own home.

After the fifth master finished talking about this, it was already dark and transparent. I'm still stuck in the story.

"Fifth master, then this Liang Da, what happened in the end."

When the fifth master heard me ask him, he said: "I don't remember it for too long, I only know that Liang Da lived for a few years, and he hanged himself on the pine tree next to his ancestral grave." ”

Since then, whenever someone calls me by name at night, I always say yes after three times, and it has always been. I'm really afraid that one day I accidentally agreed, and the result was ......

Have you ever been called by someone at midnight?